Zoo Again...

Yes, another zoo trip:)  My sister Stephanie and I went to the zoo with the kids and had a good day.  Stephanie and I were both worn out by the end but it was still fun.

Lego Prison

Derek is a very good lego builder when he is in the mood.  (Sometimes he forgets he likes it so much and says he is BORED...oh how I dislike that word from my kids!)  This creating is a prison.

Widow's Peak

Snowflake has many wonderful old houses that are museums.  Darrell's mom Sarah is in charge of the Heritage Foundation which is in charge of the museums.  One of the homes you can get on top of the roof.  It is called the widow's peak.  It is 3 stories up and fun.

It was a chilly morning and the house was freezing, but standing on top of the roof you were closer to the sun and it felt good.  There was even snow on top of the roof still.

Cauliflower

My first head of cauliflower from the garden.  We have grown broccoli before and this year I attempted cauliflower.  It turned out great and it was delicious.  It was huge too!!  

We oiled, salted, peppered and roasted the cauliflower and it was wonderful!!

Laundry Basket Chili

So my friend and visiting teacher gave me directions for how to make a "wonder box" to cook with less  electricity.  It works by retaining heat long enough for the food to cook.  While looking online to learn more about this wonder box I discovered sites written by people who do the same thing but in a laundry blanket with a sleeping bag and a lot of blankets.  So I tried it.  I made chili in my laundry basket:)

You boil the food first for a little time before placing in the food in the blankets.  The food then cooks for a few hours in the blankets and is done.  It was fun:)  I'll have to try something else soon.

Christmas 2010

Another Christmas gone by...I can hardly believe how fast time goes.  

Stockings - one of my favorite traditions of Christmas.  Stockings were always my favorite part of Christmas and now it's my favorite thing to prepare for my kids.  I love putting all the tiny little presents in that I can think of.  

Legos - the only present Derek thinks is necessary to be happy in life:)  He enjoyed this set very much and then he used his Christmas money to buy a second set.  I don't know what he would do with his life without legos :)

Sarah opening Barbies...

Some of the stocking stuffers this year included new hair clips for the girls.  Emily put ALL of them in her hair and would not accept any help putting them in.  

Darrell enjoying his many new gardening books.

Sarah of course is copying her big sister with the hair clips.

The girls love Disney Princess dolls.  Well the clothes that come with them don't last very long...they shred at the edges and fall apart.  So this year I bought several hand made dresses from a lady online.  The girls love them and they are great dresses.

Cursive

Derek likes being one step ahead.  He has great printing handwriting when he wants to and now he feels like doing cursive.  We have a book at home with a chart of cursive letters, so on his own he decided to try it out.  He did an excellent job in my opinion.  He's been experimenting combining the letters to make words in cursive also.  I'm not sure when they learn in school, but I guess he'll be ready:)