Family Prayer

Anne said our family prayer this evening. Grandpa reminded her about some families in the ward that need special prayers. This was how her prayer went:

"Thank you, Heavenly Father. And Bahnka tell me something, but I can't remember..."

No wonder Heavenly Father and Jesus love children so much. All the adults had the giggles when she was done.

The Birthday Girl

I can't believe that my baby is no longer a baby really. She is now a year old. Where does time go?
Isn't she cute!



I think first birthdays are one of my favorites to celebrate. And that is because of the cake tradition. We got her down to her diaper and gave her her own piece of cake. It has to be chocolate, for 2 reasons...chocolate is the best, and it makes the biggest mess.

She was the most aggressive with the cake out of all our girls so far. The first 2 went at it kind of tentatively at first, then got into it. But Katie went into it so quickly. She took large handfulls too.
I love how messy they get. They love it too.

Mommy got to take pictures and videos. Daddy had clean-up duty. I just love birthdays.

Food Names

Jared had an interesting conversation with Anne the other night. By the end of it we all had new names. And she still uses them. Here they are for your enjoyment.
Jared...this is his favorite brand, by the way.
Kristin

Anne

Alicia

Katie

Grandma

Bahnka

Rike

Richy
We had a prefect one for Robby too, but now I can't remember it. I guess I need to come up with some for my family now.

B-day Party

Here are the pictures of the couples dinner for my birthday. Not all of them could be there, but we had so much fun. It was actually my very first birthday party with friends.
I was so fascinated by the fellow baby. She kept smiling, trying to hug her and just loving the company. They are about 6 months apart. I can hardly remember Katie being that small.


Jared had tried to surprise me. He ran to the store for all the food items while I was taking a nap. I can down and they were making excuses for the food they were preparing. I kind of, but kind of not, suspected something. Then Chrissi called. Jared was on the other phone so he just handed his cell phone to me to answer. Chrissi said that they were running late, but were on their way. Well, that gave it all away. I ran up and got my self all beautified.

We just did a simple buffet of finger food and noodle salad. Thanks Richy and Dad for all your help. That pie you see there is a Linzer (someone correct me on the spelling) Torte. It was my first time ever having one. Oh so delicious. I so need to recipe.


We played some Wii. We had made little Mii's for each of our friends. We had lots of fun doing that. And of course the men loved that the most. Here is Daniel and Jared playing Baseball. Isn't my hubby so cute.

I loved the conversation and laughter the most. It was so wonderful to know that I have so many friends. I have never had something quite like this before. Only ever had a few friends at any one time in my life. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much. I really rely on all of my friends...all around the world, since I am so far from my family. And my hubby is so sweet to arrange this for me.

Yet Another First

Anne had her first day of Preschool this past week. It was a day delayed by her visit to the hospital.
I am such a mean mother. I make her wear these suspenders because belts do nothing to keep her pants up. Suspenders are the only solution. And her hair was so cute until we put her hat on to go out in the cold, thus her "fabulous" do.

She is doing so wonderful there and really loving it. I feel bad for Alicia though. She so desperately wants to go too, and cries each day when we drop Anne off. It interesting to see how the dynamics of the house and schedule is different. It forces me to organize my time so much more efficiently, it is a wonderful feeling to get so much done, but still be able to have personal time with the girls.

Oh the Horror!!!

This is a bit delayed but...oh, well.

Jared gave me the best gifts for my birthday. First off, he let me sleep in and took care of the girls the morning of my b-day. It was so nice to be able to hear the girls, jostle Jared, and roll over to go back to sleep. Actually, I was amazed the he would hear them as soon as I would. I guess when he knows it is his resposibility he listens for them like I do, if not he won't hear a thing.
Jared had the girls help him make my b-day breakfast. I came down and found a wonderful traditional English breakfast (my favorite). And on my plate was this beautiful rose (also my favorite rose) and scroll. The scroll was another one of my gifts.

Rike made me a WONDERFUL chocolate cake. I am still waiting for the 2 recipes, Rike! And of course, the girls helped her...


...by licking the bowl and the spoon.
Here is the finished product. It is probably the most beautiful cake I have ever had. And boy was it rich! I needed milk to go with.
We were all surprised to find out that the candles were trick candles. It took forever to get them to stop. We did the cake after Anne and Alicia's dinner and before the adult dinner, so they could have some before bed.

I requested steak and potatoes for my b-day dinner. Here is my appitizer of steak and potatoes before the main meal.
A couples days after my b-day Jared arranged for our friends to come over for dinner, conversation and a little Wii. I have pictures of that, but they are still on my camera. I will add them later.
All in all it was a great b-day.

Sledding and More Sledding

We had lots of snow the week before Christmas, that gave me hope for a white Christmas. Sadly, it melted. Then week got snow the week after and it is here to stay. That is just cruel.
Jared and Richy took the girls out to play one evening. There's my little surfer!

A couple days later we were invited to spend the afternoon with Jared's uncle and family. We had some wonderful chili and vegetable soup. Then more sledding was on the agenda. They had a wonderful hill behind their house. I stayed with Katie. I was warm and got a small nap while snuggling with my baby. Doesn't get much better than that.

The sledders had so much fun though. They even had some old-fashioned sleighs. Anne and Alicia had to tell me all abou them.

Katie is sitting with Jared's Uncle Bernd. I was surprised how at ease she was with them. No shyness at all. She is also waving now. For her it means "bye-bye", "nite-nite", and "hi".

Aunt Heike loves being a great-Aunt. I remember how excited she was to be an Aunt when Anne was born. She is one of my favorite people in the world.

I loved this picture of Bernd showing Anne and Alicia nativity.
We are so blessed to have family close.