Can you guess what this little girl is eating?

The camera phone pic is hard to see so I'll give you two guesses:
1. It has eight legs!
2. It has chewy little tentacles on it!
Who knew a three year old would like octopus?
Yes, that's Ava enjoying her new acquired taste...or maybe just enjoying watching everyone else squirm (Okay, just her mom squirmed) as she ate them. Yes...THEM! She didn't just stop at one. And if anyone is wondering, NO, this is not some cool new octopus recipe I decided to try out. I am definitely not that daring. Grandpa Rice King took us out for some Mongolian Barbecue tonight. Mmmmm...minus the octopus. :)

Happy 2010!!!

My New Year's Resolution.......

To become a better cook! I was inspired by a little flick I rented last week for Jeremy and I on our movie night. "Julie and Julia", cute movie. Jeremy was disappointed I didn't rent a nice action movie, but that's what you get for not going yourself Babe! :) So this movie was two hours of COOKING and EATING. And I discovered during that two hours that: #1. I love to watch people eat. And, # 2. I want to be a good cook. After all I did compete at Nationals in Culinary Arts back in my high school days. "What?!!?",my husband is thinking to himself as he eats a bowl of leftover spaghetti. So there you have it. I am going to give it a try. Cook some new things, try out some fun recipes, and maybe....possibly make some good food.

PS: Some Christmas pictures to come hopefully, if only I can find my camera cord....maybe getting organized should be my top priority New Year's resolution?!

Totally & Completely Smitten

This is true love to me. My cute Grandma and Grandpa back in the dating days. I had Grandma find this picture for me because I am so wanting to fill my home with fun old pictures of family. It suddenly dawned on me one day that I have zero pictures up for my kids of their Grandparents and Great Grandparents . How happy does it make you just looking at them. Wonderful examples of love, courage and strength. I want my kids to see pictures like this and want to be just like them, because I know I do. Love you forever Grandma, thanks again. XOXOX

Fred?

Last week we got our dog Fred fixed. I told the kids that Fred was going to have a surgery that would hopefully make him a little more calm and sweet. If you have ever had the chance to meet our dog Fred then you know first hand what a wild and woolly mammoth he is.

So Thursday morning we dropped Fred off at the vet's office and returned later that afternoon to pick him up. As we were sitting in the waiting room I noticed Luke staring at a sweet little hairy dog calmly sitting under the receptionist's desk. Finally Luke looked at me with a very confused expression on his face and asked, "Mom. Is that.....is...that, Fred?" He was pointing to the sweet little dog under the desk. (In that little boy's mind the so called "surgery" had indeed made Fred sweeter and more calm and....little! Wow!)

As the receptionist and I both tried our best to restrain our laughter, I explained to Luke that no, unfortunately that wasn't our Fred. Our Fred was still going to be just as big and still pretty crazy. Sure enough at that moment the back door of the office swung open and out barreled our goofy, drugged up, hairy and yes, still big Fred.

Nice n' Toasty

Nothing like eating toast and wearing big warm socks on a cold winter morning.

Mr. Bones

I can't forget about my Luke. This month was his big 5 birthday! He's now officially a whole entire hand old and proud of it. Happy Birthday little man!

His world at 5 revolves around: Rockets, paper airplanes, trains, movies, cartoons, playin' in the sandbox, Star Wars, tagging along with Dad or Grandpas, dinosaurs, pirates, making big pillow piles to jump into, learning to write his ABC's, cooking with mom, Transformers (he calls Jeremy's big work truck "Optimus Prime"), being read to (especially when it's about space and planets or Curious George). He loves all kinds of foods, but most of all he loves his fruits, veggies, and great big cheese burgers. He's a smart little thing and helps mom remember lots of stuff...like usually where she miss placed her brain.:) He still loves taking things apart and putting them back together again, changing batteries in things, and loves to just figure out how things work. He's a very helpful big brother...sometimes tooo helpful to a very "I can do it myself" little Avie. It's so cute to listen to him try to explain things to her. We love him so much and are so proud of how much he is learning and growing. He will always be our sweet little Mr. Bones.

These are a few pictures of Luke's dream party at the very cool Pirate Island! Thanks Captain Rice King:) and Domma Barkers.