Chasing Fireflies

A Great Weekend!

Friday night Michael and I went on a double date with our dear friends, Jake and Jennifer to celebrate Jake's birthday.  We ended the night with a late night game of Mexican train dominoes. 

Saturday was a gorgeous spring day!  Michael came up with the idea to go on a picnic, fish, and hike.  We all agreed what a grand idea it was and piled into the van soon afterwards. 

Sunday included church, baseball practice for Isaac, play practice for Olivia, and me making homemade falafel for the first time.  They were quite tasty.

We are so excited it's spring and warming up!  What did you do this weekend?

Our House is Built with LOVE

My inspiration for our Valentine's Day table came to me in early January one day while all of my kids were playing with the Legos they received as Christmas gifts.  Isaac and Joshua with their primary colors and Olivia with her pink set.  I enlisted each of them to help me dig out red bricks and together we built our centerpiece house with LOVE.

We were privileged to have my mom and dad in town for Valentine's and enjoyed a dinner of steak and heart shaped biscuits, lemon butter asparagus, and a heart shaped potato chive pancake.  Heart shaped boxes of chocolates were opened afterwards and the flavor guide was closely inspected for our top favorite flavors.

My favorite is the caramels.  What is your favorite?

Colors of our Weekend

BROWN, WHITE, and RED

Our first weekend of February was spent:

Celebrating Groundhog's Day with puppets and cupcakes;

Making homemade tortillas for the very first time;

Having friends over for a Superbowl Party; with guacamole and bean dip for appetizers, football shaped pizzas for dinner, and football cake for dessert

January

January 1 found us still in Arkansas with family.  We ate a New Year's Day dinner of BBQ brisket and root beer floats for dessert (A new tradition?  I hope so!)  We also watched movies.  A great way to start the new year!

January 3 I saw a large red fox run through our back woods behind our house welcoming me back home and to our woods!

January 4 our friend's little boy comes to spend the night with us and spends hours playing with our trains.  :)

January 5 was a Taco Soup kind of night.

January 11 we love and hug on my friend who lost her mom.

January 13 was a Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese kind of night.

January 16 brought us ice.

January 18 the kids had a fun Friday night with friends.  Making peanut butter cookies was part of the fun.

January 21 we watched the presidential inaguration for our history lesson.

January 31 found us at the theatre as Olivia rehearses for an upcoming play!

A Winter Summer Fruit Salad

This is one of my favorite winter salads made with two of my favorite summer fruits.  I peel a grapefruit and avocado, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.  It's a great way to chase away winter blues!

Dinner Tonight

Our dinner menu tonight:

Pumpkin Waffles

Maple Syrup and Whipping Cream

Bacon

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

(pictured with 2 of my vintage birthday presents - a beautiful cruet from my precious friend, Jennifer, and a cake keeper from my family spied out by Olivia)

Joshua's 3rd Birthday (in pictures) (& a few words)

Woke up to green streamers (green is his favorite color)

Zucchini-Honey muffins for breakfast, Quesadillas for lunch, Pizza for dinner (all per his request)

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Chips (also per his request) decorated with M&M's (his favorite chocolate candy)

Received an apron for a gift (he LOVES to help me cook)

Mt. Fuji for lunch the day after his birthday with the sparkler birthday dessert (It's a tradition now.  :) )

Jennnifer's Popcorn Party

Saturday was my dear friend's birthday.  After we spent the day on the river together, we came back to our house for dinner and a surprise birthday party. 

The party deserves a little background explanation.  :)

A week and a half prior to her birthday, Jennifer gave me the idea and theme for her birthday party without even realizing it.  While popping popcorn for our kids, she shared with me she has wanted a vintage popcorn popper like she had growing up and has not been able to find one.  Well, she happened to be talking to a lover of all things vintage and a huge etsy fan. :)  I immediately began hunting on my iPhone so I could be sure I understood the exact one she desired.  She wanted a circa 1980's Presto Poplite-with the orange/yellow piece on top that the popcorn shot out from the side and the butter could be melted on top while the popcorn is popping.  

