ten things to do before summer melts into fall

Labor day has passed and Summer really is winding down. I noticed this morning that all the kindergarten girls who were wearing sundresses two weeks ago have all switched to jeans and hoodies. I'm not ready to give up yet, though! We've got a least a few weekends of gorgeous weather left before it really cools down and sends us inside and I'm planning to make the most of it. Are you in? (image via ehow.com)

1. Camp out in the backyard. It's cool at night, but our sleeping bags keep us toasty. Added bonus: the days are getting shorter so you won't be woken up at 5 am with the sunrise! It'll be a great opportunity to have smores one more time, even if we're toasting marshmallows over candle-flame.
2. Make little nature boats and sail them in the creek. How to: Collect sticks and twigs, break into 3-5" lengths (depending on the size of your desired boat). Use long pieces of grass to tie them into bundles, add a leaf for a 'sail,' and send down the stream. We used to make paper boats, but it felt too much like littering :/
   
3. Play a late-night game of Predator Stalks Prey. How to: Once it's pretty dark, each player gets a shaker (a jar half-filled with popcorn works). One player is designated Predator and is out to find the Prey. Each time Predator shakes his/her shaker Prey must respond with a shake of their own. Once Predator tags a Prey, Prey becomes Predator and the game starts again!
4. Build a set of tin-can stilts. How-to: Collect two large cans of the same size, wash and remove labels and any sharp parts. Use a nail to poke two holes near the bottom of the can, directly across from each other. Cut a length of string twice as long as your (child's) legs, thread it through the holes, and tie off into a loop. Stand on the unopened end of the can and hold the string loops in your hands, then try to walk!
5. Pick quarts and quarts of raspberries, eat quarts more, and make jars and jars of freezer jam. Find u-pick farms near you at pickyourown.org and localharvest.org.
6. Make a kite. My favorite super-easy, kid-friendly pattern is at Family Fun. You probably have all the supplies, it requires almost no wind, and there are no wooden spars to break.
   
7. Make frozen bananas and dip them in chocolate and chopped peanuts.
8. I've got the tire, the rope, and the branch. We have to get that tire swing in before the snow flies!
9. Dry the first apples of fall (almost!) in the sun. How to: Peel and core an apple, then slice crosswise into thin, thin rings. Lay an old sheet on a picnic table or other flat area in the direct sun. Turn once the tops are dry to allow the other side to dry. If you slice them thinly enough they can dry in a day. Thicker rings have to be taken in at night and put out the next day.
10. Invite friends over for a last outdoor barbecue. Let the kids run through the sprinklers until they're wet and silly, then feed them ice cream cake.

So what is your family doing to enjoy the end of summer?

Lace Up Those Boots Kids, We're Going for a Nature Hunt!

I love to be outside. I so appreciate the expansiveness of nature and its juxtaposition against the tiny details you find if you look at anything up close. An anthill under a leaf, the pattern of veins on a leaf, the scent of a butterscotch pine...there's just so much to find. Of course, I also love the capacity of nature to let my children RUN! After a day--even an hour--outdoors they're ready for a bit of quiet time (something that seems to come all too infrequently!).

Yesterday we all seemed to be getting on each other's nerves and it was obviously time for a good outing so we headed to the park to squeeze a little more fun out of summer before school starts. As the kids played and the baby tried to supplement her diet with mouthfuls of bark mulch I put together a list of a few things I thought the children would be able to find if they kept a sharp eye out on a walk around the park. I added illustrations for the non-reader in our group, and check-boxes to mark off as we found each item. My list included a duck, an animal's home, a new type of bug, a flower bud, and a footprint. If you do this, keep in mind the things that you find at your park, the time of year, etc, to ensure that you're looking for things you might actually be able to find!

We had a lovely time looking for each item, and actually managed to find them all...as well as a few things that weren't on our original list, but that we would've walked past if we weren't on the hunt for neat stuff! In the end, Josie added a number of things to our list, including an interesting sort of plum tree and the pea seeds that Jasper spotted.

What do you enjoy doing with your children to bring them closer to nature? Are you doing anything special to savor these last few days of summer?

