Summer Time! LOTS to come - and a pancake recipe for you

Ok, so I kinda fell off the blogging bandwagon. I have been focused on other things right now and it seemed like I could never get to it. BUT I ran into a friend while food shopping last night and talking with her reminded me of why I started in the first place. Sharing!

Sharing ideas of fun projects we tried or places we went. Sharing how to plan ahead meals and different ideas to keep things interesting as well as easy. Sharing fun places and events to go around town. And sharing some of my knits (and classes!!) too...

SO, I'm back. Thanks V for getting me back in the saddle....

We've had some BUSY few weeks. School ending always leaves me in a bit of a funky place. Love having my kids home to do things with, but it signals passing of yet another year. They really do go so fast. Too fast for me.

Five years ago, I had asked some friends to go to Adventureland the week after school was out and we had a blast. This has now morphed into a "the whole Love of Learning Montessori school is invited" trip and each year, more and more people take advantage of coming along and hanging out with friends. It is hands down, my children's favorite day of summer. All their friends! Unlimited rides! And it's less crowded since most schools are still in session. And we stay ALL day. Whee!!!
Here are some highlights...

Hoping this ride doesn't malfunction like last year......

My son, heading right towards us to ram his car into ours on the bumper cars

Happy Siblings

What I love best about this day. Seeing older kids eagerly jump on rides with younger kids who need someone of height to go with them so they can ride too. 

Who you gonna call?

Part of the group hanging out

Happy to catch this pic of my good friend and her boys sharing a happy smile

And to add to the memories for that day- the roller coaster stopped running while a whole bunch of our friends were on it! Luckily, they weren't high up. But they did have to wait in the sun for awhile and then climb down a rather thin looking ladder. Not the kind of ladder we were expecting to see...Thought it would be a very sturdy looking one. Ah well. All were safe and now have a cool story to tell.

This photo catches one of my favorite things about summer. Impromptu playdates. A friend happened to be stopping by to give me something and the kids started playing together, so we had a cup of coffee and watched our little Jedi's build Tinkertoy lightsabers and duel. Looking forward to many more of these in the summer!

I am planning on keeping this blog full of fun things to do, places to go, things to see, things to make and try...all summer long!

Stay tuned friends. There is a LOT more to come! Right now, it's pancake time!

My kids favorite pancake recipe:

Wet ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk (we use almond milk that we sour with apple cider vinegar- 1 1/2 tablespoons for the 2 cups- add them and let sit)
2 eggs
1 teaspon vanilla
1/2 stick butter, melted then cooled (or in our case, an Earth's Balance stick)

Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour (all purpose will give you lightest and fluffiest, but isn't the best nutritionally. We use 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour and 3/4 cup of all purpose- but we sometimes mix it up- try other flours- rice, graham, )
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Put all the wet together- whisking eggs first. Then put all the dry together. Add the wet into the dry and stir until mixed through but don't over stir.

Cook on the stove top. Make a few crazy shaped ones for fun. Same batter works great for waffles too!

To save time, make a double batch and refrigerate the batter. It'll keep for a few days in the fridge. I have some already made waiting for me.

summer on!

Friday Night Knitting- May 2nd and Tulip Festival May 4th!

Come learn to knit in our relaxed environment while meeting some new friends in Huntington NY!

We’ll teach you how to cast stitches on the needle, and how to knit. Perfect for the new knitter or if you need to relearn some long lost skills. 

Friday Night May 2nd from 7pm-9pm

Supplies and snacks are included in price of class. 

Bring your own beverage of choice.

$35.00

follow us on Facebook to hear about all our awesome classes!

https://www.facebook.com/emmamadevisionsofloveliness


AND.....

Come get Crafty with EmmaMade featuring Loops by Keri at the Tulip Festival in Heckscher Park in Huntington, New York this Sunday from 11am-4pm! The festival is FREE and full of fun activities for the kids!

We'll have our summer schedule on hand so you can get first dibs on our awesome camps, classes and workshops! Plus we are going to have a giveaway!!!!

Hope to see you then!

https://www.facebook.com/emmamadevisionsofloveliness

http://www.emmamadeworkshops.com

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LoopsbyKeri

Tons of Summer Fun- Courtesy of our Local Library

Hello Everyone!

The last few weeks of summer are always bittersweet for me. I have to say, I love having my kids at home. We have such fun together! They are inquisitive and spirited and are usually up for anything I suggest!

The last few weeks we have done quite a bit of fun things and most of them have been because of our local library! We spend a LOT of time at our library during the year, but in the summer we are there constantly!  They have incredible summer programs for kids. Just this year, MAP was able to join their Mock Newbury Book Club, which he loves! What avid reader wouldn't love getting their hands on galleys of books that haven't been published yet? A reader's dream come true!

We can request books our library doesn't have from other libraries, which is perfect for when we get really into a topic and need more books! The librarians are always so helpful in suggesting new books and authors. It's just a magical place. Thank goodness for Ben Franklin and his idea of the library!

