How Our Garden Grows, Late June 2013 ed.

The raspberries, bee balm, and lavender are particularly photogenic right now.

Comments

Shauna K said…

I think I may need to have a powwow with you guys about gardening... ours looks so pathetic compared to yours!! :( Can't wait to see the continued bounties of your garden :)

June 30, 2013 at 3:59 PM

Clay Cookie Craft

Though school is out for the summer there are a few things my little lass and I are still trying to work on consistently--reading, piano, and art. Now, I have some fine art background but I don't consider myself very crafty, at least when in comes to coming up with fun projects for kids. I loved this project from The Little Hands Art Book because it combined some great elements of cooking, sculpture, and painting. I like crafts that actually teach something. The bonus here is that we ended up with some great looking little cookies for my daughter's play kitchen. Here's the salt dough recipe you need to get started (click on the photo to see it full size):

We left out the alum and baked the cookies. We also halved the recipe. I had my daughter (who is 4) pour the ingredients into a bowl and after I got the mixing started, I taught her how to knead the dough like bread.

The dough becomes smooth and pliable.

I split it into two sections to make it more manageable and l…

Quadro: The Coolest Toy You've Never Heard Of

Usually the content of my blog falls under either parenting, homemaking, or food. Sometimes you get a poem or some thoughts as I meditate on what God is teaching me through his Word. Usually my goal is to encourage, inspire, and perhaps amuse. Today, my aim is not so noble--I just want to share a unique thing my family has been enjoying.

This is Quadro--modular building toy, a prop for imaginative play, and active play equipment.

Winters are always rather intense in our neck of the woods, but this one has been particularly frigid. Nevertheless, my son asks to go outside to play pretty much every day. I've had to say no a lot, or risk little frostbitten fingers or losing short stuff in a snow bank. How's a little guy to burn off energy when running circles through the living and dining rooms gets old and his best playmate (his older sister) is busy with school? This was one of our considerations as my husband and I discussed Christmas gifts for the kids this past yea…

NYC-Style Pizza and Sauce

The old way we made pizza was fine. Fantastic, even, compared to the thick slabs of greasy dough that pass for pizza at local chain restaurants. But after many years of enjoying our homemade pizzas, a seed of discontent was sown when my husband went on a business trip to New York City and sent me pictures of the delicious slices he enjoyed for dinner the night he arrived. The discontent grew when we vacationed at the NJ shore over the summer and devoured a plain pie with perfect crust, the whole family vying for the last piece. Maybe the salt air made everything taste better, but I left determined--we had to up our pizza game.

Combine that determination with a happy abundance of frozen tomato puree from our garden, and the stage is set for me to share our new favorite way to make pizza at home. We enjoy letting the slow simmered sauce, fresh cheese, and exquisite crust take center stage here, and usually serve it with a big tossed salad and sauteed zucchini and onions, but you can cer…

Egg and Twig

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