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Friday, August 31, 2012

KICK OFF TO CLASSROOM: ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT!

Yes, yes, yest!  It's our last week of freedom, our last week of fun, our last week of summer vacation...our last week living the LATE, GREAT LIFE and do you know how we spent yesterday?


5 friends + 4 dogs + 26 brand new wiffle balls + 5 brand new wiffle ball bats =
1 TOTALLY AMAZING, COMPLETELY FANTASTIC, EPICALLY EXCITING
WIFFLE BALL HOME RUN DERBY TOURNAMENT
 
 
We had the best, best, best time!  We set up posters and scoreboards, turned our whole yard into a wiffle ball field, had an awesome snack table and played all day long!  Check out one of our posters below:
 
 
 
 
Snacks???  Food???  It wouldn't be a farewell to summer party (or any party at all) without food, so we stocked up.  We checked out the Cafe for our favorite recipes and of course, we came up with a bunch.  We made L.E. Carmichael's "Ants on a Log", "Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Burritos", (one of our fab favorites-who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate?) and Laura Helwig's "S'mores Trail Mix".  We also made our own pizzas-English muffin style-and had a candy buffet with Skittles, M&M's, Sour Patch Kids and Mini-Kit Kat Bars. 
 
One of our friends came up with a crazy double dog dare:  he dared another friend to make a candy stew with skittles, M&M's, Sour Patch Kids and crushed Kit Kat bars in a broth made of Root Beer soda-UGH!  I know you can imagine what it looked like but I had to take a picture.  The picture is even more disgusting than the description...just take a look:
 
 
 
Thank goodness the double dog dare was for one bite.  He took the challenge, at the bite you see in the photo and then my mom threw out the rest.  Wasteful?  Yes!  Disgusting? Yes!  Really Fun?  Yes!  (My mom made me promise that won't happen ever again...and it won't, I promised!)
 
 
What are you doing to celebrate the end of summer?  Tell us about it at Klub Krumbs and then check back here to find out how Krumbs and I spend our last few days of summer vacation!!!
 





Wednesday, August 29, 2012

KICK OFF TO CLASSROOM COUNTDOWN: 5 DAYS AND COUNTING

Welcome to
 Cookie & Krumb's Kick-Off to Classroom Countdown!
 
 
As we see it, we have 5 days left to enjoy the last LATE, GREAT DAYS OF SUMMER.  (Of course, the mornings aren't really so late anymore~we've had to set our alarms for 7:30 AM so we can get  used to waking up for-GASP! school.)  We've planned some fun stuff every day...to say our final good by to summerand gear up for the start of the school year.
 
 
Yesterday we turned our driveway into a TRIBUTE TO SUMMER.  First we made some fantastic Watermelon Pops (from the Cafe, of course) because what is a tribute without the food???  Then, we brought out chalk and created our own goodby to summer and hello to school.  You can check out some of our photos below:

 
                                                     
 

 
Soooo...we had a great time making up silly rhymes and creating great graphics, while getting very, very chalky!  I love being covered with chalk dust...did you know that before ENO boards, before smartboards, before white boards, there were chalk boards in every classroom of every school Teachers got dusty every single time they wrote on the board...and students fought for the special job of pounding the dust out of the chalkboard erasers every day at recess.  Our schools still have a few chalkboards, but they're not used very often.  My mom and dad remember when every classroom had a chalkboard that was used every day~ch-ch-ch-changes!!!!
 
Today we are planning an EPIC Wiffle Ball Home Run Derby!  We are so psyched to play and the plan is all in place, so its time to go!  Here's our math problem of the day:
 
Five friends + four dogs + twenty-eight wiffle balls + six bats = EPIC FUN and LOTS OF HOME RUNS
 
Check back with us again as we count down our last days of summer!  
 


Monday, August 27, 2012

EIGHT DAY COUNTDOWN: KICK OFF TO CLASSROOM

Well, our days of living the "Late, Great Life" are officially nearing an end.  Krumbs and I have begun  our "Kick Off to Classroom" countdown.   Yep, I know, I know...only
 
8 MORE DAYS
 
and I'll be heading back to school (and Krumbs will be heading back to downtime, all the time).

We can't decide...are we
 excited and invigorated or down and depressed?
 