A few years ago I learned of the libraries Museum Passes. The library buys passes to many local museums and places of interest and then you can reserve and borrow them! What a find! We have really used them this summer!

We went to see the newly reopened Vanderbilt Planetarium! We watched a few of their new shows, toured their amazing grounds and had a picnic with friends! What a day!

We traveled into NYC with 2 friends and 8 kids between us ages 1-11 and took three subways to get up to the Guggenheim in order to see the magical exhibit by light art virtuoso James Turrell (that is a quote from my son by the way...)

When you walked in, the rotunda was all encased to be a part of the installation. It was magical. You weren't supposed to take pictures, but after we left, we were informed that some of the younger set had taken pics unbeknownst to us with their ipods/phones. whoops. And thank goodness, because look how beautiful....You lie on the floor and look up and see this....and the colors change gradually....it is so peaceful.

Just beautiful.

I wish I had been able to take a picture of our children all lying on the padded ground gazing up together, some of them holding hands.... This was the only shot I was brazen enough to take.

After touring the museum, we took the kids to Central Park. The were all walking together, a little way in front of us. They turned to enter the park and they stopped and let out an audible "Wow!"

They found this amazing guy, making ginormous bubbles with two fishing rods tied together.

You never know what you are going to see in this amazing city! We HEART NY!

And what is a trip to NYC and Central Park without a good rock climb!

One day we went to the Walt Whitman birthplace, which I had never been to before! What a surprise to learn it was across from the Walt Whitman Mall and that where the mall stands now had been Whitman's family apple orchard!

We toured the house. It was incredible to see the details and furniture of the time. However, only one chair was original to the house, but it is still worth seeing for the items that have been collected are in the style of the period, with lots of knick-knacks that were useful in those times. The kids really enjoyed learning about the time and asked some really good questions!

I LOVE the blue! And the wide planks. Swoon!

Here we are in the gardens with our friend. She and my LMO consider themselves practically twins since they were born less than 24 hours apart. They are both sweet and spunky and a ball to be with, so maybe they are?  

MAP is having a moment with Walt. Leave it to my boy to ham a picture up. 

Our last trip was to the Long Island Children's Museum (LICM for short) We have been going there for AGES now, but they are always doing something new and exciting! 

This summer, they hosted a puppet festival and we were THRILLED to see that our favorite Puppeteer, Steve Petra was going to be there! And not only was he going to perform a puppet show, BUT he would also be having a puppet workshop!! WOW! We were SO in! We grabbed another friend and off we went. 

The show was hilarious and the workshop was fantastic! My son was chosen to go onstage and got to work with Steve, which was hysterical! The next day, when I checked Facebook, there was the post from the LICM! And look who was on it!

Thanks for the amazing shows and all the laughs Steve! Hope to see you again soon!

WHEW!

I would NOT have been able to do all this with the kids if not for the library passes. They truly made our summer!

Looking at this I can see we really did a lot of amazing things together this summer. And it makes them going back to school tomorrow a little easier. I really do love spending time with these two. They are just so eager to experience things and open to learning and just a heck of a lot of fun.

Now, I have to go tell them to stop reading and put their lights off, AGAIN! Tomorrow, the bus will be coming!

Learn on!

When Your Farm Share Gives You Peaches....

This year I joined a Farm Share (also called a CSA- Community Sponsored Agriculture) where you pay before the season begins for a share in the harvest. I had always wanted to try one, but always missed the deadline, but luckily this year, my friend Kate was looking for someone to split a vegetable share. We were in! And we signed up for a fruit share too! Whee! Let the yumminess begin!  (we are doing Golden Earthworm for those of you local people that might want to get a piece of the action. All yummy organic produce straight from the farm while supporting Long Island Farmers at the same time!) ! 

Every week, you go and pick up a box of the week's harvest. Everyone gets the same thing. And sometimes you've never seen or eaten it before. It's like a vegetable lottery! What will it be this week! Which is great for the adventurous palates in my house. Plus, the amazing Golden Earthworm farmers have a great blog that lets you know what is coming, how to store it and some recipes to cook with the items! They are AMAZING

I had grand plans of photographing each week's box and documenting what we made. Um. Sorry friends. Maybe next year. BUT....I was totally impressed with what I pulled off last night, so here goes.

We had a peck of peaches, some of which were eaten, but we had 4 really good peaches left plus another four or five that were getting a little squishy but still good eats. I remembered a recipe I had seen in Martha's American Food Cookbook (I am afraid to put the pic on the book up here since it's copyright, but since I am writing a glowing review, maybe I'll risk it and if Martha doesn't like it, I'll take it down?) Seriously Martha- this is a great book! I have quite a few of your books, but I think this is my favorite one yet! So many amazing things to try AND lots of great basics too!

