Wednesday, August 13, 2008

six amazing beautiful crazy fun busy lovely years

On Sunday, August 10th we celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary!


Still having fun (or being dorks?)


Ronan & Sadie serenaded us with the ornamental trumpets. :P

After the birthday celebration, Kevin & Outi took Finn so that we could have the whole night to ourselves. We started by going to see the new X-Files movie.


I thought this was a good picture of my new haircut.


After the movie, we had dinner at a new restaurant in town called La Perla. Yumm! Authentic Italian Pizzas! They were certainly the most authentic we've had since our trip to Italy, the summer before we were married.


La Perla from the outside.


My husband


His wife


Pink drinks! Blackberry & strawberry Cremosas!


Oooh...so tasty!


The sky was so pretty on our drive home. We had a great evening & it was so nice to go to sleep whenever we wanted without worrying about when Finn would wake up. He slept over at Mummi & Pappa's house, so we were able to sleep in. So lovely. :) Thanks, Kevin & Outi! It was a treat!

birthdays galore

On Sunday (August 10th), we celebrated Becca & Kenton's birthdays at my parents house. They were out of town for Kenton's actual birthday, so another celebration was in order! ;) Plus, we had not celebrated Becca's birthday yet. We had a yummy Mexican feast & brownies for dessert!


Finn helping Dad blow the candle out.
Becca's hair looking SO long!


Cohen & the birthday girl, about to open gifts.


Happy Birthday Becca! We love you!

cool digger!

On Saturday, Gretchen called to tell us they had a digger at their house! As soon as Finn woke up from his nap, we zipped over to check it out. Definitely a hit! Griffin & Finn did a great job sharing the steering wheel! :)


So excited!


A small piece of little boy heaven.


Finn watched Uncle Josh & Ronan drive the tractor.


Then he got a turn too!


I think it was a little loud for him because he was done pretty quickly & just wanted to ride the backhoe that's just his size. :) What a great experience. Thanks for letting us check it out, Ruddicks!

Monday, August 11, 2008

scandi fest

On Saturday, we went to the Scandinavian Festival in Junction City with Carolyn & Jesse. It just so happened to be Finnish Day, so we were extra excited to be there...though there didn't really seem to be anything particularly Finnish about the day. :)


We got there just in time to see 2 of my former preschool students dance! They did really great & Finn really wanted to join them on stage. It was hard to keep him still so we took turns walking with him.

I took him up near the stage & let him dance to the side. At one point, the dancers turned to each other & clapped their hands together. Finn turned to me quickly & tried to copy the move & clap hands with me ! It was pretty cool to see him interested in what the dancers were doing. The youngest age group is 2-5 year olds, so maybe we'll sign Finn up next year! :)


Cute costumes!


Mama & her dancing boy.
I tend to be the one taking pictures, so I always enjoy seeing through someone else's eyes
(Kenton's, in this case)

my first class

On Thursday night, we held a graduation ceremony for our kids that are transitioning to kindergarten. This marked the completion of my first year as the lead teacher in the morning class. I was feeling a little emotional about it all day but when the ceremony started, I was just nervous so it all worked out. I don't usually talk at our graduations but this year our afternoon teacher (Angie) was in Louisiana watching her son play in the little league World Series. She's the one who runs the show usually, but that night it was me. :| My co-worker Becca helped though, so that was great!

I would love to post photos of all of my cute kids & their graduation caps (that didn't stay on well) but due to confidentiality, I cannot. Boo. :( They're cute. And I will miss them all!


Kenton & Finn were there too!
Finn got a kick out of cheering for the kids for a little while. Then he was done. :) My mom, Gretchen & her boys came at the end which helped entertain Finn.


Matthew, Katrina, Jacque & Becca
Serving the yummy food: pizza donated from Papa's Pizza & a ton of cupcakes made by one of the parents from the PM class!


My team: Tamy, Matthew, Katrina, Jacque, & Becca
(hiding our gloved hands) :)
We missed having Angie with us. Things ran pretty smoothly though & we had a great turn out. Becca & I always joke that every year we say that this is the biggest graduating class ever & it ends up being about 12 every year. But this year was actually the biggest we can remember having - there were 8 graduates in the morning class alone.... I think between the two classes we had 15 kids graduating. Woohoo!

And now we all get to enjoy 3 weeks off to reboot for the fall! I do love my job!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

croquet!

On Wednesday evening, we broke out our croquet set for the first time & played with Carolyn & Jesse. They were with us when we drove all over town looking for the best deal on a croquet set, so it was fitting that they helped us break it in.


Jesse took an action shot of Kenton "clacking" another ball.


My artsy shot. :P


An example of what we were up against during the game. ;)
We attempted to distract Finn with a little ball & mallet of his own, then we took turns holding him/spinning him to keep him from picking up the balls or crying for me. He did pretty well & we managed to get two games in!


