tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22954705637694448782024-03-13T15:53:40.700-05:00the farmersDan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.comBlogger323125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-65229810426392597402016-04-16T17:24:00.002-05:002016-04-16T17:24:24.892-05:00Blake is 4!<div style="text-align: center;">
As usual, better late than never. It's been 3 months now that we've had a 4 year old in the house and boy is it an adventure! Blake is a fun loving, adventurous, stubborn, and particular little boy and we couldn't love him more!</div>
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For months he had been talking about his "tractor" birthday because he loves all things farm. But just a week before his birthday, we were looking at cake ideas and he spied a monster truck cake and there was no going back to tractors. The cake turned out great and he loved it!</div>
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He now loves to play with his monster trucks and even pulls some of his farm wagons, trailers, and balers with his trucks. I guess that's what all the hip farmers are doing these days :)</div>
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I bought a new 12x12 cake pan for this cake and I love it. I made the cake marble with 2 cake mixes and then did a little cutting and pasting to make the ramps. The "rocks" are Whoppers and Milk Duds. A few toothpicks helped keep the trucks in place on the ramps.</div>
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He's all smiles!</div>
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For the actual birthday party we celebrated at the Barnes' house in Pella with Grandma Pontier, who was visiting at the time. </div>
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Happy 4th Birthday Blake!</div>
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Licking the frosting off the trucks was the best part of course.</div>
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Opening gifts.</div>
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Some new farm toys, books, and tools.</div>
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Blake got to celebrate one more time a few weeks later with the other January birthdays on the De Vries side of the family. This cake wasn't as cool, but still tasted great.</div>
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Happy Birthday Carol, Blake, and Grandma De Vries!</div>
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Blake was a little sick of smiling at this point. It looks like he's laughing, </div>
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but he's actually crying a little :( He perked up while opening a few more gifts :)</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-42073580184284975092016-01-08T11:16:00.000-05:002016-01-08T11:16:37.189-05:00Christmas 2015<div style="text-align: center;">
Wow! Did the month of December just fly by or what?! We stayed very busy with regular family stuff, farming, school, and extra holiday get-togethers. It was filled with lots of great memories too! Here are a few highlights in pictures.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our family Christmas card picture.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake - 3 1/2, Rebecca - 8, Brianna - 2 years</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We got to celebrate my brother Jon's birthday on the 23rd when his family came to stay with us over Christmas. I had fun making a cupcake Christmas tree - although I'm sure it was not his first in his 37 years :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of baby holding with new cousin Hannah.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BerWGmE2YDl9VCY-5xLDRk8oKYuOlYlanR8bGERqcWNNZQOOiYDLLp0AaG5GS93cQl_vxbXVKelfWNjbahIJkaBl0MEDxtAbpEhAznJdxmqv-ratwSPG_t84b1EPlRkkIEdbcnqJUw/s1600/IMG_2977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BerWGmE2YDl9VCY-5xLDRk8oKYuOlYlanR8bGERqcWNNZQOOiYDLLp0AaG5GS93cQl_vxbXVKelfWNjbahIJkaBl0MEDxtAbpEhAznJdxmqv-ratwSPG_t84b1EPlRkkIEdbcnqJUw/s320/IMG_2977.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna and Deborah just happen to have the same pajamas! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAtimrlLVKHFep-BqFpeI0YFBO47iVOBpOZByEr-odyUpPCWykIamQR2TSwMkBhUkD1Y3m7tLArEblbOEo5HAmWGcvR2DVHN1Kdy6gRLhzPiWxeZjjmFKCG05qiIJJBsVewjDXVL0otg/s1600/IMG_2984.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAtimrlLVKHFep-BqFpeI0YFBO47iVOBpOZByEr-odyUpPCWykIamQR2TSwMkBhUkD1Y3m7tLArEblbOEo5HAmWGcvR2DVHN1Kdy6gRLhzPiWxeZjjmFKCG05qiIJJBsVewjDXVL0otg/s320/IMG_2984.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna is in LOVE with "baby!" (Hannah)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJaeEuVkhOIPZHteZV07weSUbpuhN54Nz80AHm2m5tynIK3tZmudD32ajACOZ3bexzfnIUcoKl7zdDBzkSqqxGRyi1QBqxSyD1DDH2YQjF39AzupbxYkGEzX7N7Xdtkrb7MxUOOtqow/s1600/IMG_3019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJaeEuVkhOIPZHteZV07weSUbpuhN54Nz80AHm2m5tynIK3tZmudD32ajACOZ3bexzfnIUcoKl7zdDBzkSqqxGRyi1QBqxSyD1DDH2YQjF39AzupbxYkGEzX7N7Xdtkrb7MxUOOtqow/s320/IMG_3019.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Eve box. The kids enjoyed new pjs and the movie Rio. (Brianna refused to be in the picture!)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgdNMMV8rYYOvaFswrVEE3-SDzLSS2ZASkXnZqWc8gzWV65uQNdTD4WSGV8ZcQa3spzzXoxZmNp9GrzfoiO581wQoxvM9gMphaM2m9p-_mTaLLC_PR8EIAoTiVPn4t0wr_yAvthTYOg/s1600/IMG_3026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgdNMMV8rYYOvaFswrVEE3-SDzLSS2ZASkXnZqWc8gzWV65uQNdTD4WSGV8ZcQa3spzzXoxZmNp9GrzfoiO581wQoxvM9gMphaM2m9p-_mTaLLC_PR8EIAoTiVPn4t0wr_yAvthTYOg/s320/IMG_3026.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kids in their new jammies. Blake is giving you his best dinosaur face!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha38PrmcbHKhZgF7VAdEQ-rQ0dw_ul_X71aeZLxG52BqXVXMODP5tQojlMuUbvXrH2rfKft4uSeeiV492FLOer0kowmvtffvN1w4WmfiQokm_xLQPeHKwcki8pkdP2NlJCyp8G8toCQ/s1600/IMG_3027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha38PrmcbHKhZgF7VAdEQ-rQ0dw_ul_X71aeZLxG52BqXVXMODP5tQojlMuUbvXrH2rfKft4uSeeiV492FLOer0kowmvtffvN1w4WmfiQokm_xLQPeHKwcki8pkdP2NlJCyp8G8toCQ/s320/IMG_3027.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas morning stockings before church.</td></tr>
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After church on Christmas morning, we spent the day at the Barnes' house (my sister Grace's family), exchange gifts with the cousins, and ate way too many yummy treats. Sadly, I failed to take any pictures while we were there! We headed home in the evening so the kids could enjoy a few more presents from us.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5zu16lhyphenhyphen59T_zbxP7ujB1i_ogEsN0WowIq9T95q3JL55nH58NYGCSXm_aMzxLpO7_-mtTfBqmvtXhg-CNx7xGS3mMBQH0k2u8CclATYJAwTIiBcIc1AHLGNpLgkDAhYwDLt-E1Ff8g/s1600/IMG_3039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5zu16lhyphenhyphen59T_zbxP7ujB1i_ogEsN0WowIq9T95q3JL55nH58NYGCSXm_aMzxLpO7_-mtTfBqmvtXhg-CNx7xGS3mMBQH0k2u8CclATYJAwTIiBcIc1AHLGNpLgkDAhYwDLt-E1Ff8g/s320/IMG_3039.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAdk8v4iQ1vFDW1SWt5kTz4H3wn0FM7XCsyjVxtntlEq2hbSVx7VRS_4YjrJKS0JOOvcwxHpEabbeQfjJDzPfXyeNpi3n6y-ThyaSM4B11Fr2tILwpMkT2EcHejexf4PGrLT5_FDwVQ/s1600/IMG_3045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAdk8v4iQ1vFDW1SWt5kTz4H3wn0FM7XCsyjVxtntlEq2hbSVx7VRS_4YjrJKS0JOOvcwxHpEabbeQfjJDzPfXyeNpi3n6y-ThyaSM4B11Fr2tILwpMkT2EcHejexf4PGrLT5_FDwVQ/s320/IMG_3045.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna and Blake got new Lego sets to play with.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQMg27v-qbupT2GQuwWeElb9h_8GCWmxal7nXOk7Y5_gvXWl_l1e44Kps-E4WnI7_-Gf2IUNLv8CXMq5qISu2rGEZWs0gQFWr-G3cRZOuksx2DpgrL67sK6e_4-xFkd8x46fKvCBxPQ/s1600/IMG_3046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQMg27v-qbupT2GQuwWeElb9h_8GCWmxal7nXOk7Y5_gvXWl_l1e44Kps-E4WnI7_-Gf2IUNLv8CXMq5qISu2rGEZWs0gQFWr-G3cRZOuksx2DpgrL67sK6e_4-xFkd8x46fKvCBxPQ/s320/IMG_3046.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca with her new favorite shirt!</td></tr>
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On Saturday, the 26th, Dan's family came to our house to celebrate together. The kids loved more cousin time! They also had a lot of fun with a candy cane pick-up game Aunt Linda supervised!<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQT0uw61I60WTy1yFlbxW72_E2sAHelgZiTsC7csw1rhiOXwzX5lqKwUkUVG_R05-JTRcncv1JETiRQd3A4-48B9RAe2RMRwr6Jg8FsASYz6UyNpuwANp9myjsJoTF-yz3QQC5TvOduQ/s1600/IMG_3051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQT0uw61I60WTy1yFlbxW72_E2sAHelgZiTsC7csw1rhiOXwzX5lqKwUkUVG_R05-JTRcncv1JETiRQd3A4-48B9RAe2RMRwr6Jg8FsASYz6UyNpuwANp9myjsJoTF-yz3QQC5TvOduQ/s320/IMG_3051.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake is trying his best to hook that candy cane!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeeFNZFdkOBohB_64smF1byGXhBQ7r2wtQ2ibFwypSbS-RbwMxDyQvwRClykVYUCFQTylWq8wCqCmeUnbBFiIaFohII_phE8_lAAcfONbjJ9X7Dz8Su_5mlDA799GeQpCbu_6kqQEPQ/s1600/IMG_3055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeeFNZFdkOBohB_64smF1byGXhBQ7r2wtQ2ibFwypSbS-RbwMxDyQvwRClykVYUCFQTylWq8wCqCmeUnbBFiIaFohII_phE8_lAAcfONbjJ9X7Dz8Su_5mlDA799GeQpCbu_6kqQEPQ/s320/IMG_3055.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The De Vries Grandparents with all the grand kids.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Tdt1EiUHuLCpVcoWu1NRZiOwuY5HN5AuXWIBp3FzagFY_Arqg6Qx9Ql8pYdIt4Veq3cm1lIoxi3OvQ5Lf2zHzB94E69w2vDGwDzLP-sfT3hWka9jq_EnkTy6scg0NyIUD2blaGlTbQ/s1600/IMG_3058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Tdt1EiUHuLCpVcoWu1NRZiOwuY5HN5AuXWIBp3FzagFY_Arqg6Qx9Ql8pYdIt4Veq3cm1lIoxi3OvQ5Lf2zHzB94E69w2vDGwDzLP-sfT3hWka9jq_EnkTy6scg0NyIUD2blaGlTbQ/s320/IMG_3058.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We each took turns taking a family picture - some where less cooperative than others.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpW5C26zUuxm-ii8_OPMXoJB-uIM7bjsklnMXT0oacNdcz-3LqirqycxztL209CnkEsbbzrQUhOlBBtnSw1s2qpKOqX1WaUChgKXZJi41LVxywUybyN8Yyl4HlUG0K_h6OdhsgJ0pxqw/s1600/IMG_3062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpW5C26zUuxm-ii8_OPMXoJB-uIM7bjsklnMXT0oacNdcz-3LqirqycxztL209CnkEsbbzrQUhOlBBtnSw1s2qpKOqX1WaUChgKXZJi41LVxywUybyN8Yyl4HlUG0K_h6OdhsgJ0pxqw/s320/IMG_3062.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan's brother Andy with Carol and Brooke and Katie.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuO4myCutVtLO6hoWLxvQcurUld3u6vKSVNoKWZX1zqgXvMWaHqOiBbtETRhtcSypX9Dw4Ixiopkol60dt5NLq4LgwJas_bSUcX04rNFuDo3q4ZwFwDjdRPreAZlmbrd5_4S0PowjU_Q/s1600/IMG_3064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuO4myCutVtLO6hoWLxvQcurUld3u6vKSVNoKWZX1zqgXvMWaHqOiBbtETRhtcSypX9Dw4Ixiopkol60dt5NLq4LgwJas_bSUcX04rNFuDo3q4ZwFwDjdRPreAZlmbrd5_4S0PowjU_Q/s320/IMG_3064.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan's sister Debbie with Greg and Allison, Jessica, and Trevor.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WJWwUqEMUkW1TcBh3iRx_6kfBxDSBCkzGJ7nrbMAs2gzkYb4S1VxD03_FigjQGIT1b4XoWGIudyaGEoFHaDlO3tmHyoa9Ec9fTIIy3u7rc9epUrl8AEaxgtFZbiejG9ek87q2iWMxA/s1600/IMG_3072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WJWwUqEMUkW1TcBh3iRx_6kfBxDSBCkzGJ7nrbMAs2gzkYb4S1VxD03_FigjQGIT1b4XoWGIudyaGEoFHaDlO3tmHyoa9Ec9fTIIy3u7rc9epUrl8AEaxgtFZbiejG9ek87q2iWMxA/s320/IMG_3072.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More gifts again! Blake loves all his new farm toys, despite the look on his face :)</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
We had a great time with family and friends, but above all, we remember the birth of our Savior. We live each day to glorify God's name in thanksgiving for the gift of sending his Son.</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-12820425743596965012015-11-11T21:51:00.002-05:002015-11-11T21:51:58.287-05:00Look Who's 2!<div style="text-align: center;">
Our baby turned 2 on October 28! </div>
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As always, it's crazy how fast the years go! Brianna Joy is really a "joy" to our family. More often than not, she is happy, smiling, and laughing. People/strangers often comment that she is a happy girl and freely gives out smiles. She is just starting to talk (real words) when prompted and loves to "sing" loudly in the car. </div>
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She's not really "into" anything at this age so I wasn't quite sure how to decorate her cake, but when I saw a full sized Care Bear at the store I knew that would be great for her. Last year for Halloween I turned one of her sweatsuits into a Care Bear costume and she was SUPER cute! And it was a little throwback to my own childhood of having a Care Bear and mom making my sisters and me matching Care Bear sweatsuits.</div>
