Category Summer

Vacation Food is…better

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Sunny Salmon and Aspargus Salad

Sunny Salmon and Asparagus Salad from Bahama Bistro in Osage Beach, Missouri

I LOVE food. My BFF loves food. We always love food, but on vacation…food is just better.

The beauty of vacation eating is that it is usually:

a. fresh

b. made by someone else

c. free of dish washing duty

d. something you don’t usually get to eat

As we embarked on our annual girls retreat, my BFF and I savored the menu planning portion. (Did I mention we love food?)

Our dining plans included two new recipes (guacamole and brushetta), picking up fresh eats from the local deli, and taking in the tastes of local restaurants.

Most of our snack and meal choices were healthy, but we made sure to pick up the necessary sweets to add to the vacation’s taste value. Continue reading “Vacation Food is…better” →

Don’t Keep All Summer in a Day

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All Summer in a Day.jpg

Ray Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day” takes place on Venus and at a school where the children eagerly await the one day that summer will occur. On Venus summer comes once every seven years for just a matter of hours. The rest of the time the weather is stormy, windy, and overcast. This day is especially important to young Margot. Margot’s family moved from Earth and are considering the costly and arduous process of returning to the third planet from the sun for fear of losing their daughter to heartbreak. Margot is small, pale, and all too lonely. ‘She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitenedaway, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.” The school children tease and ostracize her for her homesickness and taunt her about the only artwork she creates, pictures of life back on Earth. (The other children have no memories of what life is like on Earth.)

As the time nears to go outside and enjoy the rare sunshine, plants, and warmth, the children think it funny to lock Margot in the closet. They do not intend to leave her there but forget the grief-stricken girl as soon as the first rays of sun appear. Continue reading “Don’t Keep All Summer in a Day” →

Slimy Sensation

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Slimey Sensation 1

All the cool kids are making slime (this according to my kids). Why do the “cool” things have to be disgusting?

So as to avoid social disgrace for my children, I decided we would make slime this summer. When searching my go-to source Pinterest, I found like 10,000 results (this may be an exaggeration) for “make slime.” That’s A LOT of slime.

After a failed attempt at purchasing the right contact solution, I purchased the correct

Slimey Sensation 2

These are the ingredients for the solution that worked.

solution and we were off to the slimy races.

Because I refused to put much more money into slime creation, Dollar Tree was my source for white glue. They have two bottles for $1.00. (I bought 4 bottles.)

For fear of failing again, I memorized the four-ingredient recipe and laid out our slime supplies. It took my kids longer to fight over what color slime each would make than it did to create the concoction. Slimey Sensation 4

Step 1: I let each child pour 1/2 bottle of glue into a bowl. (recipe called for a full bottle)

Step 2: Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda into the glue. (My kids love leveling off the baking soda under the lid of the box.)

Step 3: Add and mix in desired food coloring (If you are me, this is where you add food coloring to your grocery list.) Continue reading “Slimy Sensation” →

Abandoning Time

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Abandonded time

Time is tough to abandon but it sure is nice to let it go sometimes.

Playing in the creek is one of our favorite summer pastimes. Throwing rocks, building bridges, hunting crawdads and tadpoles, fishing, and picking wild flowers are the best ways to forget that there is a life too full of demands waiting beyond those creek banks.

I think my favorite thing about the creek is that it provides us with “rush free” fun. We are able to abandon our watches and phones. We are able to abandon the worries of dishes, laundry, and bill paying. We are able to abandon the stresses of schedules and calendars. We are trying to abandon time.

Rarely does a day pass when my kiddos fail to ask if we can go to the creek. They understand and appreciate the fact that when we are at the creek, they are free to play, work, and dream right along with those currents. The fact that the water, animals, and plants are all there naturally makes it the perfect place for us to play and grow. The fact that the creek never reminds us that we have to be somewhere else is magic.

On our last trip to the creek, my son caught some amazing crawdads. (They were huge!) He put them in a bucket and dutifully added rocks and fresh water to the bucket to make the crawdads happy. When it was time to leave, he cried. Oh, how he cried! He did not want to release the crawdads.  Continue reading “Abandoning Time” →

Surviving a Stampede for Daisies

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Daisy stampede (3)1

Are daisies worth dying for? My children thought I was willing to risk my life for these precious wild flowers.

Saturday a storm was rolling in, winds were billowing, the cattle needed care. Hubby and I were going to drop off a mineral tub and do a quick check of the cows we had just moved to new pasture. The kiddos were in the back seat of the truck taking in every moment.

As we parked at the top of the pasture, I noticed a thick patch of daisies. We had friends coming over for a BBQ later that night and I thought some daisies in a vase would be nice. While hubby unloaded the mineral tub, I hopped out to pick a fist full of flowers. As I was picking, the cows start to make their way to us.

Coming closer the herd picked up speed. They could smell the grain on the back of the truck and were excited about the mineral bucket.

Where I crouched picking daisies, I could tell the cows weren’t coming near me. From where my children sat, I looked like a sitting duck for the stampede. Continue reading “Surviving a Stampede for Daisies” →

Childhood Chores

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chores.jpg

My childhood chores involved babysitting, folding laundry, doing dishes, baling hay, milking cows, and whatever else my parents needed.

We no longer milk cows. My kids are too small to bale hay (and we no longer square bale anything). Many of the jobs that were considered okay for my generation and generations previous are considered unsafe for children to do today.

