The Homestyle

Here’s what I’ve been reading recently:

Those Strong Willed Children :: Tolivers to Texas – If you have a strong-willed child (I’m right there with ya – Ryah gives me a major run for my money!) don’t give up! Be diligent and consistent as you lovingly train them. The rewards won’t be immediate, but your hard work will eventually pay off!

How to close the gap between ordinary and extraordinary. :: Jon Acuff – Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things don’t just happen overnight. Jon Acuff reminds us that extraordinary things are built by many, many little steps to get there.

Nature Journaling with Kids :: Simple Homemade – The perfect get-outside activity for this spring! This would be a great activity to pair with a Geocache outing.

the power of one day :: Steady Mom

Have a wonderful weekend!

I shared a couple of weeks ago that one of my goal right now is to eat more fresh vegetables. One way I am doing that is to make a conscious effort to have more salads for or with lunch. Last week I told you about my Tuna Topped Salad. This week, things will get a little tangier with a Cranberry-Walnut Salad.

I am a big fan of cranberries. Mmmm. I am imagining eating them right now…

My relationship with nuts is sort of hit and miss (except almonds, I always love those), but the combination of the cranberries and walnuts in this salad was a big hit for me.

Again, it’s not a complex salad, which makes me more likely to make and eat it. I started with some fresh baby spinach (half a bowl) and red leaf lettuce (the other half of the bowl). I threw in some carrots and tossed it all together with a handful of cranberries and a handful of walnuts. The whole beautiful bowl got topped off with some of Naomi’s favorite dressing – raspberry vinaigrette. It was beautiful AND tasty!

(This wasn’t my own salad, but one that I ate at Cool Beans Playhouse. It inspired me to make my own.)

This summer at The HomeStyle, I will be hosting a Read-Aloud Book Club. I’m pretty excited about this! Anyone can participate, and you can do as much or as little as you and your family want and can fit into your schedule.

Here’s how it’s going to work:

Each month will have a theme. I haven’t finalized all the themes yet, but I can tell you that the first theme will center around Boats (it will also include some ocean/water-related topics and activities). I will announce the theme at or a little before the start of each month. This announcement will include a list of recommended books that go along with the theme. There will be two age groups that the recommended groups will target: 7 and under, as well as 8-12. (I would love to include older kids too, but since none of my kids have reached that point, I feel pretty out of my league to make any recommendations for that age group. ) Feel free to pick and choose through the list as well as throw out some ideas of your own.

After the initial week (in which, I hope we are all able to gather together a good stack of books for the month) I will post a few activity suggestions to supplement the books we are reading. The activities will be relatively broad so that even if you are not able to (or interested in) reading each of the recommended books, your kids should be able to relate to and enjoy the activities. Some will be geared at learning more about the theme, and others will be purely for fun.

At the end of the month, there will be a place here on The HomeStyle where you can link up photos of you and your kids doing the activities or reading as well as a forum for everyone to discuss their thoughts on the books. If you have your own blog, I would love to have you write a post about your experience and link it into our end of the month Book Club Party. There will also be prizes and other fun things at the end!

I hope you will join me in this summer’s Read-Aloud Book Club!

Counting was one of our math focuses this year. I shared with you earlier the idea of using clothespins on cardboard as a tangible way to practice counting. This approach of using real-life objects as well as completing an action while counting seems to work really well for William.

So, after recently discovering how much William enjoys using a hammer to hit things, I decided to put together an activity to practice counting to 30.

My sister gave us a new microwave a few months ago, and it came packaged with thick, dense styrofoam. I held onto a couple of the pieces, thinking they might come in handy for a project. I was right – it worked perfectly! It didn’t crack as Will pushed the nails in, and it was thick enough that there was no danger of him banging the nail all the way through to the table.

I gave William 30 nails and a rubber mallet. He was able to easily stick the nails into the styrofoam, which held them in place while he pounded them with a rubber mallet. We counted each nail as he pounded it in, and then recounted them again at the end. He had a blast with this activity!

Although Spring is known for being notoriously bipolar, I think most parts of the U.S. are finally at the point where we can at least put away our heaviest winter gear. (Watch me trigger a freak beginning of May blizzard with that last comment! ) So, this week for our Combat Clutter challenge, we are going to organize what remains of our winter gear and put it away in a way that makes next winter season less of a headache.

I currently have all of our hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves in a big Rubbermaid bin. In the summer, we store it downstairs in our storage area. During the winter, it lives inside the hall coat closet. I’m not absolutely in love with this organizational system, but other ideas I have tried have had little to no follow through from my family, so I am continuing with the bucket method. (If you would like a good idea for organizing small winter gear in pairs, check out this creative idea from The Happy Housewife.)

