Ok, fair enough. So out of my mouth comes why do you draw on everything.

First she shrugged. Then she said “because I am a child.” The she said, children draw on everything, adults only draw on paper.

I got nothing. She's absolutely correct. And I told her as much. Then we did our good night, sleep tight and it was over.

Sometimes I forget “because I am a child”, especially because my kids are with a few notable exceptions, so very grown up. And the exceptions tend to be in things that I know I am not the best role model for, like tidying up after myself on a regular basis instead of a couple of times a week (big things, not tiny things). I'm working on it. Maybe it will happen before I die. I have much more important things to do than tidy up. Like ask why stuffed rabbits have marker on their ears.

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The Science of Cooking states “Learn why eggs are eggstraordinary, the complex, crusty science of bread making, and what one does to turn dairy into tangy yogurt or scrumptious ice cream!” Day 1 is Yeast and Sauces; Day 2 is Eggs and Rice; Day 3 is Dairy; Day 4 is Baking Powder and Cream; Day 5 is Four and More.

Desserts & Treats Around the world states “Join a group of kids and an experienced Sur La Table chef instructor in the kitchen to learn how to make your favorite sweets, snack and teats from around the world!” Day 1 is Italy; Day 2 is France; Day 3 is Mexico; Day 4 is United States; Day 5 is England.

Ok, now I know it’s a five-day class, but still not how long it is. Then it says to see the full menu for each class online. Cool. Let’s click away.

After I clicked around for a while and finally found the pricing and how long the classes were – did you heard my heart attack? Yep. 250$ for a two-hour class for five days. That’s ten hours total people. Not a bad deal, 25$ an hour, I guess. Maybe. I charge more than that when I work, but I also only get that from one client, not a classroom full of tiny clients. I know, I know, plus ingredients and what not. But I can send my kids to the camp around the corner for 25$ a day and it’s from 8 – 6. Yes, they also feed them. So I get a little upset when you tell me a two-hour class is 50$. I know, I know, no one is holding a gun to my head telling me I have to send the little ones to the class. And therein lies the meat of this post.

I can totally hold a two-hour/5 day cooking class in my kitchen for the cost of materials. I’m planning an amazing summer anyway, so my time is not a factor in this instance. Let me put it out there, if I had 250$ per child (or even for one child!) to spend I’d totally send them. I think the experience of cooking in someone else’s kitchen and learning from someone else is great. But I don’t have 250$, let alone 750$ to spend on my kids for ten hours of instruction. But if I did, I would. Maybe SLT can offer subsidized classes for us poor folk ;)

So, since wheat is one of a few grains unwelcome in my home, I’ll be changing this slightly, but just spinning off the top of my head, I’m thinking we can cover eggs and move easily into soufflés and how they work and why they rise. Instead of Pretzels with Sweet Honey Mustard Dressing we can make GF chicken nuggets and honey mustard.

To be honest, the cooking for teens looks a little better and more to my kids taste anyway. Salmon Teriyaki with Steamed Rice, Warm Chicken Pitas with Tzatziki Sauce, Homemade Cornbread with Honey Butter, Spiced Beef Empanadas, Chocolate-Nutella Gelato. I won’t totally redo the desserts menu right now, but it looks super easy to convert to our diet as well.

I’ve got quite a few of the Alton Brown Good Eats episodes on DVD, so maybe watch a few relevant episodes of those with the kids, make some of the recipes… I see this coming together quickly and easily. I’m actually really excited about it. All of the kids cooking classes I’ve seen have revolved around pizza and cupcakes, which I totally don’t get, because there is so much more out there to eat! I can teach my kids how to spatchcock a chicken, how to bacon wrap a filet and how to put together an amazing ice cream. I don’t need a class to do that. They already help out in the kitchen quite a bit, but I think a fun week learning about the science behind cooking, without it being about “learning about the science behind cooking” will be great fun.

So yah, I wish we had an iPad when Mr Man was tiny and I wish we had awesome looking apps like Avaz, in the long run it would have saved me a small fortune, both in time and money. Malachai is almost eleven now, and is verbal. He has also been in speech therapy since he was four, and still goes twice a week. He works on everything from articulation to actual placement of his tongue, lips and cheeks to properly make the sounds. We're adding in social conversations over the summer – he has no problem chatting you up in person, but gets a bit flustered on the phone. It's almost cute, but he uses the phone like people use texts – once he is done, he is done and that's that.

