Friday cooking with Annalise

 On Fridays, Annalise doesn't go to preschool so we stay home and cook.  We made this nice frozen mouse for a snake at the nature center.  He ate it up!  Just kidding.  Blogger changed and all my pics are uploaded backwards.  I'm too lazy to change them so all you snake haters out there better hope that we update the blog soon or you will be seeing this grizzly sight for a while.  We did witness this snake having his weekly meal at the nature center.  The girls were not grossed out at all.

 Spirit week was last week here in the school district for Homecoming.  It was 80's day and all we could come up with was the side pony tail.  I really wish I still had that sweatshirt that had the rainbow going up one sleeve and down the other.

 Evie spotted this cloud outside of her window.  She thought it looked like a volcano.

Here's wacky day during spirit week.  So loud you could hear her coming. 

And finally, cooking with Annalise.  Like I said, she is home and we try to do something fun each Friday.  Last week was zucchini muffins.  This week was apple turnovers (by her request).  They were super easy to make and very tasty.  Click Here for the recipe

Annalise cut up the apples, sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar and crimped the edges of the pastry dough shut.   They tasted great!

Annalise is 5!

After what seemed like months of waiting and asking, Annalise's birthday finally arrived. You couldn't find a happier five year old if you tried. But we parents made her wait until AFTER church to open presents (we had to go early to set up donuts so Grandma and Grandpa got them up and ready for church). After donuts, we got down to business.
Annalise received this nice new gymnastics outfit from Grandma and Grandpa. This will come in handy very soon!

And the much asked for Pucci Puppy arrived complete with 4 outfits. Outfits for a stuffed dog. And this dog hasn't even been changed once. She is happy with it and plays with it a lot so that is all we can ask for.

So I mentioned that I'm taking this sock knitting class. It started on Annalise's birthday. While I was at class, all the Tallers went apple picking. Look at those trees and the apples everywhere!

Probably the best part was riding the wagon out to the orchard. Who doesn't love a tractor ride?

And day 2 of cake and ice cream. I'm happy to say, that with the help of the neighbors, we polished off the cake that very night. Happy birthday to our sweet girl. Stop growing up so quickly.

Annalise's Birthday party

Hi Readers. Sorry for the delay in posts. I started a "Socks on Sundays" knitting class on Annalise's birthday. Since starting this class, every minute of my free time has been taken up on knitting my first sock. It would have gone faster if I didn't choose teeny tiny needles and teeny tiny gauge yarn. But it is going to look fantastic. And, I've already completed my "homework" for next Sunday so I can get caught up on all my blogs (and watch all the season premires this week)

Back to the blog. Annalise's birthday was last week. For about 3 weeks leading up to her birthday, she kept asking how many more days. What she was really looking forward to was her birthday party with all of her neighbor buddies. Evie made a game of "pin the wand on the fairy". She drew the fairy to look like Annalise. We think she did a great job.
At the party, she showed the rest of the girls how to play.


They all had a chance to pin the wand on the fairy--some with very humorous results.


Evie and Grandma Taller set up a treasure hunt for all the guests. They each had to follow clues all around the yard to get the final prize. This is Annalise and her buddy Stella looking for a clue.

After the treasure hunt, the girls each had a pillowcase to decorate and take home. And there was a fairy on it.

Our big Five year old with her pretty cake that Stella's mom made. Stella's mom is now the offical cake baker of our family. She did a great job making a Rainbow Fairy, Scarlett.

All the ladies at the party enjoyed pink (of course) lemonade with their pink ice cream and pink cake. Girls.

Annalise got to open lots of fun presents that she really enjoys playing with including "homemaker Barbie". Check it out, it really exists.

Annalise's SECOND day of preschool

Well, someone must have got a better night's sleep and the weather report because she was all ready to go to school on the second day. I think all the fun she had on the first day really helped her get excited. And she is eating lunch at school everyday and that is pretty exciting too. We managed to get the socks, shoes and jacket on and even upgraded to pants! Thanks for the new outfit Grandma and Grandpa Seibert.
Later, the neighborhood troop decided to recreate some still life portait of some children having tea. If it weren't for the bar fridge, you would probably recognize this for fine art!

Warning, this video is not for the squimish. Evie's tooth had become so loose that she could wiggle it just by breathing!

Annalise's First day of preschool

It was a rough morning on the first day of preschool. First, the weather went from 90 degrees on Saturday to 48 degrees on Tuesday morning. Annalise didn't get the memo and was all set on wearing a t shirt, skort and sandals on the first day of school. Imagine her horror when she discovered that I planned to make her wear shoes, socks and a jacket.Needless to say, she was less than excited about getting extra clothes on and didn't want to have her picture taken.
At one point, I thought she might walk to preschool. That would have saved me some time in the drop off line.

I did eventually get her in the car and strapped in. She cried all the way to school. But when it was her turn to get out, she was all smiles and excited. Once she went inside, she had a great day and lots of fun.

