Chef Rylie?

The other day Rylie was holding a stick and an apple by the pellet fireplace in our house and came up with a great idea. She thought she would put the apple on the stick and cook it in front of the fire. She worked on that for about 20 minutes. Then she decided the apple was too squishy (she had dropped it about 100 times off her stick, we taped it and everything and it just wouldn't stay on). So then she decided to peel it and cook it on the stove. After peeling it, by herself, she had me cut it and up it in some water on the stove.

She is doing this while I am half paying attention, trying to finish a project befor dinnertime.

Then she says she needs some sugar to cook it in. She tests the apples several times before deciding they were "done". Then she wanted to put some bread on them and eat it. This is when I started to pay attention and suggested adding oatmeal on top with some butter and brown sugar. Then we cooked it for a little while longer in the oven. She pulled it out of the oven by herself and was very excited about it.

We ate it for dessert and it was quite good!

Welcome to Wyoming

We have relocated once again. It is lucky Wyoming this time and we are only 2 hours from Mt. Rushmore. We have bought a home and hope to settle in here for a few years. I love the little town so far and we have already made some great friends. The schools are great in Wyoming and especially in our district so I am excited for Rylie to have a great start next year.

Yes, it has already snowed! There were about 6 inches of fresh show this morning and the kids keep saying it is Christmas. They want to go play right now, but they all have coughs and I won't let them out for more than this picture. They used to New Mexico and Arizona where it is gone by the afternoon. I keep telling them there will be LOTS of snow to play in everyday this winter. It is supposed to snow more this week and get into the 40s. Wow-Welcome to Wyoming!!

Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the cute birthday outfit.

(We still just can't stop talking about it!)

PS. I finally cut his "wings" off this morning before this picture.

Happy Birthday Zach

I think he is the cutest one year old around!

Rylie, Mason and I sang Happy Birthday to him about 10 times during the day. Once while we were in Walmart (that was Mason's idea) and Zach waved at everyone we passed with a big grin on his face like he knew what was happening.

We invited Zach's favorite people over for cake. They are the family that helped us sooo much when we first arrived and Zach loves them. He wants Elizabeth, the mom, to hold him everytime he sees her. By the time we got the cake out he was ready for bed, but soon perked up when he realized he could eat it by himself. The best part was when he started spreading dirt pudding all over his arms.

The birthday singers

This is a caterpillar cake with dirt.

Not exactly what I had pictured in my mind, but it still tasted good.

It was Rylie and Mason's idea.

LOVED spreading the pudding on his arm.

HATED the bath to get it off.

Zach took his first official steps two days ago!!

We have "walking" time every night before bed and boy do we have a helpful crowd. Rylie and Mason are so proud of him when he goes a couple of steps, they cheer and cheer. Zach took those two steps and then gave us the biggest grin of accomplishment. It was adorable!