Summer Activities, Weeks 2-4

Well, it's been a while, but we've been crazy-busy! We went on a short trip to St. Louis to visit family and show our friends around, then my mom had foot surgery immediately after. We went to help take care of her and Thomas had a nature camp up near their small town, so we were out of the house for 2 weeks straight! The kids and I have been home for a week now (Clay got home Wednesday evening, he's been helping his parents put up siding on their house) and are finally getting back into the swing of "normal" life. Some of the things from our list we've done over the last couple weeks include:


- swimming
- play in sprinkler/hose
- build a wood craft
- blow bubbles
- dress up party
- pet rocks
- zoo- toothpick/marshmallow building
- color
- play Mother May I


While in St. Louis (Big Kid Only trip, Ellie stayed with Nana - so much better to not have to work around naps and strollers!) we took the Metro train down to the Arch, took the kids up in the Arch, visited the museum in the bottom, visited the St. Louis Zoo, the "rocket park" (a major fixture in all my childhood memories, it's just a local park near my grandma's house, but close enough that we were constantly there during the summers), and visited Imo's once and Ted Drewe's twice. We were only gone Sunday through Wednesday, so it was a fast trip but we had so much fun!
Thomas had an amazing time at the Junior Nature Camp, the Crawford County Park District did a fantastic job! They caught tadpoles and turtles, held snakes, newts, frogs, and butterflies, hiked through the woods, waded in creeks, and generally did "kid stuff" we grew up doing. Thomas brought home his net at the end of the week, and has been talking constantly about the things they did there. He's even bravely caught a couple of moths for me and taken them outside and released them (I'm not the world's biggest fan of bugs, so he's been my hero!) 
The kids have gotten bored a couple times, but mostly we've been running so much they haven't had time to complain a whole lot. I'm hoping to pull out more craft stuff for them too in the next week or so, especially since it's too hot around here to spend much time outside!

Summer activities, week 1

I had forgotten how nice it is to just give a general report on what's going on, even if it is just into my tiny (empty) corner of the internet! The first week of summer vacation has gone off fairly well, the kids have been too busy to complain of being bored yet. I planned it so we have stuff going on every day, and Thomas has been thrilled to see all his playgroup friends that he misses during the school year. We've already done several of the things I have on our "bucket list" for the summer, it's really nice to have a go-to set of ideas. Even when I haven't looked at it, I still have them fresh in my mind so I can throw an idea out as soon as the level of frenzy starts increasing. So far, we've already done the following:
-Make ice cream
-Make pinecone bird feeders
-Pet rocks
-Color
-Play Mother, May I
-Build fort(s)
-Ride bikes
-Had 2 playdates at our house, 1 at the mall, and 2 at different parks, plus visited with our best friends all afternoon yesterday
-Thomas and I went with my parents to his first major league baseball game (actually first professional anything game!) last Saturday ... we ate at Olive Garden on the way and Thomas felt so grown-up to get to order his own food and drink

!

Not bad for 7 days (ok, playing MMI was the weekend before, but whatever!) Hopefully we can keep the pace up enough that we won't have as many problems as we did last summer. We're pretty well set for the next 2 weeks anyway though, the older 2 and I are taking our bfs out to St. Louis for a few days, then Mom is having foot surgery so we'll be up at their house to help her, and Thomas has a junior naturalist camp to go to while we're there. Low-key? No thanks, we're taking this beautiful season by storm!

Summer activities

Haha, it's been a while! Our youngest is now two and I'm pregnant for the fourth (and last!) time. We just found out that our youngest (to be born in October) is a girl as well, so among other things I'm currently working on wrangling together all the boy clothes too small for Thomas and getting rid of them. I've also been working on a list of ideas to do this summer so the kids won't be able to complain of boredom; I figured here is as good a place to keep the list as anywhere, especially since my notebook with my draft keeps getting lost. I plan to make fun little cards for them to pick ideas out, but a typed list is a good first step, right? Here goes:

water balloons
camping
stargazing
pajama/movie day
make ice cream
take a hike
swimming
bug hunt
cardboard box fort
picnic at park
campfire dinner
library trip
play in sprinkler/hose
take a nature walk, take pics; on a rainy day use those pics to make a nature book
scavenger hunt
attend an outdoor concert
build sandcastles
build a wood craft
fly kites
sewing project - make picnic blanket
make sock puppets
make and blow bubbles
excavate ice/plaster block
bike ride
hotwheels races on driveway
dress up party
tie dye ice cube shirts
make pinecone bird feeders
make silhouettes
pet rocks
toy swap
fingerpainting
zoo
make lemonade
treasure hunt
splash pad
visit animal park in Sandusky
make cookies for friends
visit a farm
feed ducks
handprint art
play post office
make pizza
lego contest/building
toothpick/marshmallow building
popsicle stick puzzles
color
play freeze tag
make an obstacle course
paint with water on driveway
play hide and seek
play red light, green light
play Simon says
play Mother May I
decorate superhero capes
visit museum of art
corn maze (September or October)

Edited to add a few more ideas another local mom posted on her blog:

1. draw self portraits
2. have hopscotch fun
3. go bowling
4. make beaded necklaces
5. go to a parade
6. visit youngs dairy
7. visit ice cream factory – ye olde mill in utica ?
8. build boats from juice containers and find a place to test their floatability
9. visit anthony thomas for a factory tour
10. build an obstacle course
11. draw a play city on butcher paper, tape to floor – add directionals, cars, etc
12. go to a fair – ross county, ohio state, etc
13. visit santa maria downtown pirate ship
14. go to a columbus commons friday funday
15. have a mini-olympics session

Hopefully this will get us started!

Recipe of the Day

Italian Chicken

A great go-to recipe for giving chicken some extra zing!

