Life Archives - Page 18 of 23 - A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living

Kindergarten Graduation…sniff sniff

I realized after a few people asked that I never showed pictures of my baby girl’s graduation and last day of school. I think I was just so excited for summer and to start homeschooling that I pressed on through to first grade! So, here you go…

She was obviously excited! Mrs. Broadway was my Kindergarten teacher as well, can you believe that? She is a lovely woman and has a wonderful heart for teaching. Go Faith!

I love the awkward way that each kid stands.

My little buddy giving his approval.

The teacher had them draw a picture on the first day of school and then on the last. Good idea, huh?

The school secretary who happens to be Grandma.

Making some masks…they lasted a few hours but no a whole lot sticks to plastic.

Mr. Bean

I had to say goodbye to the lunch bag I made…sniff. If you have interest in making one for next year, they are so easy! It really was one of the easiest things I’ve ever sewn. Go here for the instructions from Martha and her team.

Goodbye, Kindergarten! Thank you Mrs. Broadway!

Travel: Torrey Pines State Reserve Hike

This is his element.

Yes, he hiked the whole way dressed as a fighter pilot who wears an army helmet, whilst carrying a bow and arrow. He even got saluted a few times.

We made it to the bottom!

They love their Dad.

Seeing who can find the biggest Shore crab.

This guy was pretending I wasn’t there. Nice try, Mr. Crab.

Goose Barnacles with their heads in. They really do look like a goose when they are out and have long necks.

Peek-a-boo

She thought it was pretty.

It’s much easier going down than up…ask my little buddy.

Thanks to my man for taking us to this lovely place…what a Dad.

Camping Birthday Party…s’more included

*Warning*

This post contains unhealthy like materials that are un-Bon-like and might be harmful to your body. Birthday parties are the only exceptions to eating these foods. Ok…maybe not the only.

My little buddy had his 4th birthday recently. He was super into campers at the time so we both decided a camping themed birthday was prefect. I had a lot of ideas of things to make and do, but in the end, camping is meant to remind us how simple life really can be. S’mores reminded me of simplicity and at party planning time, I had been seeing tons of Pinterest pins on s’more related things…mmm…I’m hungry now.

Crushing the graham crackers in a bag means easy clean-up and more freedom for them to help.

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Separately, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Combine butter mixture and flour mixture.

Press half of the dough on the bottom of a spring-form pan, saving the rest for the top.

Add the chocolate bars on top. I HAD to use Hershey’s because what other chocolate bar do you grab for a s’more, right?

Spread the creme on top of the bars and then lick your fingers. Add the remaining dough in flat discs, then bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, until brown.

Other camper add-ons were an actual camper brought by Daddy, the camper crayons I made in an earlier post, party favors in a baked bean can, and pin the bumper sticker on the camper. We grilled some grub and just enjoyed a relaxing party with our loved ones.

My wonderful mom also turned a fire truck pinata into the awesome camper! Isn’t it great? Thanks, Mom :)

Recipe adapted from Lovin from the Oven

Sit down and stay a while

Just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who just started coming to my little space here. Welcome and I hope you stay a while!

I am super excited about helping people learn to do things they’ve never done before. I meet so many women (and a few men too) who are aching to learn how to cook and just need that little shove to get themselves going. So, consider this my little shove :) I’ve seen friends and even strangers, through the catering I’ve done, change their eating habits and try new things that they are uncomfortable with, only to find they love them! I made turkey burgers for a big BBQ crowd in Vegas and had one lady tell me months later that her family started eating turkey meat in so many dishes. Their son was apparently hard to please in the food department and ended up loving the turkey burgers and then eventually turkey meat in general. How awesome is that? I’ve seen carnivores enjoy vegetarian soups and being satisfied when finished. I love to see people make such good changes! I knew then that there had to be more people who desperately want to feed their families good food but don’t know how, especially with the convenience of takeout food.

So, this brings me to my plan…

I’m going to be starting this series soon about how to make a healthier version of some of your very favorite foods. It’s gonna be awesome! I’ll have a button so you can put it on your own blog or website.

One question I get a lot is about how to bring the kiddos in the kitchen. I’m going to have a little sticker tucked all over like below to give you ideas on how to get the munchkins involved.

Your job: ideas!

Let me know what you want to learn how to make so you don’t have to feel guilty anymore about eating the trashy version. No, I can’t find a way to make sodas healthier but I can suggest a lovely seltzer with crushed fruit and a handful of calories instead. I could also suggest my favorite drink, ice water, but I’m afraid that would leave me with unhappy readers. You get the picture.

Here are some of the Junk Food Remade recipes so far:

What’s on your list?

Rubber Duckie Race

Miss F’s school had a golf marathon fundraiser recently. The kids got to do a rubber duck race where they sold a ticket to correlate to each duck. The ducks “raced” (read bobbed with a little help from the wind) and the winning duck owner and seller won a lovely prize. The participation was pretty lame, but Miss F enjoyed the process and also meeting new neighbors because of it. Turns out, she won the prize for most tickets sold! My first thought was how awesome it was because she worked hard and my second thought was how a kindergartener could beat out everyone else. Wha? I guess the other duck sellers needed a pep rally or something. In any case, Miss F took a trip to Target this week to get her prize…a barbie scooter. What else could a 6 year-old girl ask for?

This would have been perfect if not for the smudge on the left side…erg…little fingers.