Snow Day in Rim Country February 21, 2009
Posted by Shawn H in Family, Kids, travel.1 comment so far
We took the kids up past Strawberry to play in the snow, they had a great time and it was a fun day. The only unpleasant part was trying to get them to leave, they would’ve played overnight 🙂
Videos to be posted as well soon …
Happy President’s Day February 17, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Misc.add a comment
So where did “Presidents” Day originate? The law made the first observation of the Monday holiday for Washington’s birthday effective starting in 1971. That year, President Nixon proclaimed the holiday as Presidents’ Day, to commemorate all past presidents, not just Washington and Lincoln -although this was not the intention or the law passed by Congress.
So, although the federal holiday the US observes on the third Monday in February is officially Washington’s birthday, the popular notion and name for the holiday has evolved into “Presidents” Day.
Have a safe and happy President’s Day!
We are off to the Renaissance Festival…
Happy Valentine’s Day! February 15, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Family.add a comment
I picked up this beautiful card when I was visiting Germany during the Summer of 2006. I always thought it looked so romantic showing the different phases of love… lovebirds, marriage, family.
We had a very low-key Valentine’s day this year. I made yummy breakfast cake for brunch while Shawn set up my scanner/printer so I can do my art projects, and the girls watched valentine cartoons on the TV. I took a nap in the afternoon and then Shawn went to work. I made a dinner for my little sweeties consisting of pasta, garlic bread, and cookies for dessert. The kids were excited to have strawberry soda with our dinner. What a treat!
We gave the kids each a ‘webkins’ stuffed animal as their valentine this year. (Sarah is trying to tickle Felicity to make her smile for the picture which just made her more upset)
Since Shawn is sick and had to work, we will do our celebrating next week.
Christmas Eve 2008 February 13, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Family, food, Hollenbeck's, Kids.add a comment
Since we were spending Christmas day with my parents and wouldn’t see Shawn’s family at all that day, I invited Chip, Linda, and Stephen over for dinner on Christmas Eve.
Here’s my tablescape… The tablecloth came from a house we rented years ago. The previous renters had left a boxfull of Christmas stuff in the attic which the landlords told us to throw away but we were happy to keep it. The plates are TRADITIONS Holiday Celebrations by Christopher Radko (bought at Target)
For dinner we had lasagna, garlic bread, corn on the cob (Sarah requested corn on the cob since she got her braces off the day before), and spaghetti.
For dessert I made my Texas Sheet Cake (half with chopped pecans on top and the other half with out nuts) and some goodies from friends of Shawn.
Allyson, Samantha & Felicity had a table of their own.
Samantha & Felicity can’t get enough of their Uncle Steve
the girls sure do love their grandparents
Our family
after we all opened our awesome presents from Chip and Linda, we let the kids open one gift from us before heading to bed. Our tradition is that the present has something to do with sleep (quilts, blankets, pj’s, stuffed toy). this year the girls received stuffed animals and Shawn & I got new pillows to sleep on! Yay!
For the Love of Goats February 13, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Missy's childhood, pets.add a comment
My mom sent me these pictures of Beth and I as tiny little girls with our pet goats.
Here’s Beth wearing her Easter dress when she was 4 years old and playing with our Alpine doe, Nanny. We were visiting Oma and Opa at their cabin in Strawberry, Az.
We lived in Overgard when I was a baby. This is Billy, Nanny’s baby, with Beth and I. Beth was 4 and I was 1 year old.
When we lived in Pine, AZ Nanny had another baby. Beth is feeding him a bottle. I’m not sure why I was holding a Rice Krispy box.
Christmas Day 2008 “Handmade With Love” February 11, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Family, Kids, movies.add a comment
We have two Christmas morning rules at our house: 1~ don’t wake up the parents before 7:00am, and 2~ you can play with whatever Santa brings as soon as you wake up.
I usually make breakfast cake real quickly before we open the presents, but this year was different. The kids were so anxious to see “Bedtime Stories” that we decided to go see it as soon as we finished opening the presents! That was really the only time we would have a chance to see a movie as a family for several weeks because of Shawn’s work schedule.
Unfortunately, that meant we were eating hotdogs, popcorn, nachos, candy, and soda for breakfast. It was worth it though because we were together as a family, enjoying doing something we all like to do, and the movie was great too!
After the movie, we dashed home to grab presents and food to take to my parent’s house for our big family party.
The theme of the Christmas party this year was “handmade with love” which I am hoping can be a permanent thing. (hint hint) Every single member of the family is so creative in their own way. It was a huge success!
Right after we all were done eating our yummy ham and turkey dinner, Santa showed up with his bag of goodies! I had a little sneak peak of what we were getting because I played Elf and made 40 stuffed candy cane ornaments which “Mrs. C” embelished with the cutest German charms.
and she made a beautiful ornament for each family that included a picture of the children.
