Sigh...

Playdate!

We went to Otto's house yesterday morning so the two boys could play together for a couple of hours.  It was nice to spend some time with adults while the kids played.

Instant camera photo!

Chinese New Year.

We celebrated Chinese New Year yesterday by making homemade egg rolls for lunch, and homemade beef and broccoli for dinner.  Both were delicious!

We bought the egg roll wrappers at the grocery.

I ground the pork with the Kitchenaid grinder attachment.  Ground ginger, granulated garlic, onion, oyster sauce, cabbage, and carrots make up the filling.

Pan fried in about a quarter cup of vegetable oil...

Voila!  They were absolutely scrumptious!

Beef, broccoli, carrots, chili garlic sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil make up the dish.

Year of the rooster.  I made some brown Basmati rice to go with the beef and broccoli.  Delish!!

Scootering on the Parkway.

We have had a busy Saturday!  Swim lessons for Skyler, a stop at Trader Joe's, and scooting on scooters on the Parkway.

Mommy got to ride her new scooter from Santa.

8 deer!  Usually there's only the 7.

Ripping along!  I walked the dog while they scooted.  I tried Mommy's scooter while walking the dog and she did just fine.  Next time I'll scoot too!

The closest we've ever been to the deer.

Skyler sat down and very quietly watched the deer.

100th day!

Skyler's school is celebrating the 100th day of school today.  They are supposed to wear an article of clothing with the number 100 on it so I used a stencil and airbrushed the number 100 on a t-shirt to help him celebrate.

He's really more excited about it than he looks.  :)

Continuing the dog theme...

Maizey dog is feeling much better after her mild ear infection a couple weeks ago.

Happy dog!

Best friends.

Skyler and Maizey sure make a nice pair.

She doesn't mind it at all when he lays on her on the couch.

Playground!

Skyler loves to go out to recess at the end of each school day.  I went to pick him up sometime last week and found him and Evan playing "police".

Words cannot describe what two 5 year olds running and making siren noises sounds like!

Cooking with Skyler.

I heard a mention of Dairy Queen's "steak fingers" a week ago or so.  I mentioned it to Mommy and she thought it sounded like a tasty weekend meal.  I found this recipe online and Skyler and I got to work last Saturday.

He got right in and started breading the cube steak pieces. 

Flour dredge.

Into the pan.

We ran out of room in the pan and got out the tiny pan just for Skyler.

Turning each "finger".  They turned out great and were rather tasty.

R/C in the house.

It snowed here almost all day yesterday.  We had lots of indoor time and Skyler found and charged up his radio control car.  I had to have him take it downstairs after this picture, the walls were getting beat to hell!

He was driving down the hall and then reversing back up it!  Pretty good!

Dog truth.

Thanks Grandma!

Grandma sewed Skyler this nice shirt.  He's rather thrilled to wear it to school today.

Still waking up, TGIF!

100%!

Skyler aced his first spelling test on Tuesday.

So proud of him!

Swim!

Skyler had another swim lesson this past weekend.  He only has one more private lesson until he moves on to some group lessons.  He's rather excited to try the group lesson, he has been marking off one day at a time on his calendar.

One day at a time...

Practicing diving from the edge.

Ready...

Go!

Time for the diving board.

Chaos.

That best describes yesterday with all the LEGO play.  Whew!

Too many!  It takes us quite a while to find a specific piece.

15 years of the auto show together.

Mommy and I went on our first date to the Utah auto show way back in 2002.  We've never missed a year and yesterday Skyler got to attend for the first time.  He was a little out of control but he seemed to enjoy looking and sitting in all the cars.

Sitting in a midnight black Ford Fiesta ST.  First thing he did was put the seatbelt on.  :)

Terrifying that in 10 years this will be reality!

This sums up his demeanor for the show visit.

Not shown, running on the carpet road.  Completely outta control!

Sitting in the new Mazda Miata retractable hardtop convertible.

Cooking up some "ham Spam".

Skyler takes after me and enjoys the taste of "Spam" canned meat once in a while.  He came walking down the hall yesterday carrying a can of "ham Spam" (his term) and asked if I could cook some up.  Even better, he got in on the cooking action and successfully manned the stove with my close supervision.

Using a potholder while flipping each piece.  :)

I toasted up an English muffing to go along with the "ham Spam".  Here he is playing rocket with his food.

Happy birthday, school!

Dancing Moose celebrated their tenth anniversary of operation yesterday.  That meant pajama day, a dance party, and cake!  Despite not wanting to go yesterday, he was glad he did and enjoyed the special day.

Yeti jammies and holding hands for the dance party.  :)

The center mat is the solar system.  Ten times around for school!

School.

Skyler is still enjoying his wonderful Montessori school.  We are too.  Last night was an open house that allowed us to tour the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classrooms.  We came away very impressed!

Crazy hat day was yesterday and he was delighted to run into school to show it off.

Maizey dog!

Poor Maizey came down with an ear infection earlier this week.  I took her in to the vet on Tuesday and he prescribed some ear drops to treat her ear with.  She's doing quite a bit better as of last night, fingers are crossed for a full recovery.

This was the day after Christmas.

Powdery goodness.

Quite possibly the best photo ever taken of her!

Lego Land.

Christmas brought more new Lego sets to Skyler.  That meant he got all of his other Lego bricks and sets out.  Hours of entertainment!

The highlight is dumping Lego bricks into the box which he calls the "chopper".  :)

Bye snowman.

We went from near zero degree temps to almost 50 degrees yesterday.  Skyler's snowman that he and Mommy built on Sunday didn't do so well.

This is what he looked like yesterday morning after I dropped Skyler off at school.  Poor snowman and snow dog!

Do you want to build a snowman?

Skyler and Mommy did just that yesterday afternoon.

Finishing touches.

Ta da!

Doing his best recreation of "The snowman and the snow dog."

Giving them a hug.  :)