Library Time!

So now that summer is officially here, the crazy kids and I made a list of things for us to do for fun over the next couple of months.

Thank you, Pinterest, for the neat idea to keep track of everything!

As you can see, we have a busy summer planned. But the first place we hit? Before anything else? It wasn't the pool or the beach but the library. Now granted, as homeschoolers, we tend to go to the library at least two to three times a week during our "official" school year (I put so many books on hold during our school year that as soon as we walk through the door, at least two librarians will head to the back to lug out or massive, reserved stack!). But once summer hits, the library changes to this magical place that offers wonderful programs and activities for the kids. My two love it! Heck, I love it! I still remember making paper bag puppets and putting on a puppet show at my childhood library when I was a kid.

My childhood library...no, we didn't dress up like the people in this picture (I'm not THAT old)! This  library was recently remodeled and this was the only picture I could find that resembles what it looked like when I was growing up. Thank you  Hudson Valley Magazine!

So we're super excited to join in on the library reading program to keep track of all the books we read. And hey, if we get to see a magic show and be young scientists or mathematicians and do a craft...we'll be there! Oh and don't forget the music!

CLG dancing to the music from a local band performing at the library

We love the library in the summer! How about you?

One of my friends is working on her new blog, "Homeschool in CNY". She has lots of fun and interesting activities planned for the kiddos next year, so if you homeschool in Central New York, you might want to check it out!

Strawberries!!!

It's that time of year again! Time to pick strawberries!!! We're lucky to have quite a few places nearby that we can go to to pick nice, fresh, great tasting berries. And, it turns out, this is one of the crazy kids' favorite things to do.

They just take right off when we get to the fields! They love it!!

Many of the farms have extra activities available, especially on weekends. Us being crazy homeschoolers, we like to go during the school day when it isn't too busy. That way we can get there early, pick our berries (or actually eat them in the case of the crazy kids...I'm the one who usually does most of the picking), see some animals and head on home to get our lessons done. If we're having an especially easy schooling day, we'll sometimes bring our lunches so we can stay longer (and grab an ice cream, afterwards).

Looking at the baby sheep and feeding the chickens

The entire experience is a blast! We'll go out multiple times to pick lots of different berries. Each time we go, I say to myself that we're not going to get too many berries this time...just enough to entertain ourselves. And each time we come back with a big pot full of them.

Mmmm, FANTASTIC!

So, I've taken to making strawberry jam. I usually make one batch, which fills up about 3 half pint jars. The rest of the berries I freeze, so that I'll have some left over to make more jam later. Making strawberry jam is easy, and it tastes soooo much better than the stuff you buy in the store. Give it a try some time!!

RECIPE:

Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:

2 pounds of strawberries, hulled and sliced

2 cups of sugar

Juice of one lemon

3 to 4 half pint jars, with lids

NOTE: This recipe is not for preserving! That process is much more complicated, and as I (unfortunately) have no experience with preserving, you should look somewhere else for that. This jam is great for keeping in the fridge and eating right away. Like within a few weeks. It never lasts that long over here, so it's usually not a problem!

Directions:

1. Put all the sliced strawberries in a large cooking pot, and smash them with a potato masher until the juice has released, and you have small chunks of strawberries.

2. Mix in the sugar and lemon juice. Cook this mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently. You'll probably have to cook it for at least half an hour, so plan accordingly.

3. As the mixture cooks, you'll notice a red foam bubble up to the top. Try to skim off as much of this foam as possible so that your jam isn't cloudy.

4. While the jam mixture cooks, start sterilizing your jars. Place your jars and lids in enough water to cover them. Place over high heat and get them really boiling! Boil for 10 minutes, and then use tongs to take them out and place them on paper towels. Try to get the timing of this to coincide with the jam coming out...you need your jars to be on the warmer side so they don't break when the hot jam is put in them. Don't touch the inside of the jars or lids! And always check manufacturer directions about sterilizing jars. Especially the lids...sometimes the lids have special directions.

5. The jam is done when it turns a deeper red and is thick. It won't be as thick as jam, yet, since it needs to cool. But almost! Give it one last stir, then pour into the jars and get the lids on them. Turn the jars upside down for 10 minutes, and then turn them back over. The jars should seal themselves shortly after. If they don't, make sure to eat that jam right away! Wait until the jars cool down a bit before placing in the fridge, so that the glass doesn't shatter. Refrigerate until cold, and then eat! Yum!

Recipe adapted from a recipe on Rookiemag.com

Homemade strawberry jam!

I Want to Dress Like Her!!

CLG looooves to pick out clothes to wear! It's an obsession for her! Every morning, she heads up to her room and lays out an outfit on the floor to see if it matches her sense of fashion. I do get some say in what she wears, but lately, I've just been letting her pick out what she wants and get dressed on her own (I mean, with a 3 year old, there are plenty of battles. This is not one I feel I need to wage!). Her outfits are a mishmash of stripes, tutus, pink, purple, tights and hats (lordie be, don't forget the hats!). I swear, some of her getups are a sight to be seen!

