tic tac toe!

on a rainy summer day recently, calvin and i were playing tic tac toe.  he loves to play and it is a game we can play anywhere, like at a restaurant while waiting for our food.  as we were playing on this rainy day, we got an idea to make a whole book of tic tac toe boards.  calvin wanted to keep track of when he won and how he won (where he put his 'o's).

i quickly made up a template on the computer, we printed it on 7 sheets of paper, front and back.  he chose a cover and i sewed the spine.  in all of about 15 minutes we had our tic tac toe book.

we played many games that day and since.  after studying past games, calvin now has a 'calvin strategy' that he uses to win and according to him it works most of the time.  my nephew already asked for one of his own.  

i am thinking that maybe a hangman book might be fun once calvin can read more words.  maybe for christmas?  i also saw this on pinterest and i am adding it to my christmas gift list for both kiddos.  

and yes i did just say (type) christmas.  i am determined not to be frantic the week of christmas this year.  i am starting now.  there are only 140 more making days before the big day after all :)

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

salads!

we have been eating salad every day and night around here. it is simply too hot to eat anything else. we mostly eat green salads but to mix it up a bit i have found a few great different salads that we are now making weekly around here.

the above photo is a raw asparagus salad. i found it via angrychicken.  i used  a whole onion but i pre-soaked it for about 15 minutes so the flavor wasn't too strong.  i also halved the amount of olive oil and vinegar after i made it the first time because it was super liquidy.  the kids love this one.  i am not a strong flavored cheese person, so i was hesitant to use pecorino but it was amazing!

we have also made this pasta salad (we have tons of cucumbers from the garden at the moment and i ran across this recipe that includes cucumber.  super refreshing!),  and the raw broccoli salad from wellgroundedlife's membership site.

*note all of these salads taste better when eaten outside, preferably at the shore :)

swiss chard

proof that if we grow it, they will eat it. today i had to say, "stop eating the swiss chard". for reals.

where's the veggies?

our garden is ripe with dark leafy greens and i am always looking for more ways to serve them.  my kids will eat leafy greens raw (which is so nice), but we produce more then they care to eat plain.  we make green smoothies every morning, an idea i got from my college roommate lisa.  ours consist of a handful of berries, half a banana, two tablespoons of plain greek yogurt, ~2 cups of greens (spinach, swiss chard, kale, whatever you have.  my kids like to mix greens), enough almond milk so that it is the right consistency, and a splash of orange juice.   

delicious!

i love raw greens, but i am not a fan of cooked greens.  i am not sure if i don't like them or if i just don't know how to cook them so that they taste good.  i am trying to work on this so when i was making tacos the other night, i decided to chop up some greens fairly small and add it to the ground turkey just after i browned it.  

ground turkey meat after i added the seasoning and cooked down the greens.

voila!  no one (especially not me) knew we were eating cooked greens.  win win!  in fact i actually think the meat tasted better.  yay for greens!

mud kitchen

i have been seeing so many inspirational mud kitchens over at let the children play, that i have been longing for one.  but since we are not living at home right now, i haven't been able to find a way to make one work for us.  then we went over to my friend roxanne's house and she created an amazing mud kitchen!  maeve loved it!  roxanne used freecycle to collect all of the necessary part and pieces.  her yard had lots of spare pine cones, rocks and sticks, perfect ingredients for a mud kitchen.

she also made a rock roll which maeve was not super interested in but i know calvin would love it.  i can't wait to make one at our house (someday)!  thanks for the inspiration roxanne!

vacation!

we just got back from a little vacation to the pacific northwest. it was beautiful and filled with family and relaxation. we rented a beautiful house right on devil's lake in oregon. it had its own dock, which was perfect for fishing.

we were close to the beach also. it was rather windy and cold at the beach though, so we were happy to just visit and head back to our house on the slightly warmer, a lot less windy lake.

then we drove up to seattle to see more family. it was beautiful there too, with just one day of typical seattle rainy gray-ness.  we made s'mores, had amazing sausage and delicious frozen yogurt.  the kids fell in love with their dog roxy.  she is a boston terrier and super cute!  (i have a feeling a boston is in our (distant) future...)

this trip was a wonderful way to start the summer!