1 Chronicles 16:34
Author: thefamilyo
-
Mission: Lego Store
If you ask my kids they will tell the bestest place to go in the whole world is the Lego Store. They are in a state of bliss every time we go there. This last time we went we were actually headed up to the mountains when we encountered a massive dust storm coming over the hills. We hightailed it to a great mall near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The boys were so excited I think that helped them get over the fact we were not heading up to the mountains.
I used to dread going in to the Lego Store, it was always crowded and there was merchandise everywhere. Ugh. Much to my surprise, they remodeled it. Let me tell you that it is so cool now! What a great experience. The Lego Store at Colorado Mills remodeled and it looks much better.
See all the merchandise on the side walls, LOVE IT, no more scattered in the middle.
They have these supercool display cubes all over the store.
Lego Batman
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! This is the new line for girls, I would have LOVED these when I was a girl.
Wouldn’t this be cool in a dream home? Lego Wall for all!
Beautiful!
OK so now onto the coolest thing, ever! A 3D interactive display for a preview of products. You pick out a specially marked box and hold it up to a TV screen/camera. They tv displays a 3D video of that product in action! It was really neat.
You can’t really see it that well, you must see it person, it is cool!
-
A Yummy Breakfast – Huge Hit with the Kids
**sidenote – I was looking through old drafts and found this post, love finding posts!**
Cinnamon Oatmeal, Toast Circles, Fruit Kebob
Breakfast is usually pretty casual, most mornings it is oatmeal or cereal, also yogurt and toast. One morning a week I make eggs, pancakes or waffles. One thing I love about homeschooling is giving them a good breakfast and not having to be in a hurry out the door. We can sit and chat, it is a great start to the day.
Today was no different, just wanted to share. The boys like the presentation, my nephew said, “ooo this looks good to eat”, it was so cute.
-
Homemade Puffy Paint
Have I told you I love Pinterest? Of course I have! My most recent inspiration came from a Microwave Puffy Paint Pin, which led me here: Mom’s Crafty Place. She posted really great pictures, my kids and I were sold. We did it right there and then. We loved it and used every last bit, will do this again!
Thanks to Mom’s Crafty Space for the inspiration!
-
All Systems Go – A Space Odyssey Adventure
We recently spent an afternoon at the Space Odyssey Exhibit at our local Museum. The boys took some day long workshops and then they spent 2 hours taking in the Space Odyssey. It was a treat for me and my husband to watch their enthusiasm soar.
Preston learning about telescopes
Sam explores the exhibits
Learning how water affects the earth
Playing with light
Experimenting with a heat sensing (Thermographic) camera
Adam and Earth
Oliver watch the changes on the model planet
Oliver’s favorite exhibit
Preston with Mars
SuperSam in space
Sam with some astronaut friendsWe will definitely go back again and again! I found some online printables from the Museum that you can use to learn every more during your visit. Can’t wait to try them out!
-
Green Chile “Smothered” Burritos
This is a meal that has always been a tradition in our house when I was growing up. Here in Colorado we eat a kind of green chile that you don’t find in many other parts of the country. It is a pork green chile and it comes from “New Mexican” food. My Mothers family is from Southern Colorado and before that from Northern New Mexico and Spain prior to that. This type of cuisine is a hybrid of deliciousness. The base for most of the foods are green chiles, like Hatch, Anaheim and Pueblos. I prefer Pueblos, then Hatch, then Anaheim. In Colorado you will find Chile Roasters on almost every street corner from late August to mid-October. Read here for our tradition of picking up bushels for the year!!
The list of delicious food you can make is endless. I will start sharing more recipes as I continue to go through our family cookbook. This time I made classic Smothered Burritos. We call them smothered because they are covered in Pork Green Chile, yum.
This is the recipe we use in my family, however, in this particular recipe I have modified and updated it.
Ingredients
Chile Base
Browning the flour, most important step! See the brown, carmely color starting to develop? That is perfect!
Add diced pork, brown
Brown the pork
Blend Chile base, add to pan with browned pork
Inside: homemade refried beans, sour cream, cheese
This is the Green Chile looks like when done
Smothered Burritos
Recipe:
Lobato Family Green Chile, modified by Mrs. O
1.5 lbs Pork Tenderloin, diced
4 cups Chicken Broth
2 cans Rotel (medium)
1 large can of Green Chiles
1/2 small can of Jalepenos
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 tbsp Flour
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp Onion Salt
1 tsp Salt
Dice pork, heat oil in pan, add flour, stir until brown. Add diced pork, cook until brown. In blender mix: 1 can chicken broth, Rotel, Jalepenos, Green Chiles, Salt, Garlic Salt, Onion, BLEND.
