St. Patrick's Day!

I just love St. Patrick's Day! And as with every holiday in our house, the focus is on good books and food! We started the day reading a book about St. Patrick while we enjoyed yogurt with green sprinkles and a green smoothie. For lunch we had green pancakes and for dinner we tried something new. Usually I make corned beef, but the smell of it always makes me sick, so I asked Big C if we could go veggie this year and to my surprise he agreed! So I took some ideas from a blog I follow and made an Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew and Colcannon Cakes with kale. In the pictures below you can see the boys preparing the stew for the crockpot, following by a finished product. After that they finished their school while I made the cakes and bread.

While the stew was in the crockpot we went for a bike ride. L really needed some practice with the "big boy" boy bike, so we went to the Tobacco Trail. As you can see from his face it didn't begin so well. He was so frustrated and got off the bike in tears several times, but finally he got the hang of it and finished strong! We had a great time! When we returned home, we had our yummy dinner and Dad read a book about St. Patrick by Tomi dePaola! A wonderful day full of memories!

These are just some random pictures that are so cute, I just had to include them.

The boys listening to Adventures in Odyssey on the CD player!

L looking like a big boy getting ready to leave for preschool group!

How cute is that? Until next time....

Field Trip!

We went on a field trip this week to Yates Mill! It was wonderful learning the in's and out's of how the mill worked and to learn about life during the time period that the mill was in use. The first part of the trip was a tour of the mill house and the property.

Second, we went on a little scavenger hunt inside their "museum". The boys really enjoyed that. But as you can see from the pictures, they especially enjoyed the dress up corner. I am so sad that the pictures of Luke and Jesse turned out too fuzzy to include here. Take my word for it, they looked adorable!

After that we went on a hike. Here is a picture of a turtle we saw on the lake. We also caught a lizard and saw some places where a beaver had gone to town!

After a picnic lunch and football game, it was time to head home. A wonderful trip!

After our trip to the mill, we decided to make hasty pudding. It seemed a perfect cooking project considering all that we learned about cornmeal at the mill. Basically it is a cornmeal pudding that was eaten a lot during Colonial Times. The boys whisked the cornmeal with water and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Then we topped it with butter and brown sugar. I thought it was okay, but the boys didn't like it. I think they had fun making it though!