I'm thrilled we've moved away from needing PECS, but for so many families who haven't, and possibly never will, this is just amazing to me. I literally had tiny picture cards all over my house. On my walls, on the floor, in books, in boxes. Everywhere. How amazingly convenient to have them all in a device you probably carry with you everywhere anyway and not have to carefully pick and choose which ones to bring, which ones you might need based on where you are going?

General disclaimer, I think that blog link gets a kick back or tracking or something it you click through to Avaz from their page. I do not. I just decided to add my two cents to this awesome looking app.

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Ok, that photo is a few years old, but isn't it cute? yep yep.

Summer is creeping up on us and I'm trying to figure out what it will bring my family this year. Pretty much every single plan (vacations included) I had has been cancelled for one reason or another (mostly one reason), so back to the drawing board I go!

My list involves things like finding out how much my local public pool costs and when it's open and trying to get in to the things the library has going on (our library fills up crazy fast!). I've got some other fun activities on the list, like bag ice cream and teaching the kids how butter is made and cookouts and scavenger hunts. But my kids aren't the tiny tot crowd any more and keeping their attention away from electronics and focused on things like books and crafts seems to get harder with every passing year.

A friend of mine said she changes her wifi password and keeps her kids DSi's in her bedroom, and while this would work for my two younger kids, my oldest has his own computer that has an Ethernet directly into the router. Sure, sure, pull the cable – trust me! I've thought about it! – but then he can't do school research or access his email and whatever and it marries me to the damn router with all the plugging and unplugging. It's almost easier to tell him he can't go to his room.

So far I have mini marshmallow shooters planned – from engineering the design to putting them together to testing and see if they work. Oh yes, there is a lesson in everything! I had a request for frozen banana pops already! I've written down coffee ground fossils, so I better start opening up and freezing my Keurig cups now! Painted rock monsters, berry picking, origami, learn about sundials and make one, my list goes on and on.

I lifted a lot of it from The Confident Mom (not an affiliate link). I buy her summer calendar every year and adapt it to our needs, but this is the first year I'm using it so extensively. Usually it's filler, not the main course!

We also need to touch on summer reading, both of my boys have to read a book for school, and I try to encourage summer reading for joy. My almost eleven year old is plowing through the Harry Potter series right now, so that may carry him through on its own. My almost thirteen year old needs to figure out what interests him and get into it. That isn't the computer or whatever game has his attention this week. My eight year old is easier to compel into reading, not by much, but enough.

I'm hoping our bikes see some use this summer. I may pull down our swing set that they don't use anymore, sell the hardware (it's a wooden DIY set) and set up the above ground pool we got a few years ago and I then realized the only place for it is exactly where the swing set lives. That sucked, by the way.

So you can see, so very much to plan, and time is running out! June 6 is their last day and we're doing the year end whirlwind that leaves no time for anything at all. I so should have started this last month, but last month we were already busy through the middle of July!

I've filed this under a new category, Summer Projects, as I hope to be on top of all of our plans and remember to blog the directions and how it worked out and how much fun we had! It'll be a fun series to grow <3

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We cooked the chicken thighs for about 20 minutes on one side, then 20 on the other, then turned and sauced for 15 – 20 min and then turned and sauced again. I like my BBQ chicken a little on the charred side, so cook to your preference on your grill. I highly suggest the pre-cook time though! 

Coffee BBQ Sauce

 

Author:

Jennifer Johnpoll

Recipe type: Saucy Sauces & Sinful Spreads

Print

 

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup Strong Brewed Coffee
• 1 cup Ketchup
• ½ cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar or sweetener of your choice
• ½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• ½ cup chopped Vidalia onion
• ½ cup Sweet Red Chili Sauce
• 4 cloves Garlic, Grated
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire
• 2 Tbsp Ground Cumin
• 2 Tbsp Chili Powder
• 1 Tbsp Sriracha Or Tabasco Sauce
• 1 Tbsp instant espresso or strong instant coffee mix (Bustelo is awesome!)

