James

James is 18 months old on the 29th.  He is such a fun little lad.  I love getting very wet "tisses" and hugs.  He quacks nicely and loves to make animal sounds.  It is to cute to listen to him learn to talk.  He is my sweet loving boy who is growing up incredibly fast!

Sweet James!

James playing playdough with Jared

Posing for the camera

Annie and fireman James

David, fireman James and Annie!

Jared's 4!

Jared turned 4!  He wasn't really excited about this number on his birthday.  He thought 5 sounded much better.  We woke him up with his birthday presents which resulted in him pulling the blankets over his head and saying that he was sleeping!  He emerged from his blankets when David showed him that he had presents!  Suddenly 4 was good!

Jared wanted a Sponge Bob birthday cake, so I copied one of his toys.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Silly birthday boy!

Jared blowing out his birthday candles!

James and Jared playing with one of his presents. 

Playdough with Star Wars stamps.  They love it!

Grandma Katie's Birthday

We had a great visit from Grandma Katie and Granddad Clawson the last week of March.  It was a very special visit.  Annie did her best impression of a leach and as you can see from the picture below, that Grandma Katie was her favorite victim.  She clung to Grandma pretty much the entire time!

Grandma Katie turns 59 this year, so we had the opportunity to celebrate a few days early.  

Grandma Katie opening her cards and presents with the eager help of Annie and Kathleen.  James gave her his handprint!  He made that card all by himself!

I found out that Grandma Katie's favorite cake is pound cake.  So I made a citrus sour cream pound cake.  It was really yummy!

Granddad Clawson with David and Peter

Grandma Katie with Annie and Kathleen

Jared grinning for the camera while Granddad 

tells a Hercumer and Eloise bedtime story to the kids.

Granddad Clawson

We can't wait till their next visit!

Three Piggy Opera!

Annie's kindergarten class did a Stellar Performance of the 3 Piggy Opera.  It is the story of the 3 little pigs put to music.  Annie was the 3rd little pig and she sang her songs so well.  I was VERY impressed with the children.  

It was the one of the best school performances I have ever seen!

The three little pigs and their piggy parents!

The cutest little pig around!

Peter's Wolf Badge

Peter earned his wolf badge!  He is a very happy cub scout and we are very proud of him.  He got his award at the Blue and Gold Banquet!  Good job, Peter!

All-County Chorus

I had the great honor on Friday night of getting to watch my 2 older daughters perform in the same concert. It was the Elementary All County Chorus. Kathleen was going from Central Elementary and since they were honoring Central Schools at this concert, they asked the Central High School Honor Chorus to perform also. (Carina is not technically part of that chorus, but she is part of the trio and another group, so she was asked to perform also). I loved hearing both Carina and Kathleen sing. It is so fun to have girls who are in the chorus'. I didn't get this opportunity when I was in school, we didn't have a chorus program.Central High School Honor Chorus

Kathleen got to watch Carina perform up close!

Kathleen singing in the All County Chorus

The All County Honor Chorus

Three Blind Mice

Carina got to perform for the Kawanis Talent Competition. Her chorus teacher, Mrs. Stamps, put together this trio of Carina, Kylie, and Rachel. They sang an a capela rendition of "Three Blind Mice". Carina sang the alto part, Kylie sang second soprano, and Rachel did the first soprano part. It was the cutest number in the competition. They didn't win, but they had a good time and had a good experience.

My little mouse!

Strawberry Jam

As readers of my blog probably noticed by now, I put a lot of picture of cooking on... So this post will be no different! I found strawberries on sale this week, so the kids helped me make strawberry jam. We made a dozen quarts of cooked strawberry jam, and a dozen pints of freezer jam. Freezer jam is our favorite jam of all, but I wanted some cooked jam to have on hand.

As I was making the jam, I contemplated that I could have bought the cooked jam for around a dollar a jar, so I was spending way more money making it than I would buying it. However, I feel very strongly about teaching my children to cook and having them help to make jam enables them to make it themselves when they grow up. The other good point about making the freezer jam, is that you can't buy it!

The kids brought some jars of jam to school and their teachers were very appreciative. One teacher even drives into the mountain every year to buy homemade strawberry jam. I felt amazed that she wouldn't just make it herself! (although the trip to the mountains must be a fun tradition)

Lest you think that I am a great jam maker, let me share how on my first batch, trying to save time, I doubled it... It boiled over on the stove and smelled so horribly. The house was full of smoke and kids fleeing with little ones in their arms... (too bad I don't have a picture of that!) Lesson learned.. DON'T DOUBLE the jam unless you have a huge pot (mine was big - 6 quarts, but not big enough). The smoke cleared and the smell evaporated and after an hour of cleaning the stove, the jam making session continued without any issues. (The pictures were taking by Kathleen and David)

Carina and Kathleen cleaning and smashing the strawberries

Measuring the strawberry pulp

Stirring the jam on the stove (not the first batch!)

Skimmed off foam - yummy

Pouring the jam into the jars before the water bath

busy, busy tooth fairy

Annie has reached an important milestone! She lost her first tooth! What an achievement! Then the toothfairy was late! Oh my! What an exciting tooth adventure this has been...

foot prints in the flour

I wanted to make some King Cake since it is Mardi Gras season. So as I was getting ready to roll out the dough, James came and tromped through my flour! I am having a hard time keeping his little feet on the floor. He prefers heights right now and I am constantly removing him from every conceivable surface!

James' footprints in the flour!

Right foot

Left foot

Happy James

But despite James' help... I succeeded in making the king cake and it was very yummy!

Callaway Gardens

Callaway Gardens was having free admission for the month of February, so we took advantage of going to see this beautiful park.

Mom and James walking over the lake

One of the biggest fascinations for the kids. The Mallard duck cleaning himself!

Family pictures on the trail

The raptor house...
One of the owls had been spooked and flew away
so we weren't able to see their raptor show.

The Butterfly Conservatory!

My little butterflies!

Annie is a great butterfly!

A tarantula in the butterfly conservatory

The cocoons were on display and you could watch them hatching!

Butterflies were flying all around this big room with friendly plants!
It was lots of fun to see them fluttering in front of your face.
Annie was a little spooked by them, but everyone else really enjoyed it.

Peter

KathleenJames playing while we relaxed in the van afterwards!
We were pretty tired after all of our hiking!