Pictures from G's weekend in Las Vegas!

As many of you know, G's dance team traveled to Las Vegas a few weeks ago and participated in the The American National Cheer/Dance Championships. All the dance teams that went performed and did a fabulous job! We came home National Champs in Jazz and Hip Hop! G was so excited. They received medals and a National Championship Banner as well as, National Championship jackets. Here are a few pics below:



Waiting to hear if we are the "champs". . .

G with her two medals . . .

Trying to hold on to the plaque they received. . .she said it was too heavy!

Posing with her new Championship jacket. . .

A team shot. . .

A group shot of all the groups that participated in this big event. . .

Love to all,

J and gang

RD2 Dimension Yth Jazz

Here is the Jazz routine from G's Competition in Las Vegas....

Love to all,
J and gang

RD2 Dimension Yth HH

Here is the link to G's dance team's Hip Hop Routine at the American National Championships in Las Vegas, NV!

Love to all,
J and gang

Gwyn's Hip Hop Routine -- dress rehearsal

Here is a link to Gwyn's dance team's Hip Hop Routine. This is at dress rehearsal!

http://youtu.be/roFJzbB27XM

Love to all,
J and gang

Happy Halloween pt. 2

Here are a few pics from Halloween night. . .

Our spooky feast!

Our Swat Team member. . .

Our Groovy girl. . .

Their "loot". . . I see cavities in my future (just kidding!)

For the past two years the kids have sorted, counted, and graphed out what they received! It is a fun math experiment for them!

Love to all,

J and gang

Happy Halloween

Here are a few of our Halloween pics from this year.

These are from carving pumpkins. . .

The finished products...

Love to all,

J and gang

Recipes

Here are a few of my many new and yummy recipes I have made lately.

Strawberry Dump Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can strawberry pie filling

Chocolate chips

Make cake according to directions. Pour into a crock pot. Add filling and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Cook on high for 2 1/2 hours. Turn off 30 minutes before serving.

This was so yummy! The kids loved it!

Oriental Chicken Salad

1 egg

3/4 c milk

3/4 c flour

1/2 c cornflake crumbs

1/2 c panko bread crumbs

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 chicken breasts

2 c vegetable oil (for frying)

Salad mix

1/2 c sliced almonds

1 c chow mein rice noodles

Oriental Dressing:

2/3 c honey

1/3 c rice vinegar

1 c. mayonnaise

2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp oil

Thoroughly mix dressing ingredients then move to fridge to cool while preparing salad.

Preheat oil in deep fryer or deep pan over medium heat. Beat together egg and milk in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine flour with corn flakes and panko crumbs, salt and pepper. Cut each chicken breast into 4 or 5 long strips and dip in egg mix and then into flour mixture. Fry for 6-7 minutes or until browned then remove to plate covered with a paper towel.

Prepare salad by tossing the salad and sprinkle with almonds, then the chow mein noodles, chicken and dressing.

(this was super yummy also)

Chicken Lime Tacos

1 1/2 lbs chicken, cubed

1/4 c red wine vinegar

juice of 1 lime

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

4-5 green onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tbsp fresh cilantro

flour tortillas

Optional toppings:

Pico de galo, cheese, onions, tomtatoes, jalapenos, guacamole, cilantro, sour cream, etc.

Saute chicken in a medium skillet in a little oil for a few minutes until chicken becomes white all around. Combine vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onions, garlic and cilantro and add to chicken. Simmer for an extra 10-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Add chicken to tortillas and top with lettuce, tomato, cheese, avocados, cilantro, salsa, sour cream, or any other taco topping you like.

Love to all,

J and gang

Happy 11th Birthday G!

This year for G's birthday, she chose to go to the movies and eat out. She chose to go eat at Johnny Rocket's and go see the movie Hop. She loves the music at Johnny Rocket's and the food is not so bad either. Hop was a pretty good movie and was fitting as Easter was just around the corner.

Here is the birthday girl all decked out in her new birthday outfit, sitting in Johnny Rocket's waiting for her bacon cheeseburger. . .

Going to see HOP. . .

This year I ran out of time to make her b-day cake so she decided to get an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. It was a Strawberry Cheesequake cake and it was super yummy!

Attempting to blow out ALL those candles. . .

In order to find her "Big" birthday gift, she had to go on a scavenger hunt that started in the. . .

School room which then took her to the. . .

Kitchen, which then took her to the bathroom. . .

She then ended up in the kitchen pantry. . .her final clue took her to the secret location of her gift, which took her to the. . .

laundry room. It was strategically placed in the dryer!

She had absolutely no clue she was getting a computer! We had been giving her small clues but none that led to her getting a computer. She thought she was too young to have her own.

She was so surprised that all she could do was cry at first...

Gwyn's Big Birthday Surprise....her very own computer!

It didn't take her long to figure out how to "surf the web". . .

Rise and shine sleepy head....homemade cinnamon rolls for the birthday girl on the morning of her big day!

Love to all,

J and gang

First Day of School...

Today was our first official day of school. The kids were super excited to get started on our new curriculum. We started using the Calvert Homeschool Program. I will miss using Sonlight, but we had to make some changes to accommodate all of our time/schedules. All in all they had a great but busy day. I got up and made them homemade chocolate chip pancakes and sausage. They were super surprised!

G our sixth grader. . .

J our fourth grader. . .

Acting like they like each other! LOL!

Love to all,

J and gang