 
I see the exciting and invigorating this way:  I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends, especially the ones I haven't seen much since June.  I'm also looking forward to the "newness" that comes with every year with school.  I like thinking about new teachers, new classes, new subjects and new friends and new activities.  I'm excited about reading new books and exploring new things...like the schooner trip my class will go on this year!  I also like that I am in the same school again this year so I get a lot of "NEW", but not a lot of "BIG CHANGE".
 
 
I see the down and depressed this way:  I'm not really looking forward to the "have to's".  You know all about the "have to's"...I have to get up early.  I have to keep a schedule.  I have to do reports, homework, and studying.  Look, I don't mind any of those things...well, not really...well, not too much.  I like reading and writing--I've done it all summer, visiting the Cafe, reading books and magazines and writing about all the places we've gone and the things we've done.  I don't even mind a schedule...it's the getting up early that is really the killer here.  I also get a little down about all the "HAVE TO'S" because even though I don't mind any of those things, I don't want to "have to" do them.
 
Isn't it so much easier to do things when they are a choice and not a "have to"????
 
 
My friend, Savannah says I'm getting a little carried away and I probably am.  She pointed out that we're kids and our job is to go to school.  When I think about it like that, it does make sense.  Vacations are fun and we love living the "Late Great Life", but we also have to "get the job done" and plan for our future.  I think about Eleanor Bennett, the sixteen year old photographer Kathleen Bookbinder wrote about on the Cafe.  Eleanor Bennett is known all over the world and I can't help but think that she probably did get up every morning and say, "I have to take some more photos today.  I have to get better and I have to learn more."  I bet she looked at her "have to's" and just went with them...and look at who she's become--a world reknown photographer! 
 
I wonder where my "have to's" will take me someday?  Now that I think about it, I'm pretty excited to find out where I'll go, what I'll be and who I'll see!  I guess the "have to's" and the classroom, the school work and the schedules may not be so bad after all! (But I may waffle and change my mind a little as the countdown winds down!)
 
Check back for more news as we Countdown the "Kick Off to Classroom".
 


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SCHOOL SHOPPING...NIGHTMARE OR DREAM COME TRUE?

Back to school shopping....nightmare or dream come true?  Krumbs and I just can't decide.  On one hand, it is awesome to buy new things like SNEAKERS!  Check out my new ones in the picture below...AWESOME KICKS, right?  (Red, black, white and lime green...WOW!!)  On the other hand, who wants to stand around in a hot and sticky dressing room during the last days of summer, trying on pair after pair of jeans, just to find one that fits?  UGH!



So you see where I am with this, right?  Yesterday I was living the dream (or surviving the nightmare) ALL DAY LONG!  We went from store to store to store to store....AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  I tried on tee shirts and shorts, sweaters and sweatshirts, jeans and sweatpants, sneakers and boots--and that was just the start!  After that, I bought backpacks and binders, pens and pencils, rulers and writing paper--all the things I forgot when we went school supply shopping two weeks ago.  Four clothing stores, two department stores, one shoe store, a quick stop for a fruit smoothie and before I knew it, seven hours of my life passed (seven long, awful, hot, cranky hours that I'll never get back) had passed right before my eyes.  UGH and DOUBLE UGH!

You can bet Krumbs and I needed a treat after that horrible mess of a day and Krumbs was prepared!  He visited the Cafe during his long, lonely hours stuck in the house and found a fantastically fun article by Judy Parker called "Mmm...Mmmm, Marshmallows".  What better way to get back into the "Late, Great Life" of summer than with a marshmallow treat?  The article told us how to make "S'mores" and of course, mom and dad let us use the barbecue to make these toasty, after dinner treats.  Marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars, melted into a mad, mushy and terrifically tasty mouth miracle...who could ask for more? 

Actually, we did!  After Krumbs took us to visit the "Mmm...Mmm, Marshmallows" article, we followed the link and found a slew of other exciting recipes. Tonight we are making Marshmallow Fondue, a recipe we found on the Campfire Marshmallow website.  Are you looking for the recipe?  Click here to find it!  Krumbs and I figure we can use fresh fruit as our dippers and then we can pretend the whole dessert is super healthy!!!  (Not so much, but that's okay because it's a treat!)

How about you?  Is back to school shopping a dream or a nightmare?  Let us know how you feel.  Check into Klub Krumbs and talk about it!  And while you're there, let us know if you've tried any of the marshmallow treats!

