Moving/Christmas cards

Well, it has been an eventful month. We had Ryan's GRADUATION and G & G Griffeth came to visit for a few days for that, we moved out of our apartment and in with G & G Malmberg until we are ready to leave for Idaho (which if I had it my way would be NEVER), Christmas, Ryan finding out HE PASSED his last part of National Boards, me teaching R.S., dealing with two kids with colds and being COMPLETELY disoriented from moving and new schedules, beds, etc....
So, basically, we have been very busy, just like I am sure most of you are in these busy times of back to back holidays and visiting family. We hope all is well with you and your families, that everyone is happy, and healthy and sorry we did not get Christmas/New Year's cards out this year. Between being busy and watching our money, it just did not happen this year. Hopefully next year will be a little more calm. HA! What am I saying?? Moving to Idaho, starting a new business, making new friends... Oh well. I have good intentions, right?! Drop us a line. If anyone has our address, just know we don't live there anymore. When we get a more permanent home, I will let everyone know the new address. Our plan is to find a rental home for 6 months in Meridian until we get things settled with Ryan's business. After that, we hope to buy if all goes according to plan! Cross your fingers and say some prayers for us will you? Love you all and miss everyone that is away!

Kristin, Ryan, Preston and Mikayla

PS I will post pictures when I can get our computer to work with my parents internet.

Canton and Tyler State Park

This past Saturday we took a day long trip (to see how the kids will handle 3 days in the car driving to Utah and Idaho when we move) and went to Canton and Tyler State Park.  Canton is a town that has a big flea market.  They had some pretty cool things and I had fun drooling over the old fashioned jewelry and the antique furniture, especially the ones covered in toille.  Canton also had "a lot of junk" as Ryan said.  And I would have to agree that hollowed out turtle shells and cow horns would have to be classified as junk.  After we had enough walking around there, we drove another 40 minutes to a town called Tyler and went to their big state park that my family used to go to when we were growing up.  It was so pretty with all of the fall colors and we took a little walk around the park.  Just some good old quality family time.

Gaylord Texan Ice Palace

My family all got together and went to this fancy hotel called the Gaylord Texan.  They had an exhibit of ice sculptures.  It was 9 degrees in there so they gave us big coats and blankets.  It was neat to see all of the things they could do with ice.  They even had some ice slides.

Measurements

We measured and weighed the kids today and here are their stats:

Preston - 27 months old: 27 pounds and 37 inches

Mikayla - 13 1/2 months old: little over 20 pounds and 31 inches

Check out the boots; puddle stomping!

Preston got an early Christmas present from Grammy and Bapa last week.  Ever since Mikayla got boots from her friend, Preston has been wanting some.  So, thanks to grandparents, Preston and Mikayla are now a pair of puddle stompers!  We had to go try them out last week and they were a hit!

Uncle Scott the football star!

Last week the kids and I went to watch Uncle Scott play his last game of football.  This is his first time playing and he really likes it.  He is doing quite well too and word even got to the high school football coach who sent a letter to Scott commending him on his great performance at one of the games.  Keep it up Scott!  It was fun to watch you!  Go # 17!

Boo!

For Halloween, we went to our church Trunk or Treat. The kids had fun walking around and seeing all the candy and costumes. Preston was so excited by all the candy people were giving him that every time we came to another car, he would pull his candy out of his basket and show them and say in a loud high pitched voice "CANDIN!" Saturday night we hung out with some friends and played the brown paper bag game, ate donuts off of strings, and had a costume contest. Here are some pictures from both of those nights.

Battle Wounds

Here are Mikayla's first picture worthy battle wounds. The picture doesn't do it justice though. It looked a lot worse! She decided she is a big girl now and can walk down off of sidewalks by herself instead of holding our hand or going down on her belly. This was the end result of that decision. And it seems like when it rains, it pours... the scratch under her eye was from the next day at church when she fell and hit it on one of the metal chairs. Then later that week she was riding Preston's fire truck backwards on the porch and tipped it over and got a bruised bloody lip and bruised and scraped chin. Needless to say, everyone at the stores and church gave me funny looks. I promise I didn't do it!!! I am sure there will be plenty more incidents just like these.

A couple more...

Here are two more recipes I found that I really like:

Penne and Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce - I cut down on the cream cheese and it was still great!

