A camping we will go..

This entire week we did a mini indoor camping unit! There are a lot of activities you could do for camping, and it's one that I really enjoy!

Since we still don't have a dining room table we used that room as our camp site. I attached two sheets together using safety pins, and hung it from the ceiling to create our tent! (Even my 13 year old cousin enjoyed this unit!)

I made a fire from tissue paper and toilet paper rolls. Although you can use anything!

We used real sticks to 'roast' marshmallows!

Our campsite was complete with a 'fishing hole' which was tons of fun!

No camping trip is complete without some supplies.. so we had to get crafty!

(Our binoculars and lantern!)

And one of the most favored projects... SMORES! Since I wasn't going to create a real fire for us to roast everything on, we wrapped them up in aluminum foil, and put them outside before nap! A few hours later they were a gooey and yummy mess!
Another alternative is you can make smore trail mix! Simply mix chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and honey grahams cereal and mix! (A much cleaner version!)

We read a few camping stories in our tent, brought out some flashlights to play with, talked about shadows, we acted out the "We're going on a bear hunt" song, and "a camping we will go." One day Connor didn't nap and I found a few barney clips talking about camping on youtube so we watched those!

Of course I labeled everything in our camp site to promote some print awareness :)

This unit is fun because it can be watered down, or spruced up so much for different ages!

Lemonade

There is nothing more refreshing on a hott summer day then a big glass of lemonade! So, today was dedicated to just that! First we did an art project! I cut out a pitcher outline from white paper, next we used yellow crayons to color them, and then we used a thread spool to dip it in yellow paint and make lemons!

Afterwards, we used this recipe to make some real lemonade!

Perfect Lemonade Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)

Method

1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.

2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.

3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.

Serve with ice, sliced lemons.

Yum! What a tasty treat :D

Corn Meal Pizzas

My friend sent me this recipe to try for personal corn meal pizzas. They sounded easy, and I had everything on hand so we gave them a try. OH-MY-GOODNESS they are so amazingly yummy as well! I highly recommend these! Connor loved helping out too! His favorite part was rolling out the dough! I topped them with extra olive oil, mozzarella cheese, and spinach!

This will defiantly be a recipe we make again in our home!

Rocket Pops

With the warm weather coming I wanted to make my own ice pops. I grew up eating the really cheap colorful ones made of pure sugar, and water. However, I wanted a bit of a healthier option for my kiddos. So I found these cool ice pop molds (on amazon of course). I put organic blueberries in a food processor with some Greek yogurt, and poured organic blueberry juice in. Then I poured in the molds, and viola! Healthy ice pops to cool down with! Plus, Connor LOVES the shape since he has recently become very interested in rockets, and airplanes. The molds were very easy to use. I just ran them under hot water for a few seconds then they popped right out!

Cupcakes

Being almost 9 months prego.. I want chocolate. All the time!! So, I brought out some good ol'boxed cake mix, and Connor and I made some choclate cupcakes! He loved using the mixer!

He veryyyy rarely gets processed food, or stuff with this much sugar. So this was a very special treat for him! However, we had a good time making them together. It's kind of sad to think these are our last days of doing projects with just the two of us before the baby comes! Bittersweet!

Picky Eatting

My always hungry, super fat, lover of all baby has gone to becoming a picky toddler. As a baby I breastfed him. I learned that breastfeeding helps children be more open minded to different foods. He loved everything as a baby. I could give him a plate of strawberries, and they would be gone within seconds. I never gave him junk food, it was always fresh and organic. I thought I did things right, and I would never have a picky eater.

Now I find myself up late at night researching ways to get him to eat more healthy stuff. It seems like im starving him. Some days he will eat sooo much fruit, the next day he will hate it. After getting stressed, worried, and then stressed again. I found the following information to be most helpful.

-it's a normal part of development
- nearly all kids go through phases like this
- look at all the food groups over a week instead of a day. dont be afraid if one day they dont get any fruit (etc). As long they are getting some from each food group/ color over a weeks time they should be good.
- offer healthy choices
- they are in control of eating. We can only control whats offered, they chose to eat it or not.
- they wont starve

This has made me feel some what better. I have made meals a bit more creative. Using cookie cutters, etc. I give him foods I KNOW he will eat for breakfast/ lunch so if he refuses dinner, its okay. For snacks I lay out this nibble tray by Dr. Sears and just keep it at his level for a few hours. He will come and go, taking a piece or two. I love it!

