Laundry Cart Rides and Breanne's B-day Party

Gordon taking Neil and Tegan for a ride in the laundry basket. There is something about boxes and baskets that kids love. Forget about toys, just pull out a laundry basket.

A month late, but Breanne had a birthday party Friday night. Good times. =)

Breanne loves Twilight, in case you couldn't tell.

Tegan loved that cake!

Tegan all cleaned up. =)

I had a great dress for Tegan today, but alas I had a sick Gordon. I woke up at 3 this morning to the sound of a puking child. Thankfully he didn't get very much on the carpet just all over the kitchen and on his blankets and sheets. Thank goodness for washing machines. Tegan helped me take care of Gordon while Jamin and Neil went to church with Grandma and Auntie Breanne. We'll just have to wait till next week to see the dress on Tegan. Gordon hasn't thrown up since he woke up in the morning and was able to keep down some food. So it appears to be a quick sickness. Yesterday was Jamin's cub car rally. Jamin loved it. He made a very whimsical car. It was a pencil with a happy face on the front. All the kids were cheering on his car because it was cute. He didn't win, but he had a great attitude. He came in 2nd for design and 8th for speed. I'll post pictures as soon as I can figure out how to transfer pictures from my phone to the computer. I forgot my camera.

Letter Book

I found a way cool website this week. I added the button to the side of my blog 1plus1plus1equals1.com. They have all kinds of cool learning stuff there. I am really excited to try some of the lapbooks and preschool packs. There are cool themes like Cars and space and all kinds of stuff. I'll post some of the stuff we do as we work through it.

This week I made a colors book for the kids. Gordon and Neil played with it together. Neil sorted the colors and Gordon sorted the words. I got the idea from here. I put little pieces of velcro on so the pieces would stay on. =)

Jamin is doing his music homework thinking that what Gordon and Neil are doing looks way more fun.

We Love to go to the Dentist!

This week the kiddos took a trip to the dentist. Jamin and Gordon who have been before were super excited to go, but Neil was a little nervous. When we got there, Tegan really wanted a turn too, so when the boys were done, she got a turn to sit in the chair.

Jamin didn't make it in a picture, but he took a picture of his toy Wall-E.

Gordon wanted to wear his Iron Man costume for the day, so he wore it to the dentist.

Neil turned out to be a pretty good sport at his first dentist appointment.

Tegan was the most excited to sit in the chair.

They had this super cute bench there. Perfect size for a little girl.

Oh, and no cavities!!! Hurray!

Jamin's Birthday and Dress of the Week

Dress of the Week

Berrylicious cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Mmmm... We had these when some family came over, I thought we should put candles on them so we could sing to Jamin together. I am now the Mom of a nine year old!! Where has the time gone? Jamin... entertainer, creative, loves reading, playing tennis, singing, playing the piano and yummy food. He is my helper. Love you, Jamin.

On Jamin's birthday... So, this is the first year we didn't have a bunch of friends and a big party for Jamin's birthday. Do I feel sad? Maybe a little, but not really. He has had a party every year. He is spoiled. We have too many kids now I think to be having big parties for all of them every year. So does it deprive a child to have several siblings? No way. Every day is like a party. They always have each other to play with and they will always have each other to talk to. Matthew and I both come from large families and I LOVE it. Sometimes things have been hard. There is always a little drama here and there, but really we are all rooting for each other. BTW... how cute is Tegan's smile. =) This is her saying CHEESE.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dress of the Week - our little valentine.

My valentine from my valentine, my hubby wubby. =)

Gordon's valentines for school. I think it is hilarious how Gordon can't possibly just write people's names. He has to embellish every letter.

Jamin's valentines for school

I wanted to send something special since Jamin's birthday is the next day, so we made yummy sugar cookies for everyone in the class and put some candy hearts in too.

Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma Anderson!

Hope you had a great day!

Love,

Matthew, Lisa, Jamin, Gordon, Neil, and Tegan.

Very Berry Sheet Cake

This recipe is inspired by the famous Hogenson Family Sheet Cake. Now if you want that recipe, maybe you can figure it out or e-mail me privately. Or speak to the famous chef who happens to be my MIL and who makes the best food on the planet, right next to my Mom. ;)

I have had many requests for this cake, so here you go.

Cake

2 cups white sugar

2 cups flour

1 cup butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp

cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

~ 2 cups frozen or fresh berries

Mix well and pour into 9 by 13 inch pan.

