The Rice Family

Insomnia gets the best of me.

2011-04-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

It is three in the morning, and I just can't sleep. In three hours we are going to Disneyland to celebrate birthdays and I think that I am just too excited. Other than watching Three's Company on TVLand, there is nothing to do, so why not catch up on blogging? Last Saturday was Nellie's 7th Birthday Luau. It was so much fun. The best part is that I didn't even plan it: my kid did. We had Hawaiian food (Hawaiian pizza), played Hawaiian games (limbo and pass the coconut), and learned how to do Hawaiian dancing.

As her friends started to arrive, Annella got very excited. This is Alizain. She and Nellie went to preschool together and attend the after school program together.

I decided that the kids could make their own pizzas. So, after washing hands, I put out all the supplies and let the kids do all the assembly.

Alicia's friend Josh is a surfer. He brought his surfboards and let me use them as a back drop with the kids.

So, here is the gang. I love that Nellie had a boy (Noah) come to the party.

This is Vanessa. She is the Hawaiian dancer that taught the kids how to do a hula dance. She also taught us some Tahitian moves, and performed a few dances for us (it is good to have talented students...she was one of my AP kids).

Olivia Ruiz...what a crack up. This is a great picture of her, missing a tooth.

Of course, Izze is not going to miss any of the action. She put on her grass skirt and was ready for the dancing lessons.

Apparently, this particular move represents the queen sitting at her thrown.

Here is the queen sitting at her thrown.

I think this is a great picture of the girls mid dance move. You can see Alizain moving her hips.

This is one of my Madison friends, Lili. She was really into the dancing and did a great job of it. She had the motions perfectly and it came so natural for her.

Time for the limbo. Nellie was the first under the stick.

Of course, Izze had to go under the stick, but she didn't quite get the concept of the limbo.

This is Alicia and the Seminerds (as they have named themselves): Allie, Vanessa, Josh, and Amanda. I love them!

Alicia runs the 100m hurdles....

2011-03-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, as a family, we went out to support Alicia in her very first Track and Field Invitational. It was at Patrick Henry High School. Alicia was really nervous. This is her first year running track and she has never competed against anyone else but her own teammates. She was seeded in the 3rd heat. The first heat is the slowest runners, the last heat is the fastest. Although she did not beat her own personal record, she was thrilled that she placed first and didn't hit the hurdles or fall!

Rachel Discover's Picnik

2011-03-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Apparently being in a doctoral program means you only know how to find programs that calculate statistical analysis or sites that manuever through ERIC quickly. Today I found Picnik and one of my students said, "um, yeah. I found that when I was in 6th grade. It is how I do all my photos." So, this is what I did today instead of actual work (nothing you haven't seen already, just different)

"Izze's Birthday"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

The First Round of PIctures

2011-03-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have a friend, Ron Runyan, who is a professional photographer. He came to Izze's party and then gave me a disk. He captured some amazing moments.

We invited YooHoo the Clown to come to Izze's party. She is magical, and so is her bunny "Cocoa". Cocoa was so mellow that the dogs at the party had no idea that she was there. Here is Izze looking Cocoa in the eyes, telling her some great secret.

Izze's best friend Ali. This is a great shot because it is a classic Ali picture. Swinging is a big deal for all the girls right now.

Nellie and Izze's cousin Thurston-- I think drinking his milk, contemplating the cake.....

Arline and YooHoo hit it off. If you look close, Arline's face was painted!

Little Allison loved crawling through the tunnel.

We went on a Dora adventure. If you didn't know, this is Tico's Tunnel. Apparently you are never to big to crawl through...here is Nellie.

...and Shyann (one of Nellie's friends).

After the Dora adventure, we had a magic show. YooHoo made cookies magically appear!

She had a crazy magic wand that made Izze laugh really really hard.

Here Izze is sharing her magical cookies.

Happy Third Birthday.

More pictures to come from my camera....

Izze's Birthday Morning

2011-03-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't forget the blog....just a wee bit busy. Here are pictures from this morning's birthday extravaganza. I will post more after the birthday party.

While Daddy made breakfast, Izze opened Alicia and Nellie's presents. She was really excited to get golf clubs. She has been in our basement putting all morning.

For any of you who don't know, Izze is a BIG fan of coffee. I give her one part coffee, 20 parts milk. This morning she insisted that because she was a big girl now, she needed a mug.

Pancakes are cakes right? We put a candle it in and sang happy birthday. She did her own cha cha cha's.

I don't know who is more excited...Nellie or Izze? Nellie woke up at 5:45 shouting, "it's Izze's birthday!"

