Congratulations Ashley

Ashley was the scholar of the month for Central Elementary and was listed in the most recent edition of the Fluvanna Review. I went through the Fluvanna Review online but couldn't find the scholar of the month piece. Ironically, I was able to find the story about the squirrel that caused the grass fire last spring, but I can't find the piece that has my daughter in it. The picture in the paper was odd to say the least. Ashley, so proud of it, was showing Jon. She said, "look Jon, I'm in the newspaper," and pointed to her picture. Jon looked right at it and said, "where?" I scanned in her school picture for the year instead. It is really cute anyhow.

The Fluvanna Review did send a letter home to us informing us that Ashley was chosen scholar of the month. In that letter, they told us what they were printing. It read as follows:

"Ashley is a perfect student! She is a hard worker at all times. She is the first to volunteer help to me or any other student that may need it. She is always polite and respectful with adults and her peers. She is full of positive energy and encourages others around her. Ashley is very eager to learn throughout the day in all subjects."

It does go a little over the top and fails to mention that though she truly is a hard worker at all times at school, getting her to clean her room is the opposite. It also doesn't mention how bossy she is on occasion with her younger siblings. O.k., seriously though, we are so proud of Ashley and hope she continues to love school like she does and continues to do well at it. Like the text says, which I suspect was written by her teacher, she really is full of positive energy. I have always admired that about her. Good job Ashley. We love you and are proud of you.

Merry Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, three Warner kids were going crazy and having lots of Christmas Eve fun.

We had a quiet but great Christmas. We stayed in Virginia again this year. The stomach virus seemed to hit Sami a little on Wednesday night and again on Christmas morning, but she rallied quickly and was up and playing again yesterday afternoon and seems to be her old self again today.

Here are a few pictures of the day. Surprisingly, we didn't take that many.

Ashley with her Smart Globe
Dressing her my twinn doll

Ashley got a digital video camera, so although our digital camera will be going to Baghdad for 3 months, I am sure we will still have pictures and now video for the blog.

Jon with his Space Shuttle

and accompanying alien flying saucer

Sami with her Tag reader. That proved to be nice when she was feeling sick as well.

Trent putting together Coast Guard legoes

and making hot chocolate with his jet boil.

O.k. maybe it was more pictures than I thought. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and that you have a great New Year.

Trent the Sharpshooter

For any who don't know, Trent will be deploying to Iraq in early January for 90 days. By the time we found out, he needed to get a lot done in a small amount of time. This past Monday, he went down to Norfolk for uniforms and to requalify his weapons. He hasn't redone his qualifications in years, because he simply hasn't needed to. It was so cold on Monday, and he was on the range in the early morning (early 20s at best) with no gloves. He said his hands were numb. He qualified on both the M-16 and the 9mm. On the 9mm handgun, he qualified with the status of sharp shooter. He is pretty proud of that fact. So, he is an attorney and will be doing legal work, but he is also a qualified sharp shooter. :)

The Santa Claus Book

We had this book growing up, and Tony and I used to love to read it. It was out of print for a while but is back in print and now I have my own copy to read with my kids. Ashley has abducted ours into her room and reads it before going to bed. Last night's perusal was why reindeer can fly. The book's author is Alden Perkes. The book is written as a scholarly work. Professor Perkes spent several months with Santa researching all these various things and has put together this comprehensive work. It has everything from where Santa and Mrs. Claus came from to information about the elves, why there are fake santas, how Santa gets down chimneys, why naughty children get coal and so on and so forth. This book really is so much fun. I highly recommend it. My only complaint? I don't particularly care for the recipe in there labeled Santa's favorite cookies. Therefore, we emphasize the benefit of diversity in Santa's treats with our kids.

Onion Braid

I made this last week. It is a recipe I got from a friend we met while working for the U.S. Embassy in Sofia Bulgaria back in 1995 and 1996. We had a club/group of sorts there. We started calling it the gourmet group but found that was too intimidating so we changed it to EATS. That actually stood for something though I can't remember what. We would meet once a month and each others homes and have different themes. We had appetizers, we had soups, we had south of your border (which could be very interesting) and family favorites among others. I haven't made this recipe in forever. It was fun to remember how good it is and to remember David and Georgianne. Thanks again Georgianne.

