Summer Vacation Begins

School is over. Summer is officially here (well, in an unofficial kind of way) and we are lovin' it. I love the less scheduled days. I love the gorgeous weather we've been having and I love the long days with lots of time for little people to work their creativity.

Celebrating the end of school with ice cream at the best little shop around!

Fun at Farm Days.

 

Lazy mornings in pj's. Hours upon hours of Adventures in Odessey and paper with markers.

Picnic lunches and the thrill of simple cheese sandwiches turned super cool with the help of my trusty waffle iron.

Back out on the porch for an evening of coffee and brownies and reading 

(all. the. time. the boy never stops reading!)

And the presence of summer time beauty on my kitchen table. 

What's not to Love?

This week we're off to VBS. 

Hope your summer is off to a Fantastic start as well!

Mr. Putter

We have reached the part of the school year where we are simply putting in time. The lesson plans are done, the tests taken and now it's all about extra recess and year book signing until we get our number of days in.

One of the ways they fill in at the elementary school is "Storybook Character Dress Up" day. I'm not a big fan of costumes, especially not ones that cost a fortune or take a week to make yourself but if it's important to my kids I try not to spoil all the fun. My kind of costumes require a $5 thrift store purchase and a little face paint.

Meet Mr. Putter.

 

If you're not familiar with Mr. Putter, he's an old man who lives alone with his cat and together they have all kinds of adventures in easy reader books. Zachary has read lots of them this year and it just seemed like a perfect match. There were no stuffed cats to me found at the thrift store but he pulled it off well anyway.

What do you think? Do you see the similarities?

The kindergarteners made their own costumes in class.

The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah, Hurrah! The ants go marching one by one....

Meanwhile, back on the funny farm, this was my project for the day. It was a perfect day to be in the berry patch and they are gorgeous and tasty this year! 28 lbs. in an hour. I would have kept going but I didn't take enough buckets.

 

Our evening treat, fresh strawberry milkshake. Mmm! 

I served these to the kids on the porch after dinner. 3 of the 4 cups made it to the table without incident, the fourth one slipped out of my hands and spilled all over the floor. No big deal, it's outside, right? I took a couple of buckets of warm water to rinse it away. But the 3rd bucket full was just too much for my old bucket handle and it snapped off just before I got out the kitchen door. Now I have milkshake on the porch, a gallon (plus) of water on the kitchen floor and a child who still didn't get dessert. While I'm grabbing every handy rag and towel, there is a moaning sound from the porch. Somebody spilled their cup, all over themselves and the bench beside them. I finally get him cleaned up and the floor dry, thinking "well, at least my kitchen floor is clean now" and that's when a small boy with dirty feet walks through the puddles on the porch and into the kitchen. Goodbye clean floor. By now what was spilled on the porch is starting to cement fast. I'm filling another container to wash the rest of the porch and the bench when I hear the neighbor lady walking up. Why of course, this is a great time to chat. HA!

No reason to cry over spilled milk{shake} here but I think we'll stick with strawberry shortcake after this. And my milkshake?  It made a great bedtime snack, when I finally had time to drink it! Hope you enjoyed this episode of "Why I never get Bored."

And since Mr. Putter still has 2 more days of time to do, he'll be up before 6 in the morning. I best be off to catch some sleep too before then, I'm kinda tired for some reason.

Made Me Smile Monday

{a  snapshot --or two-- from my week. with or without words. something exciting. something ordinary. something special. something silly. just something. that made me smile this week. a memory to brighten my day. to make me smile again. even though it's MONDAY!}

{Thick} Homemade Yogurt

As promised, the accompanying yogurt recipe.

I always said I wouldn't make homemade yogurt. I can almost always get it cheaper at one of our many local discount stores than I can make it. And my few attempts before always turned out some slimy goop that was more drinkable than spoon friendly. Why bother??

Until the day I acquired 2 free gallons of milk that I knew wouldn't get used unless I got creative. I knew just who to call. My dear friend Lynelle who shared her tasty (thick) homemade yogurt during our visit last summer. She kindly shared the recipe too.

I've never made a batch that didn't turn out and well, let's just say I don't make near as many trips to the discount store as I used to. It's just that tasty!

Ingredients

1 gallon milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

2 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup sugar (additional) or 1/2 tsp. stevia powder

3 oz. plain yogurt

Heat milk and 1/2 cup sugar in a large pan to 180 degrees.

 Meanwhile, soak gelatin in cold water.

 When milk reaches 180 degrees, remove from heat and whisk in gelatin mixture.

Then cool to 110 degrees.

(Hint: The fastest way I know to do this is to sit it in a sink of cold water.)

Add

Vanilla, 1 cup sugar, and yogurt. 

Whisk until smooth.

Fill jars and close tightly.

