Ethan turns 13th - Happy Birthday!

A call first thing this morning from Hamilton, NY! Grandma and Grandpa sing to Ethan, wishing him a Happy Birthday!

A letter from Grandma Judy (and a call later in the afternoon). He loved getting the phone calls!

Evyn drew the design on this card and had a wonderful greeting on the inside! All original! I was very pleased myself, because it was also a school assignment from last week. To make a card for someone. Wish you could read the words. It really was well done. (In case you can't see the drawing, it's a dragon.)

Amber bought Ethan a pack of gum (kiwi pie) and also gave him a lollipop and $1. The cash was to go toward his savings for an iPod.

Can't go wrong with a Magic deck I guess. Ian helped me pick it out. It has an angel on the front card, and it just so happened to be the one card he was hoping for!

Right after Christmas I had to go to Target for something and they were having a sale. The kids really like this game, Munchkin. I had intended on saving this game until this coming Christmas, but was unable to get to the store I wanted to shop in for a different Munchkin game. So, Ethan ended up with this one. Here's the rub ... he already knew about it as he had already seen it. I think he was with me when I purchased it and I asked him to forget it. He even asked me about it a few weeks ago. I told him, forget you ever saw it, okay? He had a big smile when he opened the gift this morning :)

Yesterday Ian and I went to Fred Meyer to pick up some cake making supplies (for another friend's cake) and I wanted to duck into the toy department to see if they might just happen to have Munchkin, which they didn't. But we saw this Angry Birds game. The kids really like to play this on the iPad/iTouch/iPod. So, with only a look between us, we knew we had to pick it up. Ethan couldn't wait to start playing the game, but Sandor arrived and it was then time for the Magic game to start.

Sandor also came bearing gifts. He gave Ethan a storage box, a new die, and two cards with which he'd have to learn how to employ for his deck.

Sandor told Amber to make Ethan a crown, that the birthday boy had to have a crown. So, she made him a crown, which he wore through most of the games today.

Our birthday boy requested vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting. I still had frosting left from the Valentine cookies I had made, so that was perfect. However, I did add a twist and made a lemon filling. Each of these cupcakes had a hole in the center filled with a lemon filling. Amber piped the frosting on top.

Ethan had been so intent on playing he had forgotten to eat his sandwich, which I didn't know. I brought out the cupcakes with lit candles only to find he'd just started eating his sandwich! He had a bite in his mouth, so he "blew" out the candles by wafting his hand in front of them. It worked!

Lastly, the gift I have been striving to complete. A sweater hat. I have a book I borrowed from the library with lots of neat knitted hat patterns and the kids all selected a few choices they really liked. This is one of the ones Ethan selected. It was fun making it for him.

Fisherman Knit Sweater Hat -- ha-ha!

It's wool! I instructed him, no tossing this into the washer and dryer! It should keep you plenty warm!

Beading projects

Last weekend Amber wanted to do some beading and I needed to complete another order of stitch markers for the local yarn shop. Amber made some earrings for a friend, plus two that were "ordered" by her friend's teacher. Amber finally got paid for the earrings this week, but only after the teacher saw them first. She made $8! Her friends also liked the bracelet she made (above). We go the big beads (4 animals and 4 big balls) at Joanns for $7.99. The other beads and findings we had on hand. The charm bracelet kit was one of the items I had given to her for her birthday. She designed the bracelet herself and I did the pliers work.
This is the latest batch of stitch markers I made for Debbie Macomber's A Good Yarn Shop. I also have an order placed for 100 stitch markers for this spring's South Sound Yarn Crawl. After a brief meeting with the shop manager yesterday, I now have a direction to go in to begin creating their signature stitch marker for the annual crawl. They will be similar to the top row of markers pictured here, but with some small changes to make them unique. Less bead work, but an enhancement on the bottom to add the SSYC touch.

Buzzzzzz Cut!

Ethan has been asking for a hair cut and he likes it cut short. As we are not in recital mode or anywhere near a recital, we decided to cut his hair at home in his favorite fashion ... SHORT!
This is how much hair he had before we started.

Number 4 in front. Business up front ... party in the back? Nope! He wants it all off!

Using a number 4 on the sides first. Need to get the mob off before fine-tuning.

Ready for the number 2.

Daryn wanted in on the action and took over with the number 2 and shaved him down. That boy has a duck tail that would put Fonzi's to shame!

Done!

Clean up time. First the boy gets vacuumed ...

then the floor!

