Sunday, January 24, 2010

Faster, Mama Faster!

There's something enchanting about an outdoor ice rink.


Mae and Max managed to squeeze together onto our old purple saucer. Hold on tight you twin cuties!


I'm warming up for my camel spin. And the crowd goes wild! (I did hear Mike cheering for me....)



Here's Max, pulling his new Christmas sled. The children loved being pulled around the ice or chasing after a sled containing a squealing sibling.


It was 34 degrees the day we hit the ice. Too nice.


What's Cookin'?

A simple play kitchen, darling chef hats and some cute aprons were under our Christmas tree. Quinn's been trying his hand at flipping an egg w/o a spatula. The technique: to gently flick the wrist forward and then back towards you in a quick circular motion to roll the egg over.

OK, here goes!

Upsy-daisy!

SPLAT!
Keep practicing, Mr. Q.
A delecatble omelet is worth all the spills.



And now, a few foodie jokes for laughs;

Q: How do you make soup into gold?
A: Add 24 carrots

Q: What does an astronaut put on his sandwich?
A: Launch meat

Customer asks, "Do you serve crabs here?"
Waiter replies, "Yessir! We'll serve just about anybody."

Q: What's the worst thing about being an octopus?
A: Washing your hands before dinner.

Q: What did one plate say to the other plate?
A: Lunch is on me.
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Pampering

For Christmas, my Mom gave me a Bee Bar. It's a wonderful creation; a hand & body vanilla scented lotion bar that you "apply frequently on dry skin, hands, elbows & feet". Mae found the bar in my bedroom and was fascinated with it. She carried the Bee Bar around all day, moisturizing her own hands and who ever came near her.



Quinn's willing for a little lotion rub to help smooth his rough Minnesota winter cheeks. :)



Funny thing, I didn't tell Mae that it's used to soften rough feet, she just KNEW! I think I may have a budding beautician on my hands here. :)


This Bee Bar, filled with shea butter, beeswax, sweet almond oil & cocoa butter has brought us hours of pampering fun. Great gift, Mom!
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Sunday, January 3, 2010

Don't lick anything metal

Our thermometer quit. When I woke up this morning to get everyone ready for church, it was reading -23 F. Some time while we were at church, the sensor couldn't take it any more and refused to work until we brought it inside and rested it next to the stove.

With that in mind, we've been doing a few things to make the most of the cold weather. There's a gymnastics gym in town that had an open house last week. All three of the kids had a blast. Quinn loved jumping into the foam pit

but was seriously distracted by all the action going on around him.

Max and Mae both loved it too. We're constantly looking for more things to do inside while the temperature is so low. To make freezing temperatures a little more bearable, we picked up a little hobby over the past week: making lanterns out of ice.



The neighbors had all sorts of explanations for what we were doing in the backyard, until we finally had a few frozen globes to show for our effort.


Quinn and I took some time a few days ago to make the frozen orbs candle-ready (using this great hand drill and auger I picked up at a garage sale last summer. Here's a testament to buying inexpensive tools even if you don't (yet) have a purpose for them).


Tonight, we lit candles in all of them and they look quite wintery on the front porch. I picked up some tips along the way from a woman in Minneapolis that does an outstanding job of making carrying a 50 lb water balloon in zero degree weather seem easy.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy Holidays!



Christmas 2009!
A few things I enjoyed about Christmas Day;
awesome food (think: eggnog creme brule w/ fresh grated nutmeg), our sweet family (kids at Christmas are the cutest!), great company (Jan & Justin + their 2 little ones = good times! Wish I would have snapped a pic of us, oh well :), a beautiful blanket of snow, time in the kitchen creating tasty dishes with Mike (you are my best friend dear, I love you!), peace, quiet moments, and the many natural conversations about Christ that occurred at different times in our home (this last one happened many times throughout Dec, not just on Christmas Day. It was special for me to actually discuss Christ's birth with my children this year. Every morning (well, almost every morning) I would read from Luke 2 and my three would ask questions and repeat the story to me. I was amazed at how much they grasped. I felt the spirit of God in our home several times while eating Cheerios with my children. It was wonderful. :).
Our last Christmas in Minnesota was a good one.
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