Strawberry Fields Forever

We like to go and fill a bucket of strawberries during strawberry season once a year and gorge ourselves on the strawberries while we fill the bucket slowly.  We went on kind of a misty day in April.  After we left it poured rain the rest of the day, so we felt fortunate to hit a drier window of time and weren't cooped up inside all day.

 This was Warren's first time in the trenches and he had the eating part down.  The hard part was keeping up with him so you could clean the strawberries of first.  Ashlyn is a pro as you can see from her hand full.  Lara and Claire ate and gathered their fair share.  At the end though Claire stepped right into the middle of a mud patch that really sucked both feet down tight.  She could not step out.  We had to pull her up and then go get the shoes.  :)

It was a lot of fun getting dirty and picking the strawberries.  These kids are so much fun to watch.

Here are recent pictures of the four of them together up on top of a peak by our house.  Crazy group. 

Ashy Bodashy

January 22, 2012 Ashlyn lost her second front tooth. I love the big front tooth gap; too cute. She is in Mrs. Douglas' first grade class. There are 8 first grade classes at her school; lots and lots of friends her age.  They have a huge fair/fundraiser at the school and all the grades took turns singing some songs they learned in Music class with Mr. David. Ashlyn enjoys getting up and performing (see the picture of her on stage below).
She went to her first Daddy Daughter Dance with Brock this year, and was so excited about introducing her daddy to all her friends.  Ashlyn is good at making someone feel special and likes making birthday celebration plans for others (and herself).

Here she is making a "Walrus face".

And here she is making another face at the camera.  She is the queen at posing. For instance, see the examples below.  Here is the fun little group that all walk home together from school.  So fun.

Ashlyn loves arranging her toys, building things, and creating artwork.  She is excellent at drawing and she really got in to egg dying this year.  The drawing she made below is arranged like a comic strip and has dinosaurs and a 3-D volcanoes she made from an egg carton. I am always amazed at what she comes up with. I get to teach art in her classroom occasionally which is a lot of fun.

 We had face painting at the Easter egg hunt this year which the girls loved to do.

Here Ashlyn is eating one of great grandmother Plumb's homemade Oreo cookies at her cousins house.  She is wearing an outfit she created from one of my black shirts, a pair of Clarie's gaucho black pants, a black belt, and a necklace my parents brought me from England with a Cornish pastry on it.  (She is standing next to me editing this post as I write, telling me that I have an extra word or that I forgot a comma...She is getting too smart) For about two months this was her go to dress-up outfit she would put on right when she got home from school.  She enjoys coming up with new outfits.  Very creative.

At the Wild animal park Ashy also got to have a Lorakeet land on her head just like Claire.  Warren loves Ashy and often calls for her throughout the day to "tell" her things.  He thinks she is very funny and loves his big sister.

 
 Who's Who?? Here is Ashlyn with her best friend Rylee doing a Polar Bear Plunge.  We had a bunch of rain followed by a sunny day back in March and the girls insisted it was time to go to the pool.  I tried to talk them out of it, but they lasted a good 10 minutes.  Following with tradition we got matching suits for them again this summer.  These two are peas in a pod, and have such a great time together.

Lovely Lara

Lara, Lara, Lara,  how can I sum up Lara. :)  I had her do two months of a "Princess Ballet" class with Claire at a community center, and it was so fun to watch. The class grew to 20, 3-5 year olds, and it got a  little chaotic, but it was fun.

Grandma Solano had her strike a pose and this was the result.  Ballet really paid off.

She has a soft spot for animals and can't wait until we move into a place that allows pets.  Here she is feeding ducks, and a little Lorakeet at the Wild Animal Park.  She spotted the sickly little bald bird that couldn't fly and crouched down and let it eat all the nectar she had.  She is very thoughtful.  Her new favorite PJs have a cute puppy on them.  She is wearing them as we speak and it is past lunch-time. 

 Here is her other pair of puppy pjs. As soon as she sees it getting dusky outside she will run and put her pjs on. This one evening right after dinner she laid down to read a book and fell dead asleep. Her siblings were playing past her and she did not stir. It was a nice change considering that every other night she informs me several times throughout the evening that she does not want to sleep in her bed. She would like to sleep in my bed, or the floor in her room or somewhere else. As soon as I get her to lay still she is usually asleep withing 5-10 minutes, but she is a mover and a shaker and it is hard to lay still and quiet. 

