Hooray Avery

Congratulations Avery, you finished Kindergarten. We finished Kindergarten. This was our first year of homeschool, and i am pleased to say that it was a success. I measure this simply by seeing that Avery has learned much. Our focus was the basics and i think she made it through with flying colors. Our last day was Friday of last week. She was pretty excited. Chris and i thought that it would be fun to take her, and Mitchell, to do something fun to celebrate the end of the school year. Most other schools get a party, why shouldn't ours. So we made a short drive to a local kiddie ride amusement park.

The kids were very excited and had no idea that this is what we had in store, they thought that we were headed for the playground. They have been waiting for this all winter long, since it closes for the cold season. After we exhausted our tickets we took the kids to have ice cream for lunch. Not our conventional lunch, but it was a party. As you can see, they had a great time. It was fun to see them enjoy themselves so much. We are very proud of Avery.

Are they doomed?

I am not the greatest gardener. I do pretty ok if the said plants are growing out of doors, but when it comes to indoor plants, potted plants, i usually steer clear. I forget to water them, or water them too much, or forget they are there all together(ie, the plant on my porch that was a gift, oh the pressure). So, you might ask yourself, what was I thinking making terrariums. Well, the short answer is that they were way too charming and pretty for me to forget about. I spotted instructions for them here and here, among others, and could not get them out of my head. I finally found these jars at Target and a plan took shape. We rounded up all the "ingredients" and i just dove right in....because over thinking it could kill the whole project. Chris set up a improvised gardening area in the middle of the driveway on saw horses and plywood...good husband. Avery was my helper and we got things underway. I have to say that right now it is a resounding success. They look as pretty as i hoped they would and they even have a nice sunny home on the windowsill in our kitchen. Now you may check back in and see how they grow or don't grow over the next few weeks. That is to be seen. I understand that over watering is the main killer of all terrariums....since i am not so good at remembering to water, these could be a bad gardeners dream!!! And, no, those are not real critters in the terrariums! One of the charms of a terrarium is making them look like a tiny other world...Mitchie chose a dinosaur in his so his plants look like a prehistoric forest. The pictures below are the inside of one of mine(lizard) and Avery's(turtle). She did a great job.

Thank you Ina Garten

This morning we woke up to our first hot and humid day...admittedly it was not "blistering" hot...but, we have not had many warm days yet...anyway, when i was planning dinner i decided on this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. It was so yummy and a perfect, easy, warm summer day kind of dinner. It is called Panzanella, which i think is just a fancy name for Italian bread salad. Even the kids ate it. I was skeptical, but they really like salad and seemed to enjoy this right along with us. I think the watermelon berry smoothies helped. And as it turns out, between when i picked the recipe and when i made the recipe, the temp dropped about 20 degrees and there was a nice cool breeze. Beautiful, but so much for the warm summer night dinner.

Watermelon Berry Smoothie

1/4 large Watermelon, chopped roughly
1/2 bag frozen Strawberries
1-2 T Sugar, optional

put melon in blender, liquefy. Add in the frozen berries(acts as flavor and subs for the ice in most smoothies) and sugar, blend some more. Pour and enjoy!!

Science is Fun!!!

This afternoon we had a impromptu science experiment. Avery and Chris were reading a magic school bus book about volcano's(i think), so he(Chris) suggested that they go make their own volcano. Avery was adamant that she wanted nothing to do with it, because we found out, she thought that it was going to explode out all over the place and that made her a little nervous about the whole thing. When she saw that it was fun, she was a willing party again. Not the school science fair kind of volcano, as you can see. He got out the baking soda and my industrial jug of vinegar and started adding and pouring into a glass. The taller and thinner the better. The kids loved it!!! Way to go Daddy!

We Found It!!!

Avery had a great time opening the cache and going through all the tiny things inside. It was fun, we left something and then were able to take something in return to remember our adventure from. We visited and found two boxes today. Poor Mitchie was wounded by a stick in the woods at our first geocaching sight, but he is ok now...there we acquired a new magnifying glass and at the second box we got a mini thermometer/compass. I think Avery had the most fun of all.....she felt like a treasure hunter. Sarah, we thought of you often today. We have been busy..this was our third hike in as many days.

Geocaching!!!

