Cooking with boys

Ah yes... I realize that one cannot stereotype boys but at the same time if you know my oldest son you TOTALLY get the assumptions. While he is consumed with the intimate details of anything he is passionate about (Star Wars, Tornado's, Weather really, Titantic, the color purple), he is the farthest thing from detailed otherwise. Structure and order absolutely but details not so much. I can't say as I blame him because in the cooking department I am the same. My niece even has learned that leaving something out, modifying or measuring as approx is my style. We say "Cooking with Aunt Elizabeth" and smile.
Lunch is an excellent time for the kids to expand their horizons in the learning to cook department because it is flexible on time. Therefore today when oldest son wanted the white cheddar pasta I informed him he was perfectly capable to do it himself. Clenched fist later he retrieved the box set it down and promptly asked me what to do next. Sigh... clearly this is gonna take a bit. Once he read the box I had to explain what boiling meant, the temperature necessary and reading the following sentence for details needed on the current step.

That done, he managed to break off the handle. Holy cow kid! Deep sigh, cheesy grin and smile from him I figured out how to turn it off and still use it since the handle wouldn't snap back on. This of course ensured that I would have to participate from close up and not afar. More reading of directions then dictionary use to understand what the word frequently means (yep I am that evil to make them all look up since no one but me understood) he finally was at a point he could wait for it to cook.  HA! The seasoning packet looks like it exploded with powder on the floor and counter.A quick lesson in stirring so not to splash and making sure no sticking occurs he attempts to leave the kitchen.  This was our only box so I knew better than let him learn the life lesson of burning food for fear that tragedy and bad attitude the entire do would consume. Again discussion about focus and detail we are nearing the end of the journey. 

Sadly, I didn't take a picture of him with his final product. Hindsight is 20/20 of course. I will say all his siblings begged to get a taste and rated it a 10 out of 10. Maybe next time I will show him how to make it from scratch..... nah!

A new game at bedtime

Obviously not at bedtime
but a cute pic of the 4 and no more

Bedtime is the true ONLY time a day when we come together as a family for one cause. No matter what happens in the day there are at least 4 to 6 nights a week we read devotions together and pray together. It is also the near only time that I spend a few minutes completely alone with each child. My youngest sweet firecracker has a laughing game we play. It is random when it happens or she requests it but I love that it is like a medicine to the soul. How do you play it you ask? Well... we laugh. But not just a ha ha ha tight lipped laugh. Oh no, we will call "CHEATING" loudly on whomever does it. You simply must laugh open mouthed and from deep in your abdomen. This is the kind that once you start it infects the whole room, sometimes even house and you can't stop at all. But in the game we make as serious a face as possible, well her serious faces are so darn funny that I break the rules and laugh too soon. Yet we pause mid laughter to take in the silence... to wait for the other person to surprise you and start laughing. Sometimes it tis I, other times baby girl but it always ends in me forgetting whatever it was that frustrated me throughout the day.
I LOVE this game!

With #3 it seems he needs to whisper and be in on a secret of sorts. I suppose the middle child syndrome of feeling left out makes this game most fun. It only happens when Daddy is not home though because otherwise I have to contend with his vegetable like game of pretending to be asleep in his bed. But on these rare nights we whisper (with littlest nearby trying her best to get in on the fun since she shacks up with little big bro) we enjoy the trickery. Most of the time the "secret" is merely what we will do the next day, or what we will have for breakfast/dinner. But tonight it was a true bonifide secret... a planned family camp-out in the living room ALL 6 of us, heck maybe 8 since K and C are staying Friday night. Can you hear the song "Memories" playing right now?
Tonight, though... after all that tonight I added a new game to the mix. If you consider the 5 love languages
click here to see what yours are then you know that kids people need varied ways of love expressed to them. While I KNOW for a fact my oldest daughter is strongly on physical touch I also KNOW that my youngest son and daughter probably have words of affirmation in their needs. Truly what female possibly male doesn't need a compliment or two that is genuine from time to time. I digress sorry, a bright idea popped in to my head to play the word game. I begun with youngest (certain that younger big bro was now paying attention and included just like Bubba, his nickname, several times) "You are _______". She in turn was to return the compliment of her own for me. We went back and forth till she struggled with ideas which wasn't too terribly long after all she is only 4. But it was sweet to hear her words choices such as nice, beautiful and huggy. Intending to do this with oldest daughter I make my way to her room next.