A package came from New York. Izze was really excited to crack into the box.

She got a purse from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Cathy. To boot, it is purple-- Dora purple. It was love at first sight.

It doesn't matter what it is, it is a present!

I just thought that this was a great picture of the whole family watching Izze open presents.

Izze's special, brand new Dora outfit. (let it be known her headband is Dora, her undies are Dora, her socks are Dora, and her shoes are Dora. Just saying, I don't think she likes Dora.).

I love my cats (and my new rug...)

2010-11-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

It is about 59 degrees here in San Diego (cold as heck for us) and the cats are all finding places that generate heat. I finished this rug on Sunday as part of my Thanksgiving break "to-do's". Ferb is so adorable snoozing on it!

Halloween Halloween Trick or Treat!

2010-11-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

As Dora says....Halloween Halloween Trick or Treat. Our costumes can't be beat!

We had a surprise visit from Eho and Vince. After nap time (something that Eho is very good at) we got the pumpkins together and started to carve. The girls were so excited they were going to pee their pants.

My great grandmother use to call Elyse the powerful Katrinka. Well, that title has been passed on to Nellie. I think that pumpkin weighed as much as her and she carried it running down the hall.

Eho and Vince are so goofy. See what happens when you let grown-ups play with Halloween decorations!

So, trip on this...Nellie cuts open her pumpkin and voila! There are seeds that started to sprout. Can pumpkins do that? Well, even though pumpkins are suppose to be planted in the spring, we planted a seed and we will see what happens.

It is one of those rare moments when the girls are actually getting along. Big sister was showing Lil sister how to scoop seeds out of the pumpkin.

ohhhhh...pumpkin guts.

Spookly spookly boooooooooo.

Wait...what happened to Annella's head?

As so, then there was trick or treating. Ok, so Nellie was going to be a witch. We had a broom and a hat. But, the girls got into costume at 4:00 and the sun was still up in the sky. We put on a movie to help the time pass before they went trick or treating. Nellie watched Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the Werewolf. She came upstairs and said that she wasn't a witch anymore, but a vampiress. Off went the hat, and in went the BLACK vampire teeth. Izze on the other hand is a bee.

I love the black teeth and messy hair.

Buzz buzz. This was one of three costumes. On Friday, she was a Princess Tiana Cat, on Saturday she was a butterfly, and on Halloween night she was a bumble bee. I wish she would have carried the flower, but oh well, candy is just as sweet. BTW, she pooped out after one hour of trick or treating, so I carried her home along with her 10 POUNDS of candy.

"...never was a horse the Tennessee stud...."

Fall Picnic and The Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Every year we go on a family picnic and to Bates Nut Farm. It is funny how tradition defines who we are and the narrative of our life. This year I took the initiative and scheduled the events. Some came to the picnic, none came to Bates. In the end it worked out great. We had precious family time and enjoyed the pumpkin patch to its fullest.

Arghhhh...I must admit that blogger keeps updating faster than I can blog (well actually, anyone can blog faster than me) so these are all posted backwards! There is nothing like traipsing in the mist to wear out a little two year old.

But even better is when you can wear out the six year old! This photo was moments before her head tipped over into her lap.

Nellie said, "Momma, take a picture of me as a scarecrow!" Then, she stood up against a pole and pretended she was scaring some crows.

Because of the mist, the pumpkin patch was really muddy. After Annella fell several times, I decided not to worry about the girls remaining clean. Look at the edge of their pants....that is just from walking.

The elusive picture of Rachel...notice the beautiful misty background. We were on the tractor hayride around the corn crop.

I think that this is a great picture of Mike. He was in his element with his girls. We were bundled up, marching through mud, turning over pumpkins, laughing as a family.

Mike had taken the pumpkins to the car and we were waiting for him by the scarecrows. When he walked up, the girls ran to him and threw their arms around him. We are definitely in a "we love Daddy" phase (even now, Izze is asking where her daddy is).

So, while we were waiting for Mike, Nellie and Izze were posing like the scarecrows. I was laughing that Nellie was trying to have a mean face like Ursula.

After we weighed our pumpkins, Izze thought that she was the powerful Katrinka (as my great-grandmother Dorothy would say) and could lift 90 pounds of pumpkins by herself.

Really, she was begging me to give her uppies. Between the camera and my clogs sinking into the mud, I was wondering if she could give me uppies.

You know, it never gets old. Every year I take pictures of the piles of pumpkins, and every year I love it. When we pulled up this year, the girls gasped because the crop was so huge. It was a sea of orange and that signaled reason to squeal.

