New year, new start...

Happy 2015!

So much has happened since my last post; way too long ago!! 

I'm going to try again...this blog business. This might be a good place for me to write about happenings since I'm wanting to decrease my time on Facebook. 

In a very tiny nutshell...

Kendra is in preschool and loving it. But we have a meet and greet with the Kindergarten crowd already next weekend. 

Twins are 3 now and three times as active...x 2. Pretty soon we're going to start individual sleep-overs at Grammie and Papa's house for them. They haven't spent a night apart since we brought Kenzie home from the NICU when they were a week old!

Brian just got done with the Xmas season rush and starting to get back to somewhat normal. But what's normal?? When he gets home at a different time every night... Next thing on his list of projects is to dive back into our remodel, which got pushed to the back burner during the holidays.

We are renovating the whole downstairs portion of the house. I'll be posting more about it as we get back into that. SO excited for that to get DONE!

And I'm just trying to keep my head above everything. :) Life is busy and interesting. Hubby gave me a FitBit for xmas so that has been an inspiration to get moving. Now I can see how little I actually move during the average day. ;) I've also started experimenting with essential oils and I'm really liking what I see. I've stopped taking meds for my many headaches bc I can get rid of it with peppermint! I stopped a coldsore before it even got started. And the girls have not been sick since I've started putting some oils on their feet every day. Crossing fingers and knock on wood...!

Even tho this pic is from an amazing photo shoot earlier last year, I still use them and look at them a lot. :)

Hope to be in touch with all of you on here a lot more! Patience my friends...she's a slow learner. 

Much love, Sue et al.

13th year of the 21st Century...

Obligatory kid pictures... :) Taken some time in Dec.

We also had some fun taking home family pictures...interesting experience with two babies that like to go to bed at 7 pm and with using the remote on the camera, there's no one to make them smile on the other end.

This was also the evening before Jo moved to Australia, flew out early the next morning.
Thank goodness for Skype, Kendra's new favorite thing to do.

 We had a nontraditional X-mas dinner. Seafood feast! BBQ Salmon, home made crab cakes, cold dill marinates shrimp, cold crab pasta salad, and grilled asparagus. Amazing...

 Over the holidays, we had most of Brian's family here. Merlin and Tina came from Shanghai for a couple weeks, as did June from Montana and Don & Barb from Eastern WA.
We rented a vacation house over New Years, a four day weekend at the beautiful Fern Hollow in Sequim. An amazing 5 bdrm house, each with their own bthrm, a dream of a kitchen, and fabulous grounds. It is set up more specifically for weddings and retreats as the grounds are perfectly manicured, endless photo op spots, a nice barn with in floor heating...need I say more?!  It was spectacular.

 Kendra actually made it to midnight! Yes, that's a PullUp on her head...

~~~~

I also want to share a recipe that I've come to love. Super easy and refrigerates well to be an easy breakfast in the mornings, just spoon out what you want, heat, and enjoy. I usually make double and freeze half...I like to have ready food on hand. :) I also added Chia seeds this last time and that worked very well too. I've tried dried apricots, raisins, and pears as well but apples, craisins and almonds have become a favorite. 

Hope you enjoy it too!

Baked Oatmeal

2 cups Old Fashioned rolled oats (Instant oats will be far too mushy)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups warm milk (softens the oats a bit)

2 eggs - lightly beaten (I usually do 3 or 6 for double)

1/4 cup veg. oil

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

1 med. apple - chopped

1/2 cup craisins

1/3 cup sliced almonds

cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Core and chop the apple, skins are optional but do become soft with baking.

Mix the oats, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Mix the milk, eggs, veg. oil, brown sugar, and vanilla together in a separate bowl.

Then mix the oat mixture and the milk mixture together and pour it into the greased baking dish. 

Swish your mixing spoon around the dish a bit to spread the oats around as they tend to stay in the one spot when you pour them in.

Sprinkle chopped apples, craisins, and sliced almonds evenly over the entire dish.

Finish with sprinkling the cinnamon on top, to your taste.
Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Happy New Year!

Love, B, S, K1, K2, and K3.

Twins 1st Birthday...

Kenzie and Kayla

Kayla

Kenzie

Kendra, Kayla, Papa, and Kenzie

Abuela and Kenzie

Kayla and Sandi

Kendra got a doll house from Auntie Jo since she won't be here for Kendra's birthday in Dec.

Get ready...

Set....

GO!

She won't know it's me if I look the other way, right?

Excuse me...?!

Even the dogs joined the party!

And....the after party...

Up up and away...

Last xmas, dad bought mom, Jo, and I a helicopter tour of downtown and we finally cashed in!

Amazing to see the city I've lived in for almost 20 years from this new and very cool perspective.

South end of Lake Washington, looking north.

Seattle from the north east.

Husky stadium under construction.

UW campus.

Lake Union.

Seattle from the northwest.

Space Needle. Notice they're painting evergreens on the top.

Seattle's newest attraction, the Seattle Great Wheel.

Seattle from the south, with Safeco and Century Link fields in the foreground.