I found this at our local library (the best library ever if I say so and I do, so there - heehee!) I was amazed at the photography and all the yummy recipes that focused on local ingredients. I stopped when   I saw a recipe for spicy peach barbecue chicken with grilled peaches. 

Yeah, I wanted some of that! And I HAD the peaches! 

But the recipe called for peach jam, so I took my squishy peaches and made my own with some water, a little cane sugar and some brown sugar. MMMMM. Made the entire house smell fantastic (and to prompt my son to follow his nose to the kitchen and pronounce me the best mom ever. Thank you Martha!)

So I used my on the fly peach jam and mixed it all up and prepped everything for my master BBQ chef, my hubby. He did an amazing job slow cooking the chicken until it was perfect and those peaches. MMM! 

Now, I should have taken the time to artfully arrange everything, but let me tell you, I couldn't stop myself from eating this. I am surprised I took these shots. Seriously good food.

And since you can't waste a hot grill, S'mores were in order! Have you ever tried a S'more with some Chocolove dark chocolate with chili and dried cherry? If not, you REALLY should. Wild By Nature carries Chocolove. Just saying.

I will say the marinade could have used a little more salt and a little more sweet, but I think that was from me substituting the jam for my fresh stuff. Next time I know.

And BELIEVE ME, there WILL be a next time. Soon!

Come on farm share....bring me some peaches this week!

More soon! In the meantime, Grill on!

A few busy weeks

I apologize for the lack of fresh conversation, but the last few weeks have been jam packed!!

The school year came to an end and as you fellow parents know, it is a marathon of events. Piano recitals, gymnastics expos, last day performances, parties and more! Too many to mention and show, so we'll stick to some highlights:

We had a family party in the rain and the cousins were having so much fun on the teeter totter that they got their Poppa involved! I love these pictures. They had such a good time together!

Both MAP and Little Miss play piano, so there was a piano recital.  I came downstairs to find MAP self styled and posing for me, all ready to go. Is it me, or is he channeling Tom Cruise in Risky Business?

Then his Nonnie got into the act.

And then Boomer photo bombed them! Silly dog!

Off we went to the recital. They played beautifully!

MAP insists on not having his music present when he plays.

Then we had field day! It was rained out the first time, but the second scheduled day was incredible!

Here is Little Miss O with her egg at the egg race.

MAP getting some major air during the sack race.

After the bucket brigade, the annual dousing of the students and the head of the school!

A very soaked MAP in his team t-shirt.

Little Miss having a blast! Love that we can see her missing tooth space. Such a rite of passage. : )

Then it was time for the last day. My two went all out fancy. Not my idea- completely theirs. It was raining, but that didn't deter them. They just asked for umbrellas. Aren't they the sweetest?

So that is why I've been out of touch for the last few weeks. It's been a whirlwind! Now on to fun summer activities! Crafts, knitting, outings and more! 

Stay tuned.

And, I would be remiss if I didn't give a Meow-out to the newest member of my extended family - this little cutie is named Pumpkin and now belongs to my little sister. (who will tell me to mention she is the best little sister, but as she is my only sister, of course she is the best!) Enjoy her! 

Summer on!

Get Outdoors and Look All Around You!

We have had a few visitors to our porch the last few weeks. In the corner of our porch, we watched the beautiful baby birds being fed by their mom and taught to fly. They flew away just a few days ago.

On the other side of our porch, there was a nest made entirely of grass. We had never seen this before- usually the nests are made of all sorts of materials (as the one is above) but this one, was entirely grass.

Unfortunately, the babies in this nest didn't make it. We found the nest a few days after this picture was taken on the ground with the eggs smashed.

The kids had some questions about why the nest was on the ground. Did it blow off or did an animal have something to do with it. Since we didn't see it happen, we could only speculate. They were sad about the broken eggs and the baby birds that would not be born but we had the three babies on the other side to cherish and we had some incredible conversations.

Kids love to be outdoors and explore. Sometimes we are in a rush and I scurry them out the door...but lately, I have been trying to build in more time, time to observe and look around. Maybe it's because they are getting older, or because the weeks seem to be going ever faster....but I am trying to be more in the moment and to really enjoy our time together.

An extra few minutes to walk to the bus stop gives us a little time to check out how our flowers are growing. Speaking of which....look how many tulips we got this year! The kids and I started planting bulbs a few years ago when their school had a bulb sale. It has now become a tradition to order new ones each year and plant them together. What fun we have in Spring as they bloom and transform our yard! They love to point our which are the ones they planted and chose. My kids even picked a tulip bouquet picked for me for Mother's Day!

A few extra minutes at a boring old errand and it may lead to inspiration! (See my previous blog post titled "Why it's important to take your kids on errands for some of the inspired Pet Shop Haiku!) Sometimes taking the extra time is all it takes to get kids talking...

So even though it may be rainy or you may be in a rush, try to take some time this weekend to give yourselves a little extra time as you head out and about. And don't forget to look up! Or you may just walk by and miss spotting a baby bird!

Explore on!