Happy Family Times #16--Our Fourth of July BBQ

What have you been doing with your family this week? Anything fun and different? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are loving reading about everyone's adventures. Please share below!

Food Table Before Party

I saved our Fourth of July Barbeque to share with you. It definitely gave us some quality time as a family and with friends. We had a total of six adults and four children. It was a hot day and there was a chance of thunder storms which the rain held off until after everyone left. 

We put up our decorations. This year Hazel was not afraid of the wind and we were able to stay outside. A huge improvement from last year.

We had a kids' table set up, but Hazel is the only one who sat at it. I'm not sure she realized that it was funny she was the only one. The five-year-old didn't want to sit at the kids' table and the other two kids were too young (one being only two months old and the other needing a high chair). 

The kids had a great time playing together. Hazel and the five-year-old are on the swing together here. Then we ate. We had corn-on-the-cob, grilled chicken and hot dogs, orzo salad and green salad. For dessert Hazel and I made sugar cookies from a mix. Steve and Hazel decorated them that morning while I cut our red, white and blue fruit salad (apples, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries with a bit of lemon juice to keep the apples from turning brown). I saw this idea somewhere on-line. I don't remember where and apparently did not pin it. Sorry!

After eating, the two older kids went on the slip and slide to cool off. Hazel had the best time on it.

Then right before everyone left they played with the water stuff I left out and turned it colors. The one-year-old was also having a blast with the sandbox and sidewalk chalk.

After everyone left, Hazel still wanted to play on the slip and slide and Steve and I decided to join her and cool off.

While out on the slip and slide it started to rain. Steve rushed to finish the cleaning up though most of it was done except the slip and slide and Hazel and I went inside to get dry. That night I was able to watch neighbor's fireworks from our family room couch. I have to say they were a bit too close for my comfort but beautiful and then God provided us with his own which put a bit of a damper on other people's celebrations. From what I understand several of the local ones were stalled by the storm. 

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Friendship, Readathon, Book Clubs and More

   
Today I thought I would share a bit about friendship. It is the theme of the Readathon 2012 Week 2. Did you know that 1256 readers have signed up so they have donated over 1256 meals to hungry kids via FoodforEducation.org? (If you want to join just click on the Readathon 2012 button above and for each reader that joins a meal is donated!) For more information and some links to different friendship crafts and activities go to MeMeTales.

Play Date with Play Dough

So today (Wednesday) I had scheduled a play date for Hazel with a very shy boy that will be in her nursery class next fall. His mother and I wanted to get the kids together so they would have a friendly face the first day they go to school since it will be the first time we are leaving them at school without us. (We both were in different parent/child classes at the school this year.)  I also took the Play Dough Pledge this week.

I figured I would combine the two so the kids would have an activity to do while getting comfortable with one another. (Note: All of  the recipes I used this time came from Playdoughrecipe.org.) I made two different types of Jello play dough (peach and lemon) and put them in the refrigerator. I added lavender and sprinkles to the lemon for more scent and texture. Then I made a rubbery play dough and cloud dough. This morning Hazel and I made an oatmeal play dough. Then once our play date got here, we made two types of classic play dough with a little experiment of adding juice concentrate to color and scent it. I had some grape juice and raspberry cranberry juice that I used to dye fabrics yesterday and saved some for the play dough. We ended up adding quite a bit more flour to make it a good consistency with the extra liquid from the juice.

Making the Oatmeal Play Dough:

The recipe seems very easy and it really is, but we adjusted it to get a dough we liked. The recipe calls for 1 cup of flour, 2 cups of oatmeal, and 1 cup of water. Then there are suggestions of using corn meal or coffee grounds to make it less sticky. We chose corn meal since I don't really like the smell of coffee and didn't want it on my hands. I also added more oatmeal to give it more texture.

Next we brought her small table and chairs from the craft room up to the kitchen where it is more comfortable and a bit cleaner. We also brought up all of her play dough tools and got some cars, plastic animals, sand castle tools and baking dishes and some glitter so everything would be ready to play with. Then I measured out the flour, salt and cream of tartar for the classic recipes and left them in measuring cups and bowls waiting for the kids to pour and mix. I also measured the water and put it in my electric kettle so I could get it boiling.

By this time, Hazel could not wait for them to get here. She is actually drumming on the tupperware containers that hold the Jello play doughs. She was dancing/skipping all over the place.

