A Whole Bunch of Stuff Crammed Into One Post

Margaret made this hat for Ted. He did not like it one bit.

Playing Risk

Barley in his usual position

Dang cat in the dryer!

At the Sheldon Theater to see "Nutcracker"

Barley John and Millie

At the beach a few days after Lake Pepin froze over.

Agate/fossil hunting

Margaret found another arrowhead!!!!

Mary Emma found some agates and petrified wood.

48 in December!

Yummy, amazing, kasseri cheese....stunk up the house a bit, but loved by all!

A tragedy in my town! A young man shot a peace officer resulting in a all day stand off. This was only blocks from our house. Schools and businesses went into lock down for over 8 hours. Even though we did little school, I was glad to have my kids with me all day.....This photo was taken down the street from my house.

Lots of news crews around.

The main drag in town.

Helicopters around all day.

Home school group at the library. Some kids admiring Margaret's new Nook Tablet.

Home school group at the library....holiday party with games.

At the library, our second home!

Margaret make her own bobeche for the candlelight vigil for the officer injured in the local shooting.

The vigil was attended by at least 1,000! Our town is only 5,000.....

Playing for the masses

The girls have been doing some holiday entertaining around town.

They played at the senior dining center. Each girl played some Christmas music as well as a few duets and a trio with their instructor.

They also performed at a fundraiser for our local Humane Society.

My husband also played at this benefit.

Sixth Street Trio

And at church. It was their first time playing there. Mary Emma played her beautiful music box piece.

A Bunch of Yummo Food

My mom made this chicken pie often when I was young. It is SO EASY, and EVERYONE loves it. Plus it is versatile...I'm always making it different, but the original version is amazing. It was originally a Pillsbury Bake Off winner.

                                        1 pie shell, partially baked at 400 degrees for 10 minutes

1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
3 cups cubed cooked chicken(or turkey)

11/2 cup bread crumbs (4-5 slices)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

salt and pepper

Saute the celery, green pepper, & onion in the 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet about 5 minutes.  Blend in the flour & then add the chicken stock, poultry seasoning & salt to taste.  Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Stir in the chicken & simmer.

Combine the bread crumbs, melted butter & the salt, pepper & poultry seasoning.

Pour the hot chicken mixture into the partially baked pie crust.  Top with the crumb mixture

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

Our church had a sermon about American composers and civil war music. Since we had just been to a civil war musical, we decided to make food from that era for fellowship. Here Margaret is making hardtack.

Our set up. I did not get any food photos as we were busy serving! We made beans, corn bread with molasses, honey, or sorghum, hardtack, and apple brown Betty with cream.

Make this Yummy Welsh rarebit for the fam last week.

Pancakes with almonds and fruit.

I have an old Amish recipe for cabbage rolls......only make them once or twice a year though. Not the girls favorite, but I love them!

St Paul History Theater & Minnesota History Center

We had a fantastic field trip last week to St Paul with fellow homeschoolers. The girls had their first ride on a charter bus.

They dashed directly to the back.

You know you are on a bus with a bunch of homeschoolers when someone brings along a horse tooth.

St Paul

http://www.historytheatre.com/

 First stop was the history theater where we saw the musical, "A Civil War Christmas." It was fantastic!

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Some members of our home school group

balcony seats!

back to the bus.

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Next stop, the history center.

http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/

First stop was the cafe a for a bit of lunch. I had this roasted veggie sammie with a goat cheese aioli.

Young Gracie.

A Huey!

Gotta say, I LOVED the new 1968 exhibit!

Soda Fountain

Always have to make some bullets!

In line for the WW2 plane simulator

After we survived the tornado simulation

Good thing we were in the basement!

Checking out the capitol

This exhibit is nice...it is a house, with stories of all the families that lived there during a span of over 100 years.

Grinding some sausage in the kitchen.

In the backyard dropping clothespins in a bucket.

The bed collapses when someone sits on it!

Going Greyhound

The girls did really well on this Minnesota quiz!!!!

Heading home

Sunset