Great American Backyard Campout

Last weekend Coach was away at the state university with his team for basketball camp. They always go the same weekend as The Great American Backyard Campout, and the kids are always disappointed that Daddy can't join in the festivities I try to plan.

However, disappointed tears always turn to excitement and awesomeness when I mention my single girlfriend's name... (My daughter says "that girl is so awesome!") They love when EM makes a visit, and it's usually the same weekend every year. Last year we had to settle with a dinner at Friendly's and half-baked smores in the oven due to loss of power from horrendous thunderstorms, but this year we went all out!

We planned true campers fare:

Hobo Burgers

Cheesy Potato Packets

Grilled corn-on-the-cob

Jiffy Pop

and of course, S'mores!!

Top it off with the showing of an outdoor movie and camping out in the tent.

No silly...you know our history!! Not outside with this visitor coming through our picnic (which, I love ya EM, but high-tailing it in the house in front of the children....c'mon!??!!)

There's no picture-perfect postcard camping going on in our cozy neck of the woods... We pitch our tents in our family room! This campsite includes A/C!!

Spending a "girls weekend" along with my kids is as about as much fun as EM's Cha Cha Vera... I just love it!!

Linked to: Finer Things Friday

Thriving as a Family

In our home we strive to make the following our motto. It Works for Us! We always knew it made our family thrive, but Focus On the Family (love this website!!) just made it their focus in their daily email, striving to help others grow as a family. Guess we were already doing something right!!

A Thriving Family Makes Time to ...

1.
Eat Together
2.
Play Together
3.
Attend Church & Pray Together
4.
Invest in Your Kids
5.
Know Where Your Kids Are & Know Their Friends

(Might I just say how embarassing this last one was growing up (#5)...my mother always went to the door when dropping me off at someones home to speak to the parents and to make sure they were home, or called them on the phone before I was allowed to go (even, and especially, when I was in High School). It's just the way it was...I wasn't going to ever get her to stop. Well my friends, I am now my mother. I do the same thing...and my sister with her teens and pre-teens. It works!! Lord help my children when they are teens!!)

Celebrate your family!!

S'More Family Fun

As some of you may know, last night (Saturday) was the Great American Backyard Campout sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation. Well, we know that camping here in the Cozy Country is out of the question (find out why here), so we decided to improvise. With Daddy away at basketball camp (funny...the kids were going all around town saying that "Daddy left for college" since he was at the State Univ. all weekend), it was just me and the kids. I was planning all along to make s'mores and thought I had all of the ingredients, however I was mistaken and didn't have chocolate bars. Hershey kisses were a great substitute! And with no campfire for roasting, our oven worked just as well (I was going to venture out and roast them over the grill, but one pesky bear was wandering around the property all day yesterday, and I didn't want another close encounter) So I just wrapped them in foil and popped them in the oven!
We topped the night with the Max and Ruby episode Ghost Bunny...when the Bunny Scouts camp out, make smores, and tell ghost stories. We didn't camp out in the Dora tent in the Family Room as planned...I was just too tired. I needed them to sleep so I could!
Another one for the scrapbook!

"Flameless" S'mores:

Line sheet with parchment and place three kisses atop a graham cracker. Put in oven to melt. Ours was about 400° for about three minutes.

After the chocolate is melted, top with two scoops of marshmallow fluff or marshmallows and another graham cracker. Wrap each in foil and put back in oven for another four minutes.

Just as delicious and no burnt ash!!

Frigid Family Fun

Our original Family Fun Nights are normally scheduled as a "Saturday Night" affair. Yesterday I had originally had a BBQ planned at "backyard lake" (no, don't actually have a lake, but it's a joke around our area..."Hey.. goin' anywhere good this summer?" "Yeah...Backyard Lake!" )!

However, after talking to my sister and my parents, the weather was supposed to be beautiful the next day (Sunday) we se decided to all go up to the State Park for a cookout, bike riding and play at the playground. The weather forcast called for sun and 55°. So, we packed up all of our picnic gear and headed out. First bump in the road: charcoal. Absolutely nowhere to be found! One lady in one store said, "Charcoal...we're still selling rock salt for your driveway!!" Tractor Supply...the stuff we need out here... I guess they thought it's not really needed in March, because they didn't get their shipment in yet! (Can't blame them, though!) We finally found some (not redi-start though) at a small local deli...although no lighter fluid. How were we going to get the briquetts started??!!