When I arrived home I logged on to etsy and began searching for the highly-desired 1980's Presto Poplite vintage / retro popcorn popper for Jennifer's birthday gift.  Then I started thinking ... we were going to be spending the entire day with Jennifer on the river on her birthday so I would plan a birthday party.  And now I had my theme - POPCORN! 

I texted her husband to make sure he didn't order a popcorn popper, too, and I set to work planning a birthday party!  :)

Now that the background story has been explained...

 

Jennifer had shared with me before that her favorite dinner was salad, steak, a baked potato, and grilled asparagus.  So along with her husband's help we got her birthday dinner together and had it ready within an hour of arriving home from the lake.  Pretty impressive, huh?  :)

After dinner was the surprise Popcorn Party.  I had decorated my dining room with a banner, popcorn garlands (made with Olivia and Hanna's help), a zinnia arrangement made by Olivia, and the "new" vintage popcorn popper. 

After hearing Jennifer's loud scream of excitement when she had spotted her popcorn popper, I knew she was digging the theme and it was PARTY TIME!

We had a fun time gathered round the vintage Presto Poplite popping popcorn watching it fill up and spill out over the side.  We also huddled in front of the stove making different flavors of popcorn - White Chocolate Popcorn, Chocolate Popcorn, Caramel Popcorn, Maple Bacon Popcorn, and S'mores Popcorn.

Our favorite?  S'mores Popcorn.  And Maple Bacon Popcorn came in second.

After taste testing all the different types of popcorn, I presented Jennifer with a red velvet popcorn birthday cake.

We sang "Happy Birthday," she made a wish, and blew out her candle.

What a truly GRAND day we had celebrating a very special friend!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!  I am so thankful and grateful God brought us both from Georgia to Mississippi and that we are sharing life together at this time.  You are a huge answer to prayer and such a blessing in my life!  I love you!  ~Ashley

July 4th

Our Fourth of July was Full of Flags, Food, Family, Friends, Fun, Fellowshipping, and Fireworks!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

This year our Memorial Day weekend turned into a staycation - getting things done around our home, working on Olivia's upcoming birthday party, relaxing, eating dinner outside each night, and spending time together as a family.  On Friday the kids and I made a day trip to Memphis.  The drive was spectacular with Queen Anne's Lace blanketing the roadsides.  We spent the majority of our time in an antique mall talking about and learning about history.  Saturday we tended the garden, the kids played in their pool, we grilled out hamburgers, and we had a family game night consisting of Jenga, Busy Bugs, and Blokus.  Sunday brought us watermelon, more time in the pool, a batch of tea cakes like my great-grandmother used to make, a family movie, Dolphin Tale, and a late date night movie, Moneyball.  Monday we spent more time outside in the pool, Olivia and I went on on girls shopping trip, and we worked on our Memorial Day dinner - Olivia shucked corn, Michael grilled barbeque chicken, and I worked on all the sides.  We were grateful to spend time together as a family this weekend and are so thankful to live in a country where men and women sacrifice for us and our freedoms daily. 

Colors of our Weekend

GRAY, BLUE, RED, GREEN, and WHITE

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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.

Spring Sunset Picnic

The first day of spring brought us a sunset picnic by our blooming bulbs.  Afterwards, we enjoyed spying new leaf growth, dogwoods blooming, and a nest that we will begin to watch for eggs.

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 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

Green Eggs and Ham Lunch

Do you like green eggs and ham?

I do so like green eggs and ham!  Thank you!  Thank you,  Sam I Am!

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.

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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

100th Year Anniversary ~ Discovery of the South Pole

100 years ago Roald Amundsen along with four members of his team and 16 dogs reached the South Pole and planted the Norwegian flag in the frozen Antarctic ice.  This discovery was historic as man was still trying to conquer the earth just a century ago. 

Olivia has long been fascinated by the story of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott and their "Race to the South Pole."  I recall her receiving a book on explorers several years ago which sparked ignited her curiosity.  The following weeks she checked out probably a dozen books on the subject from the library.  She researched and learned all about details of their routes and explorations. 

