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+.

Puffin Muffin Recipe Served in a Bento

June 18, 2012 By Deirdre

I came across a wonderful recipe for The Magic Puffin muffins. They sounded like the perfect thing to serve my husband for breakfast on Father’s Day. Last Tuesday JDaniel saw the movie Happy Feet 2 and it had a puffin in it. Along with the puffin muffin I created a tortilla puffin, I wanted to share with you and the meal I wanted to make. Recently I served both them to JDaniel in a Bento container.

What is in the tin?

The box contains two puffins. I made one puffin out of a dyed tortilla cut out with a pattern of puffin that I made out of clip art picture from the internet. He was given a carrot eye with a raisin added, carrot feet, and part of his beak is made of carrot pieces. The rest of his beak is made of yellow pepper.

The second puffin is the pancake muffin I will tell you more about later.

The sun shining over the puffins is filled with delicious strawberries and blueberries. We have gotten the best tasting fruit this summer.

Making Puffins

JDaniel and I had the best time making these wonderful puffins. He loves to help in the kitchen and jumps at the opportunity to help all the time.

His first job was to place the liners in the pan. He has become an expert at pulling the liners off the stack and placing them into the pan.

JDaniel’s favorite job is mixing the ingredients. He loves to sneak his fingers into the mixing bowl. I try to keep them out of the mixing bowl, but he is very sneaky.

The final step after placing the mix in the liners was to sprinkle on crushed bacon. JDaniel loves bacon. He wanted some of the bacon to not make it on the puffins. Some of it conveniently stayed in the bag for him.

If you like this puffin muffin recipe, here are more recipes you will like:

Easy to Make Yogurt and Fruit Muffins

Breakfast Rice Recipes

Dried Fruit Teepee Snack

Read.Explore.Learn.- That’s Not How You Play Soccer, Daddy!

June 15, 2012 By Deirdre

I love the dad in the book That’s Not How You Play Soccer Daddy by Sherry Shahan! The dad in this wonderful book realizes his son is taking his job as team captain and his playing of soccer over seriously. He wants him to enjoy the game the way the other kids do.

Actually, the other kids would gather explore an anthill rather than plays soccer. Mikey thinks every rule should be followed.

After practice, his dad takes to a different part of the park for lunch and to play. Mikey just wants to practice.

Mikey’s wise dad thinks he should play shoeless, with the family dog and with his hands. After a tickle fest with his dad, Mikey agrees with his dad.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.

What did we do with this book?

Created a Game with Tomato Cages

I planted two tomato cages across from each other in the yard imagining we would play a game that combined soccer and basketball.

JDaniel looked at the cages and decided that one cage was the starting line. You then had to run around two bushes and a tree before heading across the yard to drop the ball in the far tomato cage.

My game was a little simpler, but his game turned out to be lots of fun. Sometimes it is fun to just take out some materials and see what fun game you can create.

Made Ice Tea Playdough

Sun Hats & Wellie Boots, Nurturestore, & The Imagination Tree are asking bloggers to take the PPlaydoughPledge this week. What is the pledge? It is to try to make a new kind of play dough this week.

JDaniel and I started with the basic no-cook play dough found on Sun Hat & Wellie Boots using flour, salt, oil, and boiling water. We added to it a packet of ice tea powder. JDaniel’s dad loves sweet tea and since we had read a book about a dad, I thought it would be fun.

The play dough we made turned a tan color, but really didn’t smell like sweet tea. I didn’t dump in a full packet of Lipton’s Tea and Honey and that may have kept the full scent of the tea from coming to the surface of the playdough.

We had fun playing with it anyway.

What adventures have you had with books this week?

Playing Outside: Chalk

June 14, 2012 By Deirdre

This is the time of year when many of our family’s spend time playing outside. Whether it is early in the morning or late in the afternoon in warmer climates or all day long in cooler ones.

Children need to time to play and explore the world outside their homes. The fresh air and the sunshine do them good in my opinion. Because I believe that statement I am going to co-host a series this summer called Playing Outside with a number of wonderful bloggers. Today posts on chalk sometimes called sidewalk chalk begins the series there will be linked up for posts on playing outside with water in July and one on outdoor games in August.

This month’s co-hosts are Reading Confetti, Rainy Day Mum, The Iowa Farmer’s Wife, JDaniel4’s Mom, T Kitchen Counter Chronicles, and the Inspiration Laboratories.

This series is open to anyone desiring to share an activity that involves children playing outside with chalk. The link you share does not have to be recent. We are hoping to end up with a wonderful collection of activities that be the done with children while playing with sidewalk chalk, because of that recent as well as loved activities from the past are all welcome.

What did we do with sidewalk chalk?

