We made butter!

And I really can't belive how easy it was!  We have been reading through the Little House on the Prairie book series.  The kids are very interested on how they used to do things back then.  So I thought this was one thing that we could test out and see how it went.  Obviously we used a modern appliance instead of a hand butter churn(although I do have one just for display).

Heavy Whipping Cream (2 cups)

Turn on for roughly 5 minutes.  Starting to get thick.

J and K squeezing the buttermilk out.  The did not like
this as much as they thought they would.

Still squeezing!

And we have butter!  That is it!  If you like salty butter, add 1 tsp salt.
Also if you do not add yellow food coloring the butter will be white.

We had a lot of fun with it and the kids all asked to do it again!  Next time we will make homemade rolls to go with it!  Doesn't that sound amazingly yummy!

Fathers Day

I love any chance I get to celebrate anyone in our family.  However, we are very intent on not spending a crazy amount of money.  That is not what we are celebrating!  On that note Father's Day this year, we decided the kids would hand make everything for Dad.  They were so excited to go shopping for supplies!

We kept it very simple, but it just about celebrating the amazing man we call Dad.  We are so lucky to have Dad in our lives.  He is a hero, a fixer of broken toys, a movie watching snuggle in with a blanket type of man.  He loves and adores each of the kids for their uniqueness and their spirit.  He pushes them to do their best because he knows they have it in them.  He is a sounding board form and listens with open ears.

Our house is turned upside down as soon as the kids figure out Dad is home from work.  Even the dog starts to go crazy!  They fight over who gets to help him bring his stuff inside.  We try to celebrate him everyday.

We are truly blessed to have a Dad like you!  We love you and Thank you!

Preperations for Fathers Day

My kids are now to the age where I need to start letting them pick out and/or make their own presents for different events.  So for Father's Day this year we decided we would make his gifts.  Something simple but totally from their hearts.

We got these two ideas of Pinterest and I thought they would be very easy for the kids to do.  I can't wait to show you guys the finished projects!  The kids and I are having fun while Dad is at work.  We can't wait to surprise him!

First Harvest

I was so excited last night when we went to weed the garden.  I thought my carrots were looking big on top, this can be very decieving though.  So I pulled two of them to check out.  We ended up with about a dozen carrots that were ready.  YUMMY!

Dad has come up with an amazing recipe for the carrots on the grill.  You make a foil packet, swipe butter on the foil so they don't stick.  Place carrots in a pile, shake a TBS of white sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar on top.  Place 4 slabs of butter through out and seal.  Cook on grill for about 1/2 hour.  Keep in mind, the bigger the carrots, the longer the cook-time.  These are now a family favorite and now we get to eat them from our own garden.

Quilts, a hand-made memory

I have always been fascinated with anything to do with history.  Especially my families history.  I have traced both mine and Dads genealogy back quite far(and we have some surprises).  I have old family pictures hung up in our house. 

One thing that I have always loved and has always caught my eye are quilts.  Where ever we go, they stand out to me.  My very first birthday present from Dad when we were just dating was a quilt that his Grandma had made for me.  It brought me to tears.  It was so heartfelt for him to ask his Grandma to do this.  A lifelong treasure. 

We have that quilt ,along with a quilt that his Grandma made him, hanging on a rack. 
J has taken over Dads original quilt, and has claimed it for himself!  We also have a quilt that Dads other grandma made for him.  I don't have a picture of this right now, it is in an air tight bag until I find the time to fix it.  She hand sewed the entire thing!  This grandmother passed away quite a few years ago.  My goal is to surprise Dad by having it sewed back together, where it has fallen apart.  I know it would mean a lot to him.

Last week I got a surprise from his Grandma that has sewn all of the other quilts.  She had pieced together a quilt top.  She gave that to me along with everything else I would need to make the quilt.  Now I should say I have never made a quilt all by myself, but that was her intention.  This quilt was going to be for C and it is even more special because now it has been made by her Great Grandma and her Mama!  What a memory to have!

