Club Week in VA

i know, i am a little behind on the visit to VA pictures but bear with me a little while i play catch up. Colleen and i were wondering what to do with the kids for the week. Well, they made the plan for us. They decided to make a "club" for every day of the week. Quincy helped the girls by making a calendar and a sign up sheet. Very fun...there was scavenger hunt club, book club, space and stars club...and this one day was bird nerd club!!! They really named it that.

The girls had spent a good amount of time bird watching in colleens yard, but we wanted to take them somewhere where they could see some different birds....and we found this exotic bird shop. I would say that they loved it but i don't think that would be true. If she looks uncomfortable in this picture below it is because she is! When they realized that there were such large birds loose, neither was very inclined to be there anymore. But we got a few pictures and they thought the caged birds were much more enjoyable, so all was not lost

Warm Days

Yesterday morning the weather was too perfect to be inside. The breeze was blowing and the weather was warm...already in the 70's at 10 in the morning. We had school to do, so we just took it outside. Avery was more than thrilled to go out. The breeze was blowing so strong she needed a rock to hold her pages from blowing away.

To keep himself happy Mitchell set up a little picnic...what can be better than your own bag of goldfish(not full), some cloud spotting and bird watching?

Some days are just too beautiful to be inside for school. We have a few more weeks of school left and i am hopeful that we will have more days like this one.

Hooray for Homeschool

The accidental learning is one of my favorite parts of homeschool. Every week as map work and writing work we have what we call "Map Monday". The kids pick a letter randomly and then spread out our map quilt(world on one side and states on the other), and go about looking for that letter...i write it on the white board and Avery then copies on a sheet of paper.We occasionally will also try to name and write animals that start with hose letters that might also live in those places. Mitchell has been doing this with us every week, but last week before heading off to my sisters he decided that he wanted to be the one to write it on the white board instead of me. This is the result. We have not done any formal schoolwork with him yet since he is only 4, and despite that he was able to write every word as Avery dictated them to him. I was, needless to say, pretty impressed. It also makes me very hopeful for a good result when he does K with us next year.

No Longer a WIP

I was able to take my vintage sheet quilt along with me to my sisters house this past week. I sewed my binding on here at home at the very last minute....so last minute that i finished sewing as we were walking out the door to drive away. Chris and the kids were already in the car. I wanted to have some hand sewing to do while i was there. My kids all but abandon me when we are in VA because their cousins are way more fun than me...so a mom has to have something to do!! I washed it today and put it out in the sun to dry...i love how it smells fresh out of the sun.

Many thanks to my little quilt displayers...despite their groaning and complaints that it was too heavy!! Trust me, it isn't! This is the first quilt that i have made that i have actually slept a night under. It is not more than lap size but perfect for a warm night....my feet hang out and stay cool. I love it!!!

And, i think i might have mentioned before that i was planning on using it as a picnic blanket but now that it is done i love it so much... I am not sure that i can let it be so used and possibly so dirty!! What am i to do?

We were Taking a Little Break

We are just back from a week and a bit at my sisters house in Virginia...where we had lots of fun, ushered in the summer, and spent lots of time with family. The kids always have a great time together, as do the adults. We did school together, went to the zoo, had club days every week(more on that later), went to my first homeschool curriculum fair and more. I have missed everyone here.

The Birthday Recipe's Post

Monkey Bread
2 can Grands biscuits
1 1/2 t Cinnamon
1 c. White Sugar
1 stick Butter
1 c. Brown Sugar

Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Cut the biscuits in 1/4's and roll in the sugar mix. Throw all the biscuit pieces in a greased bundt pan. Now melt the butter in a saucepan, mix in the brown sugar...now pour over the biscuits. Roll the pan a little to make sure it is distributed well. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until crispy and golden on top. Let stand for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a plate and enjoy!! Don't cut it, just pull it apart with fingers or a fork.

Chili Biscuits
1/2 lb. lean ground Turkey
1/2 c. Ketchup
3 T. Brown Sugar
1 T. Cider Vinegar
1/2 t. Chili Powder
1/2 c. shredded Cheddar
1 pkg Grands Reduced fat Biscuits

Brown turkey. throw in ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar and chili powder once browned. Grease a muffin pan. Press a biscuit into each muffin cup(there will be 8) to get the air out and form it to the cup. Place a heaping spoonful of turkey mixture in each biscuit. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 28-35 minutes.

This is Avery's favorite, she asks for it every birthday!

Carrot Cake
3 Egg, beat well
2 c. grated carrot
1 8 oz. can crushed Pineapple(drain a little)
1 c. Oil
1 3/4 c. Sugar
2 c. Flour
2 t. baking Soda
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. Vanilla
1 c. Coconut
1 c. Walnuts(optional) if you leave this out add a little more pineapple and coconut

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Oil and wax paper(mostly the bottom) of a 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. It gets a little dark, just keep a watch on it. Cool. Invert the pan on a platter and frost with cream cheese frosting recipe below.

Thank you Laura Baillie for this wonderful recipe...it has served us very well for many birthdays!

Frosting
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 t. Vanilla
1/2 c. Butter
1 lb. Powdered Sugar

beat together until smooth.