Drawing with Chalk Under a Tree

We setup JDaniel’s easel under a tree in the front yard. It was a cool place to draw pictures and stay out of the sun.

Giant Chalk Letters on a Fence

Gigantic chalk letters on the fence in our backyard were great fun to draw on and spray with water. The idea was that JDaniel could trace the letters with water. He decided it was just fun to spray them.

When we were done, the letters came off when we rubbed them with a wet rag.

Chalk Number Line in Driveway

Hopping on a number line in your driveway is a lot of fun. Driving over the numbers one at a time with your bike and calling out the number you are driving over proved to be even more fun.

Sorting Object in Colored Chalk Circles

We have treasures on a shelf in the garage and in JDaniel’s water table. After drawing colored circles in the driveway, JDaniel gathered objects that matched the color of the circles we drew.

I can’t wait to see what you have been creating with sidewalk chalk.

Pausing Life for a Moment- Remembering My Dad

June 12, 2012 By Deirdre

Father’s Day is right around the corner so, I thought I would pause for a moment to thank my dad. When I sat down to write this, I realized that I probably haven’t even mentioned him on the blog. He lives about seven hours away from us and we get to see him a few times a year, but he hasn’t appeared in a post yet.

When I was growing up, I had a Leave It To Beaver attitude of what a dad should be and I thought my dad should be just like that dad.

My idea of what a dad should be involved going to an office during the week in a suit and tie. He listened intently to what he children were saying and gave hugs at just the time you needed them.

Well, my dad listened intently to my chatting on and on about writing and encouraged me to do more with it. He was not the type of dad that wore suits to work. Actually he probably wore them when I was very little, but I don’t remember them as I got older.

He loved music, art and plays. So, that is what he took us to. We spent hours in museums looking at modern art, attending concerts or sing a-longs, and once a year going to a play at the Kennedy Center.

He took us to his mother’s apartment too. She lived not to faraway our house. I wrote about visiting her on Sundays in my post Sitting Straight and Tall on Sunday awhile back. She wasn’t always an easy person, but my dad taught me that treating her with dignity was important.

My dad was raised in a very formal home by parents that loved him, but weren’t big on letting him know that or that is the impression I have always had of them. He is not very formal, but he brought with him into adulthood some of the formality he grew up with. Although he has more and more shared how much he loves me. I don’t think his parents were big on saying words of love.

I grew up knowing my dad knew about a lot of things. He was always reading book and newspapers to gain more knowledge. You could ask him about any topic and he seemed to know something about it.

It was hard to really feel like I really knew him when I was little. My parents divorced when I was eight and we saw him mostly on Sundays. As I grew up, I got to know him better and learned that there are many dads that don’t wear suits and every dad is unique and special.

As I mentioned, we don’t get to see him often, but JDaniel has recently decided he likes to call him on the phone and draw him pictures. I am so glad they have made a connection.

I am also thankful that my dad is part of my life and that he shared with me the interests that he loved.

This post is linked to Pour Your Heart Out and Alphabe-Thursday.

Muffin Tin Monday- Father’s Day Fish

June 11, 2012 By Deirdre

The father fish in this meal is trying to head of a couple of his little ones that are heading for the worm dangling from the hook in the corner. They don’t seem to have learned that gummy worms are carrot hooks lead little fish to become tiny fish sticks for someone else’s meal.

Many of his other fish children have learned the lesson. They are swimming away for the hook or staying with their dad. They will make it swim another day.

Father Fish is made of Pepperidge Farm’s Honey Whole Wheat bread. He is filled with bacon, cheese, ham, and tomatoes. His children are Whole Grain and Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish. These are my son’s favorite flavors of fish! You can use your children’s favorite fish flavors!

A lovely cantaloupe sun is shining down on the fish family to warm up the cool waters and brighten their day.

Although this meal celebrates fathers and how they care for their children. It might also be called a mom’s day off lunch. Mom isn’t pictured in this lunch. In my mind mom is sitting at home catching up on her favorite blogs or doing a little summer reading. Maybe she is finishing off the bag of gummy worms. I know that is what plan to do with the gummy worms that we have left.

If you like this fun food creation, here are more lunch ideas you will love:

Mardi Gras Mask Lunch for Kids

Apple Chicken Salad Bento Lunch

Lunch Ideas with LEGO

Minion Lunch with Blueberry Overalls

Healthy Snack for Kids- Butterfly Bento

Star Wars Food Creations for Kids

Bento Lunch with Cracker Sandwiches

Summer Sunshine Bento Lunch

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to mention Pepperidge Farm products. We just really love them.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Gilbert the Goldfish Wants a Pet

June 8, 2012 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Gilbert in the story Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet by Kelly Dipucchio is lonely and really wants a pet. He has a number of animals visit the outside of his bowl. Each time a new pet stops by Gilbert gets excited and swims around in circles and the new pet runs around his bowl.

