Annual zoo trip

Dennis had off work today, the weather was beautiful, so we put away the books and took a trip to the zoo!

Elizabeth had such a great time running around and seeing all the animals!
She was completely worn out by the end of the day.

We thought it was funny, they fed the fish "salad" (as Elizabeth said).

These two cracked me up! First the one on the right was poking his head up at the glass. When I went to take the picture, the little guy on the left came over. I think he's a camera hog.

Nemo and Dori!

Funny looking unicorn fish!

Cute little monkey munching on an egg.
Elizabeth loved the monkeys!

Here they are looking in on some monkeys ;)

Sean decided to act like a monkey instead, and climb on some rocks.

Then Ryan got in on the game.

Pretty maned wolf.

We stopped and had an ice cream/snack break near some llamas.
They were enjoying the spring weather as well.

Snacking:
Dennis telling me to "quick get a picture of the ant eater"

He was pacing up and down behind trees.

Finally we saw the bears. Most of the bears were all in hiding or inside but the Polar bears stayed around to give us a show. I think they loved the camera as much as the lizards.

Cub Scout to Boy Scout

Last night Sean made received his Arrow of Light Award and made the cross-over from Cub Scout to being a BOY Scout.
Can you believe that he's old enough to be a Boy Scout already?!!?
(click on the pictures to make them bigger, some didnt turn out so well)

Dennis prepping the boys for their ceremony.

Ryan and the Wolves Den - about 3 seconds after this picture they all went wild. Sitting and waiting isnt possible for boys this age.

Games began:
Here is Ryan holding up his "TWO" sign - a sign to signal everyone to be quiet and listen.

Sean listening to the rules of the game.

The "Cheer" box, when he opens the box, everyone cheers.

Wolves singing - I Know a Song That Will Annoy You

Wolves about to receive their much deserved Wolf Badge

Ryan was up there making funny faces the entire time... that boy cracks me up!!
(you will have to click this one to make it larger and see)

Painting their faces with red for the Wolf Badge.

Webelos2 about to receive their Arrow of Light

Lighting Candles to represent character traits they have learned

(sorry this is hard to see, the lights were out)
Sean crossing the bridge from Cub to Boy Scout.
What you cant see, is behind the curtains there are the Boy Scouts there to receive him. They changed out his Blue epaulets for Green ones. :)

Dennis gave each of the boys a Boy Scout gift for all their hard work!

At the end, it was discovered that there was a Webelos cap left forgotten on a table. Sean was the owner of such cap.... as "punishment" he had to dance infront of everyone on stage (with support of a fellow WEB).

A great end to a great scouting year!
They boys worked really hard this year.
We are proud of them!!

Toddler Preschool and some singing too...

Here's a little video I took of Elizabeth learning her shapes and colors today.




and here's a video from this past Sunday, the boys singing in Children's Choir at church for the Mission's Conference

Something different for dinner?

Looking for something different for dinner?

We made Madagascar chicken this weekend and it was great! It's sort of like a chicken curry - but not spicey, more of one of those sweet curries. You make this up and eat it over a bed of rice. Yum! Give it a try!

The recipe says to marinate the chicken for 30min. I changed that bit and marinated it in lemon juice, coconut milk and olive oil over night.... the chicken has a great citrus taste to it and the milk and oil kept it from getting too tough from the citrus. Make sure you fully drain the chicken from the marinade before cooking though or it wont brown properly. ;)

Madagascar Chicken

2 boneless chicken breast halves, cut in bite size chunks
2/3 cup canned coconut milk
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper or tomato, sliced and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/3 tsp (or to taste) cayenne powder
salt
pepper
lemon juice
oil

Marinate chicken in lemon juice 30 min, drain and season with salt
and pepper to taste Saute over medium heat until cooked on outside but slightly pink inside. Drain oil and place chicken in a container and set aside Saute onions, stirring constantly, until slightly browned. Add bell peppers and garlic and saute 3-4 min, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to simmer, add coconut milk, ginger, cayenne powder, and lemon rind. Add chicken back to stew.

Cover and simmer 30 min or until in thick stew consistency. If mixture is too thin simmer with lid removed until desired consistency is reached. Serve over a bed of steamed white rice.

NOTE: One pound shelled and deveined shrimp can be added to or
substituted for the chicken.

Mission's Week

We have a Mission's Conference going on at church this week. Missionaries will be speaking all week, talking about their mission and what wonderful work God has been doing. It's really a great and inspirational week.

At the end of the week, we celebrate by having a big International banquet. Everyone brings in a dish from around the world. The Pastor's wife tasked all of the children to make a display from a country of their choice. The boys chose Madagascar. We did some research and made a big display board that is set up at church. There are some really neat displays up: Israel, Libya, Ethiopia, I think there are more coming through the week.

The boys did a great job on their project, I'm proud of them!


All the children at church have also been practicing some songs that they will be singing through the week.

Today, we were practicing singing them at home for school, Elizabeth joined in (she loves these songs). I caught one of the songs on video for you to enjoy!

It's morning so they're all still in pajamas (Elizabeth sporting Sean's Webelos hat for good fashion).

Playing dollies

Today I dusted off some old boxes that have been storing my doll collection and decided to play dollies with Elizabeth.

She loved the "babies"!!

This one in particular was her favorite. Dennis had surprised me one year for Christmas with this one, it's really chunky and a good "handful" to hold. I know exactly why Elizabeth like it so much!

Here she is carrying it around. I think she feels like she's holding a real baby. haha!

She had fun taking turns holding all of the "babies".

Here's an action shot of her giving the baby a "change".
She said that it had a "pookie" (dirty diaper).

Everytime she would pick a doll up, she would say, "the baby's heavy!"

Catch up!

I'm sorry my blog has come to a screeching halt lately. We have been busy trying to stay focused on getting school done on time and planning our move back to the USA. I cant believe 3 years has already flown by - a blink of an eye!

Just a little catch up in case you hadnt heard, we are moving back to Fort Meade, Md. I cant believe we are going back. This is a first for me! I have never been back to live in the same place twice. At least we pretty much already know what to expect. Yes, we will continue to homeschool. Maryland schools are what put poor Sean off on the "wrong" foot in the first place. I've been busy looking at the homeschooling laws for MD and reading online some people's personal experiences. Thankfully it's not too intimidating. :)

I've also been deciding on what books we are going to buy for the next school year. I think I have it down to My Father's World (Christian based History and Science) and Abeka. We are definitely going to be working through American History. On our way home and in between visiting family we are planning on making a few field trip sites to see some good ol'American landmarks and museums.

Right now for school, we are finishing up the Medieval times and learning about the solar system in science. We are starting a big project on Madagascar as well. We have a mission's conference at the end of March at church. We usually set up a table with a "report" on countries around the world and then we have a big international dinner with dishes around the world. Sean has to do his first research paper this year so I though this would be a perfect tie in and we can do it as a family. The boys picked Madagascar as their country of choice. So we are going to make a big display board about the country, fix Madagascar chicken and Sean will write a report. :) It should be fun. Pictures to come!