Ingredients:
Packet of dry Italian dressing mix
White wine (remember, never use in cooking something you wouldn't willingly drink - don't buy "cooking wine", it's just bad wine with extra salt!)
2 T. water
1 T. oil (I use olive oil)
Chicken of whatever quantity you want - you can use this on chicken breasts, a whole chicken, or anything in between!

1. Put chicken in glass casserole dish (I usually use a 9x13 dish)
2. Pour wine over chicken, enough to give a good cover to the bottom of dish (add more for more flavor, less for a more subtle taste).
3. Mix water, oil, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, baste chicken.
4. Bake at 350 till chicken is done (this will vary based on what pieces you used for your chicken).

Alternatives:
1. Easily adaptable to the crockpot, just put everything in there instead and cook on Low till chicken is done!
2. You can use pre-made Italian dressing instead of mixing on your own, but you'll want to add more dressing because the flavor won't be as strong.
3. Especially if using pre-made Italian dressing, I like to marinade overnight before cooking.
4. This is great cooked on the grill if marinated ahead of time!
5. You can serve with mashed potatoes and a green veggie, some sort of bread, and fruit for a good well-rounded meal, or chunk up and put in salad, or whatever you want - it's very adaptable!

We're snowed in for yet another day (maybe we'll finally get to have preschool again tomorrow? I hope!) and it's supposed to be super-windy. Doesn't look too bad yet, more like "breeze" rather than wind. All the trees still have their snow piled on the branches, so it can't be too much on the windy side, can it? I'm wondering what excuse I can make that we *have* to go out, but we've already missed storytime (we were already planning on going tomorrow anyway) and the library books aren't due till tomorrow either. The grocery shopping is already done, and while I need to get new sheets, that's no more urgent now than it has been since we got the new bed almost a year ago. I'm thinking that the best course of action is to put Beth down for her nap, set Thomas up with a movie, and try to nap. Being up in the middle of the night for an hour with a kid wakened up by a bad dream can really set my mood in the wrong direction for the next day!

Recipe of the Day

So, I know I haven't posted in forever and am not for sure this will last, but since I'm posting these on our playgroup's message board I figured I might as well publish them here, too. One of these days I'll get around to writing actual posts again!

One-Dish Chicken Supper

My notes: The "standard" recipe comes from the back of the Stove Top Stuffing boxes ... you can also add broccoli or frozen mixed veggies. The crockpot version is from the "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook. I wonder if this would be good with cream cheese instead of the sour cream or milk?

Standard edition:
1 box chicken stuffing (or turkey, your choice)
1/4 c. stick margarine, cut up
1 1/2 c. hot water
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (or equivalent; I often cook a whole chicken or turkey and freeze the leftovers, then just pull out a package of the larger chunks for this dish) - you can do this with cooked or uncooked chicken, I just use the cooked for convenience and time-saving
1 can cream of mushroom/chicken/celery (your choice)
1/3 c. sour cream or milk

1. Mix stuffing, margarine, and water, just till moistened.
2. Mix soup and sour cream (or milk).
3. Put chicken in baking dish, top with soup mix then stuffing.
4. Bake at 375 deg. about 35 minutes or till chicken is done (if using precooked chicken, cook till stuffing is nicely browned on top).

If using a crockpot, everything is the same except steps 3 and 4:
3. Put chicken in crockpot, top with soup mix then stuffing.
4. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.

And the quick list of updates since I haven't written in about a year:
We're expecting another daughter in May.
Thomas is in preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten in the fall (actually, "looking forward to" doesn't quite cover it - he's been asking about just when he gets to start for the last year and a half!)
Beth is finally growing some hair and hates the fact that she isn't in preschool yet; she'll start a one day/week program this coming fall.
Clay is still at OSU and still loves his job.
Rob is still at OSU and living with us, and still can't wait to graduate.
Pregnancy is still a mix of enjoyment and discomfort, and I'm totally worn out by it!

Science Experiment gone very wrong ...

You thought your kid(s) gave you a rough time today? Here's my afternoon ...
So, during "rest time" today while the kids were supposedly sleeping, I took the monitors outside so I could get some garden work done. I started to come inside to get some flour to mark an area to dig when I saw Thomas. I knew he had been playing (at first) but he does that frequently, then falls asleep. I opened the door to walk in and I heard water running - *lots* of water. I ran into the bathroom thinking the toilet was overflowing - and saw water dripping from the ceiling. Uh-oh! I ran upstairs, slipping in the hallway where there was also water dripped through, and found the bathtub completely overflowing(!) I couldn't get ahold of ANY of my peeps - not Clay, not Rob, not my dad, not Clay's dad, and *finally* talked to my mom but she had no idea what to recommend for cleanup! Gah! I sent Thomas to his room, started mopping up what I could with towels, and the phone rang. It was Rob, who went searching for Clay for me - apparently I was doing just what I should, thankfully. Their first reaction was "Is Thomas ok?" Which, OMG, I hadn't even thought of (since I had seen him before ever hearing the water). But seriously - what if, what if, what if?!
Apparently this was all a science experiment - Thomas wanted to know what happens when the bathtub fills all the way up (!), and then decided he wanted *me* to turn off the water (he couldn't figure it out) but got distracted and started playing rather than coming to *tell* me I was needed ...
It was a long day.

My little perfectionist

I just had to share the latest adventure in the house ... apparently Beth is quite the little perfectionist, not willing to let on that she can do something until she can do it just right. After setting her up at the table with some Cheerios (just a few at a time, otherwise she throws them all over) and taking Dandy out, I was leaving the kitchen to go get my computer. Beth turns and looks at me and holds out her hand, "Nnno!" She had run out of Cheerios and didn't want me to leave till she had more! Gah!