i love my parents.

 

And this is my new favorite picture!

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happy fathers day!

A few favorite pictures of me and Daddy. I’ll have to see if I can find any when I’m not tiny. But Dad is still as good-looking as ever : )

Learning to pray! I treasure this photo.

and storytime!

and my Grandpa Big Mike on my Mom’s side

and Grandpa Chris on Dad’s side

oh and Mommy too

our whole family (minus Clara, who was not alive?)

and Dad and three of us girls this winter.

I  am blessed to have such a great Dad.

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy-o!     Love, Ellie-Bird

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film:: at the beach

^ i took lots of pictures of melissa

^ my super awesome (and super cute) parents

^ it was only very very windy. that was actually why i mostly used my film camera, because the blowing sand was reeeaaalllly bad for my digital SLR. (after just a few minutes i was noticing grittiness on my lens.)

^ jellyfish

^ melly building the sandcastle. more precisely, the fab tunnel she dug.

^ our sandcastle. self filling moat! so awesome.

the end!

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Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake

This photo shows just one step in making this delicious cake, the cooling period where we have it upside down on a bottle.

The recipe is from Mema, my grandmother on my Mom’s side. And it is word for word from the original. You’ll have to open the link to read all the semi-ridiculous wording.

Cake recipe: Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake

The frosting recipe I use:  4-Minute Butter Frosting

This is absolutely one of my family’s favorite cakes, and we make it for almost every birthday. It’s that good.

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but there are good things.

I was thinking about how inconvenient and not nice this ice covered weather is. But there are good things – like, we have a wealth of stores on the intersection just near us, so it’s not extremely difficult to get groceries when we need them, because we can just walk.  But what if we lived in Autumn Chase or something? no close stores.  (There would be the huge amount of nearby neighbors, though.) And at least i’m stuck at home with nice people! I love my family.  And we do fun things together, like me and Clara blowing bubbles outside to see if they would freeze.

And walking to the Asian supermarket with Dad on Tuesday to get vegetables. I held onto his arm; so if one of us slipped the other was there to hold both of us up. Thankfully we didn’t ever both slip at the same time.  (I think I should say thankfully instead of luckily – because luck isn’t real, and I am thankful to God.) And then today since we were stuck at home again, Amy, Clara, Dad, and I (and Ginger) walked to Redbox to rent a movie. Walgreens didn’t have good ones (I suppose everyone is renting movies since they’re stuck at home?), so Amy and Clara and Ginger walked home, and then Dad and I went to the Redbox at CVS.  Got Toy Story 3, and then also got tortillas at the Mexican market.

And at dinner time tonight, we were all listing the number of layers we were wearing.  Clara took the prize for 5 tops, 3 pairs of pants, and 3 pairs of socks.

Our power went out sporadically this morning, but didn’t stay out for long. So we can eat breakfast. (Biscuits and gravy this morning- delish.)

Dad and I were able to go to prayer meeting on Tuesday because a friend (who had chains on his tires!) picked us up.  Such nice fellowship.  Not too many people were there, but some braved the cold and walked from their apartments.

And we can bake! Biscuits this morning, gingersnaps yesterday.  And countless cups of tea. We have to wash spoons throughout the day since we use so many to stir our tea.  (We also have to change Ginger’s water throughout the day too, since it freezes. She was in the garage some today, and Clara was reading a story from the Grimm Fairy Tales book! But that’s a rabbit trail… or shall we say a dog trail?)

I think that was the most I have written on this blog since like… ever.  But there is a list of wonderful things for you.

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brand new baby

Our dear friends the Fletchers had a beautiful baby boy today! His name is Jett Elliott. We visited them in the hospital. I was also able to take pictures of his siblings seeing him for the first time.

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cute little sister

Christmas

^ My sisters and I bring Mom and Dad breakfast in the morning. Tea, coffee, muffins.

^ the Christmas tree.

^ This is the candy cane lady. She’s been in the family for as long as I can remember, but she’s been around for a more than that too – her base says 1954.

^ I made this apple pie.   And for your information, Betty Crocker makes a better pie crust than Nourishing traditions or those girls from the pie shop in Brooklyn. (whose recipes I’ve used previously.)

^ My super cool camera lens mug from Photojojo.

^ Melissa in all her new winter wear, looking like she stepped out of an Anthropologie ad. [handmade boots + gloves, and scarf and forever 21 headband.]

^ Dad held Riette alot. She’s adorable.

^ A big delicious dinner. It made for delicious leftovers too.

^ At the very end of the evening we went to see Christmas lights. I fell asleep on the drive home.

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sisters, sisters.

This Friday we went to a Christmas party, where we didn’t get a picture with Mom and Dad before Melissa left because they were so busy with food.  But, we did get sisters pictures.

^I had a world map dress! Thrift store found.

 

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asher: autumn leaves

This afternoon Clara and I played with our cousin Asher in the leaves in the backyard.  Really, Clara played with him and I took pictures.  We had a lovely time, especially enjoying his smiles and laughter when we threw leaves in the air.

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