February

With a busy past few weeks coupled with the a case of the winter blues, blogging was set on the back burner. Here's some highlights of what we've been up to:

Several illnesses:

to which every member of the family has been affected at least once. I'll spare you pics of that

A Snow day:
Yes, we really did have a snow day for this minuscule amount of snow. I know you're all thinking we're wimps for calling off school for this but hey, I'm not complaining. All kids deserve a snow day once in awhile and this one was perfect timing for Katy's recuperation.

Valentine's Day:

I saw this shirt at Target and couldn't resist

We decided not to fight the crowds Valentine's week-end and stayed inside. I was recovering from a bad cold anyway so we postponed our V-day weekend plans. But I was surprised when the doorbell rang and a flower delivery guy was on the other side. I LOVE TULIPS!!!!!

A Birthday:
Jared turned the 32 and for the next month and a half I can tease him about being an old man. The girls had the day off but he had to work. We played at a friend's house all day: sledding, crafts, lunch, etc while the B-day boy slaved away at work. We do feel bad but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We got home an hour beforehand and somehow managed to clean the house and make stuffed pork chops and his all-time favorite- 4layer dessert. We were finishing setting the table when he came in. I love having 3 girls who love to help in the kitchen!

Kids against HungerXandy's school participated in this neat program. The students got to help package meals for children and families in Haiti. It was a great experience for them. Here is a blurb I copied off of the school website about the program: Kids Against Hunger packages highly nutritious, life-saving meals for starving and malnourished children and their families in developing countries and the United States. Kids Against Hunger's meals have been formulated by food scientists to provide a rich source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins needed by a malnourished child's body and mind. It is made from four readily available, dry ingredients (white long-grain rice, crushed soy, dehydrated vegetables, and vitamin/mineral powder) that are easy to package, keep for long periods, and require only boiling with water to prepare. Despite the simplicity of the food's content, it is a nutritionally complex and well balanced meal.Each class was invited to participate in an “assembly-line,” where individual meals were packaged and prepared for distribution to children and families in Haiti. Children scooped, measured, and packaged 1,728 pouches of food. This filled 48 boxes and will provide 10,368 total meals for hungry children in Haiti

Science Fair:
Katy tested 4 commercial detergent and a Loni's recipe for home-made detergent against 4 different stains. Loni will be glad to know that her recipe worked just as well as Tide and Era, better than Oxi-clean. Gain worked the best but only by a tiny margin. Its probably fair to say the detergents are equally effective.