June 14: Library Day!

Today was no normal trip to the library!  This is the first week the Kent District Library is running their summer reading program and apparently today was the kick-off event!  There was face-painting, balloon animals, games in the courtyard, and TONS of people!  I had no idea this event was happening today, I was just figuring on signing up the kids for the reading program.  But the boys are now proud owners of balloon kitties, and Brielle has a balloon ladybug...we'll see how long that lasts!  They each got a sucker for playing a game, but by then things were wrapping up so we headed into the main library to select our books and play trains. 

The reading program is for kids 18 months - 5th grade they put a sticker on their calendar for each day they:

• Spend time reading a book or a magazine
• Listen to a story
• Tell a story
• Write their own story
• Read to their pet
• Attend a library program

The theme this year is "One World, Many Stories," so maybe we can be more intentional about reading stories about other cultures, etc.  If you know our family at all, we have no problem using all 25 stickers!  When they've finished placing all their stickers on the calendar, they hand it in for a prize bag and will be registered to win other prizes.  This is the first year, though, that attached to their calendar is a free kids meal card for Qdoba!  Not sure it's their first choice of cuisine, but I'm thrilled! :) 

I'm also excited that they have a Baby Bingo reading program for the first time this year.  It's a little bit different from the boys's reading calendars...Brielle has a bingo chart where we need to do a variety of early literacy activities...sing a nursery rhyme, name the body parts, sing the ABCs, etc.  When she gets a bingo we can take her card in for a rubber duck, and when we do all the activities she gets a new board book!  We sure love our library!

June 13: Summer Check List

So it's the first official day of summer and already the boys are going stir crazy!  Yes, we made our treats in the kitchen...typical for a Monday, and the boys got to play with the neighbor girls, but Seth and I are trying to recover from strep throat and we just weren't able to offer the attention the kids desired today.  It was crazy! 

Koen works diligently on his
part of the list.

Recently, I've noticed a number of bloggers making summer to-do lists with their kids, so in hopes of spending some quality time with the kids without exerting too much more energy, I suggested we make our own Summer Check List...things we'd like to do, projects we'd like to make, and places we'd like to go this summer.  Koen and Ty were initially excited about it, and Brielle just loved playing with the markers we hauled out.  But the excitement wore off after we came up with a few things.  Maybe it's OK that we didn't come up with a complete list...it'll give us something to work on over the next few weeks.  Here's what we have so far...

Any other suggestions???

June 13: Cinnamon Crisps

If you haven't read any books by Joanne Fluke, you're missing out on some fabulous recipes!  She's actually a novelist, but her protagonist owns a bakery and each book offers recipes from her shop at the end of each chapter.  These Cinnamon Crisps come from Lemon Meringue Pie Murder.  Ty loved helping mixing everything together...very easy since it's all done with a spoon rather than a hand mixer, and Koen thought flattening the balls was great fun! 

So far, these cookies have received R-A-V-E reviews from each of the three kids!  We did make a half-batch since we didn't need 8 dozen cookies.  We are stockpiling some of them for next week, though, when we're with my family for the week.  Can't wait!!!

Cinnamon Crisps

• 2 cups melted butter
• 2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 beaten eggs ( whipped with a fork)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 1/4 cups white flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with the rack in the middle position. 

Melt the butter.  Add the sugars and mix with large spoon.  Let the mixture cool to room temperature while you beat the eggs, and then stir them in.  Add the vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  Mix well.  Add flour in increments, mixing after each addition.

Use your hands to roll the dough into walnut-sized balls.  (If dough is too sticky, chill for an hour before rolling.)

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl to make the dough-ball rolling mixture.  Roll the dough balls in the mixture then place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet.  Flatten the dough balls with a greased or floured spatula (we just used the back of a measuring cup).

Bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes (they should have a touch of gold around the edges).  Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove the cookies to a rack to finish cooling.

Yield:  8 dozen

June 10: The End of Kindergarten

Kindergarten is finished for Koen.  So bittersweet!  I can't believe he's going to be in first grade next year!!!  I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be gone all day, every day!  He doesn't think he's ready either.  He's said more than once that he just wants to stay home with us...not because he didn't like school, he did!  He was just afraid he was missing out on something at home.  At least we have the summer to enjoy each other! :)



FIRST DAY of Kindergarten with Mrs. VanSledright!



LAST DAY of Kindergarten with Mrs. VanSledright
(on the hottest day of the year!).

Koen enjoyed a Popsicle with his friend, Roman.

One of his last projects...a map of the letter people and their homes!  He is so proud of this!!!