Even today she is so interested in their stories she included The Story of Polar Conquest on her Christmas wish list over a month ago.  In fact, she has shared so many intriguing details of Amundsen and Scott with me that she has now drawn me to their story.  :)

When I realized today was the 100th year anniversary I knew I must do something special in honor of the discovery. 

Tonight after dinner I made a South Pole Marker, grabbed our stuffed penguin, scattered some marshmallows around, and then scooped Polar Cream (vanilla ice cream) and whipping cream into white ramekins, and topped them each off with a miniature south pole marker.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed their Polar Cream and Olivia enjoyed sharing facts about the Amundsen exploration with us while Isaac talked about our "Captain Cook," of Mr. Poppers Penguins, of course.  :)

I'll leave you with this excerpt from the New York Times:

When Roald Amundsen's ship, the Fram, left Norway on Aug. 9, 1910, it carried, in Amundsen's words, "nineteen men, ninety-seven dogs, four pigs, six carrier pigeons, and one canary." The ship was nearly 20 years old, and the expedition leader, Amundsen, was 38. He was already a formidable polar explorer, but this voyage to Antarctica and the South Pole made him one of the greatest explorers who ever lived.

On Dec. 14, a century ago, Amundsen and the four members of his team reached the South Pole. "That day," he wrote, "was a beautiful one," and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon they planted the flag of Norway, each man with one hand on the flagpole. Like so many other days on that polar journey, that day was "like a pleasure trip," as Amundsen later reported. The weather was good, but even better was the planning. The Norwegians were born skiers, excellent dog handlers and skilled navigators. They proceeded across the ice exactly as they had done across the ocean, fixing their location again and again by dead reckoning and with sextants. They also left innumerable cairns and markers to guide them on their return.

In his book, "The South Pole," Amundsen makes none of this sound heroic. He admired the English for their "pluck and grit," but what you feel in reading his account is joy and adventure. Even now, Amundsen is too little admired, mainly because his straightforward success was eclipsed by what a member of Robert Falcon Scott's expedition called the "first-rate tragedy" of Scott's polar push, which ended in the deaths of Scott and his four-man team.

On Dec. 14, Amundsen was at the pole, writing a letter to Scott wishing him a safe return. Scott was 34 days behind him, on a different route. Scott's journal for that day reads, "We are just starting our march with no very hopeful outlook."

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Information and pictures taken from:
www.wikipedia.org and www.visionforum.com

Thanksgiving Day Turkeys

Stuffing or Dressing

Does your family eat stuffing or dressing for Thanksgiving?  Is there a difference?  Is yours wet or dry? 

Here's what I've found out :

Oftentimes, stuffing is traditionally said to be cooked inside the Thanksgiving turkey absorbing the juices, while dressing is served alongside in a separate dish resulting a little drier in texture.  I also found the staple dish (regardless of what it is cooked in) served up with turkey on Thanksgiving Day is referred to as stuffing from sea to shining sea, for the exception of the states below the Mason-Dixon line.  Southerners tend to prefer to call it dressing regardless of whether or not it's cooked within or outside the bird.  Another difference is in the north stuffing usually begins with white bread and in the south dressing usually begins with cornbread.  From there ingredients vary from region to region and from family to family.  In South Carolina they often add rice, in coastal areas they might add oysters, andouille sausage will be added in New Orleans, and in Texas chilies are occasionally added. 

It appears that just as the Coke verses soda pop debate will never end, neither will the stuffing verses dressing debate in the United States.  That's alright though.  We like having differeces to distinguish us and set us apart.  Right?

I'm curious.  Do you eat stuffing or dressing for Thanksgiving?  How is it prepared (inside or outside the bird)?  What's the bread base (white bread or cornbread)?  Is there a special ingredient added to your stuffing/dressing?

Please comment here for a Thanksgiving project for Olivia.  We're taking a poll to create a chart.  

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Websites researched:
http://www.ajc.com/hotjobs/content/eveningedge/stories/2008/11/18/stuffing_or_dressing.html
http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2011/11/18/stuffing-vs-dressing/