Summer Fun Project #4

4th of July T's!

I found the idea for these fun 4th T's here! We had a T painting party and it was so much fun! The kids shirts turned out sooo cute.

Fun Summer Project #3

We love to sleep outside on our deck in the summertime! It's much cooler outside and the stars are amazing. Obviously, I can't get many pictures because it's sooo dark. One of our favorite activities is star gazing and watching for the meteor showers. We have seen a few and they are incredible. Stars falling right and left. One of the best showers is in August but there is one going on right now! Wikipedia has a great chart that lists all the showers and when to view them.

Fun Summer Project #2

Aver's and I were home alone this afternoon and we were looking for a quick and cheap project. We were bored! I found the idea for these necklaces on this blog! I love how this project is GREEN and oh soo cute! So easy Aver's and I made 12 of these cuties!

Fun Summer Project #1

Every summer we have a kids cook night once a week.

They get to plan, shop and cook an entire meal all on their own.

This week was Averie's turn.

The girls scoured cook books for their recipes and made their shopping lists.

Morgan worked on her menu and list for next week.

Averie is ready to do her shopping at the farmer's market!

Averie preparing her dinner!

Averie's Menu

Cornflake Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Green Salad full of Fresh Veggies

Fabulous Fudge

My kids (even the teenagers) really enjoy cooking. So this is a really fun activity for them!

Groovy Granola

I used my Mom's recipe because it's soooo good!

Heat oven to 325.

4 cups oats

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup coconut

1 cup wheat germ

1 cup chopped pecans (or any nuts that you have on hand)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Melt 1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup honey

in the microwave.

Add 2 Tbls. milk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well blended. Spread on a large rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 10 minute intervals until browned. Tossing at every 10 minute interval. Let cool completely and pour back into bowl. Add 1 cup dried fruit (optional). I used dried blueberries. (Morgan's favorite) Store in a sealed container.

Tie Dye Cupcakes

These are super easy to make and look really cool! My kids LOVED them!

Basically, you start with a vanilla cake batter and separate it into thirds. Tint with yellow, blue and red professional decorator color. I got mine at Joann's.

Next, add about a tablespoon of each color cake batter to the muffin cups.

Swirl the colors just a bit with a kabob skewer. Don't over swirl or the colors will muddle together.


Bake according to recipe and let cool completely before frosting. I used a basic white vanilla frosting so the inside of the cupcake would be a surprise.



And there you have it! Some pretty groovy looking cupcakes!

Peace, Love and Happiness

I chose Morgan's theme for several reasons: 1 - she is a vegetarian, 2 - she wears a peace sign of some form almost every day, and 3 - she tries really hard to always be green! She cracks me up. If she sees someone in town riding their bike instead of driving she rolls down the window and claps, yelling "Good Job"! Never considering, 1 - she might scare them and 2 - maybe they have no other choice, nevertheless I have to admit her enthusiasm for doing the right thing is contagious. So all and all the theme was perfect!The party was also a surprise. Which proved to be particularly difficult because she was home. Lucky for me I have some very willing teenagers, who drove her around and did a great job at distracting her! Even little Averie had fun tricking her big sister. Also, my Mom was here for the whole weekend, including Friday, working her tail off to help me. I love my Mom!


We had mostly adults at the party because we rotate between friend party and family party every other year. I have such a big family it would get too expensive to have school friends and family at one party. I did evites for the invitations. It was sooo easy, free and I like how it keeps a running total of rsvp's so I know exactly how many people. We served an early dinner. Our menu was veggie burgers, watermelon, corn on the cob, coleslaw, veggie chips n dips, and baked beans. For dessert I made tie dye cupcakes and 50/50 ice cream. Favors were groovy granola! (Mostly adults required an adult favor) We used compostable utensils and cups, glass plates, and I made tablecloths with organic cotton. My Mom made flower centerpieces and we used my recycled glass jar collection for the vases. We made a super cute banner and matching cupcake toppers but the location of the banner wouldn't photograph so I don't have any pics of it. :o(
I will post several of the recipes I used so stay tuned!
It was an incredibly fun day and Morgan claims that it was her best birthday yet!