Second bump: as we're driving the wind is picking up, and the temp gague on the truck was quickly going backwards...52...50...48...46°. Well, the sun was shining, and that's all that mattered! We made it to the park and lugged our things to the picnic site, unloaded and turned to the grill. We started to gather sticks and any paper we could find, and after all the snow we had this winter, dry wood was hard to come by. Finally after two boxes of matches and 25mins...hooray! Our fire was starting to go. We quickly put some foil down and got the burgers and hot dogs started. They were sizzling!! However, we were like icicles. Maybe we should've checked out this site for winter picnic ideas...like hand warmers!! The temp. had dropped to 42°, and the wind was booking!! So, we quickly ate our BBQ, guzzled our drinks (fighting over the hot chocolate my sister had brought), then ran for the trucks!! Boy it was cold! What was supposed to be a mild day evolved into wind gusts of 25-40mph, and 21°!! So much for the Weather Channel! We had a great time anyway, finishing up our "picnic" with dessert and hot coffee at my parents house. We got some great pictures, had some great laughs about how cold we were and how we must've looked to the many people driving through the park (we thought they were probably saying, "Hey look at that family...what do they think it's the middle of July having a picnic outside in this??!!") We didn't care...we were making memories. That's what Family Fun Night is all about!!

Photo from: Ready for the House

Family Fun- St. Patrick's Day in the Country

One of the many great bagpipe groups in the parade...brings back memories. We had bagpipers at our wedding!

St. Patrick's Day around here is special...St. Patrick is my son's patron saint, who he's named after (his middle name, actually) Francis-Patrick... can't get more Irish than that! We celebrate every year going to the St. Patrick's Day parade in our small, tiny town, then I typically make an Irish meal after. This year the parade's Grand Marshall was my high school principal... a Catholic priest "right off the boat" so-to-speak from Ireland. It made it that much more meaningful, seeing students marching in the parade from my high school (present ones and ones I went to school with and their own families!), and students from my Catholic elementary school. This year it was more like a "homecoming" of sorts. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law and her family drove to visit and enjoyed a day in the "country". It was beautiful weather and great Family Fun for all!!

Only in the country...haybails and tractors pulling along the floats!

Having a Plan...when changing the Plans!!

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Change is a part of life and every single day everything is changing...keep your heart open to new possibilities and new experiences!

I love having a menu plan... it keeps me focused and from frantically running around at 5pm (the witching hour around here) wondering what I'm going to fix for supper, not having anything defrosted. It also helps out when your original "plan" goes out the window, as in this past week for us. I rearranged some dates meals, changed some meals altogether, and totally eliminated the rest! But that's okay...things change according to circumstances.

In additon to the changes to our meal plan for the week, our original plan to have a "Family Fun Night" split itself in half. Instead, we had a "Daddy/Daughter Fun Night" and a "Mommy/Son Fun Night". My husband took my daughter Saturday night to the final's for the basketball league that he coaches in... too bad they were spectators and not participants!! We hope to be there competing next year!! Considering it was a later evening game, and the fact that my three year old son doesn't particularly enjoy sitting through games just yet and had already sat through my daughters Upward basketball game this morning, I decided to stay home with him. We played PBSkids.org on the computer. Something he never gets to do on his own...he always has his older sister pushing her way in or monopolizing what they see. He was thrilled to play SuperWhy Bingo! It was so exciting to watch him use the mouse to find the letters and click...! Then, we had ice-cream cones, played "catch" and roll the ball in the family room (something that is rarely allowed because it always seems to get out-of-hand!!), played a few minutes of Planet Heroes mixed together with cowboys on a horse, then went on a "mission" (think...Little Einsteins). All this within two and a half hours! We then got (comfy-cozy...a phrase that make him giggle!!) in our jammies and watched Caillou before bed. My sister then brought my daughter home, while my husband stayed for another round of games. She came home exhausted, having spent the entire game cheering on the team I'm told! She had a blast with her father (my father, sister, and her children were there as well...my father also coaches in the same league, and lost in the semi's Thurs. night...the family is close, another tiny-town type thing!!) I'm glad we were able to do this...just the other day my husband had off school and my daughter didn't, so he took my son with him to practice and I took my daughter out to lunch before kindergarten. We had some great one-on-one time with each child this week! A change I'd like to do more often!

