Happy Independence Day!!

We're reading The Story of America's Birthday, to familiarize the twins with the holiday in general.  It's hard to explain religious freedom to four year olds, it was easier to tell them that the colonists didn't like the King of England so they started a new country. Was that the wrong thing to say? LOL!

Our July 4th projects are mostly planned to start in July, since we took a week off for summer vacation. The twins wanted to make a flag, so this is what we came up with! They cut blue and red paper up, then drew their version of a flag - just the box and the stripes. Then they glued the pieces on, and put white star stickers in the blue box. They loved the project, and were very proud when they were done. They couldn't bear to see the Octonauts go so we still have Kwazii, Peso, Pinto and Captain Barnacles on the red white and blue bulletin boards! I think today we might make fireworks with glue and glitter on white paper :)

Octonauts Projects

I posted maybe a month ago about the boys wanting to do some Octonaut projects. We ended up making their four favorite characters and using both of their art bulletin boards to make an underwater scene. They did a lot of projects to make more ocean creatures, our monthly theme was Ocean Life so it was perfect timing! We're starting a new theme and I really need to take the Octonauts and their fishy friends down, but I'm sad to. I know it's silly, but this was my favorite boards they have done so far!! The twins are growing up so quickly - Thing Two can now count to a thousand by 100's, count to 100 by tens... and Thing One can read! Yes, my child suddenly popped out with a level 1 reader and had almost no hesitations reading things like "The fat cat sat on the wet mat". OMG! I read to them constantly, and I knew they had a serious love affair with letters, but that just blew me away. Almost all of the Explode the Code level 1 book I bought is review for them - who knew?!! Math is fun for them, we're using the BJU Math 1 book. It's a little easy for them but they need the practice writing their letters. They are so not babies anymore, and zoomed right past being toddlers! But they do still fall and hit their heads a lot... poor boys are top heavy!

Summer Days of fun

I love nice summer days! We filled the 6ft snapside pool (found at Walmart on clearance last fall, yay!) and put it on our patio, so it would be a little warm but still refreshing by afternoon. We waited for the house to shade the back patio, and let the fun begin! Big Kid likes to break out with the sprinkler, the twins for the most part stay in the pool and shoot Big Kid with the foam water shooters. It's so nice to have a backyard with soft grass, a shady spot with a table and comfy chairs to sit in, and kids who love playing outside so much! We played for hours yesterday, and it hit me all of a sudden how lovely the afternoon really was. I usually hate summer because I get so darn hot, but playing in the backyard is just awesome in my book :)

Gluten Free Chinese Spareribs Recipe

I used to eat at a Chinese restaurant in Lexington Mass with my grandparents when I was young. It was a big deal for us all to go out together, and it felt very special to me. They served the best spareribs I have ever tasted - until last night! Seriously, you'll be amazed at how simple this recipe is and how exquisite the taste is. The bonus is they can be made gluten free or with regular soy sauce!

Update: a "reviewer" told me that this is also excellent on salmon fillets, I can't wait to try it on fish - yummy!

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.


Chinese Spareribs

3 to 5lb pork spareribs
1/2 cup soy sauce (I use La Choy, it's gluten free and low in salt content)
1/3 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom of a deep cookie sheet with foil. Either use one piece or really pinch the edges of two pieces together - with sauced recipes like this if the liquid leaks under the foil it will become part of the sheet.

Cut spareribs between the bone into individual ribs. Place on lined cookie sheet meat side down.

Mix the soy sauce and honey together, and brush or pour lightly onto ribs. Bake covered with foil for one hour.

Remove tray from oven, throw away covering. Pour the remainder of the sauce over the ribs into the pan, and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes. Cool for five minutes if you can stand the wait!

Butterfly Garden

I love butterfly bushes! Ok, I love flowers in general but seeing butterflies flock to a bush in my own backyard is just awesome. I'm also really enjoying seeing all the hard work we have put into our gardens come to fruition! My flowers are BLOOMING like crazy!!!

This photo is from the first year we planted our butterfly garden, ordered for $29.99 from Spring Hill Nursery. 

And here it is two years later, wow! I have already had to seriously trim back the blue butterfly bush, the pink one is uncut still. The bee balm took off like crazy, I moved half of it up front and I still have probably 30 blooms in each area. I did lose a few plants, the dianthus never came back and the coreopsis came back but never bloomed again after the first year. I have added some verbena to cover up the dirt, it's tiny but it should take off nicely. I moved the lilies to the front garden to make room for the lantana (keeps coming back every year!) and bee balm to spread. Woohoo! I love it when gardens work!