Fun with 4th of July Crafts: Part 2

Today the kiddos and I tackled a fun and simple craft for the 4th~patriotic rock painting! I saw a post on The Crafty Crow (love that blog!) that inspired us! And we did really enjoy ourselves.

First, I raided our craft supplies and got out the tempera paints in red, white and blue, plus an assortment of paint brushes. Then I set up a painting *station* of sorts for each kiddo, complete with paper towels and a cup of water for rinsing the brushes.

Then I sent the kiddos to choose some good rocks from their *collections* (aka: random rocks from the yard:). They were SO excited!

Then they got busy painting. I kept having to remind Mr. B to let one color dry before applying a different color over it. The hair dryer helped with this, fyi.

But finally their masterpieces were complete and I think they turned out GREAT!!

These are The Princess':

And these are Mr. B's:

I even got in on the fun and painted one. I have to say, painting rocks could be addictive it was so much fun!

They are gracing a rather bare-looking flower pot by my front door. What with the rocks and some patriotic pinwheels, it's starting to look festive!

Another 4th of July craft coming soon...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 1

Yesterday I tea-dyed some flags. They were just cheap little flags that I've had for over 10 years. I've used them in a million different ways over the years and when I saw this tutorial I thought making them look vintage would be fun.

Here they are looking all *new* and *modern*:)

So I took a large bowl and filled it with hot tap water and tossed in about six tea bags (Earl Grey, in case you're wondering).

I let the water get all nice and brown, even squeezing the tea bags gently to get a good color.

Then I put all the flags in to soak. I probably let them soak a good four hours or so.

Then I laid them out on a towel to dry over night. They had definitely gotten tea-stained and were looking much more vintage than before.

I know it may be hard to tell in a photo because the change is slight, but they really do look more vintage!
I tucked them into a little patriotic bucket filled with shredded shiny *paper*. They are standing up so nice and flying so straight! I love that, because they had lost some of that crispness packed away in their box. The tea bath sure did revive them:)

Don't they look pretty beside some of my patriotic vintage postcards?!

Watch for more 4th of July crafts to come...

Shoebox Phonics

It's been a while since I've talked about homeschooling, but we're on summer break, ya know?:) I have had a few things I've been wanting to share with you though and Shoebox Phonics is one of them.

The concept given in the book is to create shoebox *learning centers* for different aspects of learning phonics. One of the moms in our homeschool group taught a class from this book during our Spring co-op session and Mr. B just loved it. Of course, he absolutely loves anything that's a *craft*, so this was right up his alley. Each week the students got to create their own phonics game or activity in a shoebox to bring home. Each shoebox was very unique and fun. We enjoyed using them over again with Mr. B's phonics lessons at home. If you're looking for something to liven up phonics with your child, this book would be a great investment for you!

Here are a few of our boxes:

1. *Button Up With Words* was created by gluing each letter of the alphabet on buttons and then using them to create words.

2. *Letters For Lunch* involved the different sounds of the letters *s* and *c*. They used play food to make "lunches" of foods beginning with the same sounds.


3. *Short Vowel Bee Buzz* was probably my favorite. We used it a lot while learning the different vowel sounds.


So there you are, just a fun, informal *review*.

If you homeschool, are you schooling through the summer or do you take a break?

One Thousand Gifts

(google images)

0201. a much-needed summer rain

0202. listening to the rain pitter-patter on the roof

0203. the smell of the earth after the rain

0204. letting the rain water my garden for me

0205. listening to a summer thunderstorm

0206. watching God's fireworks, aka: lightning

0207. being safe and snug at home during a thunderstorm

0208. snuggling with my kiddos when the thunder scares them

0209. falling asleep with a peaceful, contented feeling

0210. knowing that God is holding me in the palm of His hand

Tres Leches Cake

My first attempt at Tres Leches Cake turned out great~make that mine and my sister's first attempt. She was my sous chef today! And I can honestly say it did turn out great because although I've never even had it before, my dad has eaten it lots and he said it was great:)

It's actually more of a pudding though with a mild, sweet taste and a yummy meringue topping. If you'd like to try something new or are looking for an authentic Latin dessert, this is just what you need to make. Here's a link to the recipe that I used.

Menu Plan Monday: June 28th

As I sit down to type this, I am in the midst of preparation for a belated Fathers Day celebration for my dad. He has been out of the country for a couple of weeks, so I am looking forward to having my parents and sister over today for lunch~then we're all going to see Toy Story 3 together. My kiddos can hardly stand the wait since they knew the movie came out on the 18th, but they've been waiting for Papi to return to go with them:)

For our lunch I'm making Tres Leches Cake for the first time. It's my dad's favorite cake, but he usually only gets it when he's in Mexico. I thought it would be fun to try making. I'm also whipping up a fresh Blueberry Pie with those berries we recently picked. I'll serve it with some of the Homemade Ice Cream from last week that I've been saving in the freezer~yum! I promise we're not just having desserts though...

Also Vince's brother is coming to visit this week. He lives in the Los Angeles area now, so we don't get to see him that often. He's coming with their sister and our nephew to stay overnight and we're all looking forward to some family time. Besides the dinner I have planned, I am going to make homemade cinnamon rolls with my bread starter (for the first time, of course, I always like to experiment on *company* haha). I'll let you know how they turn out!

Last week's dinners really turned out great. Cheeseburger Meatloaf is a new family fave~you should really try it! I forgot the blog the fried squash last week, but I'll try to remember this week. That stuff is SO good! Here is a great new slow cooker recipe for you though:

Slow Cooker Roasted Potatoes

~Dice red potatoes (about 1 per person, 2-3 if using new potatoes) into 1" pieces and place in slow cooker.
~Toss potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic and herb of choice (I used parsley).
~Cook on *high* for 4 hours.
~Perfection!!