 I loved these profile shots taken at her cousin Joshua's second bday party.  Too cute. She is calmly surveying the scene with her unicorn horn and lemonade.

Here is Lara with her cousin Melanie/Melsie.  When these two get together they have so much fun.  They look similar and we have some funny pictures of the two of them together.  We are so glad to live close by. Lara is really social and always makes friends with random kids on the playground.  I was amazed one time when we attended a  primary in another church while we were on vacation and she was so at ease and made sure to offer a seat to other kids coming into the class.  She definitely isn't shy, but she has fears.  Like she will not walk on this dock at this park.  It juts out onto the water and has slats and is very stable, but she will collapse on it and act like she is about to die.  Silly String is another thing she will not go near.  There are just certain things that come up and she will say, "Nope, I am not doing that."

 Here is Lara on her Skut.  She goes really fast on it and is learning to balance really well, so I think the transition to a bike will go well. We have a slight incline on the sidewalk behind us, and it is perfect for riding up and down on.

 Grandma Solano gave us a kit for turning your Easter egg into a bug and Lara really got into it.  She spent a lot of time on her "butterfly".  Glue+Glitter+wings+stickers.  It was a shame to eat it later. When Lara makes up her mind that something needs to be a certain way she is a determined little one. 

Lara is serious about candy .  Easter was soooo exciting with all the candy filled eggs.  Gum is

also requested on a regular basis.

We love our loud, lovely, Lara.

birthday cakes for 2011

I started this post at the end of last year and obviously got sidetracked.  Rather then scrap it, I better go ahead and finish it up and publish it out of order...This is evidence of my tendency to procrastinate and my love of good dessert.

Brock and I never should have started watching the Cake Boss.  We made the mistake of letting the kids watch a couple of episodes.  As a result, this year the pressure was on for good, creative cakes.  Luckily my family is easy to please.

In February we enjoyed a Raspberry Walnut Torte to celebrate Brock's birthday.  We ate something similar at extraordinary desserts and found a recipe online.  Definitely worth repeating, so we did when Brock's parents came into town. Not a very manly cake, but that's what you get when you have a birthday so close to valentines day.

We got a little store bought lemon cake for Claire's family party and created a chocolate ladybug cake for her friend party at the park.  I am pleased to say that this cake was completely devoured.  It was not one of those cakes where the kids eat half a slice and give up.  These four year olds were coming back for seconds.

 

Ashlyn got a layered berry, angel food cake, trifle this year for our family celebration ( a family favorite) and a chocolate layered cake for her dolphin party with marshmallowy frosting.  The dolphin was made with rice crispy treats covered in fondant (see cake boss for instructions :)  ).

Here is my "ice cream cake" that Brock bought me.  Blew DQ out of the water, and I enjoyed it for weeks to come.  My favorite Phish food on the top.

 Our ONE YEAR OLD!!!  Warren spent his birthday beach camping with cousins.  Spencer and Kim and kids go beach camping every September and it was a lot of fun to join in.  I am so glad they let us tag along, and we hope to make it a tradition.  He got a little cupcake while everyone else ate their doughnuts and then we celebrated with the extended family the following week-end.  Cousin Julia was born only two days before Warren and here they are enjoying their first cake together. One of those cake rolls with vanilla whipped cream filling.

Lastly here we are in October with Lara.  A chocolate Oreo cake.  Our big three year old.  She lasted tolerably well through everyone elses' birthdays.  We had to keep telling her, "yours is right before Halloween."  She loves candy so much and feels that Halloween is an extension to her birthday.

Other notable cakes/treats of 2011

Claire's play dough cakes
Her dogs enjoy them

Kim's Banana Cream Pie
courtesy of Becca-- holy moly

Uncle Tim's rolled up pudding cake
He is a good sport and has to
share his birthday parties with
Warren and Julia now.

Kristen's Chocolate Truffle cake-YUM

Grandpa Plumbs birthday crown
not a cake, but a treat
work it grandpa



My parents anniversary
Raspberry Mango tart