Lip Lick'n Good!

The best tasting strawberries EVER!!!!!

Rain, Rain, Go away!


Seriously, all it has done this whole weekend is RAIN! I'm so sick and tired of the endless rain.


Well, this holiday weekend was basically ruined due to the pouring down rain.


I ended up picking strawberries this morning with my wonderful sister in law Serena.


As soon as we pulled up to the strawberry farm it started to rain. I wasn't about to turn around and go home. I wanted my strawberries. We ended up picking in the rain. We were both completely soaked from head to toe. I felt like a wet dog. Yuck!


We ended up picking one flat each. They ended up offering us already picked flats of strawberries for only $2 more. I couldn't turn down a good deal and came home with three flats. In hindsight, I should of only brought home two flats. I still have four pints sitting on the counter. Any ideas?


Leroy made all of the cooked jelly and I made all of the freezer jam. All day long, we worked on making Jelly and Jam. I wouldn't recommend trying to make Jelly in one day.

Leroy busy working on taking off the tops of the Strawberries!

Landon and Logan worked hard on removing the tops but managed to take most of the top halve of the strawberries off.

We ended up with 37 pints of Jelly and 20 containers of Freezer Jam.

So, what do you prefer? Freezer Jam or Homemade cooked Jelly?

Landon and Leroy both hate Freezer Jam.

Logan and I aren't picky and we like both.

Crash, Boom, and Burn!

We headed down to Parsons Stadium for some car crashing fun. The Demolition Derby. Leroy and I attended one derby before but it was before we had kids. About 7 years ago, Leroy wanted to do something fun with the kids this weekend. He took the boys on Friday night to a father and son campout but they ended up getting flooded out. They ended up coming home early Saturday morning: camping gear compeletly soaked. Logan wasn't happy about only spending one night camping he wanted to stay for a whole week. So, later on! We headed down for the demolition derby.

The weather turned cold. I literally had all of the kids in jackets and knitted hats. I did managed to bring only one measly blanket. I really wish, I had brought more blankets. It was so chilly.

The show started off with a big bang. They had a police car which was loaded with fireworks. Scared the crap out of Leah. She was terrorified of the whole show. She was clinging so tight to me. Towards the end of the show, she was a little bit for comfortable with the noise. It was definitely loud.

The boys loved all the car crashing, dirt flying, and engine fires.

We ended up leaving early. It was just getting way to cold and Logan ended up falling asleep.

Overall, if you haven't been you need to. Lots of fun and the kettle corn was AWESOME. I'm on a strict diet today. Only liquids!

 

Gloop

What's a mother to do? Logan came into the house and asked me to open up a bag of noodles. I told him "no" and off he went out the front door. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he wanted with noodles. Well, as soon as I step outside I discovered Logan's little science experiment. I could of killed him. He had my container of flour and rolled oats mixed in my hat box with water. The little guy was so proud of himself. He called it Gloop. I swear the little guy is going to grow up to be some sort of scientist or baker.

The little guy was so proud of the dough he made. Look at it!
Of course, little sister had to get her hands into it.

I was half tempted to throw it in the oven and see how it would taste!

Little sissy had to keep getting her hands into it. She kept trying to wipe her hands on me. No, thanks. She finally discovered it was best to wash up inside and not on me.
 

The Tadpole Experiment

Looking for Tadpoles!
Logan ended up hearing a bullfrog. We didn't see it but we could clearly hear it!

Well, I picked up Landon from school. We headed over to Tanyard Creek to go for a nice hike without little sister tagging along. I have been trying to take the kids over every month. It's been amazing watching how much Tanyard Creek changes thru the seasons. We explored bluffs which were inhabitated by Native Americans and read all the different signs thru out the park. We had so much fun! I decided it would be fun to watch tadpoles change into frogs. We emptied out two water bottles filled them up with pond water and three tadpoles. Landon ended up catching all three tadpoles. We grabbed the bottles and ended back home. The boys dumped the tadpoles into this empty fishbowl and hopefully, in a couple of weeks we will have frogs. I'm not sure how long it takes. So, I will have to go do some research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys emptied out their bottles into the glass fish bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gross, look at the water. Hopefully, we will get a couple of frogs.

