Tuesday, March 3, 2009
February Newsletter
Tennessee Tidbits (February 2009)
by Bryan
Ashley turned one last week! She had a “Hello Kitty” cake and a few visitors over for her birthday party – one of our friends from Church desperately needed a babysitter for their two 1-year-old twins and 3-year-old daughter that evening. So Ashley’s birthday turned into more of a party than we’d originally expected. Walking finally clicked for Ashley around the middle of the month. In less than a week she went from crawling everywhere to walking everywhere. It’s amazing how quickly things change for kids that age.
Ashley, Colby, and Kristen are currently taking their Sunday naps. Sienna doesn’t take naps, so she’s sitting at her desk right now working on some project. I’ve been painting Mount Rainier off and on over the past several months – Sienna painted it yesterday with her watercolors. This afternoon she drew a picture, cut it into pieces to make a puzzle out of it, and then put her own twist on it by making it a “Memory puzzle,” where we had to turn over 2 pieces and try to put them together.
Colby is his usual self: playing cars, trains, legos, ball, etc. We went shopping for some hiking boots for Kristen last week and there was a little track going around the shoe section of the store. To entertain the kids, I told them they should run around it. By the time Kristen had bought her shoes, Colby had probably circled it 20 times – he was sweaty and red in the face. Ashley also circled it once (I was proud of her), and Sienna did it several times, but doesn’t get as excited about running around in circles as Colby.
Kristen slept the month away, so there isn’t too much to say about her. Hee, hee, hee. Actually, this is one of those very rare days where Kristen is having a Sunday-afternoon nap – it’s usually me taking the nap. Kristen is learning Spanish – we have little stickers all over the house reminding us things like “mesa” is “table.” She’s also been attending a weekly class taught by a lady in the ward. For about a week, Kristen and I were spending an hour each night working through a Spanish book. But it was a little too much for me. I’d like to learn Spanish, but I’m tired of memorizing things. Kristen also did several knitting and sewing projects this past month.
We’re learning Spanish in anticipation of our trip to Peru in the middle of March. I have a conference for two of the days, but we’ll have about a week free to ourselves to see Lima, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu. Kristen’s parents will be coming here to look after our kids while we’re gone. We’re looking forward to the trip, although we’ve been so busy with everything, we haven’t spent a lot of time working out the details. We’ll let you know how it goes in next month’s newsletter.
Love,
Bryan, Kristen, Sienna, Colby, and Ashley
Pictures from February:
by Bryan
Ashley turned one last week! She had a “Hello Kitty” cake and a few visitors over for her birthday party – one of our friends from Church desperately needed a babysitter for their two 1-year-old twins and 3-year-old daughter that evening. So Ashley’s birthday turned into more of a party than we’d originally expected. Walking finally clicked for Ashley around the middle of the month. In less than a week she went from crawling everywhere to walking everywhere. It’s amazing how quickly things change for kids that age.
Ashley, Colby, and Kristen are currently taking their Sunday naps. Sienna doesn’t take naps, so she’s sitting at her desk right now working on some project. I’ve been painting Mount Rainier off and on over the past several months – Sienna painted it yesterday with her watercolors. This afternoon she drew a picture, cut it into pieces to make a puzzle out of it, and then put her own twist on it by making it a “Memory puzzle,” where we had to turn over 2 pieces and try to put them together.
Colby is his usual self: playing cars, trains, legos, ball, etc. We went shopping for some hiking boots for Kristen last week and there was a little track going around the shoe section of the store. To entertain the kids, I told them they should run around it. By the time Kristen had bought her shoes, Colby had probably circled it 20 times – he was sweaty and red in the face. Ashley also circled it once (I was proud of her), and Sienna did it several times, but doesn’t get as excited about running around in circles as Colby.
Kristen slept the month away, so there isn’t too much to say about her. Hee, hee, hee. Actually, this is one of those very rare days where Kristen is having a Sunday-afternoon nap – it’s usually me taking the nap. Kristen is learning Spanish – we have little stickers all over the house reminding us things like “mesa” is “table.” She’s also been attending a weekly class taught by a lady in the ward. For about a week, Kristen and I were spending an hour each night working through a Spanish book. But it was a little too much for me. I’d like to learn Spanish, but I’m tired of memorizing things. Kristen also did several knitting and sewing projects this past month.
We’re learning Spanish in anticipation of our trip to Peru in the middle of March. I have a conference for two of the days, but we’ll have about a week free to ourselves to see Lima, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu. Kristen’s parents will be coming here to look after our kids while we’re gone. We’re looking forward to the trip, although we’ve been so busy with everything, we haven’t spent a lot of time working out the details. We’ll let you know how it goes in next month’s newsletter.