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Here's some pictures of the Birthday Girl!</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPswJEAXKhWLL3-90eawLo455epeHdFyqDr7q9qnxQkctCjfyWkE5g_egEgS4BmvLtPedfx6KhyphenhyphenlhChHBvYG4rLfeIB1xysb6Y7gcq7p1zYER8vEEBI1y_dBcJEHMnYJ13OysiUJpmw/s1600/IMG_2932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPswJEAXKhWLL3-90eawLo455epeHdFyqDr7q9qnxQkctCjfyWkE5g_egEgS4BmvLtPedfx6KhyphenhyphenlhChHBvYG4rLfeIB1xysb6Y7gcq7p1zYER8vEEBI1y_dBcJEHMnYJ13OysiUJpmw/s320/IMG_2932.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Girl!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj895JuTgivf1qay4eEq8Da4qs1MwX4_aeJi389pXiMyXoLuUQiwEJAnYavl-9uDqg8za1Ou_OdKs0UCwjLAWLACCfX1oB0fArVsV2FBAtm-51K06vxCpInug19Yu2QPNWF2pNjpQNwiw/s1600/IMG_2937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj895JuTgivf1qay4eEq8Da4qs1MwX4_aeJi389pXiMyXoLuUQiwEJAnYavl-9uDqg8za1Ou_OdKs0UCwjLAWLACCfX1oB0fArVsV2FBAtm-51K06vxCpInug19Yu2QPNWF2pNjpQNwiw/s320/IMG_2937.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0hKM2ay22L1LxXslX8pmrDg0vvEOlJDwmEg6oBm8KB8ETulZZBRI32hpHXlEisYCZI02VlH04jwJ6NGIhKO_1o8EDTicCcfjH_oglUSDR6f6co-vhSxmDnaKA8rhmENE5TVkC0stlg/s1600/IMG_2940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0hKM2ay22L1LxXslX8pmrDg0vvEOlJDwmEg6oBm8KB8ETulZZBRI32hpHXlEisYCZI02VlH04jwJ6NGIhKO_1o8EDTicCcfjH_oglUSDR6f6co-vhSxmDnaKA8rhmENE5TVkC0stlg/s320/IMG_2940.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a bad family picture ;)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqqBd-CA8OEv1F3mFiVaXYDSIxMmZlAEQ4oiEdNJ8eABVDM8i2LC9UVzYEZI3nFahbRS25KyqD824_v59-vcOs8LSm2lXFFsZYTV2ZfiD-6IXs5RvG59prHuFZ9llgcYF4TRLid_DzQ/s1600/IMG_2948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqqBd-CA8OEv1F3mFiVaXYDSIxMmZlAEQ4oiEdNJ8eABVDM8i2LC9UVzYEZI3nFahbRS25KyqD824_v59-vcOs8LSm2lXFFsZYTV2ZfiD-6IXs5RvG59prHuFZ9llgcYF4TRLid_DzQ/s320/IMG_2948.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Two" - Brianna is pretty good at saying the word two.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3btKfGK8Tyvb-xybL1IeU74hz2O8z9v810MPRaAAeNDTughtiNEzYbRrehtdgnJzV904fHHz6uXzRVUn3j0zZeO0oQhLDCMUBveotiNCetTDlxGaJHdO6ppkXG7giCuIAlrXLWXqSqQ/s1600/IMG_2949.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3btKfGK8Tyvb-xybL1IeU74hz2O8z9v810MPRaAAeNDTughtiNEzYbRrehtdgnJzV904fHHz6uXzRVUn3j0zZeO0oQhLDCMUBveotiNCetTDlxGaJHdO6ppkXG7giCuIAlrXLWXqSqQ/s320/IMG_2949.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plenty of gifts to open!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TD2MqyvfVtS3I5aCIHG6g3rRS-9S457I85j8sxnDqgWqTQli1RXd2eeCqCoed5L_3PeD0mpSlwGBm5YifJTI_V1d_w3cIsWuCPnW59JBzWN9t3z3y0mffSedliiOa0BbNm11kbMdzA/s1600/IMG_2959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TD2MqyvfVtS3I5aCIHG6g3rRS-9S457I85j8sxnDqgWqTQli1RXd2eeCqCoed5L_3PeD0mpSlwGBm5YifJTI_V1d_w3cIsWuCPnW59JBzWN9t3z3y0mffSedliiOa0BbNm11kbMdzA/s320/IMG_2959.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new Lego set - she loves the car it came with.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrcKIxmrbvehdHr-3ZB6jfEbDJNNHt-K2FVIDgecih4uicBu9CHHXB_pYQpK8hTefvR2DhHZfZItSUmPTA-kJo-lOsA_qmE0tSsc2tOOmwihLqtbeKr1xK4h5LXMjbreAh51HFr5S1g/s1600/IMG_2961.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrcKIxmrbvehdHr-3ZB6jfEbDJNNHt-K2FVIDgecih4uicBu9CHHXB_pYQpK8hTefvR2DhHZfZItSUmPTA-kJo-lOsA_qmE0tSsc2tOOmwihLqtbeKr1xK4h5LXMjbreAh51HFr5S1g/s320/IMG_2961.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her very own Care Bear! She sleeps with it every night now. It also came with a short DVD and she has watching it MANY times already.</td></tr>
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Here is a the picture of her as a one year old Care Bear - so cute!!</div>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-59698209157706764352015-10-05T15:13:00.001-05:002015-10-05T15:33:51.096-05:00Rebecca turns 8!<div style="text-align: center;">
Happy 8th Birthday to Rebecca on August 31!</div>
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She had been "planning" her birthday celebration for the last 6 months, but when it came down to the real deal, it was pretty low key. Her birthday was a Monday on which day both Dan and I had meetings at night, so we had a very early family meal together followed by cake and presents.</div>
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Rebecca picked the menu of chicken nuggets, potato fries, corn, and applesauce. She also wanted a watermelon cake (a strawberry flavored cake with mini chocolate chips in the batter and decorated like a watermelon slice) after seeing a picture of one on Pinterest.</div>
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Part 2 of her birthday celebration was 2 weeks later on a Saturday when we got together with Dan's family. Aunt Linda came to pick up Rebecca in the morning and they spent a good part of the day together shopping and eating out - generally spoiling Rebecca rotten, which she loved!! Thanks Aunt Linda!! At night, all the De Vries' came over to celebrate Rebecca's birthday and her cousins Brooke and Katie's 4th birthday. The younger girls wanted a Frozen cake, so I made a double layer cake that could be reversed for all of the girls. </div>
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On the other side it says, "Happy Birthday Brooke and Katie" and we just turned the figurines around - worked perfect!</div>
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All the birthday girls :)</div>
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Make a wish!</div>
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Rebecca loved her new Legos, clothes, devotional, whiteboard markers, and few other goodies.</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-36829464688002459822015-08-06T13:52:00.002-05:002015-08-06T13:52:32.411-05:00Award Winning Cookies<div style="text-align: center;">
As promised, here are the recipes for the two cookies I made for Prairie Day's Grandma Marilyn's Chocolate Cookie Contest.</div>
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I've always loved to bake more than cook and I have a pretty receptive audience at home. If there are no baked goods in the house for more than a day or two, I'll hear about it :) </div>
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The first recipe is for Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies that won first prize for the classic chocolate chip catagory. I found the original recipe in the Western Christian Cookbook, which I got from my good friend Cara for either a wedding or shower gift. At first I was a little hesitant to use it because after all, Western was our biggest high school rival, but after looking through it a few times I realized it is the best collection of "Northwest Iowa/Dutch pot luck" recipes. It's my go-to cookbook for hometown comfort food. </div>
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<b>Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies</b><br />
2/3 cup oil<br />
1 cup brown sugar<br />
1/2 cup white sugar<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
2 eggs<br />
2 cups and 4 tablespoons flour*<br />
1 teaspoon baking soda<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1 teaspoon baking powder<br />
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips<br />
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*you may need to add another tablespoon or 2 of flour depending on how soft your dough is. You want it to "sag" a little bit but not a lot. I have made this recipe almost 100 times and have learned from experience what the dough needs to look like.<br />
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Mix first 5 ingredients well and then add dry. Mix until combined and then add chips. Make cookies about 2-3 tablespoons - I use a medium cookie scoop. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should be slightly brown around the edges and still look a little wet/soft in the middle. Let cool completely (if you can wait that long :)<br />
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These cookies are so soft and will stay soft. I love to use this recipe to make ice cream cookies because even in the freezer the cookies stay soft. They will start to dry out a little after a few days, but they hardly ever last that long in our house!</div>
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Here is the recipe that won 2nd place in the catagory that allowed added ingredients to a chocolate chip cookie. I found this recipe on Pinterest while searching for recipes using dried cherries - I just happened to have some that I wanted to use up. The original recipe was from the Rachael Ray magazine and I changed it slightly. I actually made these for the first time the week of the competition, altered the recipe slightly, and made them one more time for the judges. </div>
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<b>Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Cherries and Pecans</b><br />
2 cups flour<br />
1 teaspoon baking soda<br />
1 teaspoon baking powder<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp.<br />
1 1/2 cups brown sugar<br />
1/2 cup white sugar<br />
2 eggs<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats<br />
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted<br />
1 1/2 cups chopped dried cherries<br />
1 cup dark chocolate chips<br />
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Mix butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients and oatmeal. Mix in pecans, cherries, and chocolate chips. <u>Chill dough for at least an hour</u>. Make cookies about 2-3 tablespoons - I use a medium cookie scoop. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes. Cookies should be lightly browned on edges and top. (You don't want these cookies to be gooey in the center like the previous recipe). Let cool completely.<br />
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I hope you enjoy these cookies!! I've already started searching out recipes to try for next year's competition. </div>
<br />Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-41307946973186452512015-06-15T15:12:00.002-05:002015-06-15T15:15:50.270-05:00540 KWMT Feed the Farmer<div style="text-align: center;">
540 KWMT radio station hosts a few Feed the Farmer lunches in the spring and fall and this week Dan was picked as the winner! Duane Murley came out on Friday, June 12th and did his broadcast live from our house. He came around 8:30 in the morning and did a few market reports. Then around noon he interviewed both Dan and I about our farming operation and life on the farm with our kids. It was pretty neat to hear a voice from the radio in our own living room. Rebecca also got to answer a few questions on the radio and Blake said,"Go!" a few times to get Duane started.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duane Murley giving a market report. He would make a recording and then send it to the station and they would air it with in a few minutes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice wheels Duane!</td></tr>
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We also received lunch catered by Our Daily Bread Bakery and Cafe in Griswold. We invited a few extra friends over to enjoy lunch with us. We had a full house, but it was a great time!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch included, beef and gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, watermelon, and peach and apple pie. It was very good and thankfully there were a few left overs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had a full house and Duane just kept right on working as we all talked and ate lunch. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmz0_0NVa3B-fKPgFG7zq2EFlWIONFyjJJ1oy7x1xepydzrI4LevLG6ryst5_UxnatCEPErUdmBO0TTPC9q9c5MOk2YTFYRToAPoDkj03aImACQUcJ_64B-f-VS36TXIil6HA30pBgg/s1600/IMG_2606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmz0_0NVa3B-fKPgFG7zq2EFlWIONFyjJJ1oy7x1xepydzrI4LevLG6ryst5_UxnatCEPErUdmBO0TTPC9q9c5MOk2YTFYRToAPoDkj03aImACQUcJ_64B-f-VS36TXIil6HA30pBgg/s320/IMG_2606.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Carl and Duane. Carl was the sponsor representative from Prairie Creek Seeds.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFOLbX_einbfIaYV_ilwZVCBMTxtS0Y2X828pcCAFYzYjZkGI8HdI6IZyh-4mYkT0vnqeJInRSF_3GMsv1zm4Po9VJMoLfxTWMmQ-C6m3DGYPnJkYDgQjKW4QYMHK00f5bH_T60vrFA/s1600/IMG_2614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFOLbX_einbfIaYV_ilwZVCBMTxtS0Y2X828pcCAFYzYjZkGI8HdI6IZyh-4mYkT0vnqeJInRSF_3GMsv1zm4Po9VJMoLfxTWMmQ-C6m3DGYPnJkYDgQjKW4QYMHK00f5bH_T60vrFA/s320/IMG_2614.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here are Carl and Duane with Paul, another employee of the radio station, and his wife Carol. Paul and Carol were the ones who picked up lunch in Griswold and drove it to our house - about 2 hours. </td></tr>
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What a unique experience to have a radio broadcast right in our living room. Everyone we met was so kind and gracious. I even had a great chat with Carol (wife of Paul) who grew up in Sioux Center!<br />
Thank you 540 KWMT for a great day with Feed the Farmer!</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-90970774049667723212015-06-09T16:25:00.000-05:002015-06-09T16:38:06.877-05:00Summer is in Full Swing with Ball Season<div style="text-align: center;">
We are loving summer, but I won't lie that I'm looking forward to the end of ball season. We have loved watching the kids have fun and be a part of a team, but keeping up with schedules can be exhausting. I like as little scheduling as possible in the summer :) One more week of games.<br />
Rebecca played Rookies softball again this year and it's fun to see how she maturing and improving over last year. Blake is getting his first taste of organized sports with Bam Bam ball. He is loving it too!</div>
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Look at her form! (Better than normal because she saw me taking pictures :)</div>
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Two more games until the season is over. Hoping for some great hits!</div>
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Blake is all smiles the whole time he is playing.</div>
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He's so cute after running the bases! I always yell, "Good job Blake!" And he always replies with a huge smile and says, "Thank you!" </div>
<br />Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-67572116255064355072015-05-21T12:55:00.001-05:002015-05-21T12:55:50.035-05:00Tulip Festival 2015<div style="text-align: center;">
I made it back home - Orange City, Iowa, for the Tulip Festival this year! It was the 75th annual Tulip Festival so they had a few extra things planned and a group of my high school and college friends were planning on getting together after far too many years apart. It was such a great weekend! I'm so glad my brother and his family still live in town so it still feels right to go back home and visit all my childhood favorites :) I also love just walking around town and seeing so many familiar faces. We even ran into a few college friends from Iowa State that we hadn't seen in years. </div>
