dragonfly days

Day 5

Oops. I forgot one little detail yesterday and edited the last post. I forgot to add that we were able to touch and hold an already hatched shark egg. It was very cool.

Day 5 or Wednesday, we decided to head to the zoo.  

Jack was a bit burned out by this day. He was starting to miss the rest of the family and his routines.

I love gorillas. Once upon a time I wanted to visit the Congo and observe them.

The bus tour was a big hit, especially since we sat on the top of the double decker bus. Luckily it didn't start raining until we were done.

Going on the tour gave us a better idea of where we wanted to spend more time.  Watching the baby giraffes for instance.

And the rhinos.

The last time we visited this zoo they were just finishing up the panda exhibit.

The aviary's were a big hit with Jack.

Who am I kidding? I enjoyed them too. 

Things I don't like- sky rides. Things I like even less- sky rides when it is windy. By the time we reached the other side I was about to loose my lunch.

And right after this is when it started to pour. We stopped for a quick souvenir and then headed back to the hotel to warm up and dry out.

That evening, we headed to the Hard Rock cafe for dinner.

He really enjoyed looking at all the memorabilia.  Afterwards, we headed to the mall next door for dessert.

 

Happily we found it. :)

 

 

Frosty the doughman

Today we had the opportunity to go to a bread sculpting class put together by one of the moms in our support group. You can't see it in the picture, butat the time Jack was making a snowflake out of bread dough. Those were baked, brushed with melted butter and then dusted with powder sugar.

You can see the snowflake in this pic as he is dusting it with sugar.

After that they made a snowman out of dough. I have no pics of that. We brought it home and baked it and needless to say it didn't last long. 

Today we were also blessed with about 20 minutes of snow. Jack was thrilled. This boy has been wishing for snow all winter.  That is all he really wanted for Christmas. When I looked out and saw the flakes, he came running. And then he applauded.  He gave the snow a round of applause. Love that.

 

cookies

Today we had a fun activity with one of our homeschool groups.  We learned a few easy cookie recipes for the kids to bake.  The best by far was the play dough cookies they made. No eggs, so they can eat it and very fun to get creative with.

Jack really loved doing this and I know we'll be making these cookies regularly. :)

 

the menu

Cars are the latest thing around here. So give the boy a couple of boxes, a hot wheel car and some duct tape and it equals hours of play.

Now on to the menu.  We are doing Thanksgiving at our house this year. We have invited the parents and the girlfriend.  Everyone had to put their two cents in on the menu. Looking at it now I think we better stop eating tomorrow so we'll have room.  :) 

• Turkey- we are doing our usual brown sugar and brown mustard glaze, but this year I read about putting strips of bacon over the top to baste the turkey as it cooks. Ummm, yeah sign us up. :)
• The Pioneer Woman's make ahead potatoes, aka heart attack potatoes.
• Stuffing
• rolls
• cranberry/apple/orange sauce-- oh yeah by the spoonful.
• gravy- because it's Thanksgiving
• veggie platter and dip
• Cheeseball- tradition, and I sang that to the tune from Fiddler on the Roof in my head.
• Quesadilla- Jack's request.
• Green salad- Alex's request.
• pumpkin pie
• Key lime cheesecake- Zac's request
• Whipped cream.

I feel full already.

Tomorrow I will brave the grocery stores for the last minute supplies.

What's on your menu for Thanksgiving?

more on India

Thie year I am trying to fit in more baking time with Jack. The hope is if he helps more, he may actually eat more.  Our first attempt was this week making naan.  I did the mixing, and he helped cook it. He was the butter boy. :)  That actually is his nickname around these parts.

Everyone loved it. We also made strawberry lassi to drink.  I'm looking forward to doing more activities like this with him. :)

 

 

 

 

This final week before school starts is flying by. I've been working from morning until night trying to get everything I need to finished. There doesn't seem to be enough time-- which also seems to be the theme for this summer in general.

We're still trying to get in with the school counselor and make sure that Alex gets into the right math class. The district is changing their math program and since Alex is ahead of most kids her age, we have to make sure she gets in the right class. Apparently the school is just waiting until school starts and then separating the kids into the classes they should be in, but  their own website says that she should be in a different class than her schedule does.  So tomorrow we'll try again.

Steven went to the doctor and has a diagnosis of tendonitis.  We left with a  two week treatment plan and will go back if it is not better by then or gets worse in the meantime.  Then we will talk crutches.  At least he isn't starting school on crutches. :p

I've almost dealt with all the tomatoes. Phew. Between the garden and the co-op that was a lot of tomatoes, but come winter I'll be glad.  I also made muffins with fresh blueberries and today's treat was some frozen banana bites.

Other than that we have been steaming mattresses and bathrooms, moving furniture,  going through everyone's clothes and decluttering those, finishing projects, and getting the homeschool stuff  ready.

