7 Quick Takes Friday

7 Quick Takes from my week...the science museum and my birthday!

~~1~~
We attended the Free Afternoon at the Museum of Natural Science
(every Tuesday after 2pm!). Ellie was not so thrilled about the dinosaurs. She was sucking her two fingers most of the visit. Not sure if she was tired or scared, probably both.


~~2~~
Mary Clare loved it.
The exhibits were closer to her level, and of course she enjoyed spending time with her friends too. She and Ellie are watching a giant pendulum in the 2nd photo.


~~3~~
Steven Joseph was fairly content in the stroller for most of the visit,
thankfully...since our little friend C was with us, as well as 7 other children under 7! Here he is by the dinosaurs and the African animals.


~~4~~
Today (Thursday) was my birthday!
I'd been craving this special bakery cake. Someone bought one for Kelly's baptism and she asked that they serve it at her funeral reception. In her honor, I indulged today! Buttercream frosting, yum!

My mom also made some special mini-cupcakes, not knowing my cake obsession would also need to be fulfilled. Thank you, Mom!

~~5~~
Me with my favorite little people!


~~6~~
Oh how I love kid gifts!
Here is a homemade card and old Christmas card (from '05) that MC made a frame for, with some scrapbooking supplies she got for her birthday.

Mary Clare had been saving this jewelry box and ring holder for several weeks in her room. It belonged to my grandmother. Inside the jewelry box were coins from her piggybank to help buy my cake.

Ellie gave me a Miraculous Medal necklace (which came with a donation petition in the mail last week :). She wrapped it in tissue paper with a sparkly "B" painted on the top in glitter glue.

My parents gave me a generous Apple gift card, which I'll be able to use in a few weeks when my cell phone plan runs out and I get an iPHONE!!!!


~~7~~
All of us were "off" today but Steven Joseph gave quite a performance
running around the barbecue restaurant. Twice he made a dirty diaper, and he even got lost once. Here's where he wanted to spend his time...


Hubby then came home tonight with a gorgeous bouquet and grilled a wonderful dinner for us, followed by some more RJ Goodies cake. What more could I ask for?

I am one blessed mama!
Read more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!

A Heavy Heart

Our homeschool group has experienced yet another profound loss. One of the families in our group lost their 2 year-old son in an accidental drowning in their backyard pool yesterday. Please keep this precious family in prayer as they deal with this terrible tragedy :***(

Mini Me

Blair in 1st grade~~~~~~~~~~Mary Clare in 1st grade

Homemade Playdough

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 4 teaspoons cream of tartar (I only had about 1 tsp, but it worked fine)
  
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon of food coloring

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over a very low heat until it turns into a dough--it’ll take just a few minutes. Knead the dough on a floured surface until cool enough for kids to touch. Have fun! (You could also wait until the kneading stage to separate and add the food coloring).

Why I don't like movies

I'm not one to enjoy going to the movie theater very much. Something about spending a few hours in a dark room with my mind zoned into another place...spending $4 on a popcorn or a water bottle...and not even getting to talk to my date...it's just not really my thing.

It's also rare for there to be a movie out that I'm really interested in. The last one we saw was Fireproof, and before that I know we saw Over the Hedge (the only time the girls ever went, and Mary Clare was 3!) and The Passion of the Christ. I also remember falling asleep in the last Star Wars movie. And that's been about it in the past 10 years or so.

We rent movies from the Red Box every so often, and watch free flicks on Hulu.com. But really I prefer sitcoms, documentaries, and reality shows; not as much a mental commitment I guess. We rented Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on Friday night for the girls, and boy was I disappointed! That storybook is one of our favorites, but the movie was so different and had several inappropriate scenes for the kids, in my opinion.

Steven has really been wanting to see Avatar. I'd been hearing rave reviews and thought the 3D part would be really cool. My in-laws agreed to watch the kids at the last minute, so we drove across town to meet Steven there after work on Saturday, and once he arrived, he whisked me away on our little date.

I will say that the initial 3D part and the scenery and storyline were pretty fascinating in the beginning. But nearly 3 hours later, it was just too long and too much, and I was too ready to go and get my children, especially my "baby"! We both agreed our date would have been much more enjoyable at a nice restaurant and walking around the Galleria or something.

But it was a good little getaway and we're grateful to have family nearby to allow us these little date nights. We'll definitely be doing something a little more fun and a little more cheap next time! When I awoke the next morning, I had just had a nightmare about trying to find a cheap snack before going into the theater. I went into Dunkin Donuts, who made me pay $4 for a doughnut. Glad that was a nightmare; we love doughnuts around here!

7 Quick Takes Friday

Starting with 7 quick shots of my little man...

1. Don't you hate that feeling when you're all ready to sneeze and then you don't? That's really disappointing!

2. I glued Ellie's head back together last night. Sort of. She was sitting backwards on the couch and fell back onto the coffee table, cutting her head in the back. Blood everywhere! Only about a half-inch cut so I cleaned the blood out of her blonde hair, dried her up, and glued her back together again. I'm just worried about doing the bun for ballet class, not sure how that's gonna work!

