3 of My Favorite Things

The grocery store had these cute little bags of gorgeous meyer lemons (the same lemons I grew on my little lemon tree, may it rest in peace), so I had to buy it and make something lovely. I remembered that when I was little, my home teacher, Brother Carpenter, had a wife, Lela, who made the BEST lemon meringue pies! They were my favorite. Then, I realized that my kids have never had lemon meringue pie! Well, I had to do something about that. This was very exciting to me. Making this pie is kinda something on my bucket list. I grabbed my America's Test Kitchen recipe and got to work, and the adventure began!

SUCCESS!!

Turns out, I don't like meringue! Oh well, it looks pretty, the crust was spectacular, and the lemon was superb!

Onto another favorite thing of mine...family sports outings. The family went to a BSU basketball game. We loved cheering them on!

And finally, and I mean FINALLY!!!, we got some snow in Boise! This morning at 7am, it started, and it just kept coming! How cute are Elliott's sunflowers covered in snow. They look like little snowballs.

By 8:30, the kids had their gear on, and they were out playing before heading to the bus stop.

Poor Archie, this is as close as he gets to the snow. If it would have stopped snowing for a bit, I would have plopped him in it for a photo op, but it just kept on comin!

After school, Elliott's first snowman.

PLEASE let this be the first of MANY snowstorms this winter...we love them!

Have I mentioned....?

Have I mentioned my son is a budding musical genius....?








Have I mentioned my son is sooooo cute right after a bath....?





Have I mentioned my son is equally as cute all gussied up for church...?





Have I mentioned my son wakes up in a better mood than anyone I've ever known...?










Have I mentioned my son has 4 itty bitty teeth that are my favorite things EVER ...?






Just though I'd make sure you are all in the know...

License to Drive

Archie is an amazing little guy. He is so smart, so curious, and so inventive! You can see him thinking, and figuring out, and then see him do, whatever it is he sets his mind to.

This week he has learned to pick up Cheerios and put them in his mouth. It is so crazy to see! The first time he tried, he looked at them and swung at them, then grabbed and went for his mouth. The next time, he remembered what to do and got to practicing again. The next time, he had it down. That's how he is with everything! He is so smart, focused and busy!

His favorite thing is his walker lately. All he needs is turn signals and a horn, and he is ready for the big roads! I watch him zoom around in it while I'm cooking dinner, and it is so funny! I have seen 3 point turns, and he reverses like it's second nature to him!

Today, when the kids headed off to school, he literally RAN after them and saw them off from the open doorway. He likes to head to the oven to pull all the towels off and then gaze at his reflection in the oven door. He also makes a run for the laundry room door every time is opens. I don't know what his fascination is with that room, but he gets in there, shuts the door with his walker and just hangs out in the dark. I think it's sad that he gets trapped in there, so I try to keep it shut. But, whenever it opens, you can hear his little feel running and see him steering his way in as fast as he can.

Here are some pictures.

You can see the pure joy of sweet freedom written all over his drooly, little face!

This is the view we see of him most of the time...the back of his head in a mad dash to somewhere he is running off to!

Family Fun Day

It was a day of family outings, and it was a great day. We went to lunch at our favorite pizza place, where the kids can make their own pizzas and then watch them cook! We had Elliott's friend, Bo, and Kristine, Jason, Maric and Rowan come along. After, we walked across the street to our favorite candy shop and got some yummy treats.

Archie tried some straw sucking. Mike said he put more liquid into the cup than he got out....gross.

That night, we all went to a local high school basketball game...Archie and I got to go this time!

Archie's first basketball game!

It looks like I altered this photo of Elliott somehow, but that's all him. Apparently that's how he looks with popcorn in his mouth and a smile on his lips!

I think we can safely say the boys loved it, and so did I. It was a great little family outing day.

What a Great Start

There is no better way to ring in the New Year than a little Taekwondo testing!! It was time for Elliott to test, and the masters thought he should, but I just didn't think he was ready. He went to class yesterday and he didn't get his full yellow stripe, so we weren't going to do it. This morning, however, Master Mia called and wanted to know if Elliott was testing....long story short, she convinced me to bring Elliott in and give him a little practice, and DO IT! So, it was so last minute that Mike couldn't even make it because he works, but Elliott did the work and got it done! There were 35 yellow belts testing, and we had to sit there for 2 HOURS while they all tested, but we did it, we survived, and Elliott is now a high yellow belt!

Here he is all geared up and waiting! Nice mouth guard huh!

The sparring testing is over, so the gear is off and he is waiting again!

One step sparring testing.

Form testing.

He just broke his board with a side-kick. Love the smile on his face.

After Korean terms testing, they all gather and bow to their parents.

To celebrate his accomplishment, we let him pick dinner and they get to eat at the Korean table in the tv room (normally forbidden), and I think that's the best part for them. Oh look, surprise, he chose McDonalds!

We are SOOOOOOOOO proud of him. It is so scary to get in front of so many people and perform, especially such last minute, and he is one of the youngest up there.

He is moving on up!

2011 Comes to an end...

What a year!!! Baptisms, babies, trips to Arizona, so much fun!!! I have loved nearly every minute of it. Archie is growing too fast, and Elliott and Lucy are getting smarter and smarter. I ran 4.5 miles, farther than ever, and Mike is serving for the first time in a leadership calling in the church. What a year!! Let me fill you in quickly on the last minute fun we had this year, then it is on to 2012!

While I was feeding Archie last night, I noticed that his eyes look EXACTLY like something I had seen before; Sliced black olives!!!

Just take my word for it, his eyes are the EXACT same color and texture as olives! I love it!

Lucy got to enjoy herself with Had Abogi and Rowan's Grampa Ron while I had my pink party. Looks like fun!

Lucy attended a Zumba fitness camp at the YMCA for a week during break. On the last day they put on the black lights and danced for us. That is Harmony and Lucy shaking it on the left.

We went to a local hockey game downtown , and the kids loved it! Mike and I loved it too, we will definitely do it again.

NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!! With a little baby Archie, a tired Mommy, and church at 9AM the next morning, we didn't really celebrate properly this year. There was no countdown or ball dropping because bedtime was at 8 o'clock! But, we did still have poppers and some innocent bubbly.

Archie was a little over-stimulated, I think...

CHEERS...

...AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!