When Life Hands You Lemons Week...

Well, this week's theme was...true to life?  I should have chosen a different name because on Monday afternoon two weeks ago, life did hand me a lemon and I threw my back out.  So lemon week was on a bit of a hold. But don't you worry, this past week we took that proverbial lemon and finally did get to make that lemonade.

Here's what you need for our lemon week activities:
lots of lemons!
(1 for each person for the science exp., 1 for writing, 1 for each color of paint for stamping, about 15 for lemonade)
food coloring
baking soda
dishwashing detergent

white cardstock
q-tips
an iron
various paints
white paper
sugar

Science Day
For our experiment, we made lemon volcanoes.  Super easy, fairly cheap and loads of fun.  The original experiment was found here:

 Lemon Volcano

I would advise putting in the baking soda first and then the food coloring.  That worked better for us. Also, we just poured more lemon juice on top whenever we wanted another "eruption", instead of stirring with a stick.  It went on forever!

Great colors and I think one of our favorite experiments yet!

Craft Day
This activity could really fall under science day or craft day.  We wrote secret messages in lemon juice on paper with q-tips and then exposed them later using heat.  The original idea came from here:

Making Invisible Ink

This was super easy and the girls loved writing secret messages.  After we let them dry, I ironed the messages (the iron needs to be very hot) and we got to see what they said.

If you want to make it a science experiment, you can talk about how the heat breaks down the acid in the juice!

Also, for another craft, we did lemon stamping.  We simply cut lemons in half and dipped in paint and stamped away.  We tried drying the lemons out and it didn't work as well as just cutting and stamping.

Field Trip Day
For field trip day we headed to the beach.  I had a very old friend who was vacationing there and we just had to go see her. Which has absolutely nothing to do with lemons.  Unless you count the fact that I packed lemonade in the cooler for my kids to drink.   Oh.  And I did squeeze lemon on my calamari that I ate.  So there.

Food Day
I found lots of lemon recipes to try but let's face it, sometimes I am just wiped out.  So, we did the most important one, which was making homemade lemonade.  The girls got to find out that making it homemade was a lot of work but so delicious!  There are lots of recipes out there but we used this one:   Homemade Lemonade Recipe

And just in case you aren't as exhausted as me from going to the beach and want to give it a whirl, here is the other lemon recipe I had my eye on....looks like a strawberry lemonade whoopie pie! YUM!

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

I hope if you have a lemon week, it's all sunshine!

K

How I tricked my kids into writing

Several years ago, I saw a blog post about a Mom and Me Journal.  The idea is that you are a pen pal with your kids and write to each other back and forth in these journals about anything you want.  I instantly loved the idea but I was not sure if it was going to work.  The girls were thrilled with the idea at first as well.  And then, as I suspected, I had one child who wrote to me faithfully, and one who was more....sporadic with writing, shall we say.  And then, I went a long, long time without getting my journal back at all.

At first, I thought, well, I will just let them write to me whenever they want. This is a feel good thing, right?  Then I realized, most kids will not just write when they feel like it.  Or to put it another way, they will never feel like writing.  This summer, I decided to try another avenue.  So, not every day, but most days, one of the things they have to do is write to me in their journals.  I really want them to write over the summer and this is better (to them) than having a "writing assignment" (I am a teacher, you better believe I will do it!).   I have found, particularly with my youngest, that it helps if you ask specific questions (What was your favorite thing we did this week?).  And if you have a "I don't know what to write about" kid, you can pose your own questions ("If you could have 3 wishes, what would you wish for?") Answer the question yourself, then pass it on.  I don't require a certain amount be written and sometimes I get half writing and half pictures.  But I tell the teacher part of me to chill out, this is supposed to be a parenting thing.

Here is the link where I came across the idea on Pinterest.  

Mama and Me Journal

I got a composition book and put a piece of scrapbook paper over it.  I printed out the Mama & Me label and put that on top.  Then, I covered the front cover with contact paper.  You can get as fancy as you want to.  I just wanted to get it done.  I wrote a letter to them and put that in the front of the journal.  Here is a copy of what mine says:

And here is a website that has some fun ideas for what to talk about, particularly with older kids

30 Things My Kids Should Know About Me

I actually don't write the same thing in each of my girl's journals.  Sometimes we are silly, and sometimes we are serious.  When I was trying to stop yelling at my girls, I wrote them a very serious entry about what I was trying to do and why.  It was the biggest help towards not dropping my basket because we all somehow became vested in it together, just through my sharing.  And on the days I do still drop my basket, you got it, we talk about it...in the journal.  Sometimes my older daughter has shared painful parts of her day or confused feelings she has (sigh...puberty) and she didn't really know how to talk about it. Some conversations are easier to write.  Score one for the journal.

One of my favorite things is when they leave the journal for me.  They never, ever hand it to me. They usually leave it by my bedroom door, sometimes on my pillow.  We have fun sneaking them back into each other's rooms.  It's like we are secret pen pals.

The journal also serves as a pretty neat time capsule because they usually talk about what we did or were going to do that day, an experiment or field trip they liked...these are going to be great keepsakes.  And you usually get some gems every week, if nothing else, two full lines of "I love you".  But my favorite entry ever was:  "Mom, we are the greatest pair in the whole family.  We are funny together.  I mean, we are hi-larious"  (and for those of you who know her, of course that was from Moo).  Precious thoughts.

Sincerely Yours,
K

WATER We Gonna Do this Week?

