Clean Out The Toybox

by Miss Virginia


Cleaning out the toy box may seem boring, but it's something you can do when the weather is just too hot to go outside. My mom has me use large Ziploc bags for organizing the little toys that end up settling down in the bottom of the box.


First we use a Sharpee marker to write on the bags. These bags have a white section that you can write on. We make bags for cars, Legos, Magnetix, Bionicles, and whatever else you need bags for.

Some girls have dolls stuff and baby doll stuff that has small things like bottles, doll clothes and many other little things that you don't want to lose.

For those small toys we use the gallon size Ziploc bags. If you have larger toys you can get the Ziploc extra large bags for baseballs, footballs and other larger toys.

You will also want a garbage bag for broken toys and other clutter that you decide is time to toss out. After we write on the bags we open the toy box. Little siblings do great with this activity, because they end up finding things they forgot about and they get excited. You can tell them that you are going on a treasure hunt to find what treasures are hidden in the bottom of the box.

This teaches them how to organize and categorize their toys. As they find toys they put them in the bags that go with those toys. Once you get through the whole box you might need to turn it over and dump out any particles that may have found their way in. With a little boy in the house we were certain to find an occasional Cheetoh or Cheerio too. Then have your mom help spray the inside with a safe all purpose cleaner and wipe it out.

Then you can put all those bags right back into the box. My little brother was so happy to find other Legos that he thought were gone and now he is building more exciting and larger vehicles than he could before we went on this 'treasure hunt'. And I found some baby doll clothes too! I'm going to go play with them now. I hope you have fun on your summer time treasure hunts in the toy box.



Miss Virginia, who is also known as Gina, is the youngest of three homeschooling sisters and loves to cook and clean with her mommy. She loves to read, learn Math, and has a new interest in photography.

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Interview with Miss Virgina 'Enjoying Girlhood'

We all know her as Miss Virginia, but her family and friends call her Gina, for short. She is going to be ten years old on June 23rd! I hope you enjoy getting to know her in this interview.

What do you enjoy doing with your family? I like going to Wednesday night home church in a friend’s house. I like
spending time with other believers. I like to fellowship with others.


How long have you been homeschooling? I came home to homeschool a couple years ago.

What is your favorite thing to do in homeschool? I like English and grammar. Anything that involves words. I like the exercises in my workbooks that have puzzles and cryptograms. I like my computer CD’s too. They make learning fun.

You have two older sisters; can you tell us what makes you have a closer relationship with them? I like when Jessica helps me exercise. I want to be stronger and healthier and she helps me. I like when Monica helps make my hair pretty and plays dolls with me. I know she is too old to play with dolls, but she plays with me and it makes me feel happy. I also like it when I get to sing with them.



What are your favorite foods? I like pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, bean burritos, hot dogs, and French toast.

What do you enjoy coking? I am learning to make waffles with my mom and I know how to make scrabbled eggs. I made a Butterfinger sandwich once for breakfast when my mom was still asleep, but we don’t make them often.

If you could have any pet, what would you choose to have? We have a Chihuahua now, but she really is bonding with Monica. I would like to have my own.

What outdoor activities do you enjoy? I like to ride my bicycle, scooter, and I like when my family goes hiking together.


Who taught you how to ride a bike? My daddy did. At first I was scared, but he helped me by holding me until I learned how to go on my own. He never gave up on me. He cheered me on and so did my family. Now I like to ride it as much as I can. He just got me a new bike, but it’s a bit tall for me. I have been trying to ride it this week, but I need more practice with stopping.

What in this world makes you sad? When people don’t have any food and are starving to death.


How would you like to help them? By giving them food. We help at a place in our town that feeds the homeless. We take food to struggling families and I like to make sure they get to eat.

What do you like to do on the computer? I like to play games and read blogs. I read Growing in Grace Magazine. I like the devotions. I also want to learn to make graphics like my mom and Monica.

Miss Virginia is increasing in her sign language studies and has deaf friends that she enjoys spending time with. She likes to be with friends and loved ones and says fellowship is her favorite thing. We hope you will leave her a comment to let her know you enjoyed this article and feel free to ask her more questions and get to know her.

Sisterlisa is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Growing in Grace Magazine and owner of AGMinistries, a devotion blog for women. She is married and homeschools her four children while remaining active in serving the Lord in her community.

