The Kelley Family

Vermicomposting (AKA Worms)

2011-09-05T06:58:00.000-04:00

These pics were taken last spring after visiting the NOFA NH winter conference. There we found a vendor selling "red wigglers" as composting worms. After reading of the value of worm castings (ie. poop) as a natural fertilizer in our gardens and how they can turn your kitchen waste into something of value I knew we wanted to try it for ourselves.

First we researched online and watched some You Tube videos about the subject (there are lots!). Then we found a spare storage tote and went to work. Here James is drilling the holes in the bottom of the tote for drainage. The lid also needs to be done for air flow.

Next we shredded lots of newspaper and added that to the bin... or the floor :-)
Emmy is now adding water to moisten the shredded paper.
Next, in go our red wigglers!

On top of that a little more paper some garden soil and some kitchen scraps. The worms like to stay warm so they spent most of the spring in our kitchen then moved to the shed for the summer and now reside in our basement.

So far our worm bin has multiplied into three bins and we have a big bucket of pure vermicompost to use in our gardening this year! We are thinking of selling our excess worms at our farm stand this summer either as composing worms or as fishing worms???

Kefir Blueberry Coconut Cake & Picking Too

2011-07-26T10:23:00.002-04:00

The blueberries are out! After a really BAD season last year due to a late spring frost, this years wild blueberry crop is amazing!! Check out these clumps of berries, they almost look like high bush.

Not a great photo because it was taken with my phone but after only 2 hours of picking we came away with over 25 cups of berries! You can see the amount of berries still left on the bushes in the blurry background.

What to do with so many blues?

Eat them of-coarse!

Kefir Coconut Blueberry Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup shredded coconut
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk kefir
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries

Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons lemon juice (or enough to make a smooth glaze)

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup coconut. In another bowl beat the eggs, kefir and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
Spread in a greased and floured 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle with the rest of the coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack.
In a small bowl combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. When cooled slightly drizzle the glaze over the cake and serve!

Emmalie's Birthday #5

2011-07-19T10:45:00.000-04:00

Our little girl turned 5 the other day! How grown up she is! Loosing teeth, riding bikes, and just wanting to hang with the big kids all the time some days makes her seem even older! If anyone has a recipe to make kids stop growing up so fast please let me know!!!

Emmy was blessed by Nana and Bumpa with a special sleepover for her and her sis at the campground where they spend the summer. She was even was able to catch some fireworks in town! The next day we had a little party and she was blessed with some nice clothes, toys and a bike (that came a few weeks ago).

Emmy (along with her Mimi) really like hello kitty and got this cute little shirt which is now her favorite.

Mollie's favorite gift...

Happy 5th Birthday Emmy! We Love YOU!!

Citrus Rhu-berry Jam and Roadside Foraging

2011-07-15T19:02:00.003-04:00

The kids and I set out to walk "the loop" the other day and ended up with 2 cups of wild berries! We just happened to come upon this small patch of blueberries on the side of the road and so we stopped for some spur of the moment picking!

Then to our surprise, we also came upon a nice patch of wild raspberries!! What a treat! With the cost of berries so high we picked all we could. This patch popped up in the past year or two in a new development down the road from us. A great place to look for berries because they are usually found in areas that have recently been cut or cleared.

The kids we so HOT but helped mama pic anyway! I think James is eating one in this pic instead of plopping them into our empty water bottles!! Caught!!!
We did have to improvise to come up with berry picking containers since we did not think to bring one along. We guzzled these two waters down to make room for the berries.

I had made plans to make rhubarb jam with a friend later that week. After searching for just the right recipe and realizing I did not have the right ingredients for any of them I came up with this recipe. It came out sooooooooo good that I am planning on making another batch very soon!

Citrus Rhu-berry Jam

6 c. fresh or frozen rhubarb, chopped
4 c. sugar
1 clementine (or a small orange), juiced and rind chopped into very thin small slices
1 c. fresh raspberries
1 c. fresh blueberries
3 oz. pkg. strawberry gelatin

In large kettle combine rhubarb, sugar, juice, and rind. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes or till sugar is moistened. Bring to a boil and continue to boil uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add raspberries and blueberries; return to boiling. Boil hard 5 to 6 minutes or till thick, stirring often. Remove from heat. Add gelatin; stir till dissolved. Ladle into hot, clean jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. (Start timing when water boils.) Or if you're brave like me tip the jars over for 5 minutes then return them to the upright position instead of a water bath. Makes 5 to 6 half pints.

Ethan Turns 9!

2011-06-15T08:21:00.005-04:00

Our little Ethan turned 9! It's hard to believe he can possibly be that old!! He has grown and changed so much, becoming more and more responsible and always adding some silliness to our days! The day of his birthday was busy with church and working on our families garden project but we took a special afternoon break for some ice cream cake!

It's too funny that two years ago Ethan also requested an ice cream cake and ended up with the same one. It's Auntie Sarah's specialty. HERE is the post from his 7th birthday and the directions on how to make one.

Here is Ethan getting ready to blow out the candles, he used an interesting technique of blowing each candle out separately and not all at once!

Ethan is really in to Star Wars this year. Here he is thanking Papa for some Legos!

This is a little blury but I loved his excited face when he saw the double bladed light saber!!

The day ended with the last gift, a roof for our first greenhouse!

Sheep and a Schoolhouse

2011-06-07T07:02:00.005-04:00

We had a fun visit to a nearby farm in Tamworth NH called Schoolhouse Farm. They raise Icelandic sheep, a breed known to be triple purpose, wool, meat, and milk! The seep had been shorn a couple months ago to make way for kidding. There 18 lambs born this season!

This was as close as I could get with my phone camera so you cannot see the curly long wool on these beautiful sheep. Check out the link to the farm above to see more sheep pics. The wool actually gets really long almost touching the ground before being shorn.

We also got a tour of the farms namesake, the old schoolhouse. It was so neat to go inside a schoolhouse untouched and as it was long ago.

This was what you saw as you walked in the front door. So cute!! And the map was so neat!!! It was of Carroll County and some of the old hotels and stores were pictured around it.

The kids, not really ever having sat at a real school desk had lots of fun pretending!

There were only two little desks so the little kids piled their chairs around both sides of this one. No electricity and no lights made this photo with my phone a little dark but fun!

There was also a frog/swimming pond, a barn that was solar powered and the beautiful farm house to check out too. The kids had a great time with their pals as you can see from these sweet pics of friendship.

A Real Tea Party

2011-06-04T06:33:00.002-04:00

The girls and Mommy got to enjoy a real tea party at our church last weekend! This is becoming an annual event at our church and is so fun to dress up and play pretend with all the ladies!
Here is Emmy and Mollie with their Mimi.

The girls had a great time sipping tea out of real tea cups and munching on all the goodies!

Especially the sweet ones!!!

Thanks Miss Sherry for planning this event for the ladies!

Mollie is 3!

2011-06-04T06:06:00.003-04:00

Our baby is 3!!
Time has flown by so fast since this little one came into our lives! Here is a pic of her at her 1st birthday:

And here she is now enjoying her froggy cupcake on her birthday at home! What a difference!!

Here she is getting ready to devour that pile of frosting! Miss Mollie has a MAJOR sweet tooth! If she is crying and unwilling to stop she is easily bribed into stopping with candy or some other sweet treat!

She also can be oh so sweet in nature too! Here she is with her little chick (fluffy 2), who is the same kind as the one we lost in a dog attack last summer!

Oh Miss Mollie how you have grown! We love you so much and are so glad you are in our family!!

Grandview Farm Blog

2011-05-27T06:01:00.003-04:00

We now have a new blog for our families "farming" project this year. You can check it out in the side bar or by clicking the link below:

http://grandviewfarm.blogspot.com/

Pat's Building a ...

2011-04-29T12:44:00.000-04:00

Can You Guess?

More pics to come!

Easter Babies!

2011-04-28T16:26:00.002-04:00

It was such a treat to have our new baby chicks and ducklings arrive two days before Easter! It is so fun to have babies in the house!! We bought 8 chicks and 4 ducklings from a NH woman who sells them on Craig's list. We are so excited to see how the Speckled Sussex chicks are going to look as adults. They are the reddish ones in the pic below. We also bought 1 Barred Rock which is the black and white one and 1 Buff Orpington which is the yellow one with it's head turned back. The Buff Orpington was a must to replace Mollies chicken Fluffy who didn't survive a dog attack:(

Here are our beautiful little Cayuga Ducklings! They are so sweet and cute and soft!! They have a much different personality than the chicks, far more easy going and docile. I chose this breed after researching a little and finding out that they are much quieter and tend to be more docile than other breeds. Plus the male becomes a beautiful greenish back color when full grown. They are also very hardy in colder climates.

Our other babies are veggies!!! This is the grow table that Pat built so that we could start lots of seedlings inside without having to put them all on the kitchen table. We also added artificial lighting to help the plants to not become leggy. Under the shelves on the floor is our brooder. We can keep the chicks and duck warm and heat the soil for the seedlings at the same time!! Nothing like multipurpose!

Here is the side view and James checking on the chicks.

Our real Easter babies on Sunday morning at church were the cutest though!!! The girls are sporting the little cardi sweaters that I started as Christmas presents but ended up not being finished until last week! They were perfect for Easter though! The pattern for the sweaters and the little purses can be found on the Lionbrand Yarn website.

Easy Homemade Yogurt Method!

2011-04-19T09:07:00.000-04:00

Thought I would share this method of making yogurt that we've been using for the last month or two. I have been wanting to make yogurt for YEARS now and was slightly intimidated by it, until I realized it really is so simple! Here's what we do:

In the morning I set a dishcloth in the bottom of a pot and then fill (to a little below the screw lines) 4 pint jars with milk. Then the jars are placed in the pot and I add water to about the same level as the milk. Place it on the stove, turn it on high, add a thermometer and go about making breakfast or cleaning up from dinner last night...oops!
You are looking for the milk to reach 180 degrees.

