Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Story Time...

I HAVE FALLEN in love with these children's books! A dear friend and godmother of my little girl gave us the first of our collection and introduced us to these lovely books. For my little girl's birthday my Dad got her a couple more and they are just so lovely I had to share.


The stories are so sweet and the illustrations are fantastic. My kids love story time and these books provide me lots of inspiration. I love fairies and all things that are "gnomish" (is that a word?). I've introduced my kids to  needle felting. First because I love felted things, but also because it is such a great fine motor activity. Knitting with some type of tower, finger knitting or needles (if your child can master them) are great for fine motor too! But making felted gnomes and fairies is fun and these books inspire me to do just that.



There is a small flower bed in my front yard that I'm planning to turn into a fairy domain. There are several books on putting Fairy House's together. I also thought it would be fun thing to do with the kids. Then I could get it weeded and beautified with their help. Aren't I sneaky! Hee! Hee!

Where do you get your inspiration? What fun things are you going to do this summer? If the sun ever visits our neck of the woods, we will be out doing our "welcome summer" dance. But even if it's gloomy we'll be out exploring because "No one cared how wet or muddy they were for no child of the forest can ever catch cold" (Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow).

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Fast Free Waffles!

CONTINUING WITH THE Fast FREE theme we are indulging in my kids favorite breakfast WAFFLES!! Doesn't everyone love waffles. This is a quick and easy recipe, but beware it is extremely high in calories. So if you're watching your waist line you may want to move on to another Blog now!! Ha! Ha!

I borrowed this recipe from my mom years ago and it has become a family favorite. I'm not sure of the original source, so I'm not meaning to plagiarize anyone out there!! We just call it "Mom's Waffles".

Mom's Waffles Recipe
4 eggs                                             1 cup milk
1 cup melted butter                        1 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda                           1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt                                         2 cups flour


I put all the wet ingredients into my blender and pulse a couple of times to blend them. Then I add all the dry ingredients and blend well. Scrape down the sides of the blender and blend again until well blended and smooth. For my waffle iron I put 1/3 cup of batter in each side and then cook until done! Delish!! Enjoy!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Meal Planning

IT'S RAINING...IT'S POURING... The old man is snoring...he woke up in bed and bumped his head and couldn't get up in the morning...

When I looked out the window today that's exactly what I thought. I also must have bumped my head because I didn't want "to get up in the morning". We had kind of a lazy day, packed with loads of games, stories and mom knitting. Lots of tea, too! Sometimes, even though I can't kick everyone outside in the sun all day, I love these lazy kind of days. I especially like lying in bed listening to the rain falling outside.

This was a day to play and plan. Since this is my shopping week, I'm planning meals for the next two weeks and getting my shopping list in order. Over the past few months I've been lazy about actually planning meals and have been running into the dreaded zone of "what's for dinner?" and not having a clue. Or the zone of thinking of what to make only to find you don't have all the ingredients. Quite frankly meal planning is my least favorite thing to do. Coming up with dinners and ensuring that it's something that the majority will eat. I'm sure none of you have ever had this challenge!

I have been making meals for a life time. Since it was just me and dear ol' Dad growing up , I began cooking at an early age. Little did I know that once you begin making meals for people you never get to stop! At times I feel like a walking menu. Do you ever feel like that? A child comes to you with the complaint, "I'm hungry". You respond, "what would you like to eat" only for them to answer, "I don't know". Grrrr.... I then offer options and to each the reply is "no, I don't feel like eating that". Grrrr....

Maybe you don't have this dilemma in your home, but I go through this on a regular basis!! So any time I am invited any where for dinner or any meal for that matter it is such a blessing!! You could serve me a TV dinner and I'd be happy as a clam! Just thought of what to eat and then making it is a chore I really would love to avoid. I have often said if I was wealthy that is what I would have, a full-time chef! Even though I do like to cook, some times the chore of coming up with what to cook is more than I can bear. I'm a big baby, huh?? I know that's what you're thinking. Anyway I feel like I've taken a trip down the 'bunny trail' here....

Back to the topic at hand... Did I have a topic? Oh yeah, I was going to talk about Allrecipes.com. I love them! Even though I've gotten out of the habit of using them lately. I can get new recipes or use my own and can build a menu complete with a printable shopping list. Or I don't even have to print it, I can just use my "smart" phone. Love that!! Over the last couple of years I have added my recipes so that I can have a digital way to organize them. It's wonderful. I have a menu for fasts, strict fast, fast free weeks, etc. It's great!! So now I'm back to using it and I happy to say I'm almost done with my shopping list for my outing!! It takes the stress out of it, at least for me. That's always a good thing!

I was also able to get more done on my knitting project. In between Wii Sports tournaments with the boys. I guess I don't mind video games when we are all doing them together. And I'm happy to report my foot is on the mend after my spill the other day. Hopefully I'll be able to wear a shoe for a more significant length of time soon. Hope you're enjoying the weather too! Blessings!

And it's beginning to look like a sweater!! I'm so happy!