Strawberry Shortcake

Yesterday, we celebrated the birthday of a special someone who prefers to remain anonymous.  I made strawberry shortcake and it was incredibly delicious.  Click here for the recipe I used.  If you decide to make it, read the reviews.  I followed the recommended variations.

Remember the birthday plate I received from CSN?  It looked pretty and worked wonderfully.  It spins and plays "Happy Birthday to You."  I love it.  We will be using it again soon because there is another birthday coming up in our house.

On another note, we recently learned that "Happy Birthday to You" was written by two women in Kentucky.  They originally wrote it as "Good Morning to You" for their Kindergarten students.  By the time we complete our Fifty States Project, I may be prepared for Jeopardy or, at least, Trivial Pursuit.

Counting on the Woods

We finished our Kentucky state project with this beautiful book.  Counting on the Woods is a poem by George Ella Lyon with photographs by Ann W. Olson.  The photographs were taken in Appalachian Kentucky where the photographer lives.

You will love this book.  Not only is it a fun counting book, but the pictures are beautiful and definitely bring out the nature lover in all of us.  I love the way everything is identified in the book.  For example, the page for the number five shows five nests and they are identified as Bald-face hornet nest, Acadian flycatcher nest, Broad-winged hawk nest, Tent caterpillar nest, and Eastern bluebird nest.  This makes the book even more interesting and educational than if there were just five nests.

The poem is simple enough for a preschool aged child to enjoy, but it is also an interesting book for older children and adults!

I am always searching for books for our Fifty States Project.  This book was recommended by Shannon who blogs at Welcome to our Wonderland.  Thanks Shannon!

Kentucky Cardinals

We are currently learning about the state of Kentucky for our Fifty States Project.  For each state, we learn a little about an animal, insect, etc. from the state.  The Cardinal is the state bird of Kentucky.  You can find printable bird coloring pages by clicking here.

C and R colored the legs, beaks, and eyes and then glued torn construction paper on the rest of the bird.

Fifty States Project - Kentucky Books

We are currently studying the state of Kentucky for our Fifty States Project.  These are the books we are reading:

A Horse Named Funny Cide by The Funny Cide Team  - An inspirational story of an unlikely champion.

The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby by Crystal Hubbard - The story of one of history's finest horsemen and the last African American ever to win the Kentucky Derby.

B is for Bluegrass, A Kentucky Alphabet by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle - A journey through the alphabet that includes history, geography, and famous folk of Kentucky.  I really love this series of state alphabet books.  If you are planning to do a states study, I strongly recommend the series.  The nice thing about these books is that you can read the quick fact for each letter to young children and read the expanded text to older children.  I wish we owned the series because they are such nice books.  We have been lucky enough to find them at the library.

We may add more books to this list if we get any recommendations from readers or happen across a book that is set in Kentucky.  Recommendations are always appreciated!

To learn more about our Fifty States Project, click here.

Derby Day Photo Highlights

Fancy Hats

Fancy Drinks -- Nonalcoholic Mint Juleps

T hiding behind his Mint Julep

We know nothing about horse racing, but we had a lot of fun in the spirit of the Kentucky Derby!

Derby Horses

It's Derby Day!  C and R groomed their horses and they are ready to race.  Here they are:

R named her horse Alex Elizabeth

C named his horse Funny Face

To make the horses, I traced a horse onto cardboard and cut it out.  I then let C and R decorate their horses and gave them yarn to glue on for the mane and tail, and C wanted yarn on the back of his horse too.  I taped a popsicle stick to the back of R's horse so that she could hold it like a puppet but C wanted to hold his by the hooves so he doesn't have a stick.  

For more ideas to have fun at home in the spirit of the Kentucky Derby, click here.

Jockey Silks

Our current state for our Fifty States Project is Kentucky and we are getting ready for the Kentucky Derby.  C and R decorated Jockey Silks that we cut out of craft paper. 

Here are a few pictures:

C decided that he did not want his face in the picture; he is hiding behind his shirt.

They used Roll It painters and Do A Dot markers to decorate the Jockey Silks.  I cannot seem to find Roll It painters anywhere (we bought ours about a year ago), but you can click here for a product that looks like the same thing but has a different name.

Dollar Store Kentucky Derby Hats

You cannot have a Kentucky Derby party without hats!  We have made hats out of newspaper and tissue paper before, but we decided to get a little fancy for the Kentucky Derby, so we headed to the dollar store.  This is what we bought to make our hats:

 Two straw hats, bath poofs, and a few leis

I cut the string that held the bath poofs together and we tied the netting around our hats to make fancy bows.

We then cut the leis apart and hot glued the flowers all over the hats.

We spent less than five dollars and the project took about ten minutes.  Now, we have very frugal, fancy, flowery Kentucky Derby hats to wear for our Derby celebration.

I could have included a picture of me in my hat, but I do not look as cute as R, especially with the red, runny nose I have this week!

We learned that women wearing classy and fashionable hats to the Derby are often found in the Clubhouse and Paddock areas, but the infield seating hosts an open-season for mad hatters to display their creative and silly hats.  Where do you think we would be found? 

Kentucky Derby Party

Are you thinking of throwing together a Kentucky Derby party for your  kids?  Here are some great ideas to make your party extra special.

• Let the kids design Jockey silks.  There are so many options for this.  You could let the kids decorate cotton tee shirts, cut head and arm holes out of a paper bag to be decorated, or make multiple copies of this jockey silk printable and hang them up around the party room.
• Decorate hats
• Set up a craft table where kids can make these horse puppets.
• Mix up some non-alcoholic mint juleps
• Have a contest to see who can make up the silliest name for a race horse
• Play horseshoes
• Ride hobbyhorses (you can find directions to make your own by clicking here)
• Make Derby Pie
• Watch Racing Stripes

You don't have to know anything about horse racing to enjoy the spirit of the Kentucky Derby.  I certainly do not know anything about the sport or any of the horses, but we are having a lot of fun with all of these activities!

Kentucky Derby Pie

I am so excited to tell you that the next state for our Fifty States Project is Kentucky!  The Kentucky Derby is this weekend and we are getting ready for the big event.  We kicked off the state of Kentucky with homemade Derby Pie.

Here is the recipe we used:

1 unbaked pie crust - you can make your own favorite pie crust or use the store bought variety

Filling: 

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. bourbon or vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cups chopped pecans
• 1-1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1.  Mix together sugar, corn syrup, eggs, butter, salt, and either the bourbon or extract
2.  Stir in pecans and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon
3.  Pour filling into prepared, unbaked pie crust (this is a sticky pie so make sure you flour both sides of your crust before putting it in your pie plate if you use the store bought variety

4.  Bake on the middle rack of a 375 degrees preheated oven for 45-50 minutes  (do not overbake; the top should be firm but the center should remain ooey gooey!)
5.  Let rest for at least two hours before you cut the pie!
6.  Enjoy with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (butter pecan would be good too! yum!).