Homemade Granola - I made this for the first time today and it was so good!  I didn't take this out right at 30 minutes and it was a little over cooked.  Just watch your timer!

HAPPY EATING!

Preston's "What Game"

Preston is such a little comic.  He is very animated and comes up with funny little things to say all the time.  He is talking so much more now and is putting multiple words together to make some sentences.  He has come up with this thing that I call the "What Game".  This is how it goes...

Preston: "Mom"

Me: "What Preston?"

Preston: "What Mom?"

Me: Smile and laugh

Preston: "Mom"

Me: "What Preston?"

Preston: "What Mom?" followed by a little smile and either continues for another round or he runs off to play with something else.

What a little goof.  Some of his words he can't quite pronounce yet that I think are funny or things he does...

-School bus is goose bus

-stuck is guts

-He has a train with three little pieces and when it comes apart and he can't find a piece, he says "piece train?", which when my Dad heard this thought he said, "Peace Train" and just started laughing and said "Yeah, Cat Stevens!"

-When he hears a fire engine or can't find his fire engine at home, he makes the sound of a fire engine and will not say the actual words.  Now when you think of a fire engine passing you by, think of how loud it is and you want to cover your ears.  Well... think of a little two year old making the same noise just as loud, and then imagine you in a small car with that very loud fire engine two year old!

Kids... gotta love 'em!

Recipes

Here are some recipes that we have made lately that have been really yummy. Thanks for reminding me to put these on Amy. I have been meaning to do this.

Chicken and sweet potato stew - makes a lot

Chicken and dumplings - ditto; it calls for making biscuits by using a mix, but I make my biscuits by scratch - I think they are better that way, and the best thing about these, you can make the dough and freeze it in individual balls for quick biscuits for another meal!

Lettuce wraps - it calls for iceberg lettuce, but I used Romaine and it worked just fine

Moo Goo Gai Pan
Southwestern Pitas - this was kind of a made up thing. I thought about making Chipotle burritos for dinner, but only had pitas... I marinated chicken in mesquite marinade, and cooked it on the stove. For toppings, I made guacamole, picco de gallo (I took bits and pieces from different recipes online), olives, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream. YUMMO!
Teriyaki Meatballs
Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Just thought I would share those. I get in moods of trying new things and these were some that worked out! Always a plus!

Happy Birthday to you!

We celebrated Ryan's 30th birthday today.  We had some friends over and ate yummy chocolate cake and ice cream and had a good time just hanging out.  Preston, of course, loved the cake and ice cream and had fun playing with little Aiden.  Thanks for coming everyone!  Ryan is such a great father, husband and friend and soon to be great Chiropractor!  We are so glad you are in our lives!  Love you!

Come one, come all...

Come help us celebrate Ryan's 30th Birthday this Tuesday. We will have cake, ice cream, cookies, etc... Hope you will join us!

Race for the Cure

Yesterday we were able to participate in the Dallas Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. We have participated the past few years as a family. It is a nice time to be together and to also celebrate that Mom has overcome this disease. What is it now, 4 years? AND COUNTING! Hooray to Mom and all those who have beat this and our prayers and wishes to all those who are still fighting.

Playground fun

The kids and I take walks regularly. It is a great thing to keep them entertained when I am out of ideas and patience. We usually end up at the playground at our apartment complex. They always seem to do funny things and I never seem to have my camera at the right times. Well, this time I did. I had a little fun with taking pictures and took a lot, but I thought they turned out good. I got a couple of great shots of Mikayla trying a new recipe: dirt and weeds!! Why didn't I stop her? Well, you gotta live in the moment and enjoy it, right?! I actually got a couple good ones of Preston too. He is always on the move and so quick it is hard to get ones that aren't blurry all the time! He is so animated and some of the pictures show it. Gotta love those crazy kids!

Our little cowgirl

I think Mikayla will fit in well when we move to Idaho. This should make you proud Grandpa G... she rides bulls, ponies and even wears cow"girl" boots. Just thought I would share these pictures because I thought she looked so cute!

Texas State Fair!

One of the times I look forward to in Texas has come. Time to get that wonderful turkey leg and see the "cool cars" as Preston calls them. We went to the Fair with some friends last week and had a blast. The kids did really well and I hope had fun too. We saw pretty much everything fried (including fried snickers, which we tried), a giraffe, 4 horned goat, cool cars, bike stunts, etc.