Photo Shoot

We have a family tradition for Mother's Day. I torture everyone by making them do a family photo shoot. It's has gotten much easier as the kid's have gotten older and I have gotten better at taking pictures, but you would never guess it from all the crying and whining that goes on.  I, however, think they secretly enjoy it.

I'm always on the look out for local places that would make good backdrops. Unfortunately a lot of them are private properties, as was the case for this year's first choice. My second choice was behind an old building. It was freezing cold and windy this year. As with a lot of things in life, I was going for "good enough" for these!

April (Snow) Showers

The temperature has been hovering around 32 degrees so it's been raining/snowing/freezing rain for over 4 days straight. I really do hate the weather right now, but I can't deny that it's really pretty. Earlier this week everything was covered in ice.

And now everything is covered in snow....

Goldfish Handprints

I guess we haven't done many projects lately, but since I'm in charge of our kindergarten Sunday School class every other week, we do some there. We were reading the 12 Disciples Story so we made this little goldfish bowl project. It's just a paper plate with a sliver cut out painted blue and colored tissue paper glued to the bottom. They used their handprints painted with only orange because 12 kindergartners with painted hands is dangerous enough, but if you wanted, a multicolor fish would be cute.

Is there anything cuter than little kids handprints?

To tie into the fish in our story, I made little tags, but obviously this doesn't have to be religious.
If you're looking for a story to read, Not Norman is really cute. Norman wants a pet and ends up with a goldfish. My kids can definitely relate to this one!

Random Projects

Last month I saw these cutie penguins. Ellie, as usual, was game to join me, but unfortunately, the boys were busy doing other stuff. (My penguin was not any where near as cute as this one so no picture.)

Bryce has a love/hate relationship with scary things. Once day he made Jack the Pumpkin King and some street lanterns with clay.

For girl scouts Ellie's troop was working on the helpful and friendly badge. Each girl painted some beads and then exchanged them to make their own friendship necklaces.

We had (another) snow day right before Valentine's Day and made these Love Monsters. The kids spent quite awhile making them and then spent quite awhile playing with them (with added time added fighting about whose monster was oldest.)

Look up!

I saw these cutie snowmen on Pinterest awhile ago (idea is originally from Artsonia.) We finally got a chance to make them. We got in the mood by reading There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow.

Well, in central Wisconsin we could have gotten in the mood for snow by looking outside where there is too much plenty, but we love this series.

They are pretty self-explanatory. We drew shapes on construction paper and cut them out, added mouths and buttons with sharpies and added snow paint with Q-tips.

Mine

Bryce

I took them to Sunday School for examples so I added the "Jesus Loves You Snow Much." The kindergartners got a kick out of it! A few of them:

Ellie

Cole - he made cookies for his snowman to eat!

And now I'm ready for spring!

January 2013 Eats

I like to make new recipes often, but then I forget about them and have no idea what to buy at the grocery store to make for supper. I'm trying to figure out a better way to keep track of them. I've tried keeping track of them on Pinterest, but that hasn't really worked out for me so I thought I'd try it here. Turns out, it's a pain in the butt, but it was fun for the month anyway. In the end, I may kick it old school and print out the recipes and keep them in a binder.

Things I've Already Made and Loved
Paleo Banana Bread I don't necessarily agree with everything about a Paleo diet, but I DO 100% believe most Americans (my family included) eat way, way, way too many grains -- even "whole" grains.

Cauliflower Rice  It's good unless you actually think you're going to get something that tastes like rice. Bryce is crazy for this with a little ranch dressing, but the other kids take a pass.

The World's Best Chicken Really good, really easy. Kid approved.

Sweet and Sour Turkey Stir Fry I just toss in whatever veggies I have kicking around. Cabbage and zucchini are my favorites.

Primal Pumpkin Muffins Mitchell said I was the best muffin baker in the world when I made these and all 24 were gone within 24 hours. I think it's party because my kids are accustomed to eating weird things, but mostly because these are really good.

Chicken Fajitas Paul says this might be his favorite meal.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Turkey Breast Roast with Onion Soup Mix

Chili - top secret recipe. (Just kidding, it's from a cookbook.)

Will Be Making Again
Zucchini Fries I forget how much I like zucchini!

Baked Meatballs A good, basic meatball recipe. I don't like big globs of meat so I'm not the best judge, but everyone else enjoyed them.

Lentil Soup Yum! So flavorful. I added some leftover meatballs for protein because the thought of turkey kielbasa grosses me out (although it is tasty. )

Healified Cheez It's Homemade crackers - sooooo good and easy, too.

(A different) Paleo Banana Bread We were out of almond butter needed for the first recipe and I didn't feel like making any, so I tried this one. It's much more moist. I like the other bread better, but Paul likes this one best. I added choc chips and 1 tsp. baking powder.

Best Christmas Cookies I skipped the nuts and added a few mini chocolate chips. These are good enough to make again, but I actually will because there are so many other recipes on her site I want to try.

Cauliflower Pizza Sticks I don't know that they actually taste like cheese fries, but they are a good way to eat cauliflower. 1/2 the kids liked it.

Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

Garden Herb Biscuits 1/2 the kids liked these, Paul loved them and I thought they were good.

Almond Flour Pancakes The kids liked these and they were easy. (I don't really care for pancakes so I didn't try them.)

Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Is there some way I can marry this?

Crunch Faux tatoes I don't know that they taste like potatoes, but they are still good. 

Protein Yogurt - in the pursuit to cut down on cereal, I made up this concoction.  Add 2 cups Greek yogurt, 2 scoops plain protein powder, and frozen strawberries, thawed into food processor.

May or May Not Make Again

Goldfish Crackers These were good, but the kids didn't like them.

Greek Salad This is probably better when tomatoes are in season. It's nice to have cut up veggies to eat/add to salad.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies The kids gobbled them up and they were easy, but there are so many other cookie recipes I would like to try, I'm not sure if I'll repeat this or not.

Zucchini Bites  These tasted good enough, but they stuck to the pan. If I made these again, I would just shape into patties and skip the mini muffin pan.


Will Not Be Making Again

Garlic Bread I had high hopes for this. It is made in a similar way as angel food cake which I love because of the texture. I hate regular cake because of the texture so it's kind of ironic that I didn't like this because of that reason.

Coconut Pancakes Everyone ate these, but said they were just ok.

Chickens

Have I mentioned before that I want chickens (just 3 or 4!) but it's a no-go with Paul. My friend, Sheri helps a local farm cleaning eggs and asked me if I wanted to come too I asked if I could come, too. (For local people, they sell these at Piggly Wiggly!)

It's quite a process. Each egg has to be cleaned, carefully wiped dry (as not to disturb the natural coating) and then candled. Candling was my job which meant I held them up in front of this light to check for any cracks and to make sure there was an air space inside.

We took a break for a farm tour and to collect more eggs:

Time for poo boots - it was my lucky day and I got the red ones!

Hanging out with my new friends:

I love these next series of pictures. As you can see, Sheri was a bit apprehensive to gather eggs:

I love the first one and the last one the most because she was showing genuine emotion.

Check out her supervisor:

  "Don't get your feathers in a ruffle."

This place rated right up there with the pumpkin patch for places to take pictures - so much to see. I can't wait to go back, although Paul likely can (not good for my chicken obsession!)