Soap

Just as I was trying to think of something that the kids could make for Granna for her birthday, I saw instructions on how to make soap.  The directions looked surprisingly easy and very manageable, even  with 3 small kids.  And believe it or not, it was actually just as easy as the directions made it look.

What you need:  

Soap block (Michael's)

Microwave safe bowl

Molds (I bought a few and then dug through my recycle bin.  

My favorites were actually from the yogurt cup)

Scents (I used citrus and vanilla.  They are in the same isle as the soap)

Pretty things to "float" in your soap

Ella and Miller each came up with what they wanted to put in their soap.  Ella decided on pretty flowers from around our yard to remind Granna of us at our house.  Miller decide a roach and his dinosaur would be perfect for reminding Granna of him.

Melt 4 oz of soap per bar.  I would suggest only doing one bar at a time.  

Put in microwave for 40 sec.  Stir.  Then microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring in between, until soap is completely melted.  

Add a scent (you may need a few more drops than you think, it is not quite as strong once the soap hardens).   

Pour the melted soap in mold.  

Put your choice objects in the soap (have to work kind of fast, soap starts to solidify faster than you would think).  

I wish we would have added some color to the soap, but when your work environment is this

 

you do the least amount of steps to accomplish the end goal!  Next time we will add color to our soap and wait until SW is taking a nap:)  Although she did have fun watching the flowers change colors and seeing mom very delicately deal with the roach with out gaging.

Miller's Soap

Ella's Soap

Very well received gift!

Black Eyed Pea Humus

This recipe is straight from Southern Living and is always a big hit.  Just adds a little variety from normal humus.  Here is what you need:

1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained 

2 tablespoons tahini (tahini is ground sesame seeds, you can either find it with peanut butter or with the asian food)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (I used red pepper flakes)

3 tablespoons water

Paprika

Process first 9 ingredients in a food processor until blended, stopping to scrape down sides.  Gradually add 3 tablespoons of water for desired consistency.  Cover and chill at least an hour.  Drizzle with olive oil and paprika before serving.

I figure if the black eyed pea humus passes this picky taste tester, it is worth passing on.  It is great with pita chips, tortilla chips and vegetables.

Gotta love this cute little girl.  This is why in so many of our pictures Sara Wells hair is in her face.  I do try to keep it out of her eyes.  I fix her hair every morning.  But it is inevitable that she always reaches up and pulls it out.  Even rubber bands do not deter her.  Oh my, what are we going to do with this little mess?

Key Lime Pie

I had not intended to share this recipe until we sat down to eat it and Murray could not stop talking about it.  Yes, this is two desserts in a row that Murray has gone on and on about that are not chocolate!  I got this recipe several years ago from a friend and it really is sooo good, but I always have loved Key Lime Pie.  When Murray could not stop talking about it, I knew I had to share the recipe.  It is all homemade, but don't be intimidated, it is not hard and it is sooo worth it.  I was literally scraping the bottom of the pie dish to get every last morsel of the crust.

For the Crust:

1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs (I just used one sleeve of graham crackers)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

Mix crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a medium bowls.  Press evenly into an unbuttered 9-inch pie pan.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Filling:

4 Large egg yolks

1 tablespoon freshly grated key lime zest (8-10 key limes), can use regular limes if you cannot find key limes 

Sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh key lime juice

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Beat egg yolks and lime zest on high until well mixed and slightly thickened (about 1 minute).  Add condensed milk and beat well.  Add lime juice and salt, beat again.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake about 15-17 minutes, or until the filling looks firm when gently shaken.  (I will admit, I think I overcooked mine a little bit, and it made it a little more like custard.  It was just as good, just a little different texture.)

Now here is where preference comes in.  Our family is a Cool Whip family, but if you prefer homemade whipped cream here is a good recipe:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Just before serving mix all ingredients together on high until peaks form.

This is delicious!  I hope you enjoy!

(I did use fat free sweetened condensed milk and it tasted just as good)

The Perfect Popsicle

I did it, I found the perfect summer popsicle recipe.  I know that it really is the best recipe because Murray kept going on and on and on about them.  This is the man who would rather not eat a dessert than eat a dessert with fruit in it (that includes in the garnish).  I don't know that I have ever seen him eat a popsicle (ok, maybe a bite of the kid's Otter Pops, but that is it) or express any interest in anything that resembles a popsicle.  He had one taste of Miller's popsicle and he has not stopped talking about it.  It is perfect: fresh, light, a little creamy and so refreshing!  Oh, and so easy!!!

