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.