Bring it on!! We all got up this sunny, cool saturday morning and headed out for a "fun" morning of geocaching. Chris mentioned it the other morning and i naively agreed. Maybe tromping around in the woods with no clear direction(to me...however, he was the one holding the GPS and pointing at the vague and distant trees saying, "it is over there") just isn't my thing. I try to play it cool for the kids but every once in awhile i lost my calm and cool composure, just a little. Like when we were climbing straight up a muddy slope and my good sneakers were getting all muddy and the bugs just would not leave me the heck alone. But my Avery is a natural, she got the roaming the woods gene from Chris. She climbed and whacked her way through the brush and low tree limbs like a pro. She even crossed a stream, rock hopping style. Something about the outdoors and being a "hiker" transforms her. I am so glad. She loves it!!! She gets tired after a little while but her legs are not as long as everyone else so we cut her a little slack. And as the pictures tell, Mitchie did a whole lot of riding. Otherwise we would have had to listen to him cry and ask to be picked up and carried the whole time. He will grow into this outdoors thing, i think...and maybe i will too...who knows. Chris would be so happy.

Good Wet Fun!!!

Last night we went on a dinner picnic and hike with my aunt and uncle. We visited the Peebles Island nature center, where the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers converge and the Erie Canal begins. They are so great and think of so many places to go and things to do. I love that my kids are able to spend time with them like i did when i was little. Avery stuck with Aunt D the whole walk/hike. She learned so much, and saw so much. I know this for sure because Aunt D knows all the plants and all the sounds and all the little and big animals that are out there. They spent a lot of time with heads bent close over a caterpillar, flower, edible plants and/or some other little outdoor thing. It also gave me lots of time to talk with my Uncle R about life, the environment, composting and plenty of other interesting things. He is a great conversationalist. Always interested and attentive and he asks lots of questions. We saw lots of beautiful things but my favorite had to be all the great blue herons. I think in total we saw 7. I have never seen even one here before so it was exciting to see and show the kids so many. They are great little backyard birders!!! We also saw a momma mallard duck and her 10 little babies cruising the river. About half way through the hike around the island, the clouds rolled in and the heavens opened up and it started to pour. We all took it in stride...and kept right on walking, because what else were we going to do. So we got a little wet....i would not change it because we got to spend time with our Aunt and Uncle...we don't melt.

Life

This is a little bit like life has been around here lately. I was told by the hubby this morning that i am in a blogging slump...but when we gave it some thought we realized that someitmes there is nothing blog worthy. I have not made any yummy new dinners. I have not created any fun new crafts...in fact that face Mitch is making is one that i have made frequently this week when dealing with my machine. When come to find out that there is nothing wrong with the machine, i am the one with the problem. LOL, long story! My sewing machine and i have a very intense love hate relationship. Sometimes life keeps you busy doing a whole lot of nothing. Anyone else ever feel this way?

Fashion Statement

Here is my sweet boy. He has a style all his own. Those are Avery's old "cowgirl" boots, and i am not sure how his pants got left out of the equation...but, whatever!! We love him.

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all my friends and all the mommy's out there. We spent the day with my mom, home relaxing. This was our treat for today, lemon bars. I had not made them in so long but i thought that today was a nice day to give it a go. They turned out well, and seemed to disappear right before our very eyes. I found the recipe here.

I am not the only one...

We have another crafty parent around here, just crafty in another way. Avery got these horses this weekend from Grampy when they came to visit and she was instantly entranced with them. She set them up in the yard, collected up sticks and made a corral. This morning Chris, the world's most rocking cool daddy, decided to whip up a horse stable with his scrap wood form the garage. He jumped right in, no plan, and started cutting and sawing and before you knew it she had her very own stable for all those pretty ponies! We always seem to have or make a project when Grampy is around. We love to have his help. This has been the best toy that has come through our doors in ages.

Yeeeeee Hawwwww!!!!!!!

Giddy-up little doggies, Cowboy Mitch and Cowgirl Avery are in town to round up the "old" bull!!! Watch out, cowboy Mitch has a itchy trigger finger and that cowgirl Avery is a mean roper. Look at her getting that"lasso" whipping around(wink, wink). It was cowboy day at our house. I love to watch them get all into character and make up a game together. I love my kids and their imaginations, and that they are content to just play with one another. This was one of those nice quiet days at home. They were out there playing even before we had breakfast. They played like this all day. It helped that we had a few new toys for inspiration. See them down there behind cowboy Mitch on the ground. Thanks Grampy!