Also a thin film will form on the top of the milk.

When up to temp remove the jars from the water to cool down to 110 degrees. You can do this by either letting them sit on the counter (it will take several hours) or setting them in the sink or dishpan and slowly adding cool water so the jars do not break!!! (Oops again!) It will only take 30 minutes or so if you are wanting to speed up the process. I let them cool for a few minutes and then set them in a dishpan and added cool water slowly and then cold water and then ice cubes. Add more ice as necessary. Do NOT set the jars directly into ice water! Not good for your jars!!!

Meanwhile, I placed the cover on the pot I used for heating the milk and left it on the burner with the heat turned off. This is going to be my heat source for keeping the yogurt warm.

When the yogurt is down to temp I added 1 tablespoon of plain good quality store yogurt (used Stonyfield) to each pint and gave it a gentle stir until the yogurt was thoroughly mixed in. Next I screwed the caps on and place the pot of water and the jars in my cooler with a towel for extra insulation. I wrap the towel over everything and close the lid. The yogurt needs 4 to 24 hours to culture. I did not time how long they were in the cooler but that night before bed I opened it up and placed the jars in the fridge.

The next morning you have yummy homemade (and easy to my surprise) yogurt that you can add any type of flavoring to! The kids and I have been loving maple syrup and granola on ours!
Love the fact that I have almost no dishes with this method too! Just the measuring spoon I used to measure out the yogurt and stir with. The pot of water I dump and dry and put away since it only had water in it. My dishcloth is now completly sterilized and clean so I hang it up to dry. I have also now started using quart jars instead of pints since the kids eat this for breakfast almost every day!!!

Boiling Sap: Our Set-up

2011-03-29T08:16:00.006-04:00

Our first batch of finished maple syrup! It took many hours to produce but is so satisfying to see, smell, and taste!!

Each batch seems to go a little bit smoother as we figure things out as we go. Here is our basic set up using a double propane turkey fryer that we borrowed from Pat's dad.

My "clothespin" can has now been re-purposed as a pre-heater for the cold sap. The sap is poured through a filter (an old shirt) and then slowly leaks out of two small holes into each pot. The sap warm as it sits in the can and the slow leak ensures we do not "kill the boil".

Here is another view of our set up. We decided to put up this small tent to keep the falling snow out of the pots. It also helps to keep out the pine needles and debri from the trees next to us. The chair is for brief moments of sitting! It's been too cold to move far from the pots warmth anyway!!

A night time pic of the steam in our little tent and Pat checking the progress!

Set up #2 was given to us by a friend of Pat and seems to work pretty well if Pat is home to get the fire going. I cannot seem to figure it out!! Once the fire is going... the pan on the left is used for warming and then ladeled into the pan on the right which we try to keep at a continuous boil. This method has some flaws, the ash from the fire below seems to find it's way through small cracks and into the boiling sap. The small cracks would not have been there if the pan that came with it was useable but after several attempts at repairing a crack in the bottom we went with these two cheap-o turkey roasting pans instead. We continuously skim the gunk out and it gets filtered two more times before bottling so the ash does not end up in the finished product. Also our wood is not dry (lesson learned!) and so we sometimes have a hard time keeping a continuous boil.

It is most definitely my favorite method though because it is WARM! There also seems to be more action involved with this system and keeping busy helps you forget the frigid air.

This pic shows our sap storage barrel that was also donated to the cause by some friends. Pat continues to pack snow around it so that the sap will stay fresh throughout the week until we are ready to boil again.

Our total so far is 4 1/2 gallons of finished syrup! My goal is to have 5 gallons stored away to use for eating and cooking throughout the year. We are hoping for anohter 2 weeks of the season and so are definitly going to reach our goal, even after giving alot away! We are so thankful!

"And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." -Genesis 2:9

Our Maple Syrup Adventure Begins!

2011-03-16T07:09:00.001-04:00

We officially have Maple Fever!
I have been reading lots of "grow your own", "make your own", and "do it your self" type books and just happened to come across Backyard Sugarin' by Rick Mann at our local library. He makes it seem so easy and fun to produce a small supply of syrup in your backyard! In my excitement I began sharing all the info with Pat, then fever hit us! We collected all the supplies and even located some great trees (in Jackson at Pat's parents house and at their neighbors)! Last weekend we decided it was time to set the taps.

These photo's are by James who was sent with strict instructions to take pics of tapping the trees since I could not come (I was home with a sick babe:-(
Here Pat is pushing his homemade sap collection sled up the field to the sugar maples.

We had gone out earlier to identify and tag the trees that we are 99% sure are sugar maples?? 99% because the fever hit us after the trees had lost their leaves and were buried by a foot of snow! I researched how to identify them just by the buds and the leaves that I could find after digging in the snow at the base of the tree. If I'm wrong we are sure to end up with some interesting syrup!
Here is James' pic of his Dad drilling the tap:

Next the tap is set in the hole and the bucket and lid are placed. We got a great deal on taps, buckets and lids from a friend of Pat's who had extra he was not using.

Here you can just barely see the first drop of sap coming to the end of the tap! Success!

This little video was also shot by James and then edited at home (with a little help from Mom!)

We have now collected over 35 gallons of sap and are looking forward to trying our hand at boiling this weekend! Stay tuned for more pics coming soon!!

High Test

2011-02-24T06:34:00.002-05:00

We found the perfect thing for this spot between the windows in the kitchen! It has been empty since we painted (still need to work on the cabinets!).

This old sign was originally the sign at my great grandparents farm. It was rescued from their barn before it was torn down and then forgotten in our basement. I dug it out one day and realized it would be a perfect fit in the kitchen. Pat built me the shelf for my milk bottle collection and I (with help from a friend) painted it and roughed it up on the corners so it looked old. We are really happy with how it came out, this pic does not do it justice with the camera flash being on but it was too dark to shut the flash off. It's so fun to have this piece of family farm history in our kitchen!

My Dad said that he does not remember the sign being up when he was a kid so I am guessing it is pre 1950's?? I am hoping to get some more info from my Nana on when it was up and the workings of the dairy. I am still trying to figure out what "high test" meant back then?? Exceptional quality maybe???

Boston: Day One!

2011-01-24T08:09:00.000-05:00

Our trip to Boston (back in September) was so much fun! For some reason it has taken me until January to post only half of the pics from this trip!!! The boys ask me when we are going again all the time!! A big thanks goes to our homeschool friend Sonja who did tons of leg work for the trip! Here the kids are posed at the church where we were camping out. Two more families met up with us in the city. The church kindly let us camp out in the basement at night while touring the city by day.

Ethan and James had never been on the subway and I had only been on once or twice! It was a real learning experience for us all and by the end of the trip I think I could have gotten us across town??? Ethan and James are posing here with Sonja in the background as we descend into the ground for the first time!

The subway pics came out BAD, but I just had to include their first subway ride!! Ethan's face looks a little scared in this one but Maverick is as happy as a clam!

Now James looking oh so calm for his first ride!

Our first stop in Boston was the Public Garden and the Swan Boats! Even though this is not necessarily a Boston history stop, it was a necessity for those of us who read the Trumpet of the Swan!

A beautiful day for a boat ride! Here Ethan and James pose on the boat.

Our swan boat ride would not be complete with out some swans!!

The nice looking bunch sitting behind us!

A policeman on horseback was kind enough to stop and talk to our group and let us say hello to his horse! I think the horse was named Fredrick (Fred for short). So fun!!

While in Boston Public Garden you absolutely must read Make Way for Ducklings! Thankfully Sonja was prepared for this and brought the book along. Sarah read it to all the kids while we sat near the duck statue and had a snack. At each stop we had a snack themed for that particular site.

Make way for the Homegrown Explorers! And the ducklings too!!

A statue of George Washington! We snapped this just as we were leaving the park.

Sonja set up a visit to the lobby of the Ritz Carlton! A fun treat to those of us who read The Trumpet of the Swan, Louis the Swan was able to spend a night at the Ritz in the book!

Here the kids were able to do rubbings of the Declaration of Independence. They were easily able to see John Hancock's name and everyone wanted to rub it onto their paper!

James took this fun photo of his feet on the Freedom Trail. These red bricks mark the way throughout all of Boston.

This is the Granary Burying Gound named for the Granary that was located next door It was really neat to walk around and see all the old graves.
The boys were looking for several famous graves on their Boston Bingo sheets. Here is Paul Revere's grave.
The boys located the Samuel Adams grave site next.
Then we were on the move again to find more interesting sites on our Boston bingo sheet. Here the boys pose with Ben Franklin at the Boston Latin School, the oldest public school. I thought it was amusing that all though Franklin attended this school, he is one of Americas most noted high school dropouts!!
A fun group photo with the donkey statue also at the Boston Latin School! Click here to check out the history of the statue.

Ethan opposing the democrats! Go Ethan!!

James had tons of fun taking pics of all the "sky scrapers" and other interesting buildings!

We loved the contrast of old and new in Boston! This is at the site of the Boston Massacre.

The big building with the clock is really beautiful when lit up at night! It is the Custom House Hotel.
Ethan thought it would be fun to take a pic with one of the mayors of Boston. He has not one but two statues in this little park near the Holocaust Memorial?? After, we headed over towards Faneuil Hall to Quincy Market for dinner.

After dinner we decided to visit the Boston Public Library since we could not go back to the church until after the bible study was over. This didn't come out great but it is the open courtyard at the library! It was so beautiful and huge!! The pic does not do it justice!

Here is the amazing marble entry way in the Library! We walked around a little and then found a quiet corner to take a break and read before heading back to the church.

James and Ethan thought it was fun to act like they were holding up the pillars of the building like Sampson! As soon as they saw these pillars in the library that is what they thought of! So cute!!

We then headed back to the "T" for another ride to the church where we were staying.

Stay tuned for day two!

Chickens in the Snow and more!