Tomorrow we'll start to finish up the school shopping, hopefully make it to the fair tomorrow night, and deal with the last of the tomatoes. And hopefully Thursday I'll get pictures up of some of the changes we've made and the projects that have been finished for homeschool this year. :)

 

 

scenes from the weekend 8/07

Temperature at 9pm.

Garden tomatoes.

This weekend was filled with: good deals, laughter, lots of talking, late nights, early mornings, an unheard of nap, school shopping, cooking, baking, lots of cuddles, cleaning, having my phone off almost all weekend,  and lot of coffee.

On the list for this week:

• more cooking, freezing and processing tomatoes.
• a doctor appointment for Steve
• a counselor appointment for Alex
• more school shopping
• the county fair and chicken show
• yoga
• a not-back-to-school party with the homeschool group.
• ordering the rest of our homeschool supplies
• making a chalkboard
• finish decorating our school space with Jack
• helping the kids fit as much as they possibly can into the last week before school starts.
• getting up earlier in prep for school starting-yuck.

What is on your list?

 

garden update

A litte update from the garden. Our first tomatoes this year! The first pepper! I'm thinking some homemade Italian is in order this week. we also have pumpkins and jack-be-littles coming out our ears. And speaking of ears- corn! Yes lots of corn this year.  The cabbages have also made it and cabbage salad is on the menu for this week. 

The flower garden is slowly changing. The early blooms are dying off and new flowers are appearing daily. Love that.

 

 

a bowl of cherries

Today the girls, Jack and I went out to a local orchard and picked cherries.

When Jack picked two cherries with the stems connected he told me that he thought it meant he was going to have good luck. :)

 

Jack didn't want to leave. I think he would have stayed all day if we had let him. In all we ended up with 40 lbs of cherries.  Now to just do something with them. First thing on the list is a homemade cherry pie!  A friend also suggested cherry chocolate chip muffins. Mmmmmm.

 

Slow Sunday

First off, last night I made popcorn on the stovetop. I couldn't find all the pieces to my airpopper, stop laughing, and we really needed popcorn. How hard could it be? Not hard at all and the airpopper is getting tossed. Seriously the best popcorn ever.

Today we spent catching up on various projects. My favorite part was going for a walk at the elementary school while Steve and Alex played lacrosse and Jack played on the playground. I heart the warmer weather right now and spending it together is...well great. 

My project for the weekend. I love this quote and had to have it hanging in my house! I took one of the used canvases that we picked up last year,  put a couple of layers of gesso on it and then went to work. Tomorrow I'll coat it with...something and then hang it in the living room.

 

How was your weekend?

 

November 15 2010

I made this pumpkin granola  bar recipe this evening. Can you say yummy? Mine didn't turn out quite as chewy as they are supposed to, I was a little sidetracked while making them, but still yummy.  In fact I think it would be great with yogurt in the morning. I was looking for something for the masses to take to school, eat between drivers ed and lacrosse practice, softball games, etc and this was an instant favorite.

Tonight we started the Harry Potter marathon, with the first movie.  Luckily I was able to work out and finish my first scarf!

It turns out it is the perfect size for Jack. So I'm using the other skein to make him a matching hat.  

 

Sept 13 2010

I'm back to menu planning this week after a week of, "I have no idea" as an answer to what's for dinner.  I've really been enjoying the time and $$ saved by menu planning, not to mention that my freezer has also been enjoying the benefits. This week karate starts for Jack so Tuesdays and Thursdays need to have meals either in the crockpot or from the freezer.  Also with karate and tennis I want to make sure that he has a little more protein in his meals and snacks on those days. So here's this week's plan:

Breakfasts:

• Mon- pancakes & fruit I slept in and daddy did breakfast so it was cereal. 
• Tues- oatmeal & fruit
• Wed- pumpkin pancakes & fruit
• Thurs- Eggs and toast
• Fri- muffins and fruit

Lunch (Jack):

• bagel and cream cheese
• chicken strips and corn
• pb&j  with yogurt
• mac & cheese
• quesadilla

Dinner:

• lemon pepper  chicken on the grill with corn
• Sloppy joes- crock pot
• Burritos
• lasagna from the freezer
• park-potluck
• bean & rice bowls with cornbread

Snacks-

• granola bar with milk
• peanut butter balls
• muffins
• scones
• mini cheese and carrot balls with crackers

Freezer:

• pumpkin scones
• breakfast bars
• raspberry buttermilk bread

September 6 2010

Guess what we did today? We were supposed to go apple picking this past Saturday, but because I still wasn't feeling well from my trip to the dentist we didn't make it. So instead I bought 20+ lbs of apples. This evening I processed apples while Alex worked on pie crust.

After the apples were cut I handed the whole operations over to her so that I could help Jack with his science project for tomorrow.

