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Easter Sunday 2011

Apr 29th, 2011 by

Except for my dear hubby who had to get up super early to play Worship, the rest of the house slept in!  The Easter bunny did a fabulous job of decorating the table and window with the kids sleeping 10 feet away!

My nieces received Easter “stockings” with goodies in side…

I made a quiche and lemon scones for breakfast.  The kids decorated eggs…

We spent the afternoon watching movies, sunbathing, and playing in the pool.

My mom and I  made an Easter dinner.  The menu:

Asparagus Salad with Cranberry Raspberry Mayonnaise
Pork Roast with Mustard and Herbs with Apple Garnish
Carrots and Fava Beans
Polenta with Italian Cheese
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Fresh Strawberries

I was too tired to “stage” a photo of the dessert, but I have to say that this was incredible!  It was so rich, I had to give half of it away to friends!  YUM!

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The Joy of Roses

Apr 29th, 2011 by

I am excited to see the roses in bloom in our yard!  Here are a few pictures from the ones in our backyard…

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Our New Neighbor

Apr 29th, 2011 by

A mama duck and her eight babies have taken residence on the golf course.  Here she is walking them along our sidewalk…

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Easter Story Cookies

Apr 29th, 2011 by

I have friends who make Resurrection cookies every Easter.  I forgot about them until our friend Jeff sent us an email on how to make them.  This year, I decided to make them with the boys.  It was a special addition to the significance of the holy-day.

Easter Story Cookies
To be made the evening before Easter
You need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp. vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important–don’t wait until you’re half done with the recipe!)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup of sugar.  Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Ps. 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.
Read Isa. 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.

Read Matt. 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read Matt. 27:65-66.

GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.

Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.

Read Matt. 28:1-9

NOTE TO SELF:  IF I DO THIS AGAIN< MAKE THE COOKIES SMALLER, OTHERWISE THEY COLLAPSE…

Cracking the eggs…

And we’re mixing….

..and mixing…

The tomb has been sealed…

They could hardly wait to try them!


 

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Weekend Visit from Family – Saturday

Apr 29th, 2011 by

We were beyond blessed to spend Easter weekend with my mom, brother, and niece.  They all flew down from WA state.  My brother and niece spent the weekend, and my mom stayed for another week.

They arrived late Friday evening.  Saturday, we took a country drive to some of the nearby towns, and had a wonderful lunch in Auburn.  The restaurant is called “Bootleggers“.  The bar side looks like a typical country tavern, but the restaurant side looks like a nice place you’d want to treat your mama.

The kids playing on the statue…

At the restaurant.  My mom and KK…

This beautiful bouquet was placed next to their wood burning fireplace…

My brother, and ‘R’…

‘A’ and KK

After lunch, we drove along the Auburn-Folsom Road.  We took a little detour and found an overlook with this lovely view of (I think), the American River…

We drove to Lake Folsom, which is part of a State Park, to walk along the beach a bit.  We came upon some sort of run.  It turned out to be this intense race where people kayak, mountain bike, and run!  It’s called the Big Blue Adventure. We watched some of the contestants cross the finish line for a while.

Then, something really great happened.  We heard the announcer say that they were selling the two-person inflatable kayaks for $20!  They apparently were switching brands and needed to unload the existing kayaks.  We ended up buying two.  Came with paddles and seat backs!  Incredible!

The event also had a little egg toss competition.  They let the boys participate.  All was well until big brother beaned little brother on the side of the face.  He was pretty upset until the event gave him a free t-shirt, then it was all smiles…

We headed for home and attended the Saturday evening church service at one of our home church’s satellite church.  DH played guitar.  It was nice to share Easter service with my loved ones.

The kids (including the furry one), slept in the living room…

(OK…for those of you precious ones who follow this blog, I will be posting a little out of order…)

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A Lesson in Controlling the Tongue

Apr 24th, 2011 by

I recently purchased a workbook from our local homeschool resource store, Kingdom Builder Books.  It is published by Doorposts, and is a character building book for raising boys.  The book is titled, “Plants Grown Up: Projects for Sons on the Road to Manhood.”  The book is FULL of activities, lessons and projects, focusing on many different character values.

I decided to let the boys choose what they wanted to learn.  They chose: Self Control – Taming the Tongue.  <Sigh…this is going to be a lesson for ME, too! 🙂 >  We read a lot of scripture about the topic, and did a couple of the activities.  Here is the recap of one of them:

For 24 hours, we were to keep track of the kind/unkind things we say to each other.  Every time we said something kind, a bean (actually, we used hazelnut), is placed in a bowl or jar.  The same goes for when we said something unkind.  At the end of the 24 hours, we looked to see how full each jar was.