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The highlight was getting dressed up in Dutch costumes and taking some pictures with the kids and scrubbing streets at the beginning of the parade on Saturday.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tulips were passed their prime, but there were still a few good beds.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thank you to our friend Holly for outfitting the youngest two and me!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd44Xm61bP4GMSXX1VzOZSts09Q9wxY13a0fi4Ne4fAnrTFsfTkGTJmsqZFl6NP4mS8BlMIuzETzOfENLa6AU-sBYBcKkvJYdMaxr6r4MVDw-eXsDQzF2gP2IPI3qdoBbstxlvjcD8JQ/s1600/IMG_2450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd44Xm61bP4GMSXX1VzOZSts09Q9wxY13a0fi4Ne4fAnrTFsfTkGTJmsqZFl6NP4mS8BlMIuzETzOfENLa6AU-sBYBcKkvJYdMaxr6r4MVDw-eXsDQzF2gP2IPI3qdoBbstxlvjcD8JQ/s400/IMG_2450.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-MgpjtHr4q6KZbt7FL9TCn_FBaraQnEFPM-gMdlCitWj4auLFaIFjg3Q4gr1zJNF4r_EPcp3HwJoaBE14ZlnU59radAbDKQwztxRsgG_s6YyWF4FJEr8_EQe47NBYCoHOd6QgaJf3w/s1600/IMG_2456.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-MgpjtHr4q6KZbt7FL9TCn_FBaraQnEFPM-gMdlCitWj4auLFaIFjg3Q4gr1zJNF4r_EPcp3HwJoaBE14ZlnU59radAbDKQwztxRsgG_s6YyWF4FJEr8_EQe47NBYCoHOd6QgaJf3w/s400/IMG_2456.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQR4SWBIh4ilwSKmGppvoqj8YONhfUBzwgVK8JYTITG81wZn2YUjnLi97824RyhnmUG5aHslLh82R4z2kUaQn9_GcGk-khEstx25vhAlk_qXDIhLjPtUAXlt_3uOdvu1ONjP9Oa-64kA/s1600/IMG_2457.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQR4SWBIh4ilwSKmGppvoqj8YONhfUBzwgVK8JYTITG81wZn2YUjnLi97824RyhnmUG5aHslLh82R4z2kUaQn9_GcGk-khEstx25vhAlk_qXDIhLjPtUAXlt_3uOdvu1ONjP9Oa-64kA/s400/IMG_2457.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For as much complaining as I got from Rebecca while waiting to start, she had a great time once we got started!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbDFkei8hPu4id3jbxFeFQ_m_mfbPWpjvZcW1so9ploCEocm6MUcJWKIl0COgMnc1oez4_xZXv4QrqO7tA3aIwWaRtXZT44TnAIlVwvS7VMLNIVH8fssvwQlH9UlPrJI2OxBCdz2ifg/s1600/IMG_2459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbDFkei8hPu4id3jbxFeFQ_m_mfbPWpjvZcW1so9ploCEocm6MUcJWKIl0COgMnc1oez4_xZXv4QrqO7tA3aIwWaRtXZT44TnAIlVwvS7VMLNIVH8fssvwQlH9UlPrJI2OxBCdz2ifg/s400/IMG_2459.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake also loved filling his bucket and dumping water on the street. Making it clean for the queen and her court!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7-rxZJ69dA0m0umauTnJLKwq5xXS7-QxDX_MImgteija7r3LPXgouJ8P2DMBpZ6YSMvCICzijj1ZQ0GPfGdaZ5bSN0vWFIpItt_3YQnolYNUesDwzEr7xWokwzVSDywyQYz2-Oiv-Ow/s1600/IMG_2461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7-rxZJ69dA0m0umauTnJLKwq5xXS7-QxDX_MImgteija7r3LPXgouJ8P2DMBpZ6YSMvCICzijj1ZQ0GPfGdaZ5bSN0vWFIpItt_3YQnolYNUesDwzEr7xWokwzVSDywyQYz2-Oiv-Ow/s400/IMG_2461.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake was a little concerned his pants were getting wet :)<br /></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
There are 2 parades each day and we watched 3 of the 6 parades. Blake wanted me to take pictures of his favorite things of course.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwjCiI_ARwMrfWTQ9nykCIja5f78ihPlefUwycgGVerHp9iLmHx60md8u6Yx7B_JH84Y20Wy3koHOKGxxvt0djTnt8sfZHx0ytMbrutnhCUsckTCxu0H8rmtqMDdL874uhWCJDNuoXw/s1600/IMG_2463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwjCiI_ARwMrfWTQ9nykCIja5f78ihPlefUwycgGVerHp9iLmHx60md8u6Yx7B_JH84Y20Wy3koHOKGxxvt0djTnt8sfZHx0ytMbrutnhCUsckTCxu0H8rmtqMDdL874uhWCJDNuoXw/s320/IMG_2463.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pride of the Dutchmen Marching band - Blake says that the song they play is now his favorite song.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjju-w_iSEu690c2nBBcHcUhTUd1qX9E4F3SYrjIQFXiC60__7g0CSr8HVqNuS1M6m16y4n1K2M7pEbfzIGERaFNbHO_qNZTTGeGCi-VFwpj3zJ6-WsnzBE2_qMTTnN-J3ktyCQN3Ha9w/s1600/IMG_2466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjju-w_iSEu690c2nBBcHcUhTUd1qX9E4F3SYrjIQFXiC60__7g0CSr8HVqNuS1M6m16y4n1K2M7pEbfzIGERaFNbHO_qNZTTGeGCi-VFwpj3zJ6-WsnzBE2_qMTTnN-J3ktyCQN3Ha9w/s320/IMG_2466.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Budweiser horses and wagon.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5hp1Cr_fRlsGU-t6BS5ubrPXo6WVdzJTKrK0oLGWckOjhuqJRKk9HVGRNo-bmQ_RL-SF8KxSePxhAO9htfeLduaApD3B7SfejW6j-I8398XKgyN1lZya2E5Tq_rE2K-n374lC48qgA/s1600/IMG_2468.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5hp1Cr_fRlsGU-t6BS5ubrPXo6WVdzJTKrK0oLGWckOjhuqJRKk9HVGRNo-bmQ_RL-SF8KxSePxhAO9htfeLduaApD3B7SfejW6j-I8398XKgyN1lZya2E5Tq_rE2K-n374lC48qgA/s320/IMG_2468.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unity Christian High School float with a nice tractor (which is what Blake liked :)</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTORNcrv91iKCDnyI6kCpaD4G9NwvmEvPodotxuRU82yBpChS3ICyhhl0KobUTQ9-Z0IGvIaZG9FxKH2Mom8t6EgI0KC5Px1UiuUw4y4FvutzBKJMMxUNWRNaSjj13CnAwJoW5JgeAQA/s1600/IMG_2469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTORNcrv91iKCDnyI6kCpaD4G9NwvmEvPodotxuRU82yBpChS3ICyhhl0KobUTQ9-Z0IGvIaZG9FxKH2Mom8t6EgI0KC5Px1UiuUw4y4FvutzBKJMMxUNWRNaSjj13CnAwJoW5JgeAQA/s320/IMG_2469.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This float has been around since I was a kid :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4FRzM-3H5sOZSpsYSnrqZiGzVQC0wi78QLUXmUI_-R6G-mh7bXTJc28qwAypviIb3Zz62xvSfaobq6W4Qpk4POCH59ZCiQd-H4p7SW8YbhaYH_InvLIjLOEMUKQ1dN3txXk-yXb0R3w/s1600/IMG_2477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4FRzM-3H5sOZSpsYSnrqZiGzVQC0wi78QLUXmUI_-R6G-mh7bXTJc28qwAypviIb3Zz62xvSfaobq6W4Qpk4POCH59ZCiQd-H4p7SW8YbhaYH_InvLIjLOEMUKQ1dN3txXk-yXb0R3w/s320/IMG_2477.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake loves trains!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLmtCTOodm6O9P-Il0a78tCU4SPDnJ8PcCyf-GyzrL4bSYF43orFSZ88DH7K6VJfWCcFrsy2U3qWOlu1cN2yFZz0PYBa0iNqENpTYxEpF4Ih7oLxOUDtBjGivumMXK5gqOKMVtqPyDQ/s1600/IMG_2478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLmtCTOodm6O9P-Il0a78tCU4SPDnJ8PcCyf-GyzrL4bSYF43orFSZ88DH7K6VJfWCcFrsy2U3qWOlu1cN2yFZz0PYBa0iNqENpTYxEpF4Ih7oLxOUDtBjGivumMXK5gqOKMVtqPyDQ/s320/IMG_2478.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and boats!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcm7nH8ryc4vcSUsqzR24REgo8Eya4Q7ekPvtodGFD7j79k0WminHqw61rIw00cpHDIMlTAFc4PbOqjyLSj5tCLPXAnpXF351jGFBFhUojQmBflNwDhBD1417vjbte7Uo2BRLNp-xmJw/s1600/IMG_2481.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcm7nH8ryc4vcSUsqzR24REgo8Eya4Q7ekPvtodGFD7j79k0WminHqw61rIw00cpHDIMlTAFc4PbOqjyLSj5tCLPXAnpXF351jGFBFhUojQmBflNwDhBD1417vjbte7Uo2BRLNp-xmJw/s320/IMG_2481.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was also fun to see familiar faces from Pella. Here is the Pella Christian School Middle School band.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Some other fun things we did were go to the airport for a fly in breakfast and visit with old friends.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMvODvcZ97Zf8HS-4QlbBIS5wHg7i7WN4OmxMEHqppJONESxwqjoMJPYhOJh-c-cm_G29GplUNBsr5rVRWat6Y1-C_YHnQzA9plQ1dcrGmPTbRE97T6DcsoPhZmNPxj4MxtC7jiP_xA/s1600/IMG_2062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMvODvcZ97Zf8HS-4QlbBIS5wHg7i7WN4OmxMEHqppJONESxwqjoMJPYhOJh-c-cm_G29GplUNBsr5rVRWat6Y1-C_YHnQzA9plQ1dcrGmPTbRE97T6DcsoPhZmNPxj4MxtC7jiP_xA/s320/IMG_2062.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great girl friends from high school and college. We got together at a friend's house, but also got to hang out watching a parade together.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3u20-sDnCNAHUPK1JE3WRxoEHRu9IDI6v2I9kA63QLmq_SUuswX1okCk9KOBhx33YnYw2rgoeJxVOEjjXv8EBPg1AQ8wIcRx-tX8jJvbB8lNvK0u329k8dPt5ap3szgV90Ku8GHYpTg/s1600/IMG_2060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3u20-sDnCNAHUPK1JE3WRxoEHRu9IDI6v2I9kA63QLmq_SUuswX1okCk9KOBhx33YnYw2rgoeJxVOEjjXv8EBPg1AQ8wIcRx-tX8jJvbB8lNvK0u329k8dPt5ap3szgV90Ku8GHYpTg/s320/IMG_2060.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just some of our kids.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Ndj0JQFW_K8be-dpSi3goeo3gaGjgyyyuo0_LdItHrKpf_KmEuQ3vEIEdDyhPtkKw8PP67yhJ-aBHOZKTJXKRPjqmd-Y6q4nKOOnhhyNbuleRL439brV8JTbSvPmT3_NHQbYcyraEA/s1600/IMG_2066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Ndj0JQFW_K8be-dpSi3goeo3gaGjgyyyuo0_LdItHrKpf_KmEuQ3vEIEdDyhPtkKw8PP67yhJ-aBHOZKTJXKRPjqmd-Y6q4nKOOnhhyNbuleRL439brV8JTbSvPmT3_NHQbYcyraEA/s320/IMG_2066.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rain in the morning kept the planes on the ground, but the kids still had fun looking at them.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Here are a few last pictures of our fun weekend in Orange City.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1t0FiihVf3UNSK2LyL1qTjw2bbs_idrOAOxiNZjIahVbQh-lMunCXTFerh9plEp5fuH6DVc2GaQjKWdWDFDLyewkQF7rmNyxB9k1YuELp7GvkNDCVMIVgL62ppe8r7LiYziDR1qT70w/s1600/IMG_2070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1t0FiihVf3UNSK2LyL1qTjw2bbs_idrOAOxiNZjIahVbQh-lMunCXTFerh9plEp5fuH6DVc2GaQjKWdWDFDLyewkQF7rmNyxB9k1YuELp7GvkNDCVMIVgL62ppe8r7LiYziDR1qT70w/s320/IMG_2070.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We grabbed a photo with Tulip Queen Cara while walking around.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_QdMHh4hBtjxQ5vuIRtWAeZdSVtWW2IZ4ph94V_UvYPrMY-Mrdpe3zm_ogILSDV4iry88Ay-RsmT04yCTm3Q8ZEJY-uESSv99FaE94MeHOLaAJbeH3EG6o3hGc-m0tgSqa5GTSRzZ0A/s1600/IMG_2074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_QdMHh4hBtjxQ5vuIRtWAeZdSVtWW2IZ4ph94V_UvYPrMY-Mrdpe3zm_ogILSDV4iry88Ay-RsmT04yCTm3Q8ZEJY-uESSv99FaE94MeHOLaAJbeH3EG6o3hGc-m0tgSqa5GTSRzZ0A/s320/IMG_2074.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake loved the car ride!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6lVAj1sTvip8YLPCG2Ypw8EmGo0DiqBqrkbKh7G-a8FBczL-tMIaYmwToFEgZ4rF2Inpc-Of9C-7yCEJXf6VhuXxK-AyAUns2_D7lCmtyLx-uEYzfurnFozy31YpNRgModx4m11XHg/s1600/IMG_2077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6lVAj1sTvip8YLPCG2Ypw8EmGo0DiqBqrkbKh7G-a8FBczL-tMIaYmwToFEgZ4rF2Inpc-Of9C-7yCEJXf6VhuXxK-AyAUns2_D7lCmtyLx-uEYzfurnFozy31YpNRgModx4m11XHg/s320/IMG_2077.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca was way more adventurous and road the Screamer twice!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjksbC7FkZUPYHGyoE8E9dmzZsfgd56tAxWYZ4rg68EFUKIzcpLmIidqppUpY3wV-hRdAKSIZe6RKjB79APb8jZQZ5OSfIh51JIsXbmcXjfQA5swMr88ti0JqMwByd5Cg-S2hUDmcD-g/s1600/IMG_2080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjksbC7FkZUPYHGyoE8E9dmzZsfgd56tAxWYZ4rg68EFUKIzcpLmIidqppUpY3wV-hRdAKSIZe6RKjB79APb8jZQZ5OSfIh51JIsXbmcXjfQA5swMr88ti0JqMwByd5Cg-S2hUDmcD-g/s320/IMG_2080.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Screamer</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iuQjP4-0GCalqtKaUb877D2AU35fYdp5bUaJwiyI0v1zfk2aaRPzUVuah3SpDmqy9wsxdl0QDkTsxTRPMrd_vEStVPnVduDrajKbzPhoZ_FmaK_zDiM35t8VEnS2dlB4PhfvT_xmtQ/s1600/IMG_2084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iuQjP4-0GCalqtKaUb877D2AU35fYdp5bUaJwiyI0v1zfk2aaRPzUVuah3SpDmqy9wsxdl0QDkTsxTRPMrd_vEStVPnVduDrajKbzPhoZ_FmaK_zDiM35t8VEnS2dlB4PhfvT_xmtQ/s320/IMG_2084.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The caterpillar roller coaster was also a hit with her.</td></tr>
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Thanks so much for Tonya for hosting us. The kids had a great time with cousins Caleb and Deborah too!</div>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-84699910363525713382015-03-09T13:43:00.000-05:002015-03-09T13:43:43.243-05:00February in review<div style="text-align: center;">
So it's been a while since I've blogged. Can you guess why? It's because I was working full time again - no, not at school, but at home. I did child care for my nieces for a month while their grandma, who usually watches them recovered from surgery. I really loved watching a few extra kids, but it is like working full time again and I didn't have much free time during the day. The up side of working from home of course is that I could still get a few things done like laundry, light cleaning, and thinking about what's for supper before 5 pm. </div>
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Blake and Brianna especially liked having their cousins here every day to play with. Here's a few pictures of our fun together.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brooke and Katie are only 4 months older than Blake.</td></tr>
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We did lots of fun stuff together, like play time and story time at the library.</div>
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We also played with playdough about every other day.</div>
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For Valentine's Day we decorated cookies. I let the 3 year olds do the sprinkles - not a complete disaster, but almost!</div>
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And lots and lots of story time!!</div>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-32476237872834415522015-01-18T19:52:00.000-06:002015-01-18T19:52:09.484-06:00Happy 3rd Birthday Blake!<div style="text-align: center;">
Can't believe our little guy is 3! It really is amazing how much he has grown and matured in the last year. He is such an energetic boy who keeps us on our toes and laughing all the time! He brings so much joy and fun to our family.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwgKMEMBlPwomB7R7tIrHhopyxxj1h4qhP-IpgGA-noq3J1AGh7MxdWpc2ccnJr6SxkrrW1rVk0SmT9XaiWsMqpeSqwBL_UjuPQkX0MZmC3dXvFgQf-Ll_GLGgpsXsnR7-2xWpp2vOg/s1600/IMG_2396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwgKMEMBlPwomB7R7tIrHhopyxxj1h4qhP-IpgGA-noq3J1AGh7MxdWpc2ccnJr6SxkrrW1rVk0SmT9XaiWsMqpeSqwBL_UjuPQkX0MZmC3dXvFgQf-Ll_GLGgpsXsnR7-2xWpp2vOg/s1600/IMG_2396.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Construction theme!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, this is about the best family picture I got!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9Px6L4KZnDbQ63ja09OvppBdB5pgs-EiPug7_30h68guY8pkbgtBvmFOmYSDvRtw6nWtFFLa7n5VdcEcX1SpUsnWHP_VB4NEo22hCuM8ZZj1d6wanIGKMu5hk7UvaUGFA1qnYLgCfQ/s1600/IMG_2387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9Px6L4KZnDbQ63ja09OvppBdB5pgs-EiPug7_30h68guY8pkbgtBvmFOmYSDvRtw6nWtFFLa7n5VdcEcX1SpUsnWHP_VB4NEo22hCuM8ZZj1d6wanIGKMu5hk7UvaUGFA1qnYLgCfQ/s1600/IMG_2387.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inspired by a picture on Pinterest of course.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of fun presents!</td></tr>