Dearest daughter was awaiting my entrance. She, like her sister, looks forward to it most and gets very grizzly bear mom on anyone who even considers knocking at her door when it is her turn. I snuggled up next to her just like she prefers and I intro the game. She says ok and gets a bit serious possibly because this requires thought and we all know she hates to lose. I do NOT know where she gets THAT from??? :)
Anyway, we go back and forth lasting a good 5 minutes. I begin to pause myself on word choice. She said You are tall for me LOL seriously, but I am also faithful, pretty, loving, kind. She asked what dedicated and devoted meant, her vocabulary has to have grown this summer with the daily (truly every single day) questions on meanings of words. I do believe this game will pop up often just so when others in the world tell her words less than admirable she will hear my voice repeating the real truth.

 Oldest son well had already hit a nerve by being frozen in my room with the silly Battle Pirates game he and his dad play together. Tonight we will not partake in this game. Something tells me he will struggle with it a bit more than the girls.. course he NEVER proves to be someone you can fit into a standard sized box so we shall see. To be continued there...

Salt water taffy

This week we visited Six Flags twice so there wasn't as much time for creativity. But today, well today we made up for it. Salt water taffy was one of the many items I clipped from pinterest. I would be happy to link up for the author but it appears the site doesn't exist anymore? If you search summer of fun on the site you will find it pinned tons but the link takes you nowhere. I am so glad I downloaded it right away.
Anyway, the recipe in itself is fairly easy. I had to purchase a 3.97 candy thermometer and light corn starch other than that I had the ingredients readily accessible. But if you want variety you could pick up flavored extracts (candy flavoring too). We just used vanilla this time.

I learned what a pastry brush it today. I think this worked just fine
though. Well, except I despise wood utensils!!

Salt Water Taffy
¾ cup water 2 cups sugar
1¼ cups light corn syrup 1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter Flavoring and coloring as desired*
*(1 teaspoon vanilla or desired amount of peppermint extract, lemon extract or other flavorings; a drop or two of red, yellow, green or blue food coloring.)
Combine water, sugar, corn syrup and salt in a heavy non-reactive saucepan, and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise heat and cook quickly, about 20 minutes, without stirring. Use a pastry brush dipped in cold water to brush down the sides of the pan to keep the mixture from crystallizing. Watch the boil carefully so the taffy does not burn. When a candy thermometer reads 265 degrees, remove the pan from the heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter, flavorings and colorings and stir gently.
Pour the taffy in three pieces onto a cookie sheet that has been generously buttered. When it is cool enough to handle, but still warm, have the kids rub butter on their hands, partner up, take a lump of taffy and pull and stretch it. (Don't allow the taffy to become completely cool or it will harden and become difficult to pull.) As they stretch out the taffy, twist it into a rope, bring the ends together, grab the loop and stretch it again. On the last few pulls, keep the strand smooth and not twisted.

Lay the taffy strand down on a buttered sheet of waxed paper. Lightly rub butter on a pair of kitchen scissors (a job for an adult) and cut the taffy into 1-inch, bite-sized pieces. Wrap each piece of candy in small squares of waxed paper and twist the ends.
You can get creative by pressing together two thin strands of different colored taffy, pulling them once together and then cutting them into pieces for a two-toned taffy. Or come up with different ways of rolling up a strand of taffy in a different colored piece of taffy to experiment with different patterns.

Photos courtesy of youngest son M.
He didn't want to stretch any of it.

This was when we got frustrated with it sticking to wax paper so K made it into a heart. She formed valves and all.
Then both girls pretended it was their heart with jokes and all.