1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh strawberries

in food processor

 1/4 cup sugar

1 to 1 1/2 cups of vanilla yogurt

(I used two individual yogurt cartons) 

 A few more pulses in the food processor

Distribute evenly into popsicle molds

 Let freeze for at least 5 hours (preferably overnight) before serving

 Guaranteed satisfaction

 If this face does not say delicious, I don't know what does!

I hope these keep you cool during this last few weeks of the blazing hot summer!

Happy Birthday Granna

My mom came in town today to keep the kids while we are in Ireland (more on that later).  Since we knew she was coming soon, we held off sending birthday gifts until she was here so we could Celebrate her Birthday with her.  The kids could not wait for Granna to arrive so that we could have her birthday celebration and they could give her the presents they made and, of course, eat her chocolate birthday cake!  Somehow we managed to hold them off until after dinner.  I was shocked they did not tell her what her presents were!  

First off Granna opened her card with drawings from all the kids.  Miller is describing to Granna his flying dinosaur that he drew for her.    

Granna first received a new Ruffly Scarf and new vest (an adaptation of the Billy Cardi that has been on my side bar forever.  Side note, you should try this!  It is so easy and sooo cute!).  Anticipation built as Granna reached the bottom of the gift bag.  What could be down there that the kids were so excited about?  The kids made Granna...

Soap

made with things that would remind her of them.  What did Miller choose?

A ROACH!  It was hilarious making this soap I will say.  We watched a roach die for a day so that we could capture it and put it in our soap.  Watching to roach slowly die might have been Miller's favorite part.  I thought my mom would have a totally different reaction, throwing it down, "ewe, ewe, ewe."  But she loved it!  Did not think it was gross at all, just reminded her of her sweet little Miller.

Ella had a great time explaining to Granna exactly what went into the soap making process.  

Sara Wells was fascinated with all the flowers stuck in the soap.  

Can you tell by this picture that the birthday celebrations lasted a little past bedtime.  Sara Wells looks like she is about to fall asleep right there.  Overall, the soap was a huge hit!!!  Granna will now have soap to remind her of her grandkids for at least a year!  Happy Birthday Granna.  We love you!

After partying wrapped up Murray headed to the bedroom to pack up for our trip.  He found a few stowaways in his suitcase.

Even Sara Wells wanted to make the trip with us.

Don't be fooled though, this is not the suitcase Murray will take on our trip.  One little fact you may not know about Murray is that everything is a competition (I am sure this comes from years and years of football, and just being a guy).  The person who Murray is competing with probably has no clue that they have entered into competition with Murray and he never says anything afterward, it is just his own internal competition (chopping vegetables, folding laundry, stuffing envelopes, quickest way home...).  This has most recently manifested itself in packing.  It is now Murray's mission to always carry-on, no matter how long the trip or how far away.  He most recently carried-on for a 10 day trip to China.  But it is no longer enough for just Murray to carry-on, the real challenge is if his wife can carry-on too.  He has been talking about this all summer.  I gave him no promises.  I gave him my word that I would try, but I was not going to leave anything crucial behind just for HIS goal (which means not leaving any shoes behind).   One big motivation for me was that I did get a really cute new overnight bag that will be my "personal bag"  I packed last night and drum roll please... I will be carrying on!  Now, I do technically have two carry-ons, but I will be checking no luggage for a 2 week trip to Ireland.  This might be the proudest Murray has been of me.  

Sadly, while I am there I will not be able to post.  So, you can expect a very long post with lots of pictures.  I am actually going to take my camera this year.  Murray and I are going a few days before the rest of our team to spend time with the missionaries there and the pastor and his wife.  We will be traveling around the coast of Ireland with them visiting the towns where they hope to plant churches in the next few years.  I know it will kill me not to share pictures every day.  However, my blog is not going to be empty for the next two weeks.  I actually have a few fun recipes and tutorials lined up.  So, check in for some good eats and fun things to do with your kids!

Be back in two weeks!  Hope yall enjoy your last few weeks of summer!!!

Soccer Game

Soccer Camp ended with a kids vs. coaches game.  This was the first time during the week that I have seen Ella play because they had a large group time first thing in the morning and small group time right before pick up where they did not play.  I was anxious to see if soccer camp had boosted Ella's confidence.  

I definitely could tell a difference as the game started.  Wherever the ball 

was, Ella was there too (Ella is in the green tank top). 

Still a little timid, but right in the action.

Then the crowd started moving towards the goal

and Ella was right there with them.

 And the she SCORED!!!  

It was awesome!

I wish I could have captured her smile on camera, but 

I was too busy celebrating to remember to take a picture.

In other news....  As I said earlier, we recently made a trip to the library.  Here is my stack of light reading that I picked up.

