Monday, February 20, 2012

Happy Presidents Day!

We had a great Presidents Day. We went to the Mary Todd Lincoln house for their presidents day celebration. The kids had a good time exploring the house and really enjoyed the old fashioned games they got to play. Sorry, I forgot my camera!

When we got home, we spent some time putting together costumes for our presidential dinner. While I studied, the kids worked on a skit they would share for our family home evening lesson. Dinner tonight was a real treat for me. Let me introduce you to my dining companions for the evening.

President Abraham Lincoln




His lovely wife Mary Todd Lincoln



And their adorable, little puppy Roofus (nothing historically correct about the puppy. It's just what Froggie chose to be)!



And just because sometimes I really need something to make me laugh, here are a few more shots of the president!



Kermit could not have been more excited about his role for the evening. He lit up everytime I called him Mr. President...



Or honest Abe...



Have you ever seen such a cute presidential family?



Happy Presidents Day. Hope you enjoyed your day off as much as we did!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween at our house. Every year, the kids look forward to choosing the perfect Halloween costumes. Felicity has always especially loved this part since prior to this year the boys were so little they just went along with whatever she suggested. Much to her dismay, this year they went in a totally different direction than she campaigned for.

We began our search in the beginning of September. I was crazy busy with school, and knew that I would need a few extra weeks to work on costumes. Sadly, the children didn't see the wisdom in that plan and wouldn't be rushed into a decision they weren't sure was perfect. Hence, the week before Halloween, I was still trying to fit in time to put together costumes! I am horrified that after I spent so much time making these costumes, I forgot to take any real pictures. I am so sad that the only photos I have are the ones I snapped with my phone...

Kermit was the first to make his decision, and oh my, was it a good one! He wanted to be a box of french fries! It took me a few days to figure out how exactly I would construct such a costume, but once I worked out a plan, it actually came together quite easily.



Froggie, with the help of Kermit decided to go as a bottle of ketchup! I just love how this one turned out!



Here they are together! Best friends and the perfect duo!



Felicity had so many good ideas, it was tough for her to narrow it down. In the end, she decided that she would go as a hot air balloon! Here is what I came up with...



Of course, this was just a dress rehearsal to make sure it was the correct length, and on Halloween Felicity added her own touch with an aviator jacket, a bright pink and red scarf, and a pair of my racquetball safety glasses! This balloon was the prized toy in our house for about three weeks after Halloween, and the kids were beyond sad when it deflated. All three have been on the lookout for what they want to be next year....

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Science Fair Project

Felicity loves science fair projects. Last year she did a project on vocal ranges, and she won first place at her school, and got to compete at the district science fair. She LOVED it! This year when science fair project time rolled around she spent plenty of time up at the library looking at science fair project books. Nothing appealed to her. She really wanted to do something different. She wanted to go to districts again with the hopes of winning a ribbon there, so she could go on to compete at the state level... No pressure, right?

Then we opened up some cheeses I had made with some friends, and tasted it. Felicity was intrigued with how different they tasted when the ingredients were the same. We heated the milk to different temperatures, raised the temperature at different rates, and we pressed the cheddar cheese with more weight. The results were two very different cheeses. She decided she wanted to do something with cheesemaking. Next she checked out the world book encyclopedia and a book about cheese and spent some time doing some research. She also spent some time reading through my cheesemaking book. It took her about a week to come up with the actual question she wanted to investigate through her project. "Does the amount of fat in milk affect cheese?"

To test this she decided to make monterey jack cheese three times using the same recipe. The only thing she would change was the type of milk. She used whole milk, 2 percent milk, and skim milk. She would test three things. Did the amount of fat affect the taste, the texture, and the yield, or amount of cheese, she got from 2 gallons of milk.

This is just a brief overview of what she did. I took so many pictures of her doing each step, that her field journal is over fifty pages long. I will spare you some of the details!

Before she could make the cheese she had to make a cheese mold. She used a pineapple juice can, and with a hammer and a nail she poked holes in the bottom and up the sides of the can.



Here she is adding the rennet to the ripened milk.



After the milk had coagulated, she had to cut the curds. Felicity was very careful trying to cut 1/2 inch curds.



Next she had to "cook" the curds by slowly raising the temperature two degrees every five minutes. To do this she put her pot in the sink and used hot water to raise the temperature. Here she is adding some hot water from a pot on the stove to the sink.



After the curds were cooked she drained off the whey, and then it was time to season them. Here she is adding some cheese salt.