*Now I "may" have put a tad but more vanilla than 1tsp but not more than 1 and 1/2. I didn't see the measurement when we did it so I thought it said to taste. Also, I added more than a drop or two of food coloring. The color I chose spilled out since it was not a dropper making it more than 6 or 7 drops. Otherwise we followed the recipe to a T with the kids bailing on waiting for it to get to 265 degrees. I was left on candy detail during that time.
The only complaint we have is that it was super duper sticky on your teeth. The kids were cracking me up trying to suck on it to prevent the sticky which made them sound like they had dental work done. The laughter during the wrapping and mumbling was priceless. I do hope it wasn't the extra vanilla or food coloring that did the sticky part. I just can't ever truly follow a recipe it seems.
*Last tip too...make sure to coat the wax paper with butter so the taffy doesn't stick to it when you set down to cut and when you wrap. We ended up throwing half of it away cause it hardened quickly and there was not generous buttering on the paper.

This is what was left after we ate some, tossed some and set some aside for K & C. 

Eh we live and learn and make memories to boot too :)

Indoor / Outdoor day ideas

Zebra, horse, monkey
spider and lion
(the giraffe refused again)

What do you do when it has been 100 + temps for 9 days? You find fun things to do indoors and then you play in the water some more! With 6 kids around during the week I am ALL about inexpensive fun that can be shared. There are zillions of places to find ideas of these things, online and in magazines that is. But another place I end up getting lucky is the dollar stores (Deals and otherwise) in the area. At Valentine's day I came across these self inflating balloons you only needed to hit them to start. Super cool science fun on that one. But this time I stumbled upon these handpuppets/hanimals tattoos. So sorry that I forgot to snap a shot of the package before we tossed it. But they were located right at the checkout station for the last minute temptation purchase. Ding, Ding.. they won and it was worth the 3 dollars I spent. I even have some left over for a future date.

Best buds for life I do hope

Next, there has been TONS of pool time as with every summer. But to twist things up a bit we also headed out to a desolate place called Zachary's Park. This is an excellent place to visit early in the day in less than desert temps. But in the heat of the day any given day the playground equipment could easily give you 3rd degree burns. When we arrived with our 50 cent soda's (thank you Mobil on the Run for this Cardinals inspired promotion) and picnic lunch there was one other group of kids there. They hardly interfered with us and we were all alone shortly.
It was one or both of the bigger girls ideas to get extremely wet and then head to a slide or two. Their first idea worked pretty well and without complaint but after the first slide the dried enough to need something more. So.... add a towel and off they went again. I say they excluded my oldest son and birthday boy of course. I mean age 12 does equal party pooper!!

Look at that face! :)

Love the expressions!

I love the faces I was able to capture in these pics too!! Course this special slide caused the towel to roll up so they got even more brave, re-wetted themselves and tried a bigger piece of equipment further away. I probably should have pressed them to wear shoes but well, kids are kids. A few hot feet complaints later they slid just one time each like Aladdin with their towels and that was it for the slide playtime.
We all kind of hovered about the water area until I went to the restroom to change into my swimsuit. These temps are warm enough for me to enjoy the cool water, amazing I know since it takes a lot for me to not be cold. I found all but oldest on the swings (with towels of course). I wish I could have heard what the topic of conversation was. That is always interesting. Anyway, we began playing a follow the leader type game with littlest and the girls when they boys (again all but 1) started playing. He didn't stay off the hook bday or not because he was forced to join. That game getting a bit old after 30 min, turned into red rover. I had to explain a few rules but we laughed away, and pretty much didn't get hurt :)

Precious!

The last part of the water fun is the best though, inspired by a bright orange bouncy ball and my dear niece. I am guessing oldest would have thought so himself and enjoyed the experimentation but again pouting boys miss out.
There are 2 spouts that work, 2 that do not. Also, there is a technique to getting the ball up higher than before. But this my friend's is well worth the effort to discover rather than me elaborating. I whole-heartedly recommend that you find your own splash pad fun soon. When you do make sure to bring along some bouncy balls of different colors, sizes and types too!

serious and well played

so intense skinny man

giggly baby girl, look at those little feet
this is the sign of her still being young for sure

Happy 12th bday dear son