We spent our Memorial Day long weekend playing outside. Autumn had a friend from town spend the night, and they did lots of exploring around the lake, which was smokey from the forest fire burning in Luce County. The girls found so many interesting things, and wanted to share some of them here with you! The most exciting thing was watching the baby fox!
We found out that we're not really supposed to handle them because they have such thin skin that it can absorb chemicals from us, so we probably won't pick them up anymore...but they are very interesting little guys...we definitely want to read more about them!
Yesterday I made a batch of Black Bean Brownies using a recipe that a friend shared with me. I was very skeptical about this recipe, but was absolutely blown away! From now on this is going to be my go to brownie recipe! The black beans secretly provide fiber and protein, and even Autumn (who is our picky eater) said that she wouldn't be able to tell they were made with black beans unless someone told her. Try it for yourself!
BLACK BEAN BROWNIES:
2 x 15 oz. cans of black beans (drained, and rinsed)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter (or you could use oil)
1 tsp. baking soda
Use a food processor or blender to mix all of the ingredients. This is the key....be sure to blend up the beans really well.
Then place in a greased 9x13 pan and back at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Let the brownies cool before cutting and serving.
The girls decided that they wanted to memorize poetry as part of their "summer school" work. They have a goal of reciting at least one new poem each week. They plan on sharing them here with you on our blog in hopes that it will motivate them as well as inspire you.
Alaina recited a poem that I wrote down in a diary a long time ago. I am unsure of the title or the author...
We can't grow thin by growing thick,
We can't get well by getting sick,
Take two from two, you won't get four,
And we can't have peace by threatening war.
Autumn recited: "Drop A Pebble In The Water" by: James W. Foley
Drop a pebble in
the water: just a splash, and it is gone; But
there's half-a-hundred ripples Circling on and on and on, Spreading,
spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea. And there
is no way of telling where the end is going to be.
Drop a pebble in
the water: in a minute you forget, But there's
little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;
You've disturbed a mighty river just by dropping in a stone.
Drop an unkind
word, or careless: in a minute it is gone; But there's
half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on. They
keep spreading, spreading, spreading from the center as they go,
And there is no way to stop them, once you've started them to flow.
Drop an unkind
word, or careless: in a minute you forget; But there's
little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,
And perhaps in some sad heart a mighty wave of tears you've stirred,
And disturbed a life was happy ere you dropped that unkind word.
Drop a word of
cheer and kindness: just a flash and it is gone; But
there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on, Bearing
hope and joy and comfort on each splashing, dashing wave Till
you wouldn't believe the volume of the one kind word you gave.
Drop a word of
cheer and kindness: in a minute you forget; But there's
gladness still a-swelling, and there's joy circling yet,
And you've rolled a wave of comfort whose sweet music can be heard
Over miles and miles of water just by dropping one kind word.
Our family has been seeing a lot of interesting bugs, and plants this spring. There are plenty that we haven't ever taken the time to identify before, and so we plan on posting some of our finds on this blog in hopes that some of you might be able to help us identify these Michigan creatures. We are going to title these posts "What In The World Is This?" We would love to hear from you. We are pretty sure after doing some searching on the web that our first video is of toad eggs, but can you help us identify the bug in the second video?
After visiting this website we are pretty sure the eggs in this video are toad eggs....
A few years ago Autumn and Alaina's Uncle Craig went on a bike trip starting from the Sault and going all the way to California. When he left, he gave them his big stuffed gorilla from childhood, and they sent him with a little plastic gorilla and asked him to take photos of gorilla during the trip. He has been living in California ever since and taking photos of gorilla in all sorts of places ever since. He just sent them some more video and photos of gorilla and so they wanted to make him a video with Uncle Craig's gorilla to say "hi" back. Here are the videos: The first video is Uncle Craig's...he is an amazing photographer! I definitely want a few prints of some of the new photos he has been taking. The second two videos are obviously from the girls and I. But, we will take a few pointers from Uncle Craig and work on improving future videos :)
Since moving back out to Brimley we haven't had Internet. So, I feel like I have missed a lot of opportunities to share interesting things on my blog. I am finding that blogging is much like writing in a diary, and I am tempted to go back and write a bunch of posts to catch myself back up and fill in the three weeks that I haven't posted anything. But, then I realize that I don't have the time or memory to do that. So, instead I am going to post a few videos of some of the things our family has been up to in hopes of filling that hole! Enjoy!
This is a short clip I took of the girls after they completed the Cabin Fever 5k at LSSU. This was the race that they had been training for, and all of their training paid off. Autumn ran her best time ever with 26 minutes! That surprised us all! Since then they have also competed in another race in the Sault where they both ran the mile kids run, and then participated in the 5k as well!
AWANA was every Wednesday evening for the whole year. The girls would participate in music, games and memorizing Bible versus. They learned a lot and had a great time.
We have always wanted to kayak up the Waishkey
River. Every time we drive into the Sault we pass it. So, we finally put our kayaks in....we saw a ton of ducks, and Autumn swears she was splashed by a beaver. We also timed it perfect because it started to rain right after we pulled our boats out for the day.
My Mother's Day was wonderful! First of all, the weather was gorgeous! Very sunny and hot. The girls had a gift that they were anxious to give me and as soon as Steve got home from his morning run they pulled me into the kitchen to show me.....my new air popcorn popper! I have always wanted one of these and would often make comments about how I would eat popcorn more often if it wasn't doused in butter from a microwave bag. We tried it out right away! It was exciting to watch and made a huge bowl that we ate for "breakfast." It must have been hard for them to wait and give me this gift because the night before we watched a movie and I was making popcorn in brown paper bags in the microwave and commenting that it would be better if I had a popper.....they were probably giggling inside thinking "we got Mommy the perfect gift." Now, if you come to our house for a visit I am sure you will be served popcorn as a snack because I can tell it is going to be our thing all summer.
Later, we decided to put the sailboat in the lake. It is a job that we usually put off, but the wind was gently blowing towards our beach and we decided it would be fun to go for a sail anyways.
The water was so warm that the girls and even Steve jumped in! This is really unusual for this time of year!
Here is our rating scale: (if it scores a 4 or 5 then we recommend it)
1= we'll never check this book out again. 2= If there was nothing else to read we could sufferthrough it. 3= Enjoyed it once, but once will probably be enough. 4= We would be happy to check this book out again, and will probably look for it again on the shelves. We would recommend it to a friend. 5= This goes on our list of all-time favorites.We could enjoy it numerous times, and will probably check it out often or already do check it out often. We would recommend or buy it for a friend.
We don't have Internet at our house in Brimley yet, and I am not sure when we will get it, so I have been neglecting to post on our blog. However, if I don't put up this list of books, then I know I won't post this weeks, and it will be a slippery slope to not recording anything! So, here is our "Week-end" report of what I managed to record during our move:
RATING: 3 (Autumn and Alaina) Poetry/ History, Bayliss Public Library
Rating: 4 1/2 (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Library
RATING: 4 (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: 3 1/2 (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Science, Bayliss Public Library
RATING: 4 (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn) Chapter Book Series, Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Sarah and Autumn) Chapter Book, Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Alphabet, Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Poetry, Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Alphabet, Science, Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
RATING: (Autumn and Alaina) Bayliss Public Library
_cover_art.jpg)
