Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ice Storm

So we had a big ice storm on Saturday which coated the south and east surfaces of everything outside with ice. It was pretty cool to go out and look around. Here is the siding above our back door. Eventually the ice was so thick that we couldn't open the back door and had to use the front door. You can see icicles every inch or two hanging from the siding. Pretty amazing, and the pictures don't do it justice.

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Bruce and Alice went on several walks to check out the winter wonderland. Every branch and twig was coated with a quarter to half inch of ice. The picture below is half-way through the storm, so it got thicker later. But you get the idea.

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Here is a view of the barn and house across the blueberry bushes. Every blade of grass was coated, so it felt like you were crunching dozens of little crystal stems with every footstep.

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Alice gets really excited about going on backpack rides. She is starting to say the word "baa paa." Here she is before one of our walks, all loaded up and ready to go.

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We also realized that we have never taken her sledding. So, we got out a laundry basket and improvised. Below is a picture of Faith pulling her. All went well until Daddy started going a little too fast and going in circles instead of straight ahead. Anyway, we found out that laundry baskets have a pretty high center of gravity and Alice found out what slush on her face feels like. But she was a great sport and insisted on "more!" (that's her favorite word, which she uses for everything, so we're not sure whether she really meant it.)


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Here she is after her first experience sledding, kind of happy, and kind of relieved it's over, and ready to go inside.


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Saturday, February 24, 2007

She stole their hearts!

ImageAlice and I went to a Valentine's Day party at a friend's house. It was pretty chaotic--17 kids and about 14 adults all crammed into a medium sized duplex. We decorated a valentine's box, made a candy necklace, and ate some yummy red velvet cupcakes and chocolate dipped strawberries. Alice preferred plain old pretzels though, which was fine.

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Here's Alice at home reading all of the valentines she got at the party. Her very very favorite thing was the candy hearts someone put in her box. I didn't have her open her box until we got home because it was so crowded, but I noticed that at the party she was going around snitching other people's candy hearts.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Chef Alice

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Alice is still enjoying cooking with me (especially the taste testing part). We made apple dip for a baby shower that I hosted on Saturday--she really liked that (recipe below). She helped me make chili tonite, which she just devoured. I think she likes eating things better when she helps make them.

Apple Dip
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup toffee bits

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate a couple of hours before eating.


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Her favorite play area is still under the sink. If I can't find something, I look there first! She also loves playing hide and go seek (she is always the seeker), though we have to cough a lot and bang on the wall so she'll find us. The other day I kept on coughing and banging and finally realized that she had gotten distracted and completely forgot about me.

The Secret Birthday Message

I woke up on my birthday and found a card that said:

The Secret Birthday Message
by Bruce Parkinson
(Based on the children's book by Eric Carle)

Go to the west-most room in the house...

Open the blind...

Sit on the couch...

Watch for cars...

Listen carefully...

Hear them HONK...

Figure out why...

Know that I love you...


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For dinner, Bruce and I went out to the Amana Colonies and had a family-style German feast. I don't know if I've ever seen so much food. My favorite part was the rhubarb streusel for dessert. Alice stayed with some friends from the ward and had fun watching Wallace and Gromit and laughing at their little boy Liam who did tricks for her.