Watermelon & Fireflies

This week's ironing movie was inspired by Watermelon and Fireflies by Sugar Pie Farmhouse.

"My oh my! Sugar Pies, are you ready for a sun-drenched, farm fresh, sweet-as-corn-on-the-cob adventure to the good ol’ summertime? Well, this E-Book will take you there! This is more than a E-Book with words, each page is decorated in full color with vintage images, photos, charming quotes and of course 51 farm fresh ideas including family fun tips, recipes, decorating ideas, encouragement for homemakers and so much more!Darlins’, ”Watermelon and Fireflies” is just drippin’ with sweet southern nostalgia like honey from a honeycomb!" says Aunt Ruthie from Sugar Pie Farmhouse.

The e-book is just wonderful!!! The third idea in the book is about breakfast in a bucket and ends with a quote from the movie...

Oklahoma~~~~ the first musical written by Rogers and Hammerstein.

I had to watch it again as I worked today. Shirley Jones had such a tiny waist!!!! Oh for those days of gingham dresses~~~~ :-)

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye,

An' it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky.

Oh, what a beautiful mornin',

Oh, what a beautiful day.

I got a beautiful feelin'

Ev'rything's goin' my way.

Also from Sugar Pie Farmhouse we had a Ice Box Lemonade Pie last week. Emily made it and Artie loved it. He's not very big into desserts so when I find one he wants to eat for a snack- it's a good day.... plus it's cool - no baking....

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, regular or pink, thawed

1 container Cool Whip

q graham cracker crust

Beat cream cheese until smooth.

Gradually beat in condensed milk, then lemonade.

Fold in whipped topping and pour into pie shell.

Cover and refrigerate until set.

Fruit Flies

We've had so much fresh fruit around lately - cantaloupe, strawberries, tomatoes, bananas. You know what that bring . . . fruit flies!!! Stephen helped me yesterday and made 2 fly catchers - one for the dining room and one for the kitchen. He couldn't wait to wake up this morning and see if they were working. (the girls aren't near as interested in catching fruit flies!!!) :-) It worked!!! There were a couple of little places we needed to tape up a little tighter so there can be no escape. Artie will be impressed when he gets in tonight.

Troy's Off to Florida

Troy left for Florida on Friday. It was good but sad!!! I don't know you had the hardest time saying good bye???

Emily started crying

and that made Terry cry

(Troy's not looking too upset is he?)

:-)

Everyone else watched as he went through security

stripping off his shoes to make sure he wasn't a terrorist

last good-bye through the glass

After we left Troy the kids wanted to see some planes leaving but the way the airport is set up now with all their security we really couldn't see much. They threw some pennies in the fountains.

Troy made it safely to Florida and hasn't gotten over how beautiful it is there!!! The work starts today. Have a good day Huckleberry!!! :-)

Frugal Luxuries - Caretaker of Happiness

From Frugal Luxuries by Tracey McBride

Part II: Food

Chapter 7: Every Day a

Feast

Caretaker of

Happiness

"You are the caretaker of your own happiness. As such, you must discover the positive pleasure in performing the tasks that enhance the essence of life

itself:

• Collecting, preparing, and preserving food

• Feeding an empty stomach with wholesome tasty, nourishing fare

• Relaxing in a thoroughly cleaned home (preferable your own)

• Settling to sleep on sweet-smelling sheets that are freshly laundered

(I just got the best smelling linen water from Scentennials. I love spraying a little spray over the sheets when the bed's made. Very summery smelling to me.)

• Awakening your senses via working in your vegetable or herb garden

• Learning an interesting, useful skill"

I also got some new scented drawer liners for my new vanity from Scentennials as well. Hopefully pictures will be up soon. I'm in the middle of painting my bedroom and swapping out furniture...

Memorial Day/Brian's Birthday Camp Out

Uncle Bryan was tired of looking at our old tent. I don't even think I have a picture of it. I gave it to Artie the first Christmas we were married. It has been kept together with duct tape the last couple of years but still has a good bit of hard camping left it in... So, Bryan sent us a new tent - a condo lodge!!

Brenda helping to set it up

Wow, it's big. 3 rooms - boys, girls, mama and daddy

Bobby showing off on the dock.

Brian's girlfriend, Lauren came. She thought she "didn't do lakes" - she found out differently. This was her first ever camping trip, first s'more and the first time she caught a fish.

Daddy teaching Emily to shoot ... what is it you call those things?

Brian helping Artie tear down the tent. Brian turned 20 on Sunday. I made his spaghetti for his birthday dinner. The kids loved their presents to him - a flashlight, basketball cards, a chess set, a green water bottle, and a dice set to play "Greedy" with.

Going home

Summer Reading Contest

We are getting ready for our summer reading contest!!! Stephen has won two years in a row and the competition is growing already...

Here's a great link to the Accelerated Reader list by grade level. I use this to keep track of each grade level to keep the contest fair.

