239.. Brownie Ice Cream Cake for Kenna's Birthday!!!!

Makenna turned 12 today!! When I was pregnant with her my #1 sweet craving was brownie with ice cream sundae. I saw this idea on Pinterest and knew that we had to have it for her 12th Birthday. 

The team ready to make some brownies. 

Kenna did not mind helping with this sweet project!!

Filling the cake with vanilla ice cream. Then you freeze for 2 hours. 

The frozen brownie cake. We put mini M&M's on the side and made a number 12 on top. FUN and soooo delicious!!

Day 238...... Family Fair Project

Every year our co/op group does a FAIR.. Science, book, state, presidents etc. This year they chose 

 A FAMILY FAIR.

Projects can be about anything family related.. Maybe you have a famous relative, or are from somewhere really neat?? Maybe you have a deep dark hidden family secret that is just itching to get out etc. You get the picture.  Basically the sky is the limit as long as it is FAMILY related. You know how it is with home schoolers.. Too many rules are not a good thing. So the FAIR is very open to ideas. 

The Greeneteam voted, and decided they wanted to do the 365 blog as our FAMILY project. It is something that we do every day and have worked hard at for 238 days so why not right??

We printed up lots of pictures and typed up lots of the fun things we have done!!

Now for the really hard part.. Deciding what makes it and what gets cut?? The kids said it felt like American Idol. Some things got chose and sadly others did not. 

Each category was limited to a final 6 to make the project. Tough, Tough decisions when there are 237 days of fun!!

The boys putting their labels with their choices. Maddie still deciding!!

Under construction!!!

The final result!!

The BEST part about today's project was looking at all the photos and saying "remember that? That was tons of fun, or that was my favorite, or OOH I loved that day." Lots of memories have been made over the last 237 days.. Only 130 or so to go. We hope you will stay tuned to our family fun 365 project!! 

Day 237... A day with Grandma

My kids were very lucky today. They got to spend the day with Grandma alone!! No parents at the house. Normally my mom takes them one on one.. NOT 4 at a time!! Thanks mom!!

They played games!!

Took over all the t.v.s in her home. 

Did lots of Vegging out!!

Had an awesome time!

Did I mention they ate her out of house and home?? Oh my!! No wonder she only takes them one at a time. When they told me all the food they each ate I could not believe it. Eggs, toast, cocoa, pizza bites, noodles, mac and cheese, ice cream bars, pasta, brownie dessert, lemonade and more!! Crazy!! SPOILED at Grandmas for the day.. Yeah , I would say that counts as fun!!

Day 236 . . . Video game truck

Today's fun blog sponsors were our friends the Howard's. They had a video game truck come to their son Jack's birthday party. It is basically a big trailer with 4 big tv's and video game consols. It also has couches with room for 16 gamers,although with the kids they could fit a few more.

The Greeneteam had a blast, and thinks that Ms Tiffany is the best party planner ever.

Day 235... Skate Park

Tonight the boys headed to the Skate Park here in Buford. 

This has been on the FUN list for a very LONG time..  Carson has had his skate board since the summer. 

John and I decided that in order for it to really be fun it would be best if MOM stayed home. The idea of them cracking their skull, breaking another bone etc was a little too much for me to be able to relax.  Dad is not quite the worrier/ control freak that I am. 

They both had a blast and want to know when they can head back with bikes!!

In case you were wondering where the girls were?? They headed out to an American Girl evening of fun with some home school friends. 

Day 234... Dog Biscuits for the Birthday Boy!!

Today was Lucky's 3rd Birthday. 

We celebrated by giving him a bath. 

Next we baked him up some home made Dog biscuits. 

Pretty sure we screwed up the recipe. Wrong yeast?? Too much flour, not enough chicken stock?? Ours were really fluffy. We made more of a stick shape as I was too cheap to buy a dog bone shape cookie cutter. 

Our finished product:  I won't say dog bones because .. they obviously aren't.  They did bake up hard and looked like dog treats/biscuits. 

You can't tell it from this picture but Lucky loved them. This was him doing a trick where he has to stay until I say Good boy.  He gobbled up two of them and was sniffing in the air for more. 

We made some people dog biscuits too.. AKA Johns chocolate chip cookies. 

 FUN for all of us!!

Day 233... Chess Tournament

Tonight John took on the challenge of teaching four kids Chess while I was out with some girlfriends catching up!! Kenna has been playing online so was his best competitor. 

Jack and Maddie were really excited to get the game going and had the board set up and waiting for the tournament to begin. 

They all really liked the game. I don't think John will have a problem finding someone to play with anymore.  He now has 4 kids that want to learn to play and want to really learn to beat him.

Day 232.. A visit to Court

Today the Greeneteam had a field trip to the Gwinnett County Court House!

They were all excited about getting to meet a judge. 

All the girls in the group got to sit in the jury box. 

The kids got to ask the judge and a prosecuting attorney lots of questions. They also got to tour a holding cell. Jack has decided that based on the smell of the cell, jail is not for him. As you can imagine I was thrilled to hear the news!! One more thing checked off his list that he DOES NOT WANT TO BE when he grows up.. A prisoner!!

The group with Judge Pam South. 

They arrived home talking a million miles a minute about what a great field trip this was!! I am thankful to my co/op group for arranging day 232 of fun. The kids loved it!!

Day 231.. Paper lanterns and Chinese food.

Today we made Chinese Paper lanterns. 

It is a super easy craft. Fold the paper lengthwise. Draw lines about an inch apart. Stopping about an inch from the top. Cut on the lines. Once done fold it over and tape the edges. 

We stuck with purple, blues, and white to keep with the color theme we have going in the kitchen. We also decorated the top of the lanterns with ribbon and construction bands. This just dressed them up a little.

I hung them in the kitchen above the table. They look pretty with our SNOW theme.

For dinner we made budget Chinese. We used 5 packs of Ramen noodles, frozen vegetables, 1 shredded chicken breast, some peas, and a can of Chow Mein Noodles. John added some extra ingredients.. Rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and ginger and made a delicious sauce.

It was so good. The kids loved the Chow Mein noodles. It made me laugh because that was my favorite part as a kid. The crunch of the noodle. This dish was under $6 for all of us. Gotta love a husband that can cook!

Carson has always loved Chinese food. 

I thought it would be fun today to talk about The Chinese New Year with the kids. Not because we are Chinese but because they could learn about another culture. I think crafts and food are a great way to introduce kids to other traditions. We looked up our birth year on the Chinese New Year Calendar. We have 2 snakes *the twins, 2 monkeys *Mom and Maddie, 1 dragon *Makenna, and 1 dog *John.  Happy Chinese New Year!!