Corn and Black Bean Salsa

     We recently attended a birthday party where this salsa was served. It reminded me how much I love it and how long it has been since I have eaten it. It also made me want to make some immediately! I have made one version before with avocado in it. I love it, but it makes a lot, and I wanted to have extra to save. Just in case you are unaware- avocados don't save well! I usually make this one for parties where there will be lots of people to eat it.  So- I started looking for other recipes without the avocado. I couldn't find one that seemed to look perfect. Then, I thought- "Why not just wing it?!" So I did. I even got a helper, so we were able to mark it as HomeEc learning time for school! :)
This is what we did:

First we gathered all our ingredients. Also included are a can or corn and a can of black beans, both rinsed and drained.
I will have all the specifics listed below :)

I had my helper scoop out all the inside of the tomato. We used a measuring spoon to get everything out in one scoop! It worked great! (1/2Tbsp size was perfect!)

 

 

We got everything chopped and added to a big bowl! ( I seriously could have just eaten it like this!)
But I didnt....

We juiced one lime over everything and gave it all a good mix. I also added a little bit of salt and pepper. Just a little.
That is all! We had enough for us to snack on, plus two jars for later! J was even excited to get his own photo of his bowl! :)

This is what we used:

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
5 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 jalapenos, seeded and diced (This was not hot at all, so it could vary)
1 onion, diced
about 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
tortilla chips

Add everything to a bowl and mix well!
We ate some right away, but it is even better if you can refrigerate it for a bit first! (I clearly don't have the willpower for that!)

This makes a great salsa to eat with chips. It can also be used as a topping for chicken, tacos, rice, or anything else you can think to add it to!

Let me know what you think!

Banana Bread

     I have a very bad habit of buying a big bunch of bananas and letting them go bad. I don't know why. I love bananas. Every time I buy them I tell myself that THIS will be the time that they all get eaten....yeah right...
     The plus side to this is that we always get to have some banana bread. I love banana bread even more than bananas. Maybe I subconsciously leave just enough bananas to go bad for this reason??? Hmmmm. Something to think about!
     This time, Jacob asked if he could make it by himself. Who am I to say no to this?? I gave him the recipe and helped gather the supplies he couldn't reach, and let him have at it! I had tons of fun taking his picture! I have to say he did a pretty darn good job! It was so good that it was gone by the end of the day! I am very proud to say that it was not me {this time} who ate it all!!

I can't wait to let bananas go bad again so we can have more! As soon as I can find the recipe I used, I will post it!!: )

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, almost!
Last week, for our Art time, we decided to make Valentines crafts. Kyle even got to join in the fun. He finger-painted a canvas that I taped the word "LOVE" on. Would you believe he had 6 different colors to choose from? Once he realized how much fun he could have getting his hands in the paint, he went all out! All the colors got to be best friends! At least they blended together nicely!
Jacob helped me choose papers and cut out letters and shapes on the Cricut. We also made a flower pot thing that we found on Pinterest. I can't seem to find the link now. If I ever find it again, I will be sure to link back to the original poster! If you happen to come across it, let me know so I can add it!! :) Jacob had a lot of fun being creative and painting the papers for the heart flowers. Since we only made one to fit on an 8x10 paper, we had some painted paper left over. We did not want to waste it, so we framed it! I especially love the striped one Jacob did! We added a little white heart to give it some contrast. It is sitting on the entertainment center now. I love looking at it every day!
I have to get to the store and get more canvases so we can make more crafts for the month of March!! I love being able to craft with my kids! I am so glad they enjoy it, too!! :)

Kyle getting his finger paint on!

Welcome!

50 States, One by One

This semester, I added something new to our lessons. *J* was getting a little bored with some of the Social Studies assignments he had, so I thought this might add a little fun for him. We have gone over the 50 states in the past, but after a few of the bigger, more interesting ones, we moved on. This time I am taking it from the beginning, in ABC order! We have done Alabama and Alaska, and are now working on Arizona. I found this great little collection of books at our local library. They are full of enough information to tell you about all that state has to offer, but no so full and boring you feel like taking a nap! There are lots of photos and visual guides to keep the little ones interested. I go through the book beforehand and put random questions on post-it notes on each page. This gives J something to guide his reading and lets meknow he actually read! The post-it notes with his answers then go into his Social Studies notebook/journal. We have one for each subject so he can take notes, and so I can add fun little things for him to do. After he is done with the book, I have a page of "Fun Fast Facts" that I make for him. I leave space for his answers, and it is way more visually appealing than black and white print in a textbook! He is enjoying it so far, so we will see if we can make it through all 50 states! We are averaging about two each week!