When pork and flour have browned add the blended ingredients, last can of broth and the water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for at least 1 hour. I let mine cook for around 2 hours. It is even better the next day!
For burritos, construct burritos with refried beans, sour cream and cheese. When chile is done, pour over burritos add cheese, cover and bake for 2o minutes at 350. After 20 minutes, remove cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese bubbles.
-
Fun with Kitchen Science
Being a homeschooling Mom I am always on the look out for fun, hands on projects to do with my boys. They are in 2nd Grade, Kindergarten and Preschool they especially love science projects. They love to experiment. My kindergartner and 2nd Grader keep science journals. They keep track of supplies used, what they think will happen and then they record what actually happens. These are usually accompanied with pictures, it is a perfect way to track their learning adventures.I have found some Homeschool websites that offer great suggestions on fun experiments. One website that I recently discovered is from Clorox. It is called Clorox Recipes for Fun, it is a great resource for all things fun to do with your kids. Not only is there a Wacky Science page there is also recipes for Kiddie Cooking, Arts and Crafts, and Creative Cooking. There are so many fun ideas. I can not wait to get cracking at all the fun projects we found.
You can also submit your own recipes.
They have a contest running now through March 27th, you could win $10,000. If you sign up you get entered, if you share a recipe you get an additional 10 entries!
My husband had recently told my boys about a science experiment he did when he was a little boy. He gave me the list of ingredients, we had everything we needed so I sent the boys on a treasure hunt in the kitchen to round up the ingredients on the list. They liked that part and it built up the anticipation of creating something cool.
The Superfizz Volcano Ingredients
Start with Vinegar, dishsoap and food coloring
I let the boys each pick their own colors.
Add baking soda, watch the smiles
Experimenting with more baking soda
My Pretty Yellow SuperFizz Volcano
Smiles all around!
Adam and his Green Machine SuperFizz
Sam joining the fun
This experiment was a huge hit! The boys did it 3 more times, using different colors and different amounts of the ingredients. They played with this experiment for over an hour. Will do this again, the boys were wondering if we could do it outside with an entire bottle of vinegar and box of baking soda, hmmm….
I wonder what kind of mess that might make?! We did have a bit of a mess, so be prepared with clean up materials. We use and LOVE Clorox Clean Up. I used it for clean up on this project and it cleaned up the food coloring with no problems!
Here is the recipe my husband shared:
Super Cool, Super Fizz Volcanoes
Clear Glass Cup
1 Cup Vinegar
2-3 Drops of Food Coloring
1 Tablspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon of dishsoap
(we quadrupled this recipe for all four boys)
The kids love it, do it and watch the joy bubble up as the experiment does, priceless!
“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox Clean-Up Recipes for Fun blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on this program, click here and see the Terms link.” (make sure you link to http://recipesforfun.socialmoms.com) -
Cheesy Lasagna
Lasagna, yum! Who could argue that? Now, I don’t have it very often, maybe once every few years . I had never made it. My husband has been asking me to make it since we got married, I decided it was time to try. I do love it, and making it very cheesy and delicious. It is one of those recipes I have felt intimidated to make though. I headed to Allrecipes.com and searched by ingredient. I did this because I wanted to make it with lowfat cottage cheese instead of ricotta. I came across this one, Cheese Lasagna. I modified it a bit…
Spaghetti Sauce, Green Chiles, Jalapenos, Cottage Cheese, Italian Seasoning
Sauce, blended
Making layers: noodles, sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan
Covered tight
Baked and delicious! -
Easy Cheesy Pepperoni Rolls
Have I told you how much I love to read blogs of other Moms? There is one that I have learned so much from and had lots of inspiration from… It’s called Sam’s Noggin. She has homeschool tips, organization ideas and recipes, yum!Recently she had a post titled “Cheater Pepperoni Rolls” it intrigued me and when I saw the pictures, I had a mission. She describes them as a delicious go-to snack out in her neck of the woods. Dough, Pepperonis and Cheese? Sounds good to me!
Rolled out the canned Croissants, added pepperoni’s and spicy Italian sausage
Next comes ooey, gooey mozzarella cheese
Roll em up, seal the sides of the dough
All done! Hot, greasy and delicious pepperoni and sausage rolls! These are the Combo Rolls.
Pepperoni Rolls all ready to eat!Thank you Samantha!! As always, you are an inspiration. Keep up the excellent blogging!
