Best Family Adventures

Wow...time flies - an update from the farm

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:29:00 +0000

I can't believe it's been five months since I wrote my last blog entry. (Why does this sound like the opening of a bloggers' anonymous meeting?) I blame life, and I'm not even going to try to make up...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Smoothies for Big Kids

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:50:00 +0000

Lately, I've been on a smoothie kick. No ice cream. No yogurt. No ice. Just fruits and veggies blended. (Some of the fruits/veggies are frozen so they give the smoothie a bit of thickness.) All...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Best Family Ham Bone Soup Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:56:00 +0000

This post is largely for my mom, who enjoys cooking, discovering great food, reading recipes and, like me, has no aversion to pork product. But I hope other ham lovers, soup lovers, cooks and...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Happy New Year - Good Deeds to Come

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 04:50:00 +0000

What do you say when mental illness takes the life not only of its sufferer, but scores of victims around him? How do you recover from that? How can those families EVER expect to recover. You know...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Little Dresses for Africa - Dresses BY Kids FOR Kids

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:01:00 +0000

I love it when the girls take off with a project. Such was the case with the Little Dresses/Little Britches for Africa project the girls ran with this month. A little back story: when we signed up...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Pumpkins on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:42:00 +0000

I had wanted to grow our own pumpkins, to have a bumper crop of tomatoes, an overwhelming supply of squash. Instead, this year, we learned a lot about gardening in the country, and we picked up our...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

4H - Jumping Right In

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:35:00 +0000

Leaving our old 4H club was really tough. Our daughter was on the board, the leaders were dynamic, the kids were active, and there were some tight-knit friendships blooming. Rather than mourn our...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Growing Up Outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:20:00 +0000

There is just nothing like spending time outside. And where there's a tree, there needs to be a swing, or a low branch to use as a step. This daughter of ours understands that fact of life to her...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Big Excitement in California - RAIN!

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 14:06:00 +0000

I've always gotten pretty excited by rain. Shoot, ANY change in weather thrills a kid raised on the Central Coast of California where the average temperature year-round is somewhere pretty darn close...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

PB&J Birthday Fakeout

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Here's a little something fun to do for a dyed-in-the-wool PB&J lover. Bake a cake in a bread tin. Slice as you would other home-baked bread. Make butter cream frosting, and add just a...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

FauxReo Cookie Sandwiches

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 10:18:00 +0000

The break in the heat means a return to the kitchen, apparently. Today, the flour and sugar, eggs and butter, and no small amount of chocolate beckoned. V and I responded to the call and made these...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Doily Storm

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:11:00 +0000

I think I noted in an earlier post that E picked up crochet earlier this year. Well, she's taken off. She used to enjoy knitting, but she's LOVING crochet. She made dozens of hats for members of the...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Creative SLO Living - Tie Alley

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:09:00 +0000

I really don't know what this is about, but I discovered it not very far from the sweater-wrapped tree, utility box murals and other street art during a recent walk in SLO town. It's one of those...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Summer Scenes on The Farm

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 10:03:00 +0000

It was really hot out here this summer, for far too long. I'd expected a couple of weeks of extreme heat - temperatures over 100 - but it went on for weeks on end. I hate heat, but there were...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

It's APPLESAUCE TIME!

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:54:00 +0000

It's that time of year again! Apple gleaning season which means applesauce galore here. This year, the girls and I headed to one of our favorite apple spots. For canning and freezing apples, we...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Tomatoes, Hornworms and Hen Diets

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:46:00 +0000

Not all was lost this garden season. Sure, we had some issues with pests. Sure, I considered calling it "the year of failure." But that didn't last long. I opted, instead, to call this "the year of...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

First Day of School Traditions

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:41:00 +0000

You may have gathered by now that I'm a lagging on my posts. After all, it's pretty darn close to a certain girl's birthday and you haven't seen a post about THAT! I apologize. I've been focusing on...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Hen House, Hens and Lots of Dirt Movin'

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:40:00 +0000

I can't even begin to express just how fantastic our friends are. Without their help, their encouragement and their old projects we'd still be a no-chicken family. Who knows? We might still be living...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

I Madonnari for One

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:49:00 +0000

A strange thing is happening as the girls gain a little more independence and learn to express their desires more clearly: they're opting to separate, to seek out one-on-one time with each of their...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Mountains+Water+Cousins=Wild & Wacky Bunch

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 08:35:00 +0000

For each of the past several years, with one exception, the girls and I (and once Mr. B) trekked to a certain campground in the Sierra to float the river, soak in the natural hot springs, make...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Father-Daughter Weekend Getaway at Coyote

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 08:20:00 +0000

It's been a long time since my dad and I had a weekend to just the two of us. One beautiful weekend this summer, Dad was headed up to one of our favorite Sierra lakes. His passenger seat would be...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Quidditch Wednesdays

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 07:21:00 +0000

Kids find the most fun things to do! Each Wednesday, we gather in a fairly local park with a load of other kids of the same educational ilk. At least one family is VERY interested in all things...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Healthy-ish Apple Treats and Bacon Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 07:08:00 +0000

I miss making fun food for the girls. I think one of the saddest things about kids growing up is that they don't remember all the fun things we did for them when they were little and easily...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Caterpillars, Moths and Tortoise News

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:50:00 +0000

We have interesting visitors out thisaway. Tonight, V found this incredible caterpillar. It measured five inches long and was as thick as my thumb. We think it might be an Achemon Sphinx caterpillar,...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

There's No Such Thing as a Free Pool

noreply@blogger.com (JenPB) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 06:25:00 +0000

Like so many projects, this one started with a gift. - a free pool E and I picked up down the road. The story was that the pool owner's neighbor had gifted her the above-ground contraption when they...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]