Blueberry Picking 2018

A couple of years ago, my family went blueberry picking and we loved it so much we couldn't wait to go again! When we went in 2016, we picked 7 pounds of bluebrries - crazy, right? Well, this year, we went and picked 18 pounds. How? How on earth did five of us do that kind of damage in just 1 hour? On our way to go picking we dropped my Auntie Norma's birthday present and picked up her daughter to come with us. So, not all 18 pounds were for us, we did share some. But still, crazy! I took some pictures of our adventures in blueberry picking and today, I'm sitting down to share them all with you!

We go blueberry picking in small town Quebec and their property is huge! They have some flowers planted near the parking lot, but then the rest of their fields are berries as far as the eye can see! We pick blueberries but they also have raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, prunes and cherries. We've only ever been when the blueberries are ready to pick, we've never gone at the right time of year to pick all of the other fruits!

Strawberry, Quinoa & Cashew Salad

This salad just screams summer to me! When I made this last week, my family enjoyed it with some Italian Sausages on the barbecue - it was sooo good! The Bean has loved lending a hand in the kitchen this summer, but all she wants to do is stir!! She was thoroughly unimpressed with this salad, because there is very little stirring to be done! I was worried she wouldn't eat the salad (she tends to be less willing to try if she isn't involved in the process!) but she loved the salad! This got rave reviews all around!

I found the recipe on Julia's Album, you can find it HERE. I swapped out the peaches for Nectarine (an intentional change) and used much less spinach than called for (an unintentional change), but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly!

My Latest Cricut Projects

The Bean has been scoring big time with all of the cricut crafting I've been doing lately! She requested a shirt that said 'Killin' It' and I said 'huh?' I was confused! She said the shirt needs to be black with an outlined white rectangle with Killin' It written inside. I just followed her careful instructions and the shirt turned out so cute! It came together so easily - I picked up a black shirt from Michael's and used some white vinyl that I already had!

Lemon Squares

This recipe is a long time coming - one of my best friends, Alex has been making these lemon squares forever and I have been begging to have the recipe! Alex claims that this recipe is a big family secret. She finally agreed to let me in on the secret recipe on the condition that my readers keep it on the down low ;)

A couple of weeks ago, Alex and I got together for a little bake day and we made these lemon squares. After baking, I uploaded all of the pictures onto my Google drive but I deleted the pictures before they had a chance to upload - so I lost all of the pictures. I texted her in a panic and she said she had to make more soon, so I could join her again! I am so excited to finally be sharing this recipe - it is one of my favorite desserts of all time!

Summer Berry Tart

I made this tart over the weekend for a dinner with family thinking it would be a great summer dessert. Well, not only was it a great summer dessert, it was delicious! The crust was just like a shortbread cookie, the filling is light with a little bit of orange flavor and the berries on top just put it over the edge! I found the recipe on Simply Recipes, you can find it HERE.

Start by making the crust in the food processor - Pulse 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of salt together.

Beach Themed Summer Banner

Happy, happy summer!! I love how much sunlight we get during the summer and I have really been enjoying the longer days! This banner is one of my more recent cricut projects and it's not strung in my house because I actually made it as a gift! This banner was so much fun to make, here's how I did it:

Personal Narratives in Second Grade

Teaching is something that I didn't initially intend to post about on my blog. When I started to develop the lesson that I'm sharing today, I thought it might be a fun one to share. But when I got to teach the lesson and see how effective it was, I knew I had to share it! This lesson was developed with inspiration from Pinterest as well as guidance from my cooperating teacher! We used several ideas from True Life I'm a Teacher while developing this lesson.

The second grade classroom that I was in were coming to the end of a unit that focused on situating themselves in place and time. Throughout the unit, they discussed time zones, they made personal timelines, they read books about people who live in different parts of the world and people who lived at different times throughout history, they explored vocabulary to help them express where they are in place and time and more! To close the unit, the students had to write a personal narrative to add to their portfolios and I got to teach the lesson to introduce Personal Narratives! Here is how I did it...

First, I wrote this out on a flip chart at the front of the classroom. I did this before the kids got to school - most times, I think it's effective to make the flip chart with the students present, but in this case, I did it before.

Friday Favorites: Hello June!

I can't believe it's June! I know I say this every month but sometimes it really feels like I'm living in fast forward sometimes! Ferris Bueller's quote "Life moves pretty fast, If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it" has been on my mind lately. I've really been trying to slow down and be present in every moment. I have definitely not been living crazy like Ferris! I've just been trying to slow down BIG time! Here is a little look at what's going on around here:

1. I mean, does this picture really look like anything!? Not really, but it's a bonfire! One of the girls that I go to school with hosted a bonfire in her backyard last weekend and it was so much fun! I love sitting fireside and snacking on s'mores with friends! Some of the girls at the party had never had a s'more in their life - huh!? I didn't even realize this was a possibility!!

