It’s spring in VA–that means the start of horse races and Polo Fridays–this weekend was the annual Oatlands Point to Point–its usually on Easter so we’ve missed it every year but got to go this year!
Sophia picked horse #4–any guesses as to why?
and they’re off!
happiness!
Horse racing? Its’ all about the hats!
and other accessories too–go Fancy Nancy go!
Sophia went on her first field trip today. Actually a special outing with her teacher with just one other girl from her school. They headed off this morning to Heritage Farm Museum — a place we’ve never been. I handed my camera off to her teacher this morning and she was nice enough to take a few pictures. I haven’t gotten the full run down yet but Soph came home happy and tired and is currently sleeping it off. From the pictures dressing up and playing kitchen were high on the list it was definitely PERFECT for her! 😉
Soph sings in the shower, its distracting and keeps her from worrying about the shampoo getting (or not getting) into her eyes.
This morning the tune was the itsy bitsy spider–it is raining out. Before she got out she said she had one more song and whipped this one out–LOVE IT
We had a fun weekend full of surprises for Keith’s milestone birthday. His sister Ray flew in from Jacksonville–he didn’t know until I told him to look out for her at the airport! After we picked her up we took a quick drive into DC to see if there were any cherry blossoms–not quite yet but we did snag a picture in front of the White House.
We then went to lunch at Market Table in Lovettsville, put Soph down for a nap and Ray and I headed off to pick up the cake for the evenings festivities. Red Sox and Spring –I thought she did a great job! (you know a gator cake was out of the question, right?)
The party on Saturday was the Vernal Equinox hosted each year by our friends Scott and Sara (Hannah’s parents) it’s one of our favorites involving skeet shooting, kite flying, lots of chili and fire!
Sophia wasn’t all too sure about not having a seatbelt but with a little persuasion from Aunt Ray it was all good!
skeet shooting and a happy big brother
the hostess with the mostest!
Hannah and Zack are two days apart and two months older than Sophia, always totally inseparable when we get together, we’re so sad to see Zack go but eager to visit his new digs in California!
FIRE!
The next day we after breakfasting on Keith’s requested Eggs Benedict we headed off to Blumont Winery, one of our favorites!
Happiness!
Sophia on her favorite rock, posin’
after a little down time we went out to dinner, Keith had asked that we go to our “special occasion” restaurant down the road Patomack Farms–little did he know I had that already planned and had invited a few of his closest friends–as it is typically closed on Sunday’s the owner opened just for us–it was so much fun!
POTUS or President of the United States to those of you outside “the beltway”, often flies by these parts. The other day my camera happened to be on the counter when I heard the helicopters –Marine One going and coming! Obviously the pictures were taken quickly I still think its cool!
Spring is coming! Spring is coming! You believe right? After all this cold I do, I do, I really want too anyway!!
I’ve been doing a bunch of cooking and baking lately and have been asked for the receipes I use. I always modify a bit, a little more of this a little less of that, a subsitution here — you get the drift.
Allrecipes.com is one of my favorite sites. I find everything there baking to cooking with all kinds of ingredients and good reviews to check over.
Here are a few of my recent favorites.
Worlds Best Lasagna with over 5000 reviews and 5 stars you can’t go wrong. I personally think the fennel in here makes this amazing. I’ve done it with ground turkey instead of ground beef and it works just as well.
Another thing I do which seems obvious to me is go to the source. Cooking southern? Emeril or Paula Dean definitely know their way around that type of cookin’. I’ve made Paula Dean’s gumbo a few times now and it always gets rave reviews, both from guests and from my southern hubby 😉
I admit I’m a stalker of the Pioneer Woman and love how famous she’s become! She had a guest blogger/vistor at the ranch last year and they made this fabulous recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala–sometimes you have to change it up a bit! I’ve made it a few times since then and we all love it.
My latest favorite is “artisan bread”. Sounds fancy right? I was looking for a new bread recipe a couple of weeks ago and stumbled into this. Apparently there is a book that has lots of fun and interesting versions. You have to make it a day or so in advance but it literally takes 5 min and I love the results. We’ve brought it to friends houses, served it to guests and eat it as fast as we cut it out of the oven at home. This recipe is easy and I mean really easy. Four ingredients. I’ve used both white and a mix of white and wheat flour–both delicious. Curious? I could write it out here but love the pictures here.
Would love to hear your favorite recipes and get ideas for other foods in the comments!
We finally got enough snow to pull the snow tube out, in fairness its only been a month since Christmas but with several “teasers” of less than an inch we finally got some real snow. To be honest I’m not sure who had more fun Keith or Sophia–remember he grew up in Florida and has to do some catchin’ up!
Keith and Sophia went out in front in the morning to touch up the shoveling we had done the night before then we had 2 trips out in the afternoon. The first with neighbors–who brought their 4 wheeler over so the kids got carried back up the hill ski lift style!
Ok so in this picture they are going downhill….but you get the idea–4 wheelin’ is fun!
Yep the girl loves snow…she does know to stay away from the yellow and brown stuff though!
After the second run it was time to warm up with some hot chocolate and brownies–as we were getting things ready the girls raided the dress up clothes–no shyness here!
But will they make Sophia feel like learning to tie her shoes? The jury’s still out but I mean these shoes would make ME want to tie my shoes……how about you?
A Pirates Life for Us 
