Reusable lunchware

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~Emma Goldman



Ah... it's finally summer, no full calender of pre-school activities or homework to worry about... so what am I doing thinking of the Fall already?!?!

I think it has to do with me always being extra prepared with everything I do, especially when it comes to the kids. The day before the infant doctors appts. I had the bags packed with all we'd need so there was no rushing the morning of, months before the birthday parties I already knew what theme to decorate with and most of the time already purchased the essentials, and always try to be ahead of what's on the calendar and make it fun for everyone instead of rushing and forgetting things.

But I think enrolling the boys in a summer camp didn't help either! Pre-school is half day, no need to worry about packing a lunch b/c we get to fix one together so when we get home we can talk about what exciting new things happened during the day. But in signing them up for something only 3 days in June and July to keep the idea of a routine in the back of their minds, their day is a little longer and they have to bring a lunch. Yay! But totally bummed I wasn't able to pre-search for cute lunch boxes for them to bring :) Bagged lunch will probably work out better in the long run, from experience working with little ones I can't expect a 3 and 4yr old to remember to bring home lids to containers!


But it did get me searching info for when Gavin goes into Kindergarten next Fall, yay... more pre-planning!!!

I've always loved the Pottery Barn Kids line, anything from there is great quality and super cute!

And a few yrs ago I saw in their catalog the Spencer Bento Box, awesome for kids portions and not having baggies to buy!

I have a feeling their first lunch box won't be the metal one that I grew up with but a more eco-friendly style that will last longer and won't dent or rust :)

So that got me looking into what is out there for lunches and thought I'd post a few things I found to be really neat!

Reuseit.com has some great stuff like these sandwich bags to replace a ziplock baggie that sits in the landfills for yrs!

These are great for little ones too so they know what's inside each bag. I wish I had the mystery one when I was little, I loved the excitement of opening my lunch to see what Mom packed me that day!

Then there are these SUPER-CUTE lunchies from Skip-Hop! They have a fox lunchbox, really??? Where were they when I was a kid!!!!

Now that preschool is in the picture for both boys this Fall I am so excited to see what new themes will come out for all the school supplies!

Lemon Tree

I was so excited when I purchased my Meyer Lemon tree a few months ago from a local nursery! I bought it a new gorgeous pot and reminisced about picking citrus in Florida with my Grandparents when they lived down there and couldn't wait to pick my own and make good use out of it! That is until a few weeks ago...

One word... squirrels.


The tree had so many little lemons, green and looking more like limes at the time, but tiny capsules of liquid gold to me. But unfortunately it just happens that un-ripe lemons look and kind of smell like un-ripe walnuts, who'da thought? Needless to say I saw some squirrels on the back porch one morning playing kickball with 2 of them and they must have plucked and played basketball with at least 6 more because I saw them scattered all over the property.



I'm sure one bite and they weren't interested, but to pluck them... I was devastated. There goes our homemade summer lemonade and lemon tarts I was so syked about. But those pesky little creatures did leave me one. So I'm nurturing it like I grew it from a seedling and am almost at the point of putting it on display instead of cutting into it when it is ripe because of all the time and money put into protecting the little guy (though I haven't named him yet, guess that's a good sign).

(Hubby's quick fix solution for the tree)


This week I did see more blooms and as of yesterday there are 4 more on the way! Though I have to mention that the seedlings inside the bloom are extremely fragile! I brushed up against them when there were still blooms and knocked the second from the left completely out of the the middle of the flower! The flowers reminds me of honeysuckle when it grows, though DO NOT touch, pick or possibly even blow too hard on the long stems in the middle of the flower when they're growing, they're attached to the base of the lemon and eventually fall off when the baby lemon is a little more established. Found this out the hard way :)

Here's a tidbit of history and cultivating if anyone's interested.



The Meyer Lemon is the most popular of all the citrus. In 1908, Mr. Meyer imported the first Meyer Lemon tree from China, where it is grown as a dooryard tree. Meyer Lemon is compact enough even for urban balconies and limited-space gardens. This lemon tree will begin bearing large, juicy, thick-skinned fruit at an early age! Without any fruit, this evergreen would be attractive enough to grow as an ornamental. The leaves are lush and glossy, the small white flowers often bloom indoors in late winter, just when the house needs some color and scent. The flowers are intensely fragrant, and the tree has a habit that is upright and well-branched. Depending on the size of the container and pruning you give it, this tree could reach 8 feet high and 10 feet wide, but can also be kept smaller. Container size is very important. Choose a container that is ample for the tree. A 10-15 gallon container will allow for a 10-feet-tall tree under perfect conditions. Under average conditions, a tree can reach 7-8 feet in a pot this size.

