Ah, summer
We have enjoyed this first week of summer vacation. Our mornings have been full of fun at home.
We’ve spent lots of time in the backyard playing and looking for four-leaf clovers.
We’ve read books. Lots and lots of books.
Actually, there’s nothing like the promise of a book for a prize to motivate Charlotte to read! We’re participating in summer reading programs at our local public library, Borders/Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, and Half-Price Books.
We’ve made sculptures from straws and marshmallows. First the girls cut the straws. This is an easy way for little fingers to practice using scissors.
Then they sculpted.
Then they ate!
This craft idea came from Craft Camp hosted by Skip to My Lou–check it out for great ideas for summer fun!
In the afternoons, Charlotte has attended a camp at the local School for the Creative and Performing Arts. It’s been a great experience for her. The younger girls have enjoyed playing together during those afternoons. There’s been too much to do for them to bother taking naps!
Our evenings have been full of playdates with the girls’ friends and family fun–walks, music-making, and tennis lessons. The girls had their first lessons ever. (Well, Charlotte and Kathleen did. Eleanor just got to be a ball girl.) I had my first lesson in, ahem, about 22 years. We have an awesome instructor, my husband, who actually did teach lessons many, many years ago. This was a highlight of the week for all of us, and we can’t wait to get back on the courts again! Summer evenings are just a great time to do all those things you mean to do, but can never seem to find the time to do!
Because summer fun is a indeed a finer thing in life,
I’ve shared this post at Amy’s Finer Things
Quesadillas kids love (with beans)
I love beans. They taste great, are versatile in recipes, and are full of fiber and protein. My kids like beans too. Usually, they eat them with no complaints. Sometimes, though, they won’t eat a bean if they can identify it as a bean.
One really easy recipe I make with beans is quesadillas. For a long time I mixed cheese and beans and salsa together, scooped some on a tortilla, and cooked it. Most of the time, my kids ate these quesadillas with no complaints. But if they were feeling picky, they would avoid the beans and just eat the cheese.
My friend Regina, mother of four and long-time vegetarian, taught me a great trick for making kid-proof quesadillas with beans. Now, I puree everything in my food processor! So simple, so genius. (Maybe you’ve been doing this forever…well, then you’re smarter than me!)
It works! Everything sticks together really nicely so no stray beans fall out. My children don’t have any chunks to pick out. The pureed beans and melted cheese blend into gooey goodness. I use any beans–Northern, cannelini, pinto, black, kidney. And I usually use a sharp cheddar. If your children are picky and you’re trying to sneak beans in to their meals, I’d start with a lighter colored bean.
I have sauteed onions and peppers and added them in too, but that makes the puree more watery and less appetizing. In my opinion, the added nutrients weren’t worth the complaints.
I usually use whole wheat tortillas. I’ve used corn tortillas, and they’re fine, but we prefer the whole wheat.
So, here’s what you need:
One can (rinsed/drained) or two cups beans
8-12 ounces of grated cheese
1 cup salsa
one dozen large tortillas
Puree the beans, cheese and salsa in a food processor. Add more salsa if the mixture is too thick. Spread some of the mixture on half of a tortilla. Fold the tortilla over. (If you use small tortillas, spread the mixture on one, then stack another on top.) Cook on a griddle or skillet over medium heat. (Use non-stick cooking spray or a little oil on the pan.) Depending on how much bean mixture you use on each quesadilla, you will use eight to twelve tortillas. Cut into wedges.
Serve with some extra salsa for dipping, and enjoy!
Another perk: not only do these quesadillas make an easy, nutritious dinner, they don’t require you to use the oven! A great choice for summer!
Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Modifying an antique bed
At my mother’s house, much of the furniture is antique. Some pieces are family heirlooms, but most can define their provenance with, “Oh, your dad and I got that at an auction years ago when nobody wanted antiques.” Of course, by being part of our family’s home for the past forty-some years, those things have become family heirlooms too.
One of my parents’ auction finds, an iron bed that I remember from when I was very young, sat upstairs unused and unappreciated. So when it was time for Eleanor to transition from her crib to a big girl bed, I brought the bed to our house. It had been painted cream (by me, circa 1988), so I repainted it white. And I ordered a new mattress and box springs to go in it.
