Catching up Volume I: Halloween 2011

We have slacked on many events in Angela's life the last several months, this is the first in a series of catch ups, sorry if the time lines are off.

Another Halloween, usually a holiday we don't really care for but with Angela around it can be entertaining. This year she decided to take a break from her princess' and be Minnie Mouse, so she is still sticking to the Disney themes.  The costume came out great with a little help and a lot of sewing.

Angela was so excited for Trick or Treating that she could hardly contain herself, she saw all the kids running around and wanted to go with them but they were mostly older and it was too hard for her to keep up, with so she was stuck with dad.  She visited all the homes in our neighborhood and wanted to go back to the house to show mom her bounty before going back out.  However, while at home several groups of kids came to our door, it didn't take her long to figure out that it would funner to stay home and hand out candy to the kids then watch them run around ahead of her.  So to keep from having to go back out and trick or treat she planted herself on the living room coach and pretended to read some magazines so she wouldn't be disturbed, then would cheerfully answer the door to generously hand out treats.

Happy Easter

It has been forever since we have blogged about what is going on. We see ourselves as pretty boring - meaning just the normal every day stuff goin on. We are having fun and enjoying the nice spring weather outside. This past week was Easter. We had a nice family dinner - traditional ham, cheesey potatoes, vegies, and homemade rolls.  Lorena made the rolls 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour - to not totally ruin them as Blake would put it.  He prefers the all white, but we need some form of healthy once in a while- you know, to balance out all the candy (like bread can do that - not).  After dinner we had a nice walk through the neighborhood. There were others out we got to visit with. We try to help Angela really understand the meaning of Easter, not sure how much she gets, but at least it's a beginning to help her know what her Savior did for her and for us, and for you.

One day while shopping, we found her cute Easter dress.  She was so excited to wear it. Lorena made the hair bow. She even let Lorena fix/curl her hair.

On Saturday, we did two egg hunts.  One was in our neighborhood, the other was at Lorena's sister's House (Aunt Melanie).  Angela is a little timid at first, until she sees all the other, and get encouragement to go find the eggs. Then she's all over it.  Aunt Melanie also does prizes. Some of the eggs have papers with numbers on them which is matched up with a numbered prize. Angela got to bring home a basketball hoop that sticks to the wall. She and her dad had fun playing with it.  It's always fun to see all the cousins, we don't get to see them very often and always look forward to when we do.

 Then of course, after the egg hunt, is play time, especially when theirs swings and cousins!!! We all  had a great Easter Holiday.  Seeing family and remembering our Savior and his sacrifice, and his resurrection, that we will all be able to live again.

Tying Flies

So this past summer we took one of our annual trips to Yellowstone. We always do a trip down the Madison River for some fishing. In preparation for that - Blake ties his own flies. He has a "miracle" fly that will always work and tempt the fish. The guide we use, Mark, loves the fly and hasn't shared it with anyone - pretty funny.  But that is how fishermen are - they rarely share their best secrets.  If a fisherman is sharing anything - it's the known secrets - not the real secrets.

Blake gets out all his equipment and tools, and Angela's eyes just lit up. She was even more excited that her dad has the patience to set her up and get her going on her own fly. She thought that was the best.

Competing with Mom

I grew up in a home where mom always cooked and baked. She made (and still makes) amazing pies. Pies seem to be the bakers nightmare, working to get the crust nice and flaky and the filly just perfect. I have to mention that I LOVE pies, and seem to be in our little family.  Well, recently we have been participating in a food coop called Bountiful Baskets.  It is amazing. Pay $15.00 and get 50% veggies and 50% fruit. Some of it is stuff I've never bought or tried, and others are way yummy.  For instance, we've gotten Swiss chard -- mmmmm; also fresh figs.... maybe yum, but not really. But there is a ton of produce for the amount that is paid.  One week we got 6 Grannie Smith apples.  All I know to do with Grannie Smith apples is to make pie.  I thought of eating them, but then the pie would creep back into my brain. So Angela and I made pie. She was so excited to pay with the dough, mix the apples, but she would never taste it. I tried a new recipe (sorry mom). I did use mom's crust, but the apples after peeled I mixed with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg (without cooking). Then poured into the crust and cooked.  Figures - when it's not going to anyone, or having company over, the pie turns our beautiful.

