Ice Skating

This seems to be "birthday party season" for the 1st graders in Danielle's class. Today she attended a party at an ice skating rink. The birthday girl has a sister in Tyler's class, so Tyler was invited to the party, too. This was our kids' first time ice skating. They were nervous, but they did a great job. They really enjoyed it, too, and refused to leave the ice until their ankles were red and blistered. (Didn't even think about layering their socks! Duh!)

The kids wanted me to skate with them, so I gave it a shot. I think I've only ice skated once or twice before, and I was much much younger. There's nothing like skating a couple laps around the rink to remind you that you're no longer 20...or even 30. I made it around a couple times but decided to give up when Danielle lapped me. :)

It was a fun afternoon.

Fancy Danielle

Today Danielle attended a Fancy Nancy Extravaganza at our library. As you might guess, she was most excited about dressing up. The party itself was just so-so. Two of her neighbor friends went, which made it even more fun.

They had a few different stations at the party, including a "Charm School" where the girls worked on their posture and learned to sit like a lady and to curtsy. They also made tiaras and had fancy snacks. They each got a bag of SWAG before leaving. It was a fun afternoon.

Another Snow Day

We had yet another snow day today. In case you're counting, that's 8 for this school year. We've already made up one day by going this past Monday, but we now have at least 2 more days to make up. That stinks.

Since it rained for quite awhile before turning into sleet and finally into snow, the snow was really wet. Wet snow makes good snowman building snow! Danielle and I built a snowman early this afternoon after the snow stopped and the sun came out. Danielle did most of the work, and her snowman turned out really cute.

Clara enjoyed playing in the snow, too. She was making

"doggie snow angels" but stopped when I opened the door to take her picture.

There aren't any pictures of Tyler enjoying the snow because Tyler doesn't think you should have to get dressed on snow days. I can respect that philosophy.

I found out today that I won 4th place in a backyard birds photo contest. The top 5 places won prizes. It was just a small contest (56 entries) with a small prize (25# of bird seed), but it's something. Since the theme was backyard birds, this is the picture I entered. I posted this a couple weeks ago.

Sick Day Project

Danielle threw up early this morning and had an upset tummy for a couple hours. I didn't know if she had a stomach bug or if it would get worse, so I kept her home from school. Whatever the problem was, it was very short lived. She woke up sick well before her normal wake-up time, so I don't think she was faking it at all, but it's amazing how they always feel better once the school bus goes by.


Although she felt better, I thought she should take it easy. When I got my March Family Fun magazine yesterday, I noticed a craft I thought the kids would enjoy - hoop weaving. We had all the supplies on hand, so Danielle and I worked on weaving a hula hoop rug today. As you can see in the background, we enjoyed a little Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while working.



Our supplies - some old tshirts, scissors, and a hula hoop.














Cut the shirts into 1" (give or take) loops. You need approximately 60 loops. I cut more than we needed. Danielle decided not to use a couple of the colors, but I saved them in case Tyler wanted to make one.
















Start with 11 loops as the base, then use the remaining loops for weaving, knotting the loops together as you go. Weaving the first couple rows was a little tricky, but after that it was much easier. This project took all afternoon and Danielle's interest faded some, especially when Violet turned into a blueberry. I helped out a lot more than usual. I think a younger child could certainly do this, but probably not all in one afternoon. For that matter, I'm not sure Tyler could do it all in one afternoon, which is ok. This is something you could easily put down for a couple days and pick up again later when you're bored.








After we were done weaving, we cut the base loops and knotted them. Danielle liked the fringey look so she left the excess on after making her knots. I think it turned out pretty good, and she was really pleased with it.

She put it in her room in front of the nightstand that Ron made for her a few weeks ago.

Another Snow Day

It is still February, so it was just a matter of time before winter returned. It rained during the day yesterday and then turned into ice and snow in the evening. The ice and snow made the roads bad this morning, but the pine trees were pretty.

We started with a delay but school ended up being cancelled because the roads were too bad. By 9:15am the kids were already cleaning their rooms because they couldn't behave themselves. I really didn't want to spend the day yelling, so I made them bundle up and decided to risk the roads (which really weren't too bad by the time we headed out). I decided to take them to the metropark for a walk. They griped and complained and didn't want to go...until we got there.

There was only one other car there, but no one else was out. The path was icy in spots, which they thought was wonderful. It was snowy and pretty and the kids thoroughly enjoyed their "punishment". We had a really nice time and, as I hoped, it successfully "fixed" the rest of our day.

Chalk City

It was another unseasonally GORGEOUS day! I felt so bad sending the kids to school today. After school we tucked the homework away for later and went outside to play. Typically the kids enjoy riding their bikes or scooters, but after a brief bike ride, we discovered the wind was too strong to move! So we created Chalk City instead. Nothing sparks creativity like a box of chalk and a blank canvas...or driveway.

Chalk City has neighborhoods, a park, stores, a hospital, a police station, and even a haunted house. After creating the city, the kids brought some cars out and had fun driving around town. It was a nice afternoon activity.

Time to Grill!

The sun came out today, the temperatures rose, and most of the snow melted. I'm not positive, but I think we've had snow on the ground since early December. I know the cold temperatures are only a few days away, and we're sure to get another big snowfall, but it was so nice to be able to play outside for a little while.

Now that the grill isn't encased in ice, we were able to grill out for dinner tonight. Typically I don't post recipes because, frankly, I don't think I'm a very good cook and I'd rather not focus on that. But, I think this recipe is simple and worth sharing. It was also easy for me to prepare ahead of time while the kids were at school so we could maximize our outside time this afternoon. This is one of our summer time favorites.



