Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Mrs. Mariner’s Homemade Applesauce Recipe

September 20, 2012 By Deirdre

I have been dying to go to Skytop Orchards with JDaniel to get apples and make applesauce. Yesterday I showed you pictures of our trip to the orchard and today I am going to show you how we made applesauce.

Mrs. Mariner's Homemade Applesauce Recipe

I have never made applesauce before or at least I don’t remember having made it before. JDaniel and I checked a book out of the library called Applesauce Season that describes how to make applesauce using a food mill to break up the apples after boiling them.We don’t have a food mill and none of the other mom’s in my playgroup had one either when I checked with them. I turned to the women of my church who have set up a Facebook group to see if any of them had one. Three ladies called me within two hours to say that had one.

The first lady I talked to was Mrs. Mariner. I have never met her before, but she was a joy to talk too. She was so excited that we were going to make homemade applesauce. Not only would she bring her food mill to church to lend to me on Sunday she would take a few minutes on the phone to describe to me each step of the process.

Mrs. Mariner gave us foolproof or should I call it homemade applesauce that is novice proof.

Here is how we made homemade applesauce:

JDaniel and I cut up four pounds of apples. Mrs. Mariner told me to pick Jonathan Gold, Mats, Golden Delicious and Macintosh apples. They would give us a good mix of sweetness and tartness.

Once the apples were cut. I put them in a pot and filled the pot with enough water to cover the top of the apples. Mrs. Mariner told me that too much water would not be good for the apples.

The apples needed to boil for ten minutes and no more than that. They would get to mushy if I let them go too long.

Draining the apples in a colander sitting on top of a bowl was the step. We weren’t going to need all the water drained, but we were going to need some if the applesauce was too dry. (JDaniel loved drinking the apple water after it had cooled.)

Then we took the drained apples over to the food mill sitting on a bowl. The apples were added a little at a time to the mill. JDaniel and I took turns turning the mill and holding the mill onto the bowl.

When all the apples have been milled, you can store the applesauce in the bowl beneath the mill or you can as JDaniel did put the applesauce into plastic applesauce cups we had saved from store bought applesauce. JDaniel said they were supposed to hold applesauce and it didn’t matter what kind.

I think Mrs. Mariner would be thrilled that we did so well at our first attempt at making homemade applesauce. I know that I am.

Outside Play- Apples and Apple Orchards Link Up

September 19, 2012 By Deirdre

Welcome to Outside Play a monthly feature on JDaniel4’s Mom that is co-hosted by several other wonderful blogs. This month the focus is on apples. If you have a post on apple picking, visiting a orchard, an outdoor game with apples, a picnic featuring apple related foods or any other apple play, please take a moment and link it up below.

JDaniel and I headed to SkyTop Orchards in North Carolina last week to pick apples and explore all the wonderful play areas it has. He didn’t know we were going ahead of time. I actually didn’t decide until Friday morning while he was in school to go.

It was such a pretty ride heading north. JDaniel silently looked at the beautiful clouds and mountains as I drove.

Outside Play- Apples and Apple Orchards Link Up

SkyTop is such a pretty orchard. We had never been there before. Friends had raved that it was the place to go to get apples. It didn’t disappoint.

You have to walk down hill from the store area to the apples. There are over ten different kinds of apples in various areas of the orchard. Many of the trees on the left were not ready for picking. The trees are the right were and so that is where we headed.

JDaniel took charge of the basket they gave us for gathering apples on the way down the hill toward the Jonathan Gold. An apple guide in the store had said that the trees in that section would be just the right size for JDaniel to pick apples from all by himself.

They were right. JDaniel was able to gather a basket full of apples without even having to stand on his tiptoes. The Jonathan Gold trees were loaded down with beautiful apples.

Once the basket was filled, the task of carrying the apples shifted to me. Actually a basket filled with apples is really heavy I don’t blame JDaniel for not wanting to carry it. When you visit apple orchards all the apple seem to call to you and you end up with heavy baskets.

Then we headed over to check out the goats who didn’t seem to hold JDaniel’s attention and the bamboo forest which did.

JDaniel wanted to know if there were pandas in the forest. I told him that there are not enough pandas in the from there to be some everywhere there is bamboo in the world. Outside Play- Apples and Apple Orchards Link Up

The best part of the bamboo forest was this little bridge. It looked like we were entering a foreign land while crossing it.

If you have an outdoor post with an apple or apple orchards theme you would like to link up, please take a moment and add the badge below to it.

This hop is being co-hosted by the following blogs: Angelique Felix, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, The Fairy and The Frog, Rainy Day Mum, Inspiration Laboratories, Growing a Jeweled Rose, and The Pleasantest Thing.

