Ava is 10 weeks old now. She is such a great baby. She is healthy and happy. We couldn’t ask for more. We thoroughly love having her in our home. We know that we have been blessed to have Tyler, Lauren and Ava.
The picture below shows Ava sporting her new knitted pumpkin cap that Aunt Steph made for her.
We love it when our kids were old enough to try and communicate with us. Ava is funny as she tries to “talk” to us. Below is a video clip of Tyler talking to Ava.
Can’t they see that Tyler just wants to eat his chips? Cate and Emma are blanketing Tyler with love and affection. I think he would rather be watching the Blazers play. (I am thankful that he has such great cousins!)
So when it comes to the kitchen, I know how to make about 5 things.
Lucky for me that covers all 5 food groups…..at least in my book.
I was tagged with making mashed potatoes for our family dinner on Sunday. This time I had a lot of help!
Spencer was a busy man peeling potatoes for me. I think he peeled about 6 or more large potatoes. I was totally impressed.
Tyler helped out as well. I finally had to tell both of them to stop as I couldn’t fit any more potatoes in the pot.
Alice got in on the action and helped me cut the potatoes up.
Tyler and Spencer helped me finish the job. The result was perfect mashed potatoes. Pretty soon these young ones will be able to make all of this stuff on their own. It is fun to see them learn and enjoy the process.
Grannie made some amazing Boneless Beef Short Ribs that went perfectly with the mashed potatoes. We ate like Kings last night.
I might have to do a mashed potatoes throwdown with Dave, Doug and Maeser!!! They are the true masters. I think Doug can’t be touched when it comes to potatoes. I think Dave is the master at roast. Maeser is right on their tails in both departments. I just like to talk smack with them and get them all worked up. Who wants to be a judge?
The rain is coming soon so we are trying to enjoy our dry fall season while we can. The leaves are so much more enjoyable when it is dry outside. These are the trees at Greg and Sarah’s home.
I enjoy making bread. It all started a few years ago when my brother Maeser showed me how he made his delicious bread and rolls. He can make rolls that melt in your mouth. He is also a fantastic cook. If you haven’t had his special Navajo tacos then you haven’t had a perfect meal yet.
I have always enjoyed baking, but I never did bread because I thought it was too hard. I was wrong. My challenge now is to make healthier bread. Meredith is big on getting our family to eat better food. She watches everything we eat like a hawk. Our kitchen pantry and fridge has slowly transformed. For example, all of our pasta is now 100% whole wheat pasta. I could provide a thousand other examples, but I don’t have that much time. If you have questions on what she has done, you will have to ask her. She is an expert!
The challenge she has given me is to try and not bake with white flour. She would like me to use 100% whole wheat flour for every recipe, but sometimes when you do that it just doesn’t taste good.
So, we received a bread recipe from some friends that is half white flour and half whole wheat. It is great bread. Over the past year I have tweaked it just a little and man is it delicious. It still isn’t 100% whole wheat, but we are getting there. Let me know if you want to try it. I make an extra loaf each time I make bread.
I am interested in your 100% whole wheat recipes. If you have a favorite and you wouldn’t mind sharing, please let me know.
Also, my new loaf pans are amazing. These were a gift from my mother-in-law. They definitely bake my bread in a more consistent manner. I highly recommend them!
It was Greg’s 40th birthday this week. He is a big Star Wars fan so the party was everything Star Wars. You will see the cake is themed after the final fight on Episode III. Sarah made it. And following family tradition, we had to add some homemade ice cream.
Happy Birthday Greg!
Today Ava went in for her two month checkup. Everything looks great. She is 11 pound 6 ounces and 22 inches long. She had to get three shots today, which she wasn’t too excited about.
She is a growing, happy baby. Here she is wearing an outfit from her Aunt Rachelle! Did we mention that we love being parents!
On Sunday Tyler asked me to show him how to tie his tie. So, we stood in front of a mirror and started the lesson. It was a hard for him at first, but he has it figured out now. Later that night, I was putting him to bed and he gave me his standard good night hug and whispered, “Thanks for teaching me how to tie a tie today Dad!” What a great kid!
Tyler had a game on Saturday vs. Lake Oswego. His games are so fun to watch. The boys have really improved and the games are very competitive. Tyler is becoming quite the soccer player. Coach plays him up front the entire game. He has a lot of opportunities to score and has become quite valuable to his team. He did score a goal during this game. He kicked it hard at the goalie and the goalie tried to deflect it, but it went past him and into the goal. Whenever Tyler scores he has this cool little jump that he does. I will have to try and get a picture of that move.
