Economics Fair

Thursday, Avery participated in the Economics Fair at her school. The students had to think of and item or service to sell, decide on the cost and how much to make and sell them to the students and faculty. During the last few weeks, the students earned "money" to spend at the fair.

Avery chose to make Oreo Balls. We made some of these for Thanksgiving and they were a huge hit. Here is what you need:

1 package Oreos or other cream filled cookie

1 8 oz. package cream cheese for each package of cookies

melting chocolate for coating

Break cookies into a food processer.

Turn on food processor and mix until cookies are ground into fine pieces.

Here is what it should look like. Similar to coffee grounds.

Cut cream cheese into small pieces and add to cookie crumbs. We made two batches using 2 packages of Oreo cookies and 2 packages of cream cheese.

Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs together. You probably could use a Kitchen Aid mixer to do this step, but I didn't feel like getting mine dirty. Besides, Avery had fun mixing it by hand. I reccomend using latex gloves (you can find them in the baking isle at Michaels and Hobby Lobby). The Oreos leave your fingernails looking like you've been gardening instead of making candy. Make sure you mix this well until there are no longer any loose crumbs.

**CAUTION** What you see here is not any type of animal droppings!! If you choose to play a joke on someone using the Oreo/cream cheese mixture, by all means do. Just make sure you get it on video and send it to me!

Roll the cookie crumb/cream cheese mixture into balls. You decide the size, but let me warn you, if you get them too small people will think you have adopted either a deer or rabbit as a pet and have failed to house train them! I know.....GROSS!!

Let's move on...

That is if I have not grossed you out completely yet...

I'm in a playful mood...

I'm loosing control of what this post is supposed to be about...

Back to the balls...

After you have all of the "dough" made into balls. Refrigerate them until firm. You can also put them in the freezer.

We let ours chill for about 30 minutes and then dipped them into melted white chocolate. You can use milk chocolate too. Wilton even has a peanut butter one that I'm using next time. Be sure not to let them sit in the chocoate too long. The warm chocoate will melt the balls slightly and cause crumbs to end up in your chocoate.

After they are coated, place them onto parchment paper to let the chocolate set.

This is what happens when you try to sneak a lick or two durinig clean up. Kids, the are always trying to sneak a lick!

After the chocolate has set, you can leave them as is or add some decoration. We used colored melting chocolate to add some festive flare. You could also sprinkle on a variety of toppings before the chocolate has set.

Pretty huh? I must remind you, this is all Avery's. I did not make a single Oreo ball. She did all the work. I did help with some metling. The bowls get hot in the micorwave.

I did help Avery by stamping the tags while she was dipping and drizzling. I also helped her with packaging. I tied on the ribbon and she added the tags.

Avery ended up making 118 Oreo balls. 59 packages of 2 that she priced at $1.00 each. She sold every last one!! Way to go Avery!!!!

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Yesterday, December 18, 2008, my baby turned 5! Whimper, cry, sniff-sniff. Please excuse me while I wipe my eyes and dry my tears. What makes me sad is I have been so consumed with everything I have to accomplish in the next 6 days, I've had little time to reflect that it's been 5 years since the birth of my last child. He has grown into a very bright and loving young boy. I'm not about to call him a young man yet!

All of the birthday kids get to wear a crown on their birthday or birthday celebration day. Can you believe there are two other boys, that are friends of Cooper's, that share the same birthday as Cooper? One of the boys was born in the same hospital! Cooper is the youngest of the three by 8 hours. It was a big deal for all of them. Lily and I took cookies to Cooper's school and shared them with his class.

In keeping with tradition, Cooper was able to choose where he went out to eat for his birthday. Guess where he chose? If the Happy Meal doesn't give it away, I can't help you.

Since there is a play area, and his very best friend does not have any siblings yet, we have invited Grant to join in the fun. They have been missing each other lately. Usually Grant is sick and Cooper has to wait for him to feel better before they can play. This time, it was Cooper who was sick and Grant had to wait for him to get well. This was the first time they were able to play together in about a month.

A couple of years ago Cooper got a little toddler laptop computer for Christmas. Cooper would sit in his bed for a few minutes before he went to sleep and play with his computer. It helped him with letter recognition and sounds, numbers and coordination. Since he had outgrown the toddler version, we gave him an upgrade for his birthday. This one has a real mouse and even a case to carry it in. Tony picked it out and I was very happy with his choice.

We stayed at McDonald's for about 2 hours while the kids played and the adults visited. I was even able to get some work done on favors for Brenna's Christmas party today. I forgot to take pictures before they took them to school. If they bring extras home, I'll post them.