To begin with, gather all the winter gear from all around the house. Group like items together. This will probably give you a good idea of how close you are to meeting your family’s cold-weather clothing needs by seeing it in groups. From there, decide if you have a plethora of any one type of item and if so, weed out whatever you don’t absolutely need or love. I would highly recommend donating these extra items; winter gear can cause a big financial strain for families struggling to make ends meet. I can not imagine being in a position of not being able to provide my kids with a coat to keep them warm or mittens to cover those little fingers. There are many organizations which head up coat drives each year. If you don’t know of one off hand, I’d recommend calling a local school to see if they can point you in the right direction.

Next, get rid of anything that is mismatched or ruined beyond repair. I am actually holding on to one glove of Will’s instead of tossing it. I just know it is hiding somewhere in the house, and I don’t want to toss the one glove we have until I have exhausted all possible hiding places for its prodigal brother. The other matchless mittens, however are getting tossed out or repurposed as a craft project.

If anything is dirty (muddy snow boots come to mind in our house), scrub and dry them before storing them for the summer. (This could be a good chore for your kids.)

Finally, make a clothing inventory to jot down things that you know your family will need for next winter. Keep that list handy with you as you are shopping clearance racks, garage sales, and thrift stores. This time of year, you can find some stellar deals on close-out winter gear.

Now that you have purged and cleaned, pack up your winter gear in one neat, orderly place. Be sure to label your containers so that if an early snow storm hits in September, you can easily locate coats on a school morning. Now stow it away and get ready to welcome summer! Yippee!

Here’s what we ate last week:

Breakfasts:

• French toast, strawberries

• Breakfast burritos

• Cereal

• Eggs, toast, orange slices

• Oatmeal, Yogurt, smoothies

Lunches:

• Leftovers

• Parmesan Buttery Noodles, Salad

• Salad of the Week (Tuna Topped Salad)

• Cheesy Roll-ups, Pear slices

• Grilled cheese, Pear slices

• Homemade pizza, salad, popsicles

• PBJ, pear slices (prepared by Will and Naomi, because they can cook! )

  
  Cheesy Roll-Up

Snacks:

• Pretzels

• Dry cereal

• Oatmeal cookies

• Bananas

• Cake Pops (which were a mega fail, but at least they tasted good!)

Dinners:

• Chicken-Basil Sausage, rice, salad

• Steak and veggie stirfry

• Homemade Pizza, green beans, ice cream

• Out to eat one night

• Creamy Cauliflower Mac and Cheese, green beans

• Dinner with our Bible study group

• Loaded baked potatoes, steamed broccoli

Here’s what I’ve been reading this week:

Crazy Love :: Francis Chan – I got this book for Kindle on my iPhone and have been slowly but surely making my way through it. I love it, but there is SO much in there. I have to read very small sections and then chew on them for a day or more before I’m ready to digest more. Has anyone else read this book?

Thankfulness :: Jessica Lynette – 31 simple ideas to teach and reinforce a thankful attitude with your kids.

Rabbit Rage :: Jon Acuff – Jon Acuff is one of the best bloggers I’ve ever read. His blog “Stuff Christians Like” strikes a perfect balance between hilarious (I have read many a post that put me into a fit of laughter that came close to killing me by suffocation!) and reverent.

Raising Independent Learners :: Simple Homeschool – This post is for every parent, not just those who homeschool. Regardless of where your children go to school, you as the parent are the number one person responsible for how and what they learn. My personal opinion is that one of our top goals on that front is to help our children become independent learners by giving them the tools to learn and helping them develop a love of and longing for knowledge. this post gives some great rubber-meets-the-road advice for how to do just that.

Thoughts on Blogging :: Steady Mom – I know many people who have blogs for a variety of reasons. This post is a good reminder that we must make conscious decisions about our blogs, rather than allowing just any old post to appear under our heading.

What have you been reading this week?

A few months ago on Facebook, I posted this comment in passing:

I just bought jelly at the store for the first time in a long time. I was shocked how expensive it has gotten! I usually just make freezer jam from overripe fruit, so I had no idea what prices were like these days.

 

I got tons of excited questions: How do you make freezer jam? I’d like to know more about that!

It took me awhile to get around to answering this question (so sorry about that!) but here it is at last!

Freezer jam is quite simple to make. The most important thing is being patient until it has gelled. Also, when I say “overripe” fruit, I certainly do not mean rotten fruit! If there is mold or anything else growing on your fruit, you will get molded jam. Yuck! What I mean by overripe is just a little to squishy to be enjoyable when eating it fresh.