40 pounds for $60

We were contacted by our friend Liz Fredrickson (scouts) about whether we'd like to order some chicken. Costco quality, 40 pounds and $60. It was a good bargain for us, saving about $100 from future commissary grocery bills. Daryn cut the chicken breasts apart, made them into appropriate sized pieces, cut off the fat, and I bagged and sealed them. Our sealer has paid for itself for sure! We ended up with 13 packages of 6 serving sized breasts per package, 2 packages with 4 in it, a package of 12 tenderloins, and 2 packages of tidbits or nuggets for soup or pot pie or whatever.

Snow People 2012 ... and Gronkle

Ethan and Ely Dawson making their Snow Gronkle.

The beginnings of Ian and Evyn's Calvin and Hobbes creation.

Gronkle completed.

Evyn's armed with the ice cream scoop.

Ethan and his gronkle close up.

Ellie and Amber and their Snow Lady.

Ian and Evyn's creation. The one has an ice cream scoop sticking out of his chest and the other holds a bowl of ... well ... ice cream? Nope, it's part of his pal who has many scoops taken out of it! Their friend, Aaron Mahiou, helped them complete it.

This is what the house looks like AFTER they come in.

Where are the boys? Playing the Wii, of course. The girls? They had their cocoa and went back outside to make a husband for their Snow Lady, but couldn't lift the snow. They are currently making snowballs with the ice cream scoop! I think a snow war will ensue before long.

Big Blizzard of 2012

This was yesterday afternoon.

This was this morning.

Same shot as yesterday afternoon.

King of the snow piles.

The entire drive ... from road up to past our driveway and heading to neighbor's house.

Queen of the snowflakes. Never thought I'd wear my tap class costume again ... leg warmers and jazz pants really helped in keeping me warm. I had on all three pairs of my pants today while shoveling.

Nanook of the North! Ethan in my old Icelandic jacket.

Nanookette! Everyone lent a hand.

(More photos to follow later.)

Happy 11th Birthday to my littlest munchkin!

Grandma Val found a very nice pillow at the annual Tea and Sale. Little children dancing ... how appropriate for our little dancer! It graces the sofa in the living room now for the next time she's ready to cozy down with a movie.

Grandma also sent another treasure. A ring that once belonged to her mother. Amber was very touched that she was given this pretty ring. It's an heirloom passed to the fourth generation. What a special gift!

Amber invited her closest friends to spend the afternoon with her. Sarah (left) just had surgery prior to Christmas, so wasn't in school yet. Ellie (top left) and Carsyn (bottom right) are both homeschooled. They brought their American Girl dolls and had a picnic. Later, after all the festivities the girls got out the Barbies and had a fashion show. I didn't get any photos of that event.

Amber decided she wanted her friends to help her decorate her cake. Initially her cake was going to be two layers, but we ran out of ingredients ... like powdered sugar ... so no two-layer cake. However, she did fulfill one of her merit badge elements for AHG and that was cutting cake and piecing it to make another design. She designed a butterfly. The original recipe design called for a Twinkie in the center for the body, but it was loaded with color dye, so she fashioned one out of the other circular layer. This frosted butterfly was too decorated for Evyn, but we had just enough frosting to dab on a portion of the remaining layer so he could enjoy some cake, too. Amber made the cake and frosting: white cake and lemon frosting. Very refreshing.

The body of the butterfly is graced with almond chocolate orange section. She got this from Santa and I thought it was pretty special she shared her chocolate orange this way. She only gets them once a year from Santa. Sadly, two of the girls didn't like the piece of chocolate and it was tossed. Oh well. There was also a decorating accident, but they made up for it by throwing on everything else from the decorating box!

Later in the evening she opened her gifts after a special request dinner. We had stuffed shells with fresh homemade ricotta (thanks to Daryn) and homemade sauce (from the freezer). It was REALLY yummy. I found this pretty gift in Poulsbo before Christmas. It says, "The angels danced the day you were born." I thought it quite appropriate.

I also made a sweater for her doll. Her comment when she first opened it, "Oh, a Hobbit jacket!" Nope, I said, it's for your doll. I'd worked on it just about all day Dec. 24 in hopes she could have it for Christmas, but I just couldn't get it completed. It still needs a closure, but she may decide she likes it without. We shall see.

While Daryn was making the ricotta, Ian and I went to Silverdale to pick up this game we had heard about earlier in the afternoon from one of the girls' moms. It's really fun. We started a game about 8:45 or so and had to continue on this morning. However, some were not happy they weren't doing well and put a real damper on things and I called an end to the game altogether. Oh well, another day.

Lastly I got Amber a little case of jewelry making supplies as she really enjoys designing and making earrings. I thought I would foster her creativity. We'll see where it leads.

Then later this morning Amber got a call from Grandma Judy. They had a wonderful chat. She loves to get phone calls.

Happy Birthday, baby girl. I love you!