We are back!

Here is what we've been doing this summer...in photos.

We celebrated 2 birthdays, had a ton of company, and dusted off the canner for summer harvest.

We are getting ready to start school and another year of Classical Conversations.

How is your summer so far?

Strawberries & CSA

 What do you do with 25 pounds of organic strawberries... eat, dehydrate, and can!  It took me about 5 hours to work my way to the bottom.

I tried a new jam recipe that did not use Sure-Jell, just lemon juice, strawberries, and sugar.  It taste nice, but it's not as thick as some recipes that I've tried.  I dehydrated 10 pounds of berries and filled all 6 trays of the dehydrator.  It's amazing how much they shrink!  The strawberry chips are now stored in 2 freezer bags.  This is the dehydrator that we have, it's wonderful.

My girls call this lovely strawberry- 3 Sisters.
The strawberries were purchased in bulk from our CSA, Vollmer Farm, and they arrived in this box....it made me laugh out loud!

I chose this particular CSA because it was organic and is Non-GMO!  Did you know that 90 percent of all corn purchased in grocery store is made from Genetically Modified Seeds?
I also love the challenge of cooking with vegetables that I normally never purchase, like rutabaga.  Tonight for dinner I mashed them with butter and garlic...everyone loved them, even the baby.  Here are a few pictures from week 1 and week 2 of our CSA.

Girl's Garden

We've been playing in the dirt, pulling up weeds, and cleaning out a small space for a "girl's only" garden.  It took all day, but it was worth it!

The girls planted Marigolds, Sunflower and Zinnia seeds, Cucumbers, Carrots, and I have a little patch of basil in the middle.

 We even had a little visitor come and check out our new garden box....(we found this so funny!)

Hello Sunshine, thanks for visiting!

How are you getting your hands dirty this week?

American Girl Party Ideas

Well, my American Girl has been 7 for nearly a three months now, but I forgot to post our fun party ideas.  Above and (sideways) is a cute American Girl Bingo game that we played with her friends, it was a big hit.

Here is a photo of Kanani in Samantha's dress and my American Girl!  I also cut out the doll photos on the bingo square to tape on the party cups.

I decorated with American Girl store shopping bags and made little doll party hats with craft paper and pom-poms.
*Our American Girl Tea Party Menu included:
Kanani's Tropical Fruit
Kit's Lunch Bites
Samantha's Tea Cookies
Olive's American Girl Cake and Icecream cups

Easter Challah Bread

This is a lovely bread that I made in Fall that will be perfect for Easter.  I plan on braiding the bread to have with dinner and using the leftovers to make perfect french toast.

Simply Healthy Challah Bread
There isn't any bread maker required for this lovely loaf of traditional Jewish egg bread. It's perfect for sandwiches or french toast for breakfast. I usually do not make bread from scratch, but this recipe from All Recipes-here,  is so simple and healthy that I may just bake some every week. The recipe made two big loaves and my family loved it.

A Little Math Lesson

This week in Math we are working on place value and subtracting larger numbers.

More On Top

No Need To Stop

    25
-    5
----------
   20

More On The Floor

Go Next Door And Get 10 More

   32
-  28
--------
     4

Numbers The Same

Zero's The Game
   60
-  60
---------
   0

Easter Egg Wreath

As Jem says...."easy-peasy,"  that's how I would describe this cute and simple Easter egg wreath.

Find some old plastic Easter eggs and a foam ring, and start hot glueing away....by the way is it "glueing or gluing." hmmmm? 

In our homeschooling news:  Olive just finished the Frog and Toad series and Jem has started, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lesson.

Homemade Baby Food

If you have a wee one it's worth a try to make your own baby food.  I find that a little work goes a long way in this department.

Pick your vegetable: Peas, Green Beans, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, Carrot
Pick your fruit: Apples, Pear, Peaches, Banana, Berries, Avocado, Mango

I have made all of these into baby food and also mixed the veggie and fruit together.  I sometimes add organic rice cereal or oatmeal to the batches.  Example: Organic Frozen Peas- blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes, add to blender with a little breast milk, or pea water, and puree until you reach desired consistency.  For harder vegetables and fruit you'll need to boil longer.

I freeze small portions into these baby cubes.  Haddie will usually down 2 cubes a meal.  If you don't want to invest in any special containers, small jelly jars work well and ice cube trays.  It takes me about 20 minutes to prepare 4 different types of baby food that she'll eat from all week.

And We Have It Hard!

Here is a list of chores that children had to do before eating breakfast on an early turn of the century farm...  This is a constant reminder to me and my girls to be thankful for everything we have, even those smelly diapers because it sure beats what they had in 1901!

It's good to be back blogging and thanks for all your kind comments during the past 3 months.  Nothing could be finer than to be living in Carolina...there is so much to do in the triangle area.  The girls are getting tired of hearing...mommy went to high school here, daddy lived here is college,  mommy went here on a prom date... I am answered with an, "I KNOW!"

We were warmly welcomed into a Classical Conversations community in Durham. Our 24 week cycle ends in 2 weeks and my girls have learned such a wealth of knowledge.  I have learned right along with them.  We finished our human body in January...a full life size picture of what's inside us.

Haddie, is now 8 months old, super mobile, super adorable, and has just popped out 2 bottom teeth.  She is still nursing well and loves all her food.  We try to find veggies and fruits that she "won't" try- it's a little game for us now.  If you have a little one, try making homemade baby food.  It's super easy with just a bit of prep work one day a week.  I'll show you how this week...to be continued....

Valentine Love Boxes

We think it's a lot more fun to deposit cute Valentine's in a fun box, rather than a paper bag.  Here are some our valentine box creations that I think turned out super cute. 

Olive's garden of love:

                                                                    Jem's tissue paper heart:

                                                       This is last year's creation of a kitty: