Cherry Blossom Fail and Pretty Pictures

One thing I do love about Virginia is the beauty!  The fall and spring are amazing and just show the glory of God's creation.  I decided before all the flowers on the trees turned to leaves I would take some pictures of the kids by our bush and tree in our backyard.

We did go downtown to try and see the cherry blossoms in DC, but they were not out anymore so we just went to the air and space museum.

So here are pictures of the kids by our cotton candy tree as they call it:

Krazy Krayons

The 2nd graders at Liberty(the kid's school) are learning about economics.  They have learned about consumers, producers, marketing ect.  So one way they reinforce these concepts is the Krazy Krayon factory.  The kids collect old crayons from home or other places all year long and take all the paper off of the crayons in preparation for the facotry.  The week of the Krazy Krayon factory the parents come in and help melt the crayons down and pour them into molds.  Then each class comes in for a shift each day and there are four stations the kids get to work: dunkers, unmolders, inspectors, or sorters.  They rotate these jobs each day so they have a chance to do them all.  The dunkers dunk the hot crayons in the mold into an ice water bath to harden them and they pass them to the unmolders, which do just that unmold the newly shaped crayons.  They pass to the inspectors and the inspectors make sure that they look good and pass them to the sorters.  The sorters sorted them into bags of a category they fit into like sports, nature, animal ect.  Then the next week the kids package them and sell them to the whole school.  The market them by make posters to put up all over school.

Christian was so excited to do all the stations, but a little mishap happened on day 2.  The parents melt the crayons on burners in pots and some of the wax got on the burner and created a cloud of smoke and setting off the fire alarm.  The school was evacuated for 30 minutes while the fire department came and checked everything out.  So after day 2 the factory was shut down-thankfully I got to work it on day one and see Christian be an inspector.  I thought it was a great way to help the kids practically learn.  It was sad that it was cut short.

This is not Christian's class, but loved the hats they made and you can see the whole station

Piper's field trip

I got to go on Piper's field trip with her to a Camp to learn more about animal habitats and making fire.  We had a lot of fun riding on the bus.  The rangers showed us how to make a fire and the girls had to gather all the materials and make their own fire.  Our fire got going pretty good.  They also made a big fire and made some popcorn in a cast iron pot, which was really good.  We also got to search for animal habitats and found a few snakes along the way.  We got to touch skeletons and taxidermy animals.  It was fun to spend the day with my girl and her class.

Emily, Piper, Jocelyn, and Anya

 

An adult ring neck snake-I can handle a snake that big

Basketball

The kids played Upwards Basketball this winter.  Upwards is a Christian based sports program.  They have a devotional after every practice and during games and show the kids sportsmanship as they develop into athletes.  They also try and match kids up based on skill level.  Nana and Papa got to see their first games in January.

I helped coach Christian's team and even though we had a perfect season in the losing way the boys were so fun.  It was great to watch their skill and confidence grow.  Christian scored several baskets during the games and loves to play basketball all the time in our alley.  I think it will be a sport he enjoys.

Me, Christian, Jonathan, Conner, Andrew, Joel, Coach Scott

Jackson, Jack, Harrison

Piper was on a team that had an amazing coach and some very sweet girls.  She had a lot of fun and learned some skills and improved so much during the season, but the competitive edge just didn't come out till the end.  She had fun!

Tryin to steal the ball 

Coach Peter, Sandy, Jillian, McKenzie, Katie, Coach

Kendall, Savannah, Madison

Piper, Grace

I have a dream play-Piper 2013

Mr. Moore puts on a play every year called "I have a dream" and so in honor of black History month of February they put it on for many of the classes and parents.  Piper played a store keeper that sold stuff to Mrs. King and her boys played with Martin as a child.  Her class did an awesome job!

We just have video of the play and can't seem to upload it

 

Christian's Skylander's Cake

I had thought of a creative way to make Christian a skylander cake that would not get the characters messy if we put them on the cake-fondant.  However, I hate the taste of fondant and so I searched the internet to find a cheaper and easier way to make fondant.  I found marshmallow fondant.  It is just melted marshmallow and powered sugar and you can add food coloring.  It was good-still not my favorite, but way better than traditional fondant and way cheaper to make.

Here is the recipe:

• 8 ounces miniature marshmallows (4 cups not packed, or half of a 16-ounce bag)
• 1 pound powdered sugar (4 cups), plus extra for dusting
• 2 tbsp water
• Food coloring or flavored extracts, optional

Preparation:

1. Dust your counter or a large cutting board with powdered sugar. Place the marshmallows and the water in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute, until the marshmallows are puffy and expanded.
2. Stir the marshmallows with a rubber spatula until they are melted and smooth. If some unmelted marshmallow pieces remain, return to the microwave for 30-45 seconds, until the marshmallow mixture is entirely smooth and free of lumps. If you want colored or flavored fondant, you can add several drops of food coloring or extracts at this point and stir until incorporated. If you want to create multiple colors or flavors from one batch of fondant, do not add the colors or flavors now. Instead, refer to step 6 below for instructions.
3. Add the powdered sugar and begin to stir with the spatula. Stir until the sugar begins to incorporate and it becomes impossible to stir anymore.
4. Scrape the marshmallow-sugar mixture out onto the prepared work surface. It will be sticky and lumpy, with lots of sugar that has not been incorporated yet--this is normal. Dust your hands with powdered sugar, and begin to knead the fondant mixture like bread dough, working the sugar into the marshmallow with your hands.
5. Continue to knead the fondant until it smoothes out and loses its stickiness. Add more sugar if necessary, but stop adding sugar once it is smooth--too much sugar will make it stiff and difficult to work with. Once the fondant is a smooth ball, it is ready to be used. You can now roll it out, shape it, or wrap it in cling wrap to use later. Well-wrapped fondant can be stored in a cool room or in the refrigerator, and needs to be kneaded until supple before later use.
6. If you want to add coloring or flavoring to your fondant, flatten it into a round disc. You might want to wear gloves to avoid getting food coloring on your hands during this step. Add your desired amount of coloring or flavoring to the center of the disc, and fold the disc over on itself so that the color or flavor is enclosed in the center of the fondant ball.
7. Begin to knead the ball of fondant just like you did before. As you work it, you will begin to see streaks of color coming through from the center. Continue to knead until the streaks are gone and the fondant is a uniform color. Your fondant is now ready to be used or stored as outlined above.

Here is the final cake.  The cake is a cookie cake and the portal is three giant cookies on top of each other covered in the fondant.  I thought it turned out pretty well.

First Mani and Pedi

Piper got straight As and she wanted to get her nails done so we decided to get her first Mani/Pedi and my first Pedi in a very long time-like years.  It was fun and my feet look so much better.  I can see it being a fun thing to do before flip-flop weather every year.  I didn't get any pictures during, but here is the picture after.