Great giveaway....

Here's a great giveaway on my bff's homeschooling blog :) Check her out! http://homeschool-musings.blogspot.com/2011/03/top-ten-posts-and-anniversary-giveaway.html She homeschools in MS. So even though it's not in VA, she's got a ton of information that I've used for my own girls when they've had issues in different subjects. She did a wonderful Amazing Race birthday party for her 10yo son, Ben that was "to die for"! Check her out, you'll find her just as amazing as I do!

Girls Scouts and The Science Fair Project

Girl Scouts/Colonial Williamsburg

We had a blast in Colonial Willamsburg on Saturday, March 12th with the Girl Scouts. It was Girl Scout Day there and the girls got to meet some interesting women from Colonial Times and learn about how they became tavern owners, tour buildings and see how people lived back then.

Here are some pictures of us on the shuttle bus that took us from the Guest Services into Colonial Williamsburg.

The girls got to see the Magazine and Guard House.







They got to experience what Colonial Punishment was like - minus the rotten fruit of course :).








Girl Scouts/Cookies

During one of our booth sales at Chick-fil-a, we had an unexpected visitor, the cow :). Samantha couldn't pass up the opportunity for a hug. He even bought a box of Thin Mints from the girls.

The Science Fair Project

Hannah's Science Fair Project was due today. She chose to make a Lemon Battery. Now for those who are unaware, you can actually power a calculator, small digital clock or a led light with a lemon battery. It was very educational and we had a great time helping her make it. Here you can see the led (red light) lighting up with the help of 4 lemon batteries.




2 lemons produced a very faint light, so you definately need 4 lemons in order to get enough power to really make a "battery".

Her Science Fair at school is Thursday night, St. Patrick's Day, so I'll let you know how she does.

Samantha's class did a Science Project as a class, they planted flowers, so we'll get to see those and take pictures on Thursday.

Update on the fast few months...

Man, time sure flies when you are having fun. You blink and a few months have already gone by and then March is knocking on the door.

First it started with a huge snow storm right after Christmas. Between Christmas and New Year's, we ended up getting 14 inches of snow...very unheard of for our area...that hasn't happened since 1989. We've had 2 more snow falls since then, which is still highly unusual for our area.

Then January brought the selling of Girl Scout Cookies and we are currently still in the midst of that. You should now be seeing the girl scouts selling the cookies in front of your favorite stores. My Daisy and Junior are having a blast selling cookies this year and are still taking orders if you are interested!


February brought us to Valentine's Day! The girls and I made these tasty treats for their classes. We made pink popcorn balls and "cutie bugs" out of nutter butter cookies and pretzels. They were alot of fun to make and even more special was the look on the kids faces in their classrooms when they saw them.

February was also spent aboard the Spirit of Norfolk. We got to share a cruise with good friends of ours, Audrey and Tim. A great time was had by all, enjoying the food and fellowship.

I'll leave you with a great recipe that you will definately have to try. We recently re-discovered Zataran's Black Eyed-Peas and Rice. What makes it so special you ask? It's the "Hoppin John" recipe on the back that will get to purchase this by the case load. I say we rediscovered it because we haven't been able to find it in our local grocery stores anywhere. Believe me, we've looked! We've also tried the recipe with other versions of Zataran's rice and beans and it's just not the same. On a recent trip to the commissary, I found this and purchased 4 boxes of them.

Here's what you need:

1 box of Zataran's black eyed peas and rice

chicken broth (box will tell you how much)

onions - sliced

4 large bone-in pork chops

salt and pepper to taste

oil for frying pork chops

Start by adding some oil to the hot pan. Season your pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides. Sear them just until you get them golden on each side, they will cook later in the rice/broth mixture. Remove them from the pan. Add chicken broth to the pan (it will tell you on the back of the box how much to add..although it says to use water...the broth will give it so much more flavor) and the box contents. Stir to combine. Add your pork chops back into the pan and add a sliced onion on top of each chop. Cover and simmer for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how thick your chops are.

This one pot meal is definately worth trying. We wrote to Zataran's when we couldn't find the exact rice/beans we were looking for and they said that we could order directly from them if our area stopped selling this particular flavor. So definately be on the lookout for it.

Hard to imagine Hannah will be turning double digits in just a few short weeks and Sami will be 7 not far behind her! Yowsa!

In the First Light

In the first light of a new day

No one knew He had arrived

Things continued as they had been

While a newborn softly cried

But the heavens wrapped in wonder

Knew the meaning of His birth

In the weakness of a baby

They knew God had come to earth

As his Mother held Him closely

It was hard to understand

That her baby not yet speaking

Was the word of God to man

He would tell them of His Kingdom

But their hearts would not believe

Thy would hate Him and in anger

They would nail Him to a tree

But the sadness would be broken

As the song of life arose

And the firstborn of creation

Would ascend and take His throne

He had left it to redeem us

But before His life began

He knew He'd come back not as a baby

But as the Lord of every man

Hear the angels as they're singing

On the morning of His birth

But how much greater will their song be

When He comes again to earth!

Amen!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Santa's little helpers - Dinner style

Hannah and Samantha LOVE to be in the kitchen helping. Tom made his famous roast the other night and of course, they couldn't be left out of the kitchen for the preparations. It was very delicious...we may have 2 chefs in the making!

Hannah started by scoring the roast and putting cloves of garlic in for flavor

Samantha started peeling the carrots and then Hannah came to help outOur finished product was a very yummy dinner...complete with Grammy's homemade bread

Chesapeake's Christmas Parade & Gingerbread Houses

We had a fanastic time attending Chesapeake's Annual Christmas Parade. It was very chilly and it even snowed during the parade, which the girls thought was "da bomb"!

This was the front of the parade, the police bikes. Can you see the snow falling a little in the background?

Hannah was in charge of picture taking. We weren't quite sure of the "theme" of the parade, but the floats were very nice to look at.

That morning, the girls made gingerbread houses. If you have a chance to buy a kit that comes with 5 mini-houses...skip over it. Way too hard. Just buy a big one and let everyone decorate it. Here's our attempt at decorating them :)!

They didn't really come with instructions, so we just had to "wing" it when it came to what pieces went with what houses. I was in charge of putting them together and the girls were in charge of decorating them. Luckily we had help. We had Hannah's friend Olivia and my niece Becca helping us to decorate them.

Christmas Program & Field Trip

On Tuesday night, the girls had their Christmas Program for School. They did a great job. The theme was "Twas the Night of Jesus' Birth". Samantha's class just sang songs and played the drums during "Little Drummer Boy" and Hannah's class played a flute-like instrument during one of the songs. Enjoy the pics!

Samantha looks so cute playing her little drum...although she does look less than thrilled.

Hannah had a fantastic time practicing for this song. She could be heard each night in her room practicing. One of the songs they did is called "Hot Cross Buns".

On Wednesday, Samantha's class had a field trip to Glazenfyre and to Chuck E Cheese. Well, they were supposed to go to Hunt Club Farms to see the animals and Santa, but considering it was 19 degrees outside, Chuck E Cheese's warmth won over the hearts of the parents attending :). They got to paint an ornament at Glazenfyre and then have pizza and some fun at Chuck E Cheese.

Santa looks adorable and will be a beautiful addition to our tree once he's fired-up.

This is one of the girls favorite "rides" at Chuck E Cheese's.This game is new to our Chuck E Cheese, but it is so cute. You touch the screen to pop the bubbles. There were actually 6 or 7 new games and even I had a great time spending Samantha's tokens :).