Z Good Life

snow

We had a lot of snow last week. Well, not as much as some people. We live a little above sea level, so we tend to get less than everyone else in town. Still, it was enough for a snowman, a snow fort, and some sledding at a friend's house!

I love the look on the boys' faces! Thanks for having us over, friends!

Jay and a couple of friends piled snow in the back yard, packed it tight, and dug a hole in the middle. We sent this photo to my mom, who is in Brazil for 6 weeks!

It was really too cold to play in the snow on the 3rd day. The Northeast wind kicked up a huge fuss and brought with it some super cold Arctic air. When it's 16F outside with the wind chill, it's WAY too cold to play. The very cold temperatures ensured that road conditions were too dangerous for school, so we had 4 snow days -- much to everyone's delight! Erich was on vacation, which meant we all got to spend more time together. Win/win situation!

marching band

Summer's knee problems and subsequent surgery essentially ended her 10-year stint in dance classes. She felt a little sad about giving it up, but said she was ready to move on to something different. At my suggestion she picked up my old clarinet, took a few private lessons, and jumped into marching band late this summer! After 6 weeks of lessons, it was time for band camp at the high school. She was so glad her former dance buddy also quit dance and joined the band as a flutist. It's not quite as scary to start something new when your buddy is there!

This photo was taken on the last day of band camp. The kids learned (memorized!) 3 songs with field choreography and performed 2 of them for the parents that afternoon. We were so impressed! Summer is on the left in the black tee-shirt and navy shorts. After two days of playing a new instrument and marching nonstop on a sore knee, Summer was close to giving up. She stuck with it, though, and has had a wonderful season. In fact, she won "The Most Improved Rookie" award!

This photo is from one of the home football games. (Yep, the band is a small one.)

At the beginning of November, the band competed in Auburn. I rode along with the parents of Summer's friend. What a blast! Ever since I was a child, I loved marching bands. In fact, our city used to host a drum and bugle corp competition every Independence Day. How I looked forward to them each year! The competition in Auburn was thrilling. (It was freezing cold, but I hear it's the first time it hasn't rained in MANY years.) It made for a really late night getting back home, but it was totally worth it.

This is as close of a close-up as I could get with my Blackberry from way up in the stands. Then I cropped it in tight using Photoshop. Summer is in the middle of the trio. Sometime after I took this photo, the plume fell out of Summer's hat. She was DEVASTATED! I could see the look on her face, and it looked like she was going to cry. That's the 2nd time it has happened, but it's a bigger deal when you're in competition. Fortunately, no points are taken off unless a band member stops to pick up the plume. A judge grabbed it, and that was that.

It was so interesting to watch each performance! There were themes such as Elvis, Avatar, Tron, Wizard of Oz, Dia de los Muertos, outer space and Nutcracker. There were most certainly costumes involved, and plenty of props. At this time, our band is pretty small. There's no color guard (people twirling flags), and there were no props. They chose to focus on perfecting their choreography and music, and they were wonderful. The percussion won the best percussion award in our division. The kids were all VERY proud. 

I like that Summer has found something fun she likes to do in place of dance. She has made wonderful friends, and she loves the sense of accomplishment that comes with working hard together. Jay is feeling inspired by the drums. He started basic snare drum lessons this month. If he enjoys it and sticks with it, just maybe he'll be in band as a freshman when Summer is a senior...

 

birthday cakes by summer

Our neighbor was so impressed with Summer's baking skills, she asked if Summer would like to bake the cake for her daughter's sleepover birthday party. It turned out pretty cute. Sophie Rose was THRILLED with it!

She created a miniature "sleepover scene," complete with sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, teddy bears, and an iPod! (Based on the cute artwork on the birthday invitations.) It's not perfect, but her VERY FIRST PAYING CUSTOMER was very happy.

Shortly thereafter, my sister asked if Summer would be willing to bake a cake for her 40th birthday. It was an adults-only cocktail party, so the cake needed to be elegant and formal. She sent us a few pictures of cakes she liked, and this is what Summer created:

Again, it's not perfect. Summer can point out every single tiny flaw that drove her nuts. Auntie Kristal insisted it didn't need to be perfect -- she just wanted her niece to bake her cake. It suited the formal party perfectly, and it was absolutely delicious.

Summer makes all of her cakes from scratch. The recipe is actually quite complicated. It involves making a meringue and folding it into the batter by hand. She hasn't perfected a chocolate variety yet, but the vanilla is exquisite. The fondant is store-bought because the recipe she tried was too sticky. She enjoys making cakes, and most of all just loves to make people happy! I'm very proud of her for her artistic and culinary talents. Beautiful work, my girl!

Christmas 2011

First of all, do you know anyone who wants a purebred yellow lab? My sister's dog had 4 blonde and 4 ginger puppies. They're about 5 weeks old. Summer had so much fun loving on them! They're mischievous, cuddly, cute, and chubby. If you want more photos or details, use the "email me" link.

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house with my sister and her family. Grandma gave Jay some new clothes and shoes for Christmas, and he didn't waste any time changing into them!

One of our fun traditions is opening new pajamas before bed on Christmas Eve. The kids love it!