Butterfly Cupcakes (adapted from recipe by Giada De laurentis)
1 box white or yellow Cake Mix
1 1/3 c. Water
3 large Egg Whites
2 T Butter, melted
2 t. Almond Extract
2 t. Vanilla Extract
2 containers Blackberries
1 c. Heavy Cream
1/3 c. Powdered Sugar

line 18 muffin cups with cupcake papers. Beat the cake mix with the water, egg whites, melted butter, almond and vanilla extracts. Mix until well blended. Pour into the muffin cups evenly(about 1/3 c. each). Bake the cupcakes about 15-20 minutes until they are golden on top. Cool completely in a wire rack. NOW, beat the cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Mash the blackberries coarsely, and then fold into the cream. REMOVE the papers from the cupcake and cut off the top and split this in half. Place a dollop of cream, heaping, on top of the cupcake and then place the top halves on like wings.

Some Reasons Why I Love Him!

I thought i would resurrect a few old pictures of my sweet husband to tell you all a little something about him. For starters he IS the most wonderful husband ever! I am lucky to have him....i know that he loves me unconditionally. But this is to tell you why i love him...

I love him because he takes such good care of me and the kids....considering i have not been feeling that great lately(that stupid root canal) he has taken over everything in this house....dinner making, taking care of kids, cleaning, dishes...that is right ladies i said dishes, my husband is awesome!! I even heard him run the vacuum last night in my fog.

I love him because he is fun, playful and enjoys life. He enjoys his job, which goes leaps and bounds to making him a happy guy! He loves his kids...making time to play with them and teach them about life and the world around them. Making time just to love on them. I love him because he takes everything in stride...when i feel like i am going crazy he is calm and reassuring always. He is awesome!!!

And it does not hurt that he is not hard on the eyes....I LOVE YOU CHRIS!!!! Thanks for taking care of me(especially now) and the kids and doing all the wonderful things you do. I am so grateful.

Happy Belated Easter Everyone

We had a very nice Easter! The easter bunny brought many treats and left lots of eggs in the backyard! Are these not the cutest stuffed animals you have ever seen?

the kids all decked out in the easter finery... thanks Grant for the tie, it went very well with Mitchell's easter outfit!

She Turned 7!!!

my sweet avery turned 7 this weekend....how on earth have all these years gone by so quickly. She was so tiny and now she is on the verge of bid kid. I wanted to straighten the pictures out because they are all out of order from that day, but right now that might be a little too much work, considering the root canal and the pain meds and all.

We were supposed to go to Troy and to our CSA farm to see baby goats but that did not work out as we planned so she chose to go to the American Girl store in NYC again. She brought her kit with her this time...that is hers on the right and the display on the left. she was so cute carrying her around. The picture above is her in the rain eating her birthday lunch of dirty water hot dog and soft pretzel, apparently at the same time!
We sang happy birthday for nearly every meal. This '7' candle was well used this year. It started it's journey in her breakfast monkey bread....so yummy.
...modeling a new shirt she got....
the '7' candle also made a appearance in her birthday butterfly cupcakes...more yumminess!!
she got a new bike that she started riding like a champ. SHe loves it and is so proud of herself when she rides the big kid bike.
Dinner of choice was birthday chili biscuits. After a long, wet and rainy day in the city we came home and made dinner....i did not use the '7' candle this time and it was a good thing i did not because it melted right in the biscuit...oops!

One of her very birthday gifts was this bible...she is so excited to have her own. a few weeks agi we were at the bookstore and she wanted one. I told her no at the time, but a little half heartedly because i was not sure if i should be saying no to having a Bible...it just felt a little wrong. :o) Right away that night she started reading storied from it to us.

Oh, and the Kit American Girl bed...well, as you can see she was so excited that she was blurry for all the jumping up and down. I think she totally scored this birthday.

The '7' candle made another appearance on Easter at Grammy's house. She wanted carrot cake so we made it to have with everyone after easter dinner. It was more than yummy( I think i will try to share the recipes from her birthday in another post)

Let me take a minute here to say again sorry about the scattered post and pictures...it is not my best birthday post by a mile...but with the root canal, ensuing pain meds and pain i have not got it all together...thanks for bearing with me on this one. Hopefully i will start feeling better soon.

Jeepers Creepers!!

You can see why, heebie-jeebies! was in running for the title as well. It has been a busy and long few weeks since we got back from my sisters. I have been dealing with a abscessed tooth, and i totally forgot about our trip to the museum of natural history in DC(i think there will be more pictures to come).

My boy is afraid of nothing....he loves bugs. Unfortunately a little more than i can deal with. But he is all boy so i don't know what i expected. When we were in the Orkin bug display there at the museum there was a nice lady with a cart full of bugs that she was happily handing out for little bug loving boys to hold. He started with that very huge Madagascar hissing cockroach...eeew! And then this very large green caterpillar.

The only bug Avery would agree to hold was the same caterpillar....i think because it did not move much. She took one look at that cockroach and said,"NO WAY!!!". That 's my girl! I love the look on Mitchell's face when the bug lady was telling him all about that caterpillar. He looks so intent and serious.

Lastly he got his little hands on this hug grasshopper. He loved every minute of it. I think these bugs were the highlight of the museum for him!