Pirates!

On Friday, January 11, we went to Orlando to see a shortened version of Pirates of Penzance put on by 4 singers and a pianist from the Orlando Opera. It was awesome! They also allowed the kids to participate in the program. So Chase (far left) played one of the Major General's daughters...


...and Landon played a pirate.


Here's the whole group posing for a picture. It was hard to take non-blurry pictures during the presentation because there was so much movement.


After the performance, we ate at Sweet Tomatoes, bought 2 music stands at Sam Ash and hit a huge sale at Old Navy where I purchased 30 pieces of clothing for the kids for $123. Woohoo! It was a long day, and Carys slept almost the entire way home!

CCHEA Student Presentation Night

Every year, our local homeschool support group, Citrus Christian Home Educators Association (CCHEA) has a Student Presentation Night in January. The attendance varies year to year. Unfortunately, this year we had only 7 kids representing 4 families who presented something. There were only 2 other families (and 2 steering committee members) in attendance. This is SO discouraging to me, as a long-time SC member. I am ready to quit! I am just really tired.

Anyway, Chase and Landon came up with something to present on a few days prior. Last year, I required Landon to write a skit to perform for this night. This year, however, things were too crazy for that. So, I was really happy they came up with something.

Chase talked about birds, of course, and showed most of her feeders.



Landon had been wanting to recruit some new members for Civil Air Patrol, so he gave a speech on the advantages of Civil Air Patrol membership. Unfortunately, there was no one there who was old enough to join Civil Air Patrol.

I Can Put on My Own Shoes!

Can you tell that Carys can put these shoes on by herself? Too funny!


Now, why is this child crying you might ask? Because when someone gets the camera out, she thinks it is so that she can look at the screen on back. She will not stand still for a second so you can take her picture. She comes running over to look at the screen saying, "Is cute. Is cute." When I forced her to stand back and let me take a picture of her feet, she proceeded to show her displeasure. So, now it is preserved for eternity!

Home at Last

On Saturday, January 5, we finally returned to Camp Blanding in Starke, FL, to pick up Landon from Winter Encampment.



They had a Pass and Review for the parents. Here it the presentation of the colors.


There was an inspection by the Senior and Cadet staff big wigs.


This is Landon's group, the Golf Flight, which was part of Squadron 3. Landon is the short one with the glasses in the back middle. He usually wears contacs but said there was no time to put them in all week. In fact, he informed us that he only brushed his teeth 3 times all week. Oh my!


The main point of this picture, I think (Greg took it) was to show the rest of us in the back left.


Here Landon is signing out and receiving his achievement papers.


We were all SO glad to have him home. He had been up since 4:00 a.m. but had to drive home (too excited to sleep, talking all the way), take a shower, drive to church, work with 20 four-year olds, try to stay awake through church, eat dinner, and drive home (still too excited to sleep) before he got to bed at 10:00 or 10:30!

New Year's Project?

We started a jigsaw puzzle on New Year's Eve. I get to do about one a year, usually over the holidays. Gerren got this one for his birthday last year. A few weeks ago he divided all the pieces up into 2 ziploc bags, edges and non-edges. So, I had a head start. Gerren and Chase helped me a little on the border.

It took until January 3 to finish. When I got close to the end, Gerren helped some more. Finally, I was left with only blue sky. It was no longer fun! You had to match pieces mostly by shape, and the shapes were deceiving. Greg kicked in and did the majority of the blue.

We got to the end with 2 holes and 2 pieces, but they didn't fit. We finally figured out that 2 pieces of border were incorrect. When we swapped them out, wala! The 2 remaining pieces fit.

Carys was a huge help. NOT! Actually, we finally got her trained to leave the puzzle alone.


Here is the final product!

Marinated Mozzarella

Kristine requested this recipe, so I'm posting it here. It was a big hit with my family.


Marinated Mozzarella

Serving Size : 10 Preparation Time :0:45
Categories : Appetizers & Snacks

1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon minced chives
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into 1" cubes

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first seven ingredients; add cheese cubes. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish; serve with toothpicks.

Winter Encampment

Saturday was a milestone for this family. We drove Landon up to Starke to Camp Blanding to attend Civil Air Patrol's Winter Encampment for a week. He wanted to go since you must attend an encampment to become an officer, but he was also dreading it as it is like boot camp for this level.

Unfortunately, right as we pulled into camp Landon informed us that he had no idea what he did with the $20 we gave him the night before. We told him to put it in his wallet with his CAP ID, but he had no recollection of actually doing that. Of course, I fussed at him somewhat (and gave him another $20). I really think he'll find the first $20 in his wallet. When he got out of the van, he had big crocodile tears running down his face. Then, I felt horrible for fussing at him. We had to hurriedly try to calm him down so he could check in. I'm sure it was a combination of the money and the stress of being away that upset him. But it wasn't a good last memory for this mama to have of leaving her baby for a week.

Here's a picture of him unloading his stuff from the back of the van and then heading into the check-in building.



We can read about what he is doing every day here. Pray for all of us as we get through this week!