Deceptively Delicious…

… Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches

In Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, there are the most fun recipes. Tonight, Nesso came over for dinner, and I made the Ice Cream sandwich recipe for dessert. So fresh and tasty for summer, and a healthy alternative to your typical ice cream sandwich. A must try! And would be great for kiddos :)

Prep time: 5 minutesTotal minutes: 120Serves: 8 (2 per person)

Ingredients* 2 cups lowfat plain yogurt (I recommend choosing one that is loaded with live cultures for extra nutrients)*
1 cup sugar (I recommend using an organic sugar - no additives, coloring or chemicals)*
1 cup lowfat buttermilk*
2 tbsp lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed for added summer freshness)*
Grated zest of 1 lemon*
16 lowfat graham crackers, broken in half - 32 squares (the cinnamon kind made such a great combo with the lemon flavor!)*

Shredded coconut - optional

1. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and freeze for 1 to 1.5 hours, until the mixture starts to thicken (Not sure what your freezer is like, but it took about 2+ hours in my freezer for it to get pretty thick).

2. To form the sandwiches, scoop out and then press about 1/4 cup of the semi frozen mixture between two graham cracker squares. Wrap each in waxed paper (I used foil) and freeze 30 minutes, or until firm.3. If using coconut, put some on a plate and dip all four edges of the sandwich to coat.

So good, friends! Definitely a must try recipe for this summer.

Rescue 911

 
















Last night, I was busy cleaning up the kitchen. When, I saw my neighbor approaching my front door. I thought it was strange of her to come over so late in the evening. I answered the door and she informed me that our cat was stuck up in a tree. I couldn't believe it. Our little cat was stuck up in a huge tree!

 
















As soon as I stepped outside. I could hear the cat meowing. My neighbor said she could hear the meowing around 2:00pm and she came over to tell us be we were still at church. She noticed our lights were on around 7:45pm and she came over to tell us about our cat being stuck up in a tree on her property. Violet said that the cat was even higher up in the tree but she somehow managed to come down to the bottom branch. I told Leroy that the cat was stuck in the neighbor's tree and they probably wouldn't appreciate listening to her meowing all night long. Leroy agreed to get the cat down. Luckily, Leroy had a long enough ladder and was able to get the cat. Leroy hates heights and wasn't too happy about the whole situation. As soon as Leroy grabbed the cat. She started to cry. It was so sad. Well, that's the story. If the cat, does it again. I'm not sure if Leroy will get her out. Hopefully, its a lesson learned.

Mom Pie

Talk about a fun book! In the book, the little boys keep on wanting to help mom in the kitchen but she keeps sending them out of the kitchen. I have had this happen so many times. I ended up feeling really guilty at the end of the book. The boys end up making a mom pie becuase mom is too busy cooking. So, they collect of her favorite stuff around the house and make a mom pie to cuddle with. I thought the kids would enjoy making an apple pie with me. If you would like my apple pie recipe, click here.

Ta-Dah the final product! A crumb topping Apple pie! It smells heavenly and the kids a ton of fun. We are off to eat it together!

The kids just got up from their naps. So, I will finish this post another time.

Setting The Example...

Last night, I caught my hubby reading a children's book. My hubby is not a reader at all. The only thing he reads is boring technical books. I was shocked to see him pick up this book called "The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg" by Bill Peet. After he finished reading the book. He told Logan he wanted to read him this really GOOD book. It just melted my heart to see my hubby wanting to share a book for my son.

Bill Peet is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE children's book authors. Bill Peet was original an Disney artist. He helped with Dumbo, Bambi, and Pinocchio. I love all of his books. If you haven't read one before you are so missing out. Good morals, great illustrations, and great way to bond with your children. I never ever read a book as a child. I'm making sure my children have a love for reading. A part of this comes from introducing high quality books to your children before they start school. I hated to read because every teacher at school made it into a horrible chore. If you start them when they are young they will learn to love them for pleasure not just for completing a homework assignment.