The kid in blue looks a little worried!
During this play Tyler was trying to get to the ball first, but realized he wasn’t going to make it so he jumped to avoid getting nailed!
Lauren keeps herself busy during the games. As long as the sun is out, she is good to go.
Meredith was able to keep Ava sleeping the whole game. Ava was a trooper on Saturday.
This little structure was at the soccer park where Tyler played his game. I just thought the roof was a classic example of what the weather in the Northwest can create.
After the game we stopped at Papa’s Jamba Juice for some smoothies. Always a favorite of ours.
Spencer and Lauren were in heaven. Lolo gets the Orange Dream Machine and Spencer had the Raz Matazz.
This one has Alice and Tyler written all over it! We can’t turn our back for one second.
We have been having some great DRY weather this fall so far. All the trees are starting to change colors and it is quite the site to see. Here are some pictures we took around Sherwood on Saturday.
Another great game for Lauren. I am sure that it had nothing to do with the incentive of $$ for goals. She scored three goals and let me know that I owed her $3. She played really well, especially on defense. She really chased down the other team and stopped them from scoring. It is fun to watch her play.
She also had the Dahle’s there watching, so she had to play a great game!
Jeana and Lauren after the game.
Kaitie and Lauren after the game!
At the end of the school year last year, Tyler mentioned that he wanted to be an Edy Ridge Ambassador. I didn’t even know what an Ambassador does, so I had to ask him some questions.
Apparently, the school has a leadership and service program where a handful of 5th graders provide service and leadership under the direction of the principal. Tyler wanted to be a part of this and we were excited that he had the desire. He had to receive recommendations from some teachers at the school and then he had to write and essay on why he wanted to be an Edy Ridge Ambassador.
It was fun to listen to his reasons why he wanted to be an Ambassador. He wanted to help and serve, and he also wanted the cool “vests” that come with the opportunity.
During the summer break, he received a letter letting him know that he was going to be an Ambassador. He was so excited. Then the day came where he received his vest and he was so happy. He looks very official.
So far he has had many opportunities to serve. His duties range from helping the Kindergarten kids get on the right bus, hold the door open during back school night, take care of the American Flag, startup all the computers in the morning, help at the Fun Run, and many other neat things. It is fun to see him and the other Ambassadors trying to help out. They are having so much fun.
Last night I decided to be a good husband and I offered to get up when Ava wakes up and feed her a bottle so that Meredith could sleep through the night. Yes, I am always looking for brownie points. Meredith was excited about the idea and quickly went to sleep.
Well, Ava woke up around 2:15 AM and I quickly got up and put a pacifier in her mouth to see if she would continue to sleep. That wasn’t working too well, so I decided to feed her a bottle. In an effort to not wake Ava up too much, I kept the lights off. So, I am doing this all in the dark.
Meredith had the bottle all prepared and so I grabbed it and tried to get Ava to take it. I tried a number of times, but Ava wanted nothing to do with it. I thought that was strange as she normally would take the bottle. After a while Ava was getting frustrated, so I just gave her the pacifier and she went to sleep. I promptly went back to bed. Then she woke up again at 5:45 AM and I could tell she was ready for her bottle. Again, she wouldn’t take the bottle. As it was closer to sunrise, there was a little more light in the room and I noticed that the bottle has a small cap on!!! Here I am trying to put this in Ava’s mouth!
Once I took the cap off, she drained that bottle and went right back to bed! My first mistake ever.
So much for trying to be super Dad!
I was driving with Lauren to the Church to go pick up Tyler from scouts and this was our conversation:
Lauren: Dad, when I am 16 I will get a car. Probably a Mustang or a Mini Cooper.
Dad: Really? You better save up some money?
Lauren: You need money to get cars?
Dad: Yes, lots of money.
Lauren: I will go to the bank then.
Dad: You will just walk in and ask them for money?
Lauren: No, I will walk in and I will say PLEASE can I have money.
Dad: And you think they will just give it to you?
Lauren: Yep!
Dad: Will you have to pay them back?
Lauren: Nope!
Dad: Well, yes, you will have to pay them back.
Lauren: All of it?
Dad: All of it and then some more.
Lauren: Dad, Mom wants a cute convertible Volkswagen Bug.
Dad: Ok, now I see where this is coming from!
We wish we lived closer to the Butterfields!!
Lauren (5 1/2) and Ashlyn (6)
Zach (8) and Tyler (10)
Brayden (12) and Ava (8 weeks)
