Baseball 2015

-Baseball 2015-

Rus is definitely our baseball star. 

He was one of three kids picked on his team to represent the Merrimack Valley Baseball League in a rookie all-stars game. Both teams played an incredible game, but Rus' team won 21-19. I forgot to bring my camera to the game, but thankfully someone else took pictures.

Great job Rus!

Summer Activities 2015 Part 1 By: Siobhan

Summer Activities I

Happy first day of summer everyone! I looked around on Pinterest for a while and found some very easy summer crafts and activities which I did with the kids this afternoon. We had a lot of fun. These are definitely outdoor crafts, but I just had the kids put on their bathing suits so they could run through the hose when they were done. 

Today we made some silly putty and rainbow bubble snakes. 

---Silly Putty---

All you need for this is some containers, corn starch, and dish soap. Keep in mind that if you use colored dish soap, your putty will come out the color of the dish soap. If you use non-colored soap, you can color it with a bit of food coloring.

We mixed together about 3 T of cornstarch to 1 T of dish soap.

 

 The recipe is not at all precise. Add extra dish soap if your putty is too thick or extra cornstarch if it's runny.

 Mix with your fingers!

 Get messy and have fun!

 The putty cleans up very easily since it is made up out of lots of soap!

 Washing out the containers made tons of bubbles. We just used the hose so all the mess was outside.

The kids took a 'flavored water break' so we had some bottles for our next activity :) 

                           Bubble Beards :P

 

                       

 The kids called these their 'bubble volcanoes.' They filled a water bottle with a little dish soap and added water.

 

---Bubble Snakes---

For the bubble snakes you will need some dish soap, an empty water bottle, some scissors, a sock you don't want anymore (thick cotton ones work best), and a rubber band

Begin by cutting the end off an empty water bottle 

Put the sock on the back of the water bottle (the part you cut off) and add some drops of food coloring. (Filia's hair is green in this picture because of all of the bubbles!)

You only need a couple drops of coloring, especially if you are using colored dish soap like we did.

Dip the sock part of your bubble maker into some water mixed with a little dish soap. 

Next blow through the mouth of the bottle (don't suck in!) and...

...colored bubble 'snakes' come pouring out!

Tert experimented with tons of coloring

Leo didn't use a lot, but the bubbles still looked amazing!

Bubble Hair!

I hope you enjoyed these activities. We can't wait to try out some more this summer, and I'll make sure to take/post lots of pictures :)

Father's Day/Dad's Birthday 2015 By: Siobhan

Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing dads out there, and a special Happy Birthday to Dad! Dad's birthday fell on the day before Father's Day, so we had two days of special activities with him. 

Dad's birthday started out with a special birthday breakfast with Adam. Then we headed to Beech Hill Farm and Ice Cream Barn. Later that evening Mom made a delicious birthday dinner for Dad. 

(As always, click the recipe names to go to the recipes)

 

 ~Dad's Birthday Dinner~

 Raspberry Feta Salad with Toasted Almonds and Dried Cranberries

 Beef Bourguignon over mashed potatoes...

 ...with Green Beans Gremolata and fresh corn

 For dessert we had Chocolate Chip Cheesecake