Fill a large cooler with enough hot water to cover the jars.

Close the lid and leave for 12 hours.

(I do closer to 15 for a bit more of the tangy/sour flavor.)

Refrigerate until well chilled.

I prefer to leave it sit in the fridge unopened for a few days. I think this produces a thicker result than using it immediately.

Optional: If you want flavored yogurt add 1-2 tsp. of flavored gelatin per quart jar.

Note: this recipe makes approximately 4 quarts of yogurt. As you may have figured, we go ahead and double it around here. Thus the pictures of 8+ jars.

Local strawberries will be coming soon to this area. 

Mmm!

The shipped in ones will work in the meantime.

Now I need a bedtime snack!

{my favorite} Homemade Granola

It's a perfectly gorgeous 'summer' day here but it started out dreary and rainy so I started it out in the kitchen. At breakfast time yesterday some not very impressed children informed me that the granola was gone. AGAIN, I might add. Two batches in less than two weeks. I've been making granola off and on for years but over the past 6 months I've been tweaking and combining and rearranging recipes and I think I've finally got it right. At least if the {empty} jar on the counter is a fair judge. So today, I'm sharing it with you.

You will need.

8 cups oatmeal (you can use rolled oats or quick oats, I like a combination)
3 cups rice krispie cereal
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped or slices almonds
2 cups shredded coconut
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Measure the first 6 ingredients into a large bowl. Stir.

Create jobs for over-eager little people {as needed.}

In a heavy pan melt butter, brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk over low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour syrup over oat mixture and mix well. Spread on two large trays {with sides} and bake at 275 for 1 hour. Stirring every 20 minutes. Cool completely before storing.

.
This recipe makes about 20 {1 cup} servings. I go ahead and triple it so there is some left for tomorrow. Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad but I do wonder were it all goes.

Tomorrow's project--Homemade Yogurt. I'll share that one too because they are best combined into a yummy parfait. Add a few fresh berries and you have the perfect breakfast, lunch, dessert or bedtime snack. So simple you can make them in seconds and so good it's always "just what I'm hungry for!" On second thought, maybe I do know where it all goes...

Double Digits

Someone in our house hit the double digits a few weeks ago. This is a pretty big deal you know, so even though I'm behind the times a bit it must be documented. This was another case of throw-a-cake-into-an-already-planned-event-and-call-it-a-party. We went with a beach theme. (In a feeble effort to extend our Florida sunshine memories.)

By far the easiest and quite possibly the best tasting birthday cake I've made. Hidden under that sandy disguise is a yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Mmm!

A couple of fun 'pinterest-y' details just because...

Sunglasses are a beach must! (Thank you Little Miss for your modeling services!)

Cupcakes for his friends at school. Sorry kids, it's straight from the box for you. What did they care, anything served with gummies on top is a hit in 4th grade.

As per tradition in our house, I asked the birthday boy what 10 year old boys like for dinner. His answer...."Dessert!" Go figure. His request was for chocolate ice cream with M&M's, skittles, sprinkles and hershey kisses. I did my best to comply. I was determined to hold my tongue and let the birthday boy decorate until he was happy but after the fourth scoop of sprinkles I just had to move that dish. I don't know how long he would have kept piling it on, until the sprinkle dish was empty I suppose. And just because I'm a Mom and it's what I do, I convinced him to add Cheeseburgers, oven fries and veggies to the menu too.

His gift was one of those one time special splurges.  Every boy needs a bike but more importantly we saw this as a great way to help keep his muscles loose and sneak in some exercise. We were pretty excited to find these heavy duty adult sized tricycles made by a local Amish business. 

It was kind of hard to gift wrap but it should last him forever. And sometimes he even shares with his Mom. *Grins*

 

10 years. 

 Gone.

 Just. Like. That. 

it begs a trip down memory lane.

3 days old. waiting for open heart surgery.

6 weeks old

 

Brothers. (11 months old)

3 years

learning to walk

beautiful blue eyes and new specs

Mr. Handsome turns 6

7 1/2 years old

 This boy knows how to enjoy life! He's taught us a lot and we've decided he's a keeper!

Made Me Smile Monday

{a  snapshot --or two-- from my week. with or without words. something exciting. something ordinary. something special. something silly. just something. that made me smile this week. a memory to brighten my day. to make me smile again. even though it's MONDAY!}

Finding 3 nice chairs for a steal at a yard sale is smile worthy.

Little people working together and being kept busy for an hour is 

even better! 

It was definitely Monday around here. High maintenance children. Exhausted Mama. Laundry piles that seem to spread like the plague. And a phone call from the teacher to top it all off. (Let's just say it was NOT to sing the praises of good behavior.)

But we made it through!

Hope your Monday was  Smile worthy!