Uncle Mark and Miss Sherry!!!

We just enjoyed a fun 2 and 1/2 days with my (Gracie's) brother Mark and his girlfriend Sherry! It was SUCH a big treat to have them here!!! I hadn't seen Mark since last June and this was our first time to meet Sherry! It was a real pleasure to have them. Clara warmed up really fast and had some good times with them... everything from getting chased around the house (one of her favorites) to watching videos on Uncle Mark's computer and starting to learn to take pictures on Miss Sherry's camera! And the adults got to have some great times of chatting as we caught up with Mark and got to know Sherry (who we all really like, by the way!!! :-) )


Computer time! :-)








Washing dishes with Miss Sherry




Camera lessons with Miss Sherry!!!! Wow! "Miss Sherry ACTUALLY let me help take pictures on her camera!!!"








All the fun can sure wear you out! :-) But it's sooooooooooo worth it!!!! :-) :-)






Hanging out with Uncle Mark






But most all fun times must eventually come to an end...


Saying Goodbye to Uncle Mark




Saying Goodbye to Miss Sherry

The Horrendous Baby Powder Mess!

We've had a minor one or two in the past, but I guess "every" Mom has to go through the "horrendous" one at least once in her life!l

...And I guess because Momma was snapping pictures before doing anything else about it, that gave the little lady license to just keep pouring baby powder.

One Cloudy, Wet Day Last Week...

...we headed off for a walk... and ended up getting a shower! Clara was a good sport about it!

Red, White and Blue

Working on part of a pop-cycle earlier this week.


Something exciting is happening today! We're expecting Clara's Uncle Mark and his friend, Sherry, to arrive for a visit! Yay!!!!!!

One Beautiful Sunday In Spring...

Including Her Sibling!

This was just too precious!

We have this little foam Starfish and Clara likes for us to play that this Starfish is attacking her! Sometimes she will hide behind her door and Mommy "sneaks" and throws it around the door or has it attack! Much hilarity comes from the little girl and she thinks it's a great game.

Well, today we were playing with the foam shapes and after a while we started the "vicious starfish" game. This time she wasn't hiding, but was still having a great time as the starfish would hide and then rush out and attack her! She thought it was quite fun! Well, the game went on and she took the starfish and started attacking Mommy.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Clara says "Baby", and proceeded to "attack" Mommy's big tummy with the starfish! She didn't do it really hard, so it wasn't a problem that way, and I thought it was sooooooooo precious!!! She was playing her first game with her little sibling!!!


On a totally different note, we've taken some great pictures in the last week, but a setting on the computer has changed and we're having problems accessing the camera. :-( So, need to keep working on the problem! Hopefully, we'll figure it out soon!

Today

As promised, I snapped some pictures today! Here's the little lady out in the beautiful, spring weather! Between playing in the dirt and licking an icing mixer, she had a pretty grubby day! You should see the glass storm door she stood next to while enjoying the mixer! :-)


I had my latest midwife appointment today. Everything checked out great, which was a blessing! Baby's heart beat was 130 and things seem to be progressing well!

I think I mentioned before that I'm taking another cake decorating course. I'd been trying for the last couple months to get into course 2 at Michaels.... but both that I had signed up for were canceled, due to not enough people joining. Well, it turns out you don't have to take the courses in order, once you've taken the first one, so I was able to sign up for course 3. Last week was the first one and this week we got to actually decorate a cake! I'd been feeling like "Why am I doing this?", "It's so much time investment for a cake.", "I don't feel like I'm really going to get into this.", etc, etc. And then, of course, I left getting prepared for the class until pretty last minute, so was kind of stressed and not enjoying myself in the preparation process. However, once I got to class and got going on the project it was fun and the cake they had us do is a neat one! Maybe I could really get into this! :-) We'll see! May send this very girly cake to work with Stephen tomorrow... hopefully the guys can get beyond what it looks like and enjoy eating it! :-) If any of you are interested in learning more about cake decorating, check out your local Michael's craft store. They offer some great classes.

I know...

I know it has been almost a week since I last posted and that some blog fans might be getting a little anxious... well, at least those long distance grandparents who need regular picture updates! :-) I haven't been too good about pulling out the camera much these last several days... but I will try to fix that situation tomorrow! Expect a picture update soon!

Today was a GORGEOUS day! Spring is here folks! Yay! We enjoyed the snow, but now were ready for some warm! They say if you don't like the weather here, just wait 10 minutes and it will change. That's pretty true. Yesterday was winter jacket weather, particularly in the morning and maybe early afternoon, and today was sort sleeve weather! A bunch of our seeds are sprouting! Yay! Hopefully, we'll have a garden in before too long!