Apple Tree Pasta Meal for Kids

September 17, 2012 By Deirdre

Have you ever walked down the aisle of a grocery store, looked at some food item and thought that is would be perfect of a food creation or bento lunch. It has started happening to me. Seriously, I looked at a box of multicolored pasta and thought that it would be perfect to create an apple tree pasta meal or lunch for JDaniel.I had noticed the box before and hadn’t thought anything of it. It was just another box of pasta on the shelf! Two weeks ago suddenly I looked at it and thought it would be great for an apple tree pasta meal.“The green noodles would make great leaves. The red noodles would be wonderful apples. ( The red noodles faded while boiling. I wish they had stayed brighter.) The brown noodles would be great ground cover,” I thought as I stood looking a the box. The pasta meal came together in my mind right in the grocery aisle.

I guess I have been making muffin tin and bento lunches for too long. Food creations just pop into my mind as I walk down grocery aisles.

The apple tree of pasta meal came together so well. All I needed to add to the box of pasta was a few tube sized noodles, a little Parmesan cheese and butter. JDaniel loves buttered cheese noodles. This pasta meal quickly disappeared. I will need to think of more pasta meals. My son really loves them.

If you happen to run into while I am shopping and I am staring at a package of something, I may be reading the ingredients or I may be imagining how it could be displayed in a food creation. It really could be either, but it probably is how it could fit into a meal.

If you like this pasta meal, you will find more food creations on my Food Creations board on Pinterest.

Naughty Toes Activities for Kids- Read.Explore.Learn

September 14, 2012 By Deirdre

This week we explored Naughty Toes by Ann Bonwill is a wonderful book about finding hobbies that you love. The main character Chloe tries to love ballet the way her sister does, but she just can’t. Chloe isn’t even drawn to wearing the classic pin leotard and shoes. She would rather wear red, purple and green.The dance teacher tells here she has naughty toes. She just can’t convince them to point. She tries to float like a cloud, but her cloud is filled with too much gusto. Thankfully the class pianist realizes she needs to follow her feet and her feet are leading her to tap dancing.

Naughty Toes Activities for Kids- Read.Explore.Learn

What did we do to explore Naughty Toes?

JDaniel inherited a lot of shoes. I thought it would be fun to use them to create some learning activities. As you can tell my sisters tend to buy brown shoes for their children.

Shoe Patterning

Shoes really lend themselves to patterning. I created the order the shoes should be in my setting out the first four shoes place. JDaniel had to repeat the pattern.

We also worked on abab patterns by having the first shoe pointing up and the next shoe pointing down. The same pattern could be done by have the first shoe vertical and the second horizontal.

Match the Letters Shoe Game

Naughty Toes Activities for Kids- Matching Shoes

I put Post-It notes on the bottoms of the shoes and JDaniel had to match the uppercase letters. This activity could be extend by matching the lowecase letter to the uppercase letter. It could be made easier for young children by have the matching letter on the other shoe in the pair. I had the matching letters on different shoes.

If you like our Naught Toes activities, here are some more book related activities:

Fire Safety Themed Book and Activities

Activities Based on Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?

Making a Gnome or Fairy House Based on Bella – The Fairy Ball

Memories Captured- Minor League Game

September 13, 2012 By Deirdre

A few weeks ago we went with some of my husband’s co-workers to a minor league baseball game. JDaniel was excited about going for weeks. The little boy next door had been to a game. JDaniel was dying to be able to say he had been to one too.

Just before we headed out the door I asked him if he wanted to wear a baseball cap. I thought it would keep the sun out of his eyes. No he did not I was informed. He wanted to wear his outdoor bucket hat that has bug repellent in it to the minor league game.

Why wear a bucket hat to a minor league game?

I was told that there are nocturnal mosquitoes. They come out a night and he was going to need protection.

So, off we went to the game. JDaniel acted like a backseat driver the whole way there. He and I had driven past the stadium earlier in the summer. We had been trying to hunt down Waldo for the Where is Waldo? Hunt.

When we got to our seats, JDaniel sat focused on the field clutching his ticket. He just had to hold it between his fingers while he watched the teams throwing the ball back and forth and doing warm up stretches.

For about twenty minutes his eyes stayed glued to the field with his thumb periodically rubbing across his ticket.

Once the game started, he was done watching the players. The ticket was given to me to store in my purse to take home. He took hat came off. All he wanted to do was check out the playground. After that he wanted roll down a grassy hill that is by the playground.

Every once in awhile he would roll to the bottom of the hill. Then he looked over the fence to see what was going on. Then he would trudge back up the hill to begin a roll back down again.