When her new friend and his mom arrived, we made the classic recipes. (I thought this freshly made and still warm would also add a nice contrast to the ones that had been in the refrigerator.) Then they started to create and play. They seemed to have fun. Hazel wanted to make cookies and fill the cookie sheet as well as two muffin containers.

Hazel's cupcake

Her friend started with the rolling pins (the textured ones), cookie cutters and dough cutters.  Then he liked the glitter.

Pink Cow

Both using cookie cutters

Star cookie cutter and rolled play dough

While Hazel worked on her cupcakes and cookies her friend made a pan of muffins. He put glitter on the bottom so they fell out when he tipped then over.

His Muffins (The front one on the left is the oatmeal play dough)

The Cookie Sheet (mostly Hazel's but a bit from all of us)

The kids did not seem to get into the cloud dough too much. Hazel's friend used it to decorate his cupcake/muffins like it was cheese (or at least that is what it looked like), but otherwise they didn't really touch it. I think I'll see if Hazel will play with it later with me or tomorrow. They had the most fun just adding glitter to everything!

So will you join us by taking the play dough pledge?

This is where I share...

Crafty Moms Shares Turns One Today!!!

Today is my blogiversary!! It is hard to believe it has been one year since I dove into the blog world. Before I started Crafty Moms Share I had only really been reading blogs for about a week or two.  When I started I certainly did not know where blogging would take me or the information I would discover or the wonderful people I would "meet". I certainly did not expect over 200 people to become my followers and many of them are people I have never met in person. Looking back at my first few months of post is actually kind of fun. This blog has become a bit of a scrapbook for me with the activities Hazel and I do each day. In the beginning the only person who I knew was reading my blog was my cousin's wife, Carrie or The Poet Herself. You will see my first few comments are from her. In hindsight I think it was her blogging that actually got me to start Crafty Moms Share, so thank you, Carrie!! Carrie's blog is Poet in the Pantry. She has slow downed her number of blog entries, but it is a great blog.

A lovely visit

Yesterday Hazel and I went to visit a good friend who I don't see or speak to enough any more. I use to live in her in-law apartment when I was single. I have to say I miss the country and living on a lake. Plus a few of the great discount stores that are there.

From: Something lubely everyday

Before we left, I had shown Hazel the pictures from Sharing Saturday from Something lubely everyday: Stick Reindeer. I asked her if she would like to look for sticks to make one while we were in the woods by the lake. And of course, she answered positively. She told me to pack her buckets so we could collect our treasures, which of course I forgot.

Luckily after Hazel met Diane and Jack, the dog, we went to my absolute favorite discount store, 135 Discount, and they had metal buckets to collect treasures for a couple of dollars. (Plus all their jewelry is $4.99 or $1 for pins and earrings and we are talking costume jewelry that you could get at Macy's.) They have a mixture of everything from party supplies, clothes, Tiffany style lamps, toys, house goods, etc. and it is always cheap. We checked out another store which is new and temporary and then went to my favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. After lunch we went home to go walk by the lake. We put on plenty of layers since it is always colder by the water and took Jack out for the walk. We walked quite a bit collecting sticks, pine cones, a feather, birch bark, etc. Some ended up on Hazel's nature table.

Hazel's Nature Table

Another shot of the other side

We walked to where a neighbor had made a small beach. The lake and land around it is part of a closed state park, so it is a small beach, but he added some rock seats. Hazel had a blast throwing rocks into the water. Then we headed back and Diane offered to cut some greens for me so I could get the smell of Christmas in my house since we have an artificial tree--I really miss my real tree of my childhood, but Steve doesn't like them.

While we clipped various greens, Hazel chased Jack. She had such a great time running around and being free. Plus Jack is the most friendly dog and it was instant love for them.

Then it was time for us to head home. When we got home, we looked at our treasures and picked the sticks to make into reindeer. And with the glue gun we made them.

Finally something I made for Hazel's stocking. I saw this idea at Helping Little Hands. I wanted to get her a Curious George ornament but all of the stores that carry Hallmark ornaments are sold out around here, so I made her a book ornament. And while I was at it, I made an Elmo and Caillou ones too. Since they are her favorites I figured it would be a nice way to remember what she was into this year. On the first page of each one I wrote her name and the year. In the Curious George book, I also found some pictures from the story and included a couple pages.

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