3. It is REALLY nice living close to family. My parents live about 20 minutes away. Today we spent most of the day there. I couldn't get Steven Joseph to nap, so I took him on a little drive. Put him in the stroller and rolled him back into their house. THEN...I got to shop at the kids resale store (yay for the dollar sale) and grocery store ALONE! I made it all the way to the check-out before the SOS call came in. Someone was having a fit, but promises of iced sugar cookies for good behavior calmed the unnamed child down.

4. I don't like the rain and I don't like the winter (except for Christmas). But right now it's slightly raining outside and it sure sounds relaxing. It will be especially cozy when I crawl into the warm bed in a few minutes, likely finding several children sprawled out in different spots. We've been doing well with the girls sleeping in their room, except when it's cold and everyone is in our room with the floor heater. And I don't usually mind; I love cuddling with my sleeping angels!

5. But what I do mind is the smell that has invaded a room in our house a few times over the past year. We're assuming it's a dead animal in the walls and the smell goes away after a few days. I'm ready for that smell to be gone!

6. My birthday is next week. 32 years young! I am totally excited about my present :-) But I probably won't get it for a few weeks yet. Steven was making fun of me tonight because he's never seen me excited about a material item like this (more his style). I can't remember if I've referenced it before, but can you guess what I'm getting (hopefully)?

7. Speaking of my handsome husband. He has been working up a storm. 12 hour days plus commute and long Saturdays too. We miss him so much! But what a hard working daddy! Thank you, Steven!

Check out more Quick Takes at Jen's Conversion Diary!

Along the Alphabet Path--Letter O

We started off O week with a trip to the...

ZOO

where we saw
Owls and Orangutans!


O books about Owls
and the Our Father


O is for Orchis Fairy


coloring Os with Oil Pastels


Tracing and coloring Os and Owls


Ed Emberly's Drawing Book of Animals--Owl



an owl poem


and I must add a sweet photo from last week...
"Oh my! Look how well they're working!"


Also here are the:
Serendipity Plans and Shower of Roses Ideas
for O week!

Along the Alphabet Path--Letters M, and N

I know I don't have to state it again, but my Alphabet Path inspiration is flailing. I don't have the energy to order all the books, plan the fun crafts, and everything I was doing at the beginning of the year. The month hasn't started but I'm already feeling that "February Funk" and ready for some changes in our homeschool routine.

I just purchased the Mother of Divine Grace 2nd Grade Syllabus and am very excited about adding some more subject areas, and having this framework to go by. Not sure when we'll start that, likely after the tax return is here, LOL!

But here are some more of my meager attempts to continue our alphabet plans. I'll have "O" up soon and this week we're taking a break so maybe I'll have some creativity for P week!

M is for....
Mary Clare! It was her birthday week,
so it was filled with making special plans for her big party.


Madeline

I checked out nearly every Madeline book our library system offered. We had so much fun reading them all! Mary Clare is very much wanting to learn French after all this Madeline and watching those videos of little Capucine.

We made crepes with our French theme (didn't turn out so good, very rubbery)


and a Madeline lapbook,

which included some coloring pages, World and European maps, the French flag, and a narration about one of the stories.

I'll also include our floor Map that I painted which got lots of use that week!


N is for...
Noah's Ark

I bought a Martha Stewart Noah's Ark craft kit at Walmart awhile back. It included pipe cleaner animals, which unfortunately were a bit hard for the kids to make. But we tried and had fun!

Notecards.

Mary Clare was very excited to start the thank-you cards for her birthday and did a handful the first day or two. BUT. I am horrible with written letters and have not helped her complete these or address any of them. I brought them to my parents' house over the weekend and forgot them there. She did a few without my supervision which need to be redone. I am worried this will be another set of thank-you cards that are started but never finished.

To all our friends who made her birthday so special, THANK YOU. I am sorry that I am so bad with mailed letters and hope you know how much she loved every single gift she received.

So...that's all I've got for the Alphabet Path for N. Not much.
O will be better though!

Baked Potato Soup

2 tbsp. butter
1/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 large potatoes
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

1. Peel, slice, boil, and drain potatoes until falling apart (or bake, peel, and mash if you have time!), meanwhile fry bacon
2. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes.
3. Add flour into the vegetable mixture; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes).
4. Add potatoes, 1/2 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
5. Stir in 1/4 cup green onions. Cook until thoroughly heated (do not boil)
6. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with cheese, green onions and bacon. Yum!

(modified from YumSugar, which modified from Cooking Light)

And last night was a modified Pioneer Woman's Monday Night Stir Fry (didn't have stuff like Ginger or Arrowroot or Peanut Oil and used the fresh veggies I had on hand). Hubby gave it a thumbs up!

Now...what for dinner tonight...I've got three chicken breasts defrosted and ready for something new! Maybe I'll update with my concoction later today!

My Little Guitar Hero