Instructions

1. Stir all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to simmer then reduce the heat to low until flavor melds, about 40 minutes, occasionally stirring the sauce. Cool to room temperature and serve. Will keep for about 2 weeks or more in the refrigerator.

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3.2.1230

I’ll be posting two recipes, so two different posts. Maybe three. I’m in a recipe kind of mood. Because I’m considerate like that. See I use the hell out of Paprika recipe app and it can only save one recipe at a time, and trying to save two recipes out of one post, well, it sucks. Mostly because I’m lazy, and like the save button, and not the create your own button. Work smarter, not harder.

Mothers Day found me making pancakes and BBQ sauce around 10AM. Not to worry, my kids surprise me with breakfast in bed and other treats all year long. So pancakes it was! Beteedubs, pancake mix in the blender? Smart. Tossing in a banana or some super green food with it? Genius. The sauce I made this morning is on this post. The other sauce we used I made a couple of weeks ago, and you can find it here. Joyfully I found mine husband doing the actual barbecuing, which I had been expecting to do. Love. Also on our menu today were hotdogs, a surprise Nutella cake, potato salad, egg salad, and a fresh cut fruit platter sister-mine brought home from work. My favorite fruit is the pre-cut kind!

My dad was a few hours north picking brother-mine up from school and came home a day early! So my Mother’s Day BBQ wasn’t a complete loss (our guests all had to cancel, no big, leftovers!, but still a bit of a bummer). I got some awesome gifties  and . Joy! My kids helped tidy up a bit today too.  All in all, an excellent Hallmark Holiday <3

Just FYI on the chicken, we cooked the chicken legs for about 15 minutes on one side, then 15 on the other, then turned and sauced for 15 min and then turned and sauced again. Michael actually undercooked the legs for the kids. Undercooked being relative. I like my BBQ chicken a little on the charred side, so cook to your preference on your grill. I highly suggest the pre-cook time though!

Sweet Blender BBQ Sauce

 

Author:

Jennifer Johnpoll

Recipe type: Saucy Sauces & Sinful Spreads

Serves: 2 cups

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 10 mins

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Original recipe from Food Network – Emeril’s Sweet Bbq Sauce. This recipe is adapted to suit our tastes.

Ingredients

• 3 cups ketchup
• ½ cup water
• ¼ – ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• 1 – 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
• ½ cup chopped onions
• 2 Tbsp firmly packed light brown sugar OR sweetener of your choice
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
• Pinch salt
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Start with onions, then add ingredients in whatever order you prefer into your blender. I use a Vitamix blender – I’m not sure how this will work with any other brand. The original recipe says to use a food processor. Process until smooth, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. Pulse 2 or 3 times. Refrigerate overnight before using.
2. Crazy easy. I didn’t refrigerate over night, maybe 2 – 3 hours? It came out fantastic, and I had extra to store for later! This should keep about two – three weeks in the fridge if stored properly.

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3.2.1230

Today I glued my daughters Girl Scout patches on. I don’t even want to look at my iron and sewing machine right now. The mere thought makes my fingers hurt. Which sucks, because I have the best idea for a new sales venture ever, so I’ll have to get over my sewing machine aversion right quick. Girl Scout patches! I came across this blog post about glueing the darn things on the other week, so I pinned it, like all pinterest obsessed people do. I finally went to Michael’s this morning and thankfully read the bottle, because that No Sew Aileen’s glue is for hemming and basting and is not permanent! What you want is Fabric Fusion from Aileen’s. That’s the golden glue. There is one that’s a little less expensive, but didn’t look like it was quite as permanent. So 6$ for 4 ounces or 12$ for 8 ounces… which is weird, aren’t bigger bottles usually at least a little more cost effective? Need a 40% off coupon? Go here – Michael’s will text one to your phone! Joy of joy, I got that glue for something like 4$.

We took M to his first Boy Scout meeting last night. It went so well. They have a few autistic kids we spotted in the troop already, and it’s a huge troop. Like  100 kids over all. Which I think is awesome, as it’s a troop thats been in the area since the 70s and he can grow with it. He is super excited, and I’m all about that. It’s a shame Boy Scouts seems to cost four times as much as Girl Scouts LOL We’ll manage! We were given the name of a woman who deal with second hand uniforms, so we’re gonna start there. More patches to glue! Woot!