Here is the finished quilt, along with a pillow case that I pieced together today.  I am so happy to finally have it done!  Now onto making K and D's!!

Swimming

Summer has officially started!  Swim lessons, ball, cook-outs.....Love it!  J, C and K all started swim lesson today.  This is K's first year and as I figured he would, he talked the life guards ear off!  This kid has NO FEAR of water, which scares the heck out of me!  We have unfortunately had a few close calls with him and water because of him being too brave!

J and C are both in level 2 this year.  It is so funny to me because Dad and I are not that into water, but our kids(except for D) are all fish!  I really liked their classes this year because it is one life guard per 2 children.  So they really have individual attention, and as a mom, I love that I know they are actually being watched.

K with his instructor.

D waiting and watching

K, instructor and partner

J and C with their instructor.

See K sneaking some toys!

I thought this was cute!
C with her instructor.

And this is what happens with all of
the summer stuff!
K passed out before supper!

Parade

D, J and K waiting for the parade

 This was the first time in over 10 years that I made it to the Canoe Fest parade.  I was so excited to take my kids for the first time.  I know that sounds silly, but I have such fond memories of this festival!   We have always had a newborn and it is either increidbly hot or raining so I haven't been able to take them.  This year it was still very very hot, but they are finally old to handle the heat better.  We always knew D and K had a small issues with sensory overload, however D did not fair so well with the Fire Trucks!  We had a mini melt down and then he hid in the condo hallway with Grammy J.

Poor C got a whole bucket of water
dumped on her!

The kids all had a blast, which made it an even better day for me!  We got to see our dear friends children march in an amazing band!

All in all it was a great day, and I am so happy to finally have been able to do this with my kids!

C waiting also!

D and E waiting out the noise!

I can't believe how much candy they got!

D and K completely out!

Garden

I am so excited, this is the first year I have done a garden all by myself.  In years gone by I have always had help(Dad's grandma, my mom....).  We have lived in our house for 5 years and this is the first chance we got to set one up. 

So far as you can see in the one picture our beets and carrots are doing amazing!  Tomato plants are also doing really good.  We had to re-till up some of the garden, unfortunately we had some plants that never grew.  We are trying to replant them and hopefully they get started. 

The other day we noticed that there was funny tears on the beet leaves.  Yesterday morning I caught a little bunny hoping around in my garden!  So now on our next free weekend we get the joy of fencing off our garden or we will have nothing left!

And I am most excited about my Roses!
I have tried before and killed, this one is
growing like  crazy!

Jello

First of all I need to say, I love the fact that my kids love simple things!  They get so excited over doing something that does not cost $1000!  So I automatically thought of them when I was grocery shopping and saw this Jello mold.  And it was only $1!

So once we got home the first thing they asked to do was make the Jello Jigglers.  I am not a huge fan of Jello, but I will eat it if it is the right flavor.  Dad is really not a fan, so this is defiantly a treat for them since they generally don't get it.

First Games

K warming up

K heading out to bat.

 Last night was J, C, and Ks first ball games.  They had a blast and we had a blast watching them.  K really got into it and was diving after balls.  He actually had scratches up his back.  It is always entertaining, I love this time of year!

D wishing he could be out there

C hydrating

C batting

K running!!

J waiting his turn

K takin off!

J and C team

J up to bat

J warming up

J on first

Contest

Make sure you stop over to my facebook group for customers and hostess to put your guess in and win an amazing Thirty One prize!

Our annual Tie Dye party!

Tie Dye cake batter

Tie Dye cake baked

Tie Dye cake all ready to eat(and they ate all of it)

It has become an annual party.  The first full day of summer vacation we have a tie dye party.  The kids love it and request it every year.  That makes me feel pretty good that they have such fun with it.  This year we chose really bright colors, and I was very impressed with them!

Tie Dye coffee filters, done with markers and water

Finished!

C had to wear hers!  The pic does not do it justice!
The colors are so vibrant!