Serenade by Hannah
We went to Hannah’s first viola concert yesterday. This was an all district concert. It included all 4th and 5th graders from all 11 elementary schools. Hannah plays with the 4th graders because this is her first year to play. The school she went to last year didn’t have strings, so she was not able to play last year. We’ll have to work lots over the summer to get her caught up to 6th grade level for next year.
And here, you can listen to the concert. Nothing specific to her, but you can hear what level she’s playing on. You can’t really see her very well. We were using a cell phone. But, it’s kind of cute anyway.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)Ian’s Haircut {Photopress}
I know I said yesterday that I didn’t want to force him to get a haircut. But, it was just getting so shaggy!! But, I’m still not one for forcing someone to do something where I am holding something sharp, unless it’s a needle and it’s for factor. So, I resorted to bribery. He ate about 3/4 a package of Starburts while I cut. Olivia snuck in there and ate the other 1/4.
This is just before we started. He’s looking pretty forelorn about the whole thing. Really, he was just irritated I was making him wait for the candy while I took his before picture.
The official before picture, since his head was cut off in the other one.
And after. RIGHT after, as you can see, his clippings are still on his shirt. Couldn’t get them brushed off, so just had to change shirts.
After we changed shirts. I wanted him to look at me, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off the package with the last Starbust in it. It was sitting on the counter, right beside where I was standing. Don’t mind the blue on his face. That’s what happens when you shove candy in so fast, you miss.
Now he’s checking himself out in the mirror. He’s not really making a face at himself. He’s chewing. Those Starbursts are chewy and take some effort. Shortly after this, he decided to look at the chewed up Starburst in his mouth. I’ll spare you those pictures.
Filed under Photopress, Stacey | Comment (0)Stylish Hannah
Hannah came down for church the Sunday after her birthday, looking all cute in one of her new outfits, so I had to take a few pictures. She’s quite the model.
And just for fun, here’s one I took of Ian. He desperately needs a haircut, but doesn’t feel like letting me, and I’m not that inclined to force him.
Thanks for looking!
Filed under Stacey | Comment (0)Hannah’s Birthday {Photopress}
Here are pictures from Hannah’s birthday celebration.
Waiting patiently for Jonah to go hunt down Noah, who was off in the neighborhood playing with a friend.
Her pile of loot!
Ian thinks he’s quite the reader already. This is a postcard sent to Hannah from her orthodontist.
This is a very cool gift from Grandma Judy. She put together a photo book that included many of the things she’s saved from Hannah over the years, starting with her birth announcement. There are pictures, cards and other mementos. It’s really just a gorgeous idea. She sent one to Emily last year, too. Just fantastic!
Ian really is quite convinced that any gift opening is his business to be involved in. Thankfully, Hannah was patient and accomodating to his desires.
What’s really funny about this picture is that all she’s seen at this point is a plain, white box. She seems very excited about that box.
That box contained an outfit that looks totally cute on her. I suppose I should take a shot of her wearing it. I’ll try and get to that. Next, she opened at dry erase calendar board. She specifically asked for this. Not sure why, but she asked and G&G Rainer delivered. She also got two books that she’s very excited to read, and some markers to go with her calendar.
This is the bottom part of another very cute outfit. This one from G&G Kramer. They also sent her an emerald ring that she loves.
This may seem a strange gift for an 11 year old girl, but she requested it. Along with the dart board we gave her. When we last visited Aunt Darcy and Uncle Lance, Uncle Lance took her out to play with a bow and arrows. She REALLY enjoyed it, and Uncle Lance was sure to tell us how great she did for her first time out. She’s been talking about archery ever since. So, we located a youth set for her. Now we just need to locate a safe place for her to practice.
Now the cake. My archery lovin’, dart throwin’ daughter chose to have a pink cake. She didn’t ask for pink. She asked for strawberry icing. She got pink. I’ve never made a layer cake before, and was quite happy with how this one turned out. I’m also quite happy to have a lens that gives me such a shallow depth of field, so you can’t really see all the junk on the counter behind the cake.
Hannah with her cake.
This is my favorite picture of the day. Just love it in black and white. I’m also loving all the muscles in her arms. This kid is built for sports.
Pink on the outside, but yummy chocolate on the inside!! Incidentally, pink and brown is my favorite color combination, so I really like the way this cake looks.
After all of the celebrating, she wanted to try out her new dartboard.
Pretty darn good for her first throw!!
Finally, after seeing all we gave to Hannah, I thought I needed to show her what she’s given me. I’ll share with you, too.
I think I’d like to return this gift.
Filed under Photopress, Stacey | Comments (2)Happy Birthday, Hannah!
Hannah is 11. Her birthday was actually yesterday, but Thursdays are always very crazy around here. Tom’s birthday was on Thursday, too and he didn’t get to celebrate on the day, either. Hannah was very sweet and was content with waiting until today. I baked cupcakes this morning for her class. Tom took them in this afternoon. When she came home, she told me everyone loved and said they were the best cupcakes. Yeah, Mom & Pillsbury Doughboy!
Before dinner, we let her open her gifts. She’d already waited an extra day. She didn’t need to wait until after dinner and cake. Besides, I wanted time for Tom to take care of the “Some assembly required” item before he had to go to work.
Here are three videos of her opening her gifts. They were taken with Emily’s phone, so they are phone quality, but still get the job done. The first is the gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Rainer.
Here is the package from Grandma and Grandpa Kramer.
Here are her gifts from us.
Pictures to follow in the next post!
