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As part of The Mommies Network, HighCountryMommies.com is a free community for moms in Ashe, Avery, and Watauga Counties, North Carolina. We realize that all moms need local support -- and who can't use another friend? HighCountryMommies.com offers a simple way to connect with local moms for friendship, support and fun. Members meet on our private discussion forums to share information on everything from where to get the best haircut to tips on transitioning to a "big kid" bed. Each month, we also offer many face-to-face events for our members, their children and their families.
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High Country Trike A Thon We are pleased to announce that HighCountryMommies.com will be hosting the 1st Annual High Country Trike-A-Thon to benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital and HighCountryMommies.com!
This amazing event will be on Saturday, August 28th at the National Guard Armory in Boone, NC. Registration starts at 9:30am and the event will kick off at 10:00am.
The High Country Trike-A-Thon will include two sessions: one for tricycles or bicycle riders using training wheels, and a second session for children on 2-wheel bicycles. All community children under the age of 12 are invited to participate. Just a minimum donation of $5 is required.
You can register online at our High Country Trike A Thon website. Just click the register tab and go from there. Forms to register and record donations are also available at the Children?s Playhouse and Earthfare in Boone, as well as Mountain Girl Gallery in Banner Elk. For more information on participating, contact Emma Yarborough by email at emma@highcountrymommies.com. Participants will also be invited to join in the day?s activities, including a bounce-house, face painting, live children?s music, and door prizes.
The money raised at the High Country Trike-A-Thon will help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital help kids from all over the world who have cancer, AIDS, sickle cell and other catastrophic diseases. At St. Jude, no family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. Thanks to millions of kids and parents like you, we are also able to pay for transportation for our patients and their families and give them a place to live while they are at St Jude. Since opening in 1962, St. Jude has treated patients from all 50 states and more than 70 foreign countries. Your support makes you a part of our mission to find cures and save children.
Homemade Graham Crackers If you're anything like me, you want to avoid baking at all costs over the summer months. We don't have air conditioning and just turning on the oven to preheat increases the temperature of the house by 10 degrees.
But, sometimes I just can't resist. Especially when my kids have a hankering for something and I can't see anything on the store-bought brand ingredients that even remotely resembles something edible.
Here's one of my kids' favorites. We make them with all different shaped cookie cutters too, but the squares are the easiest.
4 T (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 egg 6 T sugar 2 T honey 2 T molasses
1/2 t baking soda 2 t water 3/4 t salt 1 1/2 C graham flour (I used whole wheat) 3/4 C all-purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Combine the butter, egg and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Stir in the honey and molasses and blend. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture. Add the salt, graham flour, and all-purpose flour to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too "tacky" add a little more graham flour.
Liberally dust two cookie sheets with flour.
Split the dough in half or do 1/3 and 2/3 and roll out on each cookie sheet - I used my fingers to press it down. It should be about 1/8 inch thick - remember, the soda will make it rise a little.
If you want them to be as thick as I have in my picture, don't split the dough at all, but you will have a more chewy cracker.j
Score the dough with a pizza cutter or knife, but not all the way through, into squares. Depending on the size you make you could have 20-40 per cookie sheet.
Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Gently lift out with a spatula and slide onto cooling racks. Once they are cooled, they'll be ready to eat - but Sam and I like ours warm.
Teesa is an active member of highcountrymommies.com. She is the mother of two, and expecting one more in early November.
Who doesn't love homemade bread? With all the lovely vegetables coming out of our gardens this summer, one of our highcountrymommies shares her favorite zucchini bread recipe...
Heavenly Healthier Zucchini Bread
I?ve always had a weakness for zucchini bread, but most recipes have so much sugar, oil, and use white flour. So I have been tinkering with a favorite recipe while making good use of the bounty of zucchini from our garden this summer, and I?ve come up with a super tasty recipe with less sugar, whole wheat flour, and plenty of flavor. Enjoy!
Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease 2 loaf pans or 18-24 muffin tins.
2 cups grated peeled fresh zucchini (usually one medium zucchini, do not drain)
3 large eggs (or equivalent of EnerG Egg Replacer & warm water)
½ c granulated sugar
½ c packed brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 c canola or vegetable oil
1 c unbleached all purpose flour
2 c whole wheat bread flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinammon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ c chocolate chips (optional)
½ chopped walnuts (optional)
Beat eggs. Add sugars, vanilla and oil. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl then add to wet mixture. Will be a very thick batter.Fold in grated zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts.
Pour into 2 bread pan. Bake loaves 50 minutes. Cool in pans on a rack for 20 minutes, then turn loaves onto rack to cool completely. Freezes well.Yummm!!!!
-- Jennifer G. is the promotions manager and an active member of highcountrymommies.com.
Summer Fun in and around Boone Happy Summer to you! Now that school is out, you have to find things to do in Boone to keep your kids busy. As a mother of four, I have a lot of great places to share with you.
