Look who's ONE!

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to baby Daniel! The kids were so excited all day and couldn't wait until after dinner for him to have a go at his own "ball" birthday cake! I can't believe he is already one. The pregnancy seems to last forever, but once they are here, the time goes by way too fast. We were lucky to have my mom here a year ago to help! We wish she was here this year. But, 16 months left! Sorry for the picture overload, but it is all for my parents who weren't here!
Just so I remember, here are his traits as a one year old and things he can do:
-his first word is "ball" and he loves balls!
-he is walking!!
-he is a busy baby and likes to be where the action is
-he is extremely social and will smile at anyone who gives him attention. There is no separation anxiety whatsoever
-he loves to eat taquitos and gets so excited
-he is finally sleeping through the night and is down to nursing twice a day! (I'm almost free!)
-he is extremely loved by his brothers and sisters

Since Daniel is such a busy baby, we decided to get him a tunnel to crawl through.
Here he is deciding if he wants to try it out.

There he goes!

I'm lovin' this!

Enjoying fun German books sent by Oma and Opa! Daniel is a busy, busy baby, and the only thing he will sit still for is reading books! He loves them!!

I love my birthday!!

Birthday at great-grandma's house. She always spoils us!

Then there was cake!!

Daniel LOVES balls. Ball is actually his first word. So, why not make him a ball cake!!

He didn't hold back. He went right for it!

Not a big fan of the cake part, but he loved that frosting!

He did a good job!

Pretty proud of himself!!!

I feel like blogging has been put on the back burner of things to do, but I have a little time so here is a few of our latest happenings...

We wanted to have a fondue night with our kids on Valentine's Day, but with the few sicknesses that were going around in our house, we decided to postpone it until the following family night on Monday. Well, our kids LOVED it and as you can see in the picture, Josh loved it a little too much.




Hannah had the 100th day of Kindergarten this week. This is a BIG event and she passed into the 100th club by counting to 100 by ones, twos, fives, tens and counting backwards from from 100 down to 1 as well as writing to 100. The little smarty pants! Well, for their party, her teacher asked them to come dressed as a 100 year old person. It was hilarious. Hannah looked awesome! She was nervous about at first thinking people would laugh at her, but I told her everyone will be dressed up. (We didn't want to reenact the clown incident from last year where she dressed up as a clown for clown day and realizing when she got there that that day wasn't until next week.) Anyway, she had a fun day.

Holiday curse

Poor Hannah has been hit with the holiday curse. She was sick on Halloween and I took her home early from her class party and was able to trick-or-treat for a little bit before coming back in because she felt crummy. And when Hannah tells you she doesn't want to eat any of her candy, you know she is really sick. Next she had strep throat on Christmas day and wasn't able to go to any family parties. Then the last straw happened today. And what day is it? Valentines Day! Poor thing has strep throat again!!!

Latest happenings from sick kids to a nasty spider bite....

Life has been a little on the crazy side the past couple of weeks between sick kids, a little accident causing a permanent tooth of Joseph's to get a little loose (glad for a brother-in-law who is a dentist and the tooth is O.K.) and a brown recluse spider bite on poor Joseph. Yep, that's right. You hear about stories of people getting bit by a poisonous spider, but you never think it will happen to you! I even used to pray as a little girl that I would never get bit by a spider, and here it happened on my poor little boy! Thank heavens for a wonderful neighbor who is a doctor and who knew just what to do and got us taken care of. I would post pictures, but they are probably best left unseen. He is doing much better, thank heavens. Now I am just a little freaked out. My neighbor told me that I acted in good time because the venom didn't get in the blood stream, which would have made him really sick and possible hospitalization. When we found out it was a spider bite, I cleaned the house for 5 hours. The doctor then said it probably happened outside and not inside. We are thinking that it was possibly in Joseph's ski boot that was in the garage because his ankle started getting sore after James took him skiing.
Anyway, enough of that.

We found a great idea for a "snow-made snow cone" -
The other day we were all bored and went out to make a snowman. The kids were getting thirsty so I went in and got our Hawaiian ice flavors (I have cherry and lime) and scraped off the first layer of snow to the clean snow and put some in a bowl and flavored it! Hannah and Josh loved it. For Daniel, I made a mound of clean snow and flavored the top and he was in heaven.

I found this recipe and James and I loved it! So, just thought I would share if any want to give it a go...
Orzo with Artichoke Hearts, Tomatoes, Basil and Chicken

2 Tbsp. oil (I prever to use olive oil because it is the healthiest)
2 c. uncooked orzo pasta
2 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth
1 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2. c. chopped fresh basil
1 c. chopped artichoke hearts in oil, drained
1 or 2 diced tomatoes
2 chopped cooked chicken breasts (I like the rotisserie chicken at Costco)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the orzo in the oil over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Stir in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Mix in Parmesan cheese, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, chicken and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Yummy!