First New Recipe!

I made a new recipe for a barbaque we went to today after church. It was pretty good, I thought. It looks the best right after it's finished. If you let it sit for a while, the mint leave garnish will wilt.

It's a fresh pineapple salad. Take a whole pineapple and cut off the top using a pretty scalloped pattern (triangle for me). Scoop/cut out the pineapple inside and in the lid and place in a mixing bowl. Cut tops off of about 10 strawberries and halve; place in bowl. Peel and chop 1 pear and place in bowl. Chop up some fresh mint and mix mint and 1/4 cup sugar with fruit. Drain liquid and place mixture back in the pineapple.

Make fresh cream by whipping heavy cream with 1 Tablespoon sugar and place on top of fruit.

Make sugared mints by brushing 1 whipped egg white onto 3 mint leaves. Sprinkle granulated sugar on top of leaves and let dry for 3 hours. Place mint leaves on whipped cream.

Out of the Pot

Phoebe would rather eat macaroni and cheese out of the pot than from her plate!

Easter Day!

Easter Day was much more exciting than the easter egg hunt (see post below). We had 1,167 people in church (which is about twice as many as usual)! Good sermon (you can listen online, by the way, at http://ccflemingisland.com/), good music, and several kids in my class want to become Christians! Our kids are fun and lovely as usual.

Easter egg hunt

The kids and neighbor attended the neighborhood Easter egg hunt yesterday. It wasn't nearly as exciting as you think it should be. At least not from my perspective.

When company from the north comes....

.... they inevitably want to go to the beach! Even on a windy day in March. It was cold at first, but then warmed up. I got the first sunburn of the year (put on suntan lotion even if it is cold! The sun shines just as brightly!).

Cody and family!

Phillip's good buddy from college came with his family to spend a couple of days. It's always fun to spend time with them! Here are their kids mixed in with ours.

Just the girls...

Life List

A lady in small group has inspired me to write a short life list (list of goals to accomplish while on this earth). She has one and was telling us about it and what she's crossed off so far. I wrote one back when we were first married and I've accomplished or am in the process of accomplishing them right now, so I thought I'd come up with some new goals. I'm not especially adventurous, so this may sound boring to some. It also doesn't have some important goals like how many people will I affect spiritually (how do you know that number?). Here goes:

1. Invent 12 new recipes (I know, there's nothing new on this earth, but at least think them up myself instead of following someone else's recipe).
2. Write a book.
3. Travel with my kids to the Northeast, Ireland, England for learning purposes.
4. Travel with my kids on a missions trip.
5. Travel with my husband for enjoyment (so probably not with kids).
6. Learn how to swim well (comes from living near so much water and driving over bridges).
7. Take a pottery class where I learn how to use the pottery wheel.
8. Sit in an outside hot tub with snow all around (Amy, is this really as fun as it sounds?).
9. Decorate my home better.
10. Be totally debt-free (including our home!).
11. Be on Food Network :-).
12. Work in/ own/ or manage a coffee shop ~ it just seems like it would be a fun place to work and I love the smell!
13. Plant a garden with at least 6 different fruits/veggies.
14. Volunteer or work in library.
15. Be involved with mission work somehow (besides just giving money).

Wide Eyes

She's talking a lot more. Elizabeth is helping her potty train (mom hasn't started that yet!). She wants to pick out her own clothes and pajamas. She wants everything HER way. She likes to tickle babies and coo at them. Two year old is just around the corner!

Silly kids!

You never know what these kids are going to get into when I'm not paying attention! At least they're not fighting....

Eyeball?

This fun puzzle was given as a Christmas gift and we finally put it together. Mostly mom put it together, but we found out a lot about an eyeball through it all!

To the Theatre!

Phillip is taking Jonathan and Elizabeth to see "Horton Hears a Who" right now. They've watched the trailer about 50 times this week in anticipation. This is Jonathan's first movie and it's been a year or two since Elizabeth has been to the theatre, so this will be a lot of fun for them. Phoebe and I are at home relaxing. She's supposed to be in the tub, but she's learned how to get herself out, so she's right here with me trying to climb up on the desk and claw the computer. I will be putting her to bed soon and then making a shopping list and then finding more homes on the internet for us to scope out tomorrow for possible purchase.

Happy times!

So my first roommate from college found me on My Space, saw that we lived in Florida and informed me that she was vacationing in Florida (near us) that very next week! So she and I got together at Mango Mangos for supper and had a good ole' time talking and eating. It's so fun to see old friends!

Tea Set

Elizabeth made this tea set at Wild Ginger Studio near here. It's a pottery place with pottery wheels and everything. She's not old enough to work the pottery wheel, but she made this with her hands. I count it as part of schooling! Other school/ life projects: mini garage sale (she and Jonathan earned $13); a newspaper with three "articles"; and lots of recipes that she makes up (scoop the pulp out of an orange, fill with red gatorade, and drink with a straw; chocolate sculptures made out of Valentine chocolates; cocktails made with water, grapes, and the glass edge dipped in koolaid {she only knows about cocktails from Semi-Homemade on the Food Network!}).

Eating a messy snack

Crumbly butterscotch muffins must be eaten by these ruffians outside, if you please. This was taken right before we left to go look at houses. We are considering purchasing a home this summer or perhaps next February. (We're doing a six month lease right now and might do another six months if we don't find what we're looking for right now.)

Composer/ Music Study

For Music Study in school, we listen to one composer's music for six weeks. We also try to find information about them from the library and online, but we mostly enjoy the music. We listen after breakfast while I'm cleaning up. The pictures here are of the kids listening to Johann Strauss II's Radetzky's March and dancing to it. They especially have enjoyed this guy.

Impromptu picnic with the neighbors!

Dancing in Daddy's socks

Peeking out from a couch cushion fort