Why not get outdoors? First, there are two parks that we love, the Tot Lot and Greenway Trail by the Swim Complex and Valle Crucis Park behind the Original Mast Store in Valle Crucis. You can find my kids all over the equipment, riding bikes, or wading in the creek in Valle Crucis. There are little parks all over the county, including Green Valley, Jaycee's and Junaluska. We also like to hike trails off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and sometimes spend a night at a Price Park campground. If you are looking for a day trip, Wild Cat Lake is an awesome place to take the kids near Banner Elk. Wild Cat Lake is a natural lake with a sandy beach and a playground within eye sight. Admission is free.
What would summer be without swimming? I have heard that the Blowing Rock Pool has undergone major renovations and has a lot of kid friendly amenities. If it is a rainy day, the Swim Complex off of State Farm Road and the Wellness Center offer indoor pools. There is nothing better to tire the kids out then a few hours in the pool.
You can?t be on the go all of the time so why not pick up some summer reading? My kids love the Watauga County Public Library. They have a summer reading program that starts out on June 7th at 3pm with an ice cream party. The children's librarians have put together a wonderful summer of activities and prizes. You can pick up a copy of the schedule at the library or check out their Facebook page. My kids also enjoy the children's section at the ASU library as well.
If you are up for a day trip, check out the Catawba Science Center in Hickory on a Friday, when admission is free. Their summer exhibits include a butterfly garden.
The one event the kids and I attend every week is the ?Concerts on the Lawn? at the Jones House in Downtown Boone. Every Friday night during the summer at 5pm there are different local bands that perform. We pack a picnic dinner and enjoy the music. On the first Friday of the month, we participate in the Art Crawl as well.
What else I am forgetting? We also go to the Humane Society to take a dog for a walk or to play in the cat room. We often visit the Children's Playhouse, Boone's own children's museum. Tweetsie is also a must for us. We buy passes, and, with all the events that they have over the summer, it pays off. There are several local farms where we like to pick our own produce. We have a favorite blueberry farm up near Tater Hill. More pick your own farms can be found at www.pickyourown.org/NCwestern.htm.
Summer is a wonderful time and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If you have any questions about the places I mentioned, please send me an email at > amber@highcountrymommies.com
Amber is an active member of highcountrymommies.com, wife and mother of four children.
Keeping In Touch Raising a family comes with many responsibilities, as you well know. One of the biggest responsibilities that I face is keeping in touch with family.
My husband and I have moved around a lot in the last twelve years of marriage. We not only moved away from the city where we met and fell in love, we moved all the way to China. It was during our seven years there (yes, we moved around within China as well), that I learned how intentional I need to be in order to help my family bond with my children.
Most of us don't live quite so far away from our parents, siblings or other relatives, but even if we're three hours away or on the other side of the world, helping your children bond with their grandparents and family is extremely important.
Some of the ways that I have learned to keep my family in the forefront of my children's mind and on the tips of their tongues all the time are the following:
Regular Skype calls (once a week, every week)
Pictures all over the house, including bedrooms and common areas, especially ones of the children WITH their family
Talking about them by name (Aunt Julieta, Grandmommy, Uncle Seth, etc)
Never talk negatively about them in front of your children (kids really pick up on that)
Having grandparents or other relatives send a special toy. The Build-A-Bear teddy bears can include a small recorder where they can record a short message ("I love you, Sam, and I miss you too.")
Cards - we make them, they make them and mail them (who doesn't like to get a card in the mail?)
Regular phone calls
There are so many more ideas, but those are the basic things that I do in order for my children to know their grandparents, aunts and uncles. It takes a lot of work and energy AND time, but it is so worth it. Now when our family visits my children don't need any time warming up to them - they are already familiar with them and love them.
One other thing I've learned as my son has grown older is that he can't just sit in front of the computer and Skype with my parents anymore. My father has taken it upon himself to do projects with my son in each call - this morning it included a rock collection he's been building to give to my son, a couple weeks ago, my father showed him all of the lizards living outside the house (they lived in Thailand until last week), before that, my father went on a scavenger hunt and found many varieties of leaves and shared those with my son. One of the best Skype calls we've had yet is when my father taught my three year-old to make a mango milk shake. He told me in advance what ingredients to purchase and we just followed along with him while he made his in Thailand and we made ours (out of frozen mangoes, of course, not the fresh ones my father picked from his tree) simultaneously.
You see, everyone has to be intentional - it's not just us as the parents. It helps to have both sides involved and aware of how to best connect and bond through a long-distance relationship.
If you live any distance from your family, I want to encourage you to include them in your children's lives. It's so important for us to know our family and know where we came from, and in this day and age, we really have no excuse not to keep our families involved.
TeesaKlear is an active member of highcountrymommies.com. She has a three-year old son, a two year-old daughter (adopted from China) and a little boy on the way.
