What's for dinner?

I gave this cookbook to Ryan for his birthday in December. I remember getting my first cookbook at around the same age...I couldn't wait to start cooking!

Ryan is going to be in charge of dinner one night a week....it can be anything but corn dogs (his favorite food group). This week he decided to make the dish on the cover.

Ingredients all ready to go.

I like this book because each recipe takes between 4-8 ingredients.

It also has photos of each recipe.

Stirring the pasta.


All done!

Thanks for dinner, Chef Ryan.

Now we need to discuss cleanup!

Caught...

...with her hand in the cookie jar!

Ember's Album

Some of you have expressed interest in seeing Ember's album. Cassie was kind enough to agree to letting me share it. Occasionally, the red is a little off in the photos and appears orange.

This is Cassie's blog post from Ember's birthday. You can read it here

Letters like these will be tomorrow's treasures!

The end.

This week...

Spotted! My long-lost husband a.k.a. CPA. He's putting in

long hours, but he also seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

For you BSU fans...he's been converted!

Monday night, we had our first card night. Five of us designed a Valentine's Day or Love card and then made kits. We met together and got to work making one card of each design. We enjoyed the beautiful cards, wonderful company and delicious treats. I'm only posting a photo of the card I designed because I don't have permission from the others to post theirs. Believe me, they were amazing! I highly recommend this as a way to use your stamps, learn new techniques and to just have an excuse to get together!

My two silly ones...a rare moment these days...just sitting together and having fun.

Emma's drawing of her friend Ember. I love the details that are starting
to emerge from her drawings.

Emma's second favorite thing to do is collect a large pile of books, sit on the

couch and slowly go through each one.

Her favorite thing?

To collect the same large pile of books, sit in my lap, and ask me to

read them to her.

One more quiet moment. In order for Ryan to get his Nintendo DS time after school, he has to read for at least 15 minutes. He's gotten so used to reading books very quickly. Now that he's moved up to the fourth grade reading level, it's taking him a bit longer.

I love that my kids love to read.

I did a bit more hand embroidery on paper. I know there's a shortcut - pierce the paper and draw lines collecting the holes - but I love how this turns out. Much more

dimension to the page.

(Sorry about the color...this paper really is a deep red, not orange)

Some of you might recognize the project that is up above from my sneak peak a few days ago.

I'm so happy to say that the 20-page scrapbook is now complete...I hope to put it in the hands of

the beautiful girls' Momma tomorrow. It was very refreshing to work on a project

that had a definite start and finish...not like the boxes of photos I have in my closet just waiting to be put into albums. Thanks, Cassie for sharing your girls with me this week.

*****

Mom and Dad came up on Thursday. Dad played with Emma while Mom and I made a quick trip to the bookstore and then the scrapbook store. One negative side affect of us moving so close to them is that I don't take photos of them with the kids nearly as often. I resolve to change that...I love photos of our every day life and

need to remember to preserve those moments.

*****

Our volleyball team, The Friendly Digs, had two games this week. Between the two games, a two-hour practice last Saturday and another scheduled for tomorrow, this is giving us all a pretty good workout! What I love about our team is that, even though we haven't won in a while, we all have fun, try our best and leave the game as friends. Bob acts as our cheering squad (thanks, Bob!) and all of the kids (all ten of them) love the chance to get together and play.

*****

That, in one semi-long post, was our week. This weekend, I plan on slowing down a bit...spending some quality time with the kids before I start another project...and spending some quality time with my husband (that might just mean keeping the kids quiet so he can get some rest after working both days of the weekend).

*****

Happy weekend to all.

Next week brings the last week of January and

Spring one week closer!

Brave Little One

It all started yesterday when I was talking to Bob on the phone, reminding him that Emma had a d-o-c-t-o-r appointment tomorrow (today) and that I didn't think she had to have any

s-h-o-t-s. Her little ears picked up, and she said, "No, I don't want to go there!" I asked where she thought she was going. She said that she didn't want to go to the G-P-S place. What?!

*****

This morning, after dropping Ryan off at school, we continued in the car on roads that were unfamiliar to her. She asked where we were going. I told her that we had an appointment.

She thought just for a second and then I hear this little voice from the back, "No, Mommy. I don't want any shots!" She's had a cold, so she just sounded pitiful when she started to cry.

*****

Our new doctor has a wonderful waiting room with a built-in playhouse, loads of sensory toys and a movie playing. She quietly sat down and started playing with the toys. A little while later I hear, "Mommy, is the doctor going to be here in just a second?"

*****

As we walk back, she's very brave. They weigh her (a wopping 31 pounds, 17 percentile) and measure her (40 inches, 57 percentile). Then, we head back to the room. As soon as the nurse and I enter the room, Emma's feet stop and they simply will not be moved. "Momma, I don't want to go in there. I think we should go home!" Finally, she flies into the room with a little help from Momma's arms.

