The kids had so much fun at the children's museum we decided to get a membership! I'm pretty excited for that! Here's a few pictures from the Children's Museum!
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Children's museum, science project, and kids club....
Friday, July 11, 2014
Summer!
Hard to believe we are in the dead "heat" of summer! We look forward to it all year and when it finally arrives it goes by so quickly! I'm determined to make it fun and make it count! We made a summer bucket list to help out. Here's to a great summer!
Monday, November 4, 2013
Play Park Pictures
We have been going to play park for about a month. We love it and are making some great friends. Each day we go, they play with various toys, but a few favorites for Henry are the coloring table, the cars, and the kitchen. And for allie, she likes the fisher price house, dolls, and the music toys.
Allie was busy playing with all her favorites, brushing the dolls hair, giving it hugs, playing with the house, and music toys. She also ventured onto one of the spinning toys and loved it...must have been because of her recent trip to Disneyland!
Henry tried out some of the trikes, and spent a bunch of time in a police car. He also played basketball, went down the slides, and played with the kitchen, and trains. He colored two pictures of leaves and helped clean up.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Pumpkin Painting
Today while we were at Safeway, we walked by some pumpkins and an idea popped into my piston...(okay I may be watching too much Thomas!)....We should paint some pumpkins today. So we bought three small pumpkins and raced home. I decided to put the small IKEA table in the kitchen and have one kid paint at a time to minimize the mess. Surprisingly everyone sat quietly till it was their turn. Allie went first. I asked her to choose a color, she picked red. I helped her by holding her wrist and she painted her pumpkin. Dipping it in color then bringing it to the pumpkin. She kept smiling. She did really well! Devin was so surprised when I asked Allie to pick a color and she pointed to the red. He said, it's like she understands us. ;)
Next it was Henry's turn. I was so amazed at how he sat and waited while Allison painted. When it was his turn, he picked his color. First green (gee), then blue (boo) and finally red. He very carefully dipped his paintbrush in the paint and painted his pumpkin. This is a first for him. Usually when we do painting he makes a big mess using all his fingers and painting his face along with the table. He turned his pumpkin when he wanted more space and asked for more paint when he wanted to change colors. How and when did this little boy grow up??? Even Devin was amazed!
Finally it was Devin's turn. I removed the two babies from the table so he could paint in peace. He painted a nice face on his even giving it some hair.
Here are some pictures of the activity.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Noah's Ark Indoor Play Park
My sister told me about an indoor play park she thought would be great for Henry and Allison. It is in the basement of the preschool where she use to teach at (First Presbyterian church on Main and 43rd). And her kids went there when they were littles. We checked it out today (your first play is free!).
It was awesome! Both kids loved it. There was so much room (5500sqft) to run and play and lots of different toys to play with. We have decided to sign up for the fall session, which goes through the end of December. The price is $70/family. It is Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays from 9-11:30 for ages birth to 3 or 4 years old. (They also have an option to go once a week for $40)
This is exactly what I was looking for, and the price is so reasonable! If anyone is interested, I can get you more information, or you can look at their Facebook page. Would be great to meet up with other moms and tots. :)
Monday, September 9, 2013
Canning: Homemade Tomato Basil Soup
Canning: Homemade Tomato Basil Soup
This weekend was all about canning. We canned 60 lbs of tomatoes (heirloom and organic beefsteak varieties). (20 lbs went to tomato soup and 40 lbs to stewed tomatoes). We followed a recipe from Canningusa.com for Marinara Sauce.
When you use Heirloom tomatoes, they are very watery, so the when you cook them down, they are very thin, which makes for a great consistency for soup. We followed the recipe for 9 pints (which actually yielded 18 pints with the tomatoes we used.
Ingredients:
Fresh Tomatoes: 21 lbs
Olive Oil: 9 TBS (this is more than the recipe calls for, but we've been making this soup for a few years, and have determined this is a good amount of oil to make the soup creamy).
Garlic: 18 cloves
Fresh Basil: 2 leaves in each jar plus 4 chopped up in the sauce pan
Salt: 2 1/2 tsp
Pepper: 2 1/2 tsp
Oregano: 2 1/4 tsp
Bottled Lemon Juice: 1 TBS per pint jar
Directions:
1. Wash tomatoes in warm water with vinegar. (We filled our sink with water and put a few glugs of vinegar in the water). Let them sit for about 10 minutes.