The girls got along amazingly well. They helped each other climb over the pumpkins, wade through the mud, and untangle themselves from the vines. I love this picture because it is so loving.

Every year there are these wood cutouts. Izze wanted to be just like big sister and stuck her face into a pumpkin.

Izze's pumpkin patch picture (for those of you Knitted Knerds...pay special attention to the hat I knitted for my Iz).

Annella's pumpkin patch picture...true to form (I think they look like this every year).

This is the previous weekend in Julian. My friend Lisa and her two kids came with the family. From left to right: Ali, Cameron, Izze, and Nella. They are quite the group of friends. If you ask Izze what her favorite part about the picnic was, she says, "Ali," with all the sass in her heart. All four of these kids don't really know life without each other; we live in the same neighborhood, hang out together, and go to school together (literally all of us, including Lisa and myself).

Holding hands...doesn't get more precious than that

I thought they were going to hold hands, but instead, I think that Nellie was telling Cameron how it was going to be. She is all girl, and frankly, he is all boy.

During our "big hike" (all 10 minutes of it) we found this tree stump. This is the epitome of hero worship. Apparently this is what life is like in the Granger-Cline house. There is a similar sentiment in our house.

Cameron and his crazy antlers. Do you think I can bribe him with this picture some day?

I know it seems like a lot of Granger-Cline pictures, but really, I like them. This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken in a while (do you think it is the sun in her hair or the Halloween leg warmers?)

Anybody who has spent time in Julian is familiar with this setting. It makes me miss Girl Scout Camp.

I realize this has been a long blog, and a blog that is overdue. It is amazing what can get cut out of your life when you are busy enough to forget it. Coming soon...I am sure...Halloween pictures.

Interview with Rice Girls

2010-09-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

Notice in this video that Izze picks her nose, and then slyly tries to eat it (I know Elyse...ICK). A bad habit we are agressively working on eliminating!

I know that this must seem like a blog about only Izze, but if you listen you can hear Izze do "hero worship with her big sister.

And so, feel free to call us the family vonTrapp. I love that they sing together.

blogging issues...

2010-09-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Apologies to all my fans (that would be all nine of you). Because I have a gmail account, and someone stole my email for phishing, all accounts were temporarily blocked. All should be good again in the land of blogging. Thanks for reading.

-Rachel

Pints for Prostates

2010-09-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

"If you're smart enough to read this, you're smart enough to get tested." September is prostate cancer awareness month. For all the men in my life (and for all the women in their lives): Pints for Prostates (click on the link....).

This just in...

2010-09-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

This just in...Mike took Annella to school and our church was handing out coffee. Our pastor took this picture and sent it to me at 8:15 this morning. I called Mike to see how drop off went. He said that Annella is an old pro. He walked her to Mrs. Galarneau's room (rm.8), she kissed him and said good bye. Of course, that was only after she exclaimed at the top of her lungs, "I just knew she would be beautiful!!!!!"

Jet lagged, bug bitten, and 17 hours of travel later....I am home.

2010-08-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Below are pictures from my final days in Fiji. We left the hotel that we were staying in at Lautoka and we moved to a much nicer hotel in Nadi. While there, the internet didn't work so I was unable to access my blog. This last day we went into a traditional village with a team from Fiji Water. All said and done, we gave 2000 people clean water (over the course of the week). We then had a little R&R....

So, on this day we went into a traditional Fijian village. I had to wear a sarong and some of the men on our team decided to wear sulus out of respect. We sat in the communal hall and the chief men of the village came and performed a ceremony with the traditional Kava drink. Here they are making the kava with a linen bag and unfiltered water.

At some point in the ceremony (which, btw, was NOT in English, so I don't know exactly what they were saying) our team offered the village a gift of bread. This is a respect thing. No gift, no entrance into the village. Not only that, but the gift must be something useful, like chickens, a harvest, or bread.

This is what the kava looked like in the bowl. They would offer the drink and then if you wanted to accept you clapped once and then essentially pounded the drink. If you didn't read earlier blogs, it tastes like earthy wood.

Of course, here is a picture of a coconut shell...primed and ready to be used for...yes....kava.

Again, we rocked and did 10 families at one time. The gentleman in the bright orange shirt is a Fijian who works for Fiji water. He is a trustee who ensures that the villages surrounding the Fiji Water Plant are taken care of. By the way, many people commented, "why do Fijians need clean water when they have Fiji water?" I asked. Apparently it is well water that is massively filtered. The government provides the basic minimum in water sanitation. The water plant actually produces millions of dollars for the island (there isn't much to do in Fiji). So, although they don't provide water, the do provide some sort of economic stability to the country.