Pineapple Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I have been wanting to try decorating cookies with royal icing for a while, but I was so intimidated by the whole process! After doing a fair bit of research, I finally built up the courage to use royal icing! I will share more as I discover more, but I definitely recommend reading as much as you can find before using royal icing!! I used the recipe that Lindsey from Follow the Ruels shares HERE.

Make & Take: a teacher gift

I mentioned in a couple of recent blog posts that I just finished up a teaching internship! I was in a second grade classroom with the sweetest kids and a wonderful cooperating teacher! As my internship was coming to an end, I started looking through Pinterest for gift ideas for my students and for my cooperating teacher! I'll talk all about what I did for the kids next week, but for now, I'm talking about what I made for my cooperating teacher!

Chili Lime Chicken Tacos with Pineapple Salsa & Avocado Crema

This is one of my all time favorite meals! There is so much flavor going on in these tacos and they are so perfect for spring or summer! I found the recipe a couple of years ago on Carlsbad Cravings (one of my favorite foodie blogs!!) and I am never disappointed when I make it! You can find the recipe HERE.

The chicken needs to marinate for marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, but I typically prep the chicken the night before and leave it to marinate in the fridge overnight!

Prep the marinade in a container large enough to hold the chicken by adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.

Playlist: Summer 2016

I can hardly believe that it's August! This summer has flown by so fast and I figured it's about time I share what I've been listening to this summer!

1. Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by Sleeping at Last (originally by The Police)
2. Heartbeats by José Gonzales
3. Turning Page by Sleeping at Last
4. It's Always You by Kris Allen
5. Beatiful & Wild by Kris Allen
6. Only Love by Ben Howard
7. A World With You by Jason Mraz
8. Jolene by the Weepies
9. How Will I Know by Sam Smith (originally by Whitney Houston)
10. Dirty by Ed Sheeran (originally by Christina Aguilera)
11. Wonderwall by Ed Sheeran (originally by Oasis)
12. If I Ain't Got You by James Bay (originally by Alicia Keys)

All of the songs I've included are linked to the YouTube version of the song that I listen to. Most of the songs are available for download, but some of the covers are only available on YouTube.

Happy listening!
Kenzie

Egg Cartons Crabs

I saw these little crabs on Pinterest and I could not wait to make some. I commissioned some help from my younger sister and we made some crabs to go with all the beach decor currently covering my mantle & craft wall!

Start by cutting up an egg carton. The cutting part is not very kid friendly because cutting an egg carton is tough! I recommend doing this part before letting kiddos get involved. Once the egg carton is cut up and you're left with these little cups, I recommend setting out some old newspaper and letting kids take over the painting part!

We did two coats of red paint, then let them dry over night. Once they were dry, I pierced some holes in the cartons to push the pipe cleaners through using a knife. I let my sister adjust all the pipe cleaners to make the cartons into crabs while I was hot gluing some googly eyes on the ends on some pipe cleaner pieces. I also used hot glue to secure the pincers on the ends of 2 of the crab legs. I made the pincers by bending a little piece of pipe cleaner into a "V" and hot gluing it onto the end of a straight piece of pipe cleaner.

The little crabs turned out so cute, they were the perfect addition to our beach themed mantle!
See you tomorrow,
Kenzie 

Summer Banner

My family has a great window in our kitchen. I love it because it lets in so much light but also because it is the perfect place to hang banners. This whole banner thing is relatively new to our family, but I have gone all out on the seasonal banners since valentine's day! I will share what is hanging in our window as the seasons change but for now we are celebrating summer!

I love making banners because they require very little materials and they are so quick to make! I made this one using my Cricut! I used scrapbooking paper for the background of the banner (the rectangles with the little triangles cut out). I have a lot of scrapbooking paper and by a lot, I mean too much! It is especially too much because I don't scrapbook, I just love fun paper! I just sorted through my paper and found prints that worked best with summer (ie. lots of flowers, birds, bugs, bright colors...).

I used white cardstock to make the white backing for the letters, and I used colored cardstock to cut out the letters to spell summer. My intention was to use bright summery colors, but I don't think yellow ended up being the best idea because that second 'M' is barely visible. In the future, I will definitely use darker colors because I think the 'E' and 'R' turned out the best! All the gluing was done with a regular glue stick and it has held up great!

I used a whole punch to punch 2 holes in the top of each banner and strung the banner with twine. This banner has been great because it's festive and fun without taking over the whole decor of our kitchen!

Happy Summer!
Kenzie