We will make a trek to the library soon and stock up on all our reading books. I am wanting to get some books about camping and field guides too before we go camping this weekend.

Strawberries

So, it's been strawberry week here. The new Aldi's opened this week and a pint of strawberries were only $.99. I have bought at least 3 flats so far. We've had strawberry shortcake, strawberry lemonade, and strawberries and kool whip. I've made my first batch of strawberry freezer jam. Next I want to make a strawberry cake and pie. Looking for good recipes...

Fresh Strawberry-ade

16 ounces fresh strawberries

1 tub crystal light pink lemonade

Wash and remove tops from strawberries. Place in blender and puree until fully liquefied. Fill two quart pitcher halfway with water. Stir in drink mix. Add strawberry puree and fill the rest of the way with cold water. Stir well. If strawberries aren't sweet enough, you can add 1/4 a cup of Splenda or to taste. Serve cold, over ice.

Big Pasta Salad

1 box tri-color rotini cooked
pepperoni - cut in 4ths
tomatoes - diced
cubed cheese - cheddar & Monterrey jack
Italian dressing

Combine all, let set in frig. Great on a warm day, no oven!!

Tuesday at the Quinn Home

Kelly - sorting kitchen items

Artie - working hard as always

Troy and Brenda - enjoying the beach with the church

It so changes the dynamics of the home when some of the children are gone. The littles are enjoying being the top dog and using the older kids things while they are gone. Shhhh, don't tell. They are also trying to eat out every meal. Yesterday they used their coupons for Zaxby's they got from Bible School. Not sure about today yet.

Emily, Stephen, Bobby, and Terry - all together making forts, and playing with tents

A fun summer day!!!

I have a new favorite summer food... PEACH COBBLER!!! Yummo!! I used this recipe from Southern Plate. I actually don't know if I've ever eaten peach cobbler before. How can I grow up in SC and never have eaten peach cobbler - oh, I remember, it's not chocolate!! Anyway, I loved it. Can't wait to make it again...

Peach Cobbler

4 cups peeled and sliced peaches (measure, don't go by Daria's estimate)
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 cup s/r flour
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt stick of butter in oven proof casserole dish in oven while making pie ingredients. ( make sure your dish is big enough to hold the casserole - mine wasn't!!) :-)

Pour the two T. lemon juice over the peaches. Stir to coat. Pour 1/2 cup sugar over peaches. Stir. Heat in microwave for 1 minute so that sugar begins to melt.

Mix together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon until blended. Pour in 1 cup milk and mix until blended.

After butter is melted, take casserole out of oven and pour batter on top of melted butter. Pour peaches on top of batter. DO NOT STIR! Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over pie. (I also sprinkled some more cinnamon to look pretty)

Place in 350 oven and cook for 55 minutes or until golden.

Anne of Green Gables

Summer Movies


This is what we've been watching for the past couple of weeks. I love Anne (with an E) of Green Gables. Brenda and I had seen the first movie but it was totally new to Emily and the little boys. The sequels were new to us all. It was so much fun. The littles were a little scared in parts of the last one with the war scenes. I tried to assure them it was Anne and that it would all work out in the end!! :-)

Our Summer Blueberry Week

Our blueberries are soooo good!!!!

We looking for more and more to cook with them.

The Kuchen turned out good. I finally had to google Kuchen and found out it was a German name for cake.

Here's the recipe we used for the Kuchen from Woman's Day

INGREDIENTS

1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp each ground cinnamon and salt
1 1⁄2 sticks (3⁄4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3⁄4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
1⁄3 cup milk
1 1⁄2 cups blueberries
1 ripe peach, pitted and cut into 1⁄2-in. wedges
1 ripe plum, pitted and cut into 1⁄2-in. wedges

Crumb Topping

3 Tbsp each all-purpose flour and light brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut in bits
1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 350°F.

Line a 9-in. square baking pan with nonstick foil; let foil extend over ends of pan. (we didn't do this)

2. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer on high speed for 2 minutes until smooth. On medium speed, beat in eggs and vanilla just until combined. On low speed, beat in flour mixture and milk until blended. Gently fold 1⁄2 cup blueberries into batter.

3. Spread batter into prepared pan and spread in an even layer. Top with peach and plum slices, evenly spaced in batter. Scatter with remaining 1 cup blueberries.

4. Topping:

In a medium bowl, rub ingredients together with fingertips until moistened and clumpy, then scatter over fruit. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and kuchen starts to pull away slightly from sides of pan. Cool in pan on wire rack.

5. Lift foil by ends onto work surface. Using 2 large spatulas, lift cake from foil onto a serving plate. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cut into squares.

The peaches were the best thing in the recipe. Now I'm ready to get a bushel of peaches next time I'm out!!

Blueberries

I got a great deal on blueberries this week at Ingles and bought several pints. I think I will be back to get some more. I have several recipes I am wanting to try and hoping to freeze some as well while the prices are low. I looked up online to check on freezing them and here is what I found.