Cooking from the Garden, or How to Use Up All those Vegetables You/Your Neighbor Grew

We've just arrived home from an, er, extended vacation to my parents' house only to realize that our vegetable garden has kept going without us. The tomato plants are absolutely staggering under the weight of red and green fruits, the rhubarb is a huge mass of stalks and leaves, giant zucchini have magically appeared, and the haricots verts (tiny green beans) are ready for garden snacking. The beets and carrots are overdue for a good pulling, and a green pumpkin the size of a healthy turkey has taken up residence in the middle of our plot. After a harvest bonanza we shared a fair bit with our neighbors, but still have quite the bounty to cook up. Late summer brings these lovelies to the garden and farmer's market, and it seems that everyone is coming up with tasty, creative ways to bring them to the table. Here are a few recipes that we in the Kiddio house have enjoyed, along with a selection of ideas from around blogland! (image via flickr/framajo)

Harvard Beets (I was astonished to find that each of my children adores beets...while I think that they taste remarkably like the soil that they grew in. This recipe makes something even I'd eat!)

3/4 c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/3 c. white vinegar
1/3 c. water
pinch salt
about 6 fresh beets, peeled and sliced

Combine sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, water, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add beets (the liquid will not cover them, but they'll let out a lot of super-staining purple juiciness) and simmer an additional 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep refrigerated!

Rhubarb Cake (Daddio quite fancies rhubarb and this is a nice switch from the usual rhubarb pie. Also makes a nice breakfast (don't tell my mother I said that!))

1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 c. buttermilk or scant cup milk + 1 t. lemon juice
3 c. chopped rhubarb

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add egg and vanilla, beating well. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Alternate adding 1/3 dry ingredients with 1/3 milk, beating well between each addition. Finally, stir in rhubarb and spread into greased 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

(We're at high altitude, so I cut back on the sugar a bit, add an extra egg, and put in an extra Tbsp. of flour, then it usually bakes a bit longer than usual. For more on high-altitude baking modifications, check out Allrecipes.com's tips )

Sweetie Pie Pickled Veggies (I may be revealing my inherent pickiness, but I've only just realized that I just love pickles. This is a great recipe for a variety of vegetables including the standard cucumber, and a fun recipe to put together with kids).

1 t. pickling salt
1/2 c. peeled ginger, sliced thinly
1 1/2 c. rice vinegar (cider vinegar works in a pinch)
1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar

Any combination of four of the following:
1/2 lb. small pickling cucumbers sliced into 1-inch sections
2 c. diagonal carrot slices (1/2 inch thick)
1/2 lb. asparagus spears
1 large red bell pepper cut into 1-inch squares
2 c. 1-inch wide strips watermelon rind
2 medium sweet onions cut into 1-inch chunks

Toss the cucumbers with 1/2 t. salt, let sit 1-2 hours. Combine ginger, vinegar, water, sugar, and remaining 1/2 t. salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Remove the pot from the heat. Drain and rinse the cucumbers, and pack veggies loosely in two 1-quart jars. Pour hot liquid over vegetables, cover jar, and refrigerate for 2-3 days. Keep refrigerated up to 3 months and enjoy!

Recipes from around blogland:

Tiny Morsels has completely blown my mind with her recipe for zucchini fries.

With the zucchini you have left over from the fries you can make zucchini soup (which I didn't think sounded a bit palatable until I read Mary Beth's recipe at Salt and Chocolate!)

In the same vein, Plum Pudding offers up recipes for summer squash, including zucchini quesadillas.

Katy at Sycamore Stirrings shares a recipe for curried carrot soup...a nice way to use up all those carrots I forgot to thin!

Scribbit has been making fresh strawberry ice cream (which I'm planning to pick strawberries for as soon as I can get to the berry farm...)

Okay, so I don't have a banana tree (yet!), but Pepper Paints' chocolate-covered-frozen-bananas-with-sprinkles look delicious!

Nine Ideas to Keep your Summer Movin' Slow

I swore it wouldn't happen, but here I sit. Summer is half-over. School starts in less than six weeks and we've barely accomplished anything on my 'things to do this summer while the kids are little and fun' list. I'm sure my extended roadtrip (and the extended recovery time) contributed, as will our upcoming trips into the mountains (this weekend) and to California (next week), not to mention the heat that's been hanging around and sapping my energy. I'm definitely planning to squeeze a few more things in before fall sneaks up. Here's what I'm committed to:

• Spend plenty of time at the sprayground (basically a squirty fountain for kids to run around in). It's a nice choice with the baby since mommies don't have to get in, and it runs a ton of energy off on a day when it's otherwise too hot to run.
• Hit Lakeside, our local vintage amusement park. Our kids are too little for Six Flags (and I'm not looking forward to a time that they're old enough!), but this sweet little place is a nice spot for families, with a carousel, little train around the lake, and the "wild chipmunk" roller coaster. They have big rides too, but I think we'll stick to the bumper cars for now.
  