Ciao, for now!  Check back for more of the fun and fabulous...(or, at least for yesterday, "the terrifically terrifying")!

Monday, August 20, 2012

NO CELL PHONES, INTERNET OR TV-OH MY!

Hello Everyone!

I'm so sorry we've been "incommunicado" for a whole week!!!  Krumbs and I were taking one last trip for the summer.  (Sniff, sniff, boo-hoo, hoo, hoo...sniff)  We went to Cooperstown, New York...the place where baseball was born!  (Maybe not "born", but baseball is definitely the focus in this tiny town~we were in Baseball Heaven!!!)

Cooperstown is considered the birthplace of baseball because in 1906, a man named Abner Graves claimed that his best friend, Abner Doubleday invented baseball on a cow field in the village in 1839.  When we visited Cooperstown, we even went to Doubleday Field, which is the exact spot Abner Doubleday supposedly created baseball 173 years ago!  Here's a VIP-Very Important Note: Baseball historians all say Abner Doubleday did not really create baseball, but it was still fun to visit!!  To see Doubleday Field and learn more about its history, click here.

Have you ever heard of the BASEBALL HALL OF FAME?  We have, and Krumbs and I couldn't stay in Cooperstown without a visit!  We had such a fabulous time...VIP-Very Important Note:  The hall of fame is all about baseball, but don't throw one there.  There are plenty of things to see and lots of glass...not a good place for a baseball game!!!  We saw old uniforms, team rings, read about how players overcame prejudice and discrimination to play together, and even learned about the first women's baseball league!  To read more about the Baseball Hall of Fame, click here.

We stayed on a huge farm and believe it or not, we had no cell service, no internet service , no alarm clocks and NO TV...for a whole week!  We woke up with crowing roosters, (Yep! They really do "cock-a-doodle-doo" every morning!!!!!) helped milk cows, walked through rows and rows of corn stalks and fed the chickens.  We ate the best, freshest ice cream in the world, visited the largest barbecue in the country and went to the Farmers Museum and the Heroes of Baseball Wax Museum. It was the best vacation ever!!!

We had no internet service, no cell phone service and no computers for a week, but we had a fantastic time!  Have you ever had a time when you weren't sure if you'd have fun...and then you have the time of your life?   That was our experience this week...we're almost ready to end our "living the late life" summer.  This week will be all about back to school shopping, school supply shopping and life organizing while we say good by to our "Late Great Life" and hello to our "Back to School Basics".

Of course, we left vacation with "baseball on the brain" and as soon as we came home, we visited the Cafe for fun and exciting stories about our current obsession~baseball!!  We found a slew of fun articles...check out "The Broken Window By-Law" by Lisa Cook and "Spitting on the Field" by Lisa Yakowicz.  Both articles give some really wild baseball information!

Friday, August 10, 2012

ONE INCREDIBLE EDIBLE JELLY FISH AND ONE INCREDIBLE TEENAGER

Good Morning!

Last time I posted I wrote that we'd be sharing a cool recipe~and here it is ..dun, da, da, da....Incredible Edible Jellyfish!!!  Don't they sound gross and disgusting, wiggly-jiggly and more than a little creepy?  Edible Jellyfish are all that, and they're tasty too!  Check out our picture and directions below:



Incredible Edible Jellyfish

Ingredients:

2 boxes of red gelatin (we like strawberry)  
Twizzlers Pull and Peel Cherry Licorice
2 graham crackers                                                     
Plastic zip-top bag
Plate
    
1.   Follow the directions on the two boxes of gelatin  and let it get solid in the refrigerator.  Krumbs and I think it looks much better if the gelatin is red and tastes better if it's strawberry.
3.  Put the Graham Crackers in a bag and seal it.  Then crush the graham crackers into crumbs and sprinkle the "sand" on your plate.
2.  When the gelatin is ready, separate the licorice into long strings~the more, the better.
3.   Place the licorice strings on a plate so they fan across the plate like jelly fish tentacles.
4.   Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out a big lump of red gelatin and plop it right in the middle of your jellyfish tentacles.
5.   Eat your wiggly-jiggly gelatin jellyfish!


