FREE books for children in the MOT area!

That got your attention right? Well, today I was driving through town with my boys and passed the Millbranch park where there was a large crowd of adults and children hanging out. Of course, my oldest son's interest was peaked and he begged me to stop to see what was going on and why all the kids had popsicles. I really didn't want to stop, but I was feeling bad that they had been in the car for awhile and I wanted them to get their "60 minutes of physical activity a day." To my surprise (it always seems like the Lord wants to bless me when I least expect it), there was a "Book Mobile" going on sponsored by Silver Lake Elementary School. The women leading it said "2 books for everyone!" They gave me 2 colorful library book bags and we (even the baby) got to pick some books...for FREE! I found 8 wonderful children's books, including a new copy (large version) of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", one of our favorites. I also found about 4-5 that will be great home schooling story/educational books, like one about penguins, sea turtles, science on the earth and sun (it had the wrong cover on the outside), trucks, and one about the Wright Brothers. I thought these ones would be great additions to our library for when we start home schooling more seriously in the fall.

So here's the scoop for you my dear readers in my area...apparently this has been going on for several years. Some local school teachers (I think) go around to 4 different parks in the area a few days each summer and give away books. The books are donated by other people in the community. I believe most of the books are used, however some of the ones I got today look almost new. I told the ladies that I know lots of moms with small children, so she said she would pack up a lot of board books for next week's "Book Mobile."

The four parks are:

One on Lake Street

Millbranch Park

Middletown Village (the park near the daycare)

Silver Lake Park

Dates/Times:

Tuesday, June 22

Tuesday, July 13

Tuesday, July 20

I know they are at Millbranch at 1:30 on the dates above and then they head to Middletown Village around 2:00, and end at Silver Lake Park.

They also have free popsicles for the kids to enjoy! It was awesome! I plan on going again if anyone wants to join me and make it a play date at the park.

Strawberry Picking (Part 2) and Strawberry Pie!

My family and I are so excited about the strawberry picking season that is in full swing here in Delaware! You can read about our first u-pick adventure at Filasky's here on my family blog. This local farm is open from about 7 am each morning until 7 pm each night and if the weather stays just right, we have about 6-7 weeks left according to the guy I talked to last week. The boys and me and some friends went back this past Friday and the strawberries were even sweeter and better than the week before. I got about 5 pounds at $1.85/pound. They are a little cheaper at the Giant this week ($1.66/pound) and Walmart, but you can't beat picking them yourself, making memories with your children, and supporting the local farm. I consider it money well spent. I have frozen most of them for using in smoothies and one of my favorite desserts, strawberry pretzel salad!

I was so excited though to try to make a version of the classic Eat N Park Restaurant Strawberry Pie. (A favorite for the Pittsburgh, PA folks!) My friend and I decided we would do it together that afternoon while the kids played. I found this recipe and I think it turned out great! It was soo delicious! I bet it cost me about $3-4 at the most to make.

Here are some pictures of some of the steps in the recipe:

Half of the berries arrange in the pie shell.

Mashing the second half of the berries.

The strawberry/sugar mixture and the cornstarch mixture.

After pouring the glaze over the strawberries.

After being chilled (not long enough) with yummy cream! It was sooo good!

Strawberry Pie II (Allrecipes.com)

1 9 inch pie crust, baked (I used a deep dish and would recommend that)

1 quart (4 cups) fresh strawberries

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

3/4 cup water

1/2 heavy whipping cream (I just used regular whipped cream)

1. Arrange half of the strawberries in a baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving. In a small bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Serve each slice of chilled pie with a dollop of whipped cream.

My tips for success:

• Though I wasn't planning to use it, the 9-inch deep dish pie shell worked great as there were a lot of strawberries and strawberry mixture. I think it would overflow more easily in a regular pie shell.
• I did use whole strawberries as shown in the picture, but I think I may slice them at least in half next time to making it a little easier for the kids to eat.
• Make sure you chill it for at least 3-4 hours. I was so excited to eat it, that after about 2 hours, I cut into it and it wasn't solidified enough. Oooppps!

I love my local library!

I already told you about my local library in this post. But, I wanted to write about it again, to encourage all in the area to stop by and check it out. The Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library is located in the heart of Odessa and is part of the New Castle County library system. My boys and I are continuing to enjoy the weekly story times on Wednesdays at 11:00. Please come check it out. The past three weeks there have been guests. We saw a wonderful magic show from a well-seasoned clown, learned about Earth Day and composting from a lady from the University of Delaware, and today, there was a physical therapist (how ironic--that's my background) there who talked to the children about posture and having a healthy spine. I have been so impressed by how educational and fun these times are for my kids and me.

Last week, I checked out their rack of books for sale and found 9 books for $0.25 each. I couldn't believe it! They were in great shape too. A couple of them looked brand new. Yes, books that are free are probably the best, but really cheap books that support the local library I love are really great too! I am a big fan of having a nice library in my home, especially of children's books. I know we will use them over and over again. I don't hesistate too much to make an investment with books. They can be soo expensive to buy new from the store, so I was excited to find some gently used ones for only $2.25 total.

(Oh, by the way, do you know books make great gifts for baby showers and for the family with that new baby? I will never forget how grateful I was for the gift of books I got when I was pregnant with my first son).

So here's what I got: (I was really excited to find the Cheerios book, a Curious George book, a Dr. Seuss book, "Are You My Mother?", and a cool book where my sons can practice writing their letters with a dry-erase marker).

Support your local library. Maybe you'll find some great books to take home too!

Best kept secret in the MOT area (or at least I think so!)

So, do you have small children, and need something fun, and free to do each week? Well, head on over to my new favorite library in the area on Wednesdays at 11:00 for story time! And, no, its not the Appoquinimick library on Broad Street that I'm talking about. I am referring to the super cute, small and quaint, and very antiquey (if that's a word) library in Odessa called the Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library. Since moving to our new neighborhood last summer, I have been checking out things on "this side" of town and discovered this great, little library off of Main Street in Odessa. What I love about it....the staff is so friendly, the toy area is very organized, the toys are unique and different, the play area is very spacious given the size of the library, good selection of books and DVDs (great to get kids videos from the library if you of the frugal and thrifty type), and the story times are very fun and educational. We really enjoyed ourselves last week and we are going to try to go every Wednesday for it. Hope to see you and your kids there too. Oh, yes, there is a nice story time at the other library too that we used to go to, but I just like this one better....I think its the atmosphere. It reminds me of walking into a piece of history!