Thursday, September 22, 2011

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies



My daughters made Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies to take to church. Half are covered with powdered sugar, the other half have raspberry jam. :sigh: They look heavenly. Sadly, another daughter got ill just before we would have been leaving, so they will be be staying with us. I am trying to be gluten free, so I will not be indulging. Do you want to taste a bite? You can make your own; they are quick and easy!

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Chocloate Taffy



EmBlem, GirlofGod and Trixie are going to a swim party tomorrow. They wanted to bring something special to share so they were browsing recipes and kicking around some ideas this afternoon. They decided to make Chocolate Taffy. It was messy, it was fun, it's also pretty tasty! I love the skills they are developing in the kitchen.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Picture Postcard Pretty



This is my favorite picture from our 2011 camping trip. I want to cross-stitch it and hang it over my fireplace! I also want to build a cabin right here and retire. See you next year, Hidden Falls!

Ravensburger Games

I scored six Ravensburger games, all but one unopened, for $2.50 at Just Between Friends. They are authentic, too. Most do not have English instructions!

http://files.edelight.de/img/posts/156x156_ravensburger-kinder-memory-von-redbella-55.jpg
Kinder Memory is easy, of course. In fact, Missy, Troubles and I have already played a game.

http://images.mytoys.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/de/images/145/73/1457307-m.jpg

Halli Galli Extreme has English instructions, so it will be the next one we try. It seems to be the most complicated of the lot.

http://www.testberichte.de/imgs/p_imgs/Ravensburger+Lotti-67-67965.jpg

Lotti has been a little harder to find anything online. I found a video that shows how it's played, but it's in Spanish. It's helpful, though. I can halfway understand spoken Spanish. It's a color matching and memory type of game.

http://10.img-preis.de/191208/Baby-Spielzeug/Gesellschaftsspiele/Schmidt-Spiele-Packesel-Kinderspiel.jpg

Packesel seems to be simple. I imagine you choose colors of sticks and see who can stack them on the donkey without knocking the pile over. So far I haven't found anything in English about it.

http://www.bwspielt.de/cms/pics/47_gamepic.jpg

This is more like a puzzle than a game. You arrange the pieces so all the colors match and have to make it work in a honeycomb pattern. There's only on solution. This game reminds me of Scramble Squares, which we also enjoy.
http://www.kaleidoshop.de/produktkatalog/produktgrafiken/ssf-ligretto-gruen-klein.jpg
The final game is Ligretto, the green set. There are several sets, in different colors, to allow more players in a game. The gist of this one is to stack all your cards in order as fast as possible. Each player plays are the same time as everyone else, so no one is sitting around being bored. It's also a very quick game, which I appreciate!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Camping 2011

Looks like a picture postcard, doesn't it? This is where I spent the last four days with my family!

We've camped at this site five times in the last seven years. Whenever we're here, we take a family picture in front of this tree. I'll have to scan past years pics and post them for Grandma.

This is on the trail leading from our campsite. The smaller children hiked here over and over. Many adventures were played near this brook!

I love our forests. We can drive an hour from home and be in a whole different world!



One day, my Honey and I will have a little cabin somewhere up here, breathe fresh air all the time, fish every morning and see views like this from our front porch. I miss it already!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Micropencil



Jack created the smallest, tiniest, winiest micropencil that anyone has ever seen. He was so proud of himself. He used it to do school all day, too.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Everything old is new again

A while ago I lent my box of preschool activities out to a friend, so when we got it back last week, all the activities were new to the Littles again. Polly got out the wooden spools and built a pyramid.



Jack has been enjoying the peg boards and rubber bands. Missy is all about the counting bears; sorting, grouping, counting, and lining them up. Troubles pulled out the little bags of Legos right away. I love rotating activities so they are interested all over again!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Almost Time...

It's beginning to cool down.....my bike, and the forest, is calling my name.



Wednesday, August 31, 2011

SCORE!





I stopped in at a church rummage sale this morning and scored this two and a half foot terrarium, complete with screened top, UV light, heating pad and large feeding/watering bowl. It was only $5! The children are split on what critter we should get for it. Suggestions are a snake, a scorpion and a turtle. We will see.......

Monday, August 29, 2011

Peaches!

Today, I canned the flat of peaches that I got at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I was in a hurry, so I raw packed them. I don't mind the floating. I peeled the peaches and my daughter Polly cut them into slices. It went twice as fast with help! Over the past few days, I've canned these, pizza sauce, elderberry syrup and mock pineapple. I'm on a canning roll!