School "Letters"

I mod podged this cardboard mailbox with cute scrapbook paper for Everett. Each day we do 'school' together. I call it school because he thinks it's cool. We really just read books, do flannel board stories, sing songs, do play dough, color, go on 'field trips' and play together for about 30 minutes. I've only been doing it since the beginning of January and he already recognizes about half the alphabet letters! It's so fun. Today we saw a stop sign and I asked him what letters he saw and he said 'S' 'O'. I was pretty proud of him!

Anyway I got off the subject. Back to the mailbox. I'm going to use it each day to introduce part of my 'lesson' to him. He'll open the mail box each morning and find either a letter that we're going to learn, a piece to the flannel board story, a book, some sort of art thing, a treat....whatever we're doing for school that day! I showed it to him last night and he was SO excited. He said he wanted to get his vitamins in the mailbox each day. So maybe we'll use it for that too.

I also made this little mail box as a love box for my husband and I. We'll keep in in our bathroom window and write little notes to each other, put chocolates or whatever else in there. I think it will be a fun and creative way for us to express our love to each other all year long!

The gift of Salmon...Dinner!

I made this Delicious dinner the other night. Salmon as a Gift. I felt like a gourmet cook, although I'm not. It tasted great and it was pretty easy. Not to mention healthy. I'm trying to eat a little healthier this year. So far, so good.
You wrap it all up in parchment paper and each person gets a little present on their plate. Everett loved it! He was so excited to eat dinner. Usually he doesn't really care for fish (I wonder where he got that from!) but he ate this great.
When you open up your package this is what you get!

Want to make it yourself? Here's the recipe.

Salmon as a Gift

2 Salmon fillets (I love the frozen stuff at Costco)
Juice of one fresh lemon
Lemon pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. rosemary, crushed
salt & pepper to taste
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
4 baby carrots, thinly sliced
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced*
1/4 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 recipe Herb Butter
Parchment paper
Twine to hold parchment paper together

Cut a 12X16 inch piece of parchment paper. Place salmon in the center. Drizzle fresh lemon juice over salmon. Sprinkle lemon pepper, rosemary, salt, & pepper lightly.
Layer veggies on salmon. Top with 1 Tbsp herb butter.

Wrap up, tie shut with twine. Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 F for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Herb Butter

2 Tpsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp thyme, fresh if you have it.

Mix together in a small bowl.

*I like to chop my onions up all at once and store them in the freezer in a ziplock bag. It saves me so much time and it makes cooking seem a little less stressful.