Schlumberger Kids Christmas Party

With all of the excitement we've had over the last couple of weeks, a day of fun with the kids was just what we needed. Schlumberger puts on an annual Kids Christmas Party for the employee's children. They had everything a child would want to do, see Santa, ride rides, eat cotton candy, jump on a moonwalk and pony rides. While we were in line waiting to see Santa, the girls posed for some pictures.

I don't know about your children, but my kids seem to loose their focus when they finally get to see Santa. During our wait I had asked the kids what they were going to tell Santa they wanted for Christmas. Cooper mentioned something about Diego and a train, then it happened. I overheard him telling Santa he wanted a Teddy Bear!

I was very happy with this picture of our kids. We did have Lily with us, but she was not interested in taking pictures at all. This might be our Christmas card, but I'm not sure yet. I would like to get one with Lily in it.

The girls had a good time riding the swings and ferris wheel while Tony and Cooper waited in line for cotton candy. We waited in line a lot today.

The cotton candy arrived just as the girls were finishing up with their ferris wheel ride. By this time things were falling apart a little and it was time to go and get some lunch.

This was my favorite photo of the day!! I tried again to get a picture of all four kids, but Lily and Cooper were not as excited about it as I was.

Now, in between this photo and the next, there was a complete meltdown in the Lily department. We are still dealing with some adjustment issues. So as I tried to manage the situation, Tony took our kids to ride the train.

Although we had several fun moments, I'm not sure this is an event we will frequent. The kids were excited that they were able to see where Daddy's new work was and spend some time doing things that bring them joy.

Back to Blogging

Our family has been quite busy since my last post. After some computer problems kept me from posting with pictures, I became quite delinquent on my posts. So, I have decided to do a quick bring-you-up to-speed post, rather than try to make several separate ones.

I'll begin with Thanksgiving. As always, we had so many things to be thankful for. This year I kept being reminded of the opportunities we have by living in the U.S. We are blessed that I can stay home with our children with the freedom to teach them about Christ and have our freedom of worship. My husband had the freedom and ability to get at new job at Schlumberger. We have freedom in our health care choices and are able to provide this for our family. We are not confined to our home in fear and are able to have peace where we live. My heart goes out to everyone who is not able to have freedom in their daily lives and who have to live every day in fear for their families and their own well being. I am thankful that we can find comfort and protection in our Most High God.

Okay, I think I should have regrouped my pictures. I find it difficult to follow our Most High God with this picture. This is Baby. For the last two Thanksgivings we have kept Baby for our friends while they traveled. Baby does not like many people. She is 14 years old and rather moody sometimes. However, she seems to be very fond of Avery. Avery likes to carry her around and have Baby with her wherever she goes. I think Baby feels pampered and secure with Avery's watchful eye. Since Baby is so old, she has lost most of her teeth allowing her tongue to hang out. Most of the time you only see about 1/4" sticking out. I snapped this picture when we noticed a good 1 1/2 inches sticking out. We were laughing so hard at the poor animal.

This would be the girl's version of a "Got Milk?" commercial. It was more like Got Melted Marshmallows in Your Hot Chocolate?"

Last year we were able to start the tradition of the Playroom Tree. I found this tree at an after Christmas sale for a STEAL and automatically thought of putting it in the playroom. It has colored lights and the kids hang all of their ornaments on it. It was heartwarming to listen to them as they reminisced about the ornaments they made and how long it had been and how small they were. I even gave them an ornament from 1986 when I was in choir in elementary school. You know you are getting older when you have a 22 year old ornament hanging from your kids tree. I can't wait to get my hands on our family's ornaments from when I was a kid!
Going to see the Nutcracker is a tradition that started when we moved. Our neighbors own a ballet company and the company puts on the Nutcracker every year. We get dressed up, go out for a nice dinner and then we are off to the ballet. This year was very enjoyable and the kids were able to enjoy some "snow" during intermission. Both of our neighbors children have parts in the ballet and our kids enjoy seeing them perform. Tony and Cooper are getting a little tired of seeing it, so next year I think we are going to make it a Girls Night and hopefully we will be able to take Lily to see her first ballet.