Chicken Fajita Packets

4 or 5 sheets heavy duty foil
1 lb chicken tenders
1 med green bell pepper, cut in strips
1 small onion, sliced in rings
1 package fajita seasoning mix

Preheat grill to medium-high

Place chicken tenders on each sheet of foil. (I usually cut one chicken tenderloin, per person + 1 extra, into thin strips. I don't think that's a full pound.) Top with peppers and onions. Sprinkle with seasoning mix.

Double fold top and ends to seal packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Repeat for each packet.

Grill 8-10 minutes in covered grill.

Serve with warm tortillas and your favorite fajita toppings. I usually wrap the tortillas in foil and put them on the grill to warm, too. Be careful not to leave them on too long or they will be too crispy.

Finished Project

Danielle finished the first little bear tonight. She did a great job!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

After a busy day, I spent a nice, quiet evening at home with my sweethearts. My flowers from Ron made a nice centerpiece for our "romantic" , candlelight dinner - for 4. It doesn't get any more romantic than heart shaped jello jigglers for dessert! Surprisingly the candles made it all the way through dinner, despite the kids' efforts to breathe heavily or exaggerate attempts to blow on their food. (I remember doing the exact same thing, which I think made it even more fun tonight.)

After dinner Ron and Tyler played a couple games of Stratego. Ron taught Tyler how to play yesterday. Tyler is a quick learner. With just a little input from me, he finally beat Ron once tonight.

Danielle and I worked on her Valentine gift. We got her a sewing craft kit. It happens to be an American Girl kit, but that isn't why we got it for her. It's a kit to make 2 teddy bear pillows - 1 for a doll and 1 for you. All the holes are premade and all the pieces are precut, so it's a very good first sewing project. I'm hoping she'll learn to sew so she can teach me. :) We worked on the doll sized bear tonight but didn't quite get it finished. She did a great job. (See the gap in her smile? She lost another tooth yesterday.)

Valentine "Box"

After much deliberating and mind-changing, Danielle decided to make a Valentine bag for her party this year. We got the idea from an old Family Fun magazine. This one required a little more help from me than last year's box. It's kind of hard for those little hands to punch holes in stiff felt.

We started with 2 hearts and 4 1.5" strips cut from stiff felt. We punched holes in everything and then used Valentine ribbon to lace all the pieces together. She cut out more felt hearts to decorate the front and back of the bag. We made it plenty big to hold all those valentines and goody bags. I think it looks really cute, and she's really happy with it. (Her homemade Valentines turned out really cute, too.)

Tyler decorated a box with the old standby of foil and Valentine stickers, but I haven't gotten a picture of it yet. It looks nice, but he wasn't as excited about it as Danielle was. I encouraged Tyler to just reuse his box from last year, but he insisted it was too "immature". Ha! No one wants to be embarrassed with an immature Valentine box. Hopefully this year's will be mature enough for a 4th grader, too.

A Birthday and a Half

Since Danielle has a summer birthday, she gets to celebrate her 1/2 birthday at school, and today is her 1/2 birthday! She wanted to take brownies in for her class. I needed 1 1/2 pans of brownies to feed everyone in her class, so it worked out perfectly this year. That left me with a 1/2 pan of brownies for tonight's celebration.




We started having fun with 1/2 birthdays a few years ago before both kids were in school. February is such a dreary month. I wanted something to add a little fun to our routine. The idea stuck, and the kids look forward to it now. Tonight we sang 1/2 the birthday song (the first half this year), and Danielle blew out 7 1/2 candles from her 1/2 pan of brownies.































Today is also Clara's 2nd birthday. Clara was SO excited about all the extra attention that it was difficult to get any decent pictures. (She's a golden blur in most of my pics.) She LOVED LOVED LOVED the muffins Danielle made. It just about killed her to sit for a "before" picture. She sniffed it and licked it, but didn't eat it until I gave her the ok. The kids attempted to give her a couple muffins in pieces so she wouldn't just inhale them, but Clara was all over them. She loved the muffins so much that in a flash she put her front paws up on the table, grabbed one of the empty cupcake liners, and woofed that down, too. It all happened in a matter of seconds - we didn't have time to react...until we all burst out laughing. Hopefully that will all turn out ok. We're going to freeze the rest of the muffins so we can spread the joy over the rest of the year. Clara also got a couple presents - a new toy and a new collar. It was a fun evening.

Birthday Preparations

Tomorrow is Clara's 2nd birthday! The kids wanted to do a little more for her birthday this year, so tonight Danielle baked Clara some birthday muffins. Tyler was at Cub Scouts or he would have helped, too.

We got the recipe from my Three Dog Bakery cookbook that my brother gave me many, many years ago. (Back when our dogs were our kids!) The muffins are officially called Blue Blue Berry Berry Bun Buns. I picked them because they required little effort (no dough kneading, etc) and I had most of the ingredients on hand. Basically, I took the easy route this year. Several years ago I made the birthday cake from this cookbook for our dog Molly. Here she is:

I can't believe I ever had that much time on my hands - or that when I did I chose to make a cake for a dog!







Danielle read the instructions and mixed all the ingredients. She just needed help measuring everything - those fractions are difficult. She did really well.






















Since everything in this cookbook is made from "real" food, the treats are "fit for human consumption". Danielle thought the batter was pretty good. They made the house smell good while they were cooking.
















Here they are: