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Monday, February 28, 2011

February in Pictures

Since my last post was on February 1, I thought it would be appropriate to wrap up the month with a capsule of what we've been up to - it was a busy month, as usual!  Enjoy!

Mark's brother was deployed overseas this month and before he left, we had a family get together here at the house.
Mark's Dad showing Caleb some guitar tips

Mark and his brother, Lonnie

Holly and Grandpa playing a duet - I never even knew that he could play, but he did a great job!

Mark, Dad and Lonnie

Grandpa with 6 of his Grandchildren - MaKenna, Caleb, Holly, Trey, Jeramie and Courtney

Mark and I with Lonnie and his wife Kelly

Caleb and I went on a field trip to the Science Center with Joshua and his mom, my friend Sandra.  It was a homeschool lab day and we had a great time learning all about space together.

Learning about the sun and seasons, day and night

Discovering the distance of each planet from the sun

Lab reports!

Comparing the size of the planets using playdough

Discovering how telescopes and their lenses work


Learning about light and lasers

Later the same week, the girls and I went to see 'Pride and Prejudice' at the Shakespeare Theater in Orlando with Priscilla, Katie, Caitlyn and Megan (and Dawn!).  Great girl time!


Toward the end of the month, we had a scheduled and long anticipated field trip to The Holy Land Experience in Orlando.  We had never been, as long as we have lived here!  I did not get many pictures of things, though.  There were several shows, informational talks and many reminders that Jesus is God and that He shed His blood for us.  My favorite part was called The Jerusalem model - a miniature, to scale version of Jerusalem at the time of Christ.  A gentleman came out and brought it all to life as he showed various things, explained what they were, where they were mentioned in the Bible and what happened there.  It was so interesting to put it all into perspective.  As a bonus, they had a rock climbing wall for the kids.  Caleb had a great time trying and falling many times over, but he kept going again and again.

Hooked up and ready to go

Scaling the wall

Getting there - that bump was a huge hurdle that he never was able to get over.

Some of the girls waiting on the boys to climb the wall - Holly, MaKenna, Charlotte and Micaylah

Austin has joined Caleb trying to make it to the top.

Tyler and Austin

Garrett having a good time!

Cutie Patootie Abigail on the elephant

Camille and Holly, making memories!

My family with the Wiseners - such a treat and blessing to get to spend the day with them!
 Wrapping up the month was a combined Junior/Senior quiz trip in Tampa.  We took one Junior and one Senior team and had a great day.  What a great looking group of children who have already committed over 100 verses to their memory!

(Bottom to top):  Alexandria, Corbin, Erica, Melissa, Jilianne and Christina
All of those things took place, in addition to sickness, homeschooling, church involvement and activities, co-op, allergies, couponing to the max, etc!  We had an overall great February - how about you?

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Homemade Magic Shell

Recently, I came across a recipe for making homemade Magic Shell ice cream topping.  I personally have never liked that since it always tastes fake to me, but the ingredients in this inspired me to try it out.  This is one that did not disappoint!  And, relatively speaking, it is good for you - at least better than store bought!  You should give it a try - all you need is:

1/2 c. coconut oil
1 bag of any type of chip you like - semi sweet, dark, mint, butterscotch, etc.

Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan on the stove.  Add the chips just until melted.  Allow to cool and then devour over ice cream!

This works perfectly because coconut oil solidifies when it gets cold.  Plus, you get the added benefit of the health goodness coconut oil offers.

Enjoy!