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Creative Kitchen: Dinner Bundles

by Miss Virginia
These Dinner Bundles are made with:

Crescent roll dough
Lil' Beef Smokies
Cheddar cheese
Pepperjack cheese
Baking pan
Margarine
Knife
Parent supervision

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

First we unrolled the crescent dough wrapper and smacked the barrel against the counter to get it to pop open. We unrolled the dough and separated each triangle. Cut each triangle in half length-wise to double the amount of triangles.

Slice each of the lil' smokies in half length-wise, but try not to cut in all the way.

Slice the cheese into small slices.

Insert a slice of cheese into each of the lil' smokies then place one at the end of one of the triangle dough strips. Begin at the wide end then roll the lil bundle up.



Using a napkin, coat the baking pan with margarine. (Not butter because butter will burn)

Place each bundle on the baking pan and cook at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.





Miss Virginia, who is also known as Gina, is the youngest of three homeschooling sisters and loves to cook and clean with her mommy. She loves to read, learn Math, and has a new interest in photography.

A Thankful Heart

by Miss Virginia

I am thankful for my family. I'm thankful that my mom and dad are still married. My sister Jessica makes me pancakes. My sister Monica plays baby dolls with me, even though she is older now. She sometimes fixes my hair for me too. Timmy plays with me and he's fun to be around.

I'm thankful for my mom and dad reading with me at night. I am glad my family is close, even though sometimes we don't always get along, we still love each other. I like it when we have family parties. We get a fun movie, have home made popcorn, and get pizza. I like to go to the park with my family too. I really like it when my daddy goes for walks with me and holds my hand. Going for family walks after dinner is always special. I have friends at church, but I know my family is my best friends.

National Pizza Month

Pizza is fun to make. My favorite pizza to buy is cheese pizza from Little Ceasars! They have yummy cheesy bread sticks too. Since we can't always buy pizza, we sometimes make our own.

I will share a recipe later in this article, but first let me tell you about where pizza came from. Many people think Pizza came from Italy, but people have been eating something like pizza for much longer.

The Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern countries were eating flat, un-leaven bread that was cooked in mud ovens. The bread was kind of like a pita bread, which is still common in Greece and the Middle East today. I don't think they called it pizza, but it sounds just like pizza. Un-leavened bread is a flat bread with no yeast in it. The pizza we eat now does have yeast in the dough, but it wasn't always made that way.

The Bible talks about the last supper and how Jesus broke the bread, prayed and gave it to the disciples. He did this as an example of his death on the cross. Jesus never sinned and the bread with no yeast in it is a symbol of that.

Mark 14:12, "¹²And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?

¹³And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.

¹⁴And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?

¹⁵And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us."

Yeast makes bread puff up. Maybe you heard of a person being described as being 'puffed up', which means full of pride. Jesus was humble, not puffed up.

1 Corinthians 13:4, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,"

Have you ever had flat bread before? We sometime sget Indian Flat Bread from Trader Joe's. It's very good.

Now people make pizza with a crust that does rise a little bit. We make a recipe that my mom learned when she was a little girl.

What you'll need:

A baking sheet

Dough (We have used Pillsbury's biscuits. Sometimes you can get the generic brand for four rolls for a dollar.) Preheat according to the package directions.

Tomato sauce

Italian Spices

Garlic (crushed)

Mozzarella cheese (grated)

Pepperoni

And any other toppings you like.

In a small bowl mix tomato sauce, crushed garlic, and Italian seasonsings. How much really depends on your family. Fresh garlic is strong so you may not want to use a lot of that. Mix well. Set aside.

Flatten out dough to make a flat circle on the baking sheet.

Using a spoon you can place some of the sauce mix on the dough then sprinkle wth grated cheese. Add some pepperoni and bake according to the dough directions.

Some other toppings you might want to use is:

-Fresh slices of tomato with fresh basil

-Sliced mushrooms and black olives

-Canadian bacon and pineapple

-Cooked chicken breast pieces that have been marinating in KC Masterpeice BBQ sauce and cooked bacon pieces.(Not the imitation bacon bits. those do not taste very good.)

What are your favorite toppings?

Waffle Waffle

Every morning my sister, Lady Jess, makes big breakfasts for our family. Sometimes she and Miss Monica June make waffles together. One thing I like to do is come up with toppings for our waffles. I really like butter with maple syrup, but my brother, Timmy, likes to add peanut-butter instead of butter. My mom says that her daddy taught her to do that. She said at first she thought it was yucky, but then she tried it. When she first told us about it we weren't sure either, but Timmy was! He loves peanut-butter.