Between vacation and throwing my back out...I am so behind in keeping ya'll up to date on what Team Holmes has been up to this summer!  Second theme of the summer was...

WATER we gonna do this week?  

That's right folks, it's water week.  The possibilities are endless!

Here are the supplies you might need to buy for water week:

Mason jar (I used one for each girl)
matches (aerosol hairspray works too)
shaving cream (the thick white kind)
blue food coloring
chalk
white paper
construction paper
water guns (cheap ones from the $ store)
water based paint (AC Moore sells big containers for $2)
strawberries
lemonade

Science Experiment Day 
We did 2 experiments.  One on how clouds are formed and one on why it rains.  My girls love science experiment day, I tell ya'.  I had to tear them away from making clouds to get on with the rain.  I think they would have sat there all day if I had let them.

Supplies for science experiment day

Cloud in a Jar Experiment
I found this experiment on the above link.  The girls loved to be able to "feel a cloud".  We did this one until I ran out of matches.  They just thought it was so cool.  Who knew.

waiting for the cloud to form

Cloud in your face!

 

Why It Rains Experiment
This experiment was found on the link above.  This took some patience for my girls but once it started "raining", they loved it.  Also, the 2 jars "rained" at different rates, which they loved talking about.

Craft Day
We did 2 crafts.  The first was wet chalk drawing. Literally, take a piece of chalk, dip it in water and color with it.  The colors were very vibrant, it wasn't messy and the girls really enjoyed it.  We chose to draw on construction paper.

The other craft we did, I found at this link:  Watergun painting  Well, it's kind of a craft.  I think?  So....here's a funny story.  It didn't really work for us.  We painted and shot the painting with water guns while it was still wet.  Didn't do anything.  Other than get wet.  Then, we painted and let it dry and tried it. Nothing really happened.  Again.  Then I re-read the directions.  Yeah, it helps if you actually do that.  Sooooo....you are supposed to put the paint IN the watergun.  Ohhhhhh!  That was way more cool.  I added a little water because it would take a ton of paint to fill up a water gun.

And then we got some cool abstract art!  I don't have an easel so we just used clothespins on a piece of cardboard.  So fancy, I know.

Food Day

For food day, we made our own slurpees.  Which involve ice.  Which is water.  Right?  Haha, ok, I realize that is a bit of a stretch.

We found several types here.  Homemade Slurpees

We made 2 kinds.  One, which was much more healthy and less sweet, we loved!
Strawberry Lemonade Slurpee 

The other one, not quite as healthy and it wasn't our fav.
Homemade Kool-Aid Slurpee           
You be the judge.

Field Trip Day
For field trip day we headed to Watercountry USA!  This was a first for me and if you live anywhere near Williamsburg, Va, I highly recommend it!  It was not really what I expected and has become our new favorite place.  There are many rides that are multi-person so my daughter, who is not a roller coaster rider, was much more apt to ride things.  We got to ride a lot of things together as a family and just had a fantastic time.  I could stay in the lazy river all day! (I am trying to figure out how to have one at my house.  I'm so not kidding either.)

The last but most important detail of water week was actually something on my bucket list for the summer and was on everyone's daily highlights that night at dinner.  Water balloon fight! However. We jumped daddy when he got home from work and I really think that made it twice as fun!  He did have access to the stockpile once he figured out what was going on.  So it was fair.  Ish.

I don't think sister knew there was one more left...

Last surprise of the day!

Hope you can work some of these ideas into your summer fun!
K

July's Menu - Fire Up the Grill

Happy July!  Hope ya'll are enjoying every bit of your summer so far.  Here is July's menu, full of freezer to grill options (look for the "F")!  Remember, if you aren't ready to start freezing meals ahead of time, just make the recipe for right now!  I do a lot less freezing in the summer, because I have a lot more time. Lucky me!

July's Menu

Week 1
Mon     Grilled Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar  F
Tues     Honey Mustard Brats  F
Wed     Tomato Basil Hamburgers  F
Thurs    Pineapple Lime Grilled Chicken  F
Fri        Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
             Pizza Sauce (one batch will last 2 weeks)
Sun      Pulled Pork with Sweet Chili Slaw  F
      Adapated from original recipe found on howsweeteats.com.  I love making some kind of BBQ or "sandwich meat" on the weekends.  It makes a ton (great if you are having company), it's super easy ( you can go about your weekend business) and if you don't have company, there are lots of leftovers (sandwiches for several days)!

Week 2
Mon    Tilapia with Garlic Roasted Tomatoes Corn
Tues    Grilled Lime & Chile Chicken w/ Mango & Red Bell Pepper Salsa      F(chicken only)
Wed   Marinated Pork Chops F
   (made these last month, some of the best pork chops ever!)  Makes 2 bags
Thurs   Pineapple Ginger Flank Steak F
Fri       Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
            Pizza Sauce  (already made)
Sun      Honey-Lime Chicken Skewers F

Week 3
Mon     Island Pork Tenderloin F
Tues     Chicken Apple Bacon Sliders F
Wed     Tex-Mex Burgers F
Thurs    Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Fri        Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
            Pizza Sauce (one batch will last 2 weeks) F
Sun    

Week 4
Mon    Very Greek Grilled Chicken F
Tues    Marinated Pork Chops F  (second bag)
Wed    Shrimp and Jalapeno Quesadillas
Thurs   Margarita Chicken F (makes 2 bags!)
Fri       Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
            Pizza Sauce  (already made) F


Here is your grocery list for July, listed by menu item in order of appearance!

July grocery list

Enjoy grilling season!
K