Q. What is the best way to freeze blueberries. Also, once they have been frozen, if you cook with them, do you defrost them first? Do you wash blueberries, before you freeze them?

A. If you grew them, know they have not been doused with pesticides, and are unconcerned about what has been climbing around on them, you don't need to wash them. Otherwise, do wash them, gently, and do it before you freeze them. Thawed berries tend to weep and are very fragile, and you wouldn't want to wash away their flavor when you scour the pesticides off them.

The best way to freeze blueberries is in a single layer on a baking sheet. Dry them as well as you can first without bruising them by laying them on a layer of paper towels and covering them with more paper towels. Place them lovingly, and without crowding them, on the baking sheet, pop it in the freezer, and wait. Once frozen, pack the berries into appropriate storage containers and return them to the freezer.

There are certainly some applications where you don't need to thaw the berries before use — blueberry muffins, for example, where they will thaw and cook in the muffins. Where they will be used as a topping or garnish, however, it is nice to thaw them first so that you don't wind up biting a crystallized berry.

Doesn't seem to hard at all, if there is any left to freeze. I think I'm starting with a Summer Fruit Kuchen recipe that I found in Woman's Day.

Summer Plans

I'm so happy it is summer!!! This is the way I want to spend my days!!! :-)

I have begun my summer plans today, little bits at a time. No more rushing, no hurrying. (and yes Artie I do hurry some times) Okay, maybe I don't hurry; but I'm stressed just from the fact that I should be hurrying!! No more stress!! Says the mama with seven children!!! :-)

Looking ahead to the summer plans.

My favorite summer activity is SUMMER READING!!! The little children are having a reading contest. We will be using the AR reading list and everyone reading on their grade level. I know there are lots of wrong things about being rewarded to read, but there are a lot of good things about reading, so I will handle the fact that they are reading for a contest and believe when they grow up they will still love to read. Just as my older children have. In fact, my older children are wanting in on the contest too. Maybe one just for them?

Tomorrow we will go to the library and get the first round of books. I still need a good summer book for myself. Any ideas? I will probably begin a new Grace Livingston Hill soon. I'm finishing up a book called A Place Called Sweet Apple about a woman who fell in love with an old abandoned house and took it and restored it with love.

We will also be updating chores. The little boys will be taught by Troy to take over the trash duties. Troy is going to have a big house project each day - lots of scrubbing and washing and some outside yard work. Emily is going to have something to cook each day. I want to have a "foods available to cook" list for Emily. Then she can cook when she wants to instead of being tied to a meal - desserts, breads, muffins, breakfast to cook ahead for the frig, casseroles. We will also be moving over to our summer meals - lots of salads and tomatoes!! Then there are always lots of new recipes waiting to be tried and tested!! Brenda will be working - some with Basketcase and some babysitting, so she will probably keep her usual chore schedule.

The calendar is quickly filling up more than I realized with weekly church activities for the little children, Bible school, beach camp, boy scout day camp, Jerusalem Project, parties

Then to fill in the blank days there is camping, swimming, cookouts, sprinklers, bowling, ice cream, Popsicles, watermelon, lemonade, strawberry slushies from Sonic and birthdays.

There will still be a little school for extra practice - mostly handwriting and multiplication tables. Maybe a couple of unit studies just to keep boredom at bay. Troy is thinking of summer school. ??

I'm hoping to get some good yard sale-ing in!! Saturday mornings usually seems so busy, but now that I'm not hurrying.... :-)

School's Out!!! :-)

The air is feeling thinner by the moment - three hours of school left. The little children are riding with me this morning. We are taking a small thank you present (candy) to the teachers, saying good-bye and picking up report cards and then - SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

This afternoon, after all the celebrating and playing the children will wind down and be ready for a rest. I have School's Out by Our Gang for them to lay down and watch. I know they will love it. They love the Little Rascals!! Last summer they had such fun making their own BLUR!!

I love movies that inspire play in the children - yesterday afternoon while I was with Brenda's graduation party - they watched The Three Musketeers and then were musketeers all afternoon.

Our Family

After the storm and the picnic, we were able to snap a few family pictures. We might end up using one of these for our Christmas picture. :-)

Bobbie's new "friend"

Picnic Time

After a day at the beach, there was a huge storm. Everyone was scrambling through the rain to get back to their cars. Artie went to the trunk of our car and got our picnic and we sat under the pier and had a lovely meal together. It's so nice those times I am prepared. :-)

~~~ Bobbie at the beach ~~~

Bobbie, Artie's mother, was hilarious in the ocean. It was the first time she had been in the ocean in over 10 years, back before she had both knees replaced. Artie had to walk behind her and make sure the waves didn't knock her down. They both had me rolling....


At the beginning of the video you can see her falling a little, she just kept walking out further and further. It was so freeing for her to be in the water again. The sound is bad - it was so windy that day. As you can tell from Bobbie's death grip on her sun hat.