• Make up a big batch of bubble solution and some DIY bubble wands. Adrienne at Baby Toolkit posted a bubble recipe and has inspired me to hit the Target dollar section for some cheap wands rather than always doing it myself. I'll use the time I save to make Betz White's super foamerator!
• More shady picnics. We've done this a few times at a creek near our house, usually accompanied by a walk (daddio and me)/bike ride (the big kids) and it's always a hit, but I must broaden my horizons.
• Go berry picking and make more jam. We usually do this in June, but late frosts quashed the early strawberry harvest. We still have red and gold raspberries to go, though, and the August berries are definitely good, even if they're not nearly as tiny and sweet as the June crop. This is a great activity for even the littlest kids, who can 'help' by keeping the berry basket from overflowing...
• Make some of Marie's "wet water sponge toys" at Make and Takes. I've seen other patterns for these around lately, but I've had my eye on her tutorial since last fall!
  
• Head to the high country for day hikes. You may be surprised to learn that Denver isn't actually in the mountains and that it gets to be pretty hot here. It's dry, which is nice, but still--hot! We're fortunate to be able to take advantage of a ton of hiking opportunities and even a year-round glacier within an hour's drive. Rather than sweating it out, I should really pack a picnic and head for the hills.
• Visit Belleview Park. It's a lovely park south of Denver which sports a clean wading stream for children, a little train ($1), and a pretty decent petting zoo ($1). Again, any opportunity to run some energy off and some good water play where I don't have to get too wet sounds great.
• Invite friends over to sip limeade and play in our cool, shady backyard. I really got off to a good start on this one (a few playdates and a couple of families over for dinner on the grill), but with the roadtrip, well, my good intentions have fallen off (sorry friends!) and my kids are missing their buddies!

I actually have managed to knock a few things off of our list, like swimming at the pool a lot, taking a roadtrip to visit family, doing farm things, eating a lot of fruit, and just trying to chill out a bit. Oh, and at the top of my list as we planted our garden this spring was to keep some little old bottles I've collected filled with the kids' flower pickings.

What's on your list for the rest of the summer?

kid-made sidewalk chalk paint

It's my eternal struggle. I want the children to paint, I truly do, but it can just be so so messy...especially for a two year old who paints for two minutes then requires ten minutes worth of cleanup (and a bath to get it out of his hair). Often enough I bite the bullet and do it anyway, but with Summer comes the marvelous opportunity to do it every day, especially now that we've found this awesomely cheap recipe for making our own sidewalk paint.





You need:



-liquid food coloring (like what you find in the spice section at the grocery)

-box o' corn starch

-water

-minimum 8 oz individual containers for each color





Method:

-Measure 1/4 cup cornstarch into each cup.

-Add 1/4 cup water to each.

-Drip in 5-10 drops of food coloring.

-Stir it up. At first it will seem as though the cornstarch just won't mix in, but all at once it comes together. Just don't put the water in first or it's significantly tougher to get it to mix up.





-Add more color for intense colors, less for pastel shades. Our box has recipes on the back for additional shades and we found that the 'egg dying' recipes worked great for this.

-The finished paint may seem thin, but it paints on just great. You can use more cornstarch next time if you'd prefer a thicker paint.

-We tested on the driveway, fence, and brick, and the paint came off of all the surfaces just fine.





Finally, find your personal painting style. Josie's into painting happy-faced flowers and hopscotch boards, while Jasper's a mix it all together and see how it turns out kind of guy.















*note--One of the comments pointed out that the paint is slippery when it's wet! We didn't test this theory out, but be careful!











more from the collective:

• Frances England CD giveaway!


• butterfly in a chrysalis puppets (so cool!)
  