2011-01-18T17:10:00.007-05:00

Yes, our chickens get special treatment... they don't have to walk in the snow because Ethan uses the Tonka dump truck AKA "Jack" to drive them around! Look closely and you will see Golden Feather or "Goldie" for short calmly taking a ride.

Then not so calmly trying to fly away!

Next it was Rosies turn! You can see it was starting to get dark at this point but we had a roaring bon fire going, the first of many to try and rid our yard of too many trees. We are hoping to expand the garden this coming spring among other projects!

Since it has been snowing like crazy this past week I have been shoveling like crazy too! This is the first winter with chickens and so our path to the coop must be kept open. Also kept open is a path to the shed doors and to the greenhouse. We are using the greenhouse as storage for the winter and are trying to keep it free of snow so that it does not end up with holes come spring.

Quiz: Who do these little footprints belong too???

Our furry foe the red squirrel who seems to have found a nice little nesting spot in the eaves upstairs in Mollies room!! James and Pat have both been aiming to take this one out but so far have not succeeded!! He is super cute when not tearing thing up in our house though!

Our chickens seem to be happy in their coop. Pat built a roof frame and covered it with plastic for the winter to keep the snow out of the run. So far so good! I throw in bunches of hay here and there for them to peck in and it keeps the busy.

Since we have gone from NO snow on Christmas to LOTS of snow now (and it is snowing again today!!) we have been playing a lot in the snow! We have had a couple of nice adventures with our new snowshoes given to us for Christmas. No pics of course because I forgot the camera again!!
The boys and Emmy had there first day of skiing (no camera again) at King Pine. It went well and Emmy even got to ride up on the chairlift! We borrowed a great harness for little ones that is a huge help in teaching them to ski. I am going to try and reproduce one with webbing from Mom and Dad's shop.

We also had fun making this recipe for Snow Muffins! Thanks Elizabeth for sharing the link.

A winter fun game called Fox and Geese was found in our book "A Pioneer Sampler"(thanks to Selena). It seems this used to be a popular winter game for children long ago. Since we are studying the pioneers we thought it would be a fun one to try. I found the directions online if you don't have access to the book, check it out:
Fox and Geese Winter Game

Other Snowy Games (from Family Fun) that we are excited to try:

JUMP SNOW HURDLES

Lightly pack a bunch of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of follow the leader.

FLAG IN A SNOW STACK

Tie a white cloth to the end of a short stick or around the bowl of a wooden spoon. Then, give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within a predetermined set of boundaries. Keep track of how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag that takes the longest time to spot wins the game.

STRIKE OUT

For this pitching contest, first mound up snow to create three bases and a pitcher's mound. They should each be about 2 feet high and 20 feet apart. Next, build a tin can pyramid on each base. The challenge is to knock down the stacks in order from first to third base by throwing snowballs from the pitcher's mound. The child who succeeds with the fewest pitches wins.

HAT TRICK

Once you've built a plump, frosty snowman to stand sentry in your front yard, make a game of topping him off in style. Take turns trying to land a hat on his head by throwing it Frisbee style from 10 or so feet away.

GET ON A ROLL

Pair up for a contest in which the object is to finish with the biggest snowball. The contest ends when the teams can no longer roll their entries or when you run out of snow.

Have fun!

Back to the Ocean

2010-09-24T07:30:00.008-04:00

We have decided that after school starts is a great time to go to the ocean!! Don't get me wrong, there were still people around here and there but not nearly as many as there are during the "summer" busyness!! It was great! We enjoyed the day with our friends the Thornes and their generous hospitality! Here are a few pics of the beautiful lighthouse at Ft. Williams State Park.

I caught this one just as a tugboat was pushing a large ship past! It was a neat sight for all of us!!

The boys enjoyed playing military games at the old forts, I convinced James to stop for a quick pic before heading back to "war".
Mollie and Chandler were so cute in the stroller together!
After walking around the park and exploring the old forts we made our way to the playground.
Emmy and Eliza were making some sort of something to eat???

Mollie and Chandler wanted to hang from the monkey bars over and over! I caught Mollie just as her arms gave way!

Chandlers turn!

Here's the gang on the slide with the ocean in the back! It was so cool to play at a playground with an ocean view!!

Later we headed off to a small beach down the road to explore the tide pools! Mrs. Thorne was great at finding sea creatures!! What do you suppose is under this rock...

...two little crabs!

It was a chilly evening but that didn't stop everyone from striping their socks and shoes to feel the cool sand on their toes.

James actually decided to wear his sandals into the tide pools so that none of those cute little crabs could pinch his toes!

This pic was captured as the sun was setting and was hitting the kids just right so that they glowed just a little!

This tide pool was full of fun creatures! Mostly hermit crabs!! They were everywhere and the kids had a blast catching them all and moving them into a little pool until the big "race"! Yup, you guessed it, the hermits had to race before being released back to their peaceful home!!!

The sunset was beautiful! It was around 7pm or so, such a peaceful and quiet time to be at the beach!

Emmy found a nice little orange rock that she really wanted me snap a photo of.

The boy's were also eagerly looking for sea glass... none found though!

Eliza made a fun discovery that when you lift a piece of seaweed from the sand it leaves a "tree" shape in the sand! It was so neat, she tried it several times forming more and more "sand trees"!

We are so thankful for a wonderful day with our friends and a chance to enjoy Gods beautiful creation! We are hoping to go back again very soon!!

Soccer and Static Hair

2010-09-24T07:04:00.003-04:00

James and Ethan started soccer at the Conway Rec. a couple weeks ago.
I snapped a few pics on their first day:

The first couple day's were practice and drills, now the boys will be playing real games on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons if anyone want's to come and cheer them on!
Here is James (in the red shorts) driving the ball up the field.

The boys homeschool pals Thaddeus and Kevin are also playing at the rec this year! They stopped running long enough for me to snap this shot:

While the boys played the girls were having fun on the playground with their friend Eliza! The cold dry air that day sent the girls hair flying as they came down the slide!!

They went down over and over and the hair just kept getting bigger and bigger!

Mollies static personality matches her hair in this photo!!

Summer Fun...catching up!

2010-09-24T05:29:00.006-04:00

I know I've been a major slacker this summer with keeping our blog updated so here is a jammed packed post full of some fun stuff we did over the summer.

We joined the library summer reading program for one of their weekly activities. This one was on butterflies, dragonflies and other flying insects. After the presentation we were able to make t-shirts on the lawn out back. Here Emmy and Carrie pose with their t's with Mollie and Wally in the background.

Ethan chose bat's for his t-shirt! Black with bat's... such a boy!!

James and his dragonfly shirt.

Mollie and her shirt...created with a little help from Mom:-)

They even gave out popsicles at the end!!

Here the "big kids" were having fun posing for James' camera! I stumbled on them while looking through pics on his camera. I thought they were too fun not to include!

We were able to join the Everitts at Muria's sisters house to see her horses (and other animals too)! It was sooooo hot that day but it didn't stop the kids from having a great time learning about these animals. First it was time for a good brush down.

This was as far as Mollie got! She didn't want anything to to with riding!!

Muria demonstrating how to clean the hooves.

Emmy is looking a little unsure in this pic but she did have fun!

Ethan couldn't wait to get on! He loves being up there!

James' turn!

We took a fun field trip with the homeschoolers to Dole's Orchard in Maine. They must have every kind of fruit you can grow here in New England! We were able to pick raspberries, blueberries and peaches! Yum!!

Here are the kids with our bounty! Mimi and Auntie Sarah (oh and little Benji too) were able to join us and share the delicious tastes of summer!

Also check out pics from our camping trip in Vermont with the Everitts on their blog:
Camping
Shelburne Farm

Update from Kelley Corner Farm

2010-08-28T08:20:00.006-04:00

I know it's been awhile... but we have been having a fun and busy summer! We enjoyed our month long visit with our dear friends the Everitt's from CA! We played, we swam, we ate, we even went on a three day camping trip to VT! Of course I am a nut and seemed to forget my camera every time we were together!!! I will link to their blog when she posts some pics (hint, hint, hint).
This month we have had the pleasure of watching our baby cousin Benjamin! He is such a little cutie pie! The kids loved playing and talking with him, especially the girls! In June we had a specially delivery from a friend who was getting rid of her chickens! Two Silver Laced Wyandottes and two little Bantam Sebrights! They traveled to our house in the back of Daddy's truck in cat carriers!

Here is one of the Bantam Sebrights. The bantam chickens are 1/4 to 1/2 the size of a regular chicken making them super cute and easy to handle! The coloring on these are so pretty too!

They seemed to quickly make themselves at home!

Lucy our watch dog seemed to like them too, the other chickens though were another story! Miss Golden Feathers (in the background) is a super big bully and is definitely at the top of the pecking order! The two groups (old and new) stayed away from each other for about a month but now seem to be getting along much better!

We have been having an issue with our beautiful yellow tomatoes! At first I thought it was the chickens so we put a two foot fence around the garden to keep them out. When the tomatoes continued to be munched more and more each day I figured out it was a chipmunk! Online I read that they will eat juicy produce from your garden when the weather is dry and they are looking for water!

I decided to try a remedy suggested by an online garden site! Hot pepper and water sprayed on your tomatoes!! It worked for a day or two and then I realized I needed to make another batch and re-apply!

Everything in the garden is looking great this year! Including the sunflowers:

It is so nice to have fresh flowers on the table!

I have been canning like crazy! Three kinds of pickles, zucchini relish, peaches picked from a farm in Maine, crab-apple butter and jelly!

Mollie is becoming our resident "Chicken Lady"! She loves to capture them and lug them around the yard. The other kids do also, in fact I found Ethan on the deck swing with "Penguin" one of our Black Australorps!

Pat finished the egg boxes yesterday afternoon! We located them inside the shed on the wall shared with the coop so they wouldn't take up any floor space in the coop.

To my surprise some very large chickens were staring back at me!!!