Speaking of tradition, Avery enjoyed participating in her first Christmas Pagent at our church. There were many practices and rehearsals involved (including a rehearsal every night the week before pagent). Although it was a lot of hard work, we were all so very blessed by it. Avery did an amazing job. After the first of 3 performances, a lady approached us and complimented Avery on how animated Avery was as she sang and how sweet she looked. Avery was grinning from ear to ear and was so very proud of herself.
We ended up bringing Lily home with us on Saturday the 6th, which was our 11th Wedding Anniversary. I was only able to get Avery to the church by the skin of my teeth Saturday night since we drove in from Bryan. As we turned onto 105 from Hwy 6, there was a rollover accident. Knowing we had little time to spare, my first thought was that we were going to be late. As we got closer to the scene, we could see that our lane was open and traffic was able to get through. I said a prayer of thanks right then and there. I was thankful that we didn't have to rush home and be hurried as we made our way to the church Rushing always has an effect on my mood. We were able to make it in plenty of time and Avery did a wonderful job again.

On Sunday night we were all able to attend pagent together. Cory and Rachel joined us and helped take care of Lily, who was not feeling well.

It snowed for the second time since we've had children on December 10th. Nothing stuck to the ground, but the kids enjoyed playing in the falling flakes of ice. The last time it snowed was on Christmas Eve, 2004. I have a picture of Cooper sitting on our back porch as the girls tried to catch some flakes on their tongue. He was not walking yet, but wanted to see the snow bad enough to crawl out in the cold.

Girl Scout Campout-Day 2

Last night I was able to go and have some dessert with a fellow blogging friend and we talked about how we have not been keeping up with our blogs. So, here I am, when I should be cleaning, doing laundry and preparing for the 30 or so guests that will be in my home in less than 2 days, me-I'm updating my blog.

We wrapped up our first night of camping with a lovely campfire and smores. The girls entertained us with singing and skits.

Have you ever seen a more exhausted child?

Brenna was having a blast as she performed with her fellow Daises. I was very impressed at how Brenna jumped right in and definitely earned her keep over the weekend. She was out, in the pitch black night, gathering firewood, breaking the long branches and stacking them by the fire. Someone complimented her by saying she would make an excellent Brownie. All of the hard work made both of them very tired, so we turned in rather early.

It got very cold that night and after Avery fell off of her cot, every move they made seemed to wake me up. Then there was the 747 that was headed for our camp at 500mph. Well, it wasn't really a 747. I didn't find this out until I heard the train whistle blow and realized it was an actual train. I think the tracks must have been 20 feet behind our tent. Boy that think was loud!!

These two look like they got a good nights sleep!

Part of camping is "leaving no trace". The girls must leave things to appear as if they were never there. Due to Avery's complaining before breakfast, she earned the privilege of cleaning the latrines. I don't think we will hear complaining again, at least for a little while.

The morning was cool and crisp and I wish I could have stayed out there all day. The air was still and the leaves were changing. There was a peace that seemed to wrap around us like a blanket. The light was warm on our faces and God's beauty poured out like sweet honey. We are so blessed to escape this concrete jungle where we reside and spend time surrounded by His breathtaking creations.

The morning ended with the girls receiving their earned patches. We loaded up our wagons and took our gear to the car and said goodbye to the exciting time of learning and fellowship we experienced over the last two days.

Camping with Girl Scouts- Day One

Avery started her camping on Friday night and Brenna and I joined her at lunch time on Saturday. When Brenna and I arrived the troop had just returned from a nature hike. We all sat down for a lunch of ham roll-ups, carrots and celery and chips. Once lunch was over the girls had "turtle time" or down time. Most of the girls worked on the skits for later that night. The girls and I moved all of our gear into our platform tent and made our beds for the night.

It was really nice to see the girls getting along so well and having so much fun.

One game that caught on quickly was a version of "Ring Around the Rosie". All of the girls walked around the campfire on the benches. The largest gap was where Brenna is crossing in this picture (the one with the red jacket tied around her waist). It was really fun to watch them try to cross it. Avery and Brenna had it pretty easy since they are the tallest of the bunch. Some of our smaller girls had to really focus to make the jump.

The highlight of this camp-out was the Love, Hug and Groom activity. This is where the girls were able to tour this horse barn and love, hug and groom some very sweet horses.

After the barn tour, the girls put on their hair nets and helmets to join the horses.
Brenna really soaked up the entire experience, Avery on the other hand was less enthusiastic. I think a lot of it had to do with my presence. We all know how our children act differently when we are around and this was a classic example.
I really wish we could arrange for Brenna to do this on a regular basis. You never know, maybe a horse is in her future!
The very first time Avery camped with Girl Scouts, their camp was not far from this location. I couldn't help but be in awe at the beauty God had created in this little spot on the world. It was really hard to capture on camera.
Avery was not feeling very well after the tour so we found a picnic table for her to lay down on and I took a few photos.