Later, we had the gift exchange… My mom made each family a calendar, a disc of scanned pictures from some old school readers, printed out some of the pictures for each family, gave us each one of the books, and a bag of pinenuts from my parent’s cabin.
My dad did a leaf print for each family. The are all the same, but each is unique with different colors. I got this gorgeous one with brown leaves.
Each of us siblings trade names and this year happened to be when my brother Joe and I gave to each other. He made the funniest movie of himself as a ‘storyteller’, and then gave us a bunch of candy to go along with it!
I made my mom a cute appliqued angel Christmas towel I’ve been making for the craft swaps I’ve been part of, a Fontanini ornament of the Holy Family, and threw in a bag of Harry and David’s chocolate covered cherries (for my dad)
I totally ran out of time to make something for Joe, which I feel terrible about… especially after he went through all the trouble of making that awesome movie for us! Sorry Joe 😦 I ended up giving him a cool Batman figurine, and a pound of M&M’s.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… January 27, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Family.1 comment so far
and all through the house, not a creature was stirring… except Mrs Claus. Come follow her around as she gets the stockings filled for her dear family.
This is the view from the front door. see all the cute handmade ornaments hanging on the garland that my loved ones made throughout the years.
Cute Annalee elves, deer, and snowman adorn the table with a tablecloth made by my Oma many years ago.
I made this wreath from a swag and added red German birds. can you see how it looks like a heart? snowflakes dance around on the wall, and the snowman Whitney made for me adds just the right touch to this wall.
Sarah’s stocking and stuffers
Allyson’s stocking and stuffers
Samantha’s stocking and stuffers
Felicity’s stocking and stuffers
The stockings I made a few years ago are all hung on the fireplace with Santa decorations on the mantle in honor of St. Nickolas leaving toys in stockings for boys and girls. everybody gets a book down below on the hearth. Of coarse the picture of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus hangs above the rest to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.
Our tree with the presents around it waiting to be opened.
And let’s not forget the reason for the season.
Friday Afternoons with Grandma Linda January 19, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Kids.1 comment so far
My niece Lanae goes to a school Monday through Thursday and my kids have half day on Friday, so Shawn’s Mom has the kids go over to her house every Friday afternoon.
In December, the kids helped decorate Linda’s Christmas trees and she took pictures of them for a special card making project for them to do a different Friday. Here’s the cards they made…
Sarah’s card has a picture of my girls and two nieces (Lanae and Lindsay), and of coarse Santa! Linda and I took the girls to the ward party at the church where Santa came to visit… the first time in 5 years… Santa had asked the ward activity leader if he had been fired since they hadn’t used him in so long. true story!
Allyson’s card has a picture of Allyson and Lanae decorating one of Linda’s Christmas trees
Samantha’s card has a picture of Samantha and Felicity decorating another of Linda’s Christmas trees
Felicity’s card has a picture of her decorating the little tree.
The kids have so much fun over at Grandma Linda’s house that they get sad whenever they can’t go!
We are so grateful to have both sets of grandparents live so close to us!
Yummy Goodies and Gingerbread Houses January 18, 2009
Posted by Melissa in food.add a comment
Every year, one of Shawn’s friends (at work) brings him a gift bag stuffed full of Christmas goodies that she makes. We look forward to these yummy goodies with great anticipation!I put all the goodies on my snowman plater so we could see all the goodies.
Allyson made this Gingerbread house and Samantha made the tree at school.
I bought these gingerbread house kits for the kids after Christmas. They had great fun putting them together! Sarah decided not to make hers yet. hmm, I wonder when she’ll make it?
Happy 2009! January 17, 2009
Posted by Melissa in Family, Misc.add a comment
OK, OK, I know this is two weeks late. I’ve been busy getting pictures ready to catch up on posting what we were up to in December. (I’ll post them later but first I’ll tell you about ringing in the New Year.)
Shawn went to the Insight Bowl! He road the new lightrail from Tri City Mall, all the way to the ASU football stadium. After the game, he went to the Tempe Block Party. sorry there’s no photos of Shawn’s celebrating… he forgot to take his camera!
The girls and I went to my sister Beth’s house. Everyone took appetizers to share, played board games, and some even played video games. Somehow we got Mom to try the guitar hero game. Yay, Mom!!
Right before midnight, people all over Beth’s neighborhood (including us) went outside with their fireworks, sparklers, and noisemakers…
Hmm, at least someone was kissing the new year in!
Jared and Jenny
Sarah went to the New Years Eve dance with Lucy and her friends. They all met at the friends house to do their hair and makeup before the dance. Lucy came home with BANGS!
Look at my beautiful daughter! and NO BRACES!!!!
The next day, the kids went out back and did some more fun popers.
I decided that my first goal for the new year should be cleaning up my sewing room. let me just say that it’s been 2 weeks and not much progress was made on this goal because Felicity and I got sick. But I DID take the Christmas tree down today!
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