February 'Heat Wave' (Siobhan)

~February 'Heat Wave'~

We've been enjoying a few 'balmy' 50 degree days lately. The boys love playing basketball, and I've been bringing the babies on lots of walks. The other day Shaila and Brandan pulled out sleds and a swimming pool and went sledding on the snow mountains at the end of our driveway. We are all SO ready for spring, but we're enjoying the sunshine while we wait 😉

                                                 Baxter                                                     Cade

The babies don't know what to think of each other in their snowsuits! They just stare at each other and look so confused...

Southern Regional Meal 2017 (Siobhan)

~Southern Regional Meal~

This weekend we cooked our Southern Regional meal for geography. We had the same meal we made last time we studied the south, because our southern recipes are so delicious! As always, recipe links and printables are throughout the post :)

 Our main dish was an herb and spice southern fried chicken. It is our go-to fried chicken recipe!

Click here to see our Herb-and-Spice Southern Fried Chicken recipe printable

 For our first side dish, we made Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes.

Click here to see our Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes recipe printable

 Next we made cheesy cream corn

Click here to see our Cheesy Cream Corn recipe printable

For dessert we had bittersweet chocolate pecan pie. And of course we had to serve it with a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

Click here to see our Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie recipe printable

Click here to see all of our regional meal posts

Owl Pellet Dissection (Aidan)

Hi. I’m Rus. Two days before Mom and Dad’s anniversary, we did a very fun science experiment. We are studying flying creatures in our science this year, and one of the experiments was taking apart owl pellets. Connor, Shaila, and I waited a while for them to arrive in the mail, and we were very excited when they did. We could not wait for the evening when we could dissect them. I had never seen an owl pellet before, and I was surprised to find how much fluffy stuff was packed into it. Before we started dissecting, we laid newspaper out on the table, and took out Ethan’s dissecting set that he used for his science labs. Mom bought five owl pellets, so Ethan showed how to open them up with the extra one. We all took a pellet and began to dissect. As I slowly opened it layer by layer, I found many more bones than I had ever expected. My greatest find was a few jawbones and an almost complete bird skull. After I had ripped the whole pellet apart, I searched through the pieces for bones. Most of my time was spent searching, and finally, I could not find any more bones. I noticed while I was dissecting that the kids had taken off their gloves. They had not been so sure before, but they were very enthusiastic now. Ethan identified many of our discoveries, and he dissected two pellets because of his meager finds in his first. I laid out my pellets in one long line. After I finished my line, I sorted the bones onto paper. We had a great regional meal after that (Mom wants me to mention that we SCRUBBED the table first! J), but that has been posted about already. We had a lot of fun with our owl pellets.

By: Aidan
Age: 11 (6th Grade)

Double Trouble: Our Little Composers (Siobhan)

~Our Little Composers~

Baxter and Cade both love music! Baxter dances to any music that he hears, and they both love 'playing' the piano.

Post 24 Veterinary Exploring Group: Update (by Ethan)

~Post 24 Veterinary Group~

Having aspired for a number of years to become a veterinarian, I joined a New Hampshire veterinary group led by Exploring-- a nationwide organization that provides hands-on experience in a number of career fields.  As a part of this group, I have served as both Vice President and President, attending a variety of field trips, shadowing opportunities, and veterinary lectures.  Our Exploring Post is fortunate to be headed by an especially accomplished veterinarian, who not only specializes in three different fields, but is one of the few avian practitioners in New England.  During the two years that I have been a part of this group this veterinarian's versatility has provided me with some truly unique opportunities.  One such opportunity took place at our most recent meeting, when a bald eagle was rushed in for an emergency operation.  As fascinating as it was to see this beautiful bird up close, I couldn't help being amused as I watched technicians scrambling around to pick up a couple of stray feathers.  They later explained that, as property of the state, anyone found in possession of a bald eagle's feather could face a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison.  While I was a little tempted to stick one in my pocket on my way out, I decided it wasn't worth the risk.  I look forward to more such opportunities as I continue to pursue my interests with this incredible program.

 

 This rehabilitated eagle is being released from captivity.  

Siobhan's Birthday and Crostini Bar (Siobhan)

~Siobhan's 17th Birthday~

 I had a wonderful seventeenth birthday! We started the day with breakfast and gifts (one of which was my beautiful birthday necklace pictured above), followed by lunch out with Mom at Carabba's, an incredible crostini bar, cheesecake, and a movie night. Thank you so much to everyone who made my birthday so special!

For my birthday dinner this year, Mom made me a crostini bar. I cannot possibly pick a favorite variety of crostini; they were all so delicious!

 Shrimp and Pesto with Olive Tapenade

 Caprese with Avocado

 Smoked Salmon with Creamy Spinach Spread

 Buffalo Chicken and Mozzarella and Chicken Parmesan

 Tapenade, Lemon Hummus, and Roasted Red Pepper

The boys were incredulous when they heard that we were having 'toast' for dinner, but we eventually won them over!

For dessert Mom made me a death by chocolate cheesecake. It was a wonderful end to a great birthday!

Click here to see all of our birthday posts

Happy Valentine's Day 2017! (Siobhan)

~Happy Valentine's Day~

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all have had a wonderful Valentine's Day. As always, we did some fun activities I wanted to share with you. I also am attaching links to our other Valentine's Day posts down below in red. Enjoy!

Mom always lays out chocolates and a small gift for each of us in the morning. Shaila and Brandan loved their new puppies!

 Baxter and Cade got these teething food feeders. This was Brandan's favorite teething toy! We fill them with mangoes, blueberries, and even ice cubes. They love sucking on them. 

 Shaila loves holiday hairstyles!

Click here to see our post on Valentine's Day hairstyles

 Our first Valentine's Day craft was these cute heart stamps. We simply folded toilet paper rolls to form a heart, and the kids stamped with them.

 

 Next we did these adorable little Bee Mine valentines. We used toilet paper rolls, construction paper, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners to make them.

I love Connor's addition of teeth 😁

I didn't get a lot of photos of the last craft, but it was so cute. It's a Valentine tree. We traced the kids' hands out of construction paper and left a thick border so that the 'tree' could stand up. I cut some hearts out of craft paper. Shaila glued them onto her hand cutout. These make super cute centerpieces!

Click the links below to see our other Valentine posts:

Valentine's Day Heart Chains

Frozen Olaf Valentine Tutorial

Heart Suncatcher Craft

Red Velvet Muddy Buddies

Valentine's Day Slideshow

Valentine's Day: Preschool Edition

 Valentines Tutorials