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Alright, here is how the cake was put together. It really was a pretty easy cake and very forgiving. It started with 2 8" rounds - one of them broke apart when I flipped it out which normally would have been awful, but for this cake it worked.</div>
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I pieced it together with chocolate butter cream frosting. It was pretty messy but like I said, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is pretty forgiving. I just kept adding frosting until everything was covered.</div>
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After the frosting, I put the trucks in place and the added a bunch of candy - cut up Snickers, Whoppers, mini Kit Kats and Heath bits.</div>
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I made the little signs on the computer and taped them on sticks. </div>
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Ta-da! Or as Blake would say, "Tee-da!"</div>
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Happy Birthday Buddy!!</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-34837409880611974612014-12-29T13:12:00.000-06:002014-12-29T13:12:03.330-06:00Merry Christmas!<div style="text-align: center;">
I just love this time of year! Celebrating the birth of our Savior, getting together with family and friends, giving of gifts to loved ones, and the food! We had a great week celebrating and it's a joy to see the excitement the kids have for the season. Here's a recap with lots of pictures.</div>
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Christmas Eve the kids opened a box with new pjs, a movie, and some snacks. We enjoyed a quiet night at home and now Blake's new favorite movie is Charlotte's Web.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas jammies!</td></tr>
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Christmas morning before church the kids opened their stockings. We also Skyped with Grandpa and Grandma Pontier in Canada so the kids could open their gifts from them "live" on the computer.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All dressed and ready for church Christmas morning!<br /></td></tr>
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Later Christmas day we went to my sister Grace's house in Pella and celebrated with her family.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of fun with the Barnes cousins.</td></tr>
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Finally we made it back home in the evening to finish opening our presents for the kids and each other.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca and Blake love their new scooters and had to practice riding them in the house.</td></tr>
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This past Saturday we had Dan's family over to our house for the De Vries Christmas. We spent almost the whole day together and had lot of fun.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Kr9jeDTeQuC5t-57KcTZ-vh3aGeF6u_H1HSVlaEYQYcBSdzevrIurY8Mxuo86XGqrxIQ182SEUGFJVHvZxuIQzWNJoV0RRxuIgNSTEV5uOXVwXHAk4zhltfQj_YxYoAAlpss-f6Yvw/s1600/IMG_2356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Kr9jeDTeQuC5t-57KcTZ-vh3aGeF6u_H1HSVlaEYQYcBSdzevrIurY8Mxuo86XGqrxIQ182SEUGFJVHvZxuIQzWNJoV0RRxuIgNSTEV5uOXVwXHAk4zhltfQj_YxYoAAlpss-f6Yvw/s1600/IMG_2356.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna got pretty good at ripping open presents!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWyGoR3fms5CiPNPTIWiBRPags3b-ESpr06HesCZllu2fBPLAZ5MxcM76tZlbWfjlT88Kpy-L9Vq8ygkfg1LU-VMLJiDYgVeFSL5G29aWZpuwox4eqJ-v-rNER9JVkHVvJijPPWwQWw/s1600/IMG_2359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWyGoR3fms5CiPNPTIWiBRPags3b-ESpr06HesCZllu2fBPLAZ5MxcM76tZlbWfjlT88Kpy-L9Vq8ygkfg1LU-VMLJiDYgVeFSL5G29aWZpuwox4eqJ-v-rNER9JVkHVvJijPPWwQWw/s1600/IMG_2359.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening gifts from Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2THRyaLet2qAqQDL0cZMcnGX6loyJvSy3c1W4bf3zqTgooXGyFvChsz7Sy2ZZQ4-436rjew8d3E-76RHfEz0zuVQE10XbBWDnbxzqbFLKoZu9QJOVTbloBDTa1PuJe1Fy7kCyLRQDxw/s1600/IMG_2363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2THRyaLet2qAqQDL0cZMcnGX6loyJvSy3c1W4bf3zqTgooXGyFvChsz7Sy2ZZQ4-436rjew8d3E-76RHfEz0zuVQE10XbBWDnbxzqbFLKoZu9QJOVTbloBDTa1PuJe1Fy7kCyLRQDxw/s1600/IMG_2363.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trevor and Blake intent on a video game.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdI-3hoYaAJPHzDlzFpIuYlG1otbTu4CfIKAtJWSrN1OoCJg5pLFGvPvMgOKGVeL9-KvysO9XPe_W4RQYeUBMMFP3oyOHJEskIDdr9GU83OlR-yX9rTXkXek-YPGzgjlsK02Qi47lEA/s1600/IMG_2370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdI-3hoYaAJPHzDlzFpIuYlG1otbTu4CfIKAtJWSrN1OoCJg5pLFGvPvMgOKGVeL9-KvysO9XPe_W4RQYeUBMMFP3oyOHJEskIDdr9GU83OlR-yX9rTXkXek-YPGzgjlsK02Qi47lEA/s1600/IMG_2370.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the little grand kids!</td></tr>
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We still have some celebrating to do when my brothers and their families come to visit for New Years!</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-33629692274042785232014-12-11T22:26:00.002-06:002014-12-11T22:26:38.050-06:00Birthday Celebrations<div style="text-align: center;">
It's been a while since I've posted. We've had a pretty quiet November. Back at the beginning of the month, Dan and I celebrated our birthdays and we took advantage of a Groupon deal and stayed over night at the Ramada hotel water park in Des Moines. The kids had a great time swimming, I didn't have to cook supper, and it was some good family time after harvest was mostly over.</div>
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Here are a few photos of our fun day away.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyVnYZp1Zds6_pXOHvjFr1TwXnFo5DKwyQ9xZK8P81LYnxS_xgYvyXVWLRK4JKYi7hJ4WkPsb10mSJ4dazesDV4NpNcZjV7rN1Dswh-vybqcVSHSinlqdizriW__i6TrkTev_sxUTwNA/s1600/IMG_1444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyVnYZp1Zds6_pXOHvjFr1TwXnFo5DKwyQ9xZK8P81LYnxS_xgYvyXVWLRK4JKYi7hJ4WkPsb10mSJ4dazesDV4NpNcZjV7rN1Dswh-vybqcVSHSinlqdizriW__i6TrkTev_sxUTwNA/s1600/IMG_1444.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna loves bath time so it's not surprising she loves swimming too.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknuNZKFNuuKgPTbdx_ck25DJGlwo-W607Tbga_LN8PJwHWkEHVAhvH29cTYBpNXpqAQ1GKlnCsgF9Rz1nYvemSgSs5cjktr1CbbSh96gy-jgdUwl-P2r48tDCensSxRubpCcsrjrx1g/s1600/IMG_1451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknuNZKFNuuKgPTbdx_ck25DJGlwo-W607Tbga_LN8PJwHWkEHVAhvH29cTYBpNXpqAQ1GKlnCsgF9Rz1nYvemSgSs5cjktr1CbbSh96gy-jgdUwl-P2r48tDCensSxRubpCcsrjrx1g/s1600/IMG_1451.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca was very brave and we had fun racing down the big water slides.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPe881Shsjl80AHd1j66YW6xG7-6sQQSicjFjgaTGJ2F9cUzGDVIVdek4og96b9IbhUtEsH2gbvvewU_0U2-pNSn-s5qDshLF9TChJa-K3AetAb_VZWx0DkjjxRmWNStWCaxLQVr8v8g/s1600/IMG_1468.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPe881Shsjl80AHd1j66YW6xG7-6sQQSicjFjgaTGJ2F9cUzGDVIVdek4og96b9IbhUtEsH2gbvvewU_0U2-pNSn-s5qDshLF9TChJa-K3AetAb_VZWx0DkjjxRmWNStWCaxLQVr8v8g/s1600/IMG_1468.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday supper for me!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2b5E2saZA4RVTyO9I0l7T-ZxNyhPCOOHfSALHVPP-0fHXqonYfTQMavPBMnfcP_1ngHFYUD1SonvUOOebZ2IaLYMNlKKkTRfsjTpviCJIcr1NAnHkI6PQHGp1tUBV6IzyRjJhcVCALQ/s1600/IMG_1473.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2b5E2saZA4RVTyO9I0l7T-ZxNyhPCOOHfSALHVPP-0fHXqonYfTQMavPBMnfcP_1ngHFYUD1SonvUOOebZ2IaLYMNlKKkTRfsjTpviCJIcr1NAnHkI6PQHGp1tUBV6IzyRjJhcVCALQ/s1600/IMG_1473.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everyone helped me eat my birthday brownies and ice cream. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMyT0ZlGtvogXj0bmzIUpcYgKazGYvj-yIxiO0pL59sQUXhINmjnmpqhenZz0GM-ZIoyZTnL4V8DYD0yi8LUHklQgTM2CNUONMimvWAHgTQ-_mxZMhvnlmqqPsTDfKs8uZX1YAkU6VA/s1600/IMG_1479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMyT0ZlGtvogXj0bmzIUpcYgKazGYvj-yIxiO0pL59sQUXhINmjnmpqhenZz0GM-ZIoyZTnL4V8DYD0yi8LUHklQgTM2CNUONMimvWAHgTQ-_mxZMhvnlmqqPsTDfKs8uZX1YAkU6VA/s1600/IMG_1479.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It took Blake a little while to get comfortable in the water, but he eventually was able to go around on his own.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaFZoFMeTWJGG2Muey4W-SDxQXML9UvvE3kNPi8SB1o_vn4RbeI0ldANN9MqpkvBIsj2WphcB76PHX2jN1hT5gmoi0T8j3iVPh4IuAJ7n-OoNUBOq6HYFEbPmOyJsye0XbHrOj3DTC1w/s1600/IMG_1481.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaFZoFMeTWJGG2Muey4W-SDxQXML9UvvE3kNPi8SB1o_vn4RbeI0ldANN9MqpkvBIsj2WphcB76PHX2jN1hT5gmoi0T8j3iVPh4IuAJ7n-OoNUBOq6HYFEbPmOyJsye0XbHrOj3DTC1w/s1600/IMG_1481.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He went down this slide a lot!</td></tr>
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We also had a great time with friends and family for Thanksgiving, but I failed to take any pictures! Can't believe Christmas is in two weeks! Love the holidays and trying not to stress out :)</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-44895404953799377102014-11-05T11:06:00.001-06:002014-11-05T11:06:09.606-06:00Quilt Show 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
Last weekend I flew to Houston with my sisters and mom for the International Quilt Show and a visit with my younger sister Rachel, who currently lives in Houston. We had a great time together enjoying the quilt show, seeing a little of Houston, and relaxing together - kid free!</div>
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Some of the quilts we saw were beyond amazing. It was the 40th anniversary of the quilt show and was celebrated with this special display "Ruby Jubilee" of red and white quilts.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnA0HRkf_DesQVlPfjGaLKPpj8mtCnW5yUM8N8oQ6uoMi3CT-2uy2SdzSZN4Ya6xQ9i9LVf3Qnlif5Xp7_BIb385px8wapjklI8zwGVo91X4LPQfWlfrMaILUbg9AEsAfhCUlGQM74fA/s1600/IMG_1402.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnA0HRkf_DesQVlPfjGaLKPpj8mtCnW5yUM8N8oQ6uoMi3CT-2uy2SdzSZN4Ya6xQ9i9LVf3Qnlif5Xp7_BIb385px8wapjklI8zwGVo91X4LPQfWlfrMaILUbg9AEsAfhCUlGQM74fA/s1600/IMG_1402.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsEolRfxOLleQ6iwt-oGlF_Y32SJemHalEQoIitMzkge1FP0jqQjmTj4B6UJZcEg-HmcoGRyFcTxMWpUs4Eb17Lvz_tEKkFR9U4TcmuRP02MwOx5YKO5gF0kHIib2QKlUIFEwoh3a9w/s1600/IMG_1401.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsEolRfxOLleQ6iwt-oGlF_Y32SJemHalEQoIitMzkge1FP0jqQjmTj4B6UJZcEg-HmcoGRyFcTxMWpUs4Eb17Lvz_tEKkFR9U4TcmuRP02MwOx5YKO5gF0kHIib2QKlUIFEwoh3a9w/s1600/IMG_1401.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this one because each quilt square could be it's own quilt.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7ShYR2URgaHI8Boq11KD1QWBQuxdJBbkwx1RLAf8V81nfDE1bT-w_Yj0z5eRKBj-9CAMnGx_EYX_jCwmg4funHt7AGMEdrvF9NY2bsbAzrlkvLPQMtu4kb9HEnxIVkDPTX0da-RQyw/s1600/IMG_1404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7ShYR2URgaHI8Boq11KD1QWBQuxdJBbkwx1RLAf8V81nfDE1bT-w_Yj0z5eRKBj-9CAMnGx_EYX_jCwmg4funHt7AGMEdrvF9NY2bsbAzrlkvLPQMtu4kb9HEnxIVkDPTX0da-RQyw/s1600/IMG_1404.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This wall hanging quilt had squares smaller that my finger nail!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NNxCa1DR8qP7CIX49WCYYom-EVgwdDady-xH4fg2_M_7HEB_KfV65CjmBYW_y30s5h2-zofoTqc_feKkA6aj6EdUgaHNi8bNL9tnCYGsczCfxb0sK_1MZqC1E0Ou6kI3s_Od6JIZsQ/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NNxCa1DR8qP7CIX49WCYYom-EVgwdDady-xH4fg2_M_7HEB_KfV65CjmBYW_y30s5h2-zofoTqc_feKkA6aj6EdUgaHNi8bNL9tnCYGsczCfxb0sK_1MZqC1E0Ou6kI3s_Od6JIZsQ/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this spiral quilt might have been one of my favorite red and white quilt.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnM4I2M7mjNYOSU8ll1BA0DcHpxZXhkJrWYo209VLsK8TSerip2lT7U12Mdn4ADfcsVMTaW-lSfbgI2nsHlDiDCbJqH-525fo1b3I3sJ3GeKhcL8WYjQ38QOz8I0KKbXRXkJjisb5EA/s1600/IMG_1406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnM4I2M7mjNYOSU8ll1BA0DcHpxZXhkJrWYo209VLsK8TSerip2lT7U12Mdn4ADfcsVMTaW-lSfbgI2nsHlDiDCbJqH-525fo1b3I3sJ3GeKhcL8WYjQ38QOz8I0KKbXRXkJjisb5EA/s1600/IMG_1406.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This quilt was beyond amazing!</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A fourth of the convention center was quilts on display, but the other 3/4 was filled with booths with ANY THING relating to sewing and quilting or just women in general.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_7J1N7UcRVeHI_P6eDZmtW1PQJ4J5UE9NNk1KtR_mMpzf8t7_aHznK62gc7Mv1xd6u3ozJEcBDTwYIcfVAl0gYMIOWQCvLxg-Se1s1LeAYoq1MfXlm6ac3q5oerxVHtXGkElHcySOQ/s1600/IMG_1407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_7J1N7UcRVeHI_P6eDZmtW1PQJ4J5UE9NNk1KtR_mMpzf8t7_aHznK62gc7Mv1xd6u3ozJEcBDTwYIcfVAl0gYMIOWQCvLxg-Se1s1LeAYoq1MfXlm6ac3q5oerxVHtXGkElHcySOQ/s1600/IMG_1407.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was one of my favorite booths - beautiful batik fabrics and great quilt patterns.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBlUGYAcZ8hRlFNwPdueo5TVJjXrwfffY4r8m_6hbzgqIZcSl914Yd4Pao02WpHmZqq14Rl8Icmr_Zh3_PCsULZsDkKmHeXewUwDwTMt02-EawY1n2og8pSIDpp9IXZsq3zBADpQI5g/s1600/IMG_1408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBlUGYAcZ8hRlFNwPdueo5TVJjXrwfffY4r8m_6hbzgqIZcSl914Yd4Pao02WpHmZqq14Rl8Icmr_Zh3_PCsULZsDkKmHeXewUwDwTMt02-EawY1n2og8pSIDpp9IXZsq3zBADpQI5g/s1600/IMG_1408.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the convention center in Houston where the quilt show was held. This only shows 1/3 of the building - it was huge!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQXmxyLD6D-hdWIkIuOh2ct9N1KJfG54U3iPW172C9h-MzNWMCR06J6FwNG1T4VSrPv43QkExrfZ7THJak8x3HpaL4NOZd9RZUYsEVc5LadcQGcLdBYgkl9UoPqYH01vs1FHk-9g41xA/s1600/IMG_1409.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQXmxyLD6D-hdWIkIuOh2ct9N1KJfG54U3iPW172C9h-MzNWMCR06J6FwNG1T4VSrPv43QkExrfZ7THJak8x3HpaL4NOZd9RZUYsEVc5LadcQGcLdBYgkl9UoPqYH01vs1FHk-9g41xA/s1600/IMG_1409.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Across the street from the convention center is a park where we had lunch one day, taking a break from walking.