Archive for the ‘Quinn’ Category
Our Library…
Our town library is huge! I mean HUGE! It used to be a very small town library that was warm and cozy…but they knocked it down and built a humungous 21 million dollar library! I still can’t believe it cost that much money! It is a nice library, but I actually miss the old library. The new library is so massive and cold feeling. It seems like a lot of wasted space and energy!
But we go to the library a lot! River loves it there. Besides the books, one of River’s favorite things about the library is the statue outside. It is called “Sunday Morning” by sculptor J Seward Johnson. The library had it on loan for two years, but when the two years ended, the library purchased it through donations and fund raising….it was a bargain for only $65,000! I guess when the library costs $21 million, what is another $65,000!
She loves to stand on the statue plaque and pretend she is a statue..but then she starts to giggle….Quinn told her to sit by the statue and they would both pretend they were statues…that just made her giggle more!…but Quinn was good at being a statue!
In: Family Fun, Quinn, River, Uncategorized
365 Stories….
We have a “book” called 365 Stories. It will eventually have 365 stories, but as of now..it probably only has 80!
Some day it will have 365 stories…some day.
I can’t believe we started the book six years ago. I must say I had hoped to have all the days filled in by now. But, life got in the way…..
Sometimes Quinn will write the story and do the illustrations, sometimes Tuesday will draw the pictures and Quinn will write the stories or sometimes I will make the story! It is a little bit of everything..all creative!!
It actually is quite fun that the stories are spanning many years. We started it when Quinn was only 4 years old and River wasn’t even around! Now she is old enough to start working on some stories. On holidays or special occasions, it is fun to see what type of story the kids come up with to memorialize that event! They love going back and reading the stories over and over again!
In: Books, Family, Family Fun, Quinn, River, Traditions, Tuesday, reading
Memory Boxes….
It’s that time of year again..time to get ready for school! One of the items I buy every year, for each of my children, is a new memory box. They aren’t anything fancy, just a large tupperware style container. Each one of them has one from preschool onward.
They keep them in their rooms and they love to look through them from time to time. Instead of starting a new memory box each year, we start them each new school year. That way they are organized by grade level. The rule is..once the memory box is full…no more stuff goes into it…so they need to edit what they want to keep and what they want to throw out. They can put whatever they want into their memory boxes..not just stuff from school…tokens, tickets stubs..whtever!
In: Quinn, Tuesday, organization
Favorite Shoes…..
Who doesn’t have a pair of favorite shoes? Quinn’s favorite shoes are his Crocs. He literally wears them everyday, all year! It doesn’t matter if it is snowing, raining or hailing! We had so much snow this year and he still wore his Crocs!
Tuesday’s favorite shoes are her Adidas flip flops. She needs a new pair. We’ve ordered her a new pair. She is very picky about her shoes. Once she finds a pair of shoes she likes..she wants the same pair over and over again. This isn’t always easy. They always have to be “ordered”…thank goodness for the internet!
River’s favorite shoes are her pink Uggs. She needs new ones. Hers are disgustingly dirty! You can’t call them boots…they are Uggs..she reminds you of this. She wears them even if it is 99° outside! She loves them!
In: Family Fun, Quinn, River, Tuesday, funny things
Atomic Fire Balls, Hot Tamales and Cry Baby Sour Balls……photo shoot…..
So, I am still following along with the Giver’s Log Shoot Along and this weeks assignment was to do a sour face or fire ball photo shoot. So, we went out and bought some Hot Tamales, Atomic Fireballs and Cry Baby Sour gum. Everyone got in on the act and got their picture taken. The real challenge of the day was to put all three different candies in your mouth at once…but no one was up to that challenge!
River didn’t want to try the hot stuff…and I didn’t force her….she thought the sour balls were delicious and didn’t make any good faces…except cute ones!!!!! Tuesday was convinced that River is too young and didn’t know what sour was…but I assured her, that River knows what sour is…but for some reason…thought the sour balls were yummy!
It was a lot of fun to look over all the funny faces….especially my own! I think Tuesday made the best faces of all…with Quinn coming in a close second!
In: Family, Family Fun, Quinn, River, Tuesday, funny things, photography
Butterfly Friend….
We have had a butterfly hanging out in our driveway for several months now. Whenever we are playing in the driveway..he (or she) is there….fluttering about.
Truthfully, I don’t know that much about butterflies. Someone asked me if it was a moth…so I had to do some research and I think he is definitely a butterfly…..butterflies have a “hook” on the end of their antennae and when they are resting, they rest with their wings together, not spread out. And this little guy seems brightly colored, not dull. Now, supposedly, there are exceptions to these rules..but in general….I think he is a butterfly.