It was also time for a wreath change! Time to say goodbye to the dried oranges and cinnamon bunches that decorated the fall wreath, that was still hanging on our door, and say hello to bright, cheerful spring! So, I ripped off the fall decorations about a week ago, got some fun, on sale flowers from Michaels and gave our front door a more happy look!



May the beauty of God's creation, bursting into new life around us, be a constant reminder to us of Him and His awesome power, creativity and love for us!

A Surprise Blessing!

My friend, Karen, does a super job of organizing and hosting play group get-togethers, with some friends, at her house. Well, this past Thursday, she invited us over for another one, and I showed up, completely unsuspecting that this was more then just getting together for lunch, chatting and letting our little ones play. Karen had turned play group into a surprise baby shower! What a blessing to have such kind, thoughtful and generous friends!!! Wow! The Lord Jesus has been so good to us, blessing us with wonderful friends wherever we go!


This picture is kind of dark, but if you look close, the balloons have grown legs! :-)

A Keeper!!!

Big huge thanks to Pioneer Woman for a yummy dinner!!!

I tried out her Chicken Piccata tonight... and yum, yum, yummy, it was!!! If you want something with a bright, cheery taste, try out this simple and delicious recipe!!!! Click on the name above, which is underlined and is in a different color, to be taken to the site. Stephen and I both really enjoyed this! My man says it's right up there with Chicken Marsala... which is really saying something! :-)

The Many Ways Of Pronouncing "Jacket" (and other important info.)

1. Jacko

2. Jacker

And the latest...

3. Jackew

Thanks to Miss Clara for this language lesson!!!



And now, for snippets of other news from around here:


The artist at work!




Clara had a grand old time last night, playing "fort" with Daddy under the table! It was Daddy's great idea! Once the cookies came out of the oven we even got to have a cookie party in the fort!




In other news, we have enjoyed a couple days of absolutely beautiful weather! Spring is in the air!!!! Claires and I got to do a couple seed planting sessions. We're trying to get some veggies, herbs and flowers (so far, just morning glories) started in the house. Setting up a garden can be sooooo much fun... and trying to plant seeds with a little girl can be... challenging! :-)

The Bread Baker's Apprentice

A few weeks ago, on our Valentines date, Stephen bought me a very interesting book "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Masting The Art of Extraordinary Bread". The author is a former professional baker and is currently a baking instructor at a culinary school. Basically, the goal is to teach the home baker the art of artisan bread. It's full of lots of information and instruction as well as many recipes, and is well done with lots of excellent pictures! I've been enjoying it and have made a few attempts already at some of the recipes and techniques. Below are pictures from a couple batches... the more picturesque results! :-)


The Apprentice's "Apprentice"! :-) Yes, that is a bread dough mustache!






The first attempt at his multi-grain recipe. Was quite happy with how it turned out!


Rolls from the multi-grain recipe




I have this habit of almost always tweaking recipes, and yes I've done that plenty already with these recipes. There was yesterday, for instance, when I tweaked - or was that COMPLETELY ALTERED the recipe for Ciabatta. The result: yummy bread that was, unfortunately, NOT Ciabatta!!!! Ok, so now I need to go back and try to make something a lot closer to the recipe and see how it turns out!

Well... what do ya know???!!!

Monday was a BEAUTIFUL, warm day... maybe up in the 50s. Clara and I spent quite awhile out in the yard... and without jackets! Yay! Clara had a grand old time and playing in the dirt and "exploring" in the corner of the yard that has a couple big trees and some bushes/undergrowth.

And then this morning, what did we wake up to???!!! Snow!!!! It was pretty wet and slushy, but it was snow. And once Daddy started getting ready to go out in it, and get his car started and cleaned off for going to work, SOMEBODY decided she needed to go out too! She wanted her "Boot" and went and got out her snow boots. Well, life became pretty miserable until the little lady's goal was accomplished! Daddy went off to work and Mommy finished up breakfast and got ready and out we went....




Miss Clara had a grand old time tromping around and enjoying the snow. She already likes "snow ball fights"!!! And Mommy made a feeble attempt at a snow man. Well, when Mommy decided to head back in... life again became miserable, for said little person, VERY miserable!

Well, what a winter it has been around here! I understand it's pretty normal to get about one snow or so a year that really sticks... and this is one was about the 5th! It's been a fun experience! And what a change in perspective Miss Clara has had! From not wanting to have anything to do with the HORRID stuff before Christmas... to wanting to stay out there as long as Mommy will let her!