Happy New Year!!

 

Children's museum

We spent Saturday afternoon at the children's museum.
The girls played in the store

 

 

Built with dad

 

Painted

 

Worked at the Vet

Then they got to spend a couple of hours with cousins at Grandma Lovejoys. How much better could the day get?! Hannah was in heaven!

Our christmas tree cord-A little ridiculous?!

 

After putting 5 of these tags on in the factory, the guys must have thought, why not a few more?

It's Beginning to Look a little like Christmas

I fall in love with the Christmas season more and more every day as I see our girls get excited about EVERYTHING.
While the girls were on Thanksgiving break...
We set up our tree

 

Hannah made a special treat for our family night with M&M's and a beautiful decoration she had made with some of my scrap paper. Only a mother can appreciate such beauty in a 5 year olds creation!

 

Hannah and Katie painted some wooden ornaments

 

We made star sugar cookies and then with our extra sugar cookie dough, we added cranberries, walnuts and white chocolate chips. YUM!

Fun with Dad

 

Peter made a work bench and let the girls help stain it. He won the Best Dad Ever award that day!

Halloween

 

Hannah Fairy and Katie Cat. Couldn't catch Madi for a picture

Surprises at Parent Teacher conference

It's that time of year-parent teacher conferences. Did you have anything surprise you when you went to your most recent parent teacher conference?
Well, this was my first parent teacher conference of formal education, if you don't count the one I went to last year with Hannah's preschool teacher. I really like Hannah's teacher and am pleased that Hannah seems to be learning some new things and making great friends. It is nice to know that Hannah is well adjusted and having no problems in school. I was surprised however to find that one of the required shapes for the year was the Rhombus. What?!! By the end of the year Hannah should be able to recognize what most of us know to be a diamond as a rhombus. I don't remember when I learned that, but it was probably Geometry, so maybe freshman year of high school, although I'm sure I had to have been introduced to it earlier, but surely not kindergarten. I have been very impressed with Hannah's school and I think she is perfectly capable of learning what a rhombus is, but when Hannah has her testing at the end of the year, is rhombus going to be the first thought that comes to their mind when she sees a diamond? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

A Fun Filled Summer

We have had a fun summer, so fun that I haven't managed to blog for the past couple of months so here is a recap of what kept us so busy.

I painted the pillars and one wall in our front room and am trying to decorate the mantle in our family room.

 

Planting a caring for our garden that didn't fare well after too much hail.

I trained for a half marathon that I didn't run due to an injury I got with one of my feet.

1-2 hours of pool time each day (weather permitting-it seemed to be fairly cool this summer with a lot of rain showers in the afternoon, so we didn't see the pool as much as we would have liked.


Las Vegas for Peter and Kim: all expenses paid trip included airfare on a private jet. We saw the Blue Man Group, Cirque de Soleil "O", Jersey Boys, The Bodies Exhibit, and ate a lot of really nice food.


Flying W Ranch where we saw a horse being "shoed", Indian hoop dances, ate a chuckwagon meal and watched a show. One of the highlights of the summer. The girls keep asking when we can go back again.


Buckskin Joes railroad and cowboy town by the Royal Gorge. Not worth the money or the drive by me, but the kids had fun with their cousins and the scenery was beautiful. I'd like to go back if we could go hiking or white water rafting.


Canning Peaches, Pears and Peach Jam: Yum-Yum, We'll see how long they last.

Hannah started Kindergarten and Katie is in preschool. They both love school and we have all enjoyed the time that Mom has with each of the girls by themselves. Hannah and Katie are in a soccer clinic for a couple of weeks and love it.

A whole new world

 

Lately, every time Madison eats yogurt, she takes the first few bites with the spoon portion of the spoon and then switches to the other end. It must be a whole new world to eat with the other end of the spoon, because it happens every time. I finally was able to catch it on camera.

Photos of the girls

So I'm finally posting some new stuff. Thanks to Joyana we have some new family photos. I love the ones of the girls and thought I'd share a few.

Dinner ideas

My sister is trying to make a recipe book with photos, so together we are compiling the things we make each day with photos. If you're interested in some cooking ideas, check out our recipe blog at http://rose-myrecipes.blogspot.com/

This was our dinner tonight (spaghetti pie, french bread and a green salad, along with a sour cream cake for dessert (pictured on the blog).

 

SALIDA

Peter and I spent the day together in Salida last week. We rented some quads, which only made Peter wish even more that we had some of our own, but without a truck to haul them or a place that we could drive them, he'd be pushing snow with them all winter and the next thing you'd know he'd be riding them on the lots behind us, which we have seen people do, but also know of people who have gotten in trouble for that.
It was a great day. It was beautiful. Even despite the rain, mud, and cool temperatures. Who would you guess is the speed demon?






Yep, Kim has the need for speed. Peter enjoys the scenery at a nice pace, but Kim likes to go fast!!!! So if you ever want a fun activity, let us know and we'll come along.

How do you like our renovations

 

We are getting a new driveway today. After moving into our house, we realized the driveway was covered with footprints. We had to wait until it was warm enough for the concrete to set really well and this is the week. We wanted to make sure that if we ever sold our house, the new buyer wouldn't want us to replace the driveway due to the footprints. It is a very pricey venture. Now we should be covered.

A Good Laugh

We were going to have pancakes for dinner and we have a mix that we make up and use. Peter put the mix in a bowl and I added an egg, some water and oil. They seemed kind of thick so Peter added some water. Then he tasted them and said they were weird. I just mixed up the mix this week and we had it once already. I took a taste and spit it out. They were gross. How could the pancakes taste so bad? Then I looked in the cupboard and started laughing. Peter had used wheat flour instead of using the mix We weren't fans of the wheatcakes you see below.

 

This is what a good pancake looks like. Here is the recipe we use. It is really tasty!
Wheat Pancake Mix
6 cups wheat flour
1 cup sugar
3 cups white flour
¼ cup baking powder
1½ cups powdered milk
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups shortening
In large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. With pastry blender cut in shortening until mixture resembles cornmeal in texture. Store in airtight container. Use within 10-12 weeks. Makes about 13 cups.

Wheat Pancakes
1 egg, slightly beaten
1½ cups water
2¼ cups wheat pancake mix
Combine egg and water. Stir in wheat mix until just moistened. Cook on hot oiled griddle 3-4 minutes. Makes 15 (4 inch) pancakes.

 

Peter went on Hannah's school field trip to the zoo and took Katie along as well. They had a great time.

 

 

They can be such good sisters when they want to.

 

The girls helping plant seedlings for our garden.

 

Can you tell someone is having a good sunday?