If you sit still, he will instantly land on you. Sometimes he has a friend with him, but mostly he seems to be by himself. He seems to come out around late afternoon and he hangs out until dusk.
When he flies close to your ears, you can actually hear his wings fluttering….pretty cool.
River wants to have the butterfly land on her…….at least she thinks she does…she sits still…and just as the butterfly is about to land…she runs away…….I kept trying to get shots of the butterfly landing on her…but she kept moving away……though she made a cute pose as she waited for the butterfly!
In: Family, Family Fun, Quinn, River
Farm Fair….
So today we went to our local Farm Fair. The kids had a great time checking out all the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks………and many more….
It was hot. Really hot. Luckily, the animals were under tents and they had lots of fans. The bunnies had frozen bottles of water in their cages to keep them cool!
We got there late, so we missed the milking contest..and the women’s skillet throwing contest! We couldn’t find the pig tent, so we missed the pig races!
There were lots of different types of pigeons and chickens and rabbits! I never knew there were so many varieties!
We also got to the chicken incubator just in time to see a baby chicken being born..literally pecking its way out of the shell! But I couldn’t get a good picture!
The animals are so gentle..they don’t mind being petted at all…..which is great for the kids!
In: Family Fun, Quinn, River, Tuesday
Birthday gift for Gram…..
We came up with a great gift idea for my mother-in-law, who is blind. My husband took profile shots of all the kids and then printed them out and cut out the profile. He didn’t make the to size..he made them slightly smaller.
We were going to use some nice thin wood, but then he found some really great pieces of compressed wood in our basement. It was much better than natural wood because it didn’t splinter at all and it didn’t have to be sanded.
He used our scroll saw to cut out the shapes. They turned out great! The kids loved giving them as gifts and, most of all, Gram loved them! She was able to feel each one and knew just who they were!
In: Quinn, River, Tuesday, gifts for the blind
Children’s Drawings…
Today River drew a picture of one of our cats, Shadow Monster. She is in that stage where her drawing goes from scribbles..to clear and recognizable forms. I love watching children draw and seeing their progress through the years.
Going back and looking at past drawings is so fun. The drawing above is from over a year ago. It is one of her first drawings.
Some of Tuesday and Quinn’s old drawings I have framed and hung on the wall. The one above is a drawing Quinn did when he was about six years old. It makes me smile!
This is one Tuesday did when she was about six also. The smile and the big heart just crack me up!
They have both done so many great drawings and paintings over the years! To me, there is nothing like the way a child draws….
In: Quinn, River, Tuesday, drawing
Deep Fried Oreos…..
Well, I finally did it…my kids have been wanting to make deep fried oreos for a long time…and we finally made them! They are one of those things that you know, before you even eat them, that you are going to have a stomach ache when you are done! I made them with Oreos this time, but next time…I’ll use my favorite Oreo substitute…..Late July Organic Vanilla Bean cookies. These are one of the best cookies out there! I think they are better than Oreos and they don’t have all the artificial flavors and colors or preservatives. Oreos have so much scary stuff in them..but I caved and used them this time….to see if we had the flavor right….but next time……!!
Anyway, I looked up a bunch of recipes on the internet. Most of them said to use Bisquick, which I don’t ever use…so I just used my own buttermilk pancake recipe.
The recipe said to freeze the cookies for three hours ahead of time….so we did that. Then you heated up the oil (I used about a cup of oil in a small sauce pan) and started dipping the battered cookies into the hot oil…..I did this part..since hot oil is always a bit scary!
Nothing like frying up some cookies! Each one had to cook for about a minute on each side. They instantly looked delicious and disgusting all at the same time! My kids were so excited..they wanted to instantly start eating them……but of course, I wouldn’t let them!
After we were done frying them all up, to add even more disgusting-ness..you sprinkled them with powdered sugar! Needless to say, my kids loved them! Though we aren’t sure how they are going to taste the next day…I wasn’t sure how to store them..in an air tight container or leave them out…..I’ll keep you posted on how the left overs are….
I cut this recipe in half. It made about 25 cookies.
Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes
2 ½ cups Flour
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 Eggs, beaten
2 2/3 cups Buttermilk
2 Tbsp Oil
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Combine bowls together and stir, but do not over-mix.
In: Cooking, Family Fun, Quinn, Tuesday, Uncategorized, recipe
