While the writers here at the Lifestyles Channel reside all across the globe, one thing that remains constant are the celebrations of fireworks. Whether it’s here in the U.S. with the Fourth of July or on the other side of the world in New Zealand we all know a summer celebration isn’t the same without fireworks and the memories that go with them.
Chloe of Tangled Thread shares a few festive fireworks and needlework patterns.
Kerri and Cory at Marriage Actually talk about why having a shared past is one of the best parts about being married.
Heather at A Creative Journal shares her first memory of firecrackers with a view from Australia.
Christine at Mad Cropper remembers Guy Fawkes Day, a day celebrated in New Zealand with lots of fireworks. Find out why Guy Fawkes is celebrated by the English and most commonwealth countries. It is indeed a blast from the past!
Mary Emma at Quilting and Patchwork, provides a quiz for her readers. See how many of the quilt designs you can connect with historical Americana - events, objects or people.
Marye at Baking Delights reflects on just how much menu’s have changed over the years while at Kettle and Cup she shares a modern twist that many are sure to love with her Non-Alcoholic Long Island Iced Tea
Kelly Saunders at Thrifty Mommy shares her favorite 4th of July memory - I just can’t spoil the surprise - check it out.
Karen at Thrifty Mommy probably has the most reason to celebrate the fourth as anyone I’ve heard - join Karen as she shares family photos of one of the most memorable nights in her families lives.
Sandy at All Holiday Cafe provides us with a list of when Independence Day is celebrated in various countries around the world.
Christina at SoloMother shares her own experiences of celebrating the 4th of July in the nation’s capital.
Susan at PlayLibrary shares her memories of playing the classic game of Zimm Zamm during her family’s annual July 4th barbecue celebration.
Heather at Chocolate Bytes may not be having a ‘blast from the past’ but she’s got one heck of a yummy red, white and blue treat she’s serving up.
Eliza at Babylune reflects back on early holiday celebrations with baby on board and looks to this years celebration - their first out of the military.
Last but certainly not least there’s Gayla at MomGadget, whose memories take place in an earlier time when life was much simpler and her celebrations took place with relatives down in the holler in the hills of Kentucky.
I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday, no matter where or what you’re celebrating!
Over on one of my other sites, Geeky Traveller, I wrote about a new service for traveling that sort of pins down the road trip.
Although we’re not struggling to put food on the table, we certainly aren’t rich either. A distant vacation is out of the question. I can’t cross the border to go to the U.S. because it’s just too far, too much gas, too expensive. However, we’re refusing to have a boring summer.
So far we went camping for four days with friends, and that was great. The guy who has the cabin is the same guy my husband works with. He’s heading off on his own family vacation (more camping) in late July so my husband will be off as well. We’ve planned a few fun things, like driving to Ottawa to visit some of their museums (there’s one with dinosaurs which will make both my kids happy), plus we can go walk along the Rideau canal. At some point during those two weeks, I also want to take them to Chinatown and the Old Port right here in Montreal, and another day trip we’d like to do is to go to a big water park with plenty of slides for all ages, a wave pool, and a little beach. Another option is to go to the Santa Claus village not far from here.
We may not be able to head far out for our vacation time but we’re doing our best to give the kids good summer memories (a lot of my own best childhood memories revolve around summer vacations!) and to give our oldest some fun stuff to tell her friends about when she heads back to school in the Fall.
My husband and I have always been pretty strict about the kids’ bedtime. It changes and shifts as we need it to - during the school year it’s 8pm with reading until 8:30 and then lights out. During the summer it’s 8:30 with a 9pm lights out. We’ve found this works best for us because we know the kids are getting enough sleep (and not sleeping until noon), and it guarantees that we get some time alone in the evenings to unwind and spend time together.
Most nights we just watch tv or a movie together, and we’re both grateful for the ability to pause the tv not just so we can skip commercials but because it’s usually at the weirdest moments we remember something we wanted to talk about or because whatever it is we’re watching has prompted a discussion.
Every now and then we’ll get in the mood to play the Wii which works out well because we get it all to ourselves! Other times we’ll be up for some Scrabble or Monopoly while watching a movie we’ve seen before (so we don’t have to concentrate on it too much - we like the background noise).
How do you and your SO find time to spend together?
I’m starting to think that I’m cursed when it comes to my oldest daughter and soccer. I’ve seen her doing some great things with the ball this year. Last year she was one of the youngest, only four years old, and she sort of ran around at random, not really grasping what to do. This year, she’s five and a half and she’s played soccer with the kids at school at recess, so she’s not as shy about going after the ball.
When I watch her now, I see a little girl who is taking control of the ball, and doesn’t care that she’s often the only girl on a field full of boys (her team only has three girls). She can dribble the ball and maneuver around people. It’s amazing to watch and see the difference one year can make.
But I keep missing the really big moments. At the season opener exhibition games, my little one was cranky so to distract her, I took her for a walk; I missed my daughter almost scoring a goal, then assisting. We came back and I watched for awhile, but the incredible heat that day had seen me drinking a lot of water so I soon had to slip off to find the washroom; I missed her getting a goal of her own. Then last week, I watched almost all of her game while my husband and father-in-law took turns taking the little one to the play park to go on the slides. Finally, it was my turn to go, so after cheering my daughter on as she made incredible moves on the field, I left for the play park. While I was gone, my daughter took control of the ball right beside her team’s net, then she dribbled it all the way down the entire field, avoiding boys left and right, until she made it to the other end, delivered a solid kick, and scored a goal.