When you finish eating your Incredible Edible Jellyfish, you'll probably be ready for some inspiration...real inspiration.  Take a trip over to the Cafe and check out the new interview about a sixteen year old who is taking the photography world by storm!  "Eleanor Bennett: A Photographer Known Around the World", an article by Kathleen Bookbinder tells the story of a sixteen year old girl who taught herself to take photographs...and she's so good, she's won awards all around the world!!!!!  Reading the article was enough to make Krumbs and I get out our cameras and start taking pictures...but we're not as good as Eleanor Bennett yet!

Isn't it amazing that Eleanor took something she loved to do, photography, and made herself into a worldwide photography star?  Do you have a favorite hobby?  Read about Eleanor Bennett and then tell us about your hobby at Klub Krumbs on the Cafe.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Monday, August 6, 2012

KRUMBS BECOMES VERY "ATTACHED" AT THE BEACH


Rhode Island ROCKS!!!!  Krumbs and I had the most amazing time in the ocean.   The water was sparkling like diamonds and the waves were amazing.  I discovered I am an awesome body surfer and that Krumbs loves salt water and catching bits of foam from the waves.  (I was convinced he would be lost without chipmunks to chase, but it didn’t happen!  The foam from the crashing waves was enough to keep him hap-hap-happy for three days!)

 Did we see any Sea Monsters, you ask???  Nope, we didn’t see a single one, but we did see crabs, seashells, jellyfish and lots and lots of sand.  The crabs were an adventure…we were tossing ourselves around in the waves, having a great time when all of a sudden a huge wave left us tumbling on the shore.  Laughing and gasping for air, we jumped up and that’s when I noticed Krumbs had “picked up” some new friends.  Yep, there on Krumbs’ back, clinging for dear life, were two terrified crabs.  I don’t know how he didn’t feel them pulling on his fur, but Krumbs is a dog who gets wrapped up in the moment and he just didn’t feel them bouncing along on his back.  As soon as I saw them, Krumbs stopped moving and I took them off.  Krumbs really believes in getting up close and personal with the local animals!!!  Check him out in the drawing I made:


The jelly fish were just lying on the beach when the tide went out.  Thank Goodness—I have no desire to get friendly with the stinging tentacles of a jelly fish, thank you very much!  They looked kind of gruesome— like clear blobs of jello with strings trailing off to nowhere. The jelly fish were gross and gruesome, but truly inspiring!! We came up with some really fun recipes, which I’ll share later this week.

We survived the crabs and the jelly fish and we found out we are not very good sandcastle builders.  Everything we made crumbled.  Hopefully, we can read up on that and figure out how to do it for next time. Are you a super sandcastle maker?  We would love some tips on that!!!

Anyway...Krumbs and I will be back visiting the Cafe this week.  We’re looking forward to making some cool discoveries and finding some new things to do.  In the meantime, check back on Wednesday for more about our adventures and to get some really fun recipes!

Friday, August 3, 2012

OH BABY!!!


Guess what we saw today?!?!  Krumbs and I went hiking out in the woods and we found a pond.  It was just a normal day…until we saw the cutest thing.  A baby duckling climbed onto its mother’s back and sat there while she swam around the pond!!  The baby was tired from swimming and too young (and too tired) to reach the shore, so the momma duck just carried her duckling around the pond until the baby was rested and ready to swim again.  Krumbs tells me this is just one way animal parents take care of their babies.


He reminded me of an opossum we saw walking across the road one night a few weeks ago.  We were laughing at how round and slow the animal was (and honestly, I think that's because we were a little creeped out by its eerily glowing eyes reflected in the flashlight beams—very, very creepy), but we learned something new that night.   When an opossum is that heavy, she is usually pregnant or she’s carrying her little babies around in her pouch.  Did you know an opossum carries its babies in a pouch like a kangaroo?  I thought cool animals like that (I am thinking about Koala Bears and Kangaroos) only lived in far-away places like Australia!!  Who knew we had marsupials right in our backyard?  (Umm...I guess now I know, right?)

 Anyway...Krumbs and I visited the CafĂ© and we found an amazing article called “OH BABY!” by Estella Kennon.  The article has all kind of information about how animals care for their babies.  Find out which animal parents carry babies in their mouths, keep them in a pouch, carry them on their backs, or leave them completely alone (yikes!)—it’s all here in Estella Kennon’s article.



What’s up for your weekend?  Krumbs and I are headed off to Rhode Island…a new state for us and we’re staying in a beach town!!!  We’ll be swimming in the ocean for two days!  Check back with us on Monday for more news and adventures.