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAEKZ8qeEiWlt4JTulddHZLrmdbgZU2bw7uOIJatO16clafdDvDkwPCpMXgOL672KKYbuqCgjYb_OaOFr6FFs8s0YkYRmcXdtj8zA4T8W904V1UOsf-aSIq20DlAB8qbbjhM8bc9w5A/s1600/IMG_1411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAEKZ8qeEiWlt4JTulddHZLrmdbgZU2bw7uOIJatO16clafdDvDkwPCpMXgOL672KKYbuqCgjYb_OaOFr6FFs8s0YkYRmcXdtj8zA4T8W904V1UOsf-aSIq20DlAB8qbbjhM8bc9w5A/s1600/IMG_1411.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is mom with "George". She just recently got a George machine so we told her to pose with this virtual guy by the George machines. My dad teases that George is the other man in her life and she now spends more time with George :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAcmARprGe2jmU_eamxdxBvYC5wShxDUSj3x22BTyWzHwEqSYg31T8LQ7k1gaQ7ymxbyqI0hHh6L3nQxhUdlHx4sczYdlGni4kdTGwkhh0XJ8qDzk9j45PitvAsiou2xlFK7SPocP9w/s1600/IMG_1413.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAcmARprGe2jmU_eamxdxBvYC5wShxDUSj3x22BTyWzHwEqSYg31T8LQ7k1gaQ7ymxbyqI0hHh6L3nQxhUdlHx4sczYdlGni4kdTGwkhh0XJ8qDzk9j45PitvAsiou2xlFK7SPocP9w/s1600/IMG_1413.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just having a little fun in a photo booth - we could have had this picture printed on some fabric.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfD8UCu_kJ7cTpTHsPCKVRoEyzbxkg5LB_bDIEs3a3Uvvbm1zG36RCtvO5uK3IX4MHyfEhl3k4_eg9daCLholLY6rVeFIFk37tzq8RCT8Pi1Rz98yjCS6xhWPKNXucaonCRo8p7rKX6A/s1600/IMG_1412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfD8UCu_kJ7cTpTHsPCKVRoEyzbxkg5LB_bDIEs3a3Uvvbm1zG36RCtvO5uK3IX4MHyfEhl3k4_eg9daCLholLY6rVeFIFk37tzq8RCT8Pi1Rz98yjCS6xhWPKNXucaonCRo8p7rKX6A/s1600/IMG_1412.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wings of Houston! In the park across from the convention center.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMmy1NxPhG-VnaySoWzCNeU1hxKD_dU0KmoDZ0HhM0l5_hKwdOYf_CEXtjuPd5S1dbd9iwUksvnVwsKikWB-6VR7ScqtRC4poF1oJGB-ouXTm6QyVmitWkYJw3msFmj6BVoGp141usw/s1600/IMG_1417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMmy1NxPhG-VnaySoWzCNeU1hxKD_dU0KmoDZ0HhM0l5_hKwdOYf_CEXtjuPd5S1dbd9iwUksvnVwsKikWB-6VR7ScqtRC4poF1oJGB-ouXTm6QyVmitWkYJw3msFmj6BVoGp141usw/s1600/IMG_1417.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A selfie in the park.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcOekNwiheud_TB0XRBVcslvQBHZDeOcPBNcPjLxqiv7TcbmLrkBsCz_Bp5JgZL2k4FRs9i8zfoo8gJvy8Uwgn3VjoFnum6vBlD97anCy1iHlUYzgy9nl-9XFVVzgpF378zCTwYDDXg/s1600/IMG_1421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcOekNwiheud_TB0XRBVcslvQBHZDeOcPBNcPjLxqiv7TcbmLrkBsCz_Bp5JgZL2k4FRs9i8zfoo8gJvy8Uwgn3VjoFnum6vBlD97anCy1iHlUYzgy9nl-9XFVVzgpF378zCTwYDDXg/s1600/IMG_1421.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our very lovely accommodations - Rachel's apartment. She painted quilt squares in her pumpkins in honor of our visit!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfdamfEiEqKO3NwxKPtaG2rJjHD6z6DfXZeHNMMYwvr9q8AQzsc0FCq9tmpBoLRe9ch4EaJWs0OlawHpKnsC_r-HB89kAbpHiGAHFLaZdaZO6TpItKO2lrmrHAs_ig6C8W9WeLr5oYxg/s1600/IMG_1428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfdamfEiEqKO3NwxKPtaG2rJjHD6z6DfXZeHNMMYwvr9q8AQzsc0FCq9tmpBoLRe9ch4EaJWs0OlawHpKnsC_r-HB89kAbpHiGAHFLaZdaZO6TpItKO2lrmrHAs_ig6C8W9WeLr5oYxg/s1600/IMG_1428.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've seen so many pictures of dinner parties on this back deck, so glad I finally got to enjoy one myself!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsH0K0-AkewzXIBMQcwB9MvzYBUp1Q1tMicXOZADo2qwD-F-JEgkIXcKZrtAxd8fY3-dFBy0IkWOTjwzXCbACeNil4gHryNsiDKhzJUv7_FmBEm5KGmDLuV3inNZEAuji6gmFdwE05Q/s1600/IMG_1431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsH0K0-AkewzXIBMQcwB9MvzYBUp1Q1tMicXOZADo2qwD-F-JEgkIXcKZrtAxd8fY3-dFBy0IkWOTjwzXCbACeNil4gHryNsiDKhzJUv7_FmBEm5KGmDLuV3inNZEAuji6gmFdwE05Q/s1600/IMG_1431.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Better than a restaurant meal!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPG9xRXo8-hIphpLDKWQnW1WZsH53kv7cxZ0M57EQHkRWq_VIM290DXtGuvHmsw-Yv4CqZLX_e6mdeGg0XVCLqjFGsUwIozNkFYoZBAuHUhyzJDAQv_xEaDMrntNFkmSXm8lk-UHxGQ/s1600/supper+in+Houston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPG9xRXo8-hIphpLDKWQnW1WZsH53kv7cxZ0M57EQHkRWq_VIM290DXtGuvHmsw-Yv4CqZLX_e6mdeGg0XVCLqjFGsUwIozNkFYoZBAuHUhyzJDAQv_xEaDMrntNFkmSXm8lk-UHxGQ/s1600/supper+in+Houston.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left to right - my sisters Rachel and Grace, sister in law Tonya, me, sister in law Andrea and Mom.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
I did buy a quilt pattern, so hopefully in the next year or so I'll buy fabric and get started on it!!</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-82819816236069148582014-11-04T13:31:00.002-06:002014-11-04T13:31:48.836-06:00Brianna's 1st Birthday<div style="text-align: center;">
Our little ladybug is 1! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xbrCYBVeMGM5crtZ-TVevVbmpMnwtV7O3PO0PbsUt6TlUqBgTBLhpX40x2-An1iuusosKCnhPEv6yVbSneFOgBKqHVo6ch3TbxQIsXij0_FOoQGYOrwKd7lOzJoTo0F_2eHIBQKzIQ/s1600/IMG_2277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xbrCYBVeMGM5crtZ-TVevVbmpMnwtV7O3PO0PbsUt6TlUqBgTBLhpX40x2-An1iuusosKCnhPEv6yVbSneFOgBKqHVo6ch3TbxQIsXij0_FOoQGYOrwKd7lOzJoTo0F_2eHIBQKzIQ/s1600/IMG_2277.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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We had a great time celebrating Brianna's birthday a week ago. I had the idea of doing a ladybug theme and then my mom told me she had made a ladybug quilt for her so that is what we went with. </div>
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She makes the cutest birthday girl!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJgXRGPHt2GPQnGzlSeQ1YTjuoX8q36nd7VlL7KgQzhk9iUUS6V0avKc1_Jac5HmCRvH7UUY1T1W58OFSbsFTwn6-74jWXBKt3UxCJphMZjTHHQ0FIe2CEo3Qw-MAkxuGnMjUM8nu1g/s1600/IMG_2276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJgXRGPHt2GPQnGzlSeQ1YTjuoX8q36nd7VlL7KgQzhk9iUUS6V0avKc1_Jac5HmCRvH7UUY1T1W58OFSbsFTwn6-74jWXBKt3UxCJphMZjTHHQ0FIe2CEo3Qw-MAkxuGnMjUM8nu1g/s1600/IMG_2276.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I made the headband bow and tutu.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrlLU0H5i-zxTVDzsPF2c9XcMpTXlANaBPZ_xJtS23K199JrIRoGCYuVN_VqrVc5aT6DxmcTsVEI2ln8iTXwcjwrTOA2pTVvdfM0WuqChxo68S_cxBSNDO91vSEkUF3ysgdz0hbUcoQ/s1600/IMG_2281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrlLU0H5i-zxTVDzsPF2c9XcMpTXlANaBPZ_xJtS23K199JrIRoGCYuVN_VqrVc5aT6DxmcTsVEI2ln8iTXwcjwrTOA2pTVvdfM0WuqChxo68S_cxBSNDO91vSEkUF3ysgdz0hbUcoQ/s1600/IMG_2281.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She got a little help from her siblings blowing out the candle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlP2IZzuQCu69xweT8W2iC4OJx3FNDxqwuqk13uE3r75sje4HFXP0QSJaxO3KT7EtK8AGKX8RJOrxhdUyeDc0opfRuGBPSeamvFSjtqemRWDDf-giBelsLfRwN2yVFEF8HB43xDjgglA/s1600/IMG_2301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlP2IZzuQCu69xweT8W2iC4OJx3FNDxqwuqk13uE3r75sje4HFXP0QSJaxO3KT7EtK8AGKX8RJOrxhdUyeDc0opfRuGBPSeamvFSjtqemRWDDf-giBelsLfRwN2yVFEF8HB43xDjgglA/s1600/IMG_2301.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She couldn't eat the cake fast enough! By the time I got the camera out, her little piece was almost gone!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bp8ooMA-Lb0LRRzzjsLiOvfBk3O4gqpJCEsJcPhCNHa41f62J8s9KRgaetWdPPs8y0M8_EF1imuMe8V-YFhBItygbmcDB10ofZrZc3j2vwHRu7ih1Dqxsd24E2QrdVH1uUmkYtUpwA/s1600/IMG_2288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bp8ooMA-Lb0LRRzzjsLiOvfBk3O4gqpJCEsJcPhCNHa41f62J8s9KRgaetWdPPs8y0M8_EF1imuMe8V-YFhBItygbmcDB10ofZrZc3j2vwHRu7ih1Dqxsd24E2QrdVH1uUmkYtUpwA/s1600/IMG_2288.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladybug quilt was lovingly made by Grandma Pontier. We gave her a ladybug pillow pet to go along with it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here's a little recap of how I made the cake. I baked one cake mix in 2 sizes of pyrex glass bowls. The smaller bowl cooked in a 3rd of the time. When they cooled I cut the smaller to fit into the larger to make the head. The white stuff on the cake is just flour from greasing and flouring the bowl so the cake wouldn't stick.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Blake did a great job supervising and eating as much frosting as he could. Black and red are probably the two hardest colors to make, but I just tried to get them as dark as I could without using the whole bottle of coloring paste. I find that frosting actually gets darker as it sets so my gray and pink ladybug looked more black and red after a few hours.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
I used a medium star tip all over for both the black and the red. Making progress...</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
I added the details (spots, eyes, and smile) last and was very happy with how cute it turned out! I was glad there was a little room on the cake board to add the words "Happy Birthday" and "Brianna 1". </div>
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The only thing I wish this little guy had were some antenna made of black pipe cleaners. I realized a little too late in the day that I didn't have any. Maybe cake #2 will get some for birthday party #2, we'll see.</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-52914869071578787602014-10-24T20:06:00.000-05:002014-10-24T20:09:16.518-05:00Pumpkin Patch Adventures<div style="text-align: center;">
Fall doesn't seem quite complete without a trip to a pumpkin patch. I took the kids tonight and they had a great time running around trying out all the different little attractions. My favorite thing to do is take pictures of them having fun. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Blake used to hold the title of "Smilie" in our family, but now he's in his moody twos, so Brianna is happily taking over the title.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdYX3kajnFV7IvvCrH9lMc5yxZfII9SsPdjlqa8vhzOq3Wp5Wr606TNsb5qVVNz_Zt7-cYIw4Ib2pGyghhH2NZ271kr_ouiABpfP_XPE1LvWVIHtec_xjCQS-eP3XIz5i3N74DXPgIw/s1600/IMG_2230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdYX3kajnFV7IvvCrH9lMc5yxZfII9SsPdjlqa8vhzOq3Wp5Wr606TNsb5qVVNz_Zt7-cYIw4Ib2pGyghhH2NZ271kr_ouiABpfP_XPE1LvWVIHtec_xjCQS-eP3XIz5i3N74DXPgIw/s1600/IMG_2230.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Miss Smilie!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIoTPOXd8s1qRHh4F1f_gKJ80PUW48wVJg6eztm60JaTV-qVfXo4m2cbwHAHAQqqGWLomw2j_-zmtumMWAdovcbGg83aGYstqtsgsGQn0V-SX1eLZ-3K0Wq84hj2LPoP6T4qtbxFU9Fg/s1600/IMG_2189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIoTPOXd8s1qRHh4F1f_gKJ80PUW48wVJg6eztm60JaTV-qVfXo4m2cbwHAHAQqqGWLomw2j_-zmtumMWAdovcbGg83aGYstqtsgsGQn0V-SX1eLZ-3K0Wq84hj2LPoP6T4qtbxFU9Fg/s1600/IMG_2189.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake had lots of fun in the corn pile with the dump trucks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCWngZ9-iuzfaED5_TbKaDB-O_toZ1MJJy0iXk5pGyx96858YnSPX-i1VlrfGpYcnxEGB77XNGJjs2TfRJUpv63P2tw6VL3oMJQWH5Vfpm5uaryT0FF26F0jX0BSncABelbLF_878dw/s1600/IMG_2195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCWngZ9-iuzfaED5_TbKaDB-O_toZ1MJJy0iXk5pGyx96858YnSPX-i1VlrfGpYcnxEGB77XNGJjs2TfRJUpv63P2tw6VL3oMJQWH5Vfpm5uaryT0FF26F0jX0BSncABelbLF_878dw/s1600/IMG_2195.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Don't worry, I took her pacifier away after this picture and cleaned it at home :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8-PMCRMXbjP5nPsY-XHKAHNYGS3IVYWL8KhNTrw87r8EWM8i_0YeuKs_F42IM1EJRDlpmWbBGe9SlXBCrnz-rC9dNLf259skT1MHG56g9cbYIoSAgUYwfrDr2HgkanP8Cd7e2HmjuA/s1600/IMG_2206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8-PMCRMXbjP5nPsY-XHKAHNYGS3IVYWL8KhNTrw87r8EWM8i_0YeuKs_F42IM1EJRDlpmWbBGe9SlXBCrnz-rC9dNLf259skT1MHG56g9cbYIoSAgUYwfrDr2HgkanP8Cd7e2HmjuA/s1600/IMG_2206.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a great picture of Brianna's 1 tooth!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoZRSGh0FCGV7iPyMA9tL-XTUO63vshWXAhauMOD-d5SsJLksGMGbbcxfJXTE2-RIxXvX3YwacR2n-knl0rx3JPePzSrSZrFGW7PeRQgwlJKP1AHi6XfZ9PXUV3nfM-Yjdd7TOPzBTQ/s1600/IMG_2247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoZRSGh0FCGV7iPyMA9tL-XTUO63vshWXAhauMOD-d5SsJLksGMGbbcxfJXTE2-RIxXvX3YwacR2n-knl0rx3JPePzSrSZrFGW7PeRQgwlJKP1AHi6XfZ9PXUV3nfM-Yjdd7TOPzBTQ/s1600/IMG_2247.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca loved jumping in the hay pile.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFI2BWAL0FIRI2PXnIz2UmsF1xzdXcfqqsf4DyusimmEFgkfP1tx7JkH3Mbde45lLob6d43ERVsM9OSi3buoBPROPzACZRjWV_62ZZ2xvWDgVAcCkHF9s-kegcex_x-E6FODVrygaLpg/s1600/IMG_2251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFI2BWAL0FIRI2PXnIz2UmsF1xzdXcfqqsf4DyusimmEFgkfP1tx7JkH3Mbde45lLob6d43ERVsM9OSi3buoBPROPzACZRjWV_62ZZ2xvWDgVAcCkHF9s-kegcex_x-E6FODVrygaLpg/s1600/IMG_2251.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake took walking on the pallets seriously and would not look at me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kTsmDKilfEefhCW0Z7WHiYdT3wel6oXjdGQa-CIM9mwR0L5lO-Np2yoW__g8VDmK_d_qkdvqztxUYfa8Jzv_vVnpCrMlC_7L467bddyAVvkTxnfirVJzXBBb1VfjFTAfPO2LOmdawg/s1600/IMG_2255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kTsmDKilfEefhCW0Z7WHiYdT3wel6oXjdGQa-CIM9mwR0L5lO-Np2yoW__g8VDmK_d_qkdvqztxUYfa8Jzv_vVnpCrMlC_7L467bddyAVvkTxnfirVJzXBBb1VfjFTAfPO2LOmdawg/s1600/IMG_2255.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These girls are all smiles though :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilL3xHc7NtaldXLtD1GaFZRPlcpnRxV92lR9k8q1gUWSPP-D3Q1YHZkM_G0j3uHvlTrPZHBwRFg_XizLMd5eB943QiAhw7c2cQEwmfRrBdZxtBSKct1UChKGxu8Ug9S_Iq7qQqg2n5Bw/s1600/IMG_2210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilL3xHc7NtaldXLtD1GaFZRPlcpnRxV92lR9k8q1gUWSPP-D3Q1YHZkM_G0j3uHvlTrPZHBwRFg_XizLMd5eB943QiAhw7c2cQEwmfRrBdZxtBSKct1UChKGxu8Ug9S_Iq7qQqg2n5Bw/s1600/IMG_2210.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the best picture I could get of the 3 of them - Blake was not in the mood. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOt_i1kEfMzoteyM72Wypkj6tApdiK1u4Jq_pTv5IcTZ0GPIPVM3rtPlT1IGeBQql9DA2N6oM4JuStPhjJCITexLHw0yauCut5A4S-rYOuHptd3mkZnL9CYB3jV_8KgUMWDpDCni3TQ/s1600/IMG_2213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOt_i1kEfMzoteyM72Wypkj6tApdiK1u4Jq_pTv5IcTZ0GPIPVM3rtPlT1IGeBQql9DA2N6oM4JuStPhjJCITexLHw0yauCut5A4S-rYOuHptd3mkZnL9CYB3jV_8KgUMWDpDCni3TQ/s1600/IMG_2213.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just can't stop this girl from growing!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-F-U1yGHWf2XM_BYTAtaxuPOmNJoS-EEbBCq1Z1Q9wFO2l9xQWDhSbklNgQU8DqmLQ41CUAL3MsPsIIfKSDM1abDtQk6IuBPEdZ02ygW7syFqkPclEh1BdajQZ_jiMqGvfEBeMNN7jg/s1600/IMG_2226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-F-U1yGHWf2XM_BYTAtaxuPOmNJoS-EEbBCq1Z1Q9wFO2l9xQWDhSbklNgQU8DqmLQ41CUAL3MsPsIIfKSDM1abDtQk6IuBPEdZ02ygW7syFqkPclEh1BdajQZ_jiMqGvfEBeMNN7jg/s1600/IMG_2226.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake loved ringing the bell on the hay train.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSdqHbZBPwrG8Pf4mbgRG6scTG6ougr8T0yY68gH4guSwvKYm1PC_aZSp3Xfwwbg9ihqdbeWUFeHpPmZvjVqsdG1iWgthss4pDhiYRHj-5K_tG_ThzmV9u_ZQe6058FwWgUztN3geOg/s1600/IMG_2234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSdqHbZBPwrG8Pf4mbgRG6scTG6ougr8T0yY68gH4guSwvKYm1PC_aZSp3Xfwwbg9ihqdbeWUFeHpPmZvjVqsdG1iWgthss4pDhiYRHj-5K_tG_ThzmV9u_ZQe6058FwWgUztN3geOg/s1600/IMG_2234.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake found a wagon and told me he was "going farming". </td></tr>
