Kids and money

We do Dave Ramsey.  So of course that's what we teach our girls.  Harlee does so good with her money jars.

She doesn't get an allowance, around here it's called commission.  If she does her jobs, then she gets paid.   If she doesn't, then no moo-la for her.  She puts a little in give, a little more in college (or you could call it savings), and the rest in fun.

Her fun money she can spend on whatever she wants.  It's really nice when we are in the store and she asks for something; instead of saying no, I can say "yes, you can buy it with your own money.''  Once she asks how much something costs, she normally decides she didn't want it after all. But when she does find something she wants to buy, then she knows exactly where the money needs to come from, and where it does not come from. 

It's time for Cheyenne to get jars too, but I need to find my ABC stickers first...moving is no good for organizing.  Last week Cheyenne wanted some money.  So she came to me and said "I wanna money, I need job."  Look at her! Two years old and she has a work ethic.  I'm so proud of her.

I have been trying for months to teach Harlee the value of coins.  However, we weren't making any progress.  Then it came to me.  Chocolate!  We layed out all our coins and chocolate.  Talked about it for less than five minutes and BAM she knows it.  She is always asking me for chocolate chips so she can show me that she knows it.

Mediterranean shrimp skillet

I have no idea where I got this recipe but it's one of my favorites.  I'm really not sure why I don't make it more often because it only takes about 20 minutes to make.

8 ounces angle hair pasta
1 1/2 pounds cooked shrimp
3 minced garlic cloves
1/4th teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh minced basil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 cups chopped spinach

feta or parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top (optional)

Start your pasta cooking and meanwhile put the garlic, salt, pepper, 1 cup broth, lemon juice and basil in a skillet and start heating it up.  In a small bowl whisk up the cornstarch and 1/2 cup broth til smooth. Stir into skillet. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes or til thickened.  Add the shrimp and cook 2 minutes more.  Stir in spinach and cook til the spinach is wilted.  Drain pasta.

Serve shrimpy mixture over pasta.  Top with parmesan or feta cheese for extra yumminess.

Shaking up some ice cream in baggies

Five days ago, Cheyenner Nanners had her tonsils taken out.  She is my little rock star, she is doing so good.  I'm so proud of her for being such a big girl.  Her surgery didn't start til nearly noon and she did not complain or whine once about being hungry!  Which is really saying something. One time I had an afternoon surgery and I complained all day long.

The Children's Hospital was really great with her.  They even brought her baby a warm blanket and 'special hat.'  Her baby always got her temperature or blood pressure taken before she did.

Watching cartoons waiting waiting waiting.

Her diet is still leaning heavily towards the popsicles and ice cream side of the food pyramid.   So we whipped up some homemade ice cream in a bag.  We also did this at Cheyenne's 2nd brithday party.

I had already told the girls we were going to make it when I realized I had no vanilla. No problem we have done this before using chocolate syrup to make chocolate ice cream or strawberry syrup to make strawberry ice cream.

Fridge check.

Negative for either syrup.  Of course.  That's what I get for wanting more homemade and less store bought in our home.

The girls are about to go into a frenzy they are so excited for ice cream in a bag.

After a dig through my very in need of organizing cupboards, I manage to find several extract flavors. Success! If making cold flavored stuff is considered a success then yes we can do this.

The original recipe is:

2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup half and half or light cream or heavy cream (I use half and half because I have it around to make homemade sour cream)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup salt (I have used ice cream salt and table salt they both work the same)
ice
1 gallon Ziploc baggie
1 quart or pint Ziploc baggie

If you want either strawberry or chocolate change out the vanilla for 1 tablespoon (or more!) of the syrup.

Today though, Cheyenne wanted orange, Harlee chose root beer and I played it safe with mint.  I pretty much planned on giving mine to Cheyenne cause I was 95% sure hers was going to be less than desirable. We used a half a teaspoon of each extract.

Put your half and half, sugar and flavoring of choice in the small baggie.

Fill the gallon baggie half full of ice and salt. Put the small bag in the big bag.

Shake shake shake your heart out.  For 3-5 minutes. And ice cream!