 

Learning on Vacation!

During our visit home for Thanksgiving, we decided we wouldn't worry about school work. Jacob left all of his books at home, and thought he would be learning about anything new for two whole weeks! Boy was he wrong! There was so much learning in disguise!
First up was building a bridge to cross over the ditch to the golf course for a play on the 9th hole with dad and grandpa. Jacob was very proud of himself for helping with this bridge! He even told me how he put all the mud in between the logs to help secure it, just like we learned about!
We also went to an awesome little museum in New Bern!  This was such an educational experience! We learned how the newspapers were written, how many people it takes to man a ship, and how turpentine was made back in the day! We were all exhausted at the end of the day! It was so much work! Here are some photos from our week of "vacation"

We also learned that tree rings don't only tell how old a tree is. They also tell about climate changes during the life of the tree!

Who knew vacation could be so educational? ;)

Christmas Art

I love Christmas!
This year, we will not be travelling, and I think this has left me with a need to decorate EVERYTHING! We usually put out decorations, but we are never here to enjoy them. Then we come home after Christmas, and have to take them down. This is no fun!
I have been finding some great ideas on Pinterest, and we made some this week. First, I found a canvas painting of a quote from The Grinch. It is pinned on my Christmas board.  I have a bunch of 8x10 canvases, so I thought I would make my own. I am pretty impressed with how it turned out. It is on a shelf in my kitchen :) Kyle wanted to help while I was painting, so I gave him his own canvas and paintbrush, and let him go to town!  His is hanging in his room! Every time he goes in there now he points at it and gets so excited!
The next project we did was hand print Christmas tree and Santa. Also onthe 8x10 canvas! :)  Jacob did the Santa since his hands are a little bigger!
This was Jacob's art project for the week! Today we will be making a special family ornament. I am doing the project with my photography class this Friday, so I thought it would be nice to show them a finished product! I will be adding those photos soon!
Here are our photos of this week's projects!

Sooooo....here I am making a blog about our crazy life! It seems to be very busy these days, so hopefully I will be able to keep up! Here's a little about me: My name is Keli. I am married to an awesome guy who is a Machinery Technician in the Coast Guard. I have two amazing boys that keep me on my feet. We are in our second year of homeschooling our oldest, and the youngest is almost 2! We are currently at our first land station in Rhode Island. We both group up in the South, so it was a big adjustment when we got here! I love to be with my family and friends. I enjoy cooking, crafting, wasting time on Pinterest, and a good glass of wine. I am in the process of building my photography  business. I am also a consultant with Tupperware! I love all of my jobs! If there is anything I missed, let me know!
I will start off with one of our recent homeschool projects. Jacob is currently learning about the Phoenicians in our Social Studies lessons. We just finished learning how they used different dyes to color their clothing and other items. Then conveniently, that same day, while seeing what was happening on Pinterest, I came across this link for a Phoenician Dye project! How perfect, right? Here is how ours turned out:

First, we got a small head of red cabbage.

Then we cut it all up! And yes, that is our dinner in the crock pot!! I will share the recipe later! :) 

Our fingers were already starting to turn purple!!



Once it was all cut, we boiled it for about an hour

Then, drained the cabbage

and added a white shirt to the purple liquid!

While we were waiting for the shirt to soak, I cleaned the purple spots off the stove!

I also like to do the occassional link party! Here is one I found for Tuesdays. It is hosted by Mom's Best Nest. It is called the Flock Together Tuesday Blog Hop! I always like to find new inspiration! :)

I will be sharing more about our life as it happens. I am getting ready for my first Scentsy party today, then I am heading up to Vermont to camp for a few days with some of our friends! I am very excited! we only hvae Vermont and Maine left on our list of New Engalnd places to camp! I will defnitely be posting those photos once we get back!

I would love to hear from you!
Until next time,
xoxo