Laundry waving in front of a traditional hut.

During a rousting game of rugby, this girl asked me to take her picture....I love it. This village has good dental hygiene...look at her teeth. All the kids teeth were this beautiful.

On the bus ride home, we took another village's chief with us. He sat with me and allowed me to take his picture. He was sweet, hardly spoke English, and has never had avocado (that is when he got dropped off).

On the way back to the hotel that night, we stopped to watch the sunset (which took only a matter of seconds).


This is a rogue picture that would not go where I wanted it to...arghhhh. Here is a picture of a rooster walking in front of a hut. So, it is about 1:00 and the rooster crows. Someone commented that he was a little off schedule, and I said, "no he isn't, he is on Fiji time"!

So, after the final day of installations, we returned to Nadi, a larger city in Fiji. We checked into the Raffles Hotel and the next day we went to....

Beachcomber Resort!

We went into Nadi proper to the harbor where we caught a boat that took us out to the island. I seriously felt like it was something out of Pirates of the Carribean. I was hoping to find buried bottles of rum and have the opportunity to say, "Welcome to Fiji baby."

I immediately checked into the spa hut and had a massage. A full body massage was $35 Fijian, about $17 American. While I was there, I saw coconuts...after all it is a tropical island.

Then is was off to snorkel. There was a boat that took us off-shore about a mile away. My new friends Laura and Nathaniel had an underwater camera....we did have fun. That is me on the right and Laura on the left.

I am not thrilled about this picture, but it is cool. I decided to dive down to take a look at the underwater locals. It hurt my ears, boy did it hurt, but I had to look.

Just another underwater picture....but the water did look like that, it was not an illusion.

These starfish were every where, and they were stunning to look at. Yes, they still felt like starfish.

I must admit it was fun chasing the parrot fish....

The boat that took us out was a glass bottom boat. I guess this is what I would look like if you put me in a fish tank...it certainly felt that way looking at all the people staring at me.

From snorkeling I immediately went to the bar, got a beer, and checked out a chair. I drank Fiji gold, but it came in a bitter mug.

This is on the way home. If you look closely, you can see the sunburn. I think it is from getting a massage (oils....). I had salty hair, burned skin, and definitely a smile on my face. I recommend snorkeling to anyone who is going to the south pacific.


I wanted to leave this last thought with you concerning Fiji...there is a God, because only He could make something this beautiful.

This is a video of me instructing a family on how to use their filter...for those of you who supported me financially and/or in prayer, Vinaka (thank you).

Bula Fiji

2010-07-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

Today was a little bit of an emotional day. I was tired, fighting the heat, and fighting my emotions. I keep trying to tell myself that these people don't know any different and that I shouldn't have any pity, but the health of these people is poor. I can't help but cry (literally behind my sunglasses). Today I tried all sort of Fijian food, including casava "fries" and some sort of Indian sweets that tasted a lot like churros. Although I don't have a picture today's hero was Nathaniel. I had a raging sinus headache, and we walked into a pizza joint that smelled like rotten milk and yeast. He gave me a massage, and it all went away...including the intense smell. So, here are today's pics:

As always, this is a tropical island and of course there is coconuts.

Violet, myself, James, and Dahlia eating freshly cut sugar cane (doesn't taste like refined sugar).

We stopped at a local school and I had the opportunity to speak with the students about the United States. They were shocked we don't wear uniforms, we allow cell phones in the classroom and have three months in the summer for vacation. One teacher proposed an teacher exchange program, she offered her classes in July to me in exchange for mine!

This is the library...one wall of books, but spotlessly clean, and in use.

Fijian school room desks. I sat in a desk and enjoyed the realization that all desks are uncomfortable. BTW, the 9th graders (I think what they call "form 5") were studying poetry and begrudgingly doing their work...some things are universal!)

We taught 15 Fijian families, at once, to use the water filters. The community was incredibly strong and close.

This is, to me, a really sad picture. This child is really impoverished. Many families stay in one room homes and have poor sanitation conditions. They pool their water out of the river and share living space with livestock. Not only do I ask everybody to pray for the families and children, please consider helping with Give Clean Water's efforts.

This is a view of the village from the footbridge/rail road track (remind me to tell you about carrying multiple buckets, a backpack, camera, in a sarong, over a small bridge designed for a train.). Although a cool picture, think about what these homes look like.

The people of Fiji

2010-07-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

So, we went back to the same village as we had gone to yesterday. We finished the last of the homes. Tomorrow we are going to be in an actual Fijian village where we have to wear sarongs! Here are today's adventures:

This was a woman whose home we installed filters in. Yesterday her mother received a filter so she was thrilled to get one of her own.