Also to my surprise... as soon as the boxes were finished I located our first egg!!! It was on the floor in the coop when I went inside to inspect what the boxes looked like! I guess we finished them just in time!!!

Hope everyone is having a great summer! I am planning to keep the updates coming and not have such a long "dry spell".

PS- What do you think our "farm" name? I know we are not really a farm but it is fun to have a name and pretend right? It does feel "farmish" this year with chickens running around in the yard and the garden doing so well!

A Cool Idea for a Hot Summer Dinner!

2010-06-18T07:55:00.001-04:00

Searching for something new to have for dinner the other night I came across an idea for meatloaf on the grill! I read trough it and thought it was such a great way to have a home cooked, "comfort food" supper without heating up the kitchen!

Everyone has their own meatloaf recipe... but this is ours, all the kids and Daddy eat it! So it gets 5 stars!!!!!

"Grilled" Turkey Meatloaf

1 pound ground turkey (or beef, we switch back and forth depending on what we have)
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 grated cheese (we use parm or cheddar or both)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 cup ketchup (any tomato sauce will work but we like the little bit of sweetness the ketchup adds)
2-4 Tablespoons BBQ sauce (for the top)

Pre-heat your grill to medium heat. Mix all ingredients (except BBQ sauce) in a large bowl, I use my hands for this because it seems to be faster and easier to feel for any lumps. Once everything is combined press it into a glass pie plate and top with BBQ sauce. When your grill is ready set the pie plate on a cookie sheet in the grill and close the lid. It will take about 30 minutes for the meatloaf to cook. Watch the heat so it doesn't get too high, I found that I had to turn off all but one burner to maintain medium heat.

The kids were not sure about this at first, I think because it looked different from the usual. I told Emmy that it was just a giant burger and she said "Oh! I love burger" and ended up having seconds! We all really enjoyed it and the way our kitchen was still cool! We will definitely make it this way again!!

We also have discovered how much we like ground turkey in our meatloaf (and lots of other things) instead of ground beef. It gives it a really nice flavor! You must try it if you haven't yet!

Enjoy more great recipes at the Grocery Cart Challenge recipe swap and Foodie Friday!

Up, up, and away!

2010-06-16T14:41:00.005-04:00

We had a great time the other night at the Balloons Over the Valley event in North Conway. There were not a lot of balloons (maybe 6 or 8) but it was a magical experience for the kids who had never seen them!

These first pics were taken on our way there in the fields by our house!

Once we arrived in the park there were three big balloons set up to give tethered rides. We took these photo opportunity's from a picnic table at the train station.

Then came the silly faces!

Next we met up with a couple of celebrity's!

We were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset too! I only wish there had been a balloon in the middle not the traffic light!

We had to wait an hour or so for nightfall when several of the balloons were going to be lit up in the park. So the natural thing to do was of course... have ice cream! Here are our happy and full of energy and ice cream kido's with Dad after enjoying their treat! I opted out of ice cream and decided to have a dessert crepe at Crepe's Ooh La La. Lemon and sugar on a giant crepe! Yum!!

Finally it was time for the "Balloon Glow" that we were anxiously awaiting! Here is a pic before...

...and after they turned on the "power"!

There were four balloons in all! Every few minutes the would count to three and they all would "glow" at the same time! These pics just don't do justice to how pretty they were!

I didn't know at the time of taking these pics that Ethan was actually the one turning the gas on in the checked balloon to the right! A boy about his age asked him if he wanted to hop in the basket with him and light up the balloon!

Soon it was time to pack these giants up! They make it look so easy!! First they let all the air out and lay it on it's side.

Then with a little bit of help they squeeze all the extra air out!

After the air is out everyone holds the balloon as it is stuffed into a giant duffel bag.

Ethan was a little small for this job so he decided to hold it up with his head!

The kids helping also got to periodically jump onto the bag to squeeze out every last bit of air possible!

We had a great time and are now officially hooked on balloons! Mollie and Emmy both say to me each day "can we go see the balloons?"

Here is a list of some Balloon Festivals coming up this summer in New England for any of you who may also be hooked or just want to see them for yourself!

Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival Quechee VT- June 18th-20th

Spirit in America Hot Air Balloon Festival Old Orchard Beach ME- June 24th-27th

Hillsborough Balloon Festival Hillsborough NH July 8th-11th

Stoweflake Balloon Festival Stowe VT- July 9th-11th

Green River Festival Greenville MA- July 17th-18th

Pittsfield NH Hot Air Balloon Rally- August 6th-8th

Great Falls Balloon Festival Lewiston/Auburn ME- August 20th -22nd

Plainville Hot Air Balloon Festival Plainville CT- August 28th-30th

Adirondack Balloon Festival Glens Falls NY- September 23rd-26th

Ethan Turns 8!!

2010-06-07T09:03:00.000-04:00

Our little Ethan (who is not so little anymore) turned 8 on Saturday! I tried to find an old pic of him to post but in every one he is making a crazy face or doing something crazy! That's just how he is, the family jokester, always turning everything into FUN! This pic is of him just after becoming a big brother for the first time, he had just turned 4! He looks so happy and proud to finally be bigger than someone!

I couldn't leave out one of the silly pics! This is Ethan at 6, trying on uncle Phil's fireman helmet at a field trip we did to the fire station.

He has grown so much! More responsible but still always looking for some way to turn everything into fun! We had a very small birthday for him this year. He picked two friends to sleep over and enjoy the day with him. He got a bunch of new water and beach toy's.

This is the one he has been enjoying the most! A super water blaster! It shoots up to 20 or 30 feet (I can't remember exactly)! He also got some hot wheels and a new fishing pole from Nana and Bumpa!

The big surprise of the day was this:

Thanks to Auntie Sarah and Uncle Zack it was set up with water in it when the kids arrived. They took the kids to their house to play Wii while Daddy worked hard to get it set up! When they arrived Ethan just kept saying "What! What! What!?"Unfortunately setting up didn't quite go as planned. Daddy had a great idea of filling the pool from the brook (instead of draining our well) and rented a pump to get the job done. After setting it all up and lugging the pump down the steep embankment to the brook he realized it was too small to pump the water all the way up the hill! So everything had to come back up the hill and back to the rental place to exchange it for a bigger one! This time it worked! Only the pool was not level so we had to drain it and called in a favor for a load of sand. We worked along with Papa, Mimi, Auntie Sarah and Uncle Zack into the night to get the sand spread and the pool in position.
In the morning it was ready to fill! But we woke to a crazy thunder and lightning storm!! It finally stopped and then the pool was filled! The kids were so anxious to get in that they went for a quick dip before we added any chemicals. And I do mean quick! The water was only a little over 50 degrees! I think they were shivering and blue before they even got in!

We don't have any kids in the pool pics yet but I will post some soon!

It was a birthday adventure!
Happy Birthday to our littlest boy! We love YOU!!

Portland Head Light

2010-06-03T07:30:00.003-04:00

Our homeschool group got the privilege of touring the Portland Head Light, one of the most photographed light houses ever. The tour was set up with some really nice men from the coast guard who took time out of their busy day to give our group an amazing experience! Thanks so much to the Thornes for setting this up, we had such a great time!! Here is the front of the lighthouse keepers home...now a museum.

When we started the tour we leaned about the shipwreck of the Annie G. Maguire on this very rock. The lighthouse keeper helped the stranded people by using a ladder to make a bridge! You can't see in this pic but there is a huge drop off between the kids and the sign.

We then learned how all the lighhouses in the area work together to warn boats about the dangerous rocks. The first pic is of the fog horn system which is so loud that they wouldn't let the kids go near it to protect their ears in case it went off. The black bump at the top of the lighthouse is on of the ways the lighthouses communicate with each other.

It was great to have my mom with us! She helped me so much with the kids and she loves the ocean and lighthouses so it was a great field trip for her too!

A group pic:

We then headed into the lighthouse! This pic is in the stair well at one of the little keyhole windows on the way up.

The stair well as you can imagin is a huge spiral! 79 steps in all!! It was very steep and intimidating! We all made our way to the top except for James who wanted nothing to do with the stairs! This pic is at the top looking down.

This is the little door that leads to the catwalk at the top of the lighthouse.

Here is the view from the top! I was a chicken so I passed the camera off to one of the braver sole's that ventured all the way around (thanks Cindy).

We also got to peak our heads up into the top where the light is. It is spinning all the time so we couldn't go all the way.

Safe at the bottom again, the kids pose in front of one of the old warning bells that they used before they had the fog horn system.

We then went into the museum. Here James is standing in front of a model of how the light house has changed through the years. It was first built at the time of George Washington! He was the one who commissioned this lighthouse into existence!

One of the many lights that was used through the years. The glass was cut just right so that only a very small light would look much bigger!

We also got to visit the Whistle House. This is where they house all the electronics that make the horn and other instruments work. In this pic he is showing us an old light and horn system.

Ethan checking himself out in one of the old mirrors used on the light.

On the way back to the car the kids wanted to pose with this old bell...

...and this old cannon used when this area was a military base.

After a picnic lunch at Mrs. Thornes parents house we walked a little ways to the beach! This was one of the beautiful homes in the area.

I didn't realize we would be ocean swimming in MAY so the kids didn't have their suits! They went in anyway!! My feet felt numb just standing in the water for only a few minutes! Oh to be a kid again!!! To their credit it was really HOT and the water was refreshing!

They also had a great time playing in the sand!

I'm guessing they needed to warm their blood back up and sitting in the warm sand was just the thing!

The little girls had a great time building sand castles!

Their masterpiece was this castle with a seaweed moat!

Mollie was not sure about the ocean waves! She held tight to Mimi's hand for a long time not wanting to get too close! After a while she warmed up. At one point not noticing Mimi was gone she grabbed the closest hand to her (Mrs. Jette)! Too cute! Thanks for being the standby!