Peace

Today was my sweet Morgan's 12th birthday! We had a surprise peace, love and happiness party for her. I am soooooo tired so I will post more on her party tomorrow!

Morel Hunting

Hunting in our local forests for the elusive Morel mushroom!

Cousin Anna and Morgan ready for the hunt! The first mushroom of the day!

Wow, aren't these amazing!

For more information on Morel hunting try here!

In Season: Cherries!

I LOVE cherries! LOVE! I drive by our local cherry farm, Mountain Brook Ranch, all year long, my mouth watering for the start of cherry season. There is nothing like tree ripened farm fresh cherries. To help prolong my cherry season at home, I freeze them!

I wash and pit the cherries. I got my cherry pitter from the Pampered Chef but I have also seen them here and here. I lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then stick them in the freezer for about an hour. When they are frozen I put them in a labeled ziploc freezer bag.

Frozen cherries make a great warm weather snack, they are delicious in cherry cobbler or cherry pie!

Some for now!

Some for later!

What I Wore Today

Lame.....I know! I have had a crazy week! With a quick trip to San Diego, the last week of school/work activities, a dance recital, and trying to plan a Peace, Love and Hipiness birthday party. (More on that later!) I am still working on my blog using this look book! I should have that finished in a few days. So stayed tuned!

Just Do It!

It's summertime!!!! Your wallet and the planet will thank you!

It's not hard and your clothes will smell sooo good.

We just put a pop up clothesline from Lowe's in an old umbrella stand and put some heavy rocks on it to stabilize.

My Summer "To Do" List

Convenient that someone else already wrote it for me!

What's great about this book, other than the amazing photos, is that my kids can do all of this stuff with me!

What's on your summer "to do" list??

San Diego: Day Two

We got up early and drove down highway 101! It was such a beautiful day. We stopped for breakfast at Swami's and across the street is the Self Realization Fellowship. I love how it's this amazing place with interesting architecture and it's sandwiched between the ocean, a campground, and highway 101. While enjoying my breakfast I realized how much I miss living in North County San Diego and that I REALLY need to visit more often!
We went for a long walk at one of my old stomping grounds! Oceanside pier.

On our way home we stopped to visit some friends in Fallbrook. We were treated to the most amazing lunch, a walk through their neighborhood to see some fascinating succulent gardens, and some citrus and avocado picking in their orchard.

And I forgot to mention the neighborhood chickens!

Matt also made a life long BFF, their daughter August!

San Diego: Day One, Part Two

Balboa Park! One of my favorite places. Where else can you get such stunning architecture and so many museums all in one place?
I love that this bell tower chimes every 30 minutes!

My hubby, contemplating life in front of the fountain.

These pictures require much explanation. We went downtown, on the trolley I might add, to a place called "The Strip Club." No, it's not what you think. It's this very cool restaurant where they bring the meat you order to your table raw and you grill it yourself. There are grills and all the grilling accessories all throughout the restaurant. It was fun!

We made it for happy hour! This was the most delicious Key Lime Martini!

The food was really really good! Our meat was cooked to perfection.

What an exhausting but amazing day in San Diego!

Day One: San Diego

Playing at Moonstone Beach in Encinitas and breakfast with an adorable Aidan!

Heaven on earth the Cedros Avenue Design District!
A whole block of warehouses full of "mini stores" filled with handmade and found objects.

My yummy lunch and instead of a number I got to be the lord of the dance, Nataraj!

Some of the fabulous "mini stores" in Solo, one of the warehouses!

Beautiful garden shop!

Things I loved!

My purchases!

Bird egg soaps, and gardeners soap......yes I make soap but it's so fun to try others stuff and get ideas.

Antique candle holder and chair, wrought iron bird and leaf stand, handmade birdhouse, ceramic bird, grow sign, vintage price tag stamps, cute little potted succulents.

And if you have any growing tips on succulents I would love some!

I have many many more pics so I will post more later!

I had a great time and can't wait to go back again soon.