Chocolate!!

For class, McKenzie has to pick something she is interested in and do a report on it to present to her class. They did this a month or so ago. She did elephants.

Mrs. Galbraith told them, "If you did an animal last time, do something different. If you made a poster last time, present something different for your visual."

McKenzie was a little bummed because her and Emily already had their animals picked out! So, we talked about it. I gave her lots of suggestions on what she could do. Of course she didn't like any of them! :)

Then she picked one. CHOCOLATE!! Now why didn't I think of that! :)

She looked online for some chocolate information. We found a couple of books on chocolate. Then I got a brainstorm! We need a field trip! We must see how chocolate is made. Sample some very yummy chocolate.

So.....we went here:

This is the machine that mixes the dark chocolate. (the milk chocolate machine is next to it). On the left side you can see some chocolate in molds. The shelf they are sitting on vibrates. It shakes all the bubbles out. Then they put it in the fridge to set. Sometimes they fill them. They have TONS of different molds! We saw animals, shoes, golf clubs, flowers, cars, martini glasses, a little cottage, and soooooo many more! All made of CHOCOLATE!!!

This is how they get their chocolate! This is Belgium chocolate. It comes in huge bricks! (You can also buy them!)

These are the beans pods from the trees. They split them in half and take out the beans. The beans inside are covered in cocoa butter. They scrape off the cocoa butter and toast the beans outside in the sun. I didn't know the pods were so big!

This was the best part of the field trip! SAMPLES!!! We also had to buy some :) For research!

I am glad McKenzie picked Chocolate for her research project. I learned a lot! I just have to make sure I let her do it! :) I had so much fun, it would be very easy for me to take over her project! :)

Have a great day! Go eat some chocolate! :)

SNOW!!

Yes, that is right! SNOW!!

I woke up this morning and had to rub my eyes a couple of times to make sure they weren't playing tricks on me!

They weren't. It was really snowing! On April 14!!

Bellingham has about an inch that is sticking. There have been a couple of accidents on the freeway

I remember a couple of years ago, it snowed for a soccer game. It was also picture day.....McKenzie's team had their team photo in the snow! They ended up cancelling the afternoon games because nobody could see the fields, the kids were not showing up (!!) and most importantly, the fields were being damaged! :) In soccer, it is all about the fields!

Enjoy your day!! Stay warm!

Seattle Mariners Game

We went to to the Seattle Mariners Game on Sunday. Lesley took this picture of me, and I like it! It is hard to find pictures of me that I like, but I do like this one.

This is a group photo that Dexter took from his end of the row. At the far end is Mom, McKenzie, Me, Alexandra, Jay, Lesley, Anne, part of Del and then Dexter (you can't see him because he is taking the picture!)

Here is a group photo with everybody in it! It was taken by a friendly Eagleridge parent!

I love this fun crazy picture that Lesley took of us! Crazy girls! :)

The girls in there FREE Ichiro Mariners t-shirts. It was kid appreciation day at the game and all the kids got free t-shirts.

We had a great time at the game. We left about 9:30 and picked up Jay, then picked up Mom, stopped off at the bank, filled up the gas tank and we were off! We stopped off at the Northgate Mall for lunch (not a very good food selection in their food court!) Then went to the game! We met Lesley, Derek, Dexter, Anne and Del there. (Eagleridge had a group rate discount, so a bunch of us went!)

They did end up losing (what else did we expect!) but made a couple of pretty cool homeruns! It was a fun day, and we had a great time!

Have a great day!

Wednesday

It is the middle of the week. Spring Break is half over. I had yesterday off. I slept in a little, went over to Alyssa's for a little bit (to help put stuff away in her new apartment!), dropped McKenzie off at Emily's to play, took Alexandra to soccer camp, came back home to drop Alexandra off, started dinner (Alexandra finished cooking it) went to Bellingham for an AWANA meeting, came home ate dinner, dropped McKenzie's overnight stuff off at Emily's, came home and played Wheel of Fortune on the Wii with Alexandra, then went to bed! Very relaxing day off!! :) I am cutting card pieces out for the card class on Monday night! I may post samples of cards we are not making...but not today! Have a great day!

Spring Break!!

Aiden getting a little extra fiber in his diet!

McKenzie and Alexandra playing more soccer!

Dexter and Aiden getting ready for their "sword" fight!

Aiden does love his bubbles! He found this empty container and was super excited about it! He played with it for at least 10 minutes!

Brothers! Derek and Jordan were "forced" to stand together so I could get a picture!

These pictures are not really from our Spring Break. They were taken last week during Jordan's Spring Break.

Our Spring Break started Saturday with Alexandra's 8AM soccer game! McKenzie spent the night at Emily's house, so she missed it! :) We had to be on the field at 7:15. We got there at 7:20, the same time as the coach! :) It was cold and windy and sorta rainy....normal soccer weather!

After her game, we went home, dried out, picked up McKenzie and went back to the soccer field for McKenzie's first of two games (11:20 and 1:40). It was raining sideways at the first game! I did remember to bring our hand and toe warmers!!! McKenzie scored a hat trick during her game! The score was 3-3. They played really good. The next game they played Lynden! Tough team. They won 4-2 with a hat trick by Mariah! (and a great assist by McKenzie!) By the end of the second game the rain stopped, and we even saw a couple of blue spots in the sky!

Sunday was church and then Costco! The only reason we went to Costco in Bellingham on a Sunday after church was to get our VITA-MIX blender!!! We are SSSSSSOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!! about it! We have wanted one for so very long! I have had a little envelope stashed for the last few years that I kept putting in $5, $10 or $20 whenever I had a little bit extra! They were here and I had the money! Now we have the blender! I made a smoothie yesterday with carrots in it! You couldn't even taste them!

Alexandra has Soccer Camp this week (Mon-Thur) from 1-4 at the Sportsplex. I work at the store everyday but Tues and Sat. Lesley and I are prepping for our Card Class on Monday night. And we are super excited about going to the Mariners game on Sunday!!

That is our Spring Break in a nutshell! (are you looking for the nutshell?) ;)

Have a great day!

Saturday

Aiden found my outside broom when we were playing outside. He loved carrying it around. He even did a little sweeping!

Aiden is learning to use a sippy cup. You can tell from the milk down the front of his coat that he is still learning! He usually does pretty good. When he is done, he will, of course, huck it down as hard as he can......like a ball. He does love balls!

Like I said, he is learning! Most of the time he does get the right end! Some times, he gets a little mixed up! :)

Have a great Saturday! We are off to the soccer field!

Thursday...

Yeah for Thursday! The weekend is getting closer and I have Saturday off!!!

The lights of Christmas....

We went to the Lights of Christmas this year. We have never gone before. It was so much fun!! Pretty cold, but we were bundled up and we enjoyed hot cocoa and fresh donughts! We also enjoyed kettle corn and elephant ears!! It was a delicious night :)

The lights and the displays were beautiful!

There were lots of different places where you could get your picture taken. We had so much fun, we are planning to go back this year.

Enjoy your day!