Carter's 3rd birthday

Well, pulled it off, a combo party for my little muchkin who wanted an Oso party while using all the truck theme partyware my Mother-in-Law purchased a couple of yrs ago.


Needless to say there were a bunch of tots who had a blast and a bunch of adults asking who Oso was! But overall, good food and friends are always a great combination for good times!


I used online cutouts and covered them with laminate paper and they were perfect low cost ways to tie in the Oso theme!


Even used the cutouts to decorate Carter's favorite dessert... donuts!!!

Although we spent most of the gorgeous day outside playing I did have pin the tail on Whirlybird and a construction project for them to do with pretzel sticks and marshmallows and everyone received a paper digi-medal for doing a super job!

Emma's building in progress!

Happy 3rd birthday little stinker! Now slow down so we can all savor this year before number 4 comes!

Fantastic Mother's Day!

Had a fantastic Mother's Day and had to share in all the festivities! The actual day of Mother's Day my hubby asked if there was anything special I wanted to do and honestly the best present to me is quality time, no gift could compare to a day of just being together so I told him not to get anything since he's usually working most evenings and weekends on side work it was nice to just be a family of 4 for the day!

Besides, since I was young I've found doing for others is more rewarding so I get to relish doing things for Grandmom's on Mother's Day more than anything for myself. So after the Strawberry picking a couple days before I found a cute Minnie Mouse printout and added some chocolate-covered strawberries for them to enjoy, along with the stepping stones we all made for each of the Grandmom's (which glow in the dark too!) they'll have lasting impressions to remember just how small the boys were-which I'll enjoy seeing when we visit too!

Carter filling the container to mix into the cement

Pushing in the glow-in-the-dark stones

And since my Mom's birthday is only a few days after Mother's Day we took her and my Dad to Double T Diner for lunch where they had the biggest cake ever! There were 4 long tables full of strawberry cream cake that spelled out Happy Mother's Day where everyone got a complimentary piece to take home, what a sweet surprise!

But I did receive a great gift from Gavin's school, the opportunity to attend a Mother's tea and see what his daily routine is like. It was so touching to see the love within that school, teacher and kids alike, this is how church should feel, like a second home with extended family! I was blessed to see just how much he's enjoying the company of his friends in class and how excited he is to learn!

In class sharing the Mother's Day gifts they made with their Mommy's

Praying to Jesus as they pass the crucifix hanging in the hall

( Have to mention that Gavin has never sung a whole song before, not like Carter who at not even 2 was singing up a storm, but for Gavin it's mostly because of his shyness mixing with his speech delay, he'd only get out a few letters of the ABC's and part of Old McDonald's song- mostly just the animal noises came out. But last month out of the blue he blurted out this song while laying with me in bed, word for word and to an actual tune. I was so moved! Now everytime we hear it in church he can sing along and I'll always think of his 1st song he learned thanks to his school!)

They also made portraits of their Mom's and told what made their Mommy special. None of the pictures had a name so each of the Mom's had to read and guess which pertained to them. They were sooo cute! Of course as soon as I saw the part about 'Mommy getting me a football shirt', I knew it was Gavin's!

Can't wait to attend this next year with Carter! Truly touched my heart, as a person of God and a Mother, there's nothing better than seeing a child growing in faith!

Having a Berry good time!

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."...Marcel Proust

There's nothing like the sweetness of fresh picked strawberries! No multi-person handeling, packing and long truck ride to the grocery store; just picked off the plant right to your kitchen!

I wish I had more land to be able to have a few rows of strawberries myself, but they are only around for about 4 weeks time so in the long run of prepping the garden I'll stick with my 2 pots of plants and leave the big stuff to the professionals nearby!

That said, I took the boys to a local farm to go Strawberry picking today and had to share our visit! I mentioned it once earlier in the week and this is all they've been looking forward to! It was so cute, as soon as we got out of the truck and got our boxes, Gavin runs up to the field saying, 'Strawberries, here we come!'

