Hola and a whole MESS of Scones, from England.

So, This week Ike had his first school project due. He is in Kindergarten. When we were in kindergarten we didn't have homework, and we for sure did not have any major projects due, but these are different times I am told.

So he had to research his "cultural heritage." Can you say "mutt?", yeah, I knew you could.

We do know for sure that my father's side of the family came over on the Mayflower and one of the ships shortly thereafter (our descendant from the Mayflower was Richard Warren and his daughter Elizabeth is my great-great-great, keep on going, great grandmother. She married a Richard Church who came over several boats later and "Voila!"--- a dumbass family of hillbillies is descended out of England (oh, be proud Brits, be proud).

On my mother's side we knew that her dad claimed some Scotts-Irish heritage (last name Moore-- sounds like Scottish or Irish to us) and so-- I like to claim those sides now that we have a red-head. Did you know btw- that Scottland has more red-heads than any other part of the world? Yup! So says culture grams, which brings me back to Isaac's project.

Because we (ike too) have been to England, we decided to go that route for this project. Could have gone to the Young's German side, but no- we went to jolly old England...

On Monday we had to work at home in the evening on facts about England (or the UK? I'm still not sure what the assignment was)... and then Ike had to work at school several days this week so that he could give a verbal report today to the whole kindergarten class and several amused parents. Intense project for kindergarten in my opinion.

Isaac did a great job speaking, in fact, the video is at the end of this post-- but -- there are two things to note about this fun-for-all (sarcasm) project:

1) I have not been home all week and had NO IDEA what he was going to say or what our responsibility was

and

2) My spouse wasn't sure what the details were- but we knew I was supposed to bring scones. Cause he's signed me up to bring them.

So-- last night we made scones. Not thousands, but a big batch. A pod of scones? a herd of scones? a colony of scones? A murder of scones? well it was a whole MESS of scones. And they turned out great. I used an Ina Garten recipe that you can find here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cranberry-orange-scones-recipe/index.html

and I used zante currants instead of cranberries cause that's what we had. They were delicious..

But back to point number 1. Isaac hadn't told us what he was going to say, and last night I found out that he thought the name of the country was London. Really.

I don't even know how that could be since he'd spent at least 3 DAYS working on this!!! But- sure 'nuff, I spent last night teaching him to either claim England or the UK and stop saying he was from the country of London. We were both confused by the end of it and I had no idea what he might say today.

So this morning- -he gets up in front of the 3 kindergarten classes and he is the first of the Europe II group to speak, and he does a FANTASTIC job speaking.

He knew it was England, he described that they eat fish and chips and haggis, and the little foodie even remembered what haggis is (thank God we didn't sign me up to make that!!!! YUCK!)

He did a great job with one funny little exception. When he had to tell people what language people speak in England, he told everyone English... AND... wait for it..... wait for it.... Spanish. He then told everyone that in England they say Hola, and he made them repeat it.

"hola friends!", from the English. That's right- that's what my kid knows for sure.

Later I get to the "Cultural Heritage Luncheon" and find that one of the other mothers of one of the other 3 kids who claimed English heritage had also made scones. ugh.

She also happened to be ACTUALLY English. For Real. Born in London. Had the most beautiful accent and everything. For as insecure as I am - this was a moment for me.

I was like one of those knock-off Coach bags standing next to the real thing.

I was feeling pretty low at that point- what with the real british scones and her kid having told us all that the British say "Hello" and all--

until she told me two things that made my whole day--

First of all: She used a mix to make her scones that she bought at the grocery store. Yup. she bought a mix at safeway and she thought mine were better (love)... and she then won me over completely by saying we both should of just saved ourselves the work and bought a tin of biscuits (cookies ya'll) anyway.

Secondly-- Isaac had apparently gone up to her and told her that London was the capital and she said "I know I was born there"- and he said "great". I apologized to her for his weirdness and for the whole "hola" thing- and she said-- "no worries". Apparently all week her daughter has been telling the whole class that SHE had met the Queen of England and the queen had given her a bracelet.

Turns out that had happened this summer -- at a Maryland Renaissance Faire. :)

Her mother could NOT convince her that she hadn't met the actual queen. (again- LOVE!)

We commiserated on the brains of 6 year-olds and how lame both of our scones looked next to the Somosas, Fried Mangos, Swiss Chocolates and Sushi-- from the "cool cultures" and we called it a day.

So-- I'm going to go have myself some tea (no joke) and watch me some Dora the Explorer. Maybe she can teach me some more words to use the next time we are in England.

Hola friends!

Here's the video if you have a moment and want to see for yourself...