June 10: Caterpillers and Fish

Ty announced that he wanted to make TWO  projects today...so that's what we did.  He was in the mood to paint!!!  We began by making these great fish!  I found the idea HERE at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.  Tysen started out by using a paint brush but decided it would just be easier to use his hands to put the paint on the back of the plat.  He enjoyed smearing the colors together!  We let the plates dry for a while, and then I cut out a wedge for the mouth and then stapled the cut out wedge to the other side of the plate to create a tail.  Super cute and super simple!  Ty added a googly eye and they were finished! 

And then it was time for the Cup Caterpillars from I Can Teach My Child.  When I showed Ty what we were going to do he told me he wanted to make The Very Hungry Caterpillar (from Eric Carle).  When I asked him what The Very Hungry Caterpillar looked like he knew that it had a red head and a green body, so that's what he did!  We used small Styrofoam cups to paint the circles and then a fork to paint the grass.  But Ty wasn't finished painting yet...he decided to paint each of the green circles of the caterpillars, and he did a really nice job!  You can see in the pictures how focused Tysen was...he was so serious about both projects.  I wondered aloud what else we could make with circles.  I decided to try a flower, and Ty thought I should make a sunflower...then he tried one, too!

Two completed caterpillars.

My sunflower.

Ty's sunflower.

And I just had to include this last picture of Brielle doing her newest "trick".  She'll just stop whatever she's doing and "stand" on her head.  Then giggle!  I see yoga in her future. :)

June 9: Last Day of Gymnastics and Play Time with Henry!

The boys were sad that this was the list day of gymnastics with Mr. Randy...at least for now.  For the Kidz has a different summer schedule where Koen and Tysen would have to be in different classes...none of them meeting at the same time which means each one would wait an hour during the other one's class.  Since we're hoping to be more active outside during the summer anyway, I decided we'd take a break from gymnastics for a while and maybe return in the fall.  I think they really learned a lot through gymnastics: different exercises, following directions, listening to the teacher, etc.  Here are a few pictures from the last few minutes of class.  Koen loves this block pit!!!  It's never Tysen's favorite activity, but he joined Koen to play with the "cheese" blocks".  Even Brielle got in on the fun!

After gymnastics we returned home to spend some time playing cousin Henry!  He's staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days since Aunt Lori and Uncle Steve just introduced Baby Evelyn into the world on Wednesday!  The boys were SO excited to play with Henry, yet they all play independently from one another...I'm sure that'll change as the grow up.

Lunch Time!

Playtime!

June 8: Grocery Store Game

We usually try to grocery shop on  Wednesdays after bringing Koen to school, and Ty is usually fine with going.  He likes to help push the cart and put things in the basket.   But today was a different story.  He did NOT want to go to the store and made that very obvious.  He stated that we had plenty of food at home and we didn't need ANYTHING, and while we are extremely blessed, we did need A FEW things.  He finally changed his mind, got out of the van, and headed into the store.  Once inside, however, he wasn't so sure he was happy to be there.  He plowed through a sucker and a small bag of Froot Loops I happened to have along, and then it could have been trouble, but I had an idea.  He loves I-Spy books, etc. so what if we made the shopping trip into a I-Spy type game?  He went for it!  He helped me find bananas, asparagus, strawberries, cereal, M&Ms, yogurt, butter, and so many more things!  He was a wonderful helper...we'll have to play this game more often.  Why didn't I think of it sooner???

June 7: Book Store Visit

We hadn't read all of our library books from last week yet, and the boys asked to renew the movies we already had home, so we didn't have to go to the library today.  Instead, we headed over to Schuler Book Store to select a gift for Koen's teacher.  Being used to the library, the boys wanted to look through every book and take some home with us.  Since the book store isn't free like the library, we left most of the books there, only selecting a few for the gift. 

The highlight for the boys, of course, was the train table!  Tons of trains they'd never had a chance to play with before...they were thrilled!  We hung out for a while so they could play, but all good things must come to an end.  The boys are already planning a return trip.  Fortunately, that will probably happen sooner rather than later.  Koen was old enough to sign up for their reading incentive program!  Since we're still doing most of the reading to him, his program has us read to him 20 age-appropriate books, list them, bring the list in, and he gets to select a book for FREE!  Of course, it's not ANY book free, but he's still excited about it!  He's hoping for a Thomas book! :)  Once he is reading on his own a little bit better, he can do the other program where he can earn $5 coupons when he turns in his reading list (I'm pretty sure the qualifications are different).  He can turn in a list three times before August 12 so he's pretty excited about three new books!  I didn't even know Schuler had a Summer Reading Program...glad we found out about it! 

June 6: Two Tried-and-True Recipes -- One Just For Fun!

