Sunday, May 17, 2009

Fun With Friends

Last week my friend Ree needed
me to watch her kids while she went to the dentist.
Of course I said, "YES!!" (I love her kiddos and so
do my kiddos)
I thought it would be lots of fun
to make some cupcakes and
frosting and let the kids
decorate them any way they wanted.
They picked out the colors that they wanted
for their frosting, and then they went to work.K. used lots of blue, it's his current favorite color.
Sprinkles are lots of fun on cupcakes. Here J. was
making a sprinkle and frosting creation!
My sweet Doodles loves to bake
and decorate. Just like her mommy.
Cupcake making is serious business.
Some of the finished cupcakes. The kids
were all so proud of their work.
What's better than decorating a cupcake?
Eating it!
Doodles, enjoying her creation!
K. ate his before I could get
a picture of all the frosting.
His favorite color is yellow, so I'm sure
it was a big yellow blob of frosting.
J. enjoying her cupcake, not her picture.
How can you not love Ree's kids.
They're so adorable.
We had so much fun together. One thing that I love about
homeschooling, is that it provides the freedom to spend
this time with my kids. Because they spent their early
years in foster care, they missed out on just
being kids. I'm always happy to be able to add to
their "kid" experiences. We're hoping to have another visit from
our friends soon. Thanks for spending the day with us!

Friends for Life

When they're not running through the house
playing, they're napping together.
I found Lucy in
Kalea's pen. She woke up (a little)
when I took the picture.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

One thing that I love to do is bake.
Last week, I was feeling a bit creative.
I had let the kids each pick out a cake mix flavor, and K. picked out
Lemon. I love the taste of lemon, and I decided to make
some lemon meringue cupcakes.
I bought a can of lemon meringue pie filling, baked the cupcakes,
and used my cupcake filling tip to fill the cakes
with the lemon curd.
Then I made my very own home made meringue for
the top.
I was so proud of how these turned out after
I browned them in my boiler that I had to take
a picture. They were a hit.
I believe they tasted as good as they looked.
At least the kids loved them, and that's all that matters.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Starting A Garden

This weekend was beautiful.
Like real adults, Jon and I decided to work in the yard.
We also decided to try our hand at
gardening.
Jon sweetly told me that if I would plan what I wanted
for a garden, he would provide the labor.
I've never had my very own garden,
so I started researching.
I decided to try a raised bed garden.
Jon went out and bought the lumber to do one
box.
He also figured out how much soil we would need to fill
the three boxes that
I was hoping for.
Top soil appears to be gold. We would need
so much soil to fill three boxes, that we
decided to try one large box,
one small box,
and then we will till up an area of ground for whatever won't fit in our boxes.
It was fun buying seeds with the kids and planning what
we will grow.
I hope to be able to harvest lots of vegetables instead
of boxes of weeds.


I'm a Local

I didn't grow up in this area, my husband did.
Often people will ask me where I'm from, and I'll
say, "Out west."
After all, I was born out there, and I spent my childhood moving
around all over the west coast.
Last night, we decided to barbecue for dinner.
This area is rich with "local" foods. Foods only found
in the upstate area. One of my favorites are
salt potatoes. I never heard of them until
I moved here.
They're delicious little potatoes boiled in lots
of salt and covered with butter.
While visiting the salt museum in Syracuse,
I learned that salt potatoes were
created by the Irish immigrants who used to boil the water
of a nearby lake to get salt.
They would bring potatoes for lunch,
place them in the pots of salt water, and
so salt potatoes were born.
Salt potatoes feel like summer. As I was
contemplating this local taste , and the tradition of
salt potatoes that my kids are growing up with,
it dawned on me. I have lived here for
almost half of my life.
I've lived in this area longer
than I've ever lived anywhere.
I am, in fact, a local.