After the beach we changed and then explored a couple of the old buildings near the lighthouse that were used when Fort Williams was a very active military base! The boy's could have played for hours there I think!
We then headed off the the Maine Mall for a long anticipated trip the the Build A Bear Factory! Mimi had been promising a trip there soon and we thought this would be a fun ending to our exciting day! I wish I had brought the camera into the store! They had such a great time choosing and stuffing their bears (a dog and a cat too). Thanks Mimi!!
It was such a fun trip! We can't wait to go back!

Snakes and More!

2010-06-02T07:59:00.001-04:00

The Snake Guy came to visit the homeschool group the other day and it was such a great experience for the kids to see some of God's more creepy crawly creatures up close! These are pythons! The kids got to pass one of them around and really check it out up close!!

This is one of the smaller pythons, Ethan was a little unsure at first!

He soon warms up! I love the expression on his face in this pic!

Ethan got to hold one of the larger ones around his neck! An experience I am sure he won't forget!! I remember being in a pet shop as a kid and holding a big boa around me! Such a neat experience!

Mollie liked the snakes too! She didn't hold one but enjoyed checking it out and touching it! As you can see James and Emmy are no where to be found... Emmy stayed home with Dad (absolutly not snakes for him) and James was in the back keeping his distance for most of the time! He finally warmed up to them at the end of the show when the battery died!

Mrs. Jette's new name is now "The Snake Lady"! I think he just wanted her sunglasses!!

The Snake Guy didn't just have snakes! There were lizards too!! This is an iguana, I love the color!

A leopard gecko! His color was really neat too, it was much more blue than the camera shows.

Fruitcake was a big hit (no that was not our snack but the name of this big snake!). Fruitcake is an albino boa constrictor.

He was able to show us the snakes teeth and the breathing tube by opening his mouth with this tool.

The kids got to hold the snake by stretching it out and everyone taking a section! Ethan go the tail!

He had two turtles that the kids were able to pass around and check out!

He even brought two scorpions with him! I actually got to have one crawl all over my shirt!! Of course I didn't get a pic of that because I was paralyzed (and didn't have my camera:)

He told us all about how in the desert the search for scorpions at night using a black light. This pic only shows a little bit of the blue color we were seeing! They turn bright blue under the light!!

A very cool show! Thanks to the Snake Guy for sharing and to Sheila for setting this up!

You can also check out more photo's on our homeschool blog.

I Heart Faces - "Yellow"

2010-05-25T07:32:00.003-04:00

This weeks I Heart Faces photo challenge is "Yellow". I knew I wanted to enter a pic from the dandelion field, but which one???
This one of Ethan is one of our favorites! It shows his playful nature so well!

Check out the other yellow photo's at I Heart Faces!

A Mother Daughter Tea Party, Scones, and Clotted Cream

2010-05-21T19:24:00.000-04:00

We had such a fun time last Saturday at out church attending the Mother Daughter Tea! It was great to break out all the fancy tea pots and cups and actually use them not just look at them!!

Along with our tea we enjoyed scones, tea sandwiches and lovely desserts! Here Mollie and Emmy are enjoying their snack with Mimi:

Emmalie did well and stayed pretty clean!

Mollie on the other hand was a different story!!!

Here the girls are posing with Mimi, only Mollie was too interested in smooshing her face to smile pretty!

And pulling her hat over her eye's!

Emmy wanted to ham it up a little too!!!

We were able to get this photo of 4 generations of my family together, the only one missing was my sis who had to leave early! I was so nice to spend the afternoon with them.

These are Glazed Orange Currant Scones!
I chose to bring these to go along with our tea, it's a great recipe I got off the back of a wheat germ label. I love the light orange flavor in the scone itself and the glaze!
Scroll down for the recipe:Scones
1/2 cup currants
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 to 1/2 cup fat-free milk as needed
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup wheat germ any flavor
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. orange peel
6 Tbsp. cold butter
1 Egg lightly beaten

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp Orange juice as needed

Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray cookie sheet or baking stone with cooking spray.
In small bowl, combine currants and 1/4 cup orange juice; let stand 10 minutes. Drain and add
enough milk to orange juice to equal 1/2 cup.

In large bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, granulated sugar, baking powder and orange peel; mix
well. With pastry blender or two knives (I find it works best to just use your fingers) cut in vegetable oil spread until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In small bowl, combine egg and juice-milk mixture; blend well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir with fork just until dry ingredients are evenly moistened. (Do not over mix.) Gently stir in currants.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead gently 8 to 10 times. Pat dough into 8-10 inch circle
on cookie sheet. Cut into 8 (or more depending on how big you want them) wedges; separate wedges slightly. You can also use the drop method by using a large scoop or spoon to drop them onto the cookie sheet. Sometimes it depends on the consistency of your dough, very soft = drop, soft to firm = pat and cut.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool. In small
bowl, combine powdered sugar and enough orange juice for desired consistency; stir until
smooth. Drizzle over warm scones. Enjoy!

After attending a tea at a friends church and trying clotted cream for the first time I knew I really wanted to try to make it to go along with the scones! The recipe sounded easy, it just needed quite a bit of time. We started off with 2 quarts of Sherman Farm heavy cream in a big kettle.

You then let that sit in the oven for 10 -12 hours on the lowest setting possible (mine was 170 degrees). Then you remove it from the oven and skim off the strange looking yellow skin layer and place it in the fridge covered with a towel for 8 hours. At that time you should be able to skim off the "clotted cream" layer from the liquid layer below.

This is what we ended up with, not a lot for each table but just enough for everyone to try on their scones. It was a big hit!

It reminds me of the way heavy cream tastes if you beat it past the whipped cream stage but not quite to butter. A little sweet, a little buttery, and a little creamy!This is where I got the recipe from if you want to read more about making clotted cream:
The Cupcake Project

Check out the Grocery Cart Challenge recipe swap and Foodie Friday for more yummy recipes!

The Chicks are Out!

2010-05-20T07:15:00.000-04:00

It was such a nice day on Tuesday that we decided to give the chicks a little fresh air. We opened the little door and this is what happened:

At first they weren't sure about the walkway...

...slowly but surely they made their way out!

As you can see they have grown a ton! They are now 6 1/2 weeks old and are looking more and more like little chickens not fluffy baby chicks! I am so glad the kids don't grow that fast!!!

Once they were out they enjoyed pecking around their coop and exploring! These are the two Golden Laced Wyandotte's. You can see how pretty they are going to be with all their golden feathers coming in! In fact the one in the back is the chick that Ethan has chosen for his own, he named her "Golden Feather", go figure!

After a time of exploring, it was time to round them up and put them back inside the coop (the outside run is not finished yet). The kids enjoyed trying to catch them and then wanted a pic with the chick they caught! Here is James and a RI Red:

Ethan and his precious "Golden Feather":)

Emmy wanted a pic too...even though she couldn't catch one!

It is going to be such a nice weekend hopefully we can get their outside run completed! Stay tuned!!

I Heart Faces - "Faces and Flowers"

2010-05-18T20:01:00.000-04:00

This weeks I Heart Faces photo challenge is "Faces & Flowers". Here is a fun one of Emmy with one of the beautiful Tulips in our yard!

Happy Mother's Day Pic's

2010-05-09T06:42:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to All!

But especially to my mommy who is far away!!

Sorry we can't give you these in person, but we know you are relaxing and having fun like you should be on Mother's Day (you wouldn't be if you were here!)! We thought this might be a good way to give you a gift without being there in person! Hope you enjoy these pics of the kids!! We love you!!!

A Dandy (lion) of a Day!

2010-05-07T06:55:00.008-04:00

We had a great time the other day collecting dandelions to try our hand at making jelly! I have had a recipe for Dandelion Jelly in my "want to try" file for several years now! My friend decided to make it and it came out yummy so we were off together to make another batch (or 3)! It was a beautiful day and the kids really enjoyed gathering the flowers and running through the field!

We then all went home to face the important task of cutting the flower petals away from the green stem so that none of the milky white stuff ended up in our jelly ( it is very bitter).

The kids were such great helps! They cut and cut and cut!!! They had a blast pretending to have a dandelion barber shop!

Even Emmy sat and diligently snipped away.

The jelly came out tasting so yummy! Like a lemon honey!! Here is the recipe that we adapted from this one at Recipe Zaar:

Dandelion Jelly

Ingredients:

8 cups of lightly packed dandelion petals (use only yellow petals and very little green or the milk in the stems will make the jelly bitter)
4 tablespoons lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1 (1 3/4 ounce) package pectin
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Start by steeping the petals in 7 cups of boiling water for 2 hours, or try the quicker method of boiling for 10 minutes and then let the mixture cool. We used the longer method. When done strain the mixture using cheesecloth. You need to have 6 cups of liquid. In a deep kettle bring to a rolling boil the liquid, the lemon juice, and the pectin. Add sugar then stir and boil hard for 1 1/2 minutes, or until mixture sheets from a metal spoon. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into hot clean half pint jelly jars and seal. We flipped the jars onto the lid for 10 minutes to seal them and it worked great! This should make about 9 half pint jars.

Check out the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap and Foodie Friday for more yummy recipes!

A Chick Field Trip and Coop Update

2010-05-06T06:31:00.000-04:00

We took a few of the chicks on a short field trip the other day to the yard!

The kids had a blast chasing them around and finding bugs for them to eat!

The boys thought the chicks would like the sandbox so that they could take little dust baths! It turned out they liked pecking in the grass better!!

Mollie thought it was great to grab one and take off every time I turned my head!!!

The coop is coming along nicely! Pat built the frame one day and then put the siding and roof on another day.

The chicks future door to their outside run.

Daddy working on the siding.

The roof went on next and then later that week came the door.

The finished (well, almost) coop! Finished enough to move the chicks in with their heat lamp for warmth. They were running a muck in the unfinished room and needed a new area anyway. The kids would continually wake up thinking there were squirrels chasing the chicks through the upstairs room with all the racket they heard coming from above! They were really just running around (pooping everywhere) and pecking everything in sight!!!

