Hester Happenings

Last weekend was quite an exciting one for Jeff and me. Ashley and Neil came up Friday and stayed at our house that night. We love having friends come over, especially when we don't get to see them very often! The next morning we headed up to the Hester family farm that's in Virginia. The Hester clan was having a get-together because a family friend was teaching how to make Brunswick Stew. Now, when I think of Brunswick Stew I immediately think of Smithfield's. Probably because that's the only place I've actually eaten some...yes-I'm not a southerner. When we arrived at the house I was a little surprised to see this: Brunswick Stew cooking outside in a 5 gallon pot that was being stirred by Uncle Mac with a boat paddle. Ok-it's not really a boat paddle, but it sure resembles one! This was the true southern way to make Brunswick Stew, I was told by the other man in the picture (Mr. George). Mr. George also told me that he had a 30 gallon pot to make ...

February brings many treats my way because of this holiday known as Valentine’s Day! Now, to normal people that don't work in schools...I think your experience with this holiday may be different. It's a day of love. A day to tell people in your life that you love them. A day to give special gifts to friends and family to show them how much they're loved.  If you work in a school, you know my dilemma. Valentine's to Elementary aged kids consists of giving Valentines to friends, family, and TEACHERS. I loved seeing how excited my kids got this year while they were handing out their valentines to classmates. It was even cuter seeing their faces when they brought me a special treat. I think the cutest Valentine this year was one little adorable boy in my class brought Maddi (our bunny) in a Valentine's card with a bag of carrots attached to it! My class is so cute! Below is a picture of most of all of the treats I got on Tuesday. Now can you see my problem? S...

So Katie and Wil came into town this weekend. My mom really wanted to go Geocaching, especially since we haven't been in quite some time. The only problem with this plan is that it was REALLY cold outside. We tried a total of 3 caches, the first two were quick finds.  Katie and Wil drove us around and Anna, my mom and I enjoyed our time in the car...away from the crazy cold wind! By the third cache we were completely frozen. My mom and I were determined to find it, but Katie, Wil, and Anna had a different plan. They drove around to pick us up right when we figured it out. The cache was hidden UP a tree. We are so going to have to go back to find it! Here's a picture of one of the ones we actually found:  So after our Geocaching adventure we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant my parents just found. Let me start off by saying, if you're Italian-you'd feel right at home. When my dad walked into the restaurant he was greeted with a "...