Here are the finished curds. She put these into a cheese mold lined with sanitized cheesecloth.



She pressed her cheese for twelve hours.



She then let her cheese breathe for three days at room temperature. At last it was time to wax it. She dipped each wheel of cheese into melted cheese wax, and then let them age at 55 degrees for one month.



Here she is with one the finished wheels of cheese!



All three cheeses. Any guesses as to which was made with which kind of milk?



This was the first of several blind cheese tastings she hosted. She had 24 people taste her cheeses. They chose which one they thought tasted the best, and left additional comments on comment cards. There was a clear winner. The Monterey Jack made with whole milk was almost everyone's favorite. Everyone said all the cheese tasted awesome which was so exciting for Felicity.



Two weeks ago, Felicity competed at her school's science fair where she, not only won a blue ribbon, she was also awarded a perfect score, and will be represeting her school at the district science fair. She is counting down the days. February 11 can not come fast enough for that little girl!

This might be the longest blog post I have ever written, and if you made it to the end, you also deserve a blue ribbon!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Frankfort Capitol Spring Break

My computer messed up as these were uploading, so excuse the lines going through the pictures. I will fix that when I get a chance.

Last spring break, we did a few day trips to different places here in Kentucky. One day we spent the day in Frankfort. We started our adventure taking a tour of the Rebecca Ruth candy factory. My friend's mom works there and it was an added bonus to get to visit with her. Felicity and I really enjoyed the tour, the boys enjoyed picking out a piece of candy to taste at the end of the tour. We skipped the bourbon balls even though that's what they are famous for. Here are the kids after the tour. Not only did they get to choose a piece of candy, Pat gave them each a bag of gummy bears. Totally made their day!



I had planned on letting the kids ride the trolley through downtown, but it wasn't running that day due to construction. Bummer! We headed off to our picnic lunch at the game farm. On our way, we stopped to take pictures at the capitol building overlook!

Here's Kermit rocking his favorite pair of sunglasses!



Froggie looking very handsome!



We had a great lunch, but I forgot my camera in the car. Whoops. Then we walked through the game farm and looked at all the animals. Froggie liked the black bear the best. Kermit and Felicity liked seeing the wildcat (UK's mascot) the best.

Next we headed to downtown. We parked and walked up to the capitol. Before you get to the capitol building there are huge circles of tulips which happen to be my favorite flower. We stopped to look at them. Kermit was in heaven. Nothing to do, but run around, and pose for pictures!



Froggie, on the other hand was apparently very interested in the inside of the tulips...




I am not sure what he was doing here. Blowing out birthday candles, or maybe he thought they were like dandelions. Not sure, but love that I caught this moment.



Love this moment even more, when he realized I was taking his picture!



We finally made it to the capitol. Froggie making his way up the steps.



Kermit recognizing a prime photo opportunity!



After we walked around the building, we took a rest on the lawn. Love that Kentucky grass (just wish the grass in my yard was so nice)! We sat and visited for well over an hour.



We headed home happy!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Froggie turned TWO.....

Almost a year ago!!!

My sweet, little Froggie loves trains. I mean he really loves trains. We live right across the street from a great library, and in the kids area they have a fantastic train table set up. I can't tell you how many hours we have spent up at the library. Felicity and I devouring books, while Kermit and Froggie play with the trains! I knew I wanted to do a train birthday party for Froggie, and I was so excited when I found a train store in town that has a party room filled with train tables, train murals on the walls, train tablecloths, etc. Froggie spent most of his party carrying around a bucket of trains and playing at those tables.



We were able to tear him away for a little while so he could paint his very own train car.



Kermit was very pleased with how his turned out.



This pictures makes me sad. Felicity looks so young here. Where did my little girl go?



After the craft, it was time for cake. If you know me, you know I love any excuse to make a cake. Froggie has a real passion for coconut and pineapple, so a pina colada cake seemed like the perfect cake for him. I made a coconut cake with pineapple cream cheese frosting, and doused the whole thing in coconut. It was so yummy! Not even a crumb leftover. I was crazy busy with school, so the decorations were kept simple. Froggie didn't seem to mind.



I LOVE this picture. Taking in a big breath to make sure he could blow out all of the candles!! He managed to get them all out on the first try.



After cake, Froggie opened his presents and then all the kids got to do a pinata. Sorry no pictures of that.



Then the kids got to take turns riding on Thomas the Train. Here's Kermit.



This little boy still melts my heart everytime I look at him.