It's awesomer in a bowl though, that way the salt from the bag can't get in your mouth.

Cheyenne's orange ice cream actually tasted a lot like a cream sickle.  This would be amazing with the vanilla and the orange flavoring.

Harlee's was a lot like a root beer float.  That was pretty expected.

The mint was, also, as expected minty. Next time I will add mini chocolate chips.  Mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream of all.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good all of our ice creams turned out.  Another fabulous day in the Chastain house.

Teaching a four year old to sew

Yes! A four your old can sew, and can sew well.  Harlee made this pillow.  Now she wants a whole bed set that matches.  And she wants Cheyenne to have an entire matching bed set, only in purple.  She wants to sew it now and she wants it done tomorrow. Go figure. She is way too ambitious.

I thought I would teacher her how to iron.  I told her where it was hot and where to hold it and she picked it up and went to town.  I feel like less of a teacher and more an overseer of her learning. 

She has mad skills.

I run the foot pedal, and make sure the fabric is lined up when we put it in the machine and I give verbal commands.

Harlee can thread the machine (when talked through it).

Harlee can back stitch.

Harlee can guide the fabric.

Harlee can iron her fabric and her seams open or to the side.

Harlee can guide the fabric through the machine.

Harlee can pin her fabric.

Harlee knows what right sides together means.

 Most importantly Harlee is proud of herself and what she can do.

She seemed to learn all this overnight.  Hindsight really is 20-20.  She often has wanted to sit in my lap for a couple of minutes here and there.  I would be all "this is this and that is that."  The whole time she was soaking it all up, and I thought I was talking just to hear myself.

Next time Cheyenne wants to sit in my lap while I'm sewing I think I'll try to be more exciting.  Who knows what she will learn if I know I'm actually teaching.

trash to fabulous - plastic easter eggs

It's after Easter and we have six thousand plastic eggs laying all over the place.   Why, oh why, did we have to get this 144 piece set of eggs?  Oh ya, because it was a good deal.  We also got lots and lots of legos and put them in the eggs and hid them ALL.

Adam loves legos and it has provided hours of entertainment and allows me oodles of uninterrupted hours in the craft room.  Oh, and the girls like them too.  Seriously though, next year the Easter bunny is only going to hide the eggs that we dye ourselves.  No more of these plastic junk eggs that take over your house for at least a solid week.

Harlee and Adam made this snake by drilling holes though all of the eggs and threading a piece of yarn in the holes.  Harlee wanted to leave the yarn for a really long tongue so she can pull it around.

I also made Harlee a matching game.  She played it once and successfully matched up all the letters without any problem.  Good idea but a year too late.

Homemade sour cream

Sour cream is the king of all condiments.  We have a special place in our budget for sour cream.

We go through 1-2 tubs of sour cream a month and by tubs I don't mean tiny little things. I mean 5 pound tubs of sour cream.  Yes, I actually mean my family of 4 eats 5-10 pounds of sour cream a month.  We eat it on things you wouldn't even think about eating it on.

When we eat burritos, you can't see the burrito under all the sour cream.  When we eat quesadillas, you can't see the quesidillas under all the sour cream.  When we eat nachos...you get the idea.

Basically there is only one thing that can possibly ever be better than sour cream and that is homemade sour cream.  And if you can believe this, it's really really easy to make.

What a fantastic recipe!

Mix 2 cups half and half and 2 tablespoons buttermilk in a warm jar.  You can boil your jar in water or put it in the microwave for a tad bit.

Shake it up and let it sit on the counter 1-2 days til you like the thickness of it.

Store it in the fridge and eat it on everything.

By the suggestion from the blog I found this on, I made my own buttermilk by combining 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and letting it sit for a few minutes.  Then I froze my buttermilk in 2 tablespoon increments so when I need to make more sour cream I just thaw out a chunk.

How to clean a pack and play

This post has moved. CLICK HERE to continue to the new post with even more pack and play cleaning information.

Also, I no longer blog at Redneck Soccer Mom, please check out my new team blog with my mom, sister, and I.  It's even more FUN.  Check us out here.