The boys went a little wild with saying “I love you” over and over, so we changed it to saying something the was encouraging to someone else.  It was a good lesson inholding ourselves and each other accountable in how we speak.

‘A’s memory verse: Psalm 34:13 “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”

‘R’s memory verse: Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; Keep watch over the door of my lips”

My memory verse: James 1:26 “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

 

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BHN: Old Sacramento Field Trip

Apr 24th, 2011 by

Our homeschool group arranges one field trip each month.  We recently went on a field trip to learn about the history of Sacramento.

Waiting for the tour to begin…

Most of the kids that attended the field trip…

The tour began with a short lecture on the history of Sacramento.  We learned how the town would flood every winter and retailers would sell boats in addition to whatever else they sold.  There was a huge fire that destroyed the town, and Sacramento decided to build a levy, then raise their town by 40 feet.

The guide shows us an example of an arched doorway that was covered when the town was raised…

At a casual glance, you might not notice anything askew, but with another look, you can see that the middle floor windows are all catty-wampus…

This is an example of typical buildings in Old Sacramento.  What is interesting to note is that  these are two stories (the yellow is three).  When the town was being rebuilt, the owners had the option to keep their building as is, making the first floor the basement, and the second floor the main floor, OR, to raise their whole building to the new street level.  The yellow building was raised, the others remained in its original state.

A large part of the tour was undergound, along the original streets.  We were not allowed to take pictures underground.  One highlight was to stand in the same spot as the Pony Express checkpoint.

The second part of the tour was at the California History Museum.  Here, the boys are posing in front of the replica of the original ‘Sacramento Bee’ newspaper…

A woman’s wool swimsuit…

Watching how a canning company transfers canned goods throughout the factory…

Pointing to their favorite fruit on the fruit crates…

We also walked through exhibits focusing on the Gold Rush, the local Native American Indian culture, and life in Sacramento in the early 1900’s.

The grand finale on an already activity and education packed field trip was the opportunity to pan for gold!  (In long boxes the museum had out front.  It was fun, and addicting!)

Vaya con Dios, Pard’ner…

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Visit with WA Friends

Apr 24th, 2011 by

Our friend, Tim, brought his two boys down from Washington during their spring break.  My boys knew his youngest son from a previous visit, but had yet to meet the older son.  The second they met, it was like they had known each other for years.  There was never a silent moment during the ride home from the airport.

Sleepy Time…

Pool Time!

Movie Time!

Pizza and Play Time at Pizza Johns!

BBQ Time at Lucilles…

Saying goodbye at the airport…

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The Hard Boiled Egg

Apr 21st, 2011 by

(from momswhothink.com)

How to Avoid Eggs That Don’t Peel

How do you peel an egg without taking half of it off with the shell? The secret is to use an older egg. The fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel-no matter how you cook it.

A two week old refrigerated egg peels perfectly once cooked. If you have a fresh egg from a chicken, you’ll leave half of it on the shell even if they cooked exactly the same way.

So how do you tell how fresh an egg is? An old-fashioned way to find out the age of an egg by placing it in the bottom of a bowl of cold water. If it lays on its side, it is strictly fresh. If it stands at an angle it is at least three days old. If it stands on end, it is ten days old.

Or you could just go by the date on the carton. The day of the year that the eggs are processed and placed into the carton must be shown on each carton with the USDA grade shield.

This is called the “Pack Date.”The number is a three-digit code that represents the consecutive day of the year. For example, January 1 is shown as “001” and December 31 as “365.” Also, most packers show a month and day on the end of the carton which indicates the last day the eggs should be sold at retail or used by consumers.

How to Boil Eggs

1. Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover them with COLD tap water (enough to just cover all the eggs).

2. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Keep an eye on the eggs, and as soon as the water is at a rolling boil immediately reduce the heat to a low medium boil and cook an additional 10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and very quickly place the eggs under ice cold water or in a bowl of iced water to chill quickly and keep the yolk a nice yellow color.

4. Chill for a few minutes in the cold water until the egg is completely cooled. Crack each egg on all sides and peel.

 

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Inspirational Quote

Apr 16th, 2011 by

If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them as you think you should and half the amount of money.

~Esther Selsdon

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