Blueberry Picking

As we were driving into town the other day, we passed a pick your own blueberries. I have picked strawberries but never blueberries except for some wild ones. We decided to go today and pick some.



I have to say that blueberries are easier than strawberries because you don't have to bend down. I was amazed at how many berries there were on the bushes.



We had two buckets. I think Miss K enjoyed running through the bushes and eating blueberries. It did remind me a bit of the book Blueberries for Sal. We didn't see any bears.

It was a new experience for all of us. We heard lots of comments about how many blueberries we found. We picked about 5 to 6 pounds.

I made blueberry jam.



The recipe is very easy. Now we will have blueberry jam for our toast or for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then I made a blueberry pie. Making pies is something that I am learning to do but the idea of a warm blueberry pie was enough for me to search for a recipe and try making one. It is rewarding to eat the berries that you have picked. We still have blueberries for eating and enjoying with our yogurt.



It was delicious. I think Miss K's face will confirm that.



We might have to go again.

Road Trip

We took a road trip, the longest road trip that we have ever taken. I was going to say that this is the road trip to end all road trips but we will be traveling home so I guess we will have another long road trip. Until then we will enjoy our time on the west coast.

I planned various activities some of which the kids helped me to pick and some that were surprise activities. I had lunch bags with fun treats some were things from home and others were things that I had bought for the trip.

We bought a road atlas so J could follow the route. He enjoys maps and so that was good for him to use and follow along.


 

 

 

 

 

I took clipboards with drawing paper, cookie sheets, stickers, books that they enjoy looking at, Beanie babies, play food and lots of other things. One of the activities that they enjoyed and spent quite a bit of time doing were the pipe cleaners.



J did some braiding and I am not really sure what Miss K did but it kept her busy.

We varied out time watching movies and listening to audio books. We all enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and King Arthur.

We also spent time looking out the window before they were covered with the window markers.



We decided that Iowa has quite a number of wind turbines. I will add that bananas were cheaper in Iowa. We had a delicious dinner at Hy-Vee. That was our first time to shop there and we like it.

 

 

 

It was interesting to watch the scenery change as we drove. We saw the prairie.


We spent the night with some friends. That was a great visit to break up the trip a bit. One of the things that we enjoyed the most was just going outside at night and looking at the stars. We were able to see the Big Dipper and also the Milky Way. "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars, xwhich you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8: 3-4
It probably looked like that when David was sitting the in fields writing the Psalm.


As we drove west we began to see the changes.

We did see a few places that said, "Scenery View". We weren't sure the what we would be looking at so we didn't stop except in Twin Falls, Idaho as we were driving out of town we paused and enjoyed this view.

Then we stopped to visit some other friends and enjoyed a fun evening of swimming and chatting before our final day of driving. We drove over the pass and arrived at our destination.
We did it. We made it all the way to the west coast in our car.

4th of July fun

I know this is a big late. We will have the peanuts and candy from the picnic so I guess it isn't that late. Then again I just threw out the half eaten chocolate rabbit so having candy doesn't really mean anything.

We had a picnic and I planned some games for the kids.

We had a sack race. I used up yards and yards of fabric to make a few sacks. I needed to use up yards and yards of fabric.



Some of the kids tried to just walk in the sack. Miss K was trying.



Then we had an ice cube race. It was like the egg race but we used ice cubes which was fun on a hot day.

We had a three-legged race. It was fun to watch the kids work together.



The last thing that we did was a peanut scramble. I remember this from Sunday School picnics when I was growing up. I had a big bowl of peanuts in the shell and some individually wrapped candy. The kids each had a paper bag. I threw the peanuts and candy and they scrambled to get it.  My kids still have peanuts and candy.

It was a fun picnic. I enjoyed planning some fun games for the kids.

Happy Birthday, Miss K

It is hard to believe that she is 8 today. (It took me a few days to get this up. She has been 8 for 3 days.)

She wanted a party with balloons, hats, cake and presents. Summer birthdays are hard as so many people are traveling. We had a party with cousins on Grandma's patio.



We had cupcakes and I made cake pops. There was a nice breeze which made it cool but also made it hard to light the candles. I think she had some help blowing them out.



Happy birthday, Miss K. You are a blessing and we continue to see how God loves you and has preserved your life from a tiny baby who needs two operations to an eight year old who is healthy.

You keep us laughing and amazed at the things you do and say.

 

 

 

Queen Hatsheput

We were eating lunch and the discussion was about who Alexander the Great married. Daddy and mama said he didn't marry but J was sure he did and went and found the book we had gotten from the library. He flipped and flipped through the book until he found that. Yeah! for getting books out of the library and even more Yeah knowing that my son reads them.

Miss K didn't want to be left out of the conversation so she says what comes to her mind, "Hatsheput". I listened and realized that she had been paying attention as we have been reading our sailing history. Maybe not that much attention because when I asked what country she was queen of she replied, "England". Maybe she was stuck on England because Daddy had just returned from England. Daddy didn't know who that was. J was able to tell us that she was an Egyptian queen who because a trade route on the Nile River. Yes!

We have very interesting lunchtime discussions at our house.

End of the Year Wrap-up

We finished our year June 30 though we really didn't do much school that last week. J was at camp and so Miss K and I took a break and worked on some projects around the house. We did mail our year end papers and then at the same time we mailed our paperwork for next year.

Miss K finished the year reading four books. Yeah! She is reading all kinds of things now. She read the menu "cheese or pepperoni pizza". She sits on Daddy's lap while he is working and reads parts of his emails. She tries to read the shopping list and read "cake" instead of "Coke". Guess she prefers cake.

I read 145 books to her this past year. We discovered some fun books thanks to the 1000 Classical book reading list.

We finished Saxon Math K and we began Saxon Math 1. We finished all 100 Lessons of Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She loved her History for Little Pilgrims and then we finished the year reading other books. We read various science books. She enjoyed looking at the DK First Human Body Encyclopedia. She wants Grammar and spelling because her brother has those things.

I read 56 books to J. I think some of his books were longer and at the same time he read more himself. He read 34 books that were recorded in the reading list. I am sure he read a few more that didn't make it to the list.

He finished Saxon 54 math with a bit of tears. Math is not his favorite subject but we are working on improving that and working on our attitude. He loved diagramming sentences which was new this year. CC Memory Master was his big accomplishment and gave him a good foundation for this year. His writing has improved so much.

I finished my 3rd year of homeschooling. I think I have figured out a bit of what we like and don't like; what works and what doesn't work for us. We are ready for next year. I have written my objectives, send them in, and even received my "have a good year" letter.

Blueberry Jam

I made blueberry jam the other week. I keep meaning to take a picture of the jam neatly spread on the bread but I eat it before I have time to take a picture. I could take a picture of the container but at this point there is so little left you could barely tell what it was. I am not a big jam person so just the fact that I eat it must say something about the taste.

So in case you want to make some that won't last long enough for a picture, here is the recipe.

5 cups blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I just used the bottle that I have in the refrigerator)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I just used the salt in the cabinet)

In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Mash with a potato masher or wooden spoon until the berries have released their juices. (11 year old boys do a great job at this part)

Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer to containers and refrigerate for up to 1 month (I doubt it will last that long) or freeze up to 1 year.

Tip: This recipe can also be made with two 10-ounce bas of frozen blueberries instead of fresh. Cook the frozen berries for 2 to 3 minutes before mashing, then reduce the total cooking time to 15 to 17 minutes.

I tore this page out of an old Real Simple Magazine.