I have to say, it tasted as good as it looks.  I ate one piece, ok really 2 1/2, and threw the rest in the trash. It made me sad, but I really didn't want to admit to myself that I ate a whole pie, so I had to get rid of the temptation.  However, there was enough pie dough left over for "pie dough cookies."  we LOVE pie dough cookies. Basically you just take the left over dough, and cut it into circles, poke a fork in it, and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, bake. Mmmmmmmm..... could eat those all day, fortunately so could Angela so I save them for her as a treat.

Angela's Birthday

Yes I know that her birthday was back in June and it is August now.  Call it laziness or life either way I am slow. We can hardly believe that 3-years have gone by since Angela has blessed our home. She is growing up so fast and becoming very independent, which is both good and bad. We were so excited to give her a bicycle for her big 4-year-old day.  We had her with us at REI and she loves to play on the bikes. So we let her play. When it was time to go, Blake went back and bought the bike and arranged to pick it up the next day after work (her b-day). She was sad to leave it behind but she always it, so it wasn't anything different for her.  

We also had a little party for her. Her sunbeam class in Primary is all little girls and they have so much fun together. So we invited them over for some play time. I didn't tell them it was her birthday because I didn't want the gift thing and all that - I just wanted her to have fun and know that she could have fun without all the other stuff. The girls had such an amazing time. They played in her little water table. Yep - it is a table, but they found a way to get in, then they all played dress up, then we decorated and ate cupcakes. It was a lot of fun - Can you believe that next year will be school?!!!



Happy Valentines Day

Today is Valentine's day. A day I don't particularly care for, but the kids have lots of fun giving treats and notes of kindness. So over the weekend Angela and mom were pretty busy making valentines for her friends and her school teacher. We had fun making them. This morning when I dropped her off at school at the kids were there to see what she had brought. Her teacher loved her bouquet of flowers, one of the boys asked if there was something for boys in her little basket - of course there is.  They all wanted the flowers and I had to keep saying they were for Miss Shauna (they did turn out pretty cute). I told them they would all like their valentines and treats. It is crazy when making crafts with a little 3-year old but when the kids get so excited, it makes it fun and happy - the craziness just goes away.

 

Merry Christmas 2010

So Christmas has come and gone. It's kind of like Thanksgiving dinner... a lot of prep work and a little bit of playtime.  In the case of Christmas it is days prepping and one day of playing, and we had a great day of playing. With the holiday being on a weekend it feels like it lasts so much longer. Christmas is quite different with a child in the house. We used to sleep late, play video games, watch movies, have Nerf gun fights, and have some fun. Thankfully she hasn't gotten all excited and waking up at early hours, we still slept 'till 9:00, which was very welcomed since we were up quite late finishing the "big" present. Blake had built Angela a barbie size doll house and then we got to decorate it. the decorating and finishing didn't end until about 1:00 am, then it was on to wrapping it and the other real stuff. Now the day after was a different story; she was  up at 6:00 AM and wanting to play with barbies and stuff. But once she got back to sleep - I had to wake her up AT 11:00 (good thing we had 1:00 church).  So check out the pictures below and see how much fun we had. 

Check out this cute video when she sees what Santa brought to her. Her face is priceless. And Santa has brought hours and hours of playtime. She plays and plays. Today during Sacrament meeting she was heard saying, "please, please, please can I play?"  not just once but multiple times. Even the folks in front of us commented on how cute that was. We do have to admit, Angela does use polite kind words - some of the time, just like any other 3 year old.  We hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas and felt the spirit of Christ in your homes.