Snapshots of our summer

"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart."
Celia Thaxter

Rocket Launch

A couple weekends ago, we took the kids to a bottle rocket launch. We made this 2-liter rocket and then had it shot in the air with pressurized air and water. Our parachute never deployed, but now we know better for next time to loosely put the nose cone on the top. We learned about aerodynamics and propulsion. The rocket blasted pretty high, though, and the kids had a fun afternoon.

A video of our launch!

Reading Craft

The kids are fans of the Magic Tree House (and Merlin Missions) books by Mary Pope Osborne. The books tell the adventures of siblings Jack and Annie and how their tree house transports them to different places in time. I saw something online a few weeks ago that gave me an idea for an activity.

I put down a piece of old fabric for each of them. Then they used markers to draw something from one of the stories. They each chose to draw whatever spoke to them from the stories. Jack drew the "sword of light." Adeline drew the "hairy eyeball" (yes, a hairy eyeball...I thought it would have been a cat or dolphin from the stories, but she chose the hairy eyeball -- gotta love her).

Then I sewed them, and we stuffed them to make a pillows.
(Thank you to Adeline for taking the below photo.)


The sword of light from Summer of the Sea Serpent
and the hairy eyeball from Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve.

Peters Canyon Park

We hiked about 4 miles at Peters Canyon this morning. It was a beautiful day. The wildflowers are in full bloom.

Homemade Veggie Burgers

I have two veggie burger recipes. One is a black bean burger and the other is the following mushroom burger recipe. This veggie burger recipe is a little more labor intensive than the black bean one. However, if you're looking for a homemade veggie burger that doesn't have that specific black bean flavor, then I recommend you try these. They're hearty, flavorful, and very delicious!

mushrooms

oats, bread crumbs, fresh parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper

Adeline taking a moment to photograph her funny, new, stand-up pen.

back to business...

mushrooms, onion, and garlic saute

Guacamole being sampled by a three-year-old.
(Four avocados, the juice of two limes, chopped bunch of cilantro, 1/4 chopped onion, and salt. Fresh, easy, and scrumptious!)

garlic mashed potatoes
(I throw 2 lbs. of quartered red potatoes in a pan with a few cloves of whole garlic. The garlic cloves flavor the water and then they become nice and soft and easy to mash with the potatoes, adding the perfect garlic flavor. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 20 - 25 minutes. Drain the water and mash the potatoes and garlic. Then I stir in butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper to flavor as needed. Mmmmm, yummy!)

veggie burger, tempeh "bacon", guacamole, spinach, havarti cheese on a whole-wheat bun

I make a large batch of these burgers and freeze some for future use. This recipe makes about 10 patties.

veggie burger recipe

• 3 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 16 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped (I use Portobello and button mushrooms, but you can use any combination you like.)
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
• 1 1/8 cup breadcrumbs
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in large saucepan. Saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid boils off, and the mushrooms begin to saute.

In large bowl, add mushroom mixture to oats, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, eggs, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well. Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes to develop the flavors (I usually stick it in the fridge for an hour while I start the potatoes and guacamole or whatever else I'm cooking that night). Shape into patties. Heat 2 tbsp oil in large non-stick skillet, over medium heat. Fry patties, cooking about 5 - 7 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Visit from Dad

My dad visited this past weekend. The kids call him Grandpa Mazur-with-the-no-hair. They always enjoy seeing him.

- grandpa and grandkids -

An impromptu race down the sidewalk.

Snapshots of Our Life

Planting sunflower, basil, and zinnia. These are from Green Toys. This is the type of stuff we get for free with our educational fund through the homeschool charter we use.

(We get around $1,000 to spend on educational materials each school year.)

Putting together the Triop Tank. (Another homeschool freebie.) These little guys are popular in this house. Jack remembers to feed them, and he checks them daily for growth. Pretty cute buggers.

Building and planting our raised bed garden. Jack is in charge of the carrots, and Adeline is caring for the broccoli. (Yep, we even get the seeds free.)

Excavating some relics from a Treasure Dig. The kids loved this. Jack couldn't wait to find the gold nugget and the civil war bullet. (Yet another item from our homeschool fund.)

The kids perusing their library books and enjoying some fruit.

A pile-o-kids on a random Tuesday morning.

Practicing our silly faces.

This one is just because I love her.