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It was a good time - love making memories with the kids!</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-14485272960629645272014-10-20T11:20:00.000-05:002014-10-20T11:20:30.593-05:00Harvest Begins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
When the sun is shining this time of year, you can find Dan in the field. He started combining two weeks ago and we went for a ride. Blake loved it and Brianna found it relaxing enough to fall asleep. I'm sure there will be many more rides, but here are few pictures to start with.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOW63NJ4GUdH7dqn3C7zohR6B87a9NXTI3HI0io8E0C_lwEtLN4RFDw-nkO0rlUlF95_esFnGuFj0gghAdHlQYqRi_1umMKS3clyknN8xJJE6jXp8ZW1I884S62i5zE4lHp9jphTPJg/s1600/IMG_1254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOW63NJ4GUdH7dqn3C7zohR6B87a9NXTI3HI0io8E0C_lwEtLN4RFDw-nkO0rlUlF95_esFnGuFj0gghAdHlQYqRi_1umMKS3clyknN8xJJE6jXp8ZW1I884S62i5zE4lHp9jphTPJg/s1600/IMG_1254.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Satfh5J3AlS5dGiOOgYs9xt3c_YzPfiY0WzZndyvSaYUKn9nFp9m0PRcv_76_BA77b9XX3GeJTpg4L6bPzwSu-rnlOr-SF5uXuRDHeWI7E-6jYsVvVc7wUyFxPfZlUKFHD7DWKm-KQ/s1600/IMG_1259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Satfh5J3AlS5dGiOOgYs9xt3c_YzPfiY0WzZndyvSaYUKn9nFp9m0PRcv_76_BA77b9XX3GeJTpg4L6bPzwSu-rnlOr-SF5uXuRDHeWI7E-6jYsVvVc7wUyFxPfZlUKFHD7DWKm-KQ/s1600/IMG_1259.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just love this picture! Father and son farming together :)</td></tr>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-31960470158109481122014-10-07T11:23:00.003-05:002014-10-07T11:23:47.839-05:00A little too organized?<div style="text-align: center;">
In my last post I mentioned how Blake loves to organize things. This started at a pretty young age and has continued and has become more obvious all over the house. I just walked around the house this morning and took a few pictures of his organizational skills at work. I even caught him in the act!!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyndbmePVeYeeKBkEfZoyVmEryj-2VQa7FgcUpdoezv3nqx4C8N6nPUmwlODKkDtWie-WJaY8fECTPIUkZVzi5NWb9ZhHppYqkfnOLtbqqKPATupd1luyzon22GGWbgP62KPgjiH1blA/s1600/IMG_1235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyndbmePVeYeeKBkEfZoyVmEryj-2VQa7FgcUpdoezv3nqx4C8N6nPUmwlODKkDtWie-WJaY8fECTPIUkZVzi5NWb9ZhHppYqkfnOLtbqqKPATupd1luyzon22GGWbgP62KPgjiH1blA/s1600/IMG_1235.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He likes to line up the magnets on the dishwasher. Brianna messes them up daily and he just puts them back.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdpJ4DY-wm5knsQiZtbbgGwnlGqikBiqEHhTzKyv8o4JaOS75EjUCjsiBAJAxczf-BwS-jf-GX7YsyLtl4CyJau-MllVcbnALYyrA4Lrq03mDcGBtYtjsi_QUQFjIEU3oUT2EY5C2ajw/s1600/IMG_1237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdpJ4DY-wm5knsQiZtbbgGwnlGqikBiqEHhTzKyv8o4JaOS75EjUCjsiBAJAxczf-BwS-jf-GX7YsyLtl4CyJau-MllVcbnALYyrA4Lrq03mDcGBtYtjsi_QUQFjIEU3oUT2EY5C2ajw/s1600/IMG_1237.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When building blocks he always color coordinates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMm5EVT4JQJQLYm9lKhHQNy4l3NytTj0A8L8qJta8KSb3jPmo-GOgLNnO91k9Xqf5OOE18gliBrtYfBx1Xc1jhERmbGUX_zv_U4T2uD9q6aHv-B-sHJMQMUczzXWX5EmdVouDHxbi0sg/s1600/IMG_1238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMm5EVT4JQJQLYm9lKhHQNy4l3NytTj0A8L8qJta8KSb3jPmo-GOgLNnO91k9Xqf5OOE18gliBrtYfBx1Xc1jhERmbGUX_zv_U4T2uD9q6aHv-B-sHJMQMUczzXWX5EmdVouDHxbi0sg/s1600/IMG_1238.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He likes to line up the DVDs on the tv cabinet.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8cNdeUyJrM73-xgd7klA3sEdeAvyREdULwzrjqSyIwPQm6UR_jo8O5LahBL008VYYHJG4XFRqbJ_ZLXUcgEm1iQDdn4oK_q313qgi-HZSN6lSUamTbxD-74m7KM66anApoEfO7IaAA/s1600/IMG_1239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8cNdeUyJrM73-xgd7klA3sEdeAvyREdULwzrjqSyIwPQm6UR_jo8O5LahBL008VYYHJG4XFRqbJ_ZLXUcgEm1iQDdn4oK_q313qgi-HZSN6lSUamTbxD-74m7KM66anApoEfO7IaAA/s1600/IMG_1239.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See what I mean about color coordinating? He does this constantly with Legos.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikBrSS6pVFzV3bC_LIwkduLdhyphenhypheniDUr4R-48lyViK6OmfCgOsOsomSF4B-UZ6OlcQZbcW2rzPzXoXjrCSNlrSwRNzW70kkPM5WHfj73Ew5FNlKTwZvRVlknghISRB2S2RpW7qPs5y11Q/s1600/IMG_1242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikBrSS6pVFzV3bC_LIwkduLdhyphenhypheniDUr4R-48lyViK6OmfCgOsOsomSF4B-UZ6OlcQZbcW2rzPzXoXjrCSNlrSwRNzW70kkPM5WHfj73Ew5FNlKTwZvRVlknghISRB2S2RpW7qPs5y11Q/s1600/IMG_1242.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is his bear which almost always has to be flat on his bed. Sometimes he can't get it flat enough and says, "Bear not working, Bear not working!'</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1V5bh23vtqkq29VEBO6JZAH4bGKkczwxzuIJwDcX5kOluDrnBLqUcBD2dZv7xOod2fsizwviE_8RhD9iQAxDINstKZlA53BtH1kzeB5Dny06ZM6bvsTgADreSikd521aUW5m-6_ocQQ/s1600/IMG_1243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1V5bh23vtqkq29VEBO6JZAH4bGKkczwxzuIJwDcX5kOluDrnBLqUcBD2dZv7xOod2fsizwviE_8RhD9iQAxDINstKZlA53BtH1kzeB5Dny06ZM6bvsTgADreSikd521aUW5m-6_ocQQ/s1600/IMG_1243.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a very common sight. We all just toss our shoes, but Blake has to put his neatly together and usually in the corner of the carpet. He'll "fix" them too, if I do it wrong. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA1LlWfRvERb-dAqDcTQTjd8Ls4HkOxXtKlP_AoLwpVjlfPsgEWQmrHDQ3poBq8V8idqO5ENx6CfiORprFiyB8p2OJomVBhaH6lUHaK89Ka_g6QxS3PW1GNCm12wb3s7JY0qrL56ppeg/s1600/IMG_1244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA1LlWfRvERb-dAqDcTQTjd8Ls4HkOxXtKlP_AoLwpVjlfPsgEWQmrHDQ3poBq8V8idqO5ENx6CfiORprFiyB8p2OJomVBhaH6lUHaK89Ka_g6QxS3PW1GNCm12wb3s7JY0qrL56ppeg/s1600/IMG_1244.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See those two little guys? They didn't just fall there.<br /></td></tr>
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And this is what Blake was doing just as I started taking pictures. Arranging the cards in various different ways. </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
At this point Dan and I just get a kick out of his need to organize. He never throws a fit if things aren't just so or becomes inconsolable if something is out of order so we aren't too concerned about this behavior. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hopefully these skills will be put to good use some day. One time he lined up all the books on the floor and I thought that he might be very good at laying tile or brick some day. I just hope it doesn't get worse as he gets older - I've had a few flash backs to senses from a movie when you know the killer is in the house because all the towels stripes are lined up! :) </div>
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We love watching our little Blake grow and learn and his little quirks just make him that much cuter! </div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-19219069040351310272014-10-03T09:49:00.000-05:002014-10-03T09:54:26.042-05:00Blake-isms<div style="text-align: center;">
It's so fun to listen to a 2 year old learn how to talk and try out new words and phrases. Blake has such a personality and it's hilarious to listen to him try and express it through words. Here's a few of our favorites:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3uH5VXsgfzyHsh_nCVScVFcOrNaGHPjtZf6quqw04zMduBzLj8G5nDUDEqisIueCQrdb0mcyvXLrpu1s4-MTsXmg4cMwL1ASsKmeAak2A5foBTCdi28Pn_Xn8QeLTpeXtQn357Esomw/s1600/IMG_1228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3uH5VXsgfzyHsh_nCVScVFcOrNaGHPjtZf6quqw04zMduBzLj8G5nDUDEqisIueCQrdb0mcyvXLrpu1s4-MTsXmg4cMwL1ASsKmeAak2A5foBTCdi28Pn_Xn8QeLTpeXtQn357Esomw/s1600/IMG_1228.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's trying to feed me a pretzel - the only way I could get him to look at me.</td></tr>
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Blake: "Buckle self up me! Buckle self up me!" (When he thinks he can buckle his own car seat, which he cannot, no matter how loud he yells.)<br />
<br />
Blake: "Go on walk! Go on walk!"<br />
Me: "Why do you want to go on a walk?"<br />
Blake: "Because I say so!"<br />
(Obviously he's heard that phrase a few times before.)<br />
<br />
Blake: "What you doing mommy?"<br />
Me: I tell him whatever I'm doing at the time..."I'm folding laundry."<br />
Blake: "Folding laundry, no fair!"<br />
(He says "no fair" to almost anything and most of the time it makes no sense, but it's so cute. Obviously he's heard Rebecca say that phrase way too much!)<br />
<br />
Me: "Blake get back in bed!"<br />
Blake: with the most mischievous smile "No, you!"<br />
(It's really hard not to laugh at him when he's naughty because he's so cute!)<br />
<br />
Me: "Blake stop doing _____ to your sister." (usually its pushing/kicking her away from his stuff)<br />
Blake: "Manna likes it! Manna likes it!" (he calls Brianna, Manna)<br />
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Me: "I need to go now and you are going to stay home with daddy."<br />
Blake: with a really sad face "Mommy, you're going to miss me."<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
It's a joy to be his parent! Sometime I'll have to blog about his need to organize things :)</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-91613012508274407232014-09-22T15:44:00.001-05:002014-09-22T15:44:19.648-05:00I'm not really an animal person<div style="text-align: center;">
This might surprise some of you seeing that I am a farmer's wife. But for the record, I am not an animal person. For me this means that I do not find great pleasure in being with or taking care of animals and I have no significant attachment to any pet. That being said, I'm very far from being an animal hater, especially when in comes to kittens. I have a slight soft spot for kittens.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXbVohvfZ3qdlii7fhoPBQ4WR8jo_Cn_kwQAtH0MMYtcp0fgYidNw27VaCc480k8XsVmoAzgZ7HMJDtLNqaI1B5b01S4PgZ_h7F8XwFw2_8CjB1UVJDRVwFsY7ZIfDT_LL_VjP7CXHg/s1600/IMG_1154-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXbVohvfZ3qdlii7fhoPBQ4WR8jo_Cn_kwQAtH0MMYtcp0fgYidNw27VaCc480k8XsVmoAzgZ7HMJDtLNqaI1B5b01S4PgZ_h7F8XwFw2_8CjB1UVJDRVwFsY7ZIfDT_LL_VjP7CXHg/s1600/IMG_1154-001.JPG" height="320" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Copy Cat, she looks exactly like her mother Spotty.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Back in the summer of 2012 we got 5 kittens free from a garage sale. Life on the farm can be hard for cats and by the end of the winter we only had 2 left and one was going to have kittens of her own. Today we only have one of the original 5, Spotty, and she is our mama cat and has had about 12 babies that we know off. Not all of these kittens have been tame, which is fine by me, I'm no cat herder and the more tame they are the more they follow you around and get under foot. </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The kids are definitely loving a few of the newest kittens. There are 3 tame ones out of the five that Spotty had about a month ago.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2K9AGVrdpBRzcNNKQAy9yRK39Ar-XszWBoK6hyphenhyphenvNe7LYKNlZt0aPwGPEcOEb_0Qob9JtM9yRBBZXHtVsFyo9_vLj4bN1pVZZi6ArHj_jE86zR5gsoAZDdx2ygaBz9YUesGkXmDLll6w/s1600/IMG_1150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2K9AGVrdpBRzcNNKQAy9yRK39Ar-XszWBoK6hyphenhyphenvNe7LYKNlZt0aPwGPEcOEb_0Qob9JtM9yRBBZXHtVsFyo9_vLj4bN1pVZZi6ArHj_jE86zR5gsoAZDdx2ygaBz9YUesGkXmDLll6w/s1600/IMG_1150.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna loves to watch the kitties through the window. She squeals at them!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTi9FhGcmuhK2iKLZysgie2gPRCpV-h4zEbUlBclOuzzT2q3MVJpnfws12xnxOORDv-w3NzVbexJFBXfwpdbpDg6iBrnIE5PoPN_c3KifgBK_b1O5Rtsl7_afR19cswBg3UPWLDpKsg/s1600/IMG_1161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTi9FhGcmuhK2iKLZysgie2gPRCpV-h4zEbUlBclOuzzT2q3MVJpnfws12xnxOORDv-w3NzVbexJFBXfwpdbpDg6iBrnIE5PoPN_c3KifgBK_b1O5Rtsl7_afR19cswBg3UPWLDpKsg/s1600/IMG_1161.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copy Cat is our favorite, but she is also the runt and as of now is not fairing so well.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7tI-ZVLi6XaaMXBDwasOW_R_DguMeafQJlT_4PV2q-gwxQZ21TUkNoH-OJmdh-nok-13CoJbWqKh2EtqY5CJZXA71hvljBr_qiWUaU867eIzBni6MoXx59GT3iIIScOYX1w1W3za3Q/s1600/IMG_1165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7tI-ZVLi6XaaMXBDwasOW_R_DguMeafQJlT_4PV2q-gwxQZ21TUkNoH-OJmdh-nok-13CoJbWqKh2EtqY5CJZXA71hvljBr_qiWUaU867eIzBni6MoXx59GT3iIIScOYX1w1W3za3Q/s1600/IMG_1165.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is Brianna with Peaches and Cream. A little blurry because neither kittens nor one year olds sit still!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYJ_fnxuMKWOFZwURIhQ7RhHkOUgGJ2njU5uH4KPFblEw_KYC1nff05VsWybeZ-h5WUDJ7LLHj3KDsBPYq03OKegzsif43ga-1hgoQA8cEBS6YQ-q70f4T1vR6v8Y12MGHJIqWcqhqA/s1600/IMG_1173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYJ_fnxuMKWOFZwURIhQ7RhHkOUgGJ2njU5uH4KPFblEw_KYC1nff05VsWybeZ-h5WUDJ7LLHj3KDsBPYq03OKegzsif43ga-1hgoQA8cEBS6YQ-q70f4T1vR6v8Y12MGHJIqWcqhqA/s1600/IMG_1173.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holding Copy Cat.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZjpF_ahOeusX31cJQvx5UPcxO84W7ae5irWw9QJ2FPDD5kQN628RSbiBv8U9mJ22pXWX9kxIQuwc-SsynYACegD2DHCFTk7guy0alVf2ZuYpGXo6WhzX2ona3U96I0YUr0rACZVRDw/s1600/IMG_1174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZjpF_ahOeusX31cJQvx5UPcxO84W7ae5irWw9QJ2FPDD5kQN628RSbiBv8U9mJ22pXWX9kxIQuwc-SsynYACegD2DHCFTk7guy0alVf2ZuYpGXo6WhzX2ona3U96I0YUr0rACZVRDw/s1600/IMG_1174.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She's in love!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The other new kittens who are not tame are Fudge (an all black kitten) and S'more (who looks like Copy Cat, but with a different spot pattern).</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-66315305533924984952014-09-19T09:39:00.000-05:002014-09-19T09:39:23.880-05:00SMILE! New Family Photos!<div style="text-align: center;">