This tutu skirt is a particular favorite. Look at all that pink!!

Here it is in another outfit. Look at that attitude! Don't you wish you felt that way!?! All the time!!!

When she puts on her clothes and trots downstairs, she is the happiest girl in the world. She feels pretty, she walks proudly (with her winter hat on, sometimes, even if it is 80 degrees out!), and she exudes confidence. And I am utterly jealous! I mean, here she is in this mismashed, crazy looking outfit, and she feels tremendous! Me, I take pains to at least try to match, and no matter what I put together, I feel crummy in it. When did this happen!?!

Wouldn't you like to wear something like this!?! Look at her powerful pose!?! Maybe this is what the 80s was all about!

Head Gear...that winter monkey hat was actually stored away, and she dug it out so she could keep wearing it...no matter what the temperature!

So, in the spirit of not handing down my insecurities to her, I have been TRYING to wear things that make me happy. And I found out that I like skirts, too! Especially long ones. And hey, I have a pink shirt in my closet. And you know what!?! Wearing pink makes me happy!!  My skirt and shirt sort of match, but even better, I'm comfortable and able to move around and chase after the kids. So, I'm going for it! I'm gonna try out the CLG way of wearing clothes for a little bit...I'll just maybe stay away from the winter hats in July.

Ladybug cookies

So CLB had a playdate with a friend this morning, which left CLG stuck alone with me. She decided that it was time to start experimenting with recipes for her birthday party. I keep reminding her that her party isn't for another 2 1/2 months. She keeps replying that we don't have much time left! Crazy! She takes after me! Or maybe she's driving me there, who knows!?!

So anyway, she ran upstairs and put on her favorite outfit...a pink shirt, huge pink tutu and striped pink cotton tights (she seriously looks like someone threw a bottle of Pepto Bismol on her)...took out her favorite cookbook (Pink Princess Tea Parties, by Barbara Beery), and picked a recipe. She decided on Ladybug cookies.

Turns out, these suckers are super simple! They look cute and taste, well, just sweet I'd say, but they look cute, right?!? Basically, you frost a bunch of vanilla wafer cookies with red cookie frosting (the cookbook says to dye some canned vanilla frosting red, but this stuff was left over from a previous cookie journey, so we decided to use it instead). Then sprinkle with some mini chocolate chips and add a milk dud for the head. Voila! Ladybug cookies!

CLG was very pleased with our creation, and I was happy with how quickly they could be made. So these little buggies have made it to the menu for her party. The party that isn't for another 2 1/2 months. Which means I get another 2 1/2 months of hearing about how we absolutely have to make these cookies! Sigh!

Super Muffins to "Refill Your Hearts"

So for those of you who don't know this, my family is a family of geeks. I have always been in love with math and anything science fiction related, but more importantly, I have been a die hard Doctor Who fan for many many years. My husband is in love with his computer (seriously, the man works on computers all day, you'd think he'd be happy to do something else on his downtime!), and currently, my two crazy little people are crazy about Zelda. CLB, who is eight, has started playing the Wii version of the video game, and when he's not playing it, he and his crazy little sister dress up like the characters and run around the house swinging plastic swords and fighting imaginary Zelda related beasties. It's a sight, let me tell you!

All this running around attacking unseen foes causes my two crazy children to work up an appetite, so we decided to make some muffins for snack. CLB liked them so much he said that they were Super Muffins and when he ate them, it was like all his hearts have been refilled. For those of you unfamiliar with Zelda, it means getting more energy for your avatar so you can continue playing the computer game. In our case, it means the kids can go back to running around the house waving their swords! Whip up a batch for your kids and you can have Link and/or Princess Zelda running around your house, too!


So first, I peeled, cored and cut up the last apple in our fruit bowl (If we didn't make apple muffins, that sucker was heading for the trash...). I sprinkled the cut up apple with lemon juice so it wouldn't brown.

Our apple cut up! Note that, although my crazy little people are expert plastic swordspeople, I  was the one using the real sharp stuff. There's plenty of things for little ones to help out with in this recipe...they don't need to be touching the sharp stuff!

Next, the kids took turns measuring out the ingredients for the strudel. Then they each got a chance to mash it all together.

Mmm, our strudel topping! It doesn't look like much right now, but it's yummy on baked muffins!

We continued sharing measurement duties and sifted all our dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Our fancy "sifter". Just a wire strainer sitting in a bowl. Hey, it works!

After the dry ingredients were mixed together, we made a well in the middle of the mixture.

