Portland

We've been here less than 24 hours and I've taken more than 150 pictures. Prepare for a picture overload sometime this week! This morning we went to a lacrosse game, Bob's Red Mill, and the Columbia Outlet. This afternoon was all about napping, jumping on the trampoline, and watching basketball.

Happy Saturday

Zaz's 4th Birthday

I just found this in the drafts. 'Tis long overdue. Uncle Chip, Aunt Janet, Kelley, Hannah, and Abby came to help celebrate. We had a potluck at church after the service and so brought cupcakes to share. Zaz was ecstatic about his gifts. An Indiana Jones hat, cowboy gear, yard toys, a Swiss toy bus, and many other fun things.


I attempted to make some cupcakes from my cupcake book, Hello Cupcake. The beginning stages...


The Wonder Dogs from Jupiter. And yes, they resemble their cousins, the schnauzers and chihuahuas. How observant of you!

Christmas Tradition

So it's not Christmas anymore, but it's never too late to share!

In 2006 we started a tradition of making Christmas dishes. Mommy wanted Christmas dishes but she didn't want to spend lots of money. So we've started making our own! We missed 2007 but we've done it for three years - this year we took pictures.

My 2006 Angel.

And My 2008 Snowflakes. I seem to have a blue theme.

Looloo has built up the Nativity scene. In 2006 she started with the stable, Joseph, Mary, the Shepherd, and the baby Jesus.

In 2008 she continued it with the three magi.

Mr. Pete has the Christmas tree...

With the presents under it.

The Zaz wasn't even one in 2006, so he had his first mistletoes...

And reindeer in 2008.

On the back of each plate, we put our hand print, name, and age. Last year, the Zaz was allowed to decorate the back of his plate as much as he wanted, because his hand was already on the front.

With eight plates, we started on mugs this year. Snowflakes, the Nativity, Angels, and a winter wonderland.

When asked what he wanted on the inside of his cup, the Zaz said, "A black snake." Mommy agreed and there you have it.

In case you can't read it, which is very possible, as the lighting was bad, it says, "He shall crush the serpent's head!"

We now have a joke in our house, "There's a dead snake in my cup!"

Mr. Pete opted for a more cheerful inside decoration.

New Year's Eve

We had a lovely fun New Year's Eve at the bowling alley with lots of friends!

Even Mama bowled!

The shoes were really nice and Zazzy especially liked them, as he eagerly
asked, "Do we get to take the shoes home?"

We regretfully had to tell him "no."

Zazzy's bowls took several minutes to get down the lane,
and the employees had to rescue several balls.

Mr. Pete-za threw some hard ones!

This is one of the few instances in which Zazzy
actually watched the ball roll down, usually he ran back
to check the screen and grab the next ball.

Celebrating LouLou

Time to remedy a long lack of posting! May 2009 is fleeting by, but while April is not yet a too distant memory, I'll share a few happy memories of LouLou reaching double digits at her 10th birthday. 

But first, some memories from a little further back…

May 1999 – one month old

December 1999 – eight months

LouLou’s First Birthday

Fast forward nine years to Birthday Morning 2009.  Manuski has a birthday tradition of building names out of Legos. This time, it got a little more elaborate as he built an entire springy scene. 

Close up of the Springy Scene. LouLou is seated on the bench to the left while Zarli is bringing her a giftie in a wheelbarrow!For lunch with some friends we had bunny cupcakes. I wish I’d taken a photo of all the bunnies lined up on the platter! At our little family party, there was a cake with a chicky popping out of an eggshell. On Easter Day, we celebrated a little more with extended family. 5+5=10, get it?  Easter is such a nice time to have a Birthday! Happy Ten, LouLou! Ten beautiful Golden Years.

 

I’m Twee!

My baby turned three and we had a little party to celebrate. Instead of Thomas the Tank Engine or Racecars, it was decided that we would have a Tropical Party, because let’s face it, Mama really wished she were somewhere like this:

...instead of rain and sleet soaked Washington. Uncle Tonton and Auntie Lele were just in a place like this on vacation, and by golly we were HAPPY for them! And by faith we LOVE the damp and cold! Sigh.

So anyway, back to Mr. Zazzy…Here was his cake:

Living vicariously through Mr. Lego

Twee Years Ode... A Big Boy!

The best thing after cake

Blas-Fix Egg Blower

Cuzzy asked what an egg blower is. When we were little, in order to get hollow Easter Eggs, we had to blow them out with our mouths. Sometimes raw egg yolk would ooze out onto your lips, and sometimes you'd forget and suck instead of blow. Yuck! It was really hard on my sinuses and made my ears hurt too. And we weren't even worried about salmonella yet!

So the Germans, who love to celebrate Easter with pretty things, came up with a nifty little pump to empty your eggs and clean them out, making only one hole in the egg. Here it is.

A Wonderful Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas full of fun, family, and laughter.
On Christmas Eve we went to our Christmas Eve service. To me and mama it doesn't feel like Christmas without a Christmas Eve service, so even though it was snowy and wet, we made out of the house. After the service we had some friends over for a late dinner type thing.
Grandma and our Uncle and Aunt spent the night of Christmas Eve with us. Christmas morning we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast of aeblescivers - like pancakes only smaller, round and hollow.Yum! We then turned to the massive pile of presents under the tree.

Mama opens her beautiful table runner from Tata.


The zaz studies his lego-train thingamijig.


Peter is thrilled about his helicopter "that really flies!"



Somehow we didn't manage to get any good pics of me, looloo or papa. But we were there.


Mina