Grapesicles

My friend posted how she and her boys made grapesicles. My kids have been begging for frozen grapes so I thought we'd try to make them, too.

Here's how you do it:
1. Wash grapes and pull them from vines
2. Put them on skewers (Dyllan made a pattern)
3. Freeze for 2 hours (I think a little more time in the freezer would have been better)
4. Enjoy
The kids were in heaven!

Family Work

I've been thinking more about building relationships. I've learned that there is more to it than play. Work also plays a roll. I read this on a blog: "Family work is not about the work that is accomplished, it is about the relationships that are built. How often do I wish my children didn't grow up so fast, that I had more time with them to enjoy them? Family work provides that for me. It is a slowing down and savoring of our relationship, both the bitter and the sweet." I haven't figured out how to implement family work on a regular basis, but this morning we did a small project together. I'm glad that I started small. Some of the kids (one who I thought should be able to work longer) were done quickly. I stated at the beginning that we would all work until all of the work was done. That helped to bring them back. Corbin, who I've been thinking needed more together work because of the spirit and joy it brings to him, had a great time. He wanted to keep working and kept asking what else he could do.

Our big project is cleaning the kitchen. I hope to take it piece by piece and do a little each day to help establish a family work time. Today we cleaned the outside of the fridge and freezer, stove and dishwasher and all of the lower cabinets.

If you have any ideas on how family work works in your house, please share.

No One Likes a Grumpy Face

Yeah for SKYPE!

The kids got to talk to thier dad via SKYPE this morning. Modern technology is amazing! They were able to sing the father's day songs that they've been practicing in Primary and talk about what they've been doing. He showed them his bedroom and talked about how things are going. We've gotten to talk to him a lot more than I expected and it's been nice. Only 49 days to go!

Apricots

I ordered a box of apricots from Bountiful Baskets last weekend with the intention of dehydrating them. 2 things made me decided to can them instead: 1. no dehydrator and 2. too much work to put them in the sulfur solution. I got the apricots on Saturday and didn't have time to can them until Tuesday and it was a little too late. They were too ripe and mushy. I hope they will still taste good even though they aren't pretty. As usual the kids were a big help. They help peel the apricots and some even helped cut them open and take out the pits. We were all a gushy mess.
For some reason all this canning and jam making has made me want to spend the summer with my grandma so I can learn from her how to do it right.

Freezer Fudge

We borrowed a recipe from a friend's blog and made some sugar-free freezer fudge. The kids liked it but the verdict is still out for me. I can't decide if I like the bitter taste of the chocolate. We took it to the Pottle's to share and they liked it. It was super easy to make, though.

Coconut Freezer Fudge
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. natural peanut butter (we've done a lot of recipes with peanut butter lately and my supply is getting low so we'll do something different next week--any suggestions?)
1/4 c. cocoa powder
3/4-1 c. shredded coconut (I just realized that we skipped this ingredient. I must not have written it down when I copied the recipe from the blog. Maybe it would have made the difference in my vote. We'll just have to make it again.)
1/4 c. coconut oil, melted (it must be hot in my house because the oil was already melted and don't remember it being a liquid when I bought it)
1/4 c. honey

Mix all the ingredients and spread onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze for 30 minutes. Break into pieces and store in the freezer. (it melts in your hands so be prepared for a messy face and hands)

Friends and Fun

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures!

Alisa and her kids visited last week and we were lucky to have them spend Thursday with us. The kids played and I put Alisa to work helping me make jam. Yes, more jam. I made some berry jam. I should say syrup. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. In the long run it doesn't matter because the kids use in on pancakes so it doesn't matter if it's a little runny. I also made some freezer strawberry jam. Alisa also helped the kids figure out their puzzle ball prizes from the library summer reading program. I can't believe how hard they were to put back together! But after she figured it out she taught them and now they have it down.

We took a trip to the splash park in the afternoon and had the kids run around. It was too hot and they were getting a little antsy being stuck in the house all morning.

We were so sad when these guys moved away last year. We are lucky that they come visit every once in awhile. The kids look forward to the visits and so do I. I love chatting with Alisa. She is a dear friend and I'm blessed to have gotten to know her.

Let's Play!

I've been thinking a lot about relationships. How do I have a good relationship with my kids? What does a good relationship look like? What do I need to do to make sure that I am building good relationships? I've also been thinking a lot about what core phase looks like. Core phase is the foundation of a leader. It is teaching work. It is playing. It is learning what is right and wrong, true and false, good and bad. Oliver DeMille says that if you are doing this phase right you are not saying "go play!" you are saying "let's play!" This is not something I am good at. I like watching my kids play. I like being able to get things done when they play. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I need to play with them all the time, but today I decided to play with them. We played dress-up and put on a short play. I hope that is a step to building a good relationship.

Homemade Granola Bars

We did cooking class today and made some yummy no-bake granola bars. I got the recipe from a friend. It was super easy and super tasty.