Waffle irons used to be made with two iron plates connected by a wooden handle with the shape of a coat of arms or a landscape image. When they added the mix they would hold the iron over a flame and then flip it to the other side.

Now you can get waffle irons with different shapes like Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, and hearts. The most popular shape is the one that looks like a honeycomb.There are many different kinds of waffles.

Do you make waffles at home or do you buy the Eggo Waffles from the store? Leggo my eggo?

God Loves Me More Than....

I read the book, 'God loves me more than that'. I like this book because, the artwork is beautiful and the pictures are colorful. The book rhymes and tells me how much God loves me, in a cute way. I think your kids will like it too. My Mom, Sisterlisa, is giving away a copy of this book (And two more good books) at AGMinistries.org. I hope you'll sign up to win. Please ask your mom first!

Taco Burgers, My Favorite!

One of my favorite dinners is Sloppy Joes, but this is something a little different. We had taco leftovers and we decided to make something my grandma used to like eating many years ago, Taco Burgers!

We heated up our taco meat and scooped it onto the bottom bun.

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the meat then add sour cream to the inside of the top bun.

We then decided to add cheese to our Frito's too.


Next we put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds just to heat the bun up and melt the cheese.

I know it's not a very healthy dinner, but it sure is fun for kids and easy to make! I hope you will enjoy it too.

Peanut-Butterfinger Sandwiches

One morning I woke up REALLY early and couldn't get back to sleep. My brother woke up too. We were hungry. My mom sometimes makes us peanut-butter sandwiches in the mornings. I thought of a good idea. I could make peanut-butter and add something yummy to it. "I know!", I thought. I got out the ice cream toppings and saw that we have crushed Butterfingers.

So, I spread peanut-butter on both slices of bread.

After that I sprinkled the crushed Butterfingers on one slice of bread. Then I put the two pieces together.

Only put it on one side, the other side helps keep the sprinkles from falling out of the sandwich.

Next, you'll want to slice the sandwich in half and spread a little more peanut butter on the sliced side of the sandwich.
We like cream y peanut-butter for this recipe, because the Butterfingers will already make them crunchy enough.


(My mom was not happy that I made this without asking, but she thought it was a good idea for the magazine. Don't ever go into the kitchen without your mom's permission. I could have gotten hurt and she wasn't awake yet. I wouldn't be able to have her help me if I got hurt or broke something. This time she helped me and took the pictures for this article.)







After you spread the peanut-butter on these two little sandwiches, gently dip them into the crushed Butterfingers. Then place it on a plate and the plate goes on a placemat. You can fold a napkin too. You will need the napkin! Be sure to have a glass of milk with this, because you will be VERY thirsty!

You can read some fun things about peanut-butter here at Peanut Butter Lovers.com

My mom also says that this advertisement is so true for her. "Choosy moms choose Jif." Here are more recipes for you to try with Jif.


So do you think you will like my kind of peanut-butter sandwich? What kind of peanut-butter sandwiches can you think of to make? I hope you tell me so I can try it!

Scramblers

My mom told me that her first cooking project was when she was nine years old. Her mom taught her how to cook. That is my grandma Marsha. Grandma helped my mom cook a big dinner for my grandparents anniversary. That was a long time ago, when my mom was little.

She taught my mom how to make scrambled eggs too. I saw a picture of my mom cooking scrambled eggs by grandma's stove. Grandpa has that picture at his house though. My mom taught me how to cook scrambled eggs too. I have some pictures to share.

Using a mixing bowl, crack open the eggs and put the raw eggs in the bowl. Mix them up with a whisk until they are mixed in very well.

With your mom's help, heat up a pan on the stove. If your pan isn't a non stick pan you will want to spray cooking spray in the pan or use margarine.

When the pan is hot, by using a medium heat, pour the egg mixture in. Scrape the sides and bottom of the pan while cooking. When the eggs are slightly moist, but mostly dry, then pour them onto a plate.

Tips:
-You want to use margarine because butter can burn too easily.
-Wear an apron to protect your clothes and a bonnet or chef's hat to keep your hair out of the food.
-After you pour out the cooked eggs, soak your pan in cold water. Hot water will only cook the eggs onto the pan more, making it hard to clean off.
-Spray your spoon or spatula with cooking spray so the eggs come off easier when you wash it.
-Keep the pan's handle turned in, away from the walk way. This is so someone doesn't knock the pan off the stove and make owies.
-Never cook with a stove without the right supervision.