  


• stamping with potatoes and cookie cutters


• printmaking with bubble wrap and corrugated paper


• all craft posts


• subscribe to our blog over on the right side ---->
  
  

Ice Treasures: link

I was looking around for something totally unrelated and stumbled upon Let's Explore, a blog serving up creative ideas for preschoolers. Today's post on Ice Treasures really caught my attention since the weather's heated up so much in the past few weeks and we've been spending as much time outside as possible (the better to let the baby sleep!). I have a few ideas lined up, but this is so cool!


(as an aside, you might want to check out the Let's Explore store where you can find some very handy art totes (empty or filled with creative goodness) and kits/busy boxes for various projects (e.g. puppetmaking). Free shipping with code "maymoms08" through the end of May. I looked and looked for the right box to put together a take-anywhere art kit like the one I had as a child and just couldn't find it among the tool and fishing tackle boxes at Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Ace, or the local hardware store. She has it!)

strawberry-lime water: recipe

Last year for Mother's Day Josie (then barely 4) whipped up a special drink for me, and all summer we drank pitchers of our 'Mother's Day drink.' It's totally simple and delicious, and not so sweet that it isn't refreshing (don't get me wrong, I love me some lemonade, but it can be just too sweet to cool me down). You can vary the recipe infinitely based on what you've got in the crisper (or the garden), but here's the authentic:

Ingredients:
A handful of strawberries
A lime or two
1/4 c sugar
enough cold water and ice to make 2 quarts

Method:
Slice the strawberries into a pitcher. Slice the limes and squeeze them into the pitcher. Add the sugar and mash it all around with a wooden spoon. Add the water, let sit a bit (preferably overnight in the fridge) to let the flavors meld.

Oranges are also very good in this, as are apples (surprisingly so), mango, pineapple, and melon. You can also throw in a bit of mint before the muddling/mashing. Alternately you can skip the fruit and go for cucumbers and honeydew.

more info on choosing a safe sunscreen/sunblock for children: UVA, UVB, what does it mean?

After my post on sunscreen the other day, I kept feeling like there had to be more to know so I kept poking around. Here's what I found:

• Katja at Skimbaco has a very helpful post up expressing her concerns about the ingredients in many sunscreens, a review of the various formulations, and some specifics on good sunscreens to choose...including some that are very reasonably priced. The Baby Blanket brand sounds almost too good to be true--pretty good choice of ingredients, waterproof, SPF 50, and at $12/9 oz it seems like a bargain. Baby Blanket also makes a number of other products such as a 'scalp spray' for bald babies and a lotion spray for legs and backs. I had kind of settled on the Aveeno Baby lotion for the big kids and California Baby brand for our infant, but I think that this would be a better all around choice. Anyway...
• The Skin Deep Cosmetics Database that I mentioned last time has a full listing of all the active ingredients in sunscreens, what their efficacy at blocking UVA and UVB rays is, what the potential harm in them is, and how bad it is for you (rated 1-10, very simple to follow). I won't even go over a few of the common ones since the information they provide is so complete and succinct.
  
• Safe Mama has created another handy cheat sheet distilling all this information into a handy list of good and bad choices in sunscreens. Print it out, shop with it, and feel like a good parent. They have a whole selection of other info sheets covering bath products, skin care, and sippy cups if you're interested.
  

Also, following the terminology can be a little tough, so here are a few terms to know:

• SPF: Sun Protection Factor. A measure of how effectively the sunscreen blocks the sun's UVB rays. It's calculated by comparing the amount of time needed to produce a sunburn on protected skin to the amount of time needed to cause a sunburn on unprotected skin.
  
• UVB: Short-wave part of the spectrum of sunlight; more potent than UVA in causing sunburn, thought to be the main cause of basal and squamous cell skin cancers as well as a contributor to melanomas.
  
• UVA: Long-wave solar rays. Less likely than UVB to cause sunburn, but penetrates the skin more deeply; considered chief cause of wrinkling and "photoaging." Apparently increases UVB's cancer-causing effects, but may be main culprit of melanomas. Not blocked by all sunscreens, so check the label!!
• Sunscreen: Chemically absorbs UV rays.
  
• Sunblock: Physically deflects UV rays.
• "Broad-spectrum Protection": This indicates that a product protects against UVA and UVB, but doesn't guarantee coverage against all UVA wavelengths. Sunscreens containing avobenzone, zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide should be effective against entire UVA spectrum.