Last few months

I know....I know....It's been a few months since I posted anything. I've come to the conclusion that nothing much exciting happens in our life. Anyway, here's some picture of activities and projects we've done over the last several months.

At Christmas time I always make lots and lots of candy and then give them as gifts. This year I did all cake pops and arranged them into candy bouquets. I thought they turned out really cute.

For Christmas, I made my mom a handprint pillow using all the grands hands (Yes, all but one are mine I know, I'll have more nieces and nephews one of these days.)



Man my kids have huge hands!



Here's a link to the instructions for the pillow. http://fromanigloo.blogspot.com/2010/04/keepsake-hug-pillow-tutorial.html

About the middle of January I started teaching a science class once a week. OERB is a great resource for any teacher, whether public or homeschool. I highly recommend checking them out and attending a class. They pay you to come and provide all the materials and then pay for a field trip at the end. I had 10 kids in my class ranging from 3rd grade up to 7th. We had a good time and learned a lot about energy and natural gas. We're looking forward to the field trip in a few weeks.

In February we had a home school Valentine's Party. It was a great turn out and I think the kids had a good time.

 This is one table...there were three full tables.

Last month, Summer went with our pastor's wife to help take care of her grandkids for a few days. Boy, did I ever feel outnumbered. I am not looking forward to the day that she moves out for good. Hopefully, that is a long way off and when she does that she will still live close by. While she was gone, I got a mad craving for some kind of dip. I wanted it to have tomatoes and black beans. All the recipes I could find had corn or some other ingredient I didn't have on hand or didn't sound good. SOOO....what do you do? You make up your own of course. I took what I had on hand and whipped up a YUMMY dip. I'm not good at naming things so here is a pic of my Chunky Black Bean Salsa. I'll post the recipe at the end.

Yesterday morning, as I was checking my e-mail, I get an e-mail from Andrew that goes something like this: "Hey babe, we're having an Easter party this afternoon. Do you think you could make something for the class." Short notice? Just a little. I had just seen this recipe for Peanut Butter Eggs on Pinterest and thought, "I sure do want to try those." Since I had everything for them I decided to give them a try for his party. The recipe said it made 15 and since I needed a dozen for his class I decided to double the recipe just in case they were good and we wanted to eat them.

 I was very pleased with how they turned out. They were much easier than I thought they would be. I didn't have milk chocolate like the recipe called for so I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips. Next time I think I will try using almond bark. I just think it's easier to work with and sets up a lot better.

They definately taste a lot like their name brand counter part. Anyway, they were a great success and will definately be a make again.....and again. http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/04/03/homemade-peanut-butter-eggs/

Chunky Black Bean Salsa Recipe
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans diced tomatoes, drained (petite diced would be best but all I had was regular diced tomatoes)
1/4 red onion, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, diced
1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lime
garlice powder, chili powder and kosher salt to taste.

Dump it all in a bowl and mix it together. Tastes similar to Pico de Gallo but with beans. Very yummy and good for you too.

Enjoy until next time,
~Robyn