Seth's request for our baking treat today was our favorite Almond Bars, but Ty insisted on making our favorite Pumpkin Muffins (though this recipe will make 36 muffins, not 18 as I'd posted).  Both recipes were made and both are being enjoyed, but since they'd been previously posted I decided to post a recipe we made a while back on a non-official baking day. 

When Koen's school had their Spring Celebration Night last month they hosted a cake walk.  I made a new recipe for the event:  Brownie Cake.  My family was quite upset that they didn't get to try any of it, so the next week we gathered the ingredients again and made one just for us.  Ty was so excited he was telling people we made a cake and got to KEEP it!!!  :) 

 

No beaters?  No problem! 
Sharing at its best!

Brownie Cake!

Brownie Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box chocolate pudding
1/2 cup oil
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Make the chocolate pudding according to directions.  In a large mixing bowl, blend dry cake mix, oil, and pudding.  Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.  Prepare a 9x13 glass pan with cooking spray and pour the cake mixture.  Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  Enjoy!

June 3: Critter Barn with Koen

 

He loved holding the bunnies!



Cute little chicks.

Ty and Brielle got to spend the day with Grandma Smits while I accompanied Koen to the Critter Barn for his class field trip.  It was a wonderful day together, and we both learned a lot!  Koen's favorite animals were the bunnies, and I thought the big turkey was cool!  This would be a great place to return to with Ty and Brielle sometime so they can see and interact with the variety of animals that live on the farm. 



Feeding the goats.



Don't worry...Ty and Brielle had a great time at Grandma's house!!!

Hanging out on Grandma's new bench!









Fun with chalk!



June 2: A Trip to the Farmer's Market

In my continuing quest to feed my family in a healthy manner, I was really excited to get to a farmer's market.  Although I grew up going to a farmer's market I'm embarrassed to admit I've lived in the Grand Rapids area for 10 years and hadn't made it to a farmer's market yet.  Metro Hospital now has a farmer's market on Thursdays so after gymnastics we drove the extra five minutes and visited the market.  As we approached the market I asked the boys what they thought we might find at a FARMER'S market.  They came up with some great ideas:  carrots, flowers, and even pigs!  We'll keep talking about what goes on at a farm. :)

I have to say I was disappointed.  I suppose it's a little early in the year to expect much, but there was only ONE farm-based stand!  The rest of the stands were filled with beautiful clothes, jewelry, candles, etc.  There were two bread stands which looked great...we just didn't need any bread.  I did purchase some eggs and asparagus from the one farm stand, but we'll have to go back in a few weeks to see if there's a larger selection of produce. 

 

June 1: Outside Fun and Games!



"Leaves" from the "pine cone tree". 



Despite some wind, it was a beautiful day here today!  Ty and I spent about five minutes in the backyard before we were both covered in mud, so we changed clothes and changed plans and headed out the front door.  Ty made sure I took plenty of pictures of him riding his bikes and scooter!  He loves tooling around and exploring the bugs, plants, and other nature things he comes across. 

He discovered a number of things in the garage today, too, including the bean bag toss game Grandpa Smits made for us last summer.  We hauled that out onto the driveway and played that for a long while!  He made sure each bean bag went in...if it didn't go in when he tossed it, he'd simply push it in!  I tried to get him to toss the bean bags from different distances just to get him to try something new.  He did try it but wasn't super excited about it since most of them didn't go in on their own.  He had a blast making up his own rules to his own bean bag game!

May 30: Memorial Day Cookies...sorta.

I'd seen the idea to make flag cookies for Memorial Day in a few different places, and I thought it'd be perfect!  Of course, frosting sugar cookies is challenging enough for kids, much less designing a flag.  So I frosted a few flag cookies and let the kids have at it with the others.  They really just enjoyed the art of frosting a cookie!  But even more than that, they enjoyed eating them! :)  Below is the Betty Crocker Recipe we used.

   



Sugar Cookies

• 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar

Beat powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease the cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray (I used parchment paper).  Divide dough in half (or in smaller sections).  Roll each half 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface.  Cut into desired shapes with 2-2 and 1/2 inch cookie cutters.  (If you're not frosting the cookies, sprinkle with granulated sugar now.)  Place 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.  Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are light brown.  Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. 

Buttercream Frosting

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. almond extract (original recipe calls for vanilla)
• 1 to 2 Tbs. milk

Mix powdered sugar and butter in a medium bowl an electric mixer on low speed.  Stir in almond extract and 1 Tbs. of milk.  Gradually beat in just enough of the remaining milk to make the frosting smooth and spreadable.  If it's too thick, beat in more milk, adding a few drops at a time.  If it becomes too thin, add a small amount of powdered sugar. 

May 27: Boys in Trees

Ty and his friend Ian having a great time climbing a tree.