Photo Credit

To begin with, you need a LOT of fruit! Since strawberry season is upon us (Sprouts had strawberries for $0.99 per pound last week!) it is relatively simple to get your hands on large amounts of strawberries. Then they need to be washed and hulled (that means cut the stems out). I’d recommend using about 4 of those 1-pound strawberry boxes for your first batch.

Place the hulled, washed strawberries in a large pot. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, crushing the berries slightly with a potato masher as they cook. Be sure to stir occasionally so that none of the fruit burns on the bottom. After five minutes, pour all the hot, mashed strawberries into your food processor.

Puree the strawberries until there are no chunks left. While the strawberries are pureeing, dissolve a package of pectin in the recommended amount of water (just read the directions on the box). When I make strawberry jam, I never use sugar, because to me strawberries are plenty sweet. Because of this, I always buy the pectin specifically for sugar-free recipes. If you don’t use that type of pectin, your jam will have more the consistency of syrup than a spread. (And yes, I do know that from experience!)

When the pectin is dissolved, stir the strawberries and pectin water together in a large pot. Then cook on medium high heat, stirring continuously for 5-7 minutes, or until the jam is thickened and drips off a spoon, instead of pouring out of it.

At that point, cool it off and store it in small freezer-safe containers until you are ready to use some. See? Super easy and tasty!

For other ideas of ways to use overripe fruit, check out my recipes for Homemade Applesauce, Banana Bread, Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, and Cinnamon Pears.

I mentioned last week that one of my personal goals right now is to eat more fresh vegetables. One way I am working toward this goal is to have a salad with or for lunch on days that we are at home. I really do like salad, but I also know that with how busy my life is these days, I really need something more than lettuce and carrots to tide me over until dinnertime. I usually need at least a little protein, and some variety in the other flavors doesn’t hurt either.

So, I’ve been experimenting with a few different ideas for salads. However, lunchtime (as you probably know from my weekly menus) is not my most inspired time in the kitchen. Our days are very full and very busy, so a lunchtime salad MUST be quick and easy to prepare for me to have the desire and time to pull it off. The salads I will share with you over the next few weeks aren’t really anything extravagant. You could probably find many more creative uses for lettuce than I am going to share with you. But if, like me, you feel the need to increase the veggies in your diet without increasing the amount of time in the kitchen, these “Salads of the Week” will hopefully give you some inspiration and variety. I’d also love to hear your suggestions for incorporating more fresh produce into your diet.

Today’s Salad of the Week includes tuna. I didn’t know exactly what to call the salad, since “tuna salad” is technically when you mix tuna and mayo and spread it on some bread. So, Tuna Topped Salad hopefully gives you a better idea. Here was my Tuna Topped Salad this week:

It was very basic. First, I chopped up some red leaf lettuce (my favorite), carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Then I crumbled on top about half of one of those tuna pouches. (Have you tried those yet? If not, I highly recommend them! They are so simple and mess-free. Because seriously, who wants to have hands that smell like tuna water all afternoon??)

Anyway, after I put the tuna on, I put about 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese on top and topped with a little Italian dressing. I felt great that afternoon – the tuna and cheese really helped hold me over until dinner, and I felt lighter and less bogged down than normal by eating a nice big salad. Yum!

A couple of weeks ago, I made this same salad but instead of tuna, I used a pouch of salmon. It was ah-maz-ing!

Last week I told you about how William completed all the goals I had set for our school year so we decided to start a dinosaur unit, just for fun. We had a great time excavating animals from ice, and were excited for more dino-fun!

This time we learned about dinosaur family life: they built nests, they laid eggs, and other things scientists have deduced from studying fossils. Then we created our own paper mache eggs. Here’s what you need:

• 1 small balloon, inflated (water balloon-size works best)

• 1 cup white school glue

• 1 cup water

• Newspaper

• Colored construction paper (1 color is plenty)

First, in a large, shallow container mix together the glue and water. Next, tear the newspaper and construction into strips that are no more than an inch or two wide. Keep the two types of paper in separate piles.

Dip strips of newspaper in the glue-water mixture (make sure they are completely coated) and stick them all over the balloon. Be sure to cover the balloon completely.

Once the balloon is completely covered, begin dipping strips of construction paper in the glue-water mixture and cover the newspaper with construction paper. The reason for using a different color of paper on this step is that it makes it easier for kids to tell where they have already placed the next layer of paper.

Add one final layer of newspaper dipped in the glue-water mixture and allow the project to dry completely. This can take 24+ hours. Once it is dry, give your kids thick paint and allow them to paint the egg as they imagine a dinosaur’s egg might have looked. After this point, you can cut the tip off the balloon if you want.