The thing that is most unnerving to me is not that chores are unsafe, but rather the fact that we are raising future citizens who don’t know how to fold their own shirts.

Recently, I overheard two women talking about their teenage children. They were childhood chore funnydiscussing the fact that they don’t let their kids do the laundry. The reasoning for this was that they didn’t have the patience to teach their children how to use the washing machine and that the kids never folded the clothes the way they (the moms) like it.

Okay?!?

png 1 If we don’t demonstrate patience for our children, how will they know what the skill of being patient looks like? If we don’t teach them how to use the washing machine, who will? Some nice lady at the laundry mat?

png 1 Secondly, how can our children improve their skills, in things like laundry folding, if we don’t guide them? I don’t mind if my shirts are a bit sloppy when folded, at least somebody folded them.

Another time a mom told me she didn’t know how I had the patience to let my kids cook with me. “They are so messy, and I am already tired when I get home. I don’t want them underfoot when I am trying to get dinner on the table,” was what she told me.

png 1 Cooking is messy. Learning is messy. Kids are messy. The cool thing about cooking childhood chores (2)with my kids is that they are learning. They learn how to make food. They learn how to clean up. They learn how to work as a team preparing, making, and serving our meals. Plus, my time with them is so precious in the evenings; it is nice to be able to do something productive.

I am not gonna lie. We don’t cook together every night. I don’t let my kids put the clothes away all the time. Sometimes I am too tired to be patient with them and sometimes they are too tired to work with me. But we still try most of the time. Continue reading “Childhood Chores” →

They Zip by too Fast

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They Zip by too Fast via Daily Prompt: Zip

Zipping By

I never count down the days until school is out.

A lot of fellow educators and even more students will disagree with this, but let me explain why I never count down the days at the end of the school year.

The days zip by too fast.

png 1 I need my students to know that they are my priority. It needs to be clear that the lesson at hand is the focus. Yes, our objective is to have another year under our belts, but we don’t have to wish our year away.

png 1 I need to keep my focus on the tasks at hand. As an educator grading and instruction need to remain in the forefront of my mind… not what I am going to do with my summer vacation, or how much hay we will bale, or what my kids’ ball schedules are, or how soon my BFF and I can plan our girls’ trip. I must stay focused on the task at hand. The deadlines zip by too fast.

png 1 For my students and children, the time of life that they are in is so important to their development and growth. It zips by way too fast. Childhood and adolescence need to be savored and remembered. Make the lessons we teach count and the activities we do make a positive impact. The time zips by too fast.

While it is important to set goals and make plans, be sure to enjoy the moments that are present. Don’t let opportunities zip past you because you are too eager to get to a certain date. Slow down! Take advantage of what is here and now.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. I really wish we could set a speed limit on time. It really needs to slow down.

 

With an Assist from Trisha

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With an Assist from Trisha

Assist from Tricia 1

This spring hubby, with help of his buddy J., stepped up to coach our son’s tee-ball team. I inherited the job of secretary, scheduler, and equipment manager.

In struggling through scheduling and what information I needed to share with parents, I also wrestled with what equipment to purchase. After asking around I finalized my list and ordered a good tee-ball tee, 24 tee-balls, a box of band-aids, t-shirts for the team, and three new batting helmets. (We already had one helmet.)

Four helmets seemed like a good start for coach pitch. Helmets are expensive, as far as six year-old baseball gear goes, but six year-old heads are priceless.

I worried. (I worry a lot.) What if we had three runners on, one up to bat, and one on deck? This was clearly going to happen. What was I going to do?  Continue reading “With an Assist from Trisha” →

Tick Stuck – Something Special from My Son

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Tick Stuck – Something Special from My Son

Tick Stuck

Upon entering the house Monday after school, my son threw down his backpack, rummaged around for two small pieces of paper, and promptly waved them very closely to my face.

“Mom, look! One of them is really special.”

Here is what was on the two slips of papers:

Slip #1:  A treasure chest full of stickers for making good choices

Slip #2: A note from the school nurse with a tick taped to it; The note stated, “Removed tick from head, sent back to class; tick attached”

png 1 Can you see my conundrum? Which of these slips of paper was the “really special one” in the eyes of my six year old?

In my infinite mommy wisdom, I said, “Wow, buddy, that is so much awesomeness! Which one do you think is more special?”

His reply, “The treasure chest. The tick was just stuck in my head, so the 8th grade teacher helped me get it out, and then they taped it to the paper. Can I go outside?”

Well, there you have it.

My son valued his success in making good choices over a parasite. I am Mom of the Year! Continue reading “Tick Stuck – Something Special from My Son” →

Adventures with my Children…Where did they go?

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Adventures with my Children…Where did they go? via Daily Prompt: Blindly

Blind Adventures.jpg

At 2:06 p.m. on Saturday I called my neighbor Lisa.

The call went something like this:

Me: Lisa, are you home?

Lisa: Yes, what’s up?

Me: I can’t find my kids. Did they make it up the creek behind your house? 

Lisa: Oh no. I haven’t seen them.

Me: I have been looking for about half an hour. They don’t answer when I call for them. I can’t even find the dog.

Lisa: Okay, I will go… (phone goes dead)

Me: (insert four letter word that starts with “d”) Continue reading “Adventures with my Children…Where did they go?” →