For the bread:
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
1 egg

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt, hot water, milk, butter and egg. Blend until moistened and beat 500 strokes. Stir in remaining flour to form a soft dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).

Filling:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 clove garlic minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika

Prepare filling by melting butter in saucepan and adding remaining ingredients. Saute until onion is transparent.

Punch down the dough and place on a floured surface. Knead until no longer sticky. Roll into an 18x12 rectangle. Spread with filling then cut lengthwise into three strips. Roll each strip lengthwise and seal edges and ends with water. ON a greased cookie sheet, braid the three rolls together. Cover and allow to rise until doubled (45-60 minutes) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Dilemma?

We have been going through bouts of stomach virus this week at our house. Ashley was sick Tuesday and Wednesday, and Jon was really bad yesterday. Thursday night, when Jon vomited (for the first time anyhow), he did so all over his bed including on his down pillow. A few years ago now, the last time someone vomited all over a down pillow, I had it dry cleaned. They did a wonderful job, but it cost more to clean the pillow than I paid for it given that I bought those pillows on sale and in bulk (if you count 4 as bulk).

I actually put a lot of stock in the whole reduce reuse recycle thing. That leads to my dilemma. Do I pay more than it would cost to replace the pillow to have it dry cleaned so that I don't throw it out, or do I just throw it out and replace it this spring when they go on sale again? Hmmmmmm.

JAG School Festivities

Remember on the last post when I mentioned I was behind? Yeah, still there. I couldn't even remember what day it was earlier this week when I sent out a reminder for our family football pool. Just a little bit of the crazy going on. Anyhow...........................

December 6 was the annual Jingle JAG Jog and Children's Holiday Party. Back in August, Lisa and I divided these up. She organized the jog, and I did the Children's Party. We both worked together a lot though, and in the end it turned out to be great.

Saturday was cold! Initially all of our kids were going to jog with Trent in the Jingle JAG Jog, but the temperature combined with the fact that they were there for all of the set up (arriving at 8:00) and would be there until the very end, lead to just Ashley and Trent jogging. Well, there is that and the fact that even though it is only 2 miles, Trent questioned how the younger two would do once they got out there. Trent and Ashley had a great time on the jog, which is just a fun run. The only prizes are awarded for festive attire not for coming in first. A lot of people do it with strollers or with families. Everyone is issued jingle bells to tie onto their shoes, so all the JAG community jingles as they jog around the Univ. of Virginia campus.

Trent and Ashley finishing the jog

The children's party is right after the jog, and we had games and crafts and goodies and activities. It was a lot of work and stress leading up to it, but it turned out great. I was on anti-biotics for a sinus infection and look terrible in the picture, but Sami looks great, and the kids were so awesome about being there from 8:00 a.m. to almost 5:00 p.m. How could I help but show that off?

The party finishes with a visit from Santa, which is always a big hit. This year was so great. The LCS Club gets permission from Santa to have a visiting Santa (that is our running theory anyhow). This year Major Apple from the current Grad Course volunteered. He is too tall and broad to fit in the LCS Santa suit and wanted to be Santa so badly that he rented his own. He did a fantastic job, and we had a lot of happy kids, mine were three of them.

I was and am so relieved that it is over. It really was a lot of work. I admire my friend April, who put the children's party together last year, even more, and that is saying something. Still, I am proud of how well it turned out and that it came in $150 under budget. It was a really enjoyable day.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

I have not posted in a while. I have been busy. The next two weeks will probably be data dumps. Hey, it saved anyone who reads this regularly from rants about Mike Huckabee though, so aren't you glad I've been busy?!

We put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Jon, who LOVES the Polar Express, got out the Thomas tracks etc., and decided to build a train around the tree. We hadn't even gotten it decorated yet. He did a great job. He made the track entirely by himself, and not only does it successfully go around the tree, it went under the table as well. Fun.