5 cups crispy rice cereal (I didn't have any so we used crushed rice chex)
4 cups cooking oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup honey
1 cup brown sugar (I want to experiment with the amount of sugar--they were really sweet)
1 cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine cereal, oats, and raisins in a large bowl.
In a small saucepan, heat the honey and brown sugar to a boil, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract and blend until smooth.
Pour this over the cereal mixture and mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix thoroughly.
Divide up and press into 2 ungreased 9x13 baking dishes (we used cookie sheets). Cool. Cut each pan into 24 bars.
Next time we want to try to add different things--other dried fruit, coconut, almonds. We stored the leftovers in the fridge because we used natural peanut butter.

By Small and Simple Things. . .

. . . Are Great Things Brought to Pass.
This was the theme at the BYU Women's Conference this year. Christy and I had the opportunity of attending again. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to go because of Jonathan's school schedule, but thanks to a little rearranging by his teacher and a little help from Lola I made it. And it was fantastic.

The weather was a little better for us. No snow on the drive up and a nice spring day on Thursday. But Friday we woke to 2 inches of snow. It looked so white and clean that I had to eat some. It wasn't as good as I remember it from when I was a kid.
One of my favorite classes at the conference was about scripture heroines. The presenters told stories of some of the women in the scriptures and what we can learn from them. My next goal for personal scripture study is to study the lives of the women in the scriptures.

Sister Beck also (as always) had an awesome talk. She talked about the importance of learning the history of Relief Society. 1. It strengthens and supports the unique identity that we are daughters of God. 2. We see that Relief Society is a pattern of scriptural history. 3. It is a manifestation of charity--living as Christ lived and being as He is. 4. We can learn that faith is possible. 5. There is an inseparable connection to the priesthood.

We were also blessed to hear from Elder and Sister Bednar. They helped me realize the importance of the small things--prayer, scripture study, and mundane tasks. Doing them in a deliberate and consistent manner will overtime bring about a great thing.

Christy and I also participated in the humongous service project efforts. It feels awesome to know that I helped someone with the projects that we completed.
We continued the tradition of crafting--we made a cute skirt and some hair clips. And we also did some DI shopping. A new thing for us was a visit to Salt Lake. We had dinner at Alison's restaurant (it was great to visit with her)
and then visited temple square.
It was a great time. A nice break from the normal day to day stuff. I'm so glad that I get to go every year with Christy. I think that our friendship has grown because of these trips. I love getting to talk to her about all the things that we've learned. I learn so much from her every time.
Just a little reminder about how important the small things are:
"A mother holds a baby, a small thing
She's cradling eternity
She's holding a king
Small and simple means
Bring great things
It's been said"
By Chop and Ammanda

A Big Yellow Plane Took My Man Away

The song really goes "A big yellow taxi took my girl away", but I thought my title fit my situation better. This morning we got up super early and took Jonathan to the airport. He's on his way to Uganda for 9 weeks. He's making a stop in Denver first to help bless his best friend's baby, then on Wednesday he makes the flight to Africa. What an awesome experience for him. He gets to teach the teachers there about Leadership Education. You can follow his adventures here.

I have been mentally preparing myself for his absence since January and think I'll be able to survive. I'm blessed to have a lot of friends and family around who are worrying for me and are willing to help. I'm going to miss him, though. And so will the kids. I made a countdown sheet and have a list of a bunch of fun activities to distract them when it gets too hard.

The next line to the songs goes "now don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?" I hope that it didn't take him leaving for me to know how lucky I am to have him in my life.

I love you, Jonathan! You'll do an awesome job.

Peanut Butter Cookies

It's time to start cooking class again. I know that at the end of last summer I said that I wanted to continue doing it during the school year, but life got busy. I did work with the kids individually to learn how to cook different breakfasts, though. Over the summer we will have one afternoon a week when there is nothing else going on so I plugged in a cooking class. Today was the first of the summer. I decided to kill 2 (maybe 3) birds with one stone. I needed to make a thank you treat and a book club treat so we made peanut butter cookies to use for both. I found a yummy healthified recipe here.

I don't know if I'll figure out a good way to do this. The kids just have to take turns. Braedi read the recipe and doubled the amounts, then each of the kids took a turn measuring the ingredients and pouring it into the mixer.

They also used a fork to make the crisscross design.
Here is the part that I want them to work on--pulling stuff out of the oven. They are afraid of how hot it is. Corbin got this far and then would only do it with my help.
Braedi is OK with putting the pan in, but not pulling it out. I think that maybe I need to get some kid-friendly oven mitts.
I'm looking forward to the things we will get to cook this summer.

Millions of Peaches

There was an hour until I had to fix dinner. What should I do? I know, make peach jam. What was I thinking!?!

Our peach tree out front had peaches that were ready to pick and we had a huge bowl full. I didn't think we'd be able to eat them fast enough so we made a small batch of jam. My history with jam hasn't been a good one. Usually they don't jell. This batch can join the unsuccessful group. It is probably because I halved the recipe. Jonathan laughs when I do stuff like that with recipes--"Just follow the recipe!" Oh, well! We like it as syrup.

The kids are good helpers whenever it's time to can stuff. I am thankful for their help but today was a bit stressful. The peaches were really juicy and we had a sticky, juicy mess all over the kitchen and over half the kids. Plus I was in a hurry and that rarely makes for a peaceful cooking experience. But they did good and will enjoy the "jam" with their breakfast tomorrow.



The jam is really dark becuase the peaches are pretty red.