The Liberty Bell and more...

I know it's been awhile since I've posted and a lot of things have happened since then! So it might take me a couple posts to catch up with all the exciting things that happen at once. "When it rains it pours"... :P

event number one: ;)

We went to Philadelphia to see the liberty bell and independence hall and a couple other places. My camera battery died at the liberty bell though, so I didn't get many pictures, but you can check out my brother's blog to see more pictures. (click here) It was a really cold day but we had a good time!

 event number two: ;)

 I got together with some friends and we made food! We did a cooking challenge thing where we were given certain ingredients and had to make something without a recipe. It was an extra challenge because our stove wasn't working, so we had to use a griddle for some things...It was all so delicious!

And then some random pictures that I just felt like posting.... :P

I find eyes so fascinating, all the different shapes, sizes, and colors. This is my sister and I.

 I want warm weather!!!! :P

More later!

-Selena

A Heart of Green Beans

 My sister and I were cutting up a LOT of green beans we got from a neighbor recently. :) I guess we just got tired of beans after a while, so we made hearts :).

So this post is what the title said,

and a couple more things...

 consisting of a beautiful moon and ginormous mushrooms. :)

Oh and a couple days ago I got my braces off! yippee! I was so happy after three years of metal in my mouth :)

-Selena

Baking Day

A friend and I got together to make yummy things :)

 pop-tarts...

pan rolls,

saltine cracker candy,

and Chinese honey chicken and rice!

It was delicious! and a lot of fun.

a day at my grandparent's home

The other day we went to my grandparents to help shell peas from their garden and just hang out. This is me and my cousin:

 Grandpa had a surprise for us -a go-kart that he bought from a neighbor and fixed up!

PS. This was the day that I learned you could make homemade marshmallows! look it up, i'm not joking! 

Catching Up.....

I haven't posted anything for a while, so this just has some random pictures of things I've done in the past couple weeks.

 

~Making Soft Pretzels...yum!~

 

~Trying to keep flowers alive by remembering to water them. I'm not your best person to keep flowers alive :). I forget to water them even when they're sitting on my desk. They were at their best in this picture...in case you were wondering~

 

~There was obviously tons of snow...we made butterflies and flowers with our footprints. Snow art~

 

~And on the topic of snow....

.....Icicles and tracks (self explanatory, but I'll label them anyway:) )~

 

 

~At a relative's house...



 

An old phone hooked up so it actually works! And we got to dial with the little twisty thing:)!

 

And of course we had to try on some hats.

 

And hold the adorable dogs!~

 

~Our ferret loves doll clothes:) ~

~Squiggles has a fascination for balls, and loves to watch me and my brother juggle. It's adorable~

 

~Special Valentines Day food~

~I love this quote. Mom printed it and gave it to me and I rewrote it on a color that I love~

 

~Rearranging some stuff in my bedroom~

 

There were a lot of birds outside our front window on our trees, and eating the berries. By a lot I mean a lot~

 

~I chose fondue for my birthday. Delish!~

 

~One of the many items in my grandparents house that I love~

 

~ I~ Love~ ~'s ~:)

Thanksgiving! Etc.

Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving! (That's my substitute phrase for Happy Thanksgiving since Thanksgiving already passed ☺) I did! We traveled out to Ohio where our cousins live... and stayed at their new house for Thanksgiving. They have a dog....and I love dogs ☺. It was the first time I had a dog sleep on the same bed as me ☺. And I loved seeing their new house and my cousin Emily's room....and her recent artwork! And watching the little plays my sister and a cousin her age did for us☺. And planning and doing a mystery meal for everyone with my cousin Emily. ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺ Yes, this is a smiley post ☺.

Well. to rewind a little bit. I'd like to give you a little summary of the what Ken Ham talked about when we heard him speak at the Creation Museum.
He spoke about Genesis.

He asked the question, How do you tell Atheists about Jesus?

You start in Genesis! In the beginning. Often we start with the gospel and revelation. But Genesis 1:1-11 is the foundation to the rest of the Bible.

Revivals aren't seen much now because the culture changed. Revivals worked when people thought of God as God. They didn't hear the word God and say, which god??

The culture then was what Ken Ham called the Acts 2 culture. The Jews started with God's Word. Their stumbling block was the crucifixion. They had foundational knowledge.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Acts 2:22-24

Now we see more of an Acts 17 culture. It starts with man's word. There is no concept of the fall, or Adam and Eve. It's evolution based. These people need the foundation before you tell them about how Jesus came, and about salvation.
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
Acts 17:23-28

Churches often approach people like they used to be more, the Acts 2 culture. But not how most are today, the Acts 17 culture.

God gave us the beginning first, because it's the beginning! It's important we tell the foundation, then about the Savior.

That's where we had to walk out 15 minutes early to meet with the rest of the group, so I didn't get to hear the conclusion. But that was something you can think a little about, just some food for thought.