Filed under Stacey | Comments (2)The Maternal Lens
This is a pretty cool photography blog put together by five moms who take amazing pictures. They run contests and are currently running one for a Matilda Jane outfit. I think Olivia would just love it since it’s so girly and she loves to dress girly. So, here’s a post promoting it to get me another entry. Cross your fingers for Olivia!
Filed under Stacey | Comment (0)Yummy Birthday Dinner
On every birthday that happens in this house, except my own, we have a “Birthday Person’s choice” meal. They can choose whatever they want for me to cook for them. Tom chose stuffed shells and olive cheese bread. I took some pictures while Emily, Hannah and I prepared the meal. Yes, I am aware of a glaring omission. Of course, there should have been a Ceasar salad. I just dropped the ball. I’ve got so many of them in the air, it’s really no surprise when one hits the floor. Anyway….
These are the olives. You can’t have olive cheese bread without olives. The last time I made this, it was too salty. It turned out perfect this time. Not sure what was different.
These are green onions. See? While we didn’t have a salad, we DID have something green. And even something that grows in many gardens. I’m not sure I’d compare the nutritional value to say, broccoli, but, hey, it’s the best I could do tonight. So, now all these olives and the onions get mixed with butter and mayo. There are not calories of fat gram in birthday dinners.
There’s also cheese mixed in. Yes, more fat. But, hey! Calcium, too! Aren’t all the colors pretty? Next we spread it all on healthy sprouted grain bread, because that’s the best kind for you.
Ok. Not really. It’s bad for you, way processed white French bread. Birthday dinner, remember?
While I was making the bread spread, the shells were cooking. Also, Emily was mixing the filling for the shells. I was too busy with my bread and I forgot to take pictures of what she was doing. But that’s ok. I like it when my kitchen work is miraculously done for me. And that’s how it looks in the pictures.
Here’s the bread, all spread and ready to go into the oven. I could almost just eat it like this. But, I didn’t. Except that little bit that fell off the bread. No one really missed it, so it was ok.
It was at this point, once I put the bread in the oven, that I realized I had neglected my girls. So, I grabbed a quick shot of the last step. The shells are already stuffed and in the dish, with marinara sauce dumped all over the top. Emily is putting more mozzarella cheese on top.
Tomato stuff gives me heart burn. I’m sure it’s an age thing. I used to eat spaghetti like twice a week. Now, maybe once a month. It’s just rough on me. So, I prefer alfredo sauce on my Italian dishes. To accommodate my old stomach, I also made a white dish. Stuffed shells covered with alfredo.
While the shells were finishing up in the over, the bread got done. Now the cheese is all melty. The bread is warm and crispy around the edges. Way yummy!
Sausage Marinara Stuffed Shells – because they have sausage in them, and marinara sauce. Obvious, I know. This is how Tom ordered his dinner.
Cheesy Alfredo Stuffed Shells – again, obvious. They aren’t as pretty to look at. Very monochromatic. Not bright like the other ones. These had no meat and used alfredo sauce. Just the way I like it. And Emily. And Olivia. She ate like 5 shells. I was full after 1 1/2. But I had bread. Olivia didn’t.
So that was Tom’s plate up at the top. This is my plate. The lack of salad is even more glaring here. Yes, I know there are 4 shells on my plate. I really did only eat 1 1/2. Olivia just wanted a half to start with. That’s funny. Anyway, I realized I’d gotten too much, so I cut one in half and gave it to her. Then I ate one and ate my bread. I was just as stuffed as the shells, so I put the other two back in the dish. Hey. It’s just family. You can do that when it’s family. As it turned out, those two were very shortly eaten by Olivia, along with a couple of others. So it all worked out.
So that was Tom’s birthday dinner in pictures. Next time, I’ll make salad.
Filed under Stacey | Comment (0)Happy Birthday, Daddy!
This is what Tom looks like now that he’s 36. SUCH and old man!!! Hm. Maybe I should have made him gray in Photoshop or something. :o)
Once I took a picture of Daddy, Ian insisted I take one of him. It’s only fitting that “picture” be one of the early words that he’s mastered.
I’m not so sure the choice of packaging is appropriate here. Ok. Just kidding. :o) The box doesn’t matter. Just going to recycling. But it is probably the only picture that will ever exist of Tom opening a box marked Dell.
Ian is totally into opening presents. He was very excited to be right there, helping Daddy.
Yeah. More laundry to wash. But that’s ok. Anything for my metroman!
It’s actually a very cool shirt, and amazingly enough, he didn’t have along sleeved navy shirt. I thought he had everything by now. I was wrong.
Yeah!!! They DO have cuffs!!
When you’re a kid, it’s all about the presents. But, when you grow up, you actually READ the cards.
Ian finally getting in on the action. Yes, I know there is marker on his leg. We did it on purpose. It’s to distract you from all the ugly bruises. Really.
Ian is reading the card, too. That’s right. Our 2 year old can read. OK. So maybe not. Maybe he’s just looking at the pictures.
The kids have developed a tradition. See, they don’t actually have jobs where they earn money. So, they will find something of their own, wrap it up and give it to the current birthday person. This one is from Hannah.
Cool snowflake chain. We are glad this is the only kind of snow we are seeing anymore this season.
You can see all around him, the things the kids made for and gave to Daddy. This is an airplane that was delivered by air mail, from Noah. I tried to take a shot of the plane coming in for a landing. Tom had a funny look on his face, and he missed the catch. However, the low light capabilities of my camera are stinky and I refuse to use flash, so it didn’t turn out.
Tonight, we are having stuffed shells, and Pioneer Woman’s Olive Cheese Bread for dinner. He will get his gift from us then, too. I’m not telling!! You’ll have to wait for the pictures sometime this weekend…..I hope.
Filed under Photopress, Stacey | Comment (0)