My Mother's Day weekend was packed full with blessings and goodness! On Saturday there was gardening, Spider Rolls and Sweet Potato Rolls for dinner, and a Baskin Robbins Rocky Road milkshake. Sunday morning I was greeted by handmade cards and thoughtful words, my husband made me a scrumptious Bacon and Egg Bagel sandwich for breakfast and my boys were dedicated in our church. For lunch delicious Greek Salad Sandwiches and watermelon were prepared for me and my mother-in-law by my husband, followed by chocolate fondue. Then a family movie afternoon watching of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" completed the perfect weekend!
Holiday
Colors of our Weekend
GRAY, BLUE, RED, GREEN, and WHITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On May the Fourth (also known as "May the Fourth (Force) be with you" to Star Wars fans):
My boys wore their Star Wars shirts and played with their Star Wars characters and Legos.
My boys ate X-wing fighter aircraft sandwiches for lunch.We ate lightsabers for dessert.
On May the Fifth (also known as "Cinco de Mayo"):
Michael ran a 10K race in under an hour and finished with a smile on his face.
We ate Mexican for dinner - tilapia fish tacos with purple cabbage slaw and chipotle aioli, refried beans, guacamole, and lime/lemonade in lieu of margaritas.
We viewed the full moon before bedtime.
Easter Sunday
After church pictures
Easter lunch table
Easter lunch - Turkey, Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Homemade Marinated Beets, Cranberry Chutney, Homemade Cranberry Sauce, Gravy
Traditional Easter Dessert - Banana Pudding
Egg Dying
Ready to hunt eggs
Hunting
Our first annual glow-in-the-dark egg hunt
Colors of our Weekend
RED, WHITE, BLUE, PURPLE, and GREEN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Easter weekend included:
Reminders drawn on our palms for Good Friday;
Baking of hot cross buns on Good Friday;
A visit to a Civil War museum;
Saturday night dinner at Catfish Hotel;
A viewing of 23,746 luminaries at the Grand Illumination of Shiloh National Park;
Worship at church on Easter morning;
Easter Sunday turkey and dressing lunch;
Dying eggs and many many hunts;
Our first annual glow-in-the-dark egg hunt.
Happy Easter
Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day!!!
"Oh Glorious Day" by Casting Crowns
Colors of our Weekend
RED, WHITE, BLUE, and GREEN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We enjoyed a special 3-day weekend and:
Took a field trip to Huntsville, Alabama, to the US Space and Rocket Center.
Celebrated St. Patrick's Day - wearing green, eating green food, and searching for clover.
Hung out in the hammock while getting some sun.
Explored our woods and discovered a turtle shell.
Olivia finished up another cross stitch piece.
President's Day
For President's Day this year I wanted the kids to sample some of the same recipes that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln ate while living. A living history culinary experience you might call it. :)
I began by doing some research myself.
According to the Mount Vernon Kitchen website page:
General Washington's typical breakfast has been described by members of his immediate family and several guests. His step-granddaughter, Nelly Custis Lewis, who was raised at Mount Vernon, wrote "He rose before sunrise, always wrote or read until 7 in summer or half past seven in winter. His breakfast was then ready – he ate three small mush cakes (Indian meal) swimming in butter and honey, and drank three cups of tea without cream."
We made hoecakes (a corn cake named so because orginally they were baked on the blade of a hoe) for our breakfast, and drowned them in butter and honey as George did. To drink in our Mount Vernon garden house tea cup we had Liberty tea*. Because as we discussed, we feel sure George would have had liberty tea and not English taxed tea!
*Background of Liberty tea: When the king of England placed a tax on tea, many colonial families, protested it. Colonists who did not agree with the kings rule were called Patriots. They refused to buy, sell, or drink tea. Instead, they made their own ‘liberty teas’ from flowers, herbs, and fruit leaves. We made our Liberty tea by steeping raspberry leaves in boiling water.
Isaac and Joshua dressed as George Washington for the day
Later in the evening, for dinner we ate Chicken Fricassee in honor of Abraham Lincoln. The Questing Feast website writes:
"It is said that his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln had a hard time getting him to remember to eat at all. When she did discover things that he truly enjoyed, she made sure that they were available whenever he wanted them. For the most part, his food tastes were simple. He loved fresh fruit, particularly apples. One of his favorite meals was simply fresh fruit and nuts, cheese and crackers.