Today ended up being a great family day. The sun was shining and my mother-in-law was able to drive the hour to see my daughters game, then treated us to breakfast. The kids were able to play outside, the family was able to see one another tonight, and even though our little family wasn't all physically together tonight and plans changed, we ended up having some great "Father-Daughter, Mother-Son Family Fun"!!

"P" is for Purple Popcorn

I have a kindergartener. She has been busily working on perfecting her printing skills. I noticed, as a former teacher myself, she was having difficulty with a few such letters... discriminating between upper and lowercase letters to be exact. And the letter "p" is one of those pesky letters. So...I went perusing through all of my "teacher" files from my days in second grade and got out my alphabet sheets. I've started supplementing with some more practice at home (notice the use of "p" words??!!) Tonight, to help with some writing skills, we made purple popcorn to write a few sentences about (recipe here). The popcorn was delicious and inspired some great "p" letter word writing! Give it a try...make learning fun!

We Are the Champions!!!

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Recovering here after having to jump start my heart during the last few minutes of the game...my, my...we got our money's worth on this one! What a game!! (Honestly, I enjoy these games much more than the total blowouts!)

We enjoyed our scaled down, quiet, "comfy-cozy" night...we would've loved the guests, but there was just no way to have our get-together tonight.

What we served up:

A menu of Pittsburgh Firsts and Favorites

"Primanti" cheesesteak hoagie ring (real steaks, sandwich sliced at the butcher), sliced kielbasa in brown sugar syrup, pierogies, and fries. (can't forget the chips!)

My tray: "Primanti" cheesesteak, kielbasa, and pierogies

And for dessert: Klondike Bars (a Pittsburgh original)

New England Saturday Night- Cozy Family Fun!

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What a wonderful Family Fun Night we had tonight!! Extended family visiting from out of town made it so special! I am so thankful to the Lord that we are all healthy (aside from my children having colds) and that we were able to be together! Living simply and having the love and support of your family is all that matters...the most important things in life aren't things.

A tradition in our family growing up was a traditional Saturday Night Supper (pronounced "suppah"...hence, the accent!). And tonight, with my sisters all together, our family got back to tradition, relishing the stories of our older relatives who have passed on, and making our own, new memories I hope our children will remember.

A super weekend started out last night, when my sister flew in from "down south" to see my husband coach against my father in a high school basketball rivalry. Turns out that experience does prevail, and Dad won...again. I'm happy for my fathers victory, but of course would've loved to see my husband win! (gotta support the paycheck!!) It can only happen in a "tiny town", as one of my "blog buddies" puts it!

Dinner is served:
Hotdogs (boiled of course!!) New England style hotdogs: boiled or steamed...never fried!

My rendition of The Maine Diner's Mac & Cheese:

B&M Baked Beans...and only B&M!! (BTW...do you know that B&M makes a Boston Brown Bread in a can??!! What a devoted Boston based company...offering all the faves in a can!) Of course I "doctored" them up a bit with some nice crisp bacon, a touch of molasses and some brown sugar. Mmmm.......

Boston Brown Bread: (not from a can!)

To make this day even more special and keeping with the "Family Fun" goal, earlier in the day the kids helped me prepare the apple pie for dessert. (I will post the recipe soon!)

The night was filled with love and laughter. Just the way we planned it!
And, it wouldn't be a real, traditional New England Saturday Night without a visit from the local tow trucker to help us out of a snow bank! What an authentic way to end the night... these "New England" winters are brutal!!

priceless!

New England Saturday Night Suppah...

My family is from New England... We grew up with this traditional New England Saturday Night meal and relished the stories of fun family times from way back when. So why not make our own fun family memories to pass down? What better time to celebrate this Family Fun Night then when my sister, who is from "the south", is in town? (BTW...she is in town to see my father coach against my husband. My father coaches for a rival team of my husbands team in the same league...believe me, it's great to watch!!)

On the menu:
Hot dogs (we'll be using Sabretts...)
Baked beans with maple syrup
Macaroni and Cheese
Boston Brown Bread
Apple pie

Family Fun Night...A Change of Plans

Our initial plan for tonight's Family Fun Night was to have a "country picnic" with family. Well, as we all know in busy families, plans change. We really haven't been "out" for a while, and with all of the snow we've been having and another storm in the forecast for tomorrow, the natives are getting restless and suffering a little from "cabin fever". So...CountryMama and CountryDaddy had a plan: To go to Build-A-Bear (didn't take much encouragement after receiving this coupon) to use the gift cards they got for Christmas, then to McDonald's for dinner (since a happy meal was one of the rewards that the gold coins were cashed in for this week). And, on a more practical side, we needed vacuum cleaner bags at Sears and I had Gymbucks to use, so we headed to the mall. We had a blast! We never go to Build-A-Bear, unless they have a gift card which they usually get for a birthday or Christmas. What a wonderful gift. Thank you "cousins"...they really enjoyed it!
This Family Fun night will be tough to beat!!

