Home By the Creekside

We were really shocked that Brayden likes to play tennis. I was so surprised to see how much effort he puts into his match. Totally cracks me up when I see him play it. Who knows maybe he will be the next Pete Sampras?

When it is this kind of weather, we like to hunker down in our basement and eat some good old...... homemade chicken noodle soup big cookpot 1 rotiesserie chicken baby carrots (cut in half) celery (cut in bite size pieces) onion chicken buillion powder (I use the Mexican stuff..caldo de pollo by knorr) 2 garlic cloves minced country pasta noodles I used the chicken from Sam's Club as it is less expensive. Debone the chicken and put in with alot of water in your cookpot. Then add carrots, celery, onions. Bring to boil. Add chicken buillion by the teaspoon until you get the flavor you like. Pu other seasonings in such as minced garlic. Cook as long as it takes to have the carrots and celery cooked but not soft. I learned this from Rachael Ray to cook the noodles separate. I do this because I like leftovers but I do not like mushy noodles. Cook the noodles separate. Then when they are finished, put as much noodles as you want in your own soup bowl and then add the soup. Yum! Freeze le

I bought these for Lyndee last Christmas. I had them in my van. Then they disappeared and I forgot all about them. Clayton was cleaning (yes, cleaning) the garage out and he found them. Lyndee at first thought they were oven mitts. But then I showed that her Barbies should sleep in them. She was head over heels for them. She carted them around and even slept with one of them on her pillow. I bought them from a woman that works in our cafeteria. What a cute idea for extra material lying around? They look really easy to make.

The weather is so nice that I can't sit still long enough to post Oh....my tulips are starting to poke out! YAY! I had duty today and enjoyed it because I got to soak up the rays. Then I come home and get to enjoy the warmth outside with my own kids. Who has time to blog?

Clayton put our summer chairs out on our porch in hopes of an early Spring. I was kind of surprised at how WAY too early it is for that kind of wishful thinking. This is what's left of winter except for the north side of our house. I guess when it snows tomorrow we can sit there and watch. (Shhh...I know I still have some Christmas ornaments hanging from the tree). Then on the south part of house, a little bit of hope has broken through. My crocuses that my dad planted last last year arrived in their purple glory. After I saw these, I searched for any sign of precious tulips and irises. No such luck! Then my children felt the need to jump and dragged me along with them. So I put the safety net up and this is the result. I got to admit I love jumping with them. (And no...I was not injured nor did I split my pants in the rear)

Our card exchange is tomorrow night and I am finally done. The theme was thank you notes. I got my scrapbook paper a couple weeks ago but put this off until tonight. I can be such a slacker!

What a fabulous place to take your children in Ogden! There are so many things for the kids to play with. I really loved the atmosphere of learning and playing. This was the medieval area. They had puppet theater and dress up clothes. I dressed Lyndee up as princess and sat her in the royal chair. This is such a cute little school room. It reminds me of Little House on the Prairie. This is so cute. The only thing missing are the "real" grandmas. This was my favorite room and we visited this twice. Brayden was able bang on the bongos while you can see Lyndee's choice instrument. We came back to this twice. In the back of the truck is the coats the firemen wear. Brayden put that on but the hats were all taken by other kids. What a fun day! .

Over the weekend we had this yummy dish. I think it was a Pampered Chef recipe but it was on KSL 5. You can find the recipe " here " . We added some white northern beans to the taco filling. Then I cut it in pieces and we topped it with lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. We served the missionaries this wonderful creation and they wolfed it down. It feeds about 4 adults and 2 kids. Enjoy!

Diagnosis: Cabin Fever Medicine: We took our kids on their bikes around the neighborhood. They have not been able to ride their Christmas presents. Now they got a chance. Lyndee wrecked about 5 times as she kept turning around and not watching where she was going. That is why she will wear a helmet. Then Brayden's new bike is hard for him so he reverted to his old bike. He told us that he will practice with it this summer. We now need to buy some bikes for us so we can ride with them! Side Note: On our walk around our neighborhood, our little yappers (our mini-schnauzers) yapped at us all the way. Next time we will take them for a walk. It is hard to believe that the snow in our field in front of our fence is now puddles. (Click on the pic if you cannot see the pups.)

Dinnertime has been so boring at the Ingram household that I have resorted to surfing the internet for food that will tantalize our senses. Last night we had ham n' cheese crepes. You can get the recipe "here" . It was better than the crepes we had for breakfast on Christmas morning. I even had two little helpers that were by my side the whole time.

During the week, Brayden took a tumble down 5 stairs as he tells me with help from his sister. He did this on Wednesday right before I went to go and do my visiting teaching. He had a really big bump on the side of his eye. Good thing we have ice bags already made for little accidents. This picture below was taken Friday morning after he woke up. I had him strike a pose! This picture was taken last night. I told Brayden it looks like he dipped his finger into mommy's makeup.