Sounds great, right? Sweet iron bed, lovingly repainted, handed down to the youngest daughter…
It was, until we tried to fit the box springs into the bedframe. Apparently, in the past, twin beds were a few inches wider and a smidge shorter. Even though it was a tight squeeze, we were able to fit the box springs in lengthwise. But the discrepancy in width meant that there was a gap between the box spring and the frame where a little foot could easily get caught and twisted. Clearly, without some modification, this bed was not going to work out. 
Fortunately, I have a clever and resourceful husband. He decided to take advantage of this situation and build a step for Eleanor to use to get into the bed. It is actually a pretty high bed, and, at two, her legs are rather short, so this solution served two purposes.
First, he filled in the gap with a piece of wood that covered the iron frame and the open gap. He attached this to the slats supporting the box springs.
Because of the design of the frame, it didn’t completely fill the space, so he covered that with another, thinner piece of wood wide enough to cover the edge of the bedframe.
Then, to make the step smooth and pretty, he attached a piece of trim.
This was the tricky part. We didn’t want to use nails because the trim isn’t real wood. Unlike nailing trim on a wall, where it would be stable, using it for this purpose meant that it would be rocked repeatedly by little feet. Small nails would eventually lose their grip and nails with a larger head could also work their way loose; either way, nails seemed likely to eventually snag the very feet we were trying to protect. We needed a way to allow for some give as children climb on this step. Solution? Industrial strength velcro. (I told you my husband was clever!)
We attached one side of the velcro to the wooden step and the other to the trim, aligned the pieces, and pressed them together. The velcro allows for some flexibility on the step. However, the connection is strong enough that one of the girls can’t pull the trim off and use it for pole-vaulting. (I checked.)
Now doesn’t that look safer?
Eleanor is a proud, happy and independent girl! I love that we were able to make this old bed child-friendly and that it will now be part of her memory of childhood. It’s a lovely bed with character and history. Not only do we get the intangible benefits of that, the step cost us about an hour and approximately $35–much less than any new bed, especially one this pretty!
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Goodbye First Grade
Today marks the end of first grade for Charlotte. Yay for summer!
This little girl has seen lots of changes since she set off for school last August.
She’s learned a ton of math, read dozens of books, lost a bunch of teeth, made a classroom worth of new friends, and just kept growing in so many ways.
I’m super proud of Charlotte and how well she’s done in first grade. And I can’t wait for all the summer fun ahead with all three girls!
Spontaneous Pinecone Art
We have lots of art supplies in our house. The bottom of a hutch in our kitchen is dedicated to the basics–paper, markers, crayons, stickers, pipe cleaners, glue sticks, craft sticks, and so on. Old lunch boxes on top of our fridge contain small items like buttons and beads. Chalk and paint live in the basement where the girls’ easels are.
Really, though, it doesn’t take much to make a great art project.
Some pinecones and some glitter glue will do the trick.
It took a little concentration, and some extra effort to squeeze the glitter glue, but this activity kept my girls occupied for about 45 minutes.
Even the littlest hands could do it.
The pinecones were lovely, and the girls were proud.
The best thing about this project? It was their idea. They found the supplies, and they made it happen. I just watched.
I think that by making art projects a regular, accessible part of a child’s life, her creativity will be spontaneous and natural. By letting art be a process, my girls can be absorbed by creating for as long as they like. Sure, sometimes we do planned projects, where the goal is to make a certain end product. But more often, the joy of planning their projects or just seeing what unfolds when they combine different media is up to my kids.
My job is just to keep the cabinets and easels well stocked!
Happy 80th Birthday, Mom!
My wonderful mother celebrates her eightieth birthday today! Happy Birthday, Mom!
She started celebrating on Sunday when my brothers and I threw her a surprise birthday party attended by nearly 100 of her friends. She was truly surprised and deeply pleased. She said, “I didn’t know I had this many friends!” The joy on her face was worth every minute we spent planning and preparing.
It was an honor to have so many of her friends come to the party. I was delighted by all the calls and emails I received from people telling me how much they love and appreciate my mom. I was so glad we seized the moment and got my mom’s friends together to celebrate her now, rather than later when she won’t be there to enjoy being the center of attention.
My mom means the world to me. I’m so glad I could be a part of letting her know how much she means to others too. She will cherish her memories of this day, and they will bring her joy every time she remembers this party.
(It’s also nice to know that we can pull off such a surprise–though she’ll probably be a lot more suspicious of the three of us kids from now on out!)