After after agonizing about outfits, waiting for decent weather, and deciding on a location, we finally got together with our friend Andrea and she took some beautiful pictures of our family. Enjoy!</div>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-54469734175776124922014-09-18T11:41:00.001-05:002014-09-18T11:41:24.263-05:00Back in the Kitchen Again<div style="text-align: center;">
With all my new found time being a stay at home mom, I have found myself in kitchen a lot more. I have never <i>loved</i> cooking or eating exquisite food, but I do <i>enjoy</i> it most of the time as long as it doesn't involve a lot of work. I have also felt like an outsider in my family of culinary masters with my lack of enthusiasm for the kitchen, but maybe I'm finally catching up.</div>
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When I was working, my lack of time and enjoyment of cooking made for quick and easy meals. We had our usual meals - tacos, pasta, sloppy joes, take and bake pizza, hamburgers, and pancakes or eggs, with an occasional frozen casserole thrown in there. We ate pretty healthy with vegetables and fruit sides, but our meals were nothing to get too excited about. It has always been important to us to sit down as a family to eat, so we did, just with as little planning and preparation work as possible in order for me to keep my sanity.</div>
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Now that I am home during the day, I can start thinking about supper long before 5pm. I also have more time to grocery shop and therefore make better lists thinking about meals we would like to eat and trying new recipes.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beginnings of apple butter.</td></tr>
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A few culinary success I have had in the last few weeks have been a batch of apple butter, sweet potato chip, garlic honey pork chops, homemade pizza, and a few different bread recipes.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fried sweet potato chips with a touch of salt - Rebecca's favorite!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pork chops with a garlic honey glaze.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple butter almost ready to go in jars.</td></tr>
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I'm so happy that I am enjoying working in the kitchen more now that I have more time. I recently read an article online about whether or not family dinners were an unrealistic expectation for moms. I didn't agree with much in the article, but for me the take home message was that we/families are just much too busy in general. Did I resent having to make a decent meal for my family after working all day at my job, coming home exhausted, and just wanting to put my feet up? Most nights, yes. </div>
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Staying at home with the kids is anything but glamorous, but for the health of our family life, I am so glad I am able to do it right now. And my families' stomachs are liking it too! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's just eating ice cream, but who could deny that smile any good food?!</td></tr>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-83623466200122307392014-09-01T15:26:00.000-05:002014-09-01T15:26:09.074-05:00Rebecca's 7th Birthday!<div style="text-align: center;">
The last year went FAST and now Rebecca is 7 years old. She decided on a Rainbow theme for her birthday after seeing a rainbow layer cake on Pinterest (of course, where else would we look for anything :). We decided to use gumballs to decorate the cake. She shared this party with her two cousins who were turning 3, and her aunt, so I made a large cupcake for each of them with their birthday number on it out of gumballs.</div>
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The rainbow theme was very easy to decorate for - multi-colored plates and napkins, juice boxes, and fun straws - there is something about twisty straws that kids go bonkers for!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blake (2 1/2), Rebecca (7), Brianna (10 months)</td></tr>
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This is a little banner I made to go on the top of the cake, but I didn't really think about the size while making it and it ended up too big so I improvised a little. I picked these little buckets up at Target a few years ago in the dollar bins and they have been worth every penny. I have used them for so many parties in various ways. So cute!</div>
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Here are the girls and their cupcakes! Happy Birthday Rebecca, Brooke, and Katie! (Aunt Debbie also got a cupcake with her birthday number on it, but I didn't get a picture of her.)</div>
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Here is the big cake reveal!!</div>
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It turned out so great! I was so happy how it went together and looked! Honestly, one of the easier cakes I've made for a birthday so far.</div>
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It tasted just as good as it looked!</div>
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Here is a little "how to" of the cake: I used 2 white cake mixes. The first mix I divided equally into 4 bowls (about 2 1/2 cups of batter each) and used food coloring paste to color the batter. I was impressed with how bright the batter was without having to use a ton of coloring.</div>
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I only have two 8 inch round pans so the baking took a little patience. I lined the pan each time with parchment paper to ensure the cakes would not stick - nothing worse than trying to flip the cake out of the pan and have it stick and crumble! They baked for about 15 minutes each. Blake was a big "helper" :) Do you see his blue face?</div>
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First 4 layers done. </div>
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The second cake mix made the last 2 layers (blue and purple) and then I made 4 large cup cakes for each of the birthday girls.</div>
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When all the layers were baked and cooled, I mixed up my favorite frosting recipe (Wilton Butter cream frosting) and put a thin layer of frosting between each colored cake. I made the frosting softer than I use for piping so that I didn't tear the cake apart trying to frost it.</div>
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Finally, I added a row of stars around the bottom and a few on the top and put a gum ball on each star. I put the gum balls in rainbow order on around the bottom and the pattern came out perfectly!</div>
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This cake turned out perfect inside and out! And honestly, it was the easiest of all the baked birthday cakes I've made for my kids so far.</div>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-64398247840936125212014-08-30T12:30:00.001-05:002014-08-30T12:30:05.466-05:00Rebecca's 6th Birthday!<div style="text-align: center;">
Yes, I know Rebecca is turning 7 tomorrow, this was a year and a day ago, so I figured it was about time to blog about it! I just finished making Rebecca's cake for her 7th birthday and wanted to make sure I documented her 6th first. It still catches me by surprise at times how fast she is growing up. For now, let's take a look back one year!</div>
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A start of a new school year also means Rebecca's birthday is not far behind! Here she is in her last days of being 5 - First day of First Grade at Pella Christian. You wouldn't know by looking, but this pictures was taken at 6:30 in the morning shortly before she rode the school bus for the first time!</div>
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Her birthday celebration started with bringing treats to school for her classmates and teachers and then taking her cousin Joanna home from school for an overnight. We went mini golfing and out for ice cream together. </div>
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Ice cream at Goldie's was a great treat because the temperature was in the 90's and humid. </div>
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Rebecca wanted an Ice Cream Party, so we searched Pinterest for ideas. Here's what we came up with!</div>
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I made an ice cream cake out of ice cream sandwiches and she picked some of her favorite ice cream toppings to go with it - M&Ms, Oreos, nuts, sprinkles, strawberry syrup, and gummy bears. I also made an ice cream cone pinata, which turned out great and a "Happy Birthday" ice cream banner</div>
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Here are the details of how I made the cake: I wasn't exactly sure how the bars would stack up, but they actually fit together nicely by alternating directions when stacking them. I used whipped topping between each layer to help glue them together. Needed to work quickly before it starts to melt!</div>
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I used 2 full boxes - 24 bars, 8 on each layer. Then I covered the whole thing with more whipped topping. For the cake topper I used a waffle cone with strawberry ice cream and of course, 6 candles for the birthday girl!</div>
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Happy birthday to you Rebecca!</div>
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After ice cream it was time for the pinata. </div>
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I made it very sturdy with quite a few layers of paper, so it took some good swings to start to break it open. Rebecca started with 6 swings, then each of her cousins got a turn. Blake got a little help, but loved to swing at it too.</div>
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Finally...candy!!</div>
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Ah, what a sad face - her pinata that we worked on for a week was ripped apart in just a few minutes.</div>
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She had a great birthday! We love watching you grow and mature Rebecca!! </div>
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Here are a few details on how I made the pinata: I started with a large balloon and a paper cone. I simply taped them together.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVM0aqAzsEMwZRqUFSZwOp9x8FwmNz0QKexvu8QdMVtFXUpHtxvbl3nLI0aoemeEV8WDtuXmE2isIDMMjE-bemRw_TwN0rKG-QPu2nouTPv349LUuSx_z3biPLFLlZWNKbq8X7zCOrAg/s1600/IMG_1192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVM0aqAzsEMwZRqUFSZwOp9x8FwmNz0QKexvu8QdMVtFXUpHtxvbl3nLI0aoemeEV8WDtuXmE2isIDMMjE-bemRw_TwN0rKG-QPu2nouTPv349LUuSx_z3biPLFLlZWNKbq8X7zCOrAg/s1600/IMG_1192.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Then I did some good 'ol paper mache (flour and water mix and strips of newspaper). I did one good layer at a time and let it dry in between - give yourself a few days to get this project done! After the first 2 layers were dry I used string to create the hanging loop on the top. One of my pet peeves of store bought pinatas is when the hanging string breaks before the pinata does! Then the kids are left to beat the pinata while its on the ground - it's just sad!<br />
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I don't have a good picture of how I did the string, but I actually anchored the top loop all the way around the balloon to a loop around the cone. Here's what I mean - tie a circle around the balloon where it meets the cone. Then tie 4 strings to the small circle and pull them around the balloon vertically to meet at the top. Tie all 4 stings together on the top and create a loop. These strings will all be secured in place by more layers of paper mache. This is how I let it dry outside between layers. Because the cone part is made out of paper, you need to be careful not to get it too wet with the flour/water and not let it bend while it dries.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnXBYhni5Vn673TV5MFp9wJQx6oXZchKki6dEfn75WOmiYxaEOUJrbSymgZfJihds1lmezJewF72j26mhUoUFD4lTtHr3lJXc65ai5pWIk58je288TH4ZhwkQ3BvFweBQ7MNqiXheLGg/s1600/IMG_1194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnXBYhni5Vn673TV5MFp9wJQx6oXZchKki6dEfn75WOmiYxaEOUJrbSymgZfJihds1lmezJewF72j26mhUoUFD4lTtHr3lJXc65ai5pWIk58je288TH4ZhwkQ3BvFweBQ7MNqiXheLGg/s1600/IMG_1194.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
