Dane's Birthday- Kid Snacks

Another birthday, another special weekend.

Dane turned 12 this year.
He has many interests including cross country, music ( He plays the guitar),
art, school, spelling bee, church camp and youth activities, and other things as
he discovers what is available.

Cross country

Graham drew him this picture for a birthday present.
Another artist in the family.

This is a picture of the snack idea we used for a blog.

We gathered our own snacks that we had:
cheese crackers, yogurt raisins, dried cranberries,  and animal crackers.
The sky is the limit on what snacks to include.
I thought if you have space in the refrigerator that you could make
bags of cheese and crackers butterflies.

Duncan is working on the antennae for his butterfly.
They are made from pipe cleaners twisted around the wooden clothespins.

We drew butterfly "features" onto the clothespins with magic markers.

A few stickers add some markings to the butterfly.

 What a fun crew.
Dane, Graham, Duncan, and Spencer.

Another great artist in the family, Spencer.
He gave me this drawing to take home and display with my other works of art.
Thanks, Spencer!

We read the book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".
Of course, we had to have some chocolate chip cookies for the story.

It is story time with Grandpa Doug.

Ceci is starting her cooking career at a young age.

This is the tomato pie Evie made for Doug from the bounty of her tomato plants.
It was a good year.
I didn't get the recipe, but I found one at
Simply Recipes!

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomato_pie/#ixzz3mKSIZ1Ic

Here are the Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie shell (see pie crust recipe for homemade version) 

1/2 cup chopped yellow or red onion 

3-4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 large leaves)* 

2 cups grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozarella) 

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

1 teaspoon (or more to taste) of Frank's Hot Sauce (or Tabasco) 

Freshly ground black pepper

*To slice basil, chiffonade them by stacking the leaves on top of each other, roll them up like a cigar, starting at one end slice the "cigar" crosswise in thin slices.

Follow the directions at the link above.

This was a very special treat for Doug!

Grandparents and kids!

Fun!

This is Dane's very special birthday gift from Mom & Dad!

Practice, Practice, Practice!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!