Love,
Bryan, Kristen, Sienna, Colby, and Ashley
Pictures from February:
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| Feb 2009 |
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
"Funny things are everywhere"
"Every day, from here to there, funny things are everywhere." (Dr. Seuss)
On Friday, after many requests, I made cookies with the kids. I had the hand mixer going, with both Sienna and Colby standing on stools at the counter “helping”. Ashley was holding onto my pant legs but let go and fell flat on her face, screaming. So I quickly turned the mixer off to bend and pick her up. I set the mixer on the counter, still with a lot of cookie dough on the beaters. Not missing a beat, Colby grabbed the mixer and switched it to on, with the beaters still in the air. Result: cookie dough everywhere! All I could do was laugh.
(This was actually taken last Sunday when it was Colby's turn to help with treats for Family Home Evening.)
Yesterday we went to Dunbar Caves State Park, near Clarksville, Tennessee. It was 36 degrees outside, but it was sunny and felt nice and we had cabin fever. So we needed to go somewhere. It was a small park. We started by feeding the geese and ducks at the lake. The caves were actually closed for the winter. The kids probably would have been scared anyway. So we kept walking around the lake.
We’d been there about 20 minutes when Bryan decided to walk on a tree that had fallen over onto the lake. It was hardly in the water at all. Then he got Sienna and Colby to climb out on it.
Three minutes later...
It was all great until Colby decided to walk back by himself. I was dancing around on the sidewalk with Ashley, afraid to watch but couldn't not watch. He actually did really well and made it almost to the end, but then turned around and fell in. It wasn’t deep and Bryan pulled him out, but he was soaked and cold and quite upset. It was so hard not to laugh, and I'm afraid we didn't try very hard. The best part was Sienna’s line immediately after: “I told you we should have brought our swimsuits!”
So that put an end to our outing. We went to a nearby Walmart to get him a change of clothes, then to Applebee’s for lunch. It was a nice outing, dip in the lake included.
On Friday, after many requests, I made cookies with the kids. I had the hand mixer going, with both Sienna and Colby standing on stools at the counter “helping”. Ashley was holding onto my pant legs but let go and fell flat on her face, screaming. So I quickly turned the mixer off to bend and pick her up. I set the mixer on the counter, still with a lot of cookie dough on the beaters. Not missing a beat, Colby grabbed the mixer and switched it to on, with the beaters still in the air. Result: cookie dough everywhere! All I could do was laugh.
(This was actually taken last Sunday when it was Colby's turn to help with treats for Family Home Evening.)
Yesterday we went to Dunbar Caves State Park, near Clarksville, Tennessee. It was 36 degrees outside, but it was sunny and felt nice and we had cabin fever. So we needed to go somewhere. It was a small park. We started by feeding the geese and ducks at the lake. The caves were actually closed for the winter. The kids probably would have been scared anyway. So we kept walking around the lake.
We’d been there about 20 minutes when Bryan decided to walk on a tree that had fallen over onto the lake. It was hardly in the water at all. Then he got Sienna and Colby to climb out on it.
Three minutes later...
It was all great until Colby decided to walk back by himself. I was dancing around on the sidewalk with Ashley, afraid to watch but couldn't not watch. He actually did really well and made it almost to the end, but then turned around and fell in. It wasn’t deep and Bryan pulled him out, but he was soaked and cold and quite upset. It was so hard not to laugh, and I'm afraid we didn't try very hard. The best part was Sienna’s line immediately after: “I told you we should have brought our swimsuits!”
So that put an end to our outing. We went to a nearby Walmart to get him a change of clothes, then to Applebee’s for lunch. It was a nice outing, dip in the lake included.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Art Mowseum
Announcing the grand opening of the Sienna Clare "Art Mowseum":
Visitors welcome, but remember, "Dontuch."
Visitors welcome, but remember, "Dontuch."
Friday, January 16, 2009
Brrrrr Cold
It's 2:30 in the afternoon and 18 degrees outside. Cold enough to make your hair stand on end.
Here's some pictures from our Christmas vacation and the rest of December.
Here's some pictures from our Christmas vacation and the rest of December.
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| Christmas Vacation 2008 |
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| Dec 2008 |
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Grocery shopping in style
Yesterday while I was sitting at the computer Sienna was behind me playing with my hair (I love that feeling). She stuck about 5 barrettes on top at random angles. I should have taken a picture. Then after the kids went to bed I went grocery shopping. I totally forgot about the barrettes in my hair. Tells you how much I care about my appearance these days. Luckily the store was fairly empty.
As a side note, if I put a link to this Food Storage Blog in my blog, I get entered into a giveaway drawing. So there you go.
As a side note, if I put a link to this Food Storage Blog in my blog, I get entered into a giveaway drawing. So there you go.
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