Raspberry Lemonade!

I adapted this recipe from The Nourishing Apron. Such a cool Summer drink and the kids always ask for it!

First you need 5-6 organic lemons. You will get around 1 1/2-2 cups lemon juice.

After the lemons are all squeezed, I added about 3/4 cup thawed raspberries and mash them around with a fork. I really like how they kind of dissolve in the lemon juice. Let this sit for 10 minutes or so. 

Meanwhile, I grated the lemons to dehydrate the zest. Or I could have made some yummy muffins from Elana's Pantry. These look good too!

Then you are ready to add the raspberry/lemon mixture to about 6 cups filtered water. If you like chunks, you can just add it right in, my family does not, so I strain it out. 

Then add sweetener to taste. I added about 1/4-1/3 cup organic cane sugar and a little bit of stevia. I think you could probably do all stevia, but I don't like the stevia aftertaste and I think that it does better mixed with another sweetener. Now you are done and no red dye 40 in sight!

Oh, I also saved the raspberry/lemon pulp that was leftover from straining. I'm sure I can find something to use it in, so I threw it in the freezer.

Raspberry Lemonade 

1 1/2 - 2 cups fresh lemon juice 

3/4 cup raspberries

6 cups water

1/4-1/3 cup cane sugar, plus a little stevia

Squeeze lemon into a cup. Add raspberries and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Smash the raspberries with a small whisk or fork. Add the sugar and water and mix. Enjoy!

  

Rag Tie Curls!

We have been doing rag tie curls with L's hair for awhile. She loves having curly hair and asks me to do her hair every time she takes a shower! She sleeps in them fine and wakes up all curly in the morning! She does have natural waves (she was that curly when she was a baby!), but her hair usually stays in the curls for 2-3 days. The curls stayed much longer when her hair was shorter and better in the winter (less frizziness from the heat!). First, I cut several strips of fabric 1"x6", I'm not sure how many I use, less than 12 I believe. I do her hair when she gets right out of the shower, so the hair is really wet. 

First you wrap the end of the hair around the middle of the strip of fabric.

Then you roll it down toward the head and tie a knot. I tried to show in pics, its a little awkward at first, but it gets easier. Its basically like rolling a regular or foam curler, but the strip of fabric is the "curler". 

I make sure to section the hair in an alternating pattern, so you don't get one straight line of curls. I usually do larger curls and then in the morning, I separate them into smaller curls. I once did a lot of small curls and it basically turned out really frizzy. When I'm done rolling all the curls I have her spray them with hair spray and then spray them in the morning again. I use this natural hair spray, its not the strongest hold, but it is natural, so I can deal with that!    

This is what it looks like in the morning. It does relax a little more as the day goes on. I carefully separate those big curls into smaller curls, do a little spritz and she is ready for the day!

The latest crafts!

I've gotten several crafts done lately, even for the boys!

I got these cool car carriers done for the boys. They hold 5 cars and even have a "road" on it for them to drive. These are great for travel.

I made an American Girl mini doll carrier, the same way as the car carrier for L. This holds 5 dolls, she loves it!

I also made a few bows to match some of L's outfits (the pics are of the matching doll outfit!). 

And my latest craftiness around the house has been labels for our toy bins. The kids have really liked this and P has told me "Thank you for the labels!" several times! They have been working well so far and the kids have really been able to keep the floor picked up. (We'll see how long it lasts!)

Brownie Girl Scouts!

We had a Girl Scout meeting a couple weeks ago. I am so happy to have found an all homeschool troop! The girls have had great fun this year and really enjoy each other! It is a multi level troop (so all levels, daisies, brownies, juniors), the girls all get along so well and I love having the older girls to help the younger girls. 


Our last meeting was to make sun catchers or pendants at a great little place called Copper Moon Studios. All kinds of beautiful glass works there! The girls had lots of fun creating their masterpieces!

Here is L and her doll Kit, in their matching outfits! (No she doesn't sit in the front seat, we were just waiting for the rest of the troop to show up!)

Here is L working hard on her sun catcher.

A sweet Daisy working on her pendant!

Here is L's end result, we need to hang it in the window soon!

Homeschool Zoo Project Fair!

We have been doing homeschool zoo class all year long and at the end of the year they do a project fair! They have been learning about the Rainforest animals all year and the kids got to pick one animal to do their project on. L's class had to do a drawing and cut it into a puzzle about their animal and they had to know some info about the animal. L picked the Toucan.


Here is L's puzzle and drawing. I was so impressed with how well she did!

We also did a lapbook about the Toucan. This was a lot of fun and she learned a lot from it. It is something fun to look back on too!

Inside:

Other side of flap:

Close up:

Back of it, practicing cursive with a toucan poem:

Here are some pics from the project fair:

And here are some of the other projects. The older classes got to make up Rainforest games with game boards!

It has been a great Zoo class year! We are looking forward to next year!

Post cards!

My kids got an Elf on the Shelf last year and have LOVED him! They still talk about him, even though he left on Christmas Eve and can't wait until he can come back on Thanksgiving. They named him Sparkles and he was a pretty mischievous elf! He got the flour out and made a "snow angle" and wrote his name. 

He also cut out snowflakes and hung them on the ceiling and got himself tangled in the process!

Anyway, since the kids are talking about him so much still, I decided to have him send them some post cards from some places that he has been on "vacation"! I just have to say I love my Storybook Creator from Creative Memories!!

How about a fun camping trip:

Or a trip to the museum:

How about Hawaii (complete with a tiny coconut drink!):

Or how about the Grand Canyon:

And of course a trip to Disney:

You can have the images printed and sent from cardstore.com for around $1.35 for a small post card. "Sparkles" wrote a little note on the back and I made up a fake address and the kids were SO excited and have been talking about the post card for days! I sent the camping one so far and we also had a little geography lesson finding out on the map where Colorado is. If you'd like a post card to send, just send me a message!