Thursday, February 28, 2013

I LOVE BOOKS!

Anyone who knows me at all knows I love books! And I'm passionate about children's books - especially the ones I grew up with, ones you often can't find anymore.
As I was driving home, I caught the end of an interview with an author. He was asked what books he loved when he was little, to which he responded that when he was in elementary school they were leveled, 1, 2, or 3. He was in level 3 - the stupid ones, the ones that would be flipping burgers. They didn't have many book and weren't really taught to read. One day a teacher came into the room, took him by the hand and brought him to her level 1 classroom. She sat him by her desk which was stacked with books - all below the grade level, but he still couldn't read them. She taught him how to read. One of the first books he loved was "The Big Jump."
 I was so excited I let out a little cheer! I have that book and I LOVE that book. It is well worn with love and use.
I was so excited to hear a story about a great teacher who took a boy who would have been continually looked over and allowed him to succeed!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Valentine's Day

We started a tradition, sometime, to have pink pancakes for Valentine's Day breakfast. The children also get a little something at their plates.
 This year, the girls each got a rose and everyone split some chocolate covered strawberries. 
They were mostly for Jacob. Whenever the commercial would come on he would come into the room and say, "those look so good. Don't they look really good?" So, I thought it would be fun to order some as a surprise for him.
He loved them and said it was the best Valentine's Day gift - even as great as the year they got Lego spinners for their Valentine's gift. . . . Now that's pretty good! :)
Logan loved the pink heart shaped pancakes and pink syrup and asked for them for dinner that night and breakfast the next day!
Breakfast was a hit!

Robert and I went out to dinner with some friends that night and had a really nice time.
That Saturday we went to a Valentine's Day Sweethearts party at a friend's and were asked to bring a dessert. I made a raspberry-lemon icebox cake. It was very fresh and light. Robert thought I should have gone with the Belgian chocolate cream pie, but I thought there might be a lot of chocolate desserts there and decided to bring this one.
I'll just have to make the chocolate pie another night!

Cub Scout Blue&Gold

February is the month of the Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet. I found way too many cool ideas on-line and started feeling a bit overwhelmed.
It's nice to have a bunch of leaders to divide up assignments. I took care of the cake and table decorations. I found a great cake and adapted it to my abilities.
For den meeting, the week before the Blue&Gold, the boys helped put together some of the table decorations. They were very helpful and it was fun to see what they did on the tables.
I saw an idea for blue chocolate dipped marshmallows with gold sprinkle. I found some light blue melting chocolate and tried a few out to see how they would turn out. 
They turned out great and weren't very hard to make. Alyssa and Logan did most of them for me on a Sunday afternoon.
We had a great turn out and everyone had a great time.
The boys helped in an activity that talked about the three important parts of Cub Scouts - the boys, the leaders, and the parents -
and how we all support each other.
It was a wonderful night and celebration.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Waiting Rooms

 When waiting in a waiting room, it's hard not to glance at some of the magazines they have laying on all the tables. The ones with food on the cover caught Alyssa's eye and we started flipping through the February Family Fun magazine.
They had some great ideas for dinners made in muffin tins. I had to get the issue.
We tried out the sweet potato shepard's pie (pictured below) - a great blend of flavors. Jake and Alyssa loved it (Alyssa said eating it made her smile), Natalie and Logan - liked just the bottom meat part, sort of.
 I also tried the homemade mac&cheese recipe for the muffin tins - the kids weren't too keen on the breadcrumb topping (just cheese next time) - but they all loved it, even Natalie! and she hasn't liked any mac&cheese she's tried until this one.
They also had a great idea for a Groundhog's Day dessert! So we celebrated last Saturday with a bit of sweetness.
I forgot to get the chocolate wafers to crumble on the top, so the groundhogs had to come out of mud instead of dirt, but it was still yummy!
If you have to sit and wait for appointments, I'm sure glad they provide great reading/idea material!