Quick Breakfast or Snack: Ducky

School is starting soon for my ducklings and it's nice when things run smoothly in the morning. Especially when you are just getting back into the routine of school after alot of sleeping in on summer break! We love smoothies only no one ever seems to want to drag out the blender and then the clean-up from just one smothie. Ugh!

There is a blog I like to follow LifeAsMom She posted about making a batch of smoothies ahead and freezing them. Genius! I've had bags of those Yoplait brand smoothies sitting in my freezer taking up space. I had 8 bags that I got on sale with coupons for less than 50 cents a bag. They really do not stack well and they kept falling out too. On a whim today tween duck and I decided to make up the whole lot of them! We made a trip to Walmart for the Ball Plastic Freezer Jars. They were $3.00 for a pack of 5-8oz. jars and $3.00 for a pack of 4-16 oz. They also sold variety packages. In about one hour together we made 5- 16oz and 6- 8oz smoothies in varying flavors. We've found the easiest way to label items for the freezer is with first aid tape. You can write on it clearly, it sticks great but peels off without leaving all the sticky residue. Easy and alot of fun to make together. Now all we need to do when the mood strikes us for a smoothie is thaw it on counter for a few minutes or pop in the microwave at 50% power for 20 seconds.

Yay for finding ways to make things run more "smoothly" :)

We are test driving LifeAsMom's posted recipe for Oven French Toast tonight with a bag of rolls I got on the bakery mark down cart for 80 cents.

~Ducky

Week 8 Challenge - Glow Stick Night Lights AKA Radioactive Pets

A key ingredient to Summer fun is flexibility; crafting projects with children always remind me of this fact. Today’s challenge was to make Fire Fly night lights. I had carefully prepared wings and thoraxes out of construction paper then laid out all the supplies in anticipation of adorable little Fire Flies. When the Big Chick and Middle Little made it to the table, they both declared they wanted to make Bats and Bunnies, so we rolled with the flow. They turned wings into ears and thoraxes into capes. (Yes, a cape was needed as our bat is a vampire bat!) Glowing bunnies and bats were no problem in the girls’ minds; they just stated as a matter of fact that these were radioactive bats and bunnies. Here is what we used to make our radioactive pets:

Supplies

Water bottles
Craft foam
Googley eyes
Pom-poms
Chenille sticks (I still laugh calling them this)
Tape
Glue or Sticky Tack
Markers
Glow Sticks

There really are no instructions necessary, just let your kiddos make whatever Radioactive Creature they desire. Then, insert a Glow Stick when it gets dark and enjoy!

Week 7 - Play Tent by Ducky

My mom made a tent like this for my sister and I one summer when we were little. It lasted many summers and only needed one replacement covering through those years. I wanted to recreate the fun for my kids. Working together as a family we created the tent in one afternoon. We spent about $20.00 total on the project.

Materials we used for the tent:

Painters Canvas Tarp
Nylon Rope
6 - 1x8's
Paint for decorating

The wooden poles were also available in 1x6 and 1x12. PVC pipe or bamboo sticks are options also. It depends on how tall you want the tent. You could also use a sheet or blanket for the outside covering.

We drilled holes in each 1x8 about 10 inches down. Stand 3 - 1x8's upright against each other forming a tripod. String rope through holes to connect each. Situate the remaining 3 - 1x8's evenly spaced on the tripod. String the rope through connecting them to the tripod. Secure with a knot. Wrap canvas around the tent. We stapled the canvas to the 1x8's. Each family member decorated a panel.

We all agreed this was a fun and successful project.

Week 6 - Taffy Pull

5 children, 4 adults, boiling syrup and molasses…sounds like a recipe for fun, right? Well this week we set out to have a real old-fashioned taffy-pull party. The result is that we have our 2nd cracked egg.

We started off full of nostalgic optimism; the kids would run around, having fun until it was time to begin the pulling. We would have some time with our sweethearts, while faithfully (yet easily,) monitoring the simmering candy. The reality is that the boys had a lot of fun making jokes about “pulling taffy” and Ducky and I were overwhelmed with the not so appealing smells of vinegar and molasses mixed together, even if we quietly were snickering at the boys’ jokes. In the end, we were left with a pan full of beautiful bronze stickiness. It never firmed up enough to pull.

