Get Your Kids in the Kitchen!

Getting kids in the kitchen has such great rewards in the long run and it can be something as simple as handing them a wooden spoon and telling them to stir.  I will be the very first to admit that it isn't always easy.  Things take longer.  The messes are bigger.  (For a time-crunched mama, this one is very hard for me to swallow.)  It's worth it though. 

 

Our new Friday Night Family Fun Nights are so much better with special food.  I reached back into my childhood and went with this Cream Cheese Chili Dip.  Yes, I realize it is categorized as junk food, but it's the exception in our food repertoire, not the rule. 

 

Blossom #1 smeared two packages of cream cheese on the bottom.   (Say hello to Jake who is drooling over the cream cheese wrappers.  He will swipe them out of the garbage can once Blossom #3 drops them in there.)

 

She dumped in 3 cans of Hormel Chili

and sprinkled on loads of Mozzerella Cheese. 

We baked it til bubbly and then dug in with the Tostitos.  I realize that I've just broken one of the most important rules of food blogging, in that there is no picture of the completed product.  I can't help it; I never claimed to be a food blogger.  Maybe I forgot, maybe they ate it too quick.  Who knows. 

 

The real point of this post is to let your kids do stuff in the kitchen.  This is the reason all of the photos are unstaged, unedited and only delightfully messy.  Because that's what kids in the kitchen looks like. 

 

Drips,

imperfections...

and smiles.

Blossom Ice-Skating!

We've been working on our Winter Fun List... little by little.  The weather's been cooperating.  (That's my nice way of saying that it's been cold.  Really, really cold.)  They say, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  I say, "When the winter gets cold, go ice-skating." 

 

I loved driving in to this particular State Park. 

 

It's the same one where my mother took my brothers, sister and me swimming when we were just "little squirts." 

It's the same one I've hiked, had hay rides and walks. 

It's the same one where my Sister got married. 

It's the same one where my Brother got engaged. 

It's the same one where the Rugged, Mountain and I fished early on in our married life (pre-kid era!)  It's the same one where the Rugged, Mountain Man and I take our Blossoms on Summer and Fall picnics. 

I just had this happiness in my heart as we drove in and I thought of all the history there. 

 

On Frog Pond, located on a Butterfly-less Butterfly Trail (the Butterflies are laughing at us from their warm perches in Florida), we glided out on the ice and enjoyed ourselves.  It was solid, thanks to the cold.  I even had Blossom #4 out on the ice in the stroller.  The Rugged, Mountain Man was pretty sure I was doing this so I could use the stroller as a crutch.  :)  Hmmm, maybe...  Anyhow, the girlies didn't want to leave.  We convinced them with promises of pizza!  :)

Side note: Family fun doesn't have to cost a lot.  In fact, it usually shouldn't.  I was looking at our skates in this picture.  Two pair were hand-me-downs and the other three pairs were Thrift Store victories.  Yay!

Country Girl Life

"Mama, mama, come quick!  Blossom #2 found a Morning Dove and Blossom #1 caught it!"

"Really?"

I grabbed the camera and took off, just grateful that they weren't yelling to me about a bear or something.  (There was a bear attack just across the road a month and a half ago.) 

The story is that we have a net over our meat chicken pen because the hawks were feasting on our meat chicks.  We outsmarted the hawks.  Now that the pen is empty, the Morning Dove squeezed in through the side one day and the girlies found her trying to fly out. 

It was SO beautiful to see a Morning Dove up close.  I was sad to have to share with them that she must have her freedom and they would not be keeping her as a pet.  But, away she flew, unharmed and thankful for her freedom again.  I ended up with good photos for the scrapbooks. 

Cozy Winter Fun - Cinderella Progress

(Blossom #3 wanted her hands in the picture.) 

 

There's progress!  The girls are really into the whole puzzle thing.  On the Belle puzzle, I did A LOT of the work, but I've done very little on this one.  Even Blossom #3, who is 4 years old today (WOW, our chubby baby is a big girl!) will sit down and actually do this puzzle.  She is really good at it.  So, I'm putting my hands-down stamp of approval on puzzles as a family activity. 

 

 

(Blossom #1 wanted a turn with her hands in the picture.) 

 

Yes, Blossom #3 still puts her elbows down and disconnects the puzzle periodically, but for the most part, she can really participate. 

 

And, they are all really good about checking the floor for snack-size pieces for Blossom #4...

 

 

One thing they love about puzzle progress, is that the closer you get to being done, the easier it is to find where the pieces go.  I can tell the excitement is mounting.  Blossom #2 and I will be frame shopping at the Thrift Store on Monday while Blossom #1 is having her piano lesson.  Stay tuned for more Cinderella puzzle progress!  :)

More on Teatime

Perhaps you remember that teatime is one of our favorite parts of our day.  Once the holidays passed and things settled down, we were able to get back into our newest favorite habit.  I still love it!

It's never been about the food.  Just a little cup of tea... usually Chamomile, and maybe a graham cracker or a cookie.  (I still want them to eat at supper time!)  Plus, that keeps things easy for me and them to prepare teatime.  Oh yes and it makes easy to clean up from teatime! 

I look into their eyes and listen.  Today, I noticed right off the bat that two Blossoms were daydreaming. 

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"I was thinking about winning the Triple Crown."

"What kind of horse was it?"

"It was a Palomino, OF COURSE."

"What was her name?"

"Silver."

I felt reacquainted with my daughter.  I didn't realize her daydreams were so detailed.  (Mine are pretty vague.)  And then she shared with me that she doesn't plan on being a jockey some day; she just likes daydreaming about racing horses.  I liked the confidential type sharing.

Further on in the conversation, I'd taken note that during this particular day, we were having girlie-to-girlie mean words and voices.  So, I took the opportunity to "Say One Nice Thing About The Person On Your Left."  It was a good little exercise.  The smiles sure were cute.  Everybody likes to hear nice stuff about them, after all. 

I love it when a good idea continues to reap good fruit.  Day in, day out.  We're learning things here in our happy home.