The crazy little kids looked at me like I had three heads when I said we were going to make a well in the flour. Well...a fancy term for "push the ingredients away from the center of the bowl"

In a small bowl, we combined the wet ingredients (don't forget to give everyone a sniff of the vanilla! That's our favorite part!). I poured the wet ingredients into the well, and CLB mixed until just combined.

Yes, there will be lumps! That's a good thing! Lumpy goodness!

CLG sprinkled with cinnamon while CLB folded in the apples.

Mmmm, I can feel my heart refilling just looking at this!

Then we took turns spooning the batter into the prepared muffin tin (that was interesting!), broke up the strudel topping, and scattered it over the tops.

CLG: It's like putting on Playdoh, Mooom! Hey can we make playdoh next?

Finally, bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 25 minutes (If you can smell them, that's a good sign they're close to being done). They ate them warm and were up and chasing beasties in no time!

You might notice that the size of the muffins varies. Well, that's what happens when you bake with Crazy Little People! What didya expect!?!
ENJOY!!!

RECIPE:

Super Muffins to "Refill Your Hearts"
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Strudel Topping Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, softened
a heaping 1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or more, depending on taste)

Muffin Batter:

1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped
fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 lightly beaten egg
1/3 cup oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line one muffin tin with muffin liners.

In a small bowl, mix together the Strudel Topping ingredients. Set to one side.

Peel, core and chop the apple. Sprinkle it with lemon juice. Set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture.

In a small bowl, mix together the milk, egg and oil. Pour it into the well made in the dry ingredients, and then mix just to combine the ingredients (there will be lumps). Add the apples and cinnamon. Fold the apples and cinnamon into the batter (again, just to combine...there should be lumps). Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin.

Break up pieces of strudel and place them on top of the muffin batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, and serve warm.

NOTE: The actual muffin is not very sweet. The addition of the strudel, though, added more than enough sweetness for my two crazy little people! If you like a sweeter muffin, increase the sugar in the muffin batter to 1/3 cup.

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

Why I Don't Want a New Bathmat Anytime Soon!

So about three years ago, we put the house on the market. While we were getting the house ready, we had someone come in and give us pointers on what to do to make it more sale-able. Turns out, she did such a great job that we fell in love with the house again and ended up taking it off the market. Well, one of the things she did suggest was to get all new towels, rugs and shower curtains for the bathrooms. All bright white.

Now, three years later, we still have the same towels and bathmats and such. And they are still nice and bright white, because every time I wash them, I bleach the heck out of them. It's the only way to get them clean! Unfortunately, all that bleach has taken a heavy toll on our poor bathmats...they are starting to get quite a few holes in them.

Bleach!

That's a lovely look!

Now normally, at this point, I'd be out looking for new mats. Actually, I probably should have been looking for new mats a year ago, but CLG was still in the process of finishing up potty training, so I figured I should wait. What's the sense of getting new mats when you're potty training, right!?! But that's all done and over with, and obviously, the holes are starting to take over. And then last night I walked in on this:

Can you tell what that is? Besides a smear of dirt?

How's that one...can you see two of them now on the left hand side of the mat?

Well, they may not show up very clearly in the pictures, but they do show up quite beautifully on my bright white mats. Two footprints...made out of dirt...that used to be on CLB's feet. He came back from baseball practice and took a shower. His feet were so dirty that when he stepped on the mat, he left the footprints. Now I am preeety sure that he was wearing shoes when he left for practice, so I am a bit mystified as to how he had enough dirt on his feet  to leave these prints. But, all things considered? I think we're going to postpone the search for new bathmats until after baseball has ended. I think I would just cry if I saw this on brand new mats! Heck, I should probably wait until after the summer, though, right!?! If this is what the mats look like when he wears shoes, who knows what barefooting it all summer will do to them!

Baking Handprint Cookies

Both my kids are addicted to The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network. When they saw Ree Drummond put these handprint cookies together for her daughter and friends (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/hand-cookies-recipe/index.html),
I knew we'd be making them too, probably sooner rather than later!  Since school has "officially"ended for us for the year (ahh, the benefits of homeschooling!), we decided to whip up a batch today! Added bonus...lots of measuring practice! I guess we call that "unofficial" school!

CLB's handprint cookies
You'll notice the left is significantly bigger than the right. That's because I cut the one on the left and he cut the one on the right. I figured the kid could use an extra big cookie :)

CLG's handprint cookies
Her comment: Those cookies! Those COOKIES! Oh, look at that yummy GOODNESS!

Okay, so this is my first post! Yay! I'm just experimenting right now, and my Crazy Little Girl (CLG) and Crazy Little Boy(CLB) are doing their crazy thing as we speak. So I guess I'll keep this one very short! I will say, before the craziness becomes too much, that I'm hoping this post will help me remember how fun crazy can be! Between homeschooling, cooking and following my fandoms (Justified and Doctor Who!), it is a crazy fun time over here!