Saturday, January 29, 2011

January

I can't believe January is almost over!  It has been very freezing, and mostly gray skies all month.  
I am so happy to say, we made it though without too much cabin fever!  
I decided to get back into quilting this winter.  I did a lot of quilting before the kiddies came along.  
I follow a lot of quilting blogs, and they inspired me to start again.  I love all the modern fabrics!
Most quilters now a days have expensive sewing machines to quilt with. 
I don't, but I really enjoy doing it the old fashion way. By hand.  
This took me about 3 weeks. It is only size of a small lap quilt.  
I love to have a project waiting for me at night after the kids go to sleep! 



This is a smaller doll quilt I made.


I love how this little quilt turned out!


My mom came at the end of the month for a week long visit. 
The night she flew in, it was very snowy. Ty went to the airport to pick her up. 
The kids were so excited that Nana was coming. They sat by the window for an hour waiting for her. 

She needed a vacation, and we had a very nice time. She helped me get stuff ready to pack up.


Zealand is learning the art of fly tying from him daddy.  He loves to sit with Ty and tie some flies!  
He uses his Thomas crane and Play Doh scissors so it is safe.  
When Ty was on winter break he would go get Ty out of bed everyday,
 and drag him into the kitchen to tie flies.
Zoey loves going to art class at school. This project turned out very cute.

We got to decorate this bear as a family for her classroom. Go Dawgs!
Zealand insists on pancakes every morning. He gets his favorite two Mrs. Butterworths, the Bisquick, a fork  and sits down to wait for his 6-9 pancakes.  I try to switch it up with french toast or waffles.
Thank heaven Nana bought us a plug in griddle for Christmas! It is a lifesaver! I can make 6- 8 pancakes at once!
He will not eat any veggies or meat so I really go crazy trying to think of things he will eat.
He is growing like a weed so the pancake diet must be working.


After pancakes he loves to watch Polar Express.  


Our backyard

Our Front Yard.  The city never plows side streets. Drives me a little crazy, but the Xterra loves it.

The kids showing off for Nana in the snow.


Is there anything cuter than a little kid in sleepers?

Zealand watching Zoey and the girls at gymnastics. I think we better keep an eye on him. 
He is a charmer! 
A lady at gymnastics asked if he was 3 or 4. I said he was 2 and 1/2 she was amazed. She said he talks so well and is so big. It is hard because he is still little in a lot of ways and is very tender hearted for  looking so grown up.


Nana took us to our favorite place to eat, Steak N Shake!  We are happy because we heard they opened one in Las Vegas.  That is the closest one to Utah. If PA school doesn't work out, Ty and I are going to open up a Steak N Shake in Ogden. 
 It would be huge hit!

Yummy!

After lunch, Nana took us to Chuck E Cheese.  I have to admit this is only the second time I have taken the kids there. I am a bit weary of germs, and Chuck E Cheese seemed a little frightening.  :)
 However, this one seemed to be very clean, and not crowded at all. The kids had a blast! 

Their favorite game is bowling. Zealand loves to wait for the ball to roll out.

He got a little nervous for some reason.  

He chased Chuck E around the whole place.

This kid LOVES music! He can sing just about any song he hears.  He loves to bang his drums, but we like it better when he strums quietly on his sister's guitar or piano.

Nana went and ate lunch with Zoey at school.

She has lots of cute friends.


She is such a good girl to pick white milk.
Her classmates are baffled why she doesn't get chocolate or strawberry. 
She is very good at making good healthy choices. 



It was No-Name Calling Week so they were supposed to wear yellow.

This little handsome guy is one of her best buddies, Marcell.  
At pick up time he comes and opens her door for her.

She is really going to miss her friends when we move in April. 
Her teacher said the kids will be sad to see her go.

Silly kids.




Zoey is doing a great job in kindergarten. We have so much fun listening her read all by herself. 
She has mastered her Dick and Jane books!  
At night, we have been reading chapter books aloud together. 
So far we have read: Stuart Little, My Father's Dragon Trilogy, and now we are reading 
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
It is fun because then we watch the movie together.  

It is very hard to believe we have about 80 something days left in Indiana!
I feel like we have had "the best of times and the worst of times" here.  
We are excited because maybe just maybe spring is just around the corner. 

 I guess we will see on Ground Hog Day! -Zara


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Christmas!

This was the first Christmas we spent away from our home in Utah.  It was wonderful!  We missed our families and seeing friends, but it will be a Christmas we will always remember!  We had lots of yummy treats, music, movies, board games, egg nog, and family time.  The kids were so excited Christmas eve! It is so much fun to see that magical look they get in their eyes on Christmas Eve.  It was interesting to talk to our families in Utah and hear about what they were doing. I was thankful to have so many wonderful memories of Christmas when I was a child.  My parents sent me a dvd with home movies and it was so fun to watch.
It was nice this year to have time to read Dicken's A Christmas Carol, bake some favorite family recipes, and spend time playing with the kids.  It is so wonderful to have Ty home from school.  It will be hard to let him go back!  He surprised me by making me breakfast in bed, vacuuming, doing laundry, and helping with the kids.  We each go over to the Butler gym each day, and it is nice to have some time alone.

We are very grateful for our families in Utah. They were all very good to us and helped us have a nice Christmas!




Christmas Eve







This boy LOVES to drum!  He is constantly stealing my spatulas for drum sticks. 
The noise  drives Ty crazy, but I think it is good for him.

Milk and Cookies for Santa

The kids did very well!

Santa had a little help acquiring this train table set from a neighborhood yard sale this summer for $25.00!  Zealand loves it!!

Ty's little pile

Don't you love our cozy fireplace?  
I told Ty all I wanted Santa to bring me was paper towel. I am always out and don't always have the money to spend on it.  Santa surprised me with 2 rolls! What a guy!


Grandpa Jon and Nana sent him the little tool belt!  So cute!



Ty was convinced he was the ONLY man in America who got Eclipse. 
 He kept talking about buying it so I thought we could both enjoy it. We had set a $20 limit on each other, so I cheated a bit by adding this :)

American Girl golden retriever

At Zoey's school yard sale this summer she found this dump truck for ZZ. She paid 50 cents and wraped it up and hid it in the basement.  He was thrilled and she was thrilled to have such a nice present for him.

Zoey knew that an American Girl doll would be too much to ask Santa for this year.  Deep down though I knew she really wanted one.  I gave her my Kit that I had put away. She was so happy!  

Santa sure makes a mess. 

Zealand loved the train table and cash register!





Talking to Grandma Sherry :)




He LOVES Chip N Dale

He almost went to sleep hugging his new friends!



He was in heaven! 






It was a wonderful Christmas! We are very blessed!
We always have so many photographs that one post takes up an entire page... please click older posts to see more fun adventures.
Thanks!

Our Family

Our Family

Fall Walk

Fall Walk
We love to go for walks around our neighborhood..