Literary Pumpkin Display

We were all excited to find out that Carter's Pre-K 3's class got to join the big kids in his school this yr in designing a pumpkin for the Literary Pumpkin Display.  This has been super fun to see which books are favorites and how creative the kids can be in creating a character from the story.

Carter chose his favorite book "Cupcake- A journey to be special"  The story has such a great moral to it and the cast of cupcakes and candles are too cute!  

We were then supposed to make a character from the book using a pumpkin.  I truly thought he'd pick Stripy Cupcake, he always says that one is his favorite, but he chose the main character Vanilla and I'm glad he did, I had fun making the candle :)

He got to help paint the vanilla icing on, white paint of course, and help draw the U's for the creamy frosting.  Then we chose the color yellow to match Vanilla's wrapper, he helped to color green paper to make the perfect green candle and we painted a toothpick black for candle's wick.  I cut out the rest of the details and we put it all together.  Super cute!

Most of the pumpkins that were decorated at the school were the big ones, they're a bigger canvas for painting and making faces, but I thought a mini pumpkin fit a cupcake theme perfectly.

Some of the other designs are pretty fantastic and super creative!

Smurfette is pretty cool, though my boys haven't a clue what she is and prob won't know who they are for yrs to come with the new movie that just came out looking not so good.

Gavin spotted Tow-Mater right away!

Squash penguin, sooo cute!

Three little pigs and the wolf, ingenious!

Can't wait till next yr to do it again!

Canned Apple Pie Filling

After picking an enormous amount of apples the beginning of the month I knew as the kids were picking every apple in sight that I would be making more apple pie filling than I planned to use for upcoming holidays.  This yrs batch was awesome, though I'm sure it's the freshness of the apples and all the love that goes into it that makes it better than the ones on store shelves.  Some jars may even become gifts with the frugal Christmas we'll be having this yr!

Canned Apple Pie Filling
Makes 9 quart jars of filling.
2 quart jars make a 9"pie

You will need:
12 cups sliced peeled cored apples, treated to prevent browning* (about 12 medium apples)
8 cups water
3 cups apple juice
4 cups granulated sugar -may substitute 1 cup of granulated for brown sugar
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup ClearJel® (cooking starch used for preserving) or 1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup lemon juice
8 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands (though this made 9 jars of pie filling for me and one small jar of just the filling; which we use on pancakes/waffles)

*mix a little lemon juice with the sliced apples

Directions:
1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) BLANCH apple slices, working with 6 cups at a time, in a large pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm in a covered bowl.
3.) COMBINE sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large stainless steel saucepan. Stir in apple juice and cold water.
-Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, and cook until mixture thickens and begins to bubble.
-Add lemon juice, return to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
-Drain apple slices and immediately fold into hot mixture. Before processing, heat, stirring until apples are heated through.
4.) LADLE hot pie filling into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with spatula. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
5.) PROCESS jars in a boiling water canner for 25 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Playing with our food

Waffle + banannas = Yummy fun!

(Maybe we'll do chocolate syrup and a cherry next time...Mmm)

Preschool skills

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. ~Author Unknown


I'm finding out that gardening parallels alot of things in life.  Baking yields the same glorious results from the combination of sewing ingredients and patience you get wonderful results that you can take pride in because of your hard work. You may not necessarily enjoy every aspect, cleaning the kitchen afterwards... weeding... but the end result is what gets you thru it and makes it worthwhile. 

Now even school work too can be better enjoyed when the subject matter excites you and the end result is something you'll have longer than any flower or baked goodie; a life skill.

School work too can be like the hard work of pulling the weeds, especially in middle/high school with such large work loads, but only if you focus on the task at hand and not at the end result.  Hopefully instilling fun into the work when they are young will help a little in the long run :)

Thus, my dear Gavin enters the age of needing focused learning instead of just associated learning.  His teacher says he needs to work on his hand strength for writing and cutting skills.  I've noticed he needs help with fine motor skills, since the age of 2 really, and I guess instead of always saying 'It'll come in time' and working on things here and there, there's no time like the present to help speed the process a little more :)

*Starting with a layed back approach is best and let them cut scrap paper to their little hearts content.  Learning finger placement and how to open and close the scissors is key in this process.

*Next, move on to cutting lines.  You can draw out simple lines on paper to start but, to give them the desire and 'want' it may help to add pictures to the paper they are cutting. 

You can draw things or use a Word document page with dashes as I did and add some clipart, very simple!  You can even make it themed; animals to their habitat, foliage to the correct season, etc.

The best part is that these cutting line pages can be used for tracing excercises too!  You can also switch it up and make it a matching game.  The possibilites are endless!

*Then you can help further this skill by having them create a photo collage by cutting out their favorite photos from a magazine.  Again, this can be themed by cutting out certian colors, animals, or foods.  They will be so proud to see the masterpiece that they cut out themselves and look forward to it everytime until the skill is mastered!

