First Aid Family Night

Tonight for family night we decided to have a first aid family night.  Not only was this a good idea to learn the basics of first aid, but we also earned another badge for Frontier Girls.  That's a win win in my book.  First we went through our first aid kit and discussed what each and every item was and how to use it.  We also learned how to do a 2 person carry.  This was probably the funnest part of the night.  This is my hubby showing the girls how to properly position their hands.

And here is attempt number 1 . . .

Lets see how this goes . . .

EPIC FAIL!!!!  

 Let's try that again!

Here we go!

 Hooray!! They did it!!!

 And let's not forget to give Piglet a lift!  I think my girls need to lift weights though.  I'm slightly kidding.  I mean they could barely go a few steps without their arms shaking.  Lets all pray that in an emergency situation the person they might have to carry weighs less than 10 pounds.

 We also talked about important phone numbers and did a pretend 911 phone call where my hubby was the 911 operator and Babe was the caller.  In our pretend call apparently Honey had fallen down the stairs and couldn't move and hadn't been talking for an hour.  Maybe we should talk about being a little faster with emergency situations.  :)  I also created an important phone numbers list to put right next to the phone so they always know where to find it.  Here is a link to the one I created if you would like to use it!  I'm going to print it on cardstock and then laminate it so it can be a little more durable, seeing as it will end up in the kitchen next to the phone. Hope this gives your family a little inspiration when it comes to first aid, cause you never know when you are going to need it!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B19hO5Xc4fQTQmQwLWNEc0xmT2s/edit?usp=sharing

Cooking Class Part 5

For cooking class this week we learned how to safely handle and cook meat.  We made turkey meatballs.  Some of the girls were a bit squeamish at first touching raw meat but we made it through alive.  They were super proud when they came out of the oven and even more proud when they tasted them and really liked them.  I sent the other girls home with a bunch of meatballs, sauce and noodles so that they can make dinner for their family. Maybe they can even practice their etiquette skills from last week . . . hint hint. :)

And in order for the girls to earn another badge for Frontier Girls we made cookies and thank you cards for the local fire department.  See those m&m's.  Those are white chocolate m&m's folks!  They're not quite as good as the Christmas peppermint ones, but still pretty darn good.  Recipes for the meatballs and cookies will follow.

 Cookies

from liluna.com

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 bag White Chocolate Peppermint M&M Cookies

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, oil and sugars. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.

Add dry ingredients as well as vanilla. Mix well. Add white chocolate chips and mix.

Spoon onto greased cookie sheet. Add M&Ms. I did 4.

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Makes 3 dozen. ENJOY!

*We are going to use semi sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate m&m’s

Kid Friendly Meatballs

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 (20 oz.) package ground turkey

1 egg beaten

1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon sage

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese 

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with the olive oil, and place it in the oven while preheating.

In a medium bowl, mix together the ground turkey, egg, and bread crumbs using your hands. Using an ice cream scoop if possible, form the meat into golf ball sized meatballs. Place about 1 inch apart in the hot baking dish. Press down to flatten the bottom just slightly.

Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn them over, and continue baking for about 5 more minutes, or until somewhat crispy on the outside. Serve with pasta and sauce or however you'd like.

Note: I found these to be a little dry (probably due to the low fat content of the turkey), so next time I will probably add a little milk.  Just a heads up in case you decide to make them. The flavor is good though, just a little dry!

The First of Many Badges

Tonight we had a GREAT time earning two Frontier Girl badges.  The first badge we earned was a pizza badge.  We had to learn all about the history and origins of pizza and also how pizza varies from country to country.  Then the kids made their own pizza dough add put on the toppings.  They were very creative when it came to putting on the toppings, except for the one pizza in the bottom left hand corner.  That would be my sons . . . all cheese!

Mmm...15 minutes later and oh soooo good!!

Part of the badge also including making another type of pizza so of course the baker in me screamed "MAKE A FRUIT PIZZA!!!!"  So fruit pizza is what we made.  I couldn't ignore the screaming!  And I'm so glad I didn't!  TASTY!!!  This lone piece was all that was left!

The second badge we worked on was the Shirley Temple badge.  We had to learn who she was, why she was/is famous, list 5 of her professions and watch 2 of her movies.  I did not know how involved Shirley Temple was involved in politics. She is one accomplished lady! 

For the 2 movies we watched Bright Eyes and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  I haven't watched the latter since I was a little girl, so it was really fun to watch it again.

 Check out these cute kiddos watching the flicks.  This was at the beginning of the movies.  The boys I think only made it through the first half of the first movie.  What can I say . . . they tried!

 And what Shirley Temple night would be complete without Shirley Temples.  Just so you know, it is incredibly difficult to find Marrachino Cherries without red dye #40.  Thank you QFC for saving us from the evils of red dye #40! ;)

 15 Minute Dough

6 cups flour

5 teaspoons yeast

2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons oil

Combine water, sugar and yeast. Mix rest of ingredients and knead for a few minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes.  Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

Fruit Pizza

from: http://what2cook.net/2013/01/22/fruit-pizza/

1½ cups sugar

2½ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

FOR THE FROSTING:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

7½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1¾ cup powdered sugar

assorted fresh fruit cut into slices

Beat the butter and 1½ cups sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Chill the dough.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll chilled dough into one big cookie and place on a round baking stone. Sprinkle with 2-3 tablespoons sugar. Bake for 17-20 minutes. Let cool; chill in fridge.

Mix frosting ingredients together and spread on chilled cookie. Chill again to set and thicken the frosting.

Top with fresh fruit. Cut into slices and serve!

Frontier Girls

So we decided to sign our older girls up for Frontier Girls.  If you are unfamiliar with Frontier Girls, it's basically an alternative to Girls Scouts.  I was drawn to Frontier Girls by what they stand for and what they encourage girls to do and become.  If you are curious at all you can check out their website here

http://frontiergirlsclubs.com

We actually signed them up as independent members (they don't belong to a troop), but meet occasionally with other homeschool members to do service projects, activities, etc.  And because we homeschool, a lot of the badges they can earn are things we already cover in our curriculum! AWESOME!

Here are the girls at their initiation.  It was so nice of this particular mom to put this together and have it at her home!  Thank you!

Here are the girls doing a candle lighting ceremony.  They each had there own part to say as they lit their candle.

And . . . this is what our little miss thought about the whole event.  This little stinker is refusing to sleep through the night anymore.  It's like having a newborn all over again . . . minus the breastfeeding.  The end result is her crashing at random times throughout the day.  I am hoping and praying that this is just a phase cause I am going on weeks, not days, of interrupted sleep and I don't know how much more I can take.  At least she's cute though.  It's the only thing that saves her!