Gardening 101

The past couple of days, we have had nothing but straight rain. No sunshine. I picked up several vegetable plants from Walmart to plant in our garden. I wanted to plant them last week. Unfortunately, due to the poor weather we haven't had a chance to garden. Finally, no rain this morning.

I told Logan to hurry up and get dress so we can finish planting our garden. Logan asked if he could plant his flower and veggie seeds in the garden. I told sure why not. Then, he told me he wanted to plant a dollar bill. He thought it would be great to grow dollar bills that way we would never have to buy money again.

Sorry, Son! I wish we could grow our own money!
Unfortunately, money does grow on trees or in the garden:(

The Power Of Learning How To Read...

I came home from running at the lake and discovered that Landon had read his very first book all by himself. I could hardly believe it. Landon sat down on the couch and tried to read the second book to the series called "How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?" by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. He claimed it was too hard and wanted to re-read "How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?" I wasn't sure if he could do it without my help but he managed just fine. It was really hard not to help. He kept on reminding me he didn't want my help. Slowly but surely he read the how book by himself. He has only read those little reader books but this was his first time reading a real picture book. I'm so proud of him. I told him, its not fair. I always want to able to read him book. The little guy is growing up way too fast.

My New Favorite Book!

I picked up this AWESOME book at the library. I didn't know at the time this was a Caldecott Medal book. I ended up with a very old edition of this book from the library. I had a slight feeling I was going to love this book. Its a about a little boy who is invited to have tea with the Queen and King. The first time going over to the palace he asks if he can bring a friend. Well, the friends end up being exotic animals. I don't want to give away the ending. So, go check out this book at the library. Logan wanted me to read it over and over again to him. The illustrations are amazing and the animals are great. I'm going to do some research and try to put together a unit study for this book. Also, I'm going to try to see if I can find anymore of her children's books at the library. A truly wonderful book especially for mom's with little boys.

The Azaleas are in Bloom

It's doesn't feel like Spring at the moment but my Azaleas are finally blooming! I just love Azaleas. Nothing else screams SPRING! I decided it would be fun to make Spring vase with the kids. Logan asbolutely loves nature, bugs, insects, plants,and flowers.

I started by cleaning some of daddy's old rootbeer glass bottles. We don't drink but you could use wine bottles just remove the labels. I picked up some Mod-Podge at the Walmart Associate store and we sat down and got busy. Then Logan and Leah covered their bottles with glue! Next thing they did was tear crape paper inside some pieces and pressed them into the glue.

Once, the paper was on the glass bottle. I painted more glue all over the paper and bottle. I let them sit out to dry for several hours.

Tad-dah! Finally Product! Logan found the Orange ribbon and wanted it on the bottle. It doesn't match but that doesn't matter. Its all about what he wants.

A perfect Mother's Day gift!

I Know My ABC's

My "d" Sound Box

By Jane Belk Moncure

This is my favorite series of book for teaching young children their ABC's. I have been checking the library for the past couple of weeks trying to get it for the letter A, B, and C but they were always check out. I finally was able to get my hands on the Letter "D" book. I really like how the author takes the approach teaching the lowercase letter "d" inside of the capital letter. Letters are usually printed in lowercase which will make it easier in the long run for children to learn to recognized their alphabet.

We sat down together and read the book. We talked about all the things in the book at started with the sound "d".

I had Logan go outside to the garage and grab a box. I wrote on the outside of the box with the letter "d" and we went for a sound hunt.

The kids did a great job. Leah threw the biggest fit when Logan tried to put on of her dolly's into the sound box. I eventually managed to sneak one into the box without her seeing it.

At the end of the hunt we ended up finding:

dogs

dinosaurs

donkey

dentist kit

dolly