Here's what's on the plan for this week:

Monday: {Belated Fathers Day Luncheon} The Perfect Burgers, Grilled Tuna Melts, Grilled Creamed Corn and Red, White & Blue Salad
Tuesday: Grilled Salmon, Baked Potatoes and Sauteed Veggies
Wednesday: Tostadas (it's become a Wednesday night tradition:)
Thursday: Lexington-Style Grilled Chicken, Fried Zucchini, Roasted New Potatoes and Salad
Friday: Turkey Burgers* and Onion Strings
Saturday: {Red, White, Blues & Bikes celebration at our church}

*Anyone got a great turkey burger recipe for me? I'd love to hear about it~leave me a comment please!

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Remembering the Promise

Can you see that beautiful double rainbow? That was so nice to come home tonight! Rainbows never fail to make me think of God's promise~and how faithful He is!

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Genesis 9: 12-17

My Garden, A Little Late to the Party

Here it is nearly the end of June~how is it that I've just gotten my garden started, you say? I keep asking myself that same question.

Then I remember...I was traveling too much in April and May to have a chance, and there was also that pesky reminder in the back of my mind that our lease was up at the end of May and we may be moving soon. So see, I really wasn't just being lazy. In case you were wondering...

But I decided to take a leap of faith and plant a garden anyway.


And then I remembered that I'd really let my little raised bed go since last summer's garden. The only thing I'd thought to do was to release our *pet* earthworms into the dirt at the end of our *worms* coop class this past Spring. The weeds had taken up permanent residence. So first I had to clear out the bed. I tried to convince The Princess that using her new set of gardening tools would be great fun as she helped me dig up and pull out weeds. A hour, a sunburn and what felt like buckets of sweat later, I finished the weeding process...alone. But the result was a nicely prepared raised garden bed.

Then it was time for the plants and seeds. I'd picked up a couple of tomato plants: a Roma and a *celebrity*. I also found some herb plants on clearance (a perk of waiting until almost-too-late to plant your garden): basil and chives. My sister has been experimenting with starting seeds, so she had a few plants to share with me: cayenne peppers and green beans. And finally, I had a couple of seed packets for lettuce and cilantro that I thought I would try.


So here it is: my little kitchen garden. One of these days I want to have a *real* garden, but for now I am learning a little at a time. I really am a complete novice. I'll keep you posted as to how my very-lately-started garden progresses. And feel free to pass along any gardening advice you may have for me!!
This post is linked to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.

Cheeseburger Meatloaf--A New Fave!

A few months ago, I saw a similar creation at a local meal-preparation business. I wasn't the one preparing this particular meal, so I really didn't know any of the seasonings, etc., just the basic concept. But I thought it sounded great! So a couple of weeks ago, I experimented with making it. It turned out pretty well, but the seasonings needed tweaking. I decided to go with the same seasonings that I use for our favorite grilled burgers. So yesterday I tried it again and it was a HOME RUN! This one is definitely going in our *favorites* file!

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

1-1/2 lbs. ground beef

2 Tbls. flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
***
Ketchup
Mustard
Pickle Relish (sweet or dill)
Sliced Cheese
BBQ Sauce
*****
Combine the ground beef in a large bowl with the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, egg and milk. Mix very well. Then, after covering the countertop with a large piece of wax paper or plastic wrap, pat the ground beef mixture out into a large rectangle. Like this:

Next, using modest amounts, drizzle the meat with ketchup and mustard. Start out with small amounts, you can always add more if it doesn't seem to be enough.

Spread the mixture all over the meat with a knife until you have a nice blend.

Now take your pickle relish and spread it over the layer of ketchup and mustard. I used sweet relish because that's what I had, but I would think dill relish would be wonderful, too.

Now it's time for your cheese. Just place slices all over the meat. You could use shredded, too. I used sliced cheddar. American cheese would probably melt even better, but my kids are cheese snobs, so I can't buy the stuff because they won't eat it...LOL

Now it's time to roll up the meatloaf. Using the end of your plastic wrap or wax paper, lift up the meat and begin to roll it up jelly-roll-style.

Place the loaf, seam side down, in a baking dish.

Then take your BBQ sauce and give the outside of the meatloaf a nice coating.

Bake uncovered at 350F for about 1 hour.

It's ready to slice and serve! This is so good because you get some of that saucy goodness in everybite. The jelly-roll-style roll up technique is one of my favorite things about this recipe! That and the delicious taste! I hope you enjoy this, too.

It's Blueberry Time!

This past week I heard that the blueberries were ripe at our favorite local farm. If you live in the Western Arkansas/Eastern Oklahoma area, you should really check it out! We always have so much fun there. And even though it is ridiculously hot here, we were having visions of blueberry muffins, blueberry pies, blueberry pancakes.... You get the idea. So we headed over to pick us some berries!


The bushes are really big and they were loaded with berries: both ripe ones and some yet to ripen.

The kids started out really excited, but the heat took over before long and soon they were hiding in the shade at the bottom of the bushes. So I just made them pick the ones down there:)

Aren't they gorgeous?! They were a really good size and so yummy!!

Yes, that is the face of someone sneaking blueberries:)

We ended up with 2 buckets full, which made one flat, which made two full gallon-sized bags for the freezer. Yum!

We've already been enjoying our favorite muffins. Next up, our favorite pie!!

I'm already planning a second trip for more berries:)