What went wrong? We don’t know exactly. It could be that we used rice vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar or plain white vinegar. My recipe didn’t specify which type to use, so I didn’t think it mattered too much. It could be that we were overly cautious with the heating of the candy, and it took too long to get it to the correct temperature. Or maybe it was the fact that it was an extraordinarily humid day, and that set the science of our recipe off just a tad.

I’ve since looked at other recipes for making taffy and have determined to try this again. Additional recipes I have found had better instructions that I think a taffy-pulling novice such as myself needs.

The lesson of the taffy-pull is to laugh while making mistakes, and then order Chinese takeout since you will already have a heap of dishes waiting for you. ;-)

Taffy Recipe

From Let’s Make a Memory by Gloria Gather and Shirley Dobson
2/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 ½ Tbsp. vinegar
½ cup water
¼ tsp salt
__

1/8 tsp. soda
1.4 cup butter

Combine molasses, syrup, brown sugar, vinegar, water, and salt in a large heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches 265 degrees on candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in soda and butter. Pour into buttered large shallow pan and let cool until it can be handled – about 15 minutes. Turn edges into center as it cools. Butter your fingertips; then cut off pieces of candy and pull and twist until candy changes color, to bronze. Twist in shapes or cut into 1 inch pieces with scissors dipped in cold water. Wrap in plastic paper. Makes 150 pieces.

To see the next taffy recipe I want to try visit Pioneer Thinking. They have great instructions. As a side note some of the recipes I read through suggested once the taffy was cool enough to handle that you roll it into a ball. I can see how this would help and I will do that next time.

WEEK 5- STEPPING STONES

This weeks challenge was a group event with both our families. We had a lot of fun doing this together. Clucky used a stepping stone kit she found on clearance for $10 to make circle stepping stones. It had enough supplies to make four stones. We also made foot print stones. These are so cute for the garden or walk and are a nice summer memory of the size of your child's foot.

To make a foot print stone you need:
Disposable pie plate or 9x13 pan
Play Sand
Plaster of Paris

Place slightly dampened sand in desired container. Have your child press their foot into the sand, tamp down the sand around the foot. Lift foot out and you now have the mold to pour in plaster of paris.
Mix plaster of paris according to directions on packaging. The mix should be the consistency of softened icecream. Let dry, preferably overnight. Remove from pan and brush off sand. You could paint them or leave them as they are. Arrange in your garden, walk or use as a gift.

Week 4 - Going Off Course

Well this week I’m veering off course. My intended project was a homemade picnic blanket one side being a vinyl and waterproof the other side a pretty fabric. But my sewing machine had other ideas when it kaputzed on me. So I am going to share with you instead another summer project my family has been doing. It’s not really on the fun scale but I’m sure that a lot of you are dealing with the same thing right now. Sibling conflict and the I don’t wanna’s seem to rear their head in the less structured summer. So Papa Pollo and I set out to nip this in the bud.

When you have5 people home all the time the house get’s quickly cluttered and messy. I know for myself and the kids this can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed. When we are overwhelmed we tend to respond emotionally to situations rather than with self control or logic. So keeping the house picked up was our first order of business.

Earlier this year Ducky sent me a link to Chore Zones for Kids by Trigger Memory Systems. I absolutely loved the idea. But being the frugal Mommy that I am I wasn’t eager to run out and spend money on something that I thought I could create on my own. I borrowed the idea of a list for each room with step by step instructions on how to complete the job. I created a list for bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and getting clean. These are our daily zones. I also made additional zones that I will use as needed such as front porch/back porch, shoe room, and a monthly list. I tailored the cards to each child as much as I could. For example Big Chick is 8 and can read. Middle Little is 5 and cannot read yet. I used pictures to help explain the task for Middle Little so she too can complete a job without having to ask every five seconds what to do next. For Big Chick she has two additional tasks in her bedroom. Not only is she older but she tends to have more “stuff” than Middle Little. So it seemed appropriate to give her a little extra. I’ve broken up the day into morning and night time chores. In the morning they do Bedroom, Getting Clean and Kitchen lists. At night time they do Getting Clean and Bathroom lists. It has made a huge difference in the visual clutter as well as Poppa and I feeling overwhelmed by constantly trying to keep up after 5 people. I feel that we are teaching them valuable lessons in team work, life skills and that many hands make light work. The second day after we started using our zone lists Middle Little said “Wow Mom there was hardly anything to do tonight, that’s because we did some yesterday.” It must be sinking in somehow, some way.

