Day 1 of my trip home March 7th

My niece Madisyn got married on March 8th. I really wanted to go, so I decided to fly home to make it to the wedding. Wed. March 7th, I got up at 4:45am, showered and left at 5:15 to catch the 6:00 shuttle to the airport. The flight was only 45 minutes. At the airport, I caught the bus to the closest stop to my mom's house about 1/2 mile away. It was a long morning, but it was a good way to get there without having to drive myself. The first thing I did at my mom's was drink a large glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Ahhhh, the taste of home. Later I asked my mom if I could see my Dad's headstone since I hadn't yet. She was happy to take me and we went in her little electric car. I took a picture of the intersection and the trash bin that it's by and my mom's cute car. It's a very nice headstone. I glad I finally got to see it.

Day 1 of me being gone - Mini sized bubble bath

Jileigh gave Elody a mini bubble bath in my utility sink in the laundry room. I thought it was cute!

Jileigh had a choir concert that I missed. So sad. and Matt went to a parent meeting for Jaren's future. He has been asked to go to a different school next year to go to a special High Ability Stand class for the gifted and talented. Wow! We aren't sure if we are going to do it or not. It's 45 minutes away. We would have to drive him half way there everyday to the bus stop that would take him the rest of the way. Supposedly there can be a carpool created so we are thinking about it. Then Jaren had to go to cub scout pack meeting with our neighbors, Andrea's family. He earned his Wolf badge, but they are going to wait until next month to give it to him so we can be there.

Angelique's new hair cut

Angelique has been tossing around the idea of letting me cut her hair for about a month. Finally this evening, she decided for sure that she wanted it cut. So off came about 8 inches! She loves it and I think she looks adorable! These are the before and after pictures front and back.

District level History Fair

Today Angelique and her cousin Colton we to the District wide National History Day Fair and entered in their website on The Constitution. They WON 1st Place!!! Candy took them because I wasn't able to leave her and go too. She took them out for lunch at The Golden Corral. They also took the iPad to keep them entertained while being gone a good part of the day.

Our first attempt at empanadas

Every Sunday night we sit together and have Family Meeting and plan out our coming week. We usually plan out the meals that they want to help make, but this time no one had any ideas and it was bedtime. So each day I'm saying, "What are we going to have for dinner?" Tuesday night, Matt came up with a new idea. We made a version of empanadas. The stuffing is rice, Jimmy Dean ground sausage, imitation crab meat, cheese, cream of mushroom soup, and sauteed vegetables: onions, celery, bell peppers, mushrooms, and carrots. Then he made creamy whole multi-grain buscuit dough, and rolled it out into small rounds. We put the stuffing on, folded it in half, sealed it, and brushed it with egg and baked it. They were so yummy!!! I think next time we won't include the crab meat. Some of the kids didn't like the slight fishy taste.

Saturday morning breakfast

I took this picture to make a memory of all my kids sitting around the kitchen counter eating their cowboy toast and drinking raw milk on a Saturday morning.

At the elementary school, they have an annual talent type competition for drawing, painting, picture taking, singing, and playing an instrument. My Safia won second place in the 1st grade painting category. Good for you Safia!

Ever Heard of Flat Stanley?

This is Safia's Flat Stanley. The back of the picture states, "In School we have been reading the story of Flat Stanley. This Flat little boy was able to see many places by going through the mail. Please write me back and tell me about where you live and what you and Stanley did for the day. Our class is anxious to see how many places Flat Stanley can go. If you would like to copy him and this letter and send it on for your 1st grade friend, that would be great!"

So if you feel so incline to help our my Safia and do this, please send pictures to: mattamy9@gmail.com if you don't already have my current personal email address. This email address I listed is my email address I give to businesses. Thanks!!!

Service Project - Michael's bike

This is Michael's bike. They don't have a bike pump so I offered to bring it home. Fixing his bike turned into quite the service project. It had sand and dirt in it everywhere. We had to get new tubes for it and Matt picked up the thorn resistant kind. I'll just glad when it's all done, Michael will be able to ride his bike home from school again.

Here's the after picture of Michael and his newly tuned bike!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

I blogged once sometime ago about making homemade chicken nuggets, but I'm doing it again because it was cute watching the kids insist on helping and doing an assembly line dipping the chicken in flour, them buttermilk, and then the homemade breadcrumbs and then passing them to Beau to put on the half sheets. We actually made enough for two meals so I stuck all the left overs in the freezer.

Safia's Hair Style for Valentine's Day

I am not one for doing fancy hair styles, but Safia wanted her hair done a certain way on Valentine's day and I did it!

Valentine's family dinner

This is our Valentine's dinner on the china and we used the nice flatware and goblets. We had steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus, grilled mushrooms, and salad. We drank a drink I made simply from Shasta Club soda and Apple kiwi Stawberry concentrate. I will do that one again!

Heart Attack!

On Valentines night, the children Heart Attacked our bedroom.

Family Home Evening Valentine's Eve Feb 13th

For Family Home Evening I gave a lesson on Testimony and then Matt and the kids made snickerdoodles, With whole grain flour and reduced sugar, and the kids decorated them.

It snowed Feb. 13, or Valentine's Eve. This is my early spring garden. I planted Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages last fall and now they are finally starting to grow. I just recently planted seeds of turnips, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuces and spinach. I also planted onion bulbs.

Jaren's Scout Blue and Gold Banquet Dinner / Cake decorating

The boys are: Jaren, ? , ? , ?, Levi, Kel, ? , ?, Nick, Ben

It was time for the cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet again. Matt and Jaren made this beautiful cake with custard between the two layers and chocolate pudding mixed with whipped cream for the frosting and then decorated it with sliced strawberries and mini chocolate chips. The dinner was a taco bar. Yummy and a good idea!

Bedroom floor carpet GONE! New Vinyl wood planks

We are sooooo done with having carpet in our bedroom! We put down Adura Vinyl wood planks and we love our new floor! We also removed the "bump" in our room. It was a waste of space "catch-all".