Cheerios

When is a child is between 6-8 months old they beging to develop a pincer grasp. Which is the pointer finger and thumb working together to pick up small objects. This is the age parents are usually encouraged to introduce easy finger foods such as cheerios, or puffs. The main reason these are recommended is because it's great practice, and they dissolve easily in the mouth.

As the child gets a bit older this skill can be advanced some by also including some problem solving skills, and hand eye coordination. We have an awesome "Cheerios" book that I adore. It's a way to make snack time last a bit longer so I can get some stuff done, he has fun, and is practicing important skills!

The book has different pictures made from cheerios. There are empty holes in the pictures where children are suppose discriminate which need cheerios, then put them in the holes. Here is a link to one:


However, you don't need to the book to make this a fun activity. You can easily draw dots on a paper, and have children cover the dots with cheerios. For children a bit older, you can give them a string to put cheerios on. You could even write their name on paper and have them put cheerios on the line!! Lots of great learning activities, and much more fun then doing a worksheet!

Snow Cream!

I Love snow cream! It really is so tasty! I found this recepie online, and we really enjoyed it!

Sandy's Old-time Snow Cream Recipe

Basic Recipe

1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
scant 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
large bowl of snow (about 3 quarts)

Blend milk, sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough snow to make snow cream to
an ice cream consistency.

Variations - There are many variations for snow cream. For example,
substitute canned cream for milk for a heavier flavor. Add Nestles Quik
for a chocolate snow
cream, or use instant cocoa mix. Another variation is to add plump
raisins and cinnamon, or add a beaten egg for a nog taste. Puree an
overripe banana and add to
the mixture. Get creative - you know your family's tastes.

Note: ALWAYS - ALWAYS make sure the snow is clean. It takes at least one
to two hours for snow to clean the pollutants from the air, then use
only snow that
has fallen after that first cleansing snow. It also goes without saying
(but I will anyway), to make sure you do not collect the snow where
animals and birds eat (or do
other things). Cleanliness first. Stress that with the kids, because
this is a treat even the younger ones can make for the whole family.

Cooking with kids

I often hear other parents say things like "I cant wait until my child is older so we can cook together!" Kids can start helping in the kitchen as soon as they start sitting up! Here is a picture of Connor helping me bake a little before he turned 6 months! Of course they need some help! Even just giving them an empty bowl and a spoon to "practice" makes them feel included in meal preparation!

Gingerbread Cookies

Today I have a 11 month old, 18 month old, 16 month old, and a 3 year old! We are going to have a gingerbread cookie day!! Yum! Who doesn't love a good gingerbread cookie?!

To start the day we read a classic book-- The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth. All of the kids got really into the book. They loved screaming "Run Run as fast as you can, you cant catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man!!"

This gave us a bit of an idea of what a gingerbread man is. Then it was time to practice. I gave each child a gingerbread man cutout, and we used a white paint pen to decorate and draw designs on the paper.

That one is Connors. Which is similar to how the younger ones looked. The 3 year old of course drew actual buttons, etc. Then it was time to make some cookies before nap time! Everyone helped pour ingredients, and took turns mixing!

When the little ones went to nap. The 3 year old and I rolled the dough, and baked them! After nap we all decorated our own, and ate them up! We even made a few extras for everyone to take home!!

That was our gingerbread day :D

Pumpkin Pies

What's your favorite part of Thanksgiving?! Mine of course is all the food & family! One of my favorite foods is pumpkin pie!! Yumm!! We made pumpkin pie slices today, and then ate some real pumpkin pie!! Don't forget the cotton ball whipped cream!

Potato Painting

This month we've been doing some farm & harvest themed activities. Today we painted with potatoes. Kids think its so silly to use an everyday food to paint with! We started the color brown this week so I decided to use brown paint! :D