This post is linked to Memories Captured.

Quest for Alternative Energy Invitation to Play

September 12, 2012 By Deirdre

There has been a lot of talk about alternative energy lately. JDaniel must have heard some of it, because he decided he needed to create his own type of alternative energy. I decided that is would be a great time to create an invitation to play.In some way my sneakers are the originating power supply. The shoelaces under the table connect to an old plastic applesauce cup filled with treasures. Apparently all that old junk that is in your junk drawers is a great invitation to play. It could be a a vital part of the alternative energy gor traveling better. I really tried to understand how how they helped the process, but I didn’t quite get it. Odd toy pieces and junk may be what is needed to lower gas prices. I am all for sending them to whoever would be in charge of bringing this ideas to life. There is a ton of it all around my house. I may need a refrigerator size box to hold all of it.

A simple piece of string connected to a gyroscope and a croc that is one size too big for JDaniel are the next part of the energy process. In the demonstration I was given the gyroscope wasn’t moving. I was told it is filled with potential energy. Why kinetic wasn’t used I still don’t understand? It would have been fun to see the gyroscope moving.

Yes, JDaniel seems to understand what potential and kinetic energy is. He says he learned it from Ruff Ruffman on the show Fetch! on PBS.

Little pieces of paper taken out of the Bad Kitty alphabet game I made last week were spread all over the floor. I am not sure they are part of the alternative energy. They may just have been part of the creative process of spreading treasures all over the floor.

The bottle of hand sanitizer by the croc doesn’t seem to have a purpose. Maybe creating alternative energy sources is a messy business the creator of this type of energy didn’t seem to know. Once the demonstration was over he needed to use human energy to clean it up. There was no alternative.This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday.

Taking Time to Play- Little Moments

September 11, 2012 By Deirdre

You are going to love Little Moments. It is a blog is filled with wonderful mom moments, tons of love for a very special boys, and great ideas. I adore the post she is sharing here today. Why? I love that she plans activities for her oldest son like the one she shares in her post You Won’t Find Dinosaurs in Your Backyard.

I am very thankful to be guest posting for the Taking Time to Play series here at JDaniel4’s Mom. Before I share what we like to play I have to warn you…I am a plant killer. Aidan has eagerly shared many gardening experiences with me, mostly by decorating the front of our house with potted flowers and plants.

I soon forget them, grumbling when I see shriveled brown leaves as I try to will them back to life in a puddle of water. Every time I buy a new plant my husband laughs under his breath, “what did you bring home to kill this time?” Aidan is better at remembering to water plants than I am, yet I still continue to purchase them.

One year I bought 3 beautiful topiaries that lined a brick wall in front of our house. They were completely bare a couple of months later, so I drew scary faces on three white sheets and threw one over each of them just in time for Halloween…they’re coming back to haunt you, I thought to myself.

As much as I have grown to enjoy gardening, I haven’t taken the time to really understand the basics. I just found out from a guy at Lowes the other week that flowering plants do not do well in full shade…I’m sure he laughed about me after I left. Do you want to know what the really sad part is, aside from all the dead plants? Aidan’s favorite part of the hardware store is the gardening section. I’m not the best model for him when it comes to growing things, but we’re learning together, and it’s one of the ways we play together. Digging in the dirt, finding bugs and worms to inspect, enjoying the beautiful shades of green we arrange together. Aidan has learned basic math concepts while scooping dirt and measuring holes, the names of different plants and plant parts, and the three ingredients plants need to survive.

I am trying to develop some gardening skills for Aidan’s sake. My goal is to grow a couple of different vegetables this fall with him. For now we are playing with fake plants while I attempt to understand what I’m doing wrong. We are still enjoying the real stuff; the dirt, the water, and the sun. Even though the flowers are fake, the enjoyment of our play is real.

Hunting for a Way to Fight Hunger! Bloggers Go Orange!

September 10, 2012 By Deirdre

I think I have mentioned to you that I want JDaniel to grow up to be a world changer. Well, a wonderful movement afoot right now called Moms Fighting Hunger is giving both of us a chance to be world changers and fight hunger.

Moms Fighting Hunger is a group of mom bloggers that are remembering National Hunger Month during the month of September. Actually, they are not just remembering it, they are doing something about it. At the end of this post, I have several ways you can get involved and have your family fight hunger too.

What did we decide to do to fight hunger?

We went to one of our local grocery stores armed with a list of food our local food pantry needed in orange shirts. The campaign suggested we wear them and share why we were wearing them with others. I was able to share with two clerks at the grocery store about the campaign.