"Kelly" the bunny outfitted in Camp Rock attire, and "Buster" the Black Lab

Kids in the Kitchen

My kids love to get in the kitchen with me and cook...that's one of the reasons why we started our Family Fun Nights. They also love to watch the Food Network...my daughter thought she was Rachel Ray from the age of 18months...when she first got her own kitchen (the very same one as above). She has now moved onto Paula and Sandra Lee, but is still a huge fan of 30minute meals. It's so amusing to watch her imagination in pretending she's got her own show! Fishmama has a funny post about how her fishkids are, too, infatuated with the Food Network, and a recipe swap of sorts. Check out her posts on cooking with her brood in tow and ideas from other moms.

Want ideas for getting your kids in your kitchen...click here!!

Share your tips/ideas when having your children help you out with cooking/baking.

Values in our home

For awhile now my husband and I have been thinking of and trying to develop a behavioral and responsibility system that works. Our six year old is ready for, or actually needs, responsibility. We want to teach our three year old early on how to be responsible, and he is actually better at following through with chores than his older sister. He likes helping. Kids need a purpose.

Which brings us to the Spiritual Treasure Reward System. This is very much like the Marble Reward system I used while teaching, and it's still used in many classrooms because it works. Each child will have a chart with a list of certain responsibilities. If those responsibilites are met, they will earn a "coin" in their jar. (which I printed on cardstock) The same for behavior. If they fail to fulfill their chores or don't behave or follow the family/house rules, they will lose a coin. As a motivation there will be a list of rewards to choose from at the end of the week, along with a little "store" by using their earned coins. Included is: a movie of choice with popcorn and hot chocolate, a Mc. D's happy meal, a night at the movie theater, bowling, etc., and from the "store": stickers, crayons, Barbie doll, superheroes, etc...

The kids are excited and so are we! Ready to start in the morning!

Two lonely jars awaiting golden coins...

What works for your family?

The Fun Must Go On

In spite of our sad news today, my husband and I made the decision to continue on with plans for Family Fun Night. Tomorrow, hopefully we'll be able to visit with family. But for now, with little ones around life must go on, even though you're grieving inside. So, tonight we planned to make lasagna together. And, since we're in the middle of a snowstorm and expecting 10inches of snow, we decided to go out and play while the lasagna baked. It was a great, warm meal to welcome us in from the cold (17degrees!)

I made "Sizzler bread" to go along with it. I sliced french bread, mixed together softened butter, cheddar and parm. cheese, put a dollop on each side of the bread and grilled until brown. Yum-O!







The kids had a great time... my three year old was asleep on the bench at the dinner table at 6:25pm! And the six year old in jammies and ready for bed at 7:30pm!! Now that's what I call a super ending to Family Fun Night!!

Is anyone else experiencing a snowstorm today or taking part in any other Family Fun events??

Cozy Family Fun Nights!

The Cozy family has a New Years Resolution...and we started it tonight! One of our family resolutions, aside from being more attune to using our indoor voices, is to put aside Saturday nights for Family Fun nights! With my husband home more now (switched school districts and went from an hour and a half commute down to 10 minutes) this is certainly something we are all looking forward to! Even during football and basketball seasons he will be home early enough to take part in the activities!! On these nights we plan to make a meal together (a dish we can all participate in preparing), then games, a special movie rental and popcorn, a craft, or some special activity we can all do. We'll have more options come nicer weather!

To kick off our first Cozy Family Fun night tonight, we made homemade pizza. We bought dough from our favorite pizza place for $2.50 (did you know you can buy your favorite pizza shoppes dough??!!) I used to make my own with my bread machine, but found with the rise in the cost of flour, etc, it was more cost effective to just pick some up, and my family enjoyed the meal more, too!! After supper, we enjoyed games of Tigger and Pooh matches, Crazy Eights, and Cootie! Fun was had by all!

We're looking forward to next weeks night, already thinking of what meal we can plan! Any ideas? Do any of you have these fun nights?