This is Steven helping with the actual building of the project. I gave Jack a quick lesson on exactly why it was scientific. :)

More pics tomorrow!

July 7 2010

The reading is really starting to go. He's been sounding out words on signs, packages, and everywhere else. He really enjoys getting his LEGO magazine in the mail.

I've been enjoying my new read.For the first time in my life I made homemade bread. Artisan bread doesn't count here. Now I can check that off the list. :)     And yes we will be making it again, it was very good. 

enjoying ourselves

 

French Breakfast Puffs

Today was baking day, or "what can we make to take to park day" as we like to call it. Alex made the French Breakfast Puffs from the Pioneer Woman. OMG! So good. Which is why we'll be taking them to park day so that they won't be sitting around here any longer.

For dinner tonight I made:

Chicken Stir-Fry Wraps

Yummy and a nice change. They went pretty far. My plan was to cook for two days and have leftovers. Zac is working close by and is now making a point to come home for lunch so my leftovers aren't making it that far, which is okay. It's nice he can get a good lunch when he's close by. 

On the homeschool front:
Alex has settled nicely back in to a routine. Which is a relief since we had just started getting into one before the December craziness.

Jack's been doing better with his learning activities and actually doing some. We reverted to the read aloud during bath time routine. Tonight we started Charlotte's Web. He is really enjoying that.

I'm thinking of placing a order with Steve Spangler science. The science fair was so fun that I am itching to do some more projects. And what child doesn't like hands on especially when it come to science?

what's a person to do?

Remember my bookish plans I posted yesterday? What am I going to do now? So many choices...

Look what the UPS guy, or the present man according to Jack, brought us today:

 

Oh my!

And he also brought:

The books for the upcoming House Party I'm having. Oh my! Hardcover books! But wait there's more:

 

Can you read that? Advance readers edition! I feel so special. ;) I think I've only read one other book by this author a very long time ago so I am excited to get reacquainted with her work. I love any excuse to get together with my wonderful friends and we all love books so this is perfect.

Now onto cooking news. Tonight I prepared this meal:

Mini Honey-Mustard Meatloaves with Roasted Potatoes

Oh my! I know you're thinking meatloaf and the 80's right? The stuff you could make a brick wall with. You have got to try this. It is so very yummy. My dh said that from now on I am cooking this. It was delicious. You know it is a success when everyone is quiet at the dinner table--well except for the yummy sounds, and everyone clears their plates. 

what's on the menu

In no particular order.

Breakfast:

waffles

pumpkin pancakes

butternut squash cinnamon muffins, fruit, milk

eggs in a nest

scrambled eggs with cheese

cereal

Lunch:

grilled cheese with soup

subs

quesadillas

spaghetti/noodles with cheese

pb+j

snacks:

peanut butter and oat balls

sliced apples with caramel dip

popcorn

pumpkin apple muffins

yogurt

dinner:

lasagna with salad

beef roast with carrots, potatoes, onions

chicken alfredo

potato soup with artisan bread

enchiladas with rice.

I'll also be working on stocking my freezer with some extra stuff for the upcoming season this week.

a pirates life

Tomorrow is Jack's 5th birthday. I finally talked him into a pirate themed party which will be on Saturday. However he is not making the distinction between having the birthday tomorrow and the party on Saturday. In all his excitement he can't seem to wrap his head around it.  So I made a cake for tomorrow. We'll have yet another, different pirate cake for Saturday. And of course I used the fondant.

 

the story of the boy who lived and the witch who didn't

Once upon a time there was a wizard boy. He had already survived a horrible attack as an infant. One day he was transported to the land of oz. There he met the members of the lollipop guild, who told him to follow the orange brick road. He followed the road through the haunted gumdrop forest.

When he was almost to the emerald city, he saw a witch who reminded him of his Godfather Sirius Black's sister Bella. So he did a levitation spell and lifted the whole city to drop on her.

Oz is now closed.

Okay not that good of a story, but isn't the scene too cute?! It was so much fun and what can I say I love fondant now!

menu plan

I actually have a menu plan written down for this week! Yay!

Here goes:

Sunday--roast, mashed potatoes, salad

Monday--lasagna, garlic bread, salad

Tues--I'm gone, so it's leftover night

Wednesday- enchiladas, rice, corn bread

Thursday-- chicken and rice--Thai curry for some, teriyaki for others

Friday--park day another good day for leftovers

Saturday--is  up in the air right now. Steven really wants to cook.

Breakfasts-

eggs

oatmeal

cereal

waffles

Lunches-

quesadillas

sub sandwiches

salads

rice and veg

mini pizza

Snacks:

apple slices and yogurt dip

rice cakes and fruit

bread stick and cream cheese

banana bread muffins

peanut butter balls and fruit.