House Update

Hello, I thought that I would update you on some of work we have gotten accomplished. It is really quiet here, but I think I am getting used to it. I guess that I am going to have to re-adjust when you guys get home tomorrow! Have fun, we'll see you soon!

Love, Lindsey, Dad, and Chris

How does the hallway look???
I really hope you like it because I AM NOT painting those spindels again!

Kind of a funky view from up top.

The last thing I will show you is the window. Well, I hope you guys like it!

Mom, I tried to get the pictures I had of the views we have, but I still cannot get to the pictures.

Churros

After attending Interantional Night, I got inspired to make some churros. Churros are the Spanish equivalent to our doughnuts. They came out really good. The ones that were at last nights potluck were good, but they were room temperature, and I love them hot. I found a recipe online from Betty Crocker. They were fast and easy to make, too! Here is a picture and recipe for them.
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Ingredients:

Vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
Powdered sugar or cinnamon-granulated sugar mixture

Cooking Instructions:

1.Heat oil (1 1/2 inches) to 375°F in 4-quart Dutch oven or deep saucepan. Heat water and butter to rolling boil in 3-quart saucepan. Remove from heat; quickly stir in flour and salt. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until smooth and glossy.

2.Spoon mixture into pastry bag fitted with star tip #6. Squeeze 5-inch strips of dough into hot oil. Cook, turning freqently, until deep golden brown; drain. Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar (we liked the cinnamon and sugar better). Serve warm.

~Lindsey~

Happy Birthday Noelle!

On Tuesday the 24th, we celebrated Noelle's 4th birthday. She had a Dora Tea Party birthday. She decided a while ago that she wanted a Dora party, however over time she decided she wanted a tea party too. Mom already got party supplies for Dora, so we combined the two. We had lots of fun decorating, making the cake, and watching the kids play games. She had lots of fun with every aspect. Noey adored the cake and presents and looked like a little princess dressed in a really cute dress and wearing a crown. It is hard to beleive she is already 4! Well, I thought I would share some pictures. Enjoy!

The spring crocuses always bloom for Noelle's birthday!

Party Prep

Making a pinata.

Painting it.

Filling it with goodies!

Hannah tried her very hardest to help blow up some balloons!

Noelle decided that she should sample the extra cake while we were carving and frosting the cake. I think she went a little too far.. She ate the whole chunk! Not only that, she wouldn't share!

A better view of how big the piece was.

Decorating with crepe paper to make it seem like a canopy over the table.


Mom was very proud of the fancy food names she came up with for our lunch! HEHEHE!

They were Turkey Tulips, Bologna Butterflies, Hopping Ham, Peanutbear and Jelly, and not pictured, Flowering Fluff (with peanutbutter).

Party Time!!!!

We ate a really tasty lunch with Noelle at the head of the table. She really liked being the center of attention that day! Here she is enjoying a Peanutbear and Jelly.

Finally it was cake time!

She was very pleased the way it turned out ;-)

After presents, we let the kids play games. Noelle got the first wack at the pinata. That pinata was only 1 layer of paper mache, and it lasted many rounds of hits!

They also played Pin the Tail on the Donkey!

Thanks for taking a look at the pictures! Oh, I forgot. Timmy approved of the party!

International Night

Hello again! Just wanted to post our homeschool International month. We had fun looking at everybody elses display boards, and there was lots of really yummy food and desserts! Our frikadeller was a succes.... we had NO left overs! Everbody that tried it said they were really good. We'll have to tell you all about when you get home :-) Enjoy looking at the pictures guys! We really miss you all!! Come home soon! Love, Lindsey (and Chris and Dad too!)

PS We filled out your passports too!

Our finished-to-the-best-of-our-ability display board.

One of the display boards....

Part of a display board done on South Korea. (which was really good)

continued....
Some of the kids (and parents) checking out the boards.


Enjoying the food : o-

A group picture of most of the kids!

Yes mom, I am in this one :(

I have TONS more pictures, but it was really hard to choose which ones to post. You can look at the rest when you get home!