Baked Eggs

Yummy yummy!!! This is one of the recipes I had with my Grandma around my 13th birthday. We didn't have ramekins, so we didn't make it often at home. Then Seth requested baked eggs for his birthday breakfast, and mom got the ramekins, and now we make them often! This is a super easy thing to make...and yummy also! It is especially good with toast.

~~~

Put 1 teaspoon butter and
1 teaspoon cream
into ramekins and place in 350 degree oven to heat.

When butter has melted, break 1 egg into each ramekin, top with small pieces ham, some parsley and cheese. We use parmesan or cheddar, but you can also use Feta. Season with salt and pepper. Bake about 15 minutes* until white is set. Serve with toast and bacon slices, if desired. ENJOY!


*Usually it only takes us about 13 minutes, so the yolk doesn't get hard.

Our ramekins are approximately 5 inches long and 1 inch tall.

~~~

 

See how easy it is?



Chopped!

One night I had some friends over to do a fun cooking activity. It compares to Chopped the TV show. If you haven't seen it this is how it goes.

For us we didn't have a big time limit thing, but we were judged with best taste, best presentation, and most creative use of ingredients. It turned out each group (we did it in groups of two) got best in one category. For our ingredients basket we each had to use one meat, at least one starch, and at least one vegetable. Other than that we could use basically what we wanted from the fridge and pantry. The catch was that you had to make something you've never made before. Okay, so onto the foods....

 

Group 1~

cooked potato wedges, cooked ground beef to put on top, made a cheese sauce for on top of that, and finished it off with lots of herbs and spices, also with some tomato.

 

Group 2~

cut bacon in little pieces and cooked them, added in some orange pepper and onions. Then took that stuff out of the pan while the put some potatoes in. Afterwards those things were put in a tortilla with mayonnaise, black olives, grated cheese, and a little bit of lettuce. Quite good, actually!

 

Group 3~

  cooked noodles, cooked chicken and tomatoes and put them on top of the noodles, with grated cheese.

 All were delicious!!! But after a little chit chat, the moms decided the following (While we were in the kitchen cleaning up the big mess☺):

Group 1~Most delicious
Group 2~Most creative use of ingredients
Group 3~Best presentation

It was so much fun, thank you to other friends who first gave me the idea! I definitely would do it again!

Yipee!

 

Thanks everyone for reading my blog, I hope you are enjoying it!

relatively random, funney:) and funnkie:) post!

 Hi guys, So...as the title suggests this is a  funny and funky post, with relatively random things that I've done in the past couple of weeks.

This stuff mostly explains itself, but still.... 

First row (left to right): croquet mallets and balls, my brother playing croquet, badminton (yes, I took the picture AND was holding the raquet...not an easy thing to do.....), badminton. We did a lot of croquet and badminton in between swimming, so we could get ourselves warm again.

Second row: while weeding I came across a holly tree trying to grow in our flower bed, fun and funky picture of me with my hat and a friend's glasses, newly budded pine cone, tiger lily, another fun and funky picture of me, blueberries! and more blueberries! we sorted through several boxes...and ate a few :).

Third row: gorgeous calla lily, purple cone flower, shasta daisy, hydrangeas of magnificent colors.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Today we went on a fieldtrip to Winterthur Gardens, but I didn't bring my camera along so no pictures.... the poppies were in full bloom, amazingly gorgeous! That was my favorite there today.

But anyway, today I have a recipe for you! drum roll... 
Rhubarb Coffee Cake with Caramel Sauce!

It's VERY sweet, so for those of you who don't want the sweetness, cut down on the sugar. I like sweet but I still cut down on the sugar because it's a lot. (☺and because mom tells me to☺) Here is the original recipe:

yield: 18 servings

Cake:

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb

Topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 Tbsp. cold butter

Sauce:

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat well. Combine flour and bakign soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Fold in rhubarb. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in baking pan.

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

For sauce, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 3-4 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve with warm coffee cake.

Enjoy!

Delicious Breakfast Fruit Smoothie!

This week I have been experimenting with making fruit smoothies. Currently they are my favorite breakfast☺. This morning I made a berry and kiwi smoothie... I'm not really making thankful lists on my blog anymore, but I'm so thankful for fruit smoothies!

This is a picture Seth took of me in action☺

 

It becomes a beautiful color!

 

Berry and Kiwi Smoothie

 

Makes 2-3 servings

(None of these are exact measurements)

 

Put in blender:

 

1/2 cup-1 cup vanilla yogurt (or plain if you don't want it as sweet)

1/4 cup-1/2 cup milk

 

1/2 cup-1 cup of frozen blueberries

1/2 cup rasberries

1 cup strawberries

1 kiwi sliced

 

A splash of vanilla

1 T. of honey

A squeeze of lemon

 

Blend it all together, and unless you want little gritty seeds from the rassberries and pieces from the blueberries, do it for a while. (mom was sitting at the table, and I did it so long she started to come over to get me to stop☺, but it turned out perfect!)

 

~Note: You can swap this recipe around with other fruits, e.g., frozen peaches, banana, pineapple. Another flavoring you can use is cinnamon~