*****

Rather than the regular high chair-thingy for the kids, they have a table set up at waist height. The nurse sits on one side with her laptop and we sit on the other. On the wall, hung with handle IKEA wire and clips is a wall of art. Some of them are colored, and Emma gets to pick from the blank pictures. She pics a butterfly, we sit on the opposite side of the table, and she gets to work. She answers all of the doctor's questions..."Yes, I have friends...Ember, Wyatt, Lucas, Elise." "Yes, I have a bruder, but he's at his school right now." "Of course I colored all of this and stayed in the lines."

*****

Then, a bit of delightful news. No shots! Aahhh, the world's happiest girl grins at me.

*****

The doctor comes in, and she's very pleasant. Emma likes her instantly. She has Emma play a few games with her, lets her listen to her own heart (Oh, did she ever love this! I don't think her play doctor toys are going to be sufficient any longer), checks all of her body parts, and then confirms that, once again, her cold has indeed turned into an ear infection.

*****

Emma's high tolerance for pain gets us into trouble sometimes, like in the middle of the night when she finally shows signs of a soar ear and it has already burst and, oh, the other is infected also. But today, once the dreaded appointment was over, she was so fun to be with. Her cold didn't bother her as we went to Target to buy a new pair of black shoes (hers broke on the into the doctor's office), to Michael's to buy an album for a special friend, to Office Max to buy a cordless mouse for Daddy, and then onto Fred Meyer for her prescription. She's such a little shopper. She loves to touch everything...and of course, had to smell every artificial flower at Michael's...and then I had to smell them, too.

There's something that I just

l-o-v-e

about my sweet little brave one.

Give Away Monday: An Awesome Book

at The Crafty Crow!

A Sneak Peak

Not too long ago, this very talented photographer took photos of this mama's

beautiful children. The results were spectacular. The personalities of the little

beauties have been captured...preserved forever.

As soon as I saw the photos, I shamelessly begged the mama to let me

create a scrapbook for her. She agreed.

Now, it's come time to start. Tomorrow night, I plan on taking these two with me

to the scrapbook store in the hopes of creating an album that their mom will treasure forever...because these are photos that will be treasured forever.

But I find myself a little nervous. What if I can't recreate what I see in my mind when I look

at the photos? What if she hates it but is afraid to tell me? What if my scrapbooking

takes away a little something from that which has been captured so beautifully?

Nothing ventured...nothing gained. Time to jump in with

both feet and see what happens.

Friends and Family

This past weekend found us with friends and family...the best place to be.

After school on Friday, Wyatt came over. He and Emma spent a little time building, a little time fishing and a little time spelunking in the secret room. Meanwhile, Wyatt's house was full of friends...we were so glad to get to see some old friends when we dropped him off. And...we took one of them with us!

We were so happy to have Jeannie spend some time at our house. We love the fact that we have now have room for overnight company! The kids had a great time playing with her. That evening, we went just 1/4 mile down the road for a fruitful potluck...good company, good conversation and, as always, good food!

On Saturday, the kids and I headed out to the country to spend the night with Mom and Dad. Bob, unfortunately, has entered his busy time of the year, so he had to stay home to work. Missed you! Ryan went for a motorcycle ride with Dad while Emma and I headed over to Ember's house. While the girls played, I satisfied my one-year-old cuddling fix and had a wonderful conversation with Cassie. My favorite subjects...the kids, crafting, reading, etc. She loaned me the books in my last post.

When I lived in La Grande while attending college and then when I moved to Portland after getting married, this is one of the views that I missed the most. Sunsets at Mom and Dad's Just about every night, you're guaranteed some kind of beautiful!

Saturday night, the kids settled down to watch a nature video. I was helping Mom with facebook and with her new blog (still under construction). I went in to check on the kids around 730 and found Emmalee in what looked like such a comfortable sleeping position. So nice what the clear, crisp country air does the kids...play hard all day, sleep hard all night.

We spent Sunday at Special Meeting. As always, I heard many things that will help me in the coming days. It was so nice to see so many "old" friends from the Ontario field and so many new friends from the Boise field.

An unexpected journey

Sunday evening, I embarked on an unexpected journey. I opened the cover of Twilight and

stepped into a little, often overcast, small town in western Washington. I met an individual named Isabella (Bella) Swan who was much wiser than her natural years. Through the 2442 miles (pages) that followed, I watched her grow into and experience many things. Most memorable was the love that she found with Edward, the love that you just hoped so badly would last a lifetime. Through Bella, I met an amazing extended family and was thoroughly amazed by the power of the relationships founded on love and respect.

This afternoon, when I closed the cover on Breaking Dawn, I was satisfied. Oftentimes, when I come to an end of a series, the write has already lost my interest due to lack of plot or I'm disappointed because a storyline was not resolved. This time, however, I was completely satisfied with the outcome of the story. Just in case you want to plan a visit with Bella, Edward and the rest of the family, I won't leave any details here. But, if you have a slow weekend coming up and someone to feed your children for you (the story is a tad bit addictive), take a trip with Stephanie Meyer.