Canning Pears

Another new thing for us...(we had lots this past week..) We canned Pears!!! And when I saw we, I mean WE! Me, Ashtyn and Brayden! And for the future I will never do this without them! They were AMAZING, they were such a huge help to me. After me telling them 10 times that I would let them help me next time I finally gave in and let them help me peel pears. I thought them both how and after a few pears I stopped peeling and started cutting! They were whipping right through them it was so awesome doing this together. We talked and laughed and had a great time!

Here is how we did it!

 

This was such an awesome experience to do with the kids we had so much fun and we all learned so much. I can't wait to do this again.

 

Oh and a little update: The next day Brayden had some of our pears for lunch he looked and me and said, "Mommy these are better than the Pizza Ranch pears"! <--Just an FYI Pizza Ranch pears used to be his favorite!

 

Letter L

A few people have asked for some ideas using the alphabet relating to the homeschooling I have done with Bradyen. So here is a post. I will post some of the things we do with each letter each week  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Letter L

*Find the L Magnet - listen to the sound (on the magnetic leap frog)

*Air trace
*Trace the letter on white board

*Write the letter

*Cut out L with playdoh

Things we did

1. Bible Story: Lazarus & Jesus Loves the Children

     - color the bible story picture

2. ABC Book Letter L- Find things that begin with L and glue them in. Also write down the words that he remembers that begin with L

3. Laugh Lots

4. Go to the Library

5. Write a Letter to someone special & mail it :)

6. Jump in Leaves

7. Make a Leaf maze

8. Do the Limbo

9. Lawn bowling (we did this with pumpkins and toilet paper)

10. Play with Legos

11. L Maze use a marker, dot marker, or sticker for this :)

12. Make Leaf Sugar Cookies

Crafts:

Leaf Art - using Metallic Markers

Leaf Threading

Leaf shaving cream painting

Make Leafs for the Thankful Tree

Food & Drink:

Lasagna

Lollipop

Lemons

Linguine Pasta

Limes

Lemonade- it was so much fun watching as he made his own lemonade :)

 

the Thankful Tree

Brayden and I have been working on the letter L this week. I saw something similar to this on pintrest and loved it. (This was also on my fall bucket list, yahoo for checking it off)!

While we were in Marshall shopping I picked up this cute vase at Walmart for $5.00.

I also borrowed the cute scallop punches then Brayden and I went out and collected a bunch of sticks in a grove behind our house. We got home and Brayden helped me punch holes in the "leafs" and arrange the sticks in the vase.

The Thankful Tree

Sticks, vase, scrapbooking paper, twine (we ended up not using it but it was to tie the leafs' on the tree) scallop punch, scissors and hole punch

 

 I explained to him what this tree meant and what it was for. We each wrote 3 things we were thankful for on the leaf. Then he hung the leafs' on the tree.

What are you thankful for?

Hanging up the leaf on the tree

 

When Ashtyn got home he couldn't wait to tell her about it. He calls it the "Thank You Tree" she thought this was pretty awesome too! She wrote a few of her own down on the leafs' and hung them on the tree then went out to play. Not long later a few of the neighbor friends came in with her. Went straight to the counter that the tree was on and they were writing things they were thankful for and hanging them on the tree. My heart was filled with so much joy. What an awesome ministry this has become. Ashtyn was sharing Jesus with them and they were so excited about it!

We have had this tree for a few weeks now and it has been so fun to watch the kids write on the leafs'. The first few days I would ask them during dinner what they were thankful for and then it became a habit. We will be playing or crafting and they will say, Oh I have something to write on a leaf! It's amazing. God is so good and it is so wonderful to see that joy in their hearts too.

This has been the most rewarding project we have done together.

 

Freezing Apple Pie Filling

Something everyone in our family shares a love for. APPLE PIE. YUM.
This was my first time freezing apple pie filling but it seemed like the logical thing to do since we had such an abundence of apples left over after we canned applesauce.

I was a little nervous since I haven't done this before but just yesterday the kids and I baked our first frozen pie and it turned out so delicious :)

Here is what we (Anna and I) did, we ended up making 18 quarts --> thats 108 apples. WOW.

And... ENJOY IT!! :) 

Canning Applesauce

Unfortunately I was never a big fan of canning anything. So every time my parents were canning I made sure that I was no where to be found. Years later I am really regretting it.
Luckily I have some amazing girl friends who took me under their wing this year and taught me so much and we had such a blast while canning... and a LOT of canning is what we did!
Day #1. Applesauce. *This was one of the things on my Fall Bucket List to check off and we got it accomplished!
Here was the process. (I took LOTS of pictures so I wouldn't forget a single step because this is going to be a yearly tradition for the kids and I from now on).

 

And the best part....

TASTE TESTING!!!! No sugar added to the kids and they ALL loved it!! :)

Anna and I after a hard days work! We canned 12 QUARTS and 8 PINTS of Applesauce!!

 

It isn't as hard as it looks, and it is definitely worth it! :)

 

Ice Cube Paint

We accidentally found a new favorite project... ICE CUBE PAINTING!

Katie and Brayden were painting, I left them alone for just minutes and came back to find this...

They took it upon themselves to get more paint which spilled EVERYWHERE. I mean EVERYWHERE, yes all over them, the chairs and the floor.

 

After I got them cleaned up they headed outside to play while I figured out what to do with this mess.

I left the paint in the ice cube tray because there was SO much in there and had to show Ashtyn when she got home from school (and to show my hubby who didn't believe me when I texted him about this big mess).

Ashtyn got home and thought this was the COOLEST thing EVER. Within a second of looking at the mess she said, "mom put it in the freezer"! What an awesome idea! In the freezer went the tray of paint.

The next day, here is what our kitchen looked like :)

SUPER SUPER FUN!

 

*The next time we do this, I will be the one pouring the paint into the ice cube tray! It also works a little better if you spray a little PAM on the tray!

Fall Bucket List

 Is it really fall already! Where has the time gone?!

We did a summer bucket list- inspired by a friend and our entire family LOVED it! One night during dinner we all talked about things that we would love to do this summer. It was fun checking the things off the list and making memories while we were at it!

So of course...we had to do one for the fall! Here is ours, keep checking back to see the posts of the things we did...aka 'erupting pumkins'! It will be fun!

Feel free to download this or hopefully it will inspire you and your family for fun ideas this fall!

 

Click here to download