Lucky #13

We now have a teenage daughter in the house!! 

On February 24th Lizzie turned 13.

For her friend party we had  "Chopped" cooking competition.  As hesitant as I was to have a cooking competition (mostly for the sake of my kitchen) it turned out really well.  It was fun to watch the girls cook and be creative for the judges.

The invite

Themed water bottles and take home bags are ready

The contestants-

Sophie, Paige, Brecken, Sarah, Jane, Anna

Sarah, Emmi, Lizzie

Each team was given a basket with some basic ingredients to make spaghetti (with a very basic recipe), garlic bread and a green salad.  On a separate counter I had a whole bunch of extra "optional" ingredients that they could decide if they wanted to use or not.

And begin....

Jane and Sarah with their garlic bread ready to go in the oven

They then had to "plate" four dishes for the judges

The judges (plus mom)!!!!

They did such a good job plating their dishes and the food was really good.

Team #1

Team #2

And finally a birthday greeting from Lucky :)

Spelling Bee

Every year since 1st grade this cute little girl has qualified to be in the school spelling bee.   This year she got 4th place!!!  She was so close to 3rd and a trophy but I am still so dang proud of her!

2-23-17

Park Day

For part of our 4 day weekend and to take a break from painting- me, Ethan, Afton and Lilly went and enjoyed some spring weather.

We loaded up some bikes and headed to Draper Park.  Ethan is such a great big brother and it was fun to see the 3 of them making memories together. 

Home Improvements

We had a four day weekend and spent a big chunk of it doing some much needed home improvements.  We fixed our sliding door, added a new door handle to our front door, added a new garbage can,  moved the potato bin and kid's kitchen cupboard, got rid of a chair in the basement,  painted molding and baseboards in the front room and kitchen (which should have been done a year ago when we painted the front room) and probably most exciting is our new kitchen table and benches!  My dad made the awesome benches and Jim refinished the table.  I love it so much!!!

View of our front room with new garbage can and wall decoration.

A banister that I have been wanting to paint white FOREVER!!!

My new table and benches.  I could just stare at them forever.

 We also  decided to give Ethan's room a new look.  His room and the upstairs bathroom are the only rooms we have never re-painted since we moved in (almost 10 years ago!).  We thought we would give him a nice new bedroom to enjoy for the 3 years before his mission (what?!).   Upstairs bathroom is on the docket for this spring or summer.

 One wall a darker blue and the other 3 a lighter blue. 

After pictures coming soon.......

Valentines

Another Valentine's has come and gone. 

We pulled out the same boxes they have had

since pre-school and gave them a little make-over :)

Introducing Gilbert

Ethan had a piano recital on 2-11-17. 

His teacher had a drawing and certain students could win a live Betta fish.  Well ........ Ethan was the last name called :)  Lizzie especially is excited about his fish and has named it Gilbert. 

Sledding

Our friends (The Jones Family) invited us up to their cabin with a couple other friends (Buchmillers and Herds)

for some sledding fun. 

It was perfect weather and the kids had a blast.

2-4-17

Afton and her good friend Reagan

Lilly, Reagan and Afton

Not sure why Afton didn't smile in this one

The teen and tween