They did awesome too! After reminding them to only pick the all red ones they could have been hired on the spot! Their little fingers griped the stems perfectly and they were so gentle when pulling that only a few were a little bruised (those were eaten on the spot of course)!

Also taught some great teamwork skills in the process!


Now, I have the great pleasure of washing and preping tons of berries as we picked the most ripe ones. I'll save about a dozen to be included in a chocolate-covered Mother's Day bouquet for the Grandmom's this weekend and another couple dozen to eat. The rest I'll try my hand in making some Strawberry Jam. It seems easy enough to make, guess we'll see how it goes! Here's a basic recipe:

COOKED JAM
5 cups crushed berries (2 qt.)
7 cups (3 lb.) sugar
1 box powdered fruit pectin

Stir powdered pectin into the berries. Bring berries and pectin to a boil and add sugar all at once. Again, bring the mixture to boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and fill jars.

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FREEZER JAM
2 cups crushed berries (1 quart)
4 cups (1 3/4 lb.) sugar
3/4 cup water
1 box powdered fruit pectin

Add sugar to fruit and stir well. In a sauce pan, boil 3/4 cup water and the fruit pectin for one minute, stirring constantly. Add the hot pectin and water to the fruit and continue stirring 3 minutes. Put in containers, let stand 24 hours and store in freezer.

*A great tip I got a few yrs back when making the kiddos fresh baby food:
If there is not time to make your jam the same day as you picked, here's a great idea! Wash, stem and slice the berries then blend them. They won't take up as much space in your freezer, and 2 cups of the blended berries makes one jam recipe any time you want "fresh" jam.

OSO Birthday party

Super excited about planning yet another birthday party! It won't be as over-the-top as Gavin's Mickey Mouse party but still fun nonetheless! We all LOVE Special Agent Oso, yes hubby included!

As mentioned in an older post there is no Oso party supplies to be had, anywhere, with every online place I search there are parents up in arms over Disney not having anything Oso but 2 little toy sets online (they used to be availble at Target but as of last yr arn't sold in stores anymore). Thank Goodness just this month Disney put a plush for sale online after a 2yr hiatus, I know my little guy will love this as much as the little Scentsy lamb he got from the Easter Bunny- he's such a stuffed animal lover, and loves every single one he has too!

I was going to make my own invites until I remembered my mother-in-law had purchased a ton of truck and construction theme supplies that were dirt cheep before Carter was even born, thinking they could have been used for future parties for Gavin. It just so happened that they had 3 birthday candles on them so they work well but after asking Carter what kind of party he wants I'll be fusing them together with Oso and came up with:

And because he's a special agent I saw another Mom on a party site post how she cut out the guests names from the newspaper to put on the invites like a real secret message; sooo had to use that idea! It was also great one-on-one time sitting with Carter helping me find and cut out each letter and then putting them together to spell everyone's name, he was just as into it as I was!

And for the longer names like 'Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Charlie' I opted to put the cut-up letters inside and have them put it together like a puzzle, also great for older kids to do!

Now all I have to do is print out all the Disney.com online party printables for decorations!

Growing fruits in Maryland

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. ~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show

I've been pretty busy here lately, especially now that the weather is breaking and I'm outside more with the kids. But I was able to attend a seminar at Homestead Gardens last weekend (my 'me' time since it was raining and hubby couldn't work!) that I wanted to post about so I at least have this reference material on here and an fyi for anyone else that's interested. The seminar was lead by a gentelman who grew up on an orchard and now works at one on the Eastern Shore, cultivating Hollybrook Orchard trees.

He did us a great diservice by explaining that each of these trees has a tag on them stating what type of tree you are looking at, not just 'Apple tree' like many other companies, but the type, size and if it needs other pollinating trees to grow. He handed out a flyer that has great info for growing your own fruit and visiting Hollybrook online they have even more growing resources that are great to follow. While you can't purchase trees directly from the orchard, they send their products to garden centers like Homestead, Greenstreet Growers or Patuxent Nursery for purchase.

(My favorite apple type, btw! But don't think they grow here too well unfortunately)

Planting:

Choose a tree type that best suits your land and how you will use the fruit. Be prepared for alot of fruit, especially if you need other pollinator trees, up to a few bushels on each tree. So be prepared for alot of pies, canning or giving them away if it's too much for your household. Not sure if this pertains to us, Mike takes an apple a day to work, the kids and I go thru a dozen or more a week; between eating right off the tree and freezing some fillings I'm sure we'll put a few trees away in no time!