President Lincoln did have two favorite dishes, Chicken Fricassee with biscuits and Oyster Stew."
I served rice, broccoli, and 9 grain bread alongside our Chicken Fricassee.
I cooked ours in the slow cooker and used thyme, parsley, and oregano for herbs. It was delicious especially with the rich cream sauce. It's easy for me to see why Abraham enjoyed it so much-it might become one of my favorite dishes, too. :)
Although our President's Day was busy and eventful, we had a grand time celebrating two of our country's most honorable president's.
Valentine's Gifts
I had such a fun time preparing the kids Valentine's poppers this year - full of goodies.
Olivia found Valentine pencils, food erasers, Hershey kisses, pearl nail polish, tickets to an upcoming play, and coupons for 1) A Date with Daddy, 2) A Date with Mommy, 3) A Manicure and Pedicure, and 4) Stay up late with Mom and Dad to play a game.
Isaac discovered Superman pencils, an Incredible Hulk toothbrush, an Ironman toothbrush, Hershey kisses, a red Hot Wheels car, and coupons for 1) A Date with Daddy, 2) A Date with Mommy, 3) Family Movie Night, and 4) Cook with Mommy.
Joshua received Superman pencils, a Spiderman toothbrush, a Wolverine toothbrush, Hershey kisses, a brown Hot Wheels car, and coupons for 1) A Date with Daddy, 2) A Date with Mommy, 3) Family Movie Night, and 4) Cook with Mommy.
For Michael I made a gift of chocolate treats, an origami flower, and coupons. His coupons are good for 1) A Back Rub/Scratch, 2) Breakfast in Bed, 3) Hot Breakfast on a weekday, 4) A Favorite Dinner, 5) A Favorite Dessert, and 6) A Movie Night, movie of his choice.
What did you give/receive for Valentine's?
Valentine's Dinner
Belgian Heart Shaped Chocolate Waffles with Strawberries, Raspberries, and Whipping Cream, Turkey Bacon, Chicken and Sage Sausage, and Sparkling Apple Cider
Purim 2012
Craft: Homemade Noise Makers
Dinner: Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes, Strawberry Sauce, Whipping Cream, and Turkey Bacon
Dessert: Raspberry, Fig, and Chocolate Hamantaschen
Leap Day
Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year) – to circle once around the Sun.
However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!
Julius Caesar introduced Leap Years in the Roman empire over 2000 years ago, but the Julian calendar had only one rule: any year evenly divisible by 4 would be a leap year. This lead to way too many leap years, but didn't get corrected until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar more than 1500 years later.
In the Gregorian calendar 3 criteria must be met to be a leap year:
- The year is evenly divisible by 4;
- If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;
- The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.
This means that 2000 and 2400 are leap years, while 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While teaching my kids why we have leap years we sipped Froggy Floats.
What did you do for leap day?
Information taken from: http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html
Groundhog Day 2012
Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2012, at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, PA:
Here Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye
On Gobbler's Knob on this magnificent Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2012, Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, the Prognosticator of all Prognosticators was summoned from his burrow in the old oak stump by the tap of President Bill Deeley.
He greeted his handlers, John Griffiths and Ron Ploucha.
And after casting an appreciative glance to the thousands of faithful followers in attendance, Phil proclaimed, "As I look at the crowd on Gobbler's Knob, many shadows do I see. Six more weeks of winter it must be."
Despite Phil seeing his shadow today and we even seeing ours, today felt like a spring day to me. And as in Lee Family Groundhog Day tradition we celebrated by making groundhog puppets, coloring a groundhog page, checked out our shadows, and made groundhog cupcakes.
Isaac woke up this morning so excited about Groundhog Day. Right after breakfast he began playing with his Legos (which he has been playing with a lot lately) and asked me to make him a groundhog. "A groundhog? What a GREAT idea!" I said. So I proceeded to do the best I could with the Legos we had available.
Since today was so warm (reaching 66°) we ate lunch outside and then took our crafting outdoors as well. The kids loved coloring outside and then placing their groundhogs on a tree stump to check for shadows. Just like Phil's house. :)
Finally, before heading inside we decorated our cupcakes and gobbled them up.
Hope you had a Happy Groundhog Day, too!