Next. Savings. Oh, savings. How you tease me so. I had some stuff come up. Doesn’t that always happen? Of course it does. And I am totally paycheck to paycheck and even when I do set a huge chunk of change aside for something specific, something awful happens. Like my kid throwing away his retainer. And I never get caught back up. So I’m freaking out about upcoming expenses that *were* paid, but now are not. Plus everything else that pops up. I am, however, still putting 4$ every two weeks into each of my kids savings, even if that means forgoing my own. We’ll get there.

3. 30 in 30 – not so much. But we did get rid of stuff. I sold all of my old NES/SNES/Genesis stuff, so that money went immediately to school uniforms for next year (pre-sales) so even though I needed it elsewhere, it was used wisely. I sold some other stuff, and I have been getting rid of stuff. More stuff just seems to take it’s place. I swear, it’s not Hoarder’s bad, but we really need to downsize. You have no idea how tempting selling *everything* is, Storage Wars style, and emigrating. A fresh start sounds so delicious!

4. Uniform shopping. Groan. I totally mentioned it before. Both of my boys are lucky enough to attend our local Charter school. Which is awesome. My oldest, who just started there this year, loved it. I’ve been super happy with the staff, and what he is learning. I don’t feel like he is being taught how to FCAT, which is so important to me. I am able to supplement things he wants to learn, instead of things I felt were being left out. We had an awesome discussion about the USSR, which led into the Cold War, it was a veritable rabbit hole of awesomeness. And it had zilch to do with school, because school had it covered!

So, my middle child is moving into sixth grade next year and the school requires a certain number of parent volunteer hours or money spent in exchange for hours each year. I dropped the ball this year and will be sending a check into the school, but pre-buying the uniforms got us six hours for next year! Plus signing up for PTO got another two. So I’m eight hours into the thirty I need. Yay! However, it was 150$ later on the uniforms and I only walked away with four shirts for the soon to be seventh grader, and four pair of shorts for the soon to be sixth grader, and one jacket for said child as well. This years shirts will get passed down, as M can’t seem to keep his shirts clean and hole free anyway. Which will be a huge hassle, as the school isn’t anal about uniforms, but they are pretty strict about how they are cared for.

Summer reading – Does it encourage a love of reading? We picked up two of this summers books for the boys. They each need to read it, and I figured they would need it in class for the first few weeks, so one book wouldn’t cut it. The school claims it is to encourage an early love of reading, but I think it’s forced reading and makes kids resent it more. My 10 y/o was much more interested in the high school book (choice of If I Stay or Enders Game) than the middle school book (Out of my Mind). Fail. I suspect he will be reading both this summer. Which is a shame, as he loves to read, but no one wants to be forced to read a book they don’t find interesting.

Summer plans, summer plans… I want to be all, I’ll be posting summer plans! But right now, I am scrambling to pay for some things I am committed to, and then we’ll go from there. I have a great list of things to do, but I have that every summer. Hopefully I’ll be implementing some this year! What are you doing with your kids over the summer? We have a few Girl Scout and Boy Scout meetings to attend. My boys have ample TKD to take. E has lots of dance through the middle of July, but some days it’s only in the morning, so I’ll have afternoons to fill. Everything in sunny south Florida costs. I am so spoiled by growing up and living near DC and all it’s free for donations museums. I think I might ferret some money aside to pay for the public pool one or twice a week at the very least.

I may start micro-blogging. It will spare everyone these crazy disconnected posts, and I won’t feel like such a slacker.

This. This so much. I make a full dinner almost every night. And almost every night at least one of my kids says “I don't want that, can I make something else?” And before we cut out grains, and most dairy, and most sugar they would make a sandwich and that would be the end of it. Not so much. Now “can I make something else?” involves making eggs, or GF pancakes, or some major time investment in food because my kids won't eat a lettuce wrap in lieu of a tortilla wrap.

Last night I heated up leftover sausage and peppers. I had some places o be and couldn't make a fresh dinner. Two of my kids just took out a sausage (or two. Or three) and ate it plain. Woe be unto them if they eat some peppers and onions, even though they eat them all the time in other dishes. My biggest complained he didn't like sausage and I have no idea what he ate. Probably a sausage later on when I wasn't looking.