It still needs paint, a couple of windows, the chicken door walkway, and an outside area to safely run around in. The kids are now enjoying checking on them and watching them as usual only without stepping on chick poo!

There is a two foot walk way on one side so we can go in and take care of them without letting them escape out the door! It also provides a place to keep supplies.

The view of the chicks new area.

Emmy peaking in the chicken door.

We will post more pics as the coop is being finished.

Happy Birthday 2 Mollie!!

2010-05-05T07:19:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday 2 you our little Mollie girl! It's hard to believe you are two already and yet you are very much still our baby girl! Although some days it does not seem possible that you are not older than two the way you chatter away in full sentences and then say"right mama?" like you need to make sure we understand all that you said! We love you so much and could not imagin our lives without your sweet smile everyday!

We started off celebrating Mollie turning two a little early this year with a small party after dinner at Nana Richardson's last Sunday. Early because Mimi and Papa were off to St. John for their annual vacation.
The cake did not come out as expected! Building a tower of cupcakes is not as easy as it looks! I really wanted to make Mollie the birthday tower in Hello Cupcake!, but they do not tell you that all your cupcakes must be almost flat and exactly the same size and your frosting like glue or it will slide and cave in!!! Oh well...Mollie still liked it! The look on her face as everyone was singing to her was priceless! She was very excited!!!

We tried to get her to blow the candles out by she ended up needing help from the big kids.

Not sure what this face is all about but she seems to be saying,
"What!? I'm 2! I'm still allowed to make messes aren't I?"

Mollie had a blast opening gifts! When she got a new outfit she would hold it up and everyone would cheer! She thought it was great!! It's ironic that on this same day we were also remembering my Pappy (James Richardson) who has been gone for ten years that very day. He seems to be sharing the day with us in these pics watching the whole scene!

Happy Birthday and we love you Mollie!
(and miss you Pap!)

Daddy's a Fireman...again!

2010-05-02T04:17:00.005-04:00

Pat enjoyed being on the fire department back when James was a baby and we lived ACROSS the street from the station in Conway. But due to his work schedule changing and our growing family he just couldn't make it to any calls. Now with his new job on the road crew in Jackson he has decided to join the Jackson fire department!

So the other night we decided to take the kids for the first ice cream of the season at Dairy Queen and a moose hunt in the Notch! As I was inside getting ice cream Pat's scanner goes off and tones Jackson fire to an accident! Of course when I get into the van with our ice cream he informs me that a tone went out and since we are just down the road he would really like to go to get some hands on experience!

So much for our family night!

We end up driving to the scene (looking for moose on the way) and parking on the side of the road with several other people who had arrived at the scene to help. The kids and I sat in the van and watched from a distance, it was nerve racking and exciting at the same time not knowing what was going on.

The kids loved watching all the lights and the trucks so they were pretty entertained most of the time.
A night we will not soon forget!

A Snowy Spring Day!

2010-04-28T21:55:00.004-04:00

We woke up to this sight:

SNOW on baby Maple leaves! A sight I do not think I have ever witnessed before!!

We had a good inch or two by the time it stopped.

Our gardens didn't seem to mind it too much! The Day Lily's still looked fresh and alive!

This little Pansy peeked it's way through the snow!

Hopefully everything will be fine! The snow was gone by the afternoon and I even think I saw a ray of sun!

I Heart Faces - "Smiles"

2010-04-27T07:53:00.000-04:00

Our smiling baby girl!
Check out more smiles at I Heart Faces!

Cream of Wheat Pancakes

2010-04-23T07:45:00.002-04:00

We have been enjoying this pancake recipe for a couple of months now as a change of pace to our usual recipe! The Cream of Wheat also provides an excellent source of iron as an added bonus!

To start out add to a large mixing bowl:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup Cream of Wheat (uncooked)

2 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Then add the wet ingredients:

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tsp. oil

Then let the kids beat with a wire whisk until well blended, then let the mixture stand for a few minutes (about 5) before cooking.

Then pour the batter onto a hot griddle or skillet and cook until the top looks bubbly then flip and brown the other side.

The kids and I really enjoy these! We double the recipe to make sure we have enough!! I really like the texture and the slight cinnamon flavor. If you add blueberries they taste just like blueberry muffins!

They get a thumbs up from the kids!!!

Check out the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap and Foodie Friday for more great recipes!

A chick update: what we've learned in 1 week...

2010-04-21T07:47:00.009-04:00

...little chicks grow A LOT in a week!!!

Just kidding! This turkey has been visiting our yard every few days and was in the perfect spot the day we had a SNOW STORM (still trying to get over that) to take a few pics from the window.

They really have grown a lot in a week! This pic is from last week:

...and this week!!!

Look at all the feathers that have come in!!! No more fuzzy little chicks!

Little chicks learn how to fly earlier than I expected! They like to perch on the edge of their little pen (and poop over the side! Yuck!!).

This one likes to perch on the feeder!
The chicks LOVE the pulp from the juicer, and all the kitchen scraps I have given them so far except the broccoli? Do chickens not eat broccoli???

The chicks enjoy their new perch that Pat built for them especially the RI Reds! They seem to like it the most and walk all over it checking the others out like they are the bosses!

The chicks also like to give themselves little dust baths in the sawdust! It is so funny to watch them dig a little hole and fluff the sawdust all over themselves!

The boys seem to have lost a little interest in the chicks but the girls are still obsessed!

They love to hold and play and watch!

This is the site of our future chicken coop! We have gotten a lot of great ideas from this site: Backyard Chickens.com It has tons and tons of pics of coops that others have built!

If you live in an area with lot's of potential predators you should bury your fencing 6-18" into the ground (depending on how difficult it is to dig... Pat said this was as far as he was going to go!).

By nightfall this is what we had!

Stay tuned for more chick updates coming soon!

Caged Animals

2010-04-17T08:16:00.001-04:00

The hallway was dark as I came out of my room and something caught my eye in Lucy's kennel!

I looked down and two little eye's were peering up at me!

It was James!!!

So I ran to get my camera before he could escape and then the other kids wanted to see what was going on so they all followed me!

Emmy spots him first and she wants in too!

But Lucy gets there first! It is her bed!!

Then they lock Emmy out!

She eventually convinces James to let her in!

Somehow Ethan finds his way in! Now there are 4 IN the kennel!!!!
Mollie thinks it is funny but is not sure she is going in?

It didn't last for long! They then decided being cramped in a hairy dog kennel is not as much fun as it looks and go on to something else.

And just so we are clear on one thing...this was NOT my idea! I was not punishing them for any reason by locking them in the kennel and most likely I won't no matter how tempting it is!!!

Curriculum Clean Out!

2010-04-14T15:20:00.005-04:00

Homeschool Creations is hosting a really fun "Curriculum Clean Out"!!!
Homeschoolers can post a curriculum giveaway on their blog using books they do not use any more or something they want to bless someone with!
We are giving away two different books!!

The first is the A is for Adam Coloring Book!

Here is the description from the Answers in Genesis site:
"This popular children’s book is also available as a coloring book. Provide your kids with hours of fun as they color in the pictures that tell the story of creation and the fall of man. Provides an interactive way you can lead your children to the Lord! Softcover."

The second book is:

Learning through Literature, Fun Language Arts Activities with a Math Twist
Here is the description from CBD:
"This book offers a collection of engaging cross-curricular activities with a math twist. From counting objects to shapes, number facts, time, and money, you'll be delighted a how easily you can emphasize math concepts while boosting skills related to literacy. This book is designed to provide teachers (and home educators) with language arts activities, fun art projects, recipes for edible treats, math experiences, and at-home activities that incorporate wonderful literature selections--all related to specific math concepts and skills."

To enter just leave me a comment telling me which book you would like to win!
Or if you want to enter a chance for both books leave a comment for each.

For another chance leave another comment telling me you have also posted a giveaway on your blog in the Curriculum Clean-Out!

I will chose a winner on Saturday April 24th!

Check out the other great giveaways at the Curriculum Clean-Out by clicking HERE!

Our New Babies!

2010-04-12T17:03:00.007-04:00

One dozen of them to be exact!

Our little chicky's are sooooooo cute! We picked them up on Saturday and they have been the center of attraction ever since!!! All 12 will be living at our house until they are old enough to go live outside and then 6 of them will head off to the Cowlands. Here are some pic's of our little peeps!

The little ones look on with delight! They love to watch, hold and check them out as much as possible!

This small box was their temporary home until a larger one was constructed!

This is their new home which is located upstairs in our unfinished bedroom! If none of us can sleep in there yet at least the chickens can! The red light keeps the chicks warm and helps to prevent them pecking each other too much, it does nothing for the camera though!!!

We purchased four different breeds, these are the Rhode Island Reds. Click on the link to see what they will look like when they are full grown!

Emmy LOVES the little chicks! Here she is posing with a RI Red.

James and a Red!

The second breed is a Buff Orpington, they look to me like the traditional little Easter chick! So cute!!

Mollie and a little Buff!

The little chicky is a Golden Laced Wyandotte! I cannot wait to see how these ones look as they get older!!

The last breed we purchased is Black Australorp, they are the three little black ones hiding in the back! They are actually very curious and friendly but they seem to be very sleepy after a photo session with the kids so they are hiding in the corner! They ALL (all but 1) were very sleepy at this point and started to snuggle up together for a nap! Their eyes kept opening every time I snapped a pic!

Here comes the one not so sleepy little one who had been munching away and realized the others were not around and very quiet! She started peeping and looking around trying to find them!! When she did she seemed to say "hey, what's going on here?"

The she decided to snuggle in with the others for a little nap! I was able to get all 12 of them in this pic!

Easter Outtakes and Pic's 2010

2010-04-04T22:18:00.009-04:00

It was too beautiful yesterday not to take advantage of it and try to get some new pic's of the family. We were all dressed up in "matching" style for Resurrection Sunday (AKA Easter) and the back yard at our church provided a beautiful spot to snap some pics.

