Simple GAB

Wow Summer is  really into full swing here, and we have been pretty busy.

The boys made a great summer to do list of all the fun things they want to do or accomplish. We tacked it up to the wall in the kitchen as a constant reminder to fill our days with some fun.  This was a great idea I saw last summer on The Inspired Room, see this post for her list and some inspiration.

A few things on our list:

• See Fireworks  (check)
• Take Swimming lessons  (we’re into that this week)
• Make a bean pole Tee Pee  (it is growing, need pics soon)
• Go to the Beach @ the ocean, not just our lake’s beach   (check)
• Pick Blueberries  (check, but we will be picking more, just like last summer)
• Build new beds from Knock-off Wood (not yet)

Do you have a Summer Fun to-do list?

What is on it?

What have you done so far?

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Spring in New England = Mud Season

A week of rain usually beats a week of snow when it is March, but this time it meant flooding and muddy wet grass.  Everyone is happy the snow is leaving the yard, and the dirt road has no ice, but now it has mud.

Bubba has been itching to get our and ride this present from Santa:

Unfortunately the road is not quite ready for it.

Instead we broke out the bikes!

I noticed Bubba’s knees were a little to close to the handlebars on his little bike with training wheels and thought it was time to move the seat up yet again.  Um, no go, the seat was up to the last notch.  I went to the shed and found one of AJ’s old bikes. It’s a little beat up, and the tires were sadly lacking air, but it is perfect for mud season.

We pumped the tires and Bubba quickly hopped on, apparently unaware there were no training wheels.  He tipped to the side, nearly toppling over  and said “hey this is missing those back wheels”.  I really did not want to go mess with swapping out the training wheels, so I suggested he just try it anyway.

We head out into the road, me dreading this process (recalling the months that it took to work with AJ on this), and proceeded to give it a whirl. Well, two quick ten feet runs and we suddenly were doing this:

And really, the mud is not too bad, but I am not ready to break out that John Deere just yet.

I want to savor this moment for a while.

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To leave a reply when on the main page,  and the “Leave a reply” box below is hidden,  just click the green post # count button at the top left of the post.

As if the 12″ of snow this week was not enough to get us into the Christmas spirit, baking coolies sure sealed the deal.

It all started a few days ago when Bubba wanted to make “Stoplight” cookies.  So we whipped up a batch of dough, rolled it out, cut into circles and sprinkled some red, some yellow and some green. Then lined them up in a row like a stop light before we could eat them.

AJ, being a little grumpy the next day said we should have made Christmas cookies, and said he’d  help make some.  Lucky him, we had saved some dough in the refrigerator!

Fast forward to the next day when we suddenly get dumped on with a foot of snow! Perfect day for making cookies.  Bubba was happy to help, AJ suddenly found that playing FIFA soccer on the Wii was far more exciting.  (ha you think you are getting any cookies now mister?)

Behold the final product, beautifully decorated as only a 5 year old can:

Christmas Ornament Cookies

(adapted from Treasury of Christmas, 3 cookbooks in 1)

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange extract (recipe calls for almond, but the boys don’t like it)

assorted sugars, candies or decors

Place flour & salt in medium bowl; stir to combine. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and extract. Gradually add flour mixture and beat on low until well blended. Divide dough in half, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Take one portion of dough and roll out onto lightly floured surface to ¼ inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with floured cookie cutters.  Reroll the trimmings and cut out more shapes. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet.  If using sugars, decorate cookies before baking (if using icing or frosting decorate after baking)  To make cookies into ornaments for the tree, take a drinking straw and cut a hole near top of cookie so that later you can insert a ribbon for hanging.

Bake 10 -12 minutes until edges barely turn a light golden brown. (cook them any longer than that and they will be best used as ornaments & not eaten!) Let stand on cookie sheet 1 minute to cool, then remove to wire rack.

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I will try to post a recipe as we work our way through our holiday baking.  I have a few favorites I make only at this time of year.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that you like to make for the holidays?

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Did you get a lot of Trick or Treaters?  Not here….we had 2, yes you read that correctly, just TWO.  We would have had ZERO except Bubba accosted a girl trick or treating at the neighbors and said are you coming over to my house…then asked the 13 year old boy across the street if he was coming over. Fortunately they both obliged and Bubba got the thrill of passing out some candy. Then we waited, and waited, and no one else came…well except Daddy came home and took him out for more trick or treating! Whoo Hoo Dad’s rock.

Here is after the haul:

This year Bubba was so into the Halloween activities. He has had several parties to go to, and has now been dubbed Mr. Social!! We get to the school Halloween dance and he says “I have to go find  my girls”…so he could ask them all to dance!  I cannot wait to see how that plays out in the future.

Thanks to M’s mom for giving us this shot from the dance

A Firefighter & his Princess

Here are a few shots from his school party:

Donuts do not get past this boy!

With so few Trick or Treaters we have plenty of candy left…how about you?

…as the first day of Kindergarten is finally here!

Of course he has to show off the backpack:

School was GREAT!

Bubba jumped right in to his “homework”. (which really consisted of giving Mom some papers!)

Oh, and remember to always make your mini-man the night before:

Now what’s a mom to do with 3 ½ hours of free time everyday?

Every Thursday from 3-6:30 p.m. during the summer and early fall our town has a little Farmer’s Market.
We made it to the very first one way back in early June, and since it was too early for produce then we mostly had soaps, herbs, wine and baked goods to choose from.
Yesterday we decided to swing by again, since there were reports of some delicious fruits and veggies to be had.

I told Bubba I was looking for nice ripe tomatoes, since our garden at home is still full of green tomatoes.  Bubba’s sole purpose for joining me was to get a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie from My Street Bakery.

Here’s our take for the day: a few ears of corn,  orange cherry tomatoes, and of course a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie:

Nope, not a big reveal on a new Will Smith movie, but please go ahead and read on anyway.

Bright and early Sunday morning we traveled down the long and winding path…

…to find these ripe for the pickin’!

I was so glad G-man could reach across the tough spots.

Then I caught AJ,  just trying to sneak a taste.

Bubba, well he was not so discrete!

Here he is again, creeping up on Mr B&W…

The fruits of our labor; this is what 14 pounds of freshly picked blueberries look like:

(Mom’s bucket is the full one,  BTW )

The guys were very pleased with their haul.

And the morning would not be complete without the requisite Blueberry Pancakes.

I better tell Sugar Momma I think we are going to be needing a little more Maple Syrup

Oh and later we also made a scrumptious Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake!

Thanks to Virginia at Living the Local Life for giving the heads up that Berrybogg Farm was finally open for the season!