Iced Coffee Concentrate

I just found the most amazing recipe for iced coffee!! This is the reason why I am sitting on my computer at midnight writing this blog post. I just drank an entire glass of this amazing iced coffee. Well, I had to try it right....anyway I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks and it is amazing. It takes a long time, but it's SO WORTH IT... First take a pound of ground coffee, the richer and darker the better, but any coffee will do. I used cheap price rite brand just because it's all I had in the house. Then you want to add 2 GALLONS of water to the coffee grounds, that's A LOT of water so be sure that you have a GINORMOUS bowl, pitcher or bucket to hold it all while the coffee steeps.

Then wait and wait and wait until the coffee steeps, at least 8 hours or overnight, after that strain it through a cheescloth into whatever you want to store it in and then refridgerate until frigid

Ok here comes the good part, grab a glass and FILL it with ice, as much as you can fit in there

Then fill the glass with coffee concentrate until about a half full. Then take 3 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk, make sure it's not evaporated, it's not the same and will not work, and mix it into your coffee (YUM)

Then add half and half until it's as light as you want it, and sugar if you need it

YUMMY....now mix it all about

stick in a straw, or two, and enjoy!!!

NOW you don't have to spend all your money at this place.....

Or that place.......

Have a great, coffee filled summer!!

Hot Air Balloons

Today we had Hot Air Balloon storytime and craft We read How to make an Apple Pie and see the world. A really cute book.

The kids though so too

Then off to the tables to make our own Hot Air Balloons

Everyone was so creative in their designs

So colorful

with a little help from parents as well

Jesse's finished Hot Air Balloon

.....and Jadyn's

Be sure to check back and see what we are up to next!

Potato Candy

Opportunities to actually cook with Jesse are very rare, so I am always excited when I find a recipe that he can participate in. I found this recipe for Potato Candy and decided to try it with him. We had a lot of fun making the candy, unfortunately it didn't taste that good =(

RECIPE

1 medium sized white potato, cooked until soft and mashed

Confectioners Sugar

That's it 2 ingredients, mash the potato and then start added sugar, it will get very wet and mushy, keep mixing and adding sugar until it forms a dough that you can roll out easily. This takes A LOT of sugar. I used 3 pounds all together. Roll out dough on waxed paper until very thin and let sit for about 2hrs. Cut into little squares and store in a bowl in a powdered sugar bath to keep it dry.

You can add chocolate chips or any flavor extract to this recipe and I'm sure that will make it tastier, Jesse cannot have those so I just made it plain, we were not impressed with the taste, but maybe you will be! Let me know if you try it

New Year 2010

It's 11:58 on New Year's Eve. 2 Minutes until a new decade begins and I'm sitting here reflecting. What have I accomplished in the past year? Did it make a difference? Was it enough? I never think it's enough, no matter how much I did and I'm sure we all feel that way. But I did accomplish somethings. I fought like a mama bear to get Jesse's formula approved for another year, I met some great people this year who I am hoping will become lifelong friends. Jadyn is almost reading fluently and Jesse is just sailing through his schoolwork, i'd say we had a very successful homeschooling year! I have tried to instill my morals and values in my children and hopefully have planted some seeds that will lead them to Christ and their own salvation and there is nothing more important than that. On a personal level I have lost 108 pounds in 2009, a new year's resolution that I make every year and never accomplished has now been accomplished and although I am very proud of that fact, I still have more to lose and am hoping to lose all the rest in 2010. They say life begins at 40 this year I will turn 40 so we will see what this year has in store for me..It is now midnight January 1st 2010...happy new year everyone!! I wish everyone health and blessings abundant for all of you. Another year has begun, let's start now and make it count!

Trees and Birds Nests

Last weeks school lessons were centered around Trees and birds nests. Here are a couple of pictures of our bean sprouts that finally sprouted from the week before's lesson on how things grow

This week Jesse built a birds nest out of twigs and lined it with dried leaves, he peeped the entire time he was doing this and made believe he was a mamma bird.

Finished Nest

Jesse decided that his kitty kat counters belonged in the nest instead of baby birds lol

Time to learn how to fly baby birds....errr kitties

Like this, flap your wings, or ears or whiskers or whatever it is that kitties flap!

Bird nest building sequence story, good job Jesse!

sorting fall leaves

pretty fall trees

Jadyn learned about Conifer trees and Deciduous trees

This is a picture of our PITIFUL pepper harvest this year. This was not a good year for vegetable gardens, not sure if I'm going to attempt this again next year.

Stay tuned next week for Tt, Turtles and Rain!

ENRICH annual homeschool picnic

ENRICHE'S first annual homeschool picnic. Facepainting, bubbles, games, food and fun. The kids had a blast and I am very excited to be a community leader for ENRICH. We spent time with old friends and made many new ones. Please enjoy the smiling faces below and for anyone who couldn't make it out yesterday we hope to see you at the next one!