Each possible pet ends up leaving him, wanting to eat him, or gets squashed (the fly). Gilbert’s little heart then goes pitter- patter- plop.

Finally having much disappointment, he does get a friend. You will be surprised to find out what it is.

What did we do with the book?

Create Goop and a Fish Wash

Gilbert the Goldfish- Exploring Goop in a Watertable

I found a recipe for goop on the internet and we tried having JDaniel’s ocean bath toys swim in it. It turns out they needed a friend to help clean them up after they played.

We then created an animal wash in the second section of JDaniel’s water table.

Here is the recipe for Goop:

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
small bowl, tin pie plate, water table, etc..
A little more water
Food coloring

Add the water to the cornstarch in a small bowl, tin pie plate, etc. Mix it together using your hands

Fish Counting

I created a sheet with a number of fish bowls on it. I then wrote a number on the rim of each bowl and JDaniel had to put the correct number of fish in each bowl.

Talking about Possible Fish Friends

I created a sheet with a giant fish bowl on it and put a big plastic fish in it. JDaniel then selected various plastic animals and told me why they would or would not make a great pet.

Talking about the pro and cons of each animal encourage JDaniel to think at a higher level. He had to analyze and sort through real reason they would or would not be good pets.

Capturing Memories- Our Time in New York with Family

June 7, 2012 By Deirdre

My sister Kate lives outside Syracuse, New York. She and her family have a wonderful home that sits on what used to be farmland. They have acres of land to explore and a tree fort that JDaniel loved.

If we could move all of JDaniel’s friends and my husband’s job to a farm area like this JDaniel would be thrilled. He was outside most of the time we were at her house and thankfully his allergies didn’t seem to bother him a bit.

JDaniel’s cousin Charlie has a child’s size Gator. JDaniel loved trying to drive it. He made me a little nervous even in the wide open space of my sister’s yard. He loved going fast and heading right toward non-moving objects.

My brother-in-law builds his kids a wonderful tree fort and tire swing. The tire swing was a little tricky for JDaniel, but climbing all over the fort wasn’t.

JDaniel spent hours just climbing up and down the fort. Aiming the mounted guns at various objects. and hanging down of the platform of the fort just drawing lines in the dirt with a stick.

He was in boy heaven just being up in a tree and looking around at the field. I think he would have slept there if we had let him. He didn’t get to sleep in the fort, but my brother-in-law did put up his camping tent one night and JDaniel got to sleep in it.

Before we left, I bought enough water guns for each cousin to have one. All of the cousins had a great time chasing each other around and trying to get each other wet. JDaniel was always the wettest. I think he let his cousins catch him just so he could get wet.

On our last full day in New York, we went to visit a farm that was having an open house. The farm had set up all kinds of fun activities to do and even took kids on tractor rides. Needless to say, JDaniel enjoyed this outing. Some of the activities like this steep slide made me a little nervous, but JDaniel lacked any fear.

This barrel ride was so much fun. I even jumped into one of the barrels and went for a ride once. I think JDaniel and some of his cousin went for two or three rides.

After a lot of running around, swimming a pool filled with cool corn was very relaxing. JDaniel played with the trucks that had been placed in it and then decided to take a swim.

Another activity the farm family had set up was a sling shot apple target activity. JDaniel shot two of his three apples. What did he do with the third apple? He ate it. The apple looked too good to fling he announced.

We had a glorious time visiting with my sister and her family. I wish they lived closer to us. JDaniel will be talking about all that we experienced during our visit for a long time.

Capturing Memories- Our Journey to NY

June 6, 2012 By Deirdre

Two weeks ago we headed north toward to my sister Kate’s house with my mom and my sister Michelle from Atlanta’s family.

We knew it would be a long trip so, we divided the journey to NY into two travel days. We drove to see family in Virginia the first day and then headed to Pennsylvania on day two.

Day one had a late start for various reasons and he got to Virginia just around dinnertime. After a good night’s sleep and one of us really needed a nice long sleep after a grumpy dinner, we headed to Amazement Square in Lynchburg, VA.

We didn’t need to get to the place we were staying with a different family member in Pennsylvania until bedtime. Amazement Square was the perfect place to spend time.

We started in the canal exhibit. JDaniel was very happy to learn from his cousins how to control all the levers. I think we spent our largest amount of time there.

JDaniel loved the bug and creepy crawler section. He got to look at me with compound eyes.

He crawled up a hill like an ant would using Velcro paddles. This is not as easy as it looks.