Now to tackle the real beast. The I don’t wanna’s, the sibling arguing that makes you want to beat your head against a wall. I desire so strongly for my children to have loving relationships with each other. I may not be able to make my children each other’s best friends but I can have an expectation of respect for each other in our home. With that in mind we were blessed to discover John Rosemond’s newest book The Well Behaved Child. We have long been aware of Mr. Rosemond and his no nonsense parenting style; have most of his books in fact. But this particular book spoke to us for where we are right now.

After reading the book together we instituted Mr. Rosemonds Ticket System. This link is a very basic over view of the idea and I highly recommend that you read the book to use this tool to its fullest. I used 3 envelopes as pockets. They have each of the big girl’s names as well as one labeled parents. The girls have 5 tickets with their names on them and they begin the day with ownership of all those tickets. We have a list next to each of their pockets reminding them of the behaviors that will cause them to lose a ticket. Because of age and capability our oldest has 4 things on her list and Middle Little has 2. We have our system placed in our toy/classroom area. It’s our most lived in space and I wanted it close at hand. When the kids have lost all of their tickets for the day they know that means they are grounded to their room and will be sent to bed directly after dinner. It takes some commitment, some clear communication between parents and a willingness to follow through, but it’s helping. We are a work in progress here at Clucky Central but I’m thankful for the guidance found in the book and can’t recommend it highly enough.

Although these two systems definitely don’t fall in the fun spectrum for the kids they do in a roundabout way enable us to have our Summer fun. When we treat each other and our home with respect we are free to go out and enjoy the world around us.

Are you experiencing the Summer I don’t wanna’s and Sibling Conflict? How are you handling it in your home?

Week 3 - Bird Feeders by Ducky

In the mornings while eating breakfast or in the cool of a summer evening on the front porch the kids enjoy watching the birds feast. They also like to identify and record them in their natural journals. Their was a time when we we even participated in the Backyard Bird Count for Cornell. The elements and animals have destroyed many a store-bought bird feeder. We all decided to try making our own bird feeders. We made our old tried-n-true stand-by pinecone feeders and two new to us feeders.

Pine Cone Feeders
The kids went walking on an area trail in search of pine cones. If you don't have pine cones in your area you can use cardboard cut-outs in any shape you choose. We had been told once that peanut butter was unsafe for birds. We did a google search and found at the BirdWatchersDigest site that this is a common myth and there is no scientific evidence one way or the other. We'll leave that at "It's a personal decision", then. The peanut butter can be substituted in the case of an individuals allergies as well. Our soy nut butter pine cone was equally enjoyed by the birds. Twist some string, ribbon or we used jewelry making wire around the pine cone. Spread with the peanut butter. Roll in bird seed.

Fruit Basket Feeders
Slice in half an orange, grapefruit, lime or lemon. Scoop out the fruit, eat or put in fridge. Now you are left with the rind. It looks like an empty bowl. With a tooth-pick make a hole on each side near the top. Send a string, ribbon or wire through the hole to form a handle. Fill the basket with bird seed.

Cookie Cutter Feeders
The number of feeders made in this recipe just depends on the size of cookie cutter used. We followed the recipe at FamilyFun
· 1/4-ounce package of unflavored gelatin
· 2 cups bird seed

To make a batch, bring 6 tablespoons of water to a boil. Empty one 1/4-ounce package of unflavored gelatin (we used Knox brand) into 2 tablespoons of cold water in a large bowl. Let the gelatin sit for 1 minute, then add the boiling water and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until the gelatin has dissolved.
Next, stir 2 cups of your favorite wild birdseed into the gelatin, mixing thoroughly. Let the mixture set for a few minutes, then stir again. Repeat this process a few times, if necessary, allowing the seed to absorb the liquid.
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Place the cookie cutter shapes you'd like to use on the paper. Spoon the seed mixture into the cookie cutters. With a straw punch out a hole for stringing through ribbon, string or wire later.
Place the pan in the refrigerator or a cool room and let them set for at least 3 hours. Gently tap the cut-out shape free from the cookie cutter. Allow to air-dry overnight.
Finally send colorful ribbon, string or some wire through the hole.

We found that larger and deeper cookie cutters work best. They also melt fairly quickly in the rain. Hanging from an eave or porch they may last longer.
We had a lot of fun making the feeders. The cookie cutter feeders would make great gifts.