The Whole Chicken

I do not profess to be a great cook, but we certainly do okay. M*ijer had whole chickens for $4.99 and we bought a few to give away last Wednesday. It was such a fun thing to surprise people with the extra gift. Anyway, I had 1 for us too. Now... I have never prepared a whole chicken before, but thought it would be a nice experience for the kids to help with preparing it. Jordan helped with taking off the skin and I cut up onion, celery and an apple to sit in the bottom of the crock pot. When it came to opening the bag of innards I had expected the heart, liver and neck and told the children so. Imagine our surprise when we pulled the neck out and the head was still ATTACHED! The beak and hollow eye sockets were a shock. Jordan had named the chicken during cleaning and was saying how much she was ready to be a vegetarian so when she found the head, she started opening and closing the beak, used a chicken voice (and a strange voice it was, LOL!) and had the chicken plead with us all to become vegetarians and to not eat him. It was very funny.

They all examined the heart (which they have seen lots of times as I often fish with chicken hearts) and thought the liver was "nasty". I did not take pictures...the whole transferring of raw meat juices thing, but I plan to buy another whole chicken because it was delicious, tender and made a beautiful broth that I cannot wait to use.

A fun science class for all.

Starting Again

We are getting ready to start our first full week after a wonderful vacation. It was good to be back at church today, although I was uncomfortable with the comments made about going to Nassau.

1st grade opened his unit 4 Lifepacs today in order to get ready for tomorrow. He is always excited to get new booklets. I was using Spelling Connections for 1st grade, but switched to ABC Teach spelling units as I liked the activities that could be done throughout the week for practice. He seems to like the sheets too.

Our home-school group is having the annual Spelling Bee in February.  I think I am putting a hold on everyone's spelling program to focus on Spelling Bee words.

4th and 8th grade have several essay projects coming up in the next few weeks so I think I will make Fridays a project day for them. We have a very old set of encyclopedia's that I would love to replace. I still like them to use reference books for research instead of the internet. We have not had our consistent weekly library trips yet because we have been so busy. I need to get back on track with those as they have yet to fulfill any of their required reading list. So much to do...so little time. LOL!

We were surprised today with a very generouse donation today for our Personal Needs Closet. We are so excited for the opportunity.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Edible

For my birthday, I received an Edible Arrangement. I was so thrilled and it is so neat. We are not as fond of the chocolate covered strawberries as I thought, but the rest was so fresh and beautiful.

Home School Lite

We made it home Sunday, early evening and the kids decided that they missed school enough that they wanted to get back into it. They set up school and got everything ready without me even telling them to. My foster child, Jeanna*, DID NOT WANT to go back to her public school and promised to cry Monday morning. I debated back and forth as to whether to send her or not for the 2 days before Thanksgiving Break and her teacher (who really does not like Jeanna all that much) had suggested that I just keep her home for those 2 days. But school attendance is an issue that I don't want to have problems with, so I sent her on Monday. Luckily the hot lunch for that day was a meal that she liked. It was the only reason she went. Ha Ha!

We are doing just review type work here in Rottie Land. 8th grade did a couple of hours on Monday as well as 1st grade. 4th grade ended up doing a bit more as it is just the nature of his gig. Today is my birthday so we will watch a movie together...my choice even though I will most likely fall asleep and only see the opening and closing credits as usual! LOL!

Our church added a Wednesday morning prayer meeting that I am excited about as I never get to go to the evening one (bedtime conflicts), so we will get to attend that tomorrow morning before Entertaining Angels. We have also decided to give out meals to any families that come for personal needs on Wednesday. We will be giving out a small chicken, a bag of potatoes and a can good. Just a small meal for hard times.

Thursday we look forward to our traditional grilled cheese and french fries Thanksgiving dinner.

To my Sister-girlfriend: You know I love ya! We are making arrangements.

*My foster daughter's blog name

A Great Finish

We did another night swim tonight in order to get the annual pictures of them jumping in and also another attempt to get the picture of them all doing handstands at the same time. The jumps were fun and entertaining! They just could not get the handstands this year, but it was hilarious trying! All in all... a fantastic trip.

soda overload...

I never buy pop in the States and usually only drink it while on vacation. I have to say.. I have had my fair share and then some. My poor kidneys have been assaulted. While I am not ready to go home yet, I am looking forward to my ice maker and my big 'ole water jug.

We are packing it up and getting ready to leave on Saturday. The boys say they miss the dog, but are not ready to go home yet. Both girls miss their beds and say they miss home and the dog.

We did not get our usual underwater handstand and night swim pictures this year even though we did both.  We may try one more time tomorrow.

Ownership

We have not done school yet this week (of course it is only Tuesday morning), but the kids have learned and experienced so much other stuff that I once again feel like it trumps worksheets.  The children have enjoyed a lot of "ladder ball" and surprisingly, Jeanna is very good at it.

I am having lots of feelings about posting highlights of our vacation, but really want to have the documentation. One of my favorite lines that the Judge says during the adoption process is that "...this child will now have all the rights and privileges of this family..."

It is my privilege to be able to share this life with my children, to see their faces of "first WOW's!!!" and hear them say, "Mommy look!" even if it is the millionth time they have done a flip in the water.

I own my feelings... I own my privilege.

Swimming



I heard: "un,  deux,  trois, GO!" about a million times during that week.  

We have had 4 great days in a row of swimming. First someone let the girls use their underwater camera for an afternoon and they took tons of underwater pictures.The next day ocean was FABULOUS and a whole crowd went body surfing. Jordan had a blast and it was pure entertainment for those of us who did not brave the waves. Last night on 11/11/11 there was a full moon. We had spent the night at a different resort for a few nights and they had a heated, salt water pool that was so warm that when Jackson stuck his foot in, he quickly pulled it back out... I thought he had gotten burned. We went for a night swim and it was wonderful. The moon was bright, the water was warm and we had the pool to ourselves. We had so much fun.

The Big Dipper

The evenings here are beautiful and the deck off the ocean is a wonderful place to spend time just before bedtime. We can see the stars so well as there are very few "city" lights. The 7 stars of the Big Dipper are very clear tonight and a neat experience for the kids.

Pictureless Post

It's weird not doing picture post this year while on vacation, but because my foster child is with us it is too hard to edit her out and really no fun to not be able to show her. She is really enjoying the beach and is slowly learning to swim.

Girl Speak

We met a new family this year from Quebec, Canada. While the mother does speak a very small amount of English, the rest of the family only speaks French. They have 2 little girls who decided before they came to try to learn a few English phrases. Jordan has been in girl power mode and so happy to have someone to play with again this year. She is learning so many French words, but mostly they play, swim and giggle together. Little girls giggling together is an International language!

It Has Been Nice

We are having a nice time. Getting through security was the easiest yet! My foster child (whom we will now refer to as "Jeanna") had a bit of a panic thing when they told her to take her shoes and backpack off and then put them on the belt to disappear into the black hole. LOL! But Jordan was very sweet with her and showed her that her things came out on the other side.

The flight was awesome and the kids received tons of compliaments because of their great behavior. It was a pleasure to fly with them. The new airport in Nassau is.....ummm.... interestingly not completed, but customs was extremely easy.

As it is with every new child, it is fun to see Jeanna experience new things. She loves the beach and swimming.

Peace