I recently made a delicious, mouth watering Moroccan chicken dish. It had ten or twelve difference spices, mushrooms, onions, red wine gravy, oh it was divine. My sister requested it go on the “make this again, all the time” list. My kids barely looked at it once they saw the (easily removed) mushrooms. That's ok. I had thirds that night. They ate the hell out of the carrot soufflé though! Pure sugar, that was.

So all that delicious food, and our fall back is hotdogs and beans. Yuck.

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Did you know some schools no longer have trash cans, but have a trash chute, complete with water, flowing directly into a dumpster outside? So even if (when) a child throws out such a delicate item and realizes it immediately, there is no retrieval. No easily grabbing it from the bin and bringing it home for a thorough cleansing.

And did you know that this adult, right here, writing this post, is completely aware that it was a stupid mistake and refrained from loud shouting, crying, berating, and any number of other reactions? Oh, but I did. A quick call to dad by said child and a visit for a new mold and new retainer today. We're golden.

I get that it was a simple mistake. I get that it's only money. But my body has been in pre-panic-attack mode for days, wondering where the money I had to borrow against will come from. Where the future money I am borrowing against needing will come from. My next few months are going to cost me a fortune, and the money I had set aside has been bled away on “emergency” items, like a 250$ replacement retainer. I still “owe myself” a couple of hundred back into savings that I had to borrow last month for the funeral. I feel like some days I'm just running in place, not moving ahead, slipping backwards slightly.

Has your child lost a retainer? Did you make them pay for it or even help pay for it in part? Work it off? Talk to me people :)

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Michael and I were in Orlando celebrating thirteen years of marriage (almost) when I got The Call. Except I missed The Call as the room we were in must have magic mobile signal dampeners in it. Because it’s Disney and they’re magic like that.

So I pressed myself up against the window and phoned my dad at 8 the next morning when I saw I missed The Cal and got the low down. Let us fast forward to Friday when we piled in the car. Then drive drive drive, funeral, drive drive drive, and we’re home. I lied. You got the readers digest version. Except for the bit at the end.

My gram was fantastic. I remember making peanut butter and birdseed pine one bird feeders with her. And harvesting her strawberries every summer. And drinking sweet cream buttermilk straight out of the container (shhh). And probably a million other little things I am forgetting. I learned how to sew on her machine – something I cringe at now. The damage I must have done to it and she didn’t bat an eye. She taught me to embroider. When I learned to crochet and knit, she passed yarn down to me. She used to joke that the cooking gene must skip a generation, because my mom was so far from at home in the kitchen, the kitchen could have been in another house (my joke, not Gram’s). She made a baby blanket for each grandchild, and when my first child was born, there was an embroidered blanket for him too. So in honor of my gram, I had the birdies off of my baby blanket “embroidered” on me.

Here is the bit at the end:

The photo to the right was at the gravesite, obviously. What you may not know is its a mitzvah to help bury your dead, which I won’t get into, but it’s a goodness. Usually this is accomplished symbolically with a trowel and small box of dirt everyone [attending] uses. This time, our entire family had shovels and was filling the grave. Very heartwarming. This photo is E and M. E doesn’t remember my mother, so my gram is the only gram (bubbe) is it, and this really impacted her. She threw in shovel after shovel, with help, and then she took up the trowel to finish up. She was the youngest great grandchild in attendance (the next two were too little to attend), and completed from oldest to youngest for me. So touching.

One more bit at the end. This is my mothers headstone. I didn’t take a shot of my sisters (this trip) but I had taken this one specifically to send to a friend who was unable to make graveside services. You see, my kids called my mom RaRa. D couldn’t say grandma, so RaRa it was, for all of my kids. And I suspect we scandalized the family by having RaRa put on her stone instead of Grandmother, but much like my sister’s stone says “Our Free Spirit” – well, see what happens when you let the other free spirits write headstones? We were all pretty good at the services, until we visited mom and Erin. The Florida contingent showed up and left a smattering of seashells on everyone’s headstones (I think you can see those in the picture too, but I’m not positive)

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