Because it's perfectly normal to crochet falafel.

How was everyone's Christmas? I do hope you all had as lovely a time as I did. It's been awhile since my last blog, we're just starting to emerge from the rubble and begin functioning again. For family members interested, I'll post a bunch of Christmas pictures on my Facebook for you all - the girls really had a blast, got everything they were hoping for (and more!)

Now that Christmas gifts have all been opened and played with, I can finally share pictures of some of the homemade ones.

Santa brought Cora a play kitchen. (Note: Santa found a reasonably priced kitchen that is made in America. I was thrilled.) When I came across the book Tasty Crochet by Rose Langlitz, it just seemed like these little crocheted treasures would be the perfect accompaniment to the kitchen. So I locked myself in my bedroom each night for a month after the girls were in bed and set to work with a basket of scrap yarn and a crochet hook.

A fried egg, bacon, a toast triangle, and a shell for the egg:


Pancakes with butter and a Pop-Tart:
Peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich on white bread (all separate pieces):And a salami sandwich on whole wheat:

The salami sandwich has two slices of salami, two sliced tomatoes, two lettuce leaves, and a slice of swiss cheese (which I forgot to photograph, oops):And then there's the taco (with shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, and ground beef with embroidered cheese):


And my personal favorite, a pita pocket filled with falafel, lettuce and tomato wedges:Carrot and green beans. We need more veggies. I feel mildly compelled to create my own pattern for kohlrabi. I'll let you know how that goes.

Ah, and sushi. Because crocheted sushi is awesome. (tuna roll, avocado roll, and egg nigiri)
And the fruit: a pear, an apple, strawberries, and apple wedges:And pizza (with separate crust, sauce, and topped cheese) and a mini-cheeseburger.
And for dessert, chocolate cake or pumpkin pie.
I didn't have time to finish every pattern - I still really want to make the asparagus, the ice cream cone, and the bagel with cream cheese. I highly recommend this book and these cute little patterns - each one took between fifteen minutes (for a fried egg) and an hour (the chocolate cake and pizza.)

When they were playing restaurant yesterday, Chloe asked for a piece of paper to make a menu. I got a bit creative and came up with these:



Printed menus with blank spaces for writing, plus a shopping list and receipt for when they're playing store. I used clear contact paper (my newest favorite thing) to "laminate" the pages, so they can write with a dry erase marker and change it as often as they want.
It's the perfect mix of play and homeschool - practice with writing and spelling, awareness of community workers and occupations (chef, waitress, store clerk) and the receipt encourages math.

The best part of it all? The cost of the entire gift was negligible, because I was able to use scrap yarn for almost all of it and got the book from the library.