Types:

Dwaf tree: 8-10' tall

Semi-Dwarf tree: 12-14' tall

Standard tree: taller than 14'tall

Soil: Most soil in Md is Clay or Sand. Just make sure the land drains well.

Cherry trees- sandy soil
Pears/Apples- Can tolerate dense but prefer a mix type

*If you have a septic the land will drain fine for most types.

When you go to plant, don't dig extremely deep or wide holes. There's a knob on the bottom of the tree trunk called a graftium, that adjusts the height of the tree. If you get a dwarf tree do not bury the graftium, this make it grow to a standard size because of adjusting the root system. Just dig 2x the size around the tree, not deep. You want to keep the graftium close to the soil line.

Also, don't put anything else in the hole, just the dirt you took out and good top soil (not the cheap soil that has more mulch than soil, good soil will show you better results for anything you plant). But do build up a mound ontop of the soil to help drain water away from the trunk of the tree. Then a month later when the soil packs down you can add a 10x10x10 fertilizer to jump-start the growing process; making sure to only sprinkle it by the drip line of tree, that's where the roots are. But for apple trees, no further fertilizer is needed unless the tree isn't growing. The more fertilizer the more susceptible the trees are to disease. Where peach and pear trees may need fertilizer more frequently thru the growing season. Thus it was off to talk about spraying.

Spraying:

Blueberries you I love people who want to do everything organically, but I more loved when the orchardist asked: "Who here wants to care for fruit trees organically?" About 4 people raised their hand out of 40. He then says "Okay, you guys and get up and leave now." Cracked me up! "Other than sitting next to your trees all day, flicking off each beetle by hand or smashing 2 bricks together to kill mosquitoes, there's no option but to spray your plants chemically."

Apples, depending on the type, are pretty hardy but none are disease free or resistant to any bug nibbling them into non-existence. He mentioned that 'Christine' apples are vary hardy and seem the most disease resistant while still having a good taste but you still need to spray them.


You only need to spray once a season, then again after harvesting, very little disease with these cuties!

But peaches are the worse and have to be controlled or they will die off rather quickly or just not produce edible fruit. The stuff the commercial orchards use are 1 part chemical to 1 acre of land, that cannot be diffused for the typical homeowner so some brands have come up with chemicals that are the lowest of the low that are for purchase at any retail chain and can be used in a spray hose attachment. The easiest method would be to spray every Sat. morning from before sprouting occurs in early Spring up and then in the evenings when tree is in bloom up until to picking time; spraying in the evening is better because that's when the bees are done pollinating- you don't want to kill them off with the spray! Just wait about 12 days after spraying to harvest the fruit for eating.

If there is a true concern for too many chemicals, it was recommended to plant early maturing fruit so you don't have to spray the whole Summer to get Fall fruit.

Also a tip, the trees come with white plastic sleeves on their trunk for packing and shipping to nurseries; save them and put them back on the trunk in the winter so they stay warm and don't freeze in the winter if there are drastic temperature drops or to guard from mice eating the apple flavored bark.

Pruning:
Best time to prune is in the Spring; March. Trim flush to the tree. Trim so there's no double headers. And trim to make an outward growing tree; cutting away and branches that grow toward the tree and won't see the sun. Even if you over trim, it'll grow back, just with a little less production that year but watch out the year after that.

With all of this information as ammo I was ready for a couple of apple trees for the backyard! At the time of the lecture they were 25% off at Homestead Gardens and MD has a $25 discount for each tree purchased, half the price! So I went there today ready to buy after researching different types that thrive in our area and wouldn't you know they were down to 4 apple trees left and not really the kind I'd like to keep around the rest of my life. I could have gone to the other nurseries in the area looking for certain ones that we'd eat more of but I really wanted to give Homestead the sale since they provided this free seminar to get me hooked in the first place. Needless to say I wasn't leaving there empty handed, I got the next best thing that I'll use the heck out of... a lemon tree! Well, I opted for the smaller pot so it looks like a little one foot bush, but over time it will turn into the pricey tall one and help us make tons of lemonade and lemon filling for pies!


At least I have the info for apples to use next year and know to get one early Spring so I have a choice! So for now I have my lemons and strawberries to tend to and look forward to planting veggies and apples next year!