I have not mentioned much about what is going on with our house because not much has been going on with our house.  We have just been waiting, waiting, waiting....  Then this past week the City Inspector came and said that per our engineer reports, he wants all the finishes removed (sheet rock, floors, ceilings) to see the full extent of the damage.  We have been waiting and waiting and now it seems we are about to have to start making decisions.  I spent the last couple of days thumbing through these books tying to get ideas.  Only one book had anything that was slightly promising.  Right now it all seems a little overwhelming.  I am taking any suggestions for websites, books or magazines with good home plans and ideas.

New Phases

This week has been a week of new phases:
Ella has had soccer camp all week.  This is Ella's first time to be a camper.  We decided to sign her up for camp because, as much fun as she looked like she was having in all of the pictures from the spring at her soccer games, Ella did not really get a good start with soccer.  It sounded great that the games and practice were both on the same day, but in reality it did not work great for Ella.  She never really got what was going on and just got upset because the boys were so fast and discouraged that she never got the ball.  Since the kids were not signed up for any other camps or Mother's Day Out this summer, I thought this soccer camp would be a great opportunity to give Ella another shot at soccer.  I was a little nervous about how Ella would do, one because there would be boys on her team and two because it is SO STINKING hot outside!  There was no need to worry, Ella loves it.  Ella has never been one to give me any details about what she did during the day.

So I knew it was a big deal when the first words out of her mouth the first and second day after she got in the car were, "soccer camp is so much fun!"  I could pry out no further details, but at least I know she is having fun.

Before having kids, I would see kids out in crazy outfits or hairdo's, and I always secretly thought to myself, "My kids will never leave the house looking like that, don't their parents have more control over them?"  I have learned my lesson on that one over and over again!  Now I know first hand why those parents let their kids leave their house dressed like that!  Sara Wells has turned into one opinionated little lady, especially when it comes to her clothes and hair bows.  If you had been standing outside of Sara Wells' room this morning while I was putting her bow in, you would have thought I was pulling off her arm.  Screaming and crying are an understatement.   I could do nothing to stop the screaming until I realized the reason SW was crying was because I was not allowing her to pick out her bows and, gasp, limiting her to only one.  The crying stopped immediately after I got that third bow in.  She knew exactly what she wanted and was not going to stop until she got it.  And this is how we went out today.   

SW's happy with her three bows.  Mommy happy that baby is no longer screaming, crying and throwing herself on the ground.  SW very happy to get her way.  Mommy getting very concerned about this cute little thing that seems to be able to get us to do whatever she wants either by looking at us with that sweet little grin, or by kicking and screaming and crying.

I promised Miller yesterday that today after we took Ella to soccer camp we would go to the library and read Spiderman and Batman books.  My thoughts were we would just read the books there and then leave them at the library.  But Miller had other plans, he wanted to bring the books home.  I know this is hard to believe, but this is the first time that the kids have checked books out at the library.  We go to the library every week, but it is usually all I can do to make it into the library, into the story time room and then back in the car with all three kids together and in one piece.  Taking the time to allow the kids to each pick out books has always been out of the question.  There was no way we were leaving that library today without the Super Hero books.  Watching the excitement on Miller's face as we picked out and then loaded up the books reminded me of trips to the library with my mom.  I would pick out so many books that the handle of the library bags would usually break before we reached the car.  I would be so excited to get home and start reading my books as fast as I could.  I saw all the same excitement in Miller's eyes.

 (I actually took these next two pictures so that I could remember how many books 

needed to go back to the library.  Of course about an hour after I took this picture

I found one more book.)

Is this little man ready to read or what?!

Not only was Miller excited about his library books, so was Sara Wells.  We have been getting home from soccer camp around 12:30 with very, very hungry bellies.  I somehow managed to shoo the kids out of the kitchen while I fixed lunch.  As I finished I noticed how quiet the house was (never happen here unless someone is into something they shouldn't be).  As I started to walk around the house searching for the rug rats, I walked into our room and saw this (yes, I am admitting that it is at least 12:30 and my bed is still not made.  I am going to have to find a new normal in the mornings when Ella starts Kindergarten.  It kills me not to make my bed, but sometimes it just does not happen.  I am ok with that.  Not really, but this is just our reality, some mornings it just does not happen and life goes on!)

The picture does not tell the whole story.  Miller went into our bathroom, got one of his stools and brought it to the side of the bed so that Sara Wells could climb up on the bed and they could read together.  I am guessing they were reading like this for at least 10 minutes.  Such a sweet brother, who loves his little sister.  So much so he even shared his brand new library books.