Bake 30 -35 minutes at 400F

Icing:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

one pound icing sugar or until desired consistency

optional a little lemon zest w/ squeeze of lemon

Mix together and spread on cooled cake.

Mmm... Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 heaping cups flour
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter - and I melt it cause I don't have the patience for that cutting in thing
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
100 grams chocolate chips
100 grams Chipits Skor Toffee Bits - that's the secret ingredient, so shhhh... don't tell anyone.
I know I've been living in Canada too long, it's just the package says 200 grams and I use half a package.  Probably 8 ounces is the same, I think.

Mix together and I use a teaspoon to make all the cookies the same size.  Bake at 375*F for 8 to 10 minutes.

I love cookies! Feel free to make some and drop them off so I can test to see if you made them right. Heeehee. =)

Lisa's Brownies

Batter:

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp salt

1 cup melted butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

Center:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

1/4 cup coconut

Frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

add milk to desired consistency

Mix all batter ingredients together and put half batter in greased 9 by 13 inch pan. Sprinkle center ingredients over batter. Then spread the rest of the batter on top.

Cook at 350F for 35 minutes. Let cool and spread on frosting.

These are VERY rich and tasty if I do say so myself. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Dyed my hair, Breanne wanted to see pics, so here you go Breanne.

I love Photo Booth. I'm not sure how great the color shows up here, but it is like a purpley red with blonde highlights. I did it myself. While styling it, I noticed I missed a big chunk underneath. Lol. Oh well. I'll have to fix it sometime... maybe.

French Toast

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

2 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

pinch of cinnamon

bread

Beat everything together. Except the bread!

Heat pan over medium heat. Butter the pan, cause that will make it tasty... and not stick to the pan. Dip bread in batter and cook on the pan ~4 minutes per side. This is Gordon's favorite.

If you eat too much, just run a couple extra miles to burn the calories. It's all good. =)

Lisa's Oatmeal That Kids Will Actually Eat

5 cups water

2 1/2 - 3 cups oatmeal

2 TBSP whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

sprinkle cinnamon

1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar

Bring to boil, simmer ~5 minutes, and serve with milk and toast.

Yummy Fluffy Waffles

1/2 cup butter melted

6 eggs separated

4 cups flour

1t salt

1 t baking soda

4 cups milk

1 T sugar

Place egg whites in medium glass or stainless steel bowl and whip stiff peaks. Mix egg yolks, flour, milk, salt, baking soda and sugar. Fold in egg whites and butter. Cook in waffle iron until done. Makes great pancakes also.

I usually multiply the recipe times 1.5 and then I have enough for another day. I freeze the extra waffles and it makes for a quick easy breakfast when I am in a hurry.

Crepes/ German Pancakes

A family recipe... We make these on special occasions or lazy not much to do days.

8 eggs

4 cups milk

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

~1/2 cup melted butter

If you mix all the ingredients except for the butter and then mix in the butter last, it will keep it from becoming lumpy.

These are very thin and cook quickly on high heat. Best if use an iron pan.

Roll up with fruit, yogurt or anything else you like in the middle. Top with syrup. Mmmm...

Warning! Not good if you are trying to diet.

Silly Houses and Super Ships

Playing in the Snow - Built an Alien Snowman - Hockey Tournament - Dress of the Week

We finally built a snowman! I know, it is really scary looking. I still couldn't roll the snow into balls. The bottom of the snowman wasn't too bad. I was able to just build up the snow. Then I was able to take chunks of snow to build the head. It just turned out looking kind of scary. Neil liked it better before I put the head on. =) You'll have to watch the video.

Matthew was in a hockey tournament this week at the Winter Club. There were four teams, and Matthew's won the tournament. They were undefeated. He was pretty happy about it. He was the only one that did not drink out of the trophy cup. =P

DRESS OF THE WEEK

Here are some pics and a little video of us playing in the snow from the last couple weeks. I hope you enjoy. We had lots of fun. =)

Groundhog Day Puppet

We made these with our friends that came over today to talk about shadows and the Groundhog Day tradition. The groundhog slides down into the plate and then you can make it pop out to see if you can see his shadow or not. I think it would be fun to use some flashlights.

Materials used: small paper plate, popsicle stick, brown cardboard paper, poem printed onto plain white paper, stapler, glue, tape, and crayons.

The poem can be found here, and the groundhog head can be found here in either black and white or color.