Finally! Snow in January!

♥Allie and Tiptoes « Best Friends♥

Miss Libby

Brady the Russian

Kayla sweeping her "house" (bare area) on the pond ice!

The kids have been waiting for snow all winter and now finally they got some during this cold snap and every minute has been spent outside!

Arby's Racquetball Tournament

Congratulations to Derek Jon for taking the consolation round of the BB* division in the local racquetball tournament sponsored by Arby's on New Years Day!

(Racquetball goes from the "D" level (rookie) to the DD, DDD, C, CC, etc. all the way through the "A" levels and then the Pro levels (the best!).

A Super Cool Kid-Friendly Craft!

Snow Trees!

Snow Tree Makers....



They're pretty awesome....grow super fast... AND have satisfying results! :0)

HERE'S HOW:


You will need:
Thin sheet of cardboard*Scissors* Deep saucer or small bowl* Small jar with a tight-fitting lid*1TBL table salt* 1TBL bluing (A non-toxic, old fashioned laundry whitening product that helps the crystals form-- sold in all Country Marts)* 1/2 TBL household ammonia.

1. To create the base, cut two cardboard tree shapes (about4 1/2" tall and 4" approx. at the widest point). Cut a 2" slot in the top of one shape and in the base of the other. Join the shapes at the slots and stand the tree in a deep saucer or small bowl. Ours had a little balance problem....make sure you set these somewhere that it's easy to observe, but not easy to bump.
   
2. In the jar, combine 1TBL water, the salt, bluing, and ammonia. Fasten the lid and shake well, then pour the solution into the saucer or bowl.
3. Leave the tree undisturbed. Crystals may take as little as an hour or as long as a day to begin to form, depending on the humidity of your home. The tree will keep growing over the next few days until the liquid evaporates.
   -- Ours grew so fast (dry air must be ;0) that we could almost watch them grow!
4. Make sure you are careful not to bump the trees! They crumble easily... :)
   

Typical Brady (Behind the scences... what we see every other minute!)

I wish you could have seen him when he was goofing before I brought out the camera!
He's too funny...

Oh So Yummy!

FOR the insides you'll need:
8 Semi-Sweet chocolate squares
80z package cream cheese

FOR the basic outsides you'll need:
10oz package of chocolate chips of your choice *
1TBL (or a little less) of oil

DIRECTIONS:
Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. (Food processor works for this.) Add the oil to the chocolate squares and melt in the microwave checking/stirring every 30sec or so being careful not to overheat or chocolate will seize. Add the melted chocolate mixture slowly to the cream cheese while beating until thoroughly combined. Place the filling in the refrigerator or freezer (couple minutes) until chilled enough to form balls. Make the balls in the desired size.... we use a small cookie/icecream scoop to get the right amount of filling and then roll into a ball with our hands.
It will be a little bit messy but that's normal. :) Place the finished balls back in the refrigerator while you melt the chocolate/oil for the coating.
Using a plastic fork or a candy dipper, dip the balls into the chocolate and then place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. When done, put back in the refrigerator to harden.
Enjoy!!! :)

*We've used mint chips, semi-sweet, white chocolate etc. for the coating; They all work!
We've also added some orange flavor to our semi-sweet chocolate and it was delicious.
Feel free to get creative and drizzle over the coated truffles a different kind of chocolate or while the chocolate coating is still soft, add some chocolate sprinkles or roll in cocoa powder.
It's a lot of fun to use your imagination!

*** ☼ Florida__Fall 2009 ☼ ***

We had a wonderful time in Florida. The weather was gorgeous most of the time and made for long walks, great shelling, bike rides and fun. Here are some of the pictures from our trip. I'll just leave commentary under each in the order that they loaded up on here. :)

Sweet Kelly Joy

One of the beautiful sunsets!

Josiah, Brady, and Kayla dug this huge hole. Boy did they have a lot of people stop! :)
The sandcastle in the back was something I was able to start on but some kids on the beach ruined it before I could finish. *Arrgghhh!!!*

My Lion and the Lamb sculpture I made. :) Actually, I made two.
The first one was destroyed by some kids before I was quite done.

Miss Libby (Who lost her first tooth during our stay!)

Josiah and Brady took their skateboard stuff down with them and went to Sarasota's
super cool skate park. They had a lot of fun although first time there Brady sprained his wrist pretty bad and had to get a splint!

We had a couple windy/stormy days that kicked the surf up a bit. Derek took advantage of the weather to try out some surfing!

There were lots of birds...

The Shelling Sisters

THE shelling beach. Great shelling there always but especially this time! You should see the two HUGE shells the two littlest girls found!

♥Our new sisters picture. ♥

Florida

We're all heading to FL Wednesday! We're excited!
I'll try to post pics when we get back... no promises of how soon though. November is promising to be a very busy month for us!!
On a side note, Dad is also celebrating his birthday on the 3rd. Actually, we celebrated Sunday so we can get the food eaten before we leave. ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!! :)