Hello and Welcome to my virtual table! Have a seat sip your coffee (or drink of your choice) while I share with you some of things that are happening on and around our table. Our table is so many times the 'happening place' at our house. We do so many things there. We color Easter eggs, decorate Christmas cookies, blow out birthday candles, do crafts, work on homework, share stories of our day at dinner, and so much more. We have laughed, cried and everything in between at the table.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Watermelon treats!

OK so I have a confession..... I LOVE watermelon! It is my all time favorite summertime treat. One of my favorite memories as a kid is play stick ball with the neighborhood kids. (note: stick is a game we created. Basically baseball using a kickball and a broom stick instead of a ball and bat). Then sitting on the back steps of our house eating watermelon and spitting the seeds out into the yard. Of course we would try and see who could spit the farthest and being the youngest I always lost.
 
So in honor of my favorite summertime treat I will give you 3 ways to enjoy it!
First the old fashioned way cut it up and eat it. LOL
I cut ours into watermelons sticks. The kids like it better this way because it is easier to eat and hold.
 Here are some pictures to show you how I cut it.
 
Ok on to number 2...
I simply took the left over watermelon sticks and laid them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Then I wrapped them good and tight with plastic wrap.
 I popped them into the freezer and the next day we has watermelon popsicles. The kids loved them. I will note that next time I am going to cut off the green parts and insert a popsicle stick. Holding frozen watermelon was very cold on the fingers. Oh hey I just thought of something I have the sticks to the make your own popsicles tray thing. I could give them a try. Hmmm wonder if it'll work?.....
 My son enjoying his treat. :) He isn't naked honestly. He has on swimming shorts. This was a perfect treat for them after they were done playing in the water in the backyard.
 The last way is watermelon suzies (smoothies said by a 3 y/o). I took the other half of the watermelon that I did not cut into sticks and I cut it into cubes. I put the cubes into a Ziploc bag and put them in the freezer. There are endless ways to make watermelon smoothies. I chose to go the simple and basic route.
I took the watermelon out of the freezer about 15 minutes before I actually started making the suzies. Surprisingly the cubes came apart very easily. I took a few handfuls of cubes and dumped them into the mixer. Then I hit the go button. I was having trouble getting it to blend right so I added a little bit(like 2 or 3 ounces) of milk.
That's it.
And you have watermelon suzies! These were a huge hit. I will be making these again real soon. I have still watermelon in the freezer. I think I have enough to make 2 more batches.
 Some of the kids chose to eat theirs with a spoon in a bowl. The others chose a cup and straw.
You can add yogurt or ice cream to your suzies. You can also add additional fruits like banana, strawberry, or kiwi. I would like to try adding kiwi. The possibilities are endless....
I LOVE WATERMELON!!!!!
 
HAPPY SUMMER TO Y'ALL!!


Thursday, July 24, 2014

Travel toothbrush holder

Recently we traveled to visit family and we were gone about 2 weeks. So I came across the problem of not wanting to keep our toothbrushes in their cases the whole 2 weeks. I like to leave them out to dry but I don't like to just let them lay on the counter top either. So this is what I came up with.
 
All you need is 2 toothbrush cases and a rubber band type thing. I used my daughter hair thing because that's what I had.
  Open all the cases and put all four pieces on the counter top close together with the open ends up. Put the hair thing around the cases and ......tada....... toothbrush holder. You can't really see it well in this picture (my photography skills are quite lacking sorry) but the clear ones are behind the purple ones. You have 4 spots to put toothbrushes.
 Then I put the rubber band around the case for use next time we go on vacation. :)