Magnetic Tree Frogs

Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart. ~Russell Page

Ah yes, now this week is my kind of weather!  And it must be great for the tree frogs as well because it's this time of year that we see an influx of them attached to our windows.  Just yesterday the boys and I were watching one of the cute little fellas leave us a present as he was suction cupped to our back door, so I decided to put a magnet Science idea to use that I came across a few weeks ago. 

We talked about magnets and tested out what was 'magnetic' and was wasn't.  Then we made our own special 'Magnetic Tree Frog'

Paint a small paper plate green

Add spots if you'd like; hole punchers work great for small circles too

Our next step was to clean up the almost 100 cut holes that fell to the floor because it was hard for them to stop at just a few; saving them to use for other projects of course :)

Add the eyes and legs and you have a great little tree frog.  You can add a second plate stapled to the bottom and paint blue and add orange/red hands to complete the tropical tree frog look, but my boys just wanted red toes, have fun and make it your own!

I then hot glued a piece of magnet to end of a pipe cleaner.  I just cut some pieces from those free magnets you get on the front of telephone books, nothing fancy.  Then hot glue the other end of the pipe cleaner to the inside of the top plate.

My little guys were occupied for a while collecting flies for the frogs... paperclips :)

These would even be a great game to use at a birthday party to see which frog could catch the most flies!

Pre-K 4's for Gavin today!

Now it's Gavin's turn for Pre-K to start!  So proud of my big 4yr old!  No tears for anyone today, including me! 

Someone was raring to go this morning!  So much for my shy little guy!

Drop off couldn't have gone smoother today!  Both were super excited and eager to get going with their class!



I couldn't say the same so I made sure to keep busy while they were gone- doing laundry, paying bills, making phone calls I otherwise couldn't with my 2 loud speakers that are usually in the background.  I thought had done it, gone a couple of hours without both of them on my heals and my heart wasn't aching... that is until I stopped at the post office and the teller asked, 'No kids today?'  That was all I needed to hear, I missed them now... bad, standing there all by myself, not playing I Spy games while we wait in line, or having them to help ring the bell at the counter.  I actually felt guilty they weren't with me. 

Thankfully it was my last stop and I only had 15minutes of that feeling until I had to pick the 1st one up from school.  That was a test for sure, and I know now I have to keep busy, and to avoid places with familiar faces for the next week, like the Bank too, that might do me in if they offer a lollipop and no kids are there to receive one! 

But of course it's always worse for Mom than it is for the kids, their smiling faces and glorious stories of new experiences and friends always make growing-up a wonderful thing!  I can only savor these days and try not to look ahead to the future school and college yrs too much, it's a learning experience for me too and I'm glad we're all in it together!



Carter's Big Day!

Wednesday was a big day for Carter... his 1st day at preschool! He was so excited the day before and morning of and even a great sport about wearing the new uniform! I could see a little nerves were mixed into his smile in the morning, this was a new adventure and I'm sure he didn't know what to expect. But in the back of his little mind he had to know that it would be a fun because everyday Gavin went to school last year Carter kept saying he wanted it to be his turn, well, now it is!

As soon as he went into the school he greeted his teachers with arms extended for a big hug, told them 'Good Morning' like telling a good friend you hadn't seen in a while, and then stood in line and gave me one of the biggest smiles... he was soooo ready for this!


He was a pro at staying in line, singing their 'wheels on the bus' song they sang on their way to the classroom and even blowing a kiss to Jesus when they passed the cross in the hallway. I saw such a big guy walking away from me that day, it made me cry just like seeing Gavin on his 1st day, but this time it was for all different reasons. Gavin cried and they had to carry him or help hold his hand the 1st week of school until he knew the routine, where Carter was ready and willing and couldn't wait from day 1.

Such a proud little guy!

As with Gavin I had a freebie book bag from my Mother-in-Law that I was going to use for Carter but had to at least spruce up something. Carter also chose a 'cookie doggie' to put on his name label inside his bag.

And being our second yr at this wonderful school and having the same wonderful teachers I just had to give them a 1st day of school gift. I saw this saying somewhere and after jotting it down on Word and adding a photo clip, opted to have Carter help me make it for his teachers.

I also had a template for a mini popcorn box I printed out and had Carter help me color two. Then after taping up the seams, tying on the notes, and adding some mini cookies, there was a great little gift they were sure to enjoy!

If I had more time I would have made the cookies myself but I did have some refrigerated cookies on hand that I got for less than a dollar, boy I love utilizing coupons and Safeway sales together, we've spent tons less on so much this year! And I found if you cut the little circles into 4's and baked them for a shorter amount of time that they made the perfect size cookies for the little holder.

Now we'll see what's in-store for Gavin after Labor Day with his new school! All this fun excitement all over again...I can't wait!!!