Good Friday

We started out the day on Good Friday by making a red velvet cake! Yum!!! It was for Easter, but I wanted to make it ahead of time because we were planning to be gone most of the day Saturday.  The kids had so much fun licking the beaters!

 We went out to my parents house in the afternoon to celebrate with them.  My mom had almost everything all ready and we had a good time just hanging out.  :-)

At about 4 I helped my mom make grebble.  Perhaps you don't know what grebble is?  A little background might be helpful: my mom is 100% german and her grandparents came to America in the early 1900's.  It is a german tradition to have snitz soup and grebble on Good Friday.  Grebble is sort of like a donut but also like bread, deep fried.  And what, you may ask, is snitz soup?  Simply dried fruit, cream, butter, and allspice made into a soup.  I like it a lot but Mark thinks its not so good.  It must be an aquired taste...

Jeremiah

I was just looking back at old posts and realized how few pictures there are of Jeremiah.  So, here are a few newer ones for you to enjoy!

Jeremiah hates to have his picture taken so this face right here is his default setting when I get out the camera.

 But, every once in awhile he actually smiles!

 

A Very Great once in awhile...

Dollhouse Exterior

I have made some progress on the outside of the dollhouse, it is starting to look pretty good!  Lots more to go

but it's finally starting to look like a real house!!!

So... maybe it will be done on the outside by Christmas?  :-) Ha!!!

Grandma's House!!!

On Sunday we took the kids out to my parents house and they spent the night there.  We picked them up on Tuesday.  They all had a great time!  It was so great to have a break, I think I'm getting a bit burned out on life in general.  On Sunday Mom made tea for us and on Tuesday when we picked up the kids she made dinner for us all, a major job!  I am so blessed to have my folks so close!!!

Emmaline

Emmaline is my little model, she loves to have her picture taken!  So, here are some that I took of her this week. 

Josiah's Birthday

Are you ready for lots of pictures?  Yes?  Okay, here they are!

We started out the birthday with breakfast, donuts and milk, Yum!  Despite the look on his face Josiah did enjoy them...

 Josiah got dressed as quickly as possible, then sat in the living room waiting for us to finish up the dishes so he could open his GIFTS from us.  He was more than somewhat excited.  :-)

 

This is just what I wanted...

Then came . . . Party time!!! Here is a picture of his cake.  I made it.  It was supposed to be a fighter jet but somehow when I put it together it looked more like a regualar plane so I just went with it.  It was one of my easier cakes to make, only requiring about an hour and a half.  It helped that I wasn't picky at all this time, who cares if the frosting isn't smooth?!?

 

And then the fun part, blowing out the candles and EATING!

 

Then came more gifts... for those of you wondering, we like to give the gifts from us before the birthday party.  That way the kids have a chance to enjoy them before everyone else comes over.

Our Week in Pictures

We had a slow and quiet week here, not a lot going on for once!  It was very nice!  We went to a birthday party on Saturday but other than that just enjoyed life!  It was great to have an easier week for once!!!

A school project, we are learning about the American flag...Yum!

3rd Birthday party, what fun!

Hot Potato

Flowers from Mark, how sweet!

Spring is here!  My flower garden is looking lovely!

And again for the week, my favorite picture is of Micah! 

I used my new camera for some of the pictures, I'm willing to bet you can tell which ones!  :-)

Lunch and Airplanes

Yesterday we had a picnic lunch near the airport and watched the airplanes.  It was fun, although there wasn't much air traffic.  We hope to be able to go again soon.  :-)

Some of the kids weren't quite as "into" watching the airplanes...

Mini's!

In the past couple of weeks I have been able to make a few things for my dollhouse and I've really enjoyed it!  Here is the living room.  I made the couch from kitchen sponges.  I'm not sure I like how it turned out but it's a good place holder for now.  I also made the coffee table from scrap wood leftover from Mark's airplane.  I am pleased with how it turned out but again, I'm not sure if I'll keep it in this room or not.  I made the board game and box from patterns I printed off the internet, the board is not quite done but still looks cute.  I made the jug from a pattern I found on the internet as well, it is made of paper.  The flowers are made from tissue paper and are tiny, I will be making more to make the jug full of flowers.  I put up the pink on the walls for now but it is a bit much for the look I'm wanting in this room.  The flooring is a piece of scrapbook paper set down till I get what I want.  Dollhouse stuff is expensive!

A picture with my fingers to show how small it is...

My new camera

For my birthday I bought myself a digital SLR camera off ebay!  I have been saving up for several years and finally had enough to buy one.  I bought an Olympus E-410, it is a good camera for a beginner and also has live view just like on point and shoot cameras which makes it a bit easier for me to use.  I really don't know much about taking good pictures but here are some of the first ones I have taken with it and I'm pleased.  :-)

And here is my very favorite picture...