There are bound to be some "outtakes" when trying to get everyone to look pretty at the same time and usually there are way more outtakes than in!!!

The OUTTAKES:

The "IN" Takes:

(and I do mean IN because the sun was in their faces the whole time!)

I really wanted the river in the background so we tried to make it work.

We tried to move out of the sun but as you can see it didn't quite work!!

At this point the kids were done and church was starting soon so we gave up and hoped there were a few good ones. Not as nice as I would have liked...maybe next time!

Thank you God for a beautiful day to celebrate your Son Jesus!
We were blessed to be surrounded by family and friends and had a wonderful meal together!!

Easter S'more

2010-04-03T22:22:00.003-04:00

Easter S'mores!???!!!

1 chocolate bunny
2 blue peeps
+ 2 graham crackers

= YUM!!!

Loving all the food pics on this site called foodgawker! Check it out HERE.

Easter Houses - Gingerbread Style

2010-03-30T14:00:00.000-04:00

Mimi purchased a fun mini gingerbread house kit a Christmas time and of course with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays there never was time to make them with the kids! So she decided it would be fun to make them into little Easter houses! Check them out:

James and Emmalie

Ethan and Mollie

Thanks Mimi for the fun project!

Fun with Fondant Class

2010-03-30T08:19:00.006-04:00

The boys had fun participating in a fondant class with the homeschool group!

Here are some pics from the day:

Ethan is learning how to carefully lay the rolled fondant over the cake and then cut around the edges.

James is working hard to roll his out!

After the fondant is on the cake then comes the fun of creating designs for decorating!

Ethan created a hot air balloon and a butterfly!

James went with a cowboy!!

Emmy and the other "littles" had fun decorating their own cupcakes! Here she is with her friend Bekah spreading the frosting on (or eating it?)!

Mollie had some help from Mrs. Jette...

...but didn't need any help eating it!!

This was the first fondant that I actually like the taste of! Although I did not get to play with it much it seemed very easy to work with! Thanks Dawn and Shannon for teaching us how to work with fondant and for sharing your recipe!

Fondant Recipe

1/3 cup soft butter
1/3 light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb confectionery sugar

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your mixer and mix until well blended. Knead briefly and wrap tightly in plastic wrap then chill.

More Pond Hockey

2010-03-30T08:10:00.003-04:00

The boys are doing better and better at "Pond Hockey" and are really enjoying it! Here are some photo's from this past week:

James got to play goalie for quite a while and did an excellent job!

Here is Ethan cheering James on while waiting for his turn to play.

James getting ready for the face off.Ethan was up next! He had really improved on the ice since week one!!

I managed to get him to stand still for a milla-second to snap this pic!

Here Ethan and the others pose for a group pic. Ethan is the one in the middle not paying attention!!

Strings at Sea

2010-03-23T07:00:00.001-04:00

Last week we ventured out to "sea" with Lobster Laura and the Portland Symphony Orchestra! This was one in a series of shows that travel around to different schools and teach about music and instruments. This time we learned about four of the string instruments and many different musical concepts. Lobster Laura also taught us all about Lobstering in Maine! It was educational and fun!! Here are some pics:

Here Lobster Laura wants the kids to use their little lobster pinchers and follow along with the music:

Emmy enjoying the show:

Here she is telling the kids how you tell if the lobster is a mama (black eggs all over the belly) and how the lobsters that are too small can escape the trap through a special door!

The group with the quintet and Lobster Laura:

A couple of short video's:

HERE is a link to the other concerts in this series if you want more info!

You Live in a Zoo???

2010-03-21T07:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to you, you live in a ZOO???

Sorry... I couldn't resist!

We love you Auntie Sarah and Uncle Zack, and hope you both have a great birthday!!!

Daddy's Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

2010-03-20T20:26:00.001-04:00

On a RARE night out on the town for just the two of us we had stuffed ourselves with dinner and were not thinking so much about dessert until Pat saw they had Dulce de Leche Cheesecake on the menu and said he MUST try it! It was oh so delicious and rich and caramel flavored! We asked for the recipe but the waitress was unsure? He decided then and there that was what he wanted for his birthday cake! I searched on line and here is what I came up with which I adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe:

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Pecan Shortbread Sandies (by Keebler)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons flour
2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1-3/4 cups dulce de leche or other caramel sauce (click HERE or HERE to see how to make your own)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with foil. Using a food processor, finely chop all but 6 of the cookies (save these for garnish of just eat:-), then add the brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the butter and pulse until just combined. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 300°.

Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese until softened, 2 minutes. Beat in the flour and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt on low speed. Beat in the eggs and egg yolk, 1 at a time, on medium speed. Mix in 3/4 cup dulce de leche or caramel sauce.

Pour the batter into the crust. Loosely cover the pan with foil, set in a roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to reach a depth of 1 inch. Bake the cheesecake until set at the edges but slightly wobbly in the center, about 60 minutes. I uncovered the cheesecake during the last ten minutes or so. When the cook time is up shut the oven off and let it sit for 1 hour in the oven with the door slightly open.

Spread 3/4 cup dulce de leche over the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve, then remove the springform and slice the cheesecake. Once sliced garnish with whipped cream and then drizzle with leftover dulce de leche (if you haven't eaten it yet)! You can then crush the remaining cookies (if they haven't fallen to the same fate) and sprinkle them over the top!

WARNING: This cheesecake is very sweet! Everyone thought it was yummy but only Pat dared to have more than one piece!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!

Check out Foodie Friday for an amazing spring salad recipe and more!

Pinewood Derby and Green Cupcakes Oh My!

2010-03-19T07:34:00.005-04:00

Our St. Patrick's Day this year was not filled with birthday fun so much as derby car racing! The pinewood derby was hosted by the 4-H club that we have been participating in and they just happened to pick St. Patrick's Day for the event! So Patrick's birthday was spent racing and not opening presents! Thanks Daddy!! It turned out to be a fun night, the boys place first and second in their classed (with the help of Dad!). Here are some pics from the night:
James was super excited when his car took the lead:

Ethan intently watching the race!

Ethan placed second in his class! Nice job Ethan!!

James placed first in his class and second overall!!!

Nice job boys! (and Dad)!!

Emmy and Mollie had fun playing with the other little ones there. Here is Emmy with her pals!

Ethan's car was modeled after a favorite hot wheels car, here is a close-up:

James' car was also modeled after a hot wheels car and was strategically built for speed!!!

And for dessert:

I decided to use the Red Velvet cupcake recipe that was so popular around Valentine's Day and turn it into "Green Velvet"! I made 4 dozen and they were completely gone!! I thankfully made 4 extra large cupcakes to keep at home for us to enjoy for Daddy's birthday! All I could find at Walmart for green sprinkles was green with little eggs, so we decided to pretend they were little pieces of rainbows!! I thought it was funny that when I was checking out Bakerella's blog the next day she had done the same! Check it out here!

Diaper Cake #2

2010-03-18T14:39:00.004-04:00

Diaper cake #2 was created for my cousin Kendra's baby shower on Saturday! Her shower had a fireman theme and so the diaper cake did too! Mom, Sarah and I worked together on this one, here is what we came up with:
The bottom is a Boppy that matched the theme!

The top two layers are diapers covered with an outfit for the middle layer and on the top a crib sheet! We stuffed the excess sheet material into the center of the other layers to make the top smooth.

I love the little fireman finger puppet we found!
Here is the tutorial on how to create one:
Diaper Cake Tutorial

We can't wait to meet our new baby cousin!! He is due to arrive next month!!!

Tex-Mex Meat Pie

2010-03-05T08:03:00.000-05:00

This recipe is adapted from a Pillsbury cookbook I have called Budget Ground Beef Recipes. It originally used frozen meat balls but Pat and I both agreed that it sounded icky, so I decided to modify it! Check out the recipe below!

INGREDIENTS

1	pie crust (I used a Jiffy box mix because I was in a hurry!)
1/2 lb.	ground beef (I added a small diced onion to this while cooking)
1	cup corn frozen, fresh, or canned
1	cup salsa
3/4	cup shredded Cheddar cheese (3 oz)
	shredded lettuce
	sour cream

DIRECTIONS

	Heat oven to 375°F. Cook ground beef and diced onion until no longer pink and season with salt and pepper. Roll out pie crust onto a round pizza pan or cookie sheet to form a large circle. Spread ground beef mixture in the center of the crust leaving a couple of inches around the edge.
	In small bowl, mix corn and 1/2 cup of the salsa. Spoon the corn mixture over the ground beef and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the cheese. Fold edge of crust over filling, leaving an opening in the middle.
	Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is deep golden brown. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake 3 to 5 minutes longer.
	We used lettuce, sour cream, and the remaining salsa as topping! It came out really good! It maybe could have used a little more spice in the ground beef mixture? But got Daddy's seal of approval!! Since the crust mixture made 2 crusts we wrapped up the rest and used it the next morning to make homemade poptarts! My friend and I decided this would be a fun thing to make since our kids really like them! Check out her post here.

Yum!

Check out the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap for more yummy recipes!

Snowman Cupcakes

2010-03-03T23:06:00.007-05:00

Selena and I had ton's of fun making these cute cupcakes yesterday! They are another idea from the Hello, Cupcake! book that we are determined to work our way through some way or another!

As soon as I put mouths on them they looked as if they were saying,
"Please NO, please don't eat us!!"

"Oh NO! Here they come!!!"

Without a face though they were still cute but far quieter!! We started by placing a mini cupcake on top of the regular size cupcake to create the "snowman".

Here are some in progress, we kind of made a combination of the ones in the pic. The scarf and the headband are made with Air Head candy molded into just the right shape by nuking them in the microwave for 15 seconds or so.
Selena, working hard!

And the kids waiting for their feast!