2. Score the bottoms of the tomatoes with a knife.
3. Boil the tomatoes for 2 minutes, then put them in ice cold water.
4. Remove the skins.
5. Cut the core out of the tomatoes and then into chunks (quarters).
6. In a pan on Medium to low heat, warm the olive oil.
7. Add sliced garlic cloves to the warm oil. Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
8. Add salt and pepper.
9. Add enough tomatoes to cover the bottom of the pan, cook for 10 minutes until they start to break down. Then add the remaining cut up tomatoes. Turn up the heat to Medium-high.
10. Cook for about 30 minutes semi-covered.
11. Add 4 chopped up basil leaves.
12. Add oregano.
13. Blend the soup with a hand mixer/immersion blender until you get a good consistency.
14. Taste for any needed spices/salt/pepper.
15. Add 1 TBS Olive oil once off the heat.
Canning:
1. Clean/wash/sterilize jars.
2. In each jar, put in 2 basil leaves and 1 TBS lemon juice.
3. Funnel soup into jars. (leave 1/2 inch head room).
4. Wipe rim of jar.
5. Put a lid on each jar (needs to have been boiling for 5 minutes), then screw on a ring. Tighten.
6. Put jars in water bath canner. You can fit 8 pint jars in our water bath canner. Once water is boiling or 212 degrees start timer. Soup must water bath at a boil for 30 minutes.
7. When done, remove jars from water bath canner, and set on a towel. Cover with another towel and let sit for 24 hours.
8. Check to make sure all jars sealed, remove rings, label, and store.
This is awesome soup. We can it in pints because it's just perfect for two servings to have for a dinner. If you can it in Quarts, just add 2 TBS of lemon juice to each jar and then you will process it longer.
Even Henry got in on the action....sort of! :)
This weekend was all about canning. We canned 60 lbs of tomatoes (heirloom and organic beefsteak varieties). (20 lbs went to tomato soup and 40 lbs to stewed tomatoes). We followed a recipe from Canningusa.com for Marinara Sauce.
When you use Heirloom tomatoes, they are very watery, so the when you cook them down, they are very thin, which makes for a great consistency for soup. We followed the recipe for 9 pints (which actually yielded 18 pints with the tomatoes we used.
Ingredients:
Olive Oil: 9 TBS (this is more than the recipe calls for, but we've been making this soup for a few years, and have determined this is a good amount of oil to make the soup creamy).
Garlic: 18 cloves
Fresh Basil: 2 leaves in each jar plus 4 chopped up in the sauce pan
Salt: 2 1/2 tsp
Pepper: 2 1/2 tsp
Oregano: 2 1/4 tsp
Bottled Lemon Juice: 1 TBS per pint jar
Directions:
1. Wash tomatoes in warm water with vinegar. (We filled our sink with water and put a few glugs of vinegar in the water). Let them sit for about 10 minutes.
2. Score the bottoms of the tomatoes with a knife.
3. Boil the tomatoes for 2 minutes, then put them in ice cold water.
5. Cut the core out of the tomatoes and then into chunks (quarters).
6. In a pan on Medium to low heat, warm the olive oil.
7. Add sliced garlic cloves to the warm oil. Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
8. Add salt and pepper.
9. Add enough tomatoes to cover the bottom of the pan, cook for 10 minutes until they start to break down. Then add the remaining cut up tomatoes. Turn up the heat to Medium-high.
10. Cook for about 30 minutes semi-covered.
11. Add 4 chopped up basil leaves.
12. Add oregano.
13. Blend the soup with a hand mixer/immersion blender until you get a good consistency.
14. Taste for any needed spices/salt/pepper.
15. Add 1 TBS Olive oil once off the heat.
Canning:
1. Clean/wash/sterilize jars.
2. In each jar, put in 2 basil leaves and 1 TBS lemon juice.
3. Funnel soup into jars. (leave 1/2 inch head room).
4. Wipe rim of jar.
5. Put a lid on each jar (needs to have been boiling for 5 minutes), then screw on a ring. Tighten.
6. Put jars in water bath canner. You can fit 8 pint jars in our water bath canner. Once water is boiling or 212 degrees start timer. Soup must water bath at a boil for 30 minutes.
7. When done, remove jars from water bath canner, and set on a towel. Cover with another towel and let sit for 24 hours.
8. Check to make sure all jars sealed, remove rings, label, and store.
This is awesome soup. We can it in pints because it's just perfect for two servings to have for a dinner. If you can it in Quarts, just add 2 TBS of lemon juice to each jar and then you will process it longer.
Even Henry got in on the action....sort of! :)
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