International Homeless Animals' Day

The hosts of the No Ordinary Blog Hop are highlighting an important issue on the hop page this month that I would like to tell you about.  August 20th is International Homeless Animals' day.  All over the world animals are being abandoned.  The reasons vary of course as to why someone would no longer be able to or want to care for their pet.  However, the fact remains that through no fault of their own, many pets find themselves homeless, either left to fend for themselves on the streets or left in shelters.

This issue is something that is very near to my heart.  We adopted our dog Hooch from the Cumberland County SPCA  in 2006.  He was found by animal control wandering in the street and taken to the animal shelter.  No one came to claim him and after two weeks he was available for adoption.  We fell in love with him right away.  His coat was dry, his skin was flaky, his head looked enormous due to his underweight body, he passed gas like nobody's business, and wasn't quite house trained.  But he was perfect to us.  The SPCA conducted an assessment and thought that he would make an excellent pet for a family with young children.  He's been a wonderful addition to our family.  His skin and coat improved immensely after the stress of the shelter was over and he started a healthy diet.   We took him to obedience class and he's house trained now.  He put on about twenty five pounds.  He still passes gas like nobody's business but hey nobody's perfect.  I wonder all the time about the person who let such a great dog get away but I'm thankful that we found him.  I'm thankful for the Cumberland County SPCA and all the hard work they do.  We've started a new tradition in our family.  Every year for Hooch's gotcha day we make a donation to the Cumberland County SPCA.  I hope that it helps the other animals in the shelter find forever homes where they can be loved and taken care.

Here's Hooch and Ms. Q a few weeks after we adopted him

Here he is enjoying his first Christmas with us

This is Hooch today - a bit older and grayer :)

Enjoying an old man nap on the couch while we were camping

If you can, why not take the time to volunteer at your local animal shelter or make a donation.  A little can go a long way for an animal in need.

Garden Update: Eggplant

One of my favorite vegetables is eggplant.  When I was little we lived next to a farm that grew eggplants and living in New Jersey we eat them alot.  I've never grown them before until this year. I bought two small plants at the grocery store on a whim and then put them in the garden after the radishes were finished.  A few weeks ago they started to flower and now we have some lovely fruit growing!  Little M was a little disappointed in them and he said that he is not going to eat those "weird purple eggs"!

We are also looking forward to our melons finishing up.  Both the cantaloupe and the watermelon should be ready in a week or so.

We are still having a problem with wildlife eating our tomatoes.  I just don't have it in me to kill them, much to my husband's irritation.  I did finally get one tomato away from those stinky chipmunks.  I picked it when it started to blush and it's ripening up on the kitchen counter (next to Little M's yellow pepper).

How's your garden growing?  I'm linking up The Garden Path - come check it out.

Field Trip: Atlantic City Aquarium

The kids and I had a great time at the Atlantic City Aquarium on Friday.  I mentioned it briefly in last week's weekly wrap-up but it was such a blast that I thought I would tell you more about it and show a few more pictures from our trip.  First off,  I have never been to this aquarium before and didn't even know that it existed until a few months ago.  I found it while doing an internet search of field trip ideas.  This is strange because I've lived less than 40 miles from it most of my life.  And I'm not the only one.  I've mentioned the AC Aquarium to quite a few people, including dear hubby, and no one else knew about it either.  It's a great little aquarium with a great admission price!  Ms. Q and Little M want to plan another trip soon and bring along Dad.

They had lots of tanks for touching.  This is always my kids' favorite part of any aquarium visit.  Here Ms. Q and Little M get up close with some sea stars and sand sharks.  Then Ms. Q was brave enough to touch the horseshoe crab.  Everyone got quite a laugh when I attempted to touch a cownose ray but screamed when it flapped out of the water just to right of my hand.  No picture of that but a nice embarrassing story for the kids to tell Dad!

I love when the kids get excited about something.  Here Baby C is making fish faces at the fish. Then everyone got excited over the sea horses that were hiding!