I’m proud of her anyway, whether I see her or not, but I’m sure hoping I don’t miss the next big moment on the field! I had to miss tonight’s game because I was under the weather and I was half expecting to hear that she’d turned into David Beckham and scored 15 goals.
What have you missed lately?
(Photo used with permission, taken by me, my daughter going for the ball)
Sherry had a great question yesterday in her post about keeping kids occupied. I commented that maybe printing out some coloring pages would help and thought I’d expand on that a little bit and list some of my girls’ favorite coloring sites.
We’ve been doing coloring pages for years and years now. Every once in a while we’ll pick up a coloring book at the store but they seem to have less interest in those (especially as they get older), but coloring pages don’t lose their charm because they get to pick specifically what they’re in the mood for.
They’ve also “graduated” from using crayons to markers and colored pencils and their preferences for pictures has changed from Dora and Disney to more intricate fairies and realistic-looking animals, so below are some of our favorite “older kid” coloring page sites!
I’m wondering whether I should be a little concerned for tomorrow. I admit, I’m mildly nervous. Friends of ours are having their son baptized along with several other kids. The whole thing should only take about 45 minutes, but I’m wondering how my two-and-a-half-year-old child is going to act. We’re not regular church-goers so she isn’t used to sitting for long periods in a pew. My five-year-old isn’t either, but she did just finish up her first year of school so she does theoretically know how to sit for awhile.
At first I had figured that my husband could sit with the older one and I would take our little one outside to walk around for a bit if she got too restless and loud, but our friends asked me if I could take some pictures during the ceremony for them, so I won’t be able to. Hopefully she’s going to be able to keep it together. I know that it’s going to be a bunch of families and young kids, and hey, the babies themselves may be crying loudly, so it’s not the end of the world but let’s be honest - no one wants to be the parent of the toddler who has a screaming meltdown in a church, you know?
Her grandparents bought her a little travel sized magnadoodle and she only got it this evening before bed, so it’s not a toy that’s worn out its welcome - I’m planning on slipping that in my camera bag and bringing it with us so that she can hopefully draw while we’re there.
What do you do to keep your kids quiet and entertained when you have to be somewhere that encourages quiet?
Sherry commented to me yesterday that she hopes no one reading lately is on a diet, because between the recipe for granola bars and her post yesterday about s’mores, you’re in trouble!
And here’s another one: today is National Chocolate Pudding Day! I don’t know where they come up with these, and most of the time they’re not even a real “national” holiday, but it’s probably safe to say that any excuse to eat chocolate is a good one, right?
Anyway, as I was looking up more information on this “holiday” I came across a fantastic idea for kids: using chocolate pudding in place of finger paint!
Simply place a few spoonfuls of pudding on a poster board or other heavy paper and let your kid(s) go to town. The pudding is obviously non-toxic so if your toddler takes a lick you don’t have to panic, and older kids will think it’s pretty neat that they have free reign to play with their food.
Apparently when it dries it keeps pretty well, though I think I’d probably toss it after a day or two.
We had a successful camping trip, to say the least. Despite the fact that it did rain a bit over the four days we spent up north in the woods, it wasn’t a huge deal - as soon as it would stop, everyone’s kids were back outside, wet grass or not. We got in some swimming and playing and relaxation. It was wonderful.
One thing I loved was teaching them about s’mores. None of them had ever had them before. I used to be in Brownies and Girl Guides when I was a kid and there are two things I can still remember that I learned - making s’mores is one of them (the other is how to roll up your sleeping bag super tight so it will actually fit back into its original bag).
It was such a great feeling to have all these kids gathered around me as I explained how to put a square of chocolate on a graham cracker and to toast the marshmallow just enough to make it hot enough so it would melt the chocolate just a bit when you placed it on top. When I put the top graham cracker on to make a sandwich and squished it down, eyes bugged out of their heads and everyone was very eager indeed to try their own.
It was a hit with all of them. Mission accomplished.
(They all brushed their teeth for a long time that night.)
I grew up unable to imagine a campfire without s’mores. What traditions from your own childhood have you enjoyed passing on to your kids?
During the summer when the kids are out of school I find it easy to slip into lazy snacking. When I pack their lunches during the school year I tend to put more thought into it when I shop ahead, but come summer time we just kind of wing it and that’s not always a good thing!
I’ve made these granola bars by Alton Brown many times and they’re a big hit. The girls all love them and even my husband, who’s not really into granola, enjoys a bar here and there.
They’re delicious on their own or crumbled up over homemade ice cream or yogurt!
I like to ease up just a bit on the wheat germ and put in about three tablespoons of ground flax seed. I also like to use dried cranberries and/or raisins.
Homemade Granola Bars
8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, about 2 cups
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, about 1/2 cup
3 ounces sliced almonds, about 1 cup
1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, about 1/2 cup
6 ounces honey, about 1/2 cup
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, about 1/4 cup packed
1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries
Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.
My kids are old enough now that they know how to pronounce words correctly. Admittedly, this isn’t necessarily my doing. I liked the “hopticopter” for helicopter, “pisketti” for spaghetti, “mote” for remote, etc. If it had been entirely up to me they’d probably still being saying the words incorrectly, although adorably (probably it’s just a mom thing).
Anyway, I came across the video below and I’ll warn you right off it’s not for delicate sensibilities (contains unintentional swearing), it’s not something I’d encourage or condone, etc etc. So no hate mail. But if it had been me I would have gotten it on video too:
For anyone who loves life and the people they share it with. Find advice, information, and observations on exciting beginnings and everyday journeys of families and relationships.
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