Snow

Today we are getting a lot of snow. Maybe over a foot! In the early winter, I made a cage for the turtles to try and escape from. It could hold in the General but could not hold in Frodoricka at all. Now the snow has covered the cage in about two hours. We put out a bucket to measure how much snow we got, and it's almost covered the entire bucket! We also took a picture at 8'o clock and another at 9. We plan on taking a picture every hour through out the day. When it's a bit warmer and the snow slows down a bit, I plan to build a snow Jabba the Hutt and probably a snow fort or house. I can't wait!                                                                          George

MineCraft

I like to play minecraft because it's fun. I like to make TNT with sand and gunpowder. I also make my pack of wolfs mate by feeding two some meat and then hearts start rising from their heads, to show their ready to mate. I happen to live in a dessert fortress. I also like to stay outside at night and fight monsters.                                               George

Rambles

Today I played the Oregon Trail on the computer. Two of my kids died, but I made it to Oregon! My children's names were Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Ron was my favorite child, but he ended up dieing, along with Harry. At least Ginny and Hermione lived. And me. I have my yearly check up soon and we all have a dentist appointment sometime after that. The family obsession is currently a game called Minecraft. You can call me to learn more about the game. This is Samantha Lambert, signing off.

Food: It's a learning experience

George was in charge for meatless this week and he cooked out of the Redwall Cookbook. I don't remember what it was called in the book, but it was savory vegetable pancakes. Made with potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions and binding agents. First time for parsnips, they added a little sharp/sweet taste. George started out hand shredding the veggies, but soon went with the food processor. He said hand shredding would build muscles and was good for you. I suggested eating in a reasonable amount of time was good for you too. I fried them up because I figured it would be faster. After the first batch, I made one big pancake in the pan and then cut it like hash-browns to flip. Dropping by tablespoons took to long. Samantha and I loved them, Rebecca immediately declared never again and George and Eric were on the fence. Definitely not the best main dish, but a yummy side in place of hash-browns or fries, I think.

George also made sugarless banana cake from his Star Wars Cookbook. Great breakfast cake, but I think next time we'll drizzle a little glaze over the top. Just to add a bit of sweet.

We went over the last few months of food experiments and for breakfast highly recommend Baked Oatmeal.  French Toast Strata and Caramel French Toast are good, but not for every day. (all Taste of Home recipes) For dinner we didn't like most of the meatless ideas. I'm thinking to try black bean burgers again, but with a different bread crumb. I think I used rye last time. Vegetable strata was nothing exciting. Potato soup was yummy and baked potato bar worked too. We'll keep on trying new things and expanding our horizons.

Book recommendation -
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart. Absolutely fascinating reading. Non-fiction usually is slow going for me. Not this book. I will be on the lookout for a cheap copy of my own. Borrowed this one from the library. 

My Birthday: What I got, What I did, What I ate.

On my birthday, I woke up and went into the living room for presents. First, Rebecca's was a book and dinosaur shaped chalk. George's was a Plush Turtle, which I named Tom Riddle. From Mommy and Daddy, I go a 1D book (One Direction - music group) and an alarm clock. The night before I had gone to Culver's with Daddy. On my birthday night, I had cupcake cheesecake for my birthday cake and that night I went ice skating with Megan McCann. It turns out I am really good at ice skating!

by Samantha

Things I have cooked

I have cooked pizza, cakes, pancakes, cheese, and lots of other things.I think they all taste good. like my blackberry and apple cake, and my cucumber bread. I meant to make zucchini bread but accidentally used cucumbers instead and it still tasted good.  I have also made dandelion salad. It tasted very bitter and nobody like it, including me, even drowned in salad dressing.                                                                                                                                                                                                  george  

Reading

So I was home sick today (I know Mom, I'm sick all the time) and I spent the time reading. Finishing a book I'd been working on all week, Valhalla Rising by Clive Cussler. Starting and finishing two books George had wanted me to read, Theodore Boone the Accused by John Grisham and How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. And I read two kids books to Rebecca, one of which was Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo. I like Clive Cussler books, even though I'm not much on ocean going technology or old cars and planes. It's the whole adventure idea. And I like most of the books that George reads, likely because I taught him to read and have greatly influenced his reading selections by picking out books that look interesting to me and giving them to him to read. Theodore Boone is not bad because it's Grisham with less violence and no language. As for the other one, I liked the movie better. It's not a bad book, just not as enjoyable as the movie, which really had none of the same elements as the book other than names, so I shouldn't compare. Still, if I had to recommend, I'd say skip the book and just watch the movie. As for the chicken book, most amusing. Read it if you have the chance.