Reaching "up high" for apples from our tree.


Not quite ripe yet.


While we played croquet, blackberry cobbler was baking inside. Yumm! A great use for the blackberries from the Chase's yard. This was my first time baking cobbler & it turned out great. It really is the easiest thing in the world to make. I'm so glad I finally tried it out!

blackberries

On Monday evening, the mamas took the kids to pick blackberries while the dads worked on a project at the Ruddick's new house. We were all a little overwhelmed as we prepared all 6 kids for the walk to Gram & Grandpa Chase's house, but once we got moving we had a great time.


Sadie did a pretty good job picking berries....she did an even better job eating them! I think Ronan helped her eat some too. :P


Gretchen & Griffin


All of the kids enjoyed snacking on berries while the mamas attempted to fill our buckets as quickly as possible.


Finn & Griffin looking pretty worn out. They stayed pretty quiet the whole walk back. Notice the cool backhoe that Finn's holding tight. He found that at the Ruddicks & wasn't letting go.


The whole group, minus me. Actually we picked up an extra - Lydia. She, Dylan & Grammy Ruddick met up with us to pick berries & Lydia strolled back with us.
Back Row: Tyler (blurry), Gretchen, Sadie & Becca
Front Row: Finn, Griffin, Ronan, Lydia & Cohen


Mama & Finn.
I was satisfied with my big bucket of berries & was already planning a yummy treat... :P

Monday, August 4, 2008

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

***Read previous blog for further explanation***


Bacon chocolate chip cookies-
(this is for a FULL batch)

3/4 cup butter(It has been suggested that using 1 full cup of butter works best due to cookie dough dryness)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon hazelnut (or almond) extract *Edit- It has been suggested that the almond flavouring may be overpowering to the flavour of the cookie, feel free to add this ingredient to taste*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg (It has been suggested that using 2 eggs works best due to cookie dough dryness)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups bacon bits (if preferred, you can separate the dough into two parts and only make half of the dough into bacon cookies, in which case you'll only want to use 1 cup bacon bits)

*An important note- Be sure to use real bacon bits, not Bacos *See large print at the bottom of this post*

Also, you can make your own bacon bits, just make sure you pat down the bacon chunks with paper towels to remove as much extra bacon grease as possible. *Edit* one of my readers made their own bacon bits and found out that apparently it takes about 2lbs of bacon to make 2 cups of bacon bits, just for future reference.

Directions-

preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Beat together the butter, sugars, flavouring and eggs until creamy. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together. Dough will be slightly soft. If you want a cakier cookie, add another half cup of flour. Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits. Stir until well integrated. Place dough on a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate at least an hour. Remove dough from fridge, pinch off 1 1/2 inch pieces of dough and roll into balls. Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls slightly with your fingers in the center.

Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack while you ready the glaze.

Maple cinnamon glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon maple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon *edit- it has been suggested that 1 teaspoon may be a bit much, so go ahead and add to taste*
enough water to make a thick glaze (I used about 3 tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk.

Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie and top with a small piece of crisp cooked bacon.

***Created by a friendly blogger lady named Andrea on her former blog : Never Bashful With Butter. I'd give better credit if I knew anymore about her. :\

my favorite day of the year

Fair warning: there are a lot of photos today. Bear with me.

Kenton's Birthday. My favorite day of the year. The first two photos make me smile. This is the standard expression from Kenton when he opens gifts:


A little family resemblance! :P

Finley & I gave our gifts to Kenton before church, first thing in the morning. We have a hard time waiting. :)


After church, Kenton's parents & grandparents treated us to lunch at one of Kenton's favorite restaurants: BJ's! Yumm! (Notice the assortment of books intended to keep Finn happy...it kind of worked.) :\


The best part: Pizookie! Kenton is also showing off the magnetism in Finn's little backhoe. Cool, huh? :P

We went home for Finn's nap & got everything ready for a last minute BBQ with friends & family. The highly anticipated dessert was by Kenton's request:



Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
! (For reals!)
Kenton found this recipe on a random blog one day & decided he had to try them. He believes the theory that everything tastes better with bacon. After trying these cookie, I might (*might*) have to agree. :)


Working the barbeque at his own party.


Our friends & family gathered in the backyard for dinner.


Kenton got to have the first cookie!


Looks pretty tasty!


Inside the house we had Rock Band set up. There was a pretty constant stream of rocking going on. :)


Finn even had a turn on the drums. Not bad!


My love & me!


Our family.
(Finn is almost 21 months)


After the party, Kenton let Finn try some sparklers that we had left over from the 4th of July.


I like this photo. The lighting turned out nicely...if I do say so myself. :P