This aquarium has ALOT of antique diving equipment from different diving helmets to this full suit (which no one would stand near because of it's appearance as a bad guy in the SpongeBob Movie).

There was a low table with metal plaques attached to make crayon rubbings of your favorite sea creatures.  Here Little M works on a lobster picture.

 

The third floor of the aquarium held more antique diving equipment and plenty of information on the history of ocean exploration.  There was also a lovely observation area where we watched boats coming in and out of the harbor and seagulls landing.  Oh and Baby C posed with a pirate.

 Outside the aquarium we walked along the marina and stopped to get some ice cream.

We had a great day.  I'm so glad we found the Atlantic City Aquarium!

 

3 in 30: Goals for August

 This will be the first time I am linking up with 30 in 30.  This is such a wonderful idea.  I have been thinking about joining in for a few month now but just couldn't take that first step.  So here I am.  I am listing my goals and I will follow through on them. You all will hold me accountable, right?

We all know that water is very important for a healthy body.  Well, with running around after the kids and paying attention to diaper changes, naps, school plans, and meals I sometimes forget to drink any water, let alone the 8-8oz. glasses dietitians recommend.  So my goal is by then end of the month I will increase my water drinking to at least 5 glasses a day.

My second goal is a little dirty. Ok, it's a lot dirty.  I am terrible at keeping up with the dishes.  We have a dishwasher.  It's not like I have to wash them by hand.  I just always forget to get the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and then there is no place for the dirty dishes except piled up in the sink where they usually sit until we are out of cups (or plates, or forks, or all of these) and then I empty and load it and wash the needed items by hand.  I hate this.  Well no more.  My goal is everyday to have the dirty dishes loaded in the washer before bed, run it at night, and empty it in the morning.

My third goal this month is a fun one.  I would like to create and complete a weekly family fun day.  Dear hubby only gets one day off a week, Sunday, and we would love to spend some quality time together as a family on this day.  What always seems to happen though is that we spend the first half of the day lounging around talking about what we would like to do that day.  Then we realize that the day is half over and some household chore or other needs to be done.  My goal is to plan two Sunday Fundays and one Family Night for the months of August and September.  If these go well then we will continue making plans for the rest of the year.

So to recap my goals for August:

1. Increase my water drinking to at least 5 glasses a day by the end of the month.
2. Load dirty dishes in the washer before bed, run it at night, and empty it in the morning everyday.
3. Plan two Sunday Fundays and one Family Night for the months of August and September.

Weekly Wrap-up: More Summer Fun

We are in full summer swing around here.  I've read about others families who are back to school this month but we just can't get back to the grind yet.  Granted we only started our summer break in July, but we are having too much fun!  This week we had more swimming and bike riding at the campground, we went to the beach and to the aquarium.  Our weekly park playgroup was rained out but we had a great time watching movies and eating popcorn.  There's something special about summer.  I'm so grateful that I can spend this time with my children and create wonderful summertime memories with them.

Picnic at the beach

Ocean fun

Next week Ms. Q is going to Zoo Camp and spending the week at the campground with my parents.  I know she will have a great time.  I don't know what the boys and I will do all week without her!  I'm sure we'll have some fun too.

Favorite Recipe: Peach Kuchen

It's peach season here in the Garden State!!  Although we missed the peach picking trip with our homeschool group last week (car trouble) we were able to get some delicious peaches from the farm stand and make our favorite fruit kuchen.  This recipe is really flexible and I use it for all kinds of fruits in season.  It's great with apples, plums, pears, and peaches!





Fresh Fruit Kuchen

1/4 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. milk
sliced fruit (in this case about 3-4 peaches)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsps. cinnamon

1. In a medium sized bowl cream butter and sugar. Then beat in eggs. In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture with milk.  Mix well.  Pour into a greased 10-inch springform pan.

2. Arrange fruit on top, gently press into batter.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

3. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until top is browned and toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes in pan then run a knife around edge of pan and remove sides. Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!