Denmark Project

Hello again to all. I am very sorry for the delay about posting. We had a family emergency at the beginning of the month. Then, right after my last post we found out our computer got viruses. On March 6th we got a call saying that our great grandmother was not doing well. So on the 7th we all headed down to see her. Dad, myself, Beth, and Chris saw her that night. On the 8th, exactly 2 years after my other great grandmother passed away, she also passed away, in her home, her husband, all 4 of her daughters, and my parents and Tim were there. It was very wierd that 2 times we had our great grandmothers pass away on the same day. My parents also celebrated their anniversary riding in the car and visiting great grandmothers 2 times. Elizabeth also celebrated her 21 birthday on the day of the wake. The worst part was that my great grandfather's 89th birthday was the day of funeral and she was a few weeks away, on the 24th, also Noelle's birthday, from their 65th anniversary.

Anyway, we are back and we had our computer illnesses fixed. Right now I am posting a homeschool project we are working on mostly to update mom and the kids (Dad, Chris, and I are in Maine) in MA on what we are doing. I will hopefully have time in the really near future to do Noelle's birthday party. Enjoy looking at the picture. I will keep you guys updated!

Love, Lindsey

PS I really miss you guys already and it's too quiet here!!!!!

Look at the HUGE mess!

Spread out all over our table!

The info we have compiled and completed.

The main part of the display board.

Do you like it Isaiah????

Snow Roller Day 2009

Hello once again to all! It has been so long since my last post and I apologize for that, however it has been quite busy here. I would also like to put that unless I get a really big chunk of time, I will just try to keep you updated on the current happenings of our family. I would love to post all of what we did this summer, however I have so many pictures I wouldn't know when/where to start/stop. On the off chance that some of you visit us, I can show you the hundreds of pictures I took over the summer. :) I hope you all will understand.

The post I am doing now is of an event that goes on in our town annually called Snow Roller Day in honor of the tool they used to use to pack snow down on roads for the sleighs. Events start the night before (Friday) with a parents vs. kids game that finishes the basketball season for the kids and with the weekly "Monson General Store Bluegrass Night". I will list the events that fill the day below:

• Breakfast at the community church from 7-9am
• Sledding, snow-shoeing, and snow shoe jump rope - 9-11:30am
• Dog sled rides on the lake from 9:30am-12:30pm
• Horse drawn wagon ride - 9am- 1pm
• 11:30am - 1:00pm is lunch at the gym
• 1-3pm there are games at the ice rink and on the lake
• At 4pm the "Snowmiesters" (I'll explain later) were announced
• Bon-fire and town Tug-of-War at 6:30pm on the lake
• 7-11pm was a dance at the gym
• All throughout there was also a "Cookie Walk"; you walk around the town to different shops and vote for the best cookie. There was also a Poker Run on the Lake.

So as you can see, from 7am-11pm you go all day, although we did not attend the dance. I have some really good shots of the events all day and would love to show you all. Enjoy!

A SNOW ROLLER ON DISPLAY IN TOWN

LET THE SLEDDING BEGIN!!

This girl was one of the first to go down the hill, and also managed to take out the photographer!

Rebekah starts from the top.

Isaiah looks very serious as he focuses on pulling out of going off-course. (Which he did pull off.)

SNOW SHOE RACES

Isaiah is second to the left in this picture.

Elizabeth in this race is farthest to the left.

The men are off!

OFF TO THE (ICE) RACES AGAIN!

Bekah gears up on the ice.

Noelle also competed in the ice skating races and took 2nd place!

Rebekah is in the middle of the 3 girls facing us as she just barely holds onto 1st!

Rebekah receives her blue ribbon for ice skating!

SNOW SHOE JUMP ROPE

If you think that snow shoe jump rope is easy.....

THINK AGAIN. It takes a lot of endurance and it is the longest 30 seconds ever!

I was a rope turner in this event so I give credit to Rebekah for the pictures (which are REALLY great!)

Another man jump roping.

SKI TOSS

This is Rebekah participating in the ski toss, an event that I may argue is the hardest.

A long line of snowmobiles on the lake.

SNOWMIESTERS ARE AWARDED

As I said above I would explain what the Snowmiester is. The Snowmiester is the person who did the best overall in their gender and age category all day in ALL events. Here is the beautiful slate plaque made right in town for the winners.

The list of names from left to right: Mascot/Announcer for the event, John, Our very own Elizabeth, Halie, Sam C., Jennifer C., Nick C., Coordinator/Helper David, and Glenn C. (All the names with the last initial "C" are all the same family....HMMMMMMMMMM???!!!

TUG-OF-WAR

The last picture is one of the tug-of-war game. It is only one side, however it will give you an idea of how it looked. And yes, the people did keep going to the right side for quite a ways!

Again, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and update. Can't wait to post again.

Until next time, we send all our love, The Reynolds