Strep Throat Strikes Again

Yes, we have strep throat in our house again. Unfortunately this time WE ALL HAVE IT. We are thinking it may have spread so rapidly when the girls hopped in our bed the other night when they were both scared. I remember a lot of getting breathed on and coughed on. Yesterday Gracie complained of a sore throat and today Faith had her usual rash. This makes strep throat case #4 for Faith. Our last time around to the pediatriacan she reasured me that they wouldn't think about further action (taking her tonsils out) until after her 6th time. We are getting a little too close to that for me.

Aunt Clara

I found out the other day that my great aunt Clara died. Whe was the last sibling of my Grandpa to die. I have fun memories of visiting with her as a child. My impression of her when I was that age was how put together she looked. I'm sure she was older even back then, but she was so slender and poised. Her hair was done so nice and she was dressed so well. We were blessed to have been able to visit her the past two years when we went to Arizona. This picture is from our last visit. We had such a fun time hearing 'old' stories.

Home Improvements

Nick and I have tackeled some new improvements to the house this winter. Nothing major, but it really seems to make a difference to me.

We finally got blinds in our kitchen. This is something that should have been done long ago. If you have ever joined us for a meal you may have experienced our past dinning situation. If your back was to the window you were heated up to an unbearable temperature to the point of having to take off layers of clothing. I think the afternoon when Nick had to take his shirt off while eating lunch may have been the straw that broke the camel's back:) If you were on the other side of the table you were blinded by the sun and had to shift your chair so as to be able to see what you were eating. Although this did come in handy when trying to get the girls to eat new foods.

Our second change was getting the wood floor in the kitchen refinished. On this one we took the easy, but costly, way out and hired to have it done. I'm enjoying a shiny new looking floor, but I am also much more paranoid about spills and scraches on the floor.

The final addition is a new light above the kitchen table. The old one was a very dated golden fixture. I had never liked it and was happy to see it go.

Winter Adventures

Why does it seem that I always see people posting pictures of food on their blogs and on facebook. Usually it is some extravagant, homemade, all natural delicious meal that they made from scratch. I never enjoy looking at these posts (well, I guess I enjoy thinking about eating the food), but usually they just remind me of my short comings when it comes to cooking and baking. I could fill a blog with entries of my cooking blunders. For example the time that I made zucchini cake minus the zucchini. Or making bread and running out of flour. Or the many meals that I have made that have received a less then favorable rating from Nick. At least my kids are not picky eaters and are easy to please! My adventure in cooking this winter is to bake bread. I enjoy baking, but our family does not need any more sweets in the house so I am using bread as my baking outlet. I have tried a number of recipes. Some have been flops and others have been great. So far I have been baking bread every Monday so that we have some to last for the whole week. Not sure how long this trend will last, but it has been fun. And no, I do not have pictures to post.

Another adventure that I am taking on this winter is quilting. My mom quilts and I appreciate the beauty of quilts and the the work that goes into them. I looked into taking a class, but couldn't find one so I bought a book and am trying to learn that way (with lots of phone calls to mom for advice too:) I hand quilted my first project which worked out fine since the blanket is the perfect size for Faith's little baby doll. Now I need to move on to bigger projects. I have not taken pictures of my quilting projects either. I am little embarrassed to even show them to my mom.

Apparently I need these few things to keep my busy in the Minnesota winter that we are finally having. Driving Grace to preschool today the temp in the car said -12. Welcome winter. I just hope it doesn't stay long.

Arizona continued

Nick has three sets of aunts and uncles that winter in Arizona so we have lots of people to see when we visit. One day his uncle and aunt took us for a drive through the hills. We saw some beautiful scenery and got a few short walks in.

The restaurant we ate at for lunch. The bar stools were saddles.

Nick and Maurice taking the lead and Faith and Marian following. Faith wasn't shy at all and enjoyed the time walking with her great aunt.

Of course when we drove past a cotton field Nick had to stop and check it out.

We were able to visit my great aunt, Clara, in Mesa.

We had a great trip. Seeing so much of Marta, Sebastian and Aliyah made me wish we were a little closer to them so could drive and see them more often. I have a feeling we will be back to Arizona. If Nick had his way I think he would spend a few weeks down there every winter to get away from the cold and snow.

Sunny Christmas

This year we decided to spend Christmas in Arizona with Nick's sister and her family. Nick's parents were able to come too. We had a great time with them. The cousins played well together and Aliyah put up with being bossed by her cousins some. Sebastian had a wonderful meal for us Christmas day. I was worried that it might be difficult to be away from home for Christmas. I did miss having a tree and opening presents at our house and going to our church, but I realized that being with family is part of what makes the holidays so special.

We all went to the Phoenix zoo. The kids had a great time discovering all the animals. There was a petting zoo and I was surprised by how brave Grace was petting the goats this year.
Trying to get a picture of the Grandpa and Grandma and the grand kids. This was always a challenge since someone was bound to run away, look away or cry.

Nick and his family.

Christmas Eve we went to Marta and Sebastian's church. After church we went out to eat. They girls had a great time playing ring around the rosy together.

Aliyah and Faith playing before the service. It was so much fun to see them play together. Faith and Aliyah were always so excited to see each other and started playing right away.

Flantz Christmas

Since Sam and Sarah and their family were going to Texas for Christmas and were going to Arizona we celebrated Christmas early with my family. The girls had a great time as usual with their cousins. Megan and Samuel are so good at letting Gracie and Faith tag along with them.

The girls in their farm hats from Papa.

The Flantz cousins.

Family picture with everyone looking at the camera...not too bad.