On Christmas morning, we always spend the morning together at home. Mom comes over to share Christmas with us, then she heads home to finish up the turkey for our big extended family Christmas dinner. This year Mom hosted. (It rotates from year to year between my 2 aunts and my mom.) We love spending the afternoon and evening with aunties, uncles, great-grandma, and cousins!

(Summer snapped this picture using my phone.)

What's cuter than a little girl in her Christmas finery?! Lily was so excited to wear her Christmas outfit. Plaid taffeta bubble skirt? Yes, please!

I hope you all had a memorable and beautiful Christmas. May God richly bless you and your families in 2012!

decorating treats with grandma

My mom makes graham cracker houses each year for the cousins to decorate. She melts sugar in a skillet, dips the edges of the graham cracker in the molten sugar, and it's like cement when it hardens! The kids can load 'em up with icing and candy without worrying about structural failure. :o)

Left to right: Summer (14), Madie (15), Chase (12), Jay (11), Lily (8), Grammie (45?), and Drew (10)

The most popular decoration is probably Fruit Stripe gum. It makes for a colorful roof! Grandma made extra houses, so Lily spent the entire afternoon decorating two!

Summer came armed with her very own piping bag and tips. No surprise there!

I love the idea of small graham cracker houses. They're the perfect size for decorating -- and eating.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the entire afternoon with my sister's family and my mom. To start out our celebration, we decorated Christmas cookies! Aren't they pretty?

The boys "run out of gas" fairy quickly. They'd rather EAT cookies than DECORATE cookies, after all. We girls decorated to our hearts' content! It's great fun to be creative in using a variety of fun candies and holiday decorations we've collected all year long in anticipation of the annual cookie decorating gala at Grammie's.

december activities

We had a busy month of December, and I snapped a lot of photos with my phone. (Sorry for the poor quality. The shutter speed is agonizingly slow on my Blackberry Torch!)

I attended a ladies only Christmas party. My contribution to the array of appetizers was a holiday cranberry brie en croute. It's basically a brie, cranberries, pecans, and rosemary all wrapped up in puff pastry and baked until golden brown. YUMMY!

Our neighbors hosted a caroling and cookies party. It was great fun to go caroling with many of our neighbors and friends!

Our family went to an ugly sweater Christmas party. Lily won 3rd prize!

Jay learned how to do a back flip 360 on a friend's trampoline. (Yikes!)

 

Z Thanksgiving

Erich's brother and his family hosted Thanksgiving this year. David wanted to deep fry the turkey, so that's what he did! In peanut oil, to be exact!

It was really delicious! The skin gets quite dark brown, but we don't eat the skin so that doesn't matter. It's the inside that counts -- the juiciest turkey I've ever eaten. YUM!

When we have Thanksgiving with Erich's side of the family, we celebrate Lily's, Dana's (niece), and Michele's (sister-in-law) birthdays. Check out the beautiful birthday packages brought over from the island!

Thanks for hosting, David and Michele. It's our turn next year! :o)

photos by jordan scott

Summer's friend from youth group is taking an online photography course. He called and asked if he could take pictures of my kids at a local park.

The sun was getting low in the sky, but they turned out fine. I'll post my favorites!

(Actually, my favorite one of Lily was posted on November 19 -- her birthday!)

Thanks, Jordan! Feel free to practice on my family anytime! :o)

lily's birthday party

Lily attended a birthday party at the ice skating rink last year. Ever since, she has been asking to have her next birthday there. It only cost $15 to reserve the picnic table (the party room costs much more, plus it was already booked), so that's what we did. It was GREAT! The kids didn't want to spend their time at the table, anyway. Once we had cake and ice cream and opened gifts, they all wanted to get back out on the ice for more fun!

Summer made Lily's owl cake pops. I helped her come up with the idea for displaying them. It's simply a styrofoam wreath with 2 feather boas wrapped around it. It worked out just fine for not much money, but I wonder what other people do when they serve cake pops at parties. Do any of you readers have any ideas?

My neighbor helped me make these cute owl favor boxes while I was recovering from surgery.

We also made adorable (and trendy!) feather hair clips for each of the girls who attended. The hair clips fit perfectly inside the little owl boxes, along with a small note thanking each friend for attending the party.

It's a little hard to see the clip in the above photo, but you can get the idea. They were a HUGE hit. Lily had a fun, happy birthday surrounded by friends and family who love her. We topped off the evening by taking her out to her favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. After our meal, the staff placed a glitzy sombrero on her head, served her some warm churros, and sang Happy Birthday. It was definitely a fun-filled day for celebrating our girl.

Happy birthday, Lily-Bean!

halloween

This year, Erich's parents came to our house for Halloween. They alternate between our house and Erich's brother's house every year. We were happy it was our turn. :o) It's our tradition to have pizza, hand out candy, and rave at the costumes of the little children. (Um, and swipe candy from the kids when they get home from trick-or-treating with Erich.) Summer dressed up and helped us hand out candy, but she spent much of the evening working on her biology poster.

Earlier in the week, we carved pumpkins. Jay carved his from an actual photo taken of him doing a trick on his skateboard! Very creative!

A few days before Halloween, Summer baked Halloween cookies. Then she invited the neighbor girls over to decorate them! Lily made a "candy corn" ghost. Cute idea!