Posted By Mama Bird
Finally, we're in March.
Kitty, Boyo, and Big Girl  Here is how the basement is progressing:   Boyo and brownies  Kitty, Boyo and Handsome Prince watching a very exciting movie  more basement  a little family OTogetherness  We took a long car trip; we had to pull over and just run for a bit  watching Cousin B play soccer  my baby girl giving me flowers  this speaks for itself  playing spoons  at the aquarium  that's one big fish!         Unique in both fashion sense and in comfort-ability:  a Simon luv fest   one of my favorite trees  Grandpa supervising the granddaughters washing the car  On our way home from our visit we took a little detour. This is the view from the windshield:  Love those hotel pools at the end of a long driving day   a little post-roadtrip visit to the chiropractor  a few photos of the finished basement   a chicken's-eye view  those two again, lol:  Playing in the basement can be really hard work. Can you find Boyo and Princess?  more 'life with chickens'  with our good friends at a homeschool political rally at the state capitol:  |
Posted By Dawn in Holidays
We are having fun baking around here this week. We started off with our favorite Christmas cookie, Chocolate Surprise Cookies. CHOCOLATE SURPRISE COOKIES (bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees ~ makes about 8 dozen) Purchase 8 dozen Hersheys Chocolate Kisses Cream Together 1 1/2 cup of butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup of brown sugar Beat In 2 eggs 4 teas vanilla 1 teas almond extract Add and Mix Thoroughly 3 1/2 cups flour 1 teas baking powder 1/2 tea salt 1 cup very finely chopped blanched almonds Refrigerate dough to make it less sticky. Form balls around each kiss so kiss is completely enclosed. The thinner the dough on each kiss, the more kisses can be covered. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet until starting to turn light golden color. Let cool -- These taste better that way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We made a DOUBLE batch (200 kisses) so that there would be plenty left over for Christmas gifts. First the kids counted out 200 kisses using a tallying system.
Then the kids peeled the foil off the kisses.
Next we creamed the butter and sugars.
Next the kids chopped the blanched almonds.
Then they took a break for a sensory moment. Ahhh...feel the blanched almonds.
Now we mixed in the rest of the flour and such. This was about the time Mommy realized that she really did not have a big enough bowl for a double batch and she really NEEDS a Kitchen Aid mixer. The kids started getting really messy, and the dog started waiting for flying food to land at her feet.
After giving up on the mixer and Mommy mixing the dough with her hands, it looked like this.
The kids rolled kisses into dough and put them on a baking sheet.
Yummy loveliness! You can dress them up with some frosting and sprinkles if you wish.
Blessings, Dawn |
Posted By Mama Bird
Boyo in the morning:  Big Girl and Kitty at the art class we're taking:  a water color I was working on: with Grandpa Dale at the church family game night:  another exciting meal at our house:  The farmer and his wife (aka Kitty and Princes)  a little basement progress  a snapshot for the nature journal  beeping snooties  Seth and Princess in music class  Princess creating one of her many gourmet concoctions  My Valentine's Day card to Handsome Prince  Big Girl, Princess and Kitty decorating the Valentine's Day gingerbread house  with Bethie's family at the historical museum  more basement progress - this is the vapor barrier and insulation  Boyo  Big Girl at a violin lesson  Grandmom and Simon at naptime  two-fisted spaghetti  Here is what happens when homeschoolers study ancient Egypt:  Clarification if you're unsure what the above picture is - Princess, mummified, with all her servants, pets, and worldly possessions, on her way to the next world in her royal chariot:  |
Posted By Mama Bird
Here is my little farm hand helping clean the chicken coop:
 And here is what we do in February because it's just so warm here in the winter:   A small fashion show from Princess:     Boyo's theme: Play hard, sleep hard:  Princess and Kitty in good hands:   A visit from the New York cousins:    the family dance-along  Even Papa gets in the act:  at the pool:    |
Posted By Dawn in Holidays
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We had our first Christmas party of the season Friday morning. We hosted a FIAR party for our support group. We had only 7 kids but the group is slowly growing. Our FIAR book this month was Warm As Wool. The kids all brought a warm item of clothing to the party so that we could send it to Covenant House, a home for homeless teens in New York City. We then did a few crafts, ate lots of great food and played for a few hours. Because all the children at the party were special needs, we had to do lots of balancing of what everyone needed to be comfortable. However, it all went well with minimal tears. In fact, all the tears were at the very end when all the sensory children had had enough.
The dog was a very big hit.
