A whole lotta cookin' goin' on

So a couple weeks ago, Dawn Hibbert, (Michael's mom), had a great idea to do some bulk cooking using a cookbook that she had. We picked three recipes and each bought enough ingredients for one recipe X 6. Then we got together and chopped and cooked up a storm! It was a really fun evening and we felt so productive! We made Taco Soup, Steak Soup and White Chili. Since each of us are only households of 2, and each recipe made enough to serve 6, we halved it when we packaged it. So we each ended up with 12 meals, 4 of each recipe. Sweet!! It's nice to have those put away in the freezer for easy meals, and also for quick meals we may want to take to someone in need. So far we've only tried the taco soup, and it was yummy! It's true what they say about many hands make light work. Thanks, Dawn, for the great idea! Reine was a good helper too!

WHAT is going on?

Please tell me I'm not the only one...

I am having trouble with the "layout" function of Blogger. In the past I've never had difficulty moving the "gadgets" to order them the way I want. Now I am frustrated up to here and higher!

AND another thing I've noticed about my posts lately is that the videos are blacked out. Previous videos always show a still shot of the video. I wonder if it is because my videos of Reine are now usually vertical instead of horizontal.

(An aside here... with my camera I HAVE to shoot videos horizontally to view them properly. If I position the camera vertically the video replay shows on its side. Horizontal isn't always the best format for what is being recorded! Well, my iPhone allows videos to be shot vertically, which I LOVE. Hence, many of my videos are now vertical- especially of Reine who is usually sitting or standing when I'm videoing, NOT lying flat on her back perfectly horizontal to the camera.)

So that might be why the video thumb is blacked out. It might not know what to do with that crazy, odd format. No! The snow removal videos are blacked out and they're HORIZONTAL! WHAT is going ON!

SO! Why are the gadget thumbs in layout so uncooperative? Anyone else having a problem there? You haven't made any changes to yours lately? Get on it! I've got to know!

AND!
I haven't found an easy way to contact Blogger to express my ire.

Speaking of Cupid...

I looked out of "Lindsay's" bedroom window and what did I see? Popcorn popi....wait, no that's not it. A pair of hearts! When would I ever again see that on our street? I had to take a pic.

Something wasn't quite right though.
It didn't seem to be complete.

Ahhhh, that's better.

Cupid's Day

When I went downstairs after my shower on Sunday, look what was on the table! I have a very wonderful husband, don't you think?? I love him.

Well, I thought it was interesting....

This winter has been pretty good in the snow department. My favorite time of winter is when snow is actually falling. I don't particularly like the cold and after the snow has fallen and the sun comes out it is very pretty but... eh, not really interested. Falling snow? I LOVE IT! I would like it to snow -all- -of- -the- -time-. That would be a lot of snow but I would not mind. (I'm envious of Valdez Alaska. Double digit foot snowfalls!) The world is magical when snow is in the air, night or day. After a night of heavy snowing everything looks great outside but I am so disappointed because it snowed AT NIGHT! When I was asleep. Someone should invent a snow DVR so that I can watch it snow later, at a more convenient time.

We live on Eric Circle. It's a circle. A cul-de-sac. Graders come around after a good snow and push it all into a big mound in the middle of the circle. It doesn't get so tall as much as it gets wide. As in diameter. Soon, after quite a few snows, the driving in the circle gets to be a one laner. Ze other day the city cleaned out the circle. The first time this year and most likely the last the way budgets are these days. Usually I have seen a front end loader clear the snow working with ze dump trucks but a few days ago was different. It was way better.

First, this cool multi-position front blade grader-thingy attacked the mountain of snow "stretching" it into a long line down the road from the circle. It took a long time to reshape all that snow into a berm. I was so engrossed watching that I didn't think to record the event for posterity until almost the end of the entire process! You're fortunate to see the tail end, you know you are. Believe me, there was A LOT of snow there to begin.

Second, a huge snow blower came in gobbling and gobbling. Gobbling and spitting out snow into dump trucks! I love snow-blowing our driveway after a good snow. Actually, I really like snow-blowing DURING a good snow. I like seeing the stark and self-evident results of my work. I like seeing that I've actually done something and it looks good. I feel the same way mowing grass. So, the snow blower was HUGE! And POWERFUL! I've seen them working in the streets but this is the first for our little cul-de-sac. Need I say I was ENTHRALLED?

Video #1

While waiting for the next truck the guy would tidy up putting the over-spray back into the center.

Video #2

The push grader is a nice piece of equipment, much better, and cooler looking than the graders that have the blade in the middle under the carriage. Yes, I know it is a front end loader with a blade instead of a bucket. That's the point!

Video #3

Look at the size of the augers when he turns around! I wouldn't want to get mixed up in those!

The result... a nice, clean cul-de-circle.

Two days later it snowed another 8 inches.

Catch Up on Reine

Ryan sent us a message a bit ago saying in essence -"You remember you have a blog, right?". Sometimes it might seem we don't. Remember, I'm meaning. Blogging, once one gets "behind" is hard to get back to, right VoNique?

Much has happened since November. Lots of fun with family at Thanksgiving, Christmas and just about any day since Reine came into our life. We cherish the time we have with her. She is changing so fast, growing up and coming into her own sweet personality. I don't believe there has been born a baby more gentle and happy. Maybe just as, but not one more. Her disposition is so pleasant. Even her crying is very cute and she cries only when she's hungry or hurting (she's had a recent bout with diaper rash). We have loved receiving her smiles and gurgling. We have lots and lots of pictures of her, not as many as her parents perhaps but lots. I first began to mark all the photos I wanted to include in our "since November catch-up" blog. Then Julie thought anybody who looked at our blog would be bored absolutely to death going through so many pictures that are special and adorable to only those that are close to her. So a few collages were put together to show some of the pictures. They are in order, meaning that the photos in the first collage are older than the second collage and then on to the third being the newest.

Click on the photos to enlarge

Lindsay has posted a lot of photos and some might be duplicated here. This collage is taken from a "photo shoot" we did when Reine was only a couple weeks old. She was generally very good but did get tired and impatient at the end. My favorite in this group is the middle one on the left. She was using her lungs to their utmost. I actually took it looking at her upside down and then flipped the picture over.

I also love the pictures of Lindsay and Reine. To see our daughter with her own daughter and to see the love in her expressions is priceless. She is a good mom. I like seeing Michael with Reine too. He is such a good dad and husband. They are both very patient. I'm impressed with the way these two are taking to parenthood. Like ducks to water!

The collage above takes us through Thanksgiving and not much further I'm pretty sure.

The one above is basically through New Year's Eve and January. Recently, I've been taking more videos than pictures because of her facial expressions, smiles and noise making. She tells some long-winded stories from time to time.

Reine loves to stand up and she is really the most fun when she's standing up. HOWEVER, that is when she is the most lethal! Especially soon after she's eaten. Amazing how spit up from my own granddaughter doesn't bother me the way it would from some other youngster.

I was going to change my slacks anyway...

One evening Julie and I went to Ihop with Lindsay and Reine. I got to sit on the same side as Reine! In this picture and in the videos above, Reine is looking across the table at her mother and grandmother. She was very well mannered and didn't even fuss when I kept all the pancakes to myself.