It was Mavericks birthday so this little guy was all dressed up for the occasion!

Mavericks cake! I love the little guy on the sled!!

Pond Hockey

2010-03-03T22:39:00.000-05:00

The boys are playing pond hockey this year on Saturday mornings with the Conway Rec and the Ham Arena. It is a great program (mostly because it's free!) that introduces them to ice hockey in a fun 3 on 3, 30 minute game.
Ethan's team played first. Here he is in the blue shirt standing in the middle.

He's a little wobbly on the ice but did a great job!

Here he is again going for a hit!

Pat was out plowing so the girls came along to watch the action.

James was up next. That's him in the green near the goal.

He did really great out on the ice! Here he is ready for the puck!

Go get 'em James!!!

Wedding Food

2010-03-03T22:34:00.006-05:00

These are pics from Pastor Henry and Miss Sherry's son's wedding! Everyone did such a great job making the church look beautiful for the big day! Thank you so much to all who helped with the food prep!!!
I really don't have any of the beautiful ceremony because we were too busy getting everything ready, but I do have a bunch of the food! I know that's not what you really want to see from a wedding is pics of the food...but that was my job! I always forget to take pics of how it all came together too!! This time the camera was ready, here they are:

The chocolate fountain:

The food table:

The cake! Created by Danette, she did such a great job!

Amanda and Ryan after the toast.

Time to eat!

And where were the kids you say??? At the chocolate fountain of course!!!

Mollie had just had way too much fun and passed out on Daddy's shoulder!

Congratulations to Ryan and Amanda, Pastor Henry and Miss Sherry!!!!

Homeschool Family Sledding Day 2010

2010-02-09T08:28:00.006-05:00

I am finely getting to post these pics of our Family Sledding day with the homeschool group at Nana and Bumpa's house! We had such a great time, the weather was perfect and we had a huge group! Here are some pics:

Ethan and Danyelle enjoyed heading down the hill in the double tube!

Nana hung out with Mollie at the top of the hill because she was NOT a fan of sledding! Each time I tried to take her down she cried the whole way!! Maybe next year?

Pat enjoyed playing on the four wheeler! Here he and his helpers are collecting wood for the fire pit. Thanks for giving rides up the hill Dad!!

Emmy and Bekah had a great time sledding this year! They went up and down the hill over and over and over!!!

Here they are heading up!

We enjoyed hot dogs cooked on the fire for lunch and cupcakes for dessert!

Emmy and Eliza enjoying cocoa and cupcakes!

This is most of the kids (a few little ones didn't want to join in the pic) posing for a group shot after lunch. We all had a great time!!

Thanks SO much Nana and Bumpa for having us again!

Here is a link to more pics from our day on the Homegrown Explorers Blog.

Valentine Cupcakes

2010-02-09T08:26:00.004-05:00

I wanted to post this BEFORE Valentines Day but you know how it goes! I have gotten so many compliments on this recipe that I decided to do it anyway! I have also decided this is going to be my "go to" recipe for cupcakes and I am going to try it in cake form too! The buttery flavor is so yummy and the texture is just right. I am thinking they will be just as good without the red coloring for use on other days!

Check out the recipe here.

Snow Sculptures at Black Mt.

2010-02-09T08:10:00.006-05:00

Before our sledding day with the homeschool group we took a little detor in Jackson to see where Daddy learned to ski! When we got up there we realized that was the site of the snow sculpture contest and had to get out and check them out! Here are the pics:

Ethan with the wishing well, people had really thrown coins in too!

Take a bite out of this one!

Peek-a-boo!

This one was our favorite! He had eyes made of ice circles!

And you could climb up the back and look through!!!

You can check out some better photo's of ALL the sculptures here!

Kids Workshop at Home Depot

2010-02-09T08:04:00.005-05:00

James and Ethan enjoyed this workshop at Home Depot Saturday morning! They built their own car display!! Here are some shots of them at the workshop:

James and his finished project.

Ethan and his:

They even give the kids certificates and pins for completing the project! Thanks Home Depot!

Here is a link to the Kids Workshops at The Home Depot.
and the Build and Grow Workshops at Lowe's.

Skating

2010-02-09T08:00:00.003-05:00

The kids and I enjoyed skating at our friends pond last week! Here are a few pics that I snapped before the camera battery died.

Emmy's first time on skates!

Mrs. Jette and Bekah in her new pink skates (I want some)!

James and Sarah, I'm not sure who is towing who??

When your 3 year old says...

2010-02-09T07:30:00.003-05:00

..."do you want a hair cut" to your 1 year old, PANIC!!!

This is what I heard from the other room and before I knew it Emmy had snipped most of it off! Mollie's hair had grow down to her shoulders, thankfully it was that thin stringy looking baby hair that Emmy cut off (I was actually thinking it needed to be done anyway!).
She even did a pretty good job!

Here are some pics of Mollie's new pixie hair cut!

Hopefully it will grow in thicker now! It really could have been a lot worse!!!

B is for Baby

2010-01-29T08:59:00.002-05:00

NO not my baby!

B is for Britt who is due any day now with her first Baby and Friday was her last day at work so we wanted to say Bye and we love you!

Sarah and I made these cute cupcakes from Hello Cupcake! a super fun cookbook about how to create the cutest cupcakes ever!!! You must click the link and check some of them out on Amazon. These are the most basic cupcakes in the book but we didn't have a lot of time and wanted something simple.

To make these you need your favorite cupcake recipe, a can of frosting (yes, I said can) and 1/4 cup or so of white chocolate chips.

All you do is while the cupcakes are cooling color the frosting anyway you like and then melt it a little in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds at a time until it is smooth and syrup like (not too hot though). Then dip the top of each cupcake and "wallah" the tops look smooth and like you really know what you are doing!!! Then melt the white chocolate and pour it into a zip lock bag. Snip a small piece of one corner off and make little squiggles and designs to your hearts content.

They were yummy and the canned frosting which I am not a fan of ended up tasting pretty good once we melted it and added the white chocolate!

Swimming and Snowmen!

2010-01-21T08:37:00.005-05:00

We had so much fun at the pool with the homeschoolers the other day! Emmy and Mollie had a fun play date with Nana and the boys and Mom headed to the pool! The most fun was had in the outdoor hot tub!! Here is Ethan and James posing with Danyele and Elijah in the snow with snowballs in swimsuits! How often can you get a pic like that?

In the hot tub they loved making foam beards for the camera!

Looking good James!

Then someone had the idea to build snowmen...

Danyele and her snowman!

Some of these pics look a little blury but it is because of all the steam coming off the hot tub! Here is Ethan with his creation!

These two are getting ready to take a dip!

Most of the gang in the tub!

Fun with Bubbles

2010-01-21T08:17:00.004-05:00

We had a great time playing with a science kit the other day that the boy's got from Mimi and Papa! It includes an experiment with bubbles which was a ton of fun! When are bubbles not fun though??? The kids spent a long time playing with them after the experiment was done so I snapped some pics!

These were SUPER bubbles so after waiting a few seconds the membrane would harden a little and you could catch and stack the bubbles! How cool!!

This little green wand came with the kit, it mostly made tiny little bubbles but here James is using it for super size ones!

There were tiny little bubbles everywhere! I even found them around the kitchen later on that night!

Sometimes it was harder than others to get the bubble wand to work!

Emmy giving it her best!

You can just barely see the little bubble in this one, good job Em!

More Family Pic's

2010-01-21T08:12:00.003-05:00

I couldn't post these with the contest entry so here are a couple more family photo's from that same day!

I am so happy I got my Nana to sit with the kids for this one, it came out great!

Papa and Mimi with the kids!

I Heart Faces - "We Are Family"

2010-01-18T07:16:00.008-05:00

Finally decided to enter a photo in one of the I Heart Faces weekly challenges!

This week the challenge is titled "We are family" so here is one of the pic's I took of us with my Mom, Dad, sis and her husband, and my Grandmother.

Go check out all the other entries or enter yourself here:

Skiing Today at King Pine

2010-01-11T18:47:00.006-05:00

Here are some pics from our day at King Pine today! We decided to try something new this year and so we are at King Pine instead of Cranmore. So far so good! The runs are short but the conditions were great and there were a lot less people which is a major plus!!!

Here is James, Ethan and Caleb on the lift in front of me:

Ethan and James in the lodge.

On the mountain.

A super fast racing pose!!!

We enjoyed skiing with the Nesses!

On the lift again!

A day of skiing would not be complete with out some of Nana Kelley's cookies to share! Thanks Nana for the cookies!!!

Holiday Granola Recipe

2010-01-01T18:06:00.005-05:00

After many requests for this recipe I am finally posting it! It is not necessarily a Holiday ONLY recipe because we enjoy it all year long, but we have been adding this to our Christmas cookies plates for several years now so it seems like a "Holiday" recipe to me! I love it in yogurt, oatmeal, plain cereal, and sprinkled on pretty much anything! It originally came from one of those Hannaford magazines they give out at the checkout each month. We modify it slightly to come up with our own version!

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
4 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups flake cereal (any plain flakes will do, we used bran this year)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
1 cup pecan pieces
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (or dates)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line two rimmed cookie sheets with foil.
2. In a saucepan melt butter over med-high heat then add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
3. In a large bowl add oats, flake cereal, coconut, almonds, and cinnamon and mix well.
4. Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients and mix until well combined and coated.
5. Divide granola between the two baking sheets, spreading it into an even layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Then stir rotate pans and switch racks.
6. Bake for an additional 20 to 40 minutes until granola is golden stirring every 10 minutes. Watch VERY carefully during the last 10 minutes so that your granola doesn't burn! (This has happened to us several times!)
7. Pour granola into a large mixing bowl and stir in the cranberries or other dried fruit. Spread it back on to the baking sheets to cool at room temperature, then store in an airtight container. It can be kept for at least one week at room temperature,or one month when refrigerated. ENJOY!