While at the grocery store, we searched for orange foods that were on their list. The food packaging was sometimes the only part of the products we found that were orange, but we thought it would count. The campaign didn’t suggest we look for orange foods I just thought it would be a fun look for food in the campaign’s color.

JDaniel found oatmeal in individual packets that were peaches and cream.

He found that Uncle Ben’s rice came in an orange container and decided we needed several of them. JDaniel also found peach applesauce, canned meat, ramen noodles, and canned fruit.

The box macaroni and cheese section had tons of orange boxes it was hard to decide which ones to put in the basket.

All in all, he found three grocery bags of food that we could take to the food pantry.

When we got to the Golden Strip Emergency Relief Center, we asked one of the volunteers to take a picture of us going into the building. Yes, it looks a little staged that is because it was.

I was shocked to see how empty the food pantry’s shelves were. This is just one of four shelving units they have. The others looked very similar to this.

I think we are going to go back each month and drop off food. We will probably continue to shop with a color theme. Next month I think we will look for red foods.

Why? I count myself blessed that when my child is hungry I can put a meal on the table for him filled with healthy foods like chicken salad with mandarin oranges, mac and cheese, carrots and whole grain cheese crackers.

If you feel blessed to be able to do the same and want to become more involved, please visit the Moms Fighting Hunger Facebook group. You will find all the information you need to help there.

Bad Kitty (An Alphabet Book)- Read.Explore.Learn.

September 7, 2012 By Deirdre

This week we explored Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel. Bad Kitty really likes to eat foods that are bad for her like chicken cheesecake, jellyfish jelly and nightingale nuggets. When shhe isn’t served what he likes, he does really bad things like overturn her cat box.She really doesn’t want mushrooms, xigua or vegetable stew.

Bad Kitty (An Alphabet Book)- Read.Explore.Learn.

Bad Kitty takes you through words from A to Z. Four times in this humorous book. Once when the good foods are shared. The second time when what bad things Bad Kitty does are shared. Thirdly when the bad foods are pictures and lastly when the kitty does good things to thank her people for the bad food.

What did we do with the book Bad Kitty?

Cat Whisker’s Counting Game

This cat game is a little like the starfish game we played a few weeks ago. JDaniel and I both had a cat who really needed whiskers and toe claws. We rolled a die to see how many we got to add each time it was our turn.

I tried to keep my cat symmetrical and someone else didn’t. The goal was to give the cat a total of twenty. I think we both saw the number twenty differently.

Hungry Cat Kitchen Search

JDaniel and I both had a cat game board. When it was our turn, we pulled a letter out of a bowl. Then we had to find something in the kitchen that started with that letter for the cat to eat. If we found one, we got to move our cat up a square on the game strip.

Remember Bad Kitty liked to eat odd foods and household items. He did in our game too.

More Book Extension Activities

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Mask

Zombie Goldfish Optical Illusion Activity

The Very Caterpillar Activities

Disclaimer: I was sent the book Bad Kitty and an audio cd of the book to review. All information and opinions about the book are my own.

Spot it ! Educational Games Review

September 6, 2012 By Deirdre

I was contacted a few weeks ago about reviewing to Spot it! games. Spot it! Basic English and Spot it! Numbers and Shapes. You may remember me mentioning how much JDaniel enjoys playing Spot! in a post I wrote in late July! JDaniel and I were both thrilled to get to review the games.

Why We Love Spot It !

JDaniel has loved the game Spot it! since he was given a sample pack of cards during our hunt for Where’s is Waldo’s in local businesses in July. The wonderful people at a game store named Boardwalk gave the pack to him.

We have taken the cards to restaurants and on the road to Nana’s house. Spot it ! reminds JDaniel of I Spy books as well as Where is Waldo?

There are many ways to play Spot It! The version we play goes like this JDaniel has to look for a symbol on his card that matches the card in the middle of the table. I have to do the same thing. Whoever finds a matching symbol first gets the center card. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins. So far due to the length of time it takes me to find a match and help him find a match, he has won the games.

The Spot it! Basic English version requires that the players match pictures and their corresponding words. JDaniel is not reading many words yet so, this game has been a challenge. I think it would be wonderful for early readers or people learning to speak English to play.

The Spot it! Number and Shapes version of the game was right up JDaniel’s alley. He knows all of the shapes and numbers in this game. To win this game we have to match the right colored shape or number to one on the stack in the center.

Actually there is more than one way to play each of the Spot it! games. Each set of cards come with multiple ways to play. We are having a great time trying each and everyone of them. I bet your family would too.For more information on Spot it! please visit the Blue and Orange Games website.

Disclaimer: I was sent two Spot it! games to review. The thoughts and information in this review are my own.