When I felt I had enough layers (maybe 6 or 7) and the shape was hard - very hard, I spray painted the cone brown. I cut a hole in the top to insert the candy. I did stuff some filler paper down into cone because there was no way I was going to fill the whole thing with candy!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVqjKGy4X2SimzBL2fanbN7z1hNNDRbq0CnJm83d5UcHwQWbXxSGT5X93qN0j8yz08sVOPOVHAU0ediB-voA-KWSYCglyhA4XNc4cIXmjCVrqYjcPZGrZ1lHU4eZfbZhc5RWgHMyvYw/s1600/IMG_1215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVqjKGy4X2SimzBL2fanbN7z1hNNDRbq0CnJm83d5UcHwQWbXxSGT5X93qN0j8yz08sVOPOVHAU0ediB-voA-KWSYCglyhA4XNc4cIXmjCVrqYjcPZGrZ1lHU4eZfbZhc5RWgHMyvYw/s1600/IMG_1215.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
To make the ice cream pink, I glued on a few layers of pink tissue paper using spray glue - so much easier than liquid glue.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpP_qZTkNZJbmNnUb8FjXX64sRl92i51Im_dqXXAGHkRxBCFSHloMgA9iLXIncou24Z8eIiiPYx6cynjpG4AYimnykdspDIgc0udwOXK5VJek9Vx_fXB2uzILxhyphenhyphenctdCV1Z9sO4RsuQ/s1600/IMG_1216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpP_qZTkNZJbmNnUb8FjXX64sRl92i51Im_dqXXAGHkRxBCFSHloMgA9iLXIncou24Z8eIiiPYx6cynjpG4AYimnykdspDIgc0udwOXK5VJek9Vx_fXB2uzILxhyphenhyphenctdCV1Z9sO4RsuQ/s1600/IMG_1216.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
I added a little more tissue paper around the base of the ice cream to make it look more like a scoop of ice cream. A lot of work, but a lot of fun and the of course the best part is that Rebecca love it!<br />
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(Wow, that was a long post! Thanks for reading!!)</div>
Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-65493162055747944892014-08-21T18:13:00.005-05:002014-08-22T08:43:51.324-05:00Another New School Year, Another New School<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Parenting is seriously the hardest.job.ever.</b> </div>
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Especially when it comes to making decisions for your kids and constantly wondering if you are doing the right thing. Here's our story of one child and three schools.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqn99LFSKrhVV0xWrcJ7JbW4Ys1kDcwQnXdoplCRPL31L913WslYcvFayj7fTGYr7Fut0wGzl07L5PzbHf57xjPhoNTVb98HsI9OiD3cKC9g9uejcc_SR8CXrN8YcheFS1N4VtkAToyg/s1600/Becca+048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqn99LFSKrhVV0xWrcJ7JbW4Ys1kDcwQnXdoplCRPL31L913WslYcvFayj7fTGYr7Fut0wGzl07L5PzbHf57xjPhoNTVb98HsI9OiD3cKC9g9uejcc_SR8CXrN8YcheFS1N4VtkAToyg/s1600/Becca+048.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First day of Pre-K at Delaware</td></tr>
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Four years ago I was teaching first grade at Delaware Elementary in the Southeast Polk district. Rebecca was going to turn 4 on August 31. Was she ready for Pre-school?? She still seemed like our little baby - and she really was - our only child at the time. I wanted her to go to pre-school, but still couldn't imagine it. Delaware had a new PreK program and we open enrolled her. At first we were told there was no room and I tried to be okay with that, but then 4 days before PreK was to start, we got a call that they had room. Rebecca was in Mrs. Alberts' morning PreK class just down the hall from my first grade room. I really loved having her at my school and it was only slightly inconvenient to transport her to daycare over my lunch break. *On a side note, Blake was born in January of Rebecca's PreK year and she only went to school once a week while I was on my 12 week maternity leave. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__IYCpZE_PQ8b3MyRMN1uMIO77vSZBkFDm9EG6461mMLfg8qhPRm_TnCn0sNtOod3A2XH1dglBGIWK31nSrkgvoMbsI1NurAw11XmxIv42TGhaC_Dz9n_mP1mWV4qxY1XJGjXSPNtiQ/s1600/IMG_4638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__IYCpZE_PQ8b3MyRMN1uMIO77vSZBkFDm9EG6461mMLfg8qhPRm_TnCn0sNtOod3A2XH1dglBGIWK31nSrkgvoMbsI1NurAw11XmxIv42TGhaC_Dz9n_mP1mWV4qxY1XJGjXSPNtiQ/s1600/IMG_4638.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca and her teacher, Mrs. Alberts</td></tr>
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At the end of PreK, we agreed with her teacher that she was ready for Kindergarten, even thought she is young for her grade. She started Kindergarten at Delaware in Mrs. Kuebler's class. She had a pretty good year and loved school. I liked having her close, but it did make my day more hectic before and after school as I tried to do what I needed to do as a teacher and yet have Rebecca hanging around. (If you know Rebecca, she is not one to sit quietly with a book or the Ipad and let me do my thing every well ;)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7MgcOdRd5rLlLh6yMTJ9ct51MaeB_inD8DvKoBwIi23W1Gj6zlgtNlR3oyXnltq-5ZOIPDXTYuWov_adHKrgpbZvnxVdgGo1UqMk8_71nIbbgHOcnUFn4rYDABnaW1F7eCLZZK-i4g/s1600/IMG_5054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7MgcOdRd5rLlLh6yMTJ9ct51MaeB_inD8DvKoBwIi23W1Gj6zlgtNlR3oyXnltq-5ZOIPDXTYuWov_adHKrgpbZvnxVdgGo1UqMk8_71nIbbgHOcnUFn4rYDABnaW1F7eCLZZK-i4g/s1600/IMG_5054.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First day of Kindergarten at Delaware.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUwg8jWLnvOv4GuUxUo2ftZ4HNNeD9rA1SaXQ3V9AjY0RW8jzVeP4YVtD4HUARxQS_7LtPFFUd6KifPUnSYHOthijQBWE3i107lzFG7WXIzqibYS3QU3K2z_VE3eNn4en0aSt4XeIWQ/s1600/IMG_5059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUwg8jWLnvOv4GuUxUo2ftZ4HNNeD9rA1SaXQ3V9AjY0RW8jzVeP4YVtD4HUARxQS_7LtPFFUd6KifPUnSYHOthijQBWE3i107lzFG7WXIzqibYS3QU3K2z_VE3eNn4en0aSt4XeIWQ/s1600/IMG_5059.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By her classroom door, Mrs. Keubler.</td></tr>
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As she was ready for first grade there were two main reasons why we felt that she could not longer stay at Delaware. #1 Transportation - we knew that we were expecting our 3rd child and I was again planning on taking a 12 week maternity leave. How would Rebecca get to school for 12 weeks while I was home? (Delaware is 25 miles from home). #2 Teachers - did I really want Rebecca with me again especially as I taught the same grade that she would be in? Therefore we decided to send her to Pella Christian. We both believe strongly in the importance of Christian education and as a bonus - the PC bus came right past our house. A lot of families from our church attend PC so Rebecca already knew a few kids in her class as well as her cousins that attend. Rebecca had a great year at Pella Christian - great teachers, classmates, and school atmosphere. The only draw back really was the 2 and 1/2 hours on the bus every day.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLC32Sxvz4bLZ9sc2yLtDmKVxqVp00mSA-balXbCWHP7B4oMxoOsZ4vBDEezblSAQqkpPN1nyBztqo86kBzXKwL0ZOws2jXkEHI4IXkjFDHaU_3zNk9ss7o4Izf8PQdJWDLu7e6nDxgw/s1600/IMG_1126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLC32Sxvz4bLZ9sc2yLtDmKVxqVp00mSA-balXbCWHP7B4oMxoOsZ4vBDEezblSAQqkpPN1nyBztqo86kBzXKwL0ZOws2jXkEHI4IXkjFDHaU_3zNk9ss7o4Izf8PQdJWDLu7e6nDxgw/s1600/IMG_1126.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First day of 1st grade at Pella Christian with Mrs. Howerzyl.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLbmRI5IeOQ7IeAGABHeHQILXEbni0RH-wmHy9aIl07UPAqKD-vTHH91AaDw4A9qB0U1k3fr403Y9u_Oq-yLZtxe24YT_ZjDS2fVW6wrRhZfEAt2QGpvZ20RnORdkjwnAc99gyjDEkQ/s1600/IMG_1129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLbmRI5IeOQ7IeAGABHeHQILXEbni0RH-wmHy9aIl07UPAqKD-vTHH91AaDw4A9qB0U1k3fr403Y9u_Oq-yLZtxe24YT_ZjDS2fVW6wrRhZfEAt2QGpvZ20RnORdkjwnAc99gyjDEkQ/s1600/IMG_1129.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First time riding a school bus to school!</td></tr>
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Rebecca never complained about the bus ride, but it was a big concern. An extra 2+ hours away from home above and beyond the school day is a lot. And what about as she gets older and wants to be involved in extra activities? How many trips to Pella would we need to make in a week? A year? This is where the hardest decision we've had to make comes in. Weighing the pros and cons, which school comes out on top - the Christian school 30 miles away or the public school 3 miles away?</div>
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After much prayer, advice from others, sleepless nights, and yes, even a few tears, we decided that for now, the local public school would be the best school for our kids. I hated leaving PC because it was such a great place for Rebecca, but we pray that she will also grow strong academically and personally at PCM. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1AehxrfPKW4kNo7PJtI2UxNXOKhZ-h8TE1077fiTMkmAJq7eZTkkamsmnkbv0qlRIoUfplFDlpjhC3hTEDBlU3MnsdYRAIqP2LWe-Y84x3geViZUQ5tJLKaR6YW7z6xFAM1iN_VzFA/s1600/IMG_0994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1AehxrfPKW4kNo7PJtI2UxNXOKhZ-h8TE1077fiTMkmAJq7eZTkkamsmnkbv0qlRIoUfplFDlpjhC3hTEDBlU3MnsdYRAIqP2LWe-Y84x3geViZUQ5tJLKaR6YW7z6xFAM1iN_VzFA/s1600/IMG_0994.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First day of 2nd grade at Prairie City Monroe.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfH3FSfLXMJ6meyMXUQfJALS1wghlIB03lykFyfEMeEO1wmAXkIckXN1bFgWsy_pQMFLpWuDfKYQHnmi0iXsm4dWM3TRr2Rd_MkXehDFj4iZrwKVUFMnxQ7NbxrPNj7b8Z9rx_W3gQg/s1600/IMG_0999.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfH3FSfLXMJ6meyMXUQfJALS1wghlIB03lykFyfEMeEO1wmAXkIckXN1bFgWsy_pQMFLpWuDfKYQHnmi0iXsm4dWM3TRr2Rd_MkXehDFj4iZrwKVUFMnxQ7NbxrPNj7b8Z9rx_W3gQg/s1600/IMG_0999.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our silly 2nd grader!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4gOxkjqz57HQnfwBoTF-YVDlUrAE19CLY8lARX7XNWfRyrDeoZy_Q3lwfQDirFuOcjp8pyyStKkyX69wK5y0qSwgOIHCPPTgtQ9brtbrx-d2Wz5Pn1IAu7W33ycMqfo5ViJIXjF7nPQ/s1600/IMG_1001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4gOxkjqz57HQnfwBoTF-YVDlUrAE19CLY8lARX7XNWfRyrDeoZy_Q3lwfQDirFuOcjp8pyyStKkyX69wK5y0qSwgOIHCPPTgtQ9brtbrx-d2Wz5Pn1IAu7W33ycMqfo5ViJIXjF7nPQ/s1600/IMG_1001.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now her bus ride is less than 10 minutes.</td></tr>
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So that is the story of 3 schools in 4 years. As a teacher, switching schools often doesn't sit well with me because I have often judged families that I saw move their kids around so much. But our hope is that our kids will have great school experiences regardless of where they go and what the future holds. </div>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295470563769444878.post-59248382182962717762014-08-15T13:39:00.001-05:002014-08-15T13:39:28.521-05:00More Bits of Summer<div style="text-align: center;">
I have snapped so many pictures of the kids this summer. Here are a few of my favorites.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYCyXfDiCdz3KF-DbnvNHmkne7Xz6YWR8xoolngva-VF7yWysynGNG5t2VR9VJMqbyzcpbFx5Xui-qF3AWXY5DIACBMmxzlRQCNxaoNNVxYryxcWix5rAbZj_QCzL8y2YzvguPl0C5w/s1600/IMG_0598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYCyXfDiCdz3KF-DbnvNHmkne7Xz6YWR8xoolngva-VF7yWysynGNG5t2VR9VJMqbyzcpbFx5Xui-qF3AWXY5DIACBMmxzlRQCNxaoNNVxYryxcWix5rAbZj_QCzL8y2YzvguPl0C5w/s1600/IMG_0598.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca is a great big sister and knows how to make Brianna smile and giggle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMRGaIYKX9_dplLWM_3CVfE1NDmYa5tUiESixMrkyg6jSBv1cLLkyZ2nEHC2pN25gcg-RPobYnpSG-v4tWY3HoieyhAk_1RueyfiDdLyu3kzHlpXt9fJCmQV2KhSv1GAmqgP9JZLvug/s1600/IMG_0677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMRGaIYKX9_dplLWM_3CVfE1NDmYa5tUiESixMrkyg6jSBv1cLLkyZ2nEHC2pN25gcg-RPobYnpSG-v4tWY3HoieyhAk_1RueyfiDdLyu3kzHlpXt9fJCmQV2KhSv1GAmqgP9JZLvug/s1600/IMG_0677.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went to a 4th of July party with friends who had a dunk tank set up. Despite the cool weather, Rebecca volunteered to be dunked over and over.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1L9YJ4VmGljEEuKztLuKTqixcd0vw5Z3ymbYHAuY0Xia0v_0AnEeYzdTZfOk3-CINxKgo39Vd9ifwWeb7LwEJfxs6sH_UJQ2cthUwRyljtY1ImL6khLnyB815eaKyEiCDaNKdVFvWXQ/s1600/IMG_0681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1L9YJ4VmGljEEuKztLuKTqixcd0vw5Z3ymbYHAuY0Xia0v_0AnEeYzdTZfOk3-CINxKgo39Vd9ifwWeb7LwEJfxs6sH_UJQ2cthUwRyljtY1ImL6khLnyB815eaKyEiCDaNKdVFvWXQ/s1600/IMG_0681.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sparklers on the 4th of July.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9RNd1IASzXNXYf7HRVQX2bREu61z3-g-kPVvtatiy1hBX_zVyVhVuZCqywIAmjOuxFOryvKVnvA_u0qRv1QGjxi137xythj1MBm19lQF66fqEgJ85iAKzxREIXLk6FyiYVyJXVOmcw/s1600/IMG_0720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9RNd1IASzXNXYf7HRVQX2bREu61z3-g-kPVvtatiy1hBX_zVyVhVuZCqywIAmjOuxFOryvKVnvA_u0qRv1QGjxi137xythj1MBm19lQF66fqEgJ85iAKzxREIXLk6FyiYVyJXVOmcw/s1600/IMG_0720.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianna started crawling! (By now she is pulling herself up and cruising around!)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuJDU-flxqONm-Ao3yS5cY5o79EPPdndYtF0xtsXhVBlp7df4OUZrNcKu51OJxmMv0rRMWhhZh6QT4rN-lghVLCSj52leUDPkCluC5SfzT6tw7012OOcCP38ApWb3OF8_v1CAmDL7lQ/s1600/IMG_0727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuJDU-flxqONm-Ao3yS5cY5o79EPPdndYtF0xtsXhVBlp7df4OUZrNcKu51OJxmMv0rRMWhhZh6QT4rN-lghVLCSj52leUDPkCluC5SfzT6tw7012OOcCP38ApWb3OF8_v1CAmDL7lQ/s1600/IMG_0727.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Blake broke his collarbone by falling off a dining room chair head first. It really bothered him the first few days, but after that he used his arm just as much as ever. He wore the sling for 4 weeks.<br />
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A rare moment of sibbling cooperation.<br />
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Blake, "I wanna under puppy!" (aka - under dog)<br />
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We entered Blake in the Barnyard Babies competition at the Jasper County Fair. His age group was suppose to dress up as "Mr. Farmer." He kept saying, "Daddy farmer, me farmer." So cute! He got 3rd.<br />
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Brianna also participated in Barnyard Babies. Her age group was suppose to dress up as "Little Miss Softball." I made her outfit and bow. She was so CUTE!! I really don't know how she didn't place :) They are both first place to us!</td></tr>
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Dan and Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14098281323012542289noreply@blogger.com0