After lunch, we continued our journey north. We traveled for a few hours and decided to stop to explore Gettysburg. While most of the family was excited about seeing the cannons and monuments, JDaniel was most excited about finding dandelions.

He has been collecting them like crazy at home and was thrilled to know that dandelions grow in Pennsylvania too.

The following day we headed to Hershey Park. This is a picture of JDaniel and three of his four maternal cousins. He had such a good time going on the tour of the Hershey factory with the big boys.

Hershey Park is filled with lots of wonderful rides for four-year-olds Many of the kiddie rides had little or no line the day we were there. The roller coasters for big kids and adults were packed. JDaniel’s older cousins ended up getting to enjoy fewer rides than he did.

JDaniel loved getting to fly a plane. My husband loves planes and attending air shows. I suggested that he ride this one just for dad.

Well, we haven’t made it to New York yet in this post. I thought I would divide our trip in two days of posts. Tomorrow I will share with you pictures and activities we did when we got to New York.

I hope you will stop by and check out my sister’s amazing yard, a great tree fort, and a visit to a farm open house.

This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday.

Pause Life for a Moment- Faith Filled Food for Moms

June 5, 2012 By Deirdre

Having Shari Lynne here today is a great treat! Her wonderful blog Faithfilled Food for Moms is amazing. She shares everything from how to make your own cheese crackers, to reviews, giveaways and beautifully insightful posts like the one below. After you read her wonderful post, please pause for a moment to leave her a comment and visit her blog.

Proverbs 22:7 says – “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a servant to the lender.”

So what in the world does that have to do with Time, Masters or Slaves?? I like to manage my time well. Get my chores done, make sure my meals are somewhat planned, calendar updated. Well, you get the picture. However a couple of years ago we moved. In between moving, we stayed at a friends house for 2 and half months until we got into our home. It really threw me for a loop. I have been all discombobulated ever since then.

I normally have a plan for my day. It’s written down and I can pretty much follow it. Lately, however, the day will come to an end and I feel as though it has frittered away in the wind. I look back and feel not so productive. The thing is. That I have accomplished much…BUT..was it what I needed to accomplish? Was I putting out fires? Dealing with the “tyranny of the urgent”. Was I mastering my time with the important things?

Just as the borrower is a servant to the lender so we will become a servant to our time if we do not manage it well. So I have gotten my calendar in order and my meals all planned and my ducks in a row…so why do I still have that nagging feeling that I am still being a Slave to my time rather than the Master?

So this is what I feel the Lord has shown me. It is all good and well to have our calendars and to manage our time well, but we mustn’t think that we can put off some of the most important things for tomorrow that might not be on our calendars. A walk at the park with our husband, kids, grandkids or friends. A puzzle or paint project. A relaxing dinner with our hubby’s. Those quiet reading times all snuggled up with our loved ones.

We mustn’t think as the borrower does. Time cannot be borrowed for we do not know what the future holds. The borrower receives money with the intention of paying back…but anything can happen…a loss of a job..economy goes crazy and before you know it the debt cannot be paid.

And so it is with time. We intend to spend these precious moments with our loved ones and suddenly something changes. People get sick or move away or even die. Or the kids grow up and move away. We really must pause for a moment and ask ourselves “am I the master of my time?” or “am I the slave?”

Does my time have the heart of God, where people come before projects? I have really gotten off kilter with this. I’m back in the saddle with my calendar..but I had fallen back off with my priorities. I had become a slave of my time. Rather than the Master who is in charge of my time and can STOP and take that time for the important. Because I’m the BOSS you see! Well, that is after the Lord!

So do you think you are a Slave or a Master of your time?

Muffin Tin Monday- A Frozen Banana Buffet

June 4, 2012 By Deirdre

My son just loves muffin tine meals. Sometimes he helps me move his dinner into a muffin tin! There is something special about have a meal or a snack in one. JDaniel loves to have a snack after his “quiet” time in the afternoon. I decided to surprise him with a frozen banana buffet for a snack late last week. He was thrilled.
JDaniel really enjoys getting to dip foods and I have told him that he can’t double dip if other people are sharing the dip with him. This muffin tin was his alone and he was able to dip as much as he wanted to. We have a found the key to success dipping is to only put a small amount of each sauce into the muffin cups.

The buffet tin is filled with two dips and four toppings. The dips are chocolate sauce and honey. The toppings are coconut, chocolate chips, sprinkles, and cinnamon. If you children don’t like any of these sauces or toppings, please feel tree to substitute them with one that your children like.

It was a lot of fun to watch JDaniel try a variety of combinations. He loved the sprinkles and coconut with honey and chocolate syrup. The cinnamon was mixed with honey more often than not.