Bobbing for Apples

Bobbing for apples is a fun tradition. Our version is a bit different than the traditional method. We bobbed in a cooler wearing bathing suits...Arizona style? It was warm enough for it. Good times with good friends...

We have an easel that has a dry erase board, which set up in the kitchen. The children love to write on this. One day I found this...a submarine. I can't help but humming the Beatles, Yellow Submarine song when I see it.

Halloween Time!

There is so much for us to catch up on. I guess I will retro write in the blog..Halloween was a great end to the busy October month. In October dd dressed up as 1. Jedi, 2. cowgirl, 3. 50's girl 4. mermaid, 5. colonial girl and finally 6. Tiana the Frog Princess. My fav. was the cowgirl. ds stayed true to the Jedi, although he was also 1. 50's greaser, 2. cowboy, 3. Jedi
Halloween night we were at the park for the traditional gathering. After the children traveled throughout the neighborhood filling their plastic pumpkins. Once they had a chance to process the amount of treats they collected they were happy to keep a few and donate the rest to a local program that sends the candy to soldiers. They felt good about participating in such a program. Still having amazing Arizona "Fall" weather.

xo

Snack Pouch

Inspired by the Eco Ditty, I decided to try and make my own snack pouch. From leftover material I constructed my first snack pouch! I did make a few mistakes on this, not huge ones, now I am ready to try a few more! I will make a matching napkin, and utensil roll. I must plug Eco Ditty and say their product is much nicer, made from organic materials and the weight is much nicer. On the other hand, I made it myself.

xo

Eco Ditty

These handy snack pouches are from getngreen.com. The pouches are made from organic cotton, made in Colorado and are so versatile. On the getngreen site they list all of the possible benefits from these. These will be great to use in the kids lunches. I am slowly collecting items for the children's lunches for the fall. I also have the wrap-n-mat from getngreen, another product I utilize a lot. I am going to sew a silverware roll for the children's lunches. I will let you know how that comes out. That will be a summer project. I have a friend who has made them before, so we'll be crafting one day together.

Just Chillin'

Today the high will be 95 degrees. The heat is on! We started the day by going for a hike. We hiked to Mt. Lew Dog. It was definitely warm. I thought it would be a good day to make watermelon ice-pops. I found the recipe on

http://www.funfindsformom.com/

Sara’s Watermelon Sorbet Recipe

1. puree cubes of 1/2 or more of a seedless watermelon

2. add juice from one lime and sugar to taste

3. pour mixture into ice cream freezer (you can skip this step)

4. spoon watermelon sorbet into dixie cups and add sticks

I did not mix it into ice-cream, instead I used the recipe as ice-pops. The lime juice makes these so delicious.

Easy Salsa

I love this salsa because it is tasty, quick and easy.

1c. tomato

1/2 sm. onion

2T. cilantro

2t. lemon juice

1/2 t. salt

1/4t cumin

dash cayenne

Place ingredients into a food processor. Chop and serve!

We eat it on roasted veggies, chips or morning omelets.

Spring is in the air...

Today we dyed white and brown eggs. It was the first time we dyed the brown eggs and we like the deep tones that were created although they look a bit florescent in the picture. The children are excited for our little celebration. The weather should be wonderful. My parents will be joining us for dinner.
The menu will be: Ham with apricot mustard sauce, asparagus with peas, radishes and tarragon, a leek and potato galette, cucumber dill salad. For dessert mom will make a strawberry pie, yum, yum. Apparently, her grandmother (Tillie) was an amazing pie maker.

There is an abundance of citrus during the month of March; grapefruit, lemons and oranges. Our orange tree produced sweet, tasty fruit along with our lemon tree. Friends pass around bags of citrus to each other. People make juice, bread and anything else you can think of to use the citrus. Now the prime harvest time is over and the trees are covered with sweet fragrant flowers. It is one of my personal favorites.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's festivities have begun. We have made cards, foam hearts and now cookies. The cards we made for the class were cute. I heart folded in half to make mice. A lollipop was inside to create the mouse tail. Today we make sugar cookies and decorated. My mother was here to help out.

IT RAINED IT RAINED

It rained here for a few days. It was received with gratitude! Everyone was pretty happy about having the change in weather. The kids had a grand time playing in the puddles and getting wet. We are wondering about the amount of water running through the creek behind the cabin. Hopefully we will make it up there soon.