The Super Fun Meyer Labor Day Birthday party

Our final stop on our Labor Day northwest Ohio tour was to the Meyer Labor Day Cookout. We still hadn't time to have Georgie and Annalise's Birthday party so we took the party to to cookout. We celebrated Annalise's 5th birthday, Georgie's 1st Birthday and the Anniversary of Nick's 21th birthday.
Georgie enjoyed her slice of cookie cake topless in a wagon

Natalie must have been thinking about how much fun she had playing in the school bus back there in the background. all the kids took turns opening the door and honking the horn.

Grandma catches a squeeze with the indecent baby. Not a baby anymore! She can walk.

We gave JoJo a name puzzle. She has a lot of letters to learn.

Oliver took his own money and gave annalise a gift of Legos. She was pretty excited to have her very own set and managed to put all the models together.

We all got to go on the tractor ride through the woods. Our kids are still talking Nick's crazy stories and the "Wild" Natalie in the woods.

We were even treated to a sunset tour. It was wonderful and the kids had a great time. Finish it all off with a fire and you get some tired, dirty kids. Thanks for hosting, Jeff and Jane!

The Fulton County Fair at the Top of Ohio

While up in Northwest Ohio, we had the great luck to be able to attend the Fulton County Fair. This is supposed to be the best fair in all of Northwest Ohio. I do have to admit it was pretty good. First, it had lots of machinery and junk food stands. Second, I'm not from Fulton county so I had almost zero chance of running into someone I know while I was not so delicately eating a carmel apple. And Third, we went with the enitre Seibert clan so there was all kinds of fun to be had. As I said in an earlier post, Evie missed the State Fair this year. She didn't miss her yearly shot of sitting on a John Deere 5000 series tractor. Someday I'm going to dig up all those pictures and make a montage.
Eight kids in one tractor tire. Is Eight enough?? NO way! We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new cousin sometime in the next month. We all decided that it should be named after a tractor. Kubota Moline has a nice ring to it, don't you think Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Kevin?

Evie can just barely still fit in the largest wheel we could find.

Annalise is still small enough to fit one more year.

There was even a sprayer that the kids could climb up on. Talk about Heaven for Oliver and Henry.

Grandpa, we think you need a bobcat for the yard. June will drive.

Georgie even got in on the action. She wasn't into sittting in a tire, but did grace us with her deep knee squats in her ridiculous square dance skirt.

Look at all those beautiful ladies walking down the street. I hope that Aunt Elizabeth doesn't get mad about the belly shot.

Check out how tall these sunflowers grew!

Evie found the largest pumpkin in Fulton County

I lifted my meat ban to enjoy this delicous smoked pork chop on a stick. It was wonderful, but it was definately my meat intake for the month.

In the true spirit of the fair, Aunt Becky and Uncle Bran found love in the cattle barn. Look closely to see the cow behind them peeing.

Natalie was riding this wild hay bale.

Annalise also found true love at the fair. Can she keep them at your house, Grandpa?

John and Kingkini's wedding

This Labor Day weekend, we traveled up to Paulding, Ohio to witness the blessing of my cousin John and his wife, Kingkini's marriage. Even though it was 100 degrees outside, these two guys looked pretty cool. Henry was the ring bearer.
The girls were excited to get cleaned up and dressed up all fancy for the wedding and the reception.

Aunt Becky was the chief reader during the ceremony.

Tessa was the chief cheeseball (check out Owen in the background in Aunt Elizabeth's belly)

The beautiful bride and groom exchange their vows.

After the ceremony, Oliver took off to find his buddy, Henry.

Look at all these kids dressed up and looking sweet. They were so good that they earned at trip to the DQ!

Congratulations John and Kingkini--I can't wait to join you for your next wedding in India! That's right, after I get all my shots and Visa, I'm going to India in January! Anyone want two kids for two weeks?

At the DQ, we pumped the kids full of ice cream and then let them run circles around the place. June was pretty impressed by these giant ice cream cones that didn't melt outside.

These cones didn't taste as good as the ones inside.

At the reception, Evie amused herself by making earrings out of pretzels.

Henry's major bribe for being good at the front of the church (and not picking his nose) was this LEGO car. He didn't bother to eat until it was all put together.

The laser eye portion of the family.

Me and Oliver. Just between us, I think he is my favorite Seibert right now. In June he told me that when he grows up that he was going to marry me. Then in church, we kissed and got married. Unfortunately for me, I heard he has also married his sister Tessa 5 or 6 times so I guess that I'm just another sister wife.

Georgiana and Grandma take a spin around the dance floor.

And the big girls all work on their polka moves. Three girls dancing, Aunt Becky, drink three.

We thought we heard Georgie say "grandpa" so we left her with Grandpa and a pile of crackers while the rest of us were dancing.

Tessa really turned on the charm and fun now that she is 3 and soon to be a big sister.

Oliver inspects Henry's finished car.

And then the night came to an end and someone had to break it to these party goers that it was time to go home. What a wonderful party and beautiful wedding. Congratulations again, John and Kingkini.