After the party we had to rest and prepare for Round Two. Friday night, we were invited to our huge Family Support Network party for special needs kids. It covers five counties, and there were a few hundred kids present. Of course, I forgot my camera!! Unfortunately, Goldilocks was not able to attend because of her behavior. Often she can only handle one event a day or even every few days. She just could not pull herself back together after party one and was being very rude. Grandma saved the day and babysat her so that the rest of us could still go.
The lady who painted faces did a great job. Here are two of my children. Tom Sawyer is about to fall asleep standing there lol.
Tom Sawyer won a gingerbread house for coming in close in an estimation game. I guess all that work we are doing in estimation is paying off. Today, we are getting some snowflakes! They will probably not amount to much, but it is nice and Christmassy anyway. Blessings, Dawn |
Posted By Mama Bird
Today, I § made home made bread for breakfast; § did 3+ loads of laundry, § supervised the children cleaning out the fireplace, § made a plan of how to tackle my holiday season, § taught a lesson to 4 children on baking quick breads and then baked cranberry raisin bread with them, § peeled / cored / sliced approximately 30 lbs of apples, § made 6 quarts of apple pie filling, § froze or dehydrated the remainder of the apples, § cleaned the kitchen 3x, § handed out soccer photos to parents who came to pick them up, § got a fish out of the bathroom sink, § shoveled snow, § searched my backyard for handcuffs, § helped Princess make flatbread from scratch and then helped her eat it § made half a dozen apple dumplings, § worked on a crochet Christmas gift I’m making someone, § carried snakes through my kitchen, § got some of my office cleaned out in preparation for Mark coming Monday, § practiced piano, § listed 2 items on craigslist, § supervised flute and violin practice, § thought about working on my painting and decided to make the table top more red, § e-mailed my husband twice, § counseled children about a better way to behave in a relationship, § changed a poopy diaper, § moved a shelving unit, § typed up several pages of conference notes, § started thawing a turkey, § refroze said turkey, § worked on the family budget, § dealt with hormonal pre-teen… and that’s just what I can remember! And I did it all without chocolate. |
Posted By Mama Bird
Graduation from music academy
Here are Princess and our friend Rebecca waiting for the program to start.  The girls  the audience  at their keyboards Kitty, Big Girl and Timothy  singing and playing guitar  and playing recorder  the excitement of the evening exhausted Princess  Big Girl and Kitty playing their solos   with their teacher   and with their class  |
Posted By Mama Bird
One of the biggest events in February was Big Girl's and Kitty's graduation from Music Academy. It was a three-year program, and while it focused on music theory and piano, they also worked on guitar, recorder and rhythm instruments.
Here is a photo from the last class before graduation. These children are all ages 8, 9 and 10 in the photo. Kitty is in gray; Big Girl in a football jersey; Timothy is on the far right.  and here are the moms; I'm second from right.  On the same day as their last class, Princess and her friend Seth (Timothy's brother) started their first class.  We had a wonderful field trip down by the river.   and then went to the nature center to study flood plain control  Remember that pile of stuff in the basement? Well, here's another view.  The grocery store is so exciting when you're two.  |
Posted By Mama Bird
We checked out the new ice arena in our area; since this was their first time on the ice, the children wore helmets.
 Boyo enjoyed his new cowboy gear he got for Christmas.  A little Wip from the can, anyone?  Beth, Amanda, Shauna and I went out for dinner when Amanda came to town.  These two... I call them the Twin Tornadoes. They look innocent here, but I think you can probably tell the reality is a little different.  How pretty is this?  Our basement remodel began. After all the shag carpet, newspaper wallpaper, faux brick, nasty wood paneling and pool table lights were gone, we had this to show for it. It was only the beginning, though.  We had a great day at the local stock show.  Here's the family petting baby yaks.  And here's Boyo sampling some yak from the grill.  The kids all want to own yaks. I personally think the Scotland Highlands Cattle are cool.  For breakfast, nothing beats peach cobbler cooked over coals in a cast-iron Dutch oven  Is your mama a llama? If she is, she might look like this one Kitty is petting.  Princess and I had our first date lunch; here she is at the table.  A friend was on pregnancy bedrest, so we went over a few times to hang out with her and her children; here are all the kids together.  My little chicken wrangler  and his herd. They are Jane, Ethyl, Lucy and Helen.  On our way to art class one day, we saw this guy; I hope he wasn't on his way to our house.  Princess likes to look at books at our weekly allergy appointment.  Big Girl's beautiful smile. I took this in the orthodontist's office just before she got braces.  This shot was during...  When "da duys" showed up every morning at 7:00 to work on the basement, they came in through this basement window; they dug out this hole by hand.  |
Posted By Merit K in Book and Product Reviews