This is an old Indian woman who didn't speak any English. Her grandson's told me that she is 80 years old...imagine 80 years without clean water. Anyways, when she saw the camera, she scooted out the door and positioned herself for a good photo.

In the Indian woman's front yard was some amazing vegetation. This is a baby eggplant...it grows on a huge bush like tree (or maybe tree like bush).

A marigold in her front yard???

Might as well go with the theme...coconuts, it is a tropical island after all.

This was a type of fruit tree. I don't know what it is called, but it grows to about the size of a cantaloupe.

This is one of the local Clean Water employees. He was our key to overcoming the language barrier. Meet James.

Really Vince, I was thinking of you...a planter made out of an old tire.

This is Summner and Laura. They were part of my team. The homes are not clearly marked, and we were desperately trying to figure out which home we were suppose to do an install in. And, yes, Laura is pregnant. As a matter of fact, when she told one of the families that she was having a boy, they were stunned we had the technology to know the gender of the baby.

In all seriousness...in the settlement that we went into, this was one of the nicer looking homes, and one of the larger homes. Most of the homes have wood framing, and corrugated metal walls. This one was made of cinder brick.

These were a couple of the local boys that found themselves wandering through the settlement with us. They wanted to carry buckets, play games, and eat our candy.

Here is Summner working with a Fijian family to teach them how to use their filter. This family had six children, the youngest of which was 3 weeks old. This mother desperately needed clean water. BTW, Summner is my hero of the day because he bought a transformer for me today that would charge my computer (I blew it and got the wrong one).

So here is that little baby. While Summner was doing the education piece, I found myself holding this baby and singing lullabies to him. Ultimately I couldn't satisfy him because he needed to nurse.

This was the easiest installation that I did today because the family spoke excellent English. As a matter of fact, the grandfather was from Brisbane on a visit and knew of the filters.

This is the granddaughter of that family. She was really funny because her mother said that she was cranky when she got hot (and today was hot...I sweat in places I didn't know I could sweat in) but I cured the cranky because I gave her candy. I am pretty sure dentist without borders hate me.

This is a Muslim family that was so sweet. They poured us glasses of RC cola, and we joked around with them. We even exchanged comments about our favorite flavors of oreos. I don't know their names because the father referred to them as child, old man, and woman.

I am really enjoying the Fijian landscape. Our driver today pulled over so we could take a picture of the scenic view (really, he needed to use the bushes.)

This is our driver. I caught him under a tree drinking cava. He insisted I try because he made it with filtered water.

So, I said, "Bottoms up!" and wished Vince a happy birthday.

Down the hatch it went. It tasted like bitter wood. Immediately my tongue went numb, and then turned into a cool sensation.


If I get a chance, tomorrow I am going to upload some video, but this is a group of kids that I ended up playing games with. I taught them Simon Says and Red Light.Green Light, they taught me some crazy song game.

Tomorrow, we head into an actual Fijian Village. This trip is amazing...I am so blessed to have the things I have in the US.

Produce, Buckets, and Filitered Water

2010-07-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

O.k. people, so this is a really long blog because we are talking about one and a half days. Because we lost time, the days blend together, and don't gel with your time. For example, right now it is 9:00 Tuesday July 27th, and in the US, it is 2:03 on the 27th....we are 19 hours ahead. Anyways...Big shout out to Vincent. HAPPY BIRTHDAY from Fiji...I think I might go to the picture below and celebrate for you!

On our day out at the markets, we saw a joint called cake and pizza...seems like a logical combination, except they didn't have any pizza.

This is a popular cereal in Fiji, to the point that we have seen posters in people's homes. Looks like cocoa puffs to me.

Why isn't our cereal called Rice Bubbles?????

This is the cava root, a hallucinatory root that people of Fiji love to drink.

This is the open air market that we literally stumbled on.

These photos are for you Elyse...A heap of ginger is only $1.

This is the casava, it is like a Fijian potato.

Coconuts...it is a tropical island.

This is the jack fruit. I was a little afraid to eat it (the person selling it said it wasn't sweet).

Hindu men at the market.

These are some crazy hot peppers that the Indian families use in their cooking.

This little girl really wanted me to take her picture. She was so sweet...I ended up giving her a quarter just so that she would have something American.

Indian sweets.

This is a shot of downtown Lautoka, the city where we are staying.

School children walking home from school. BTW, those are boys in the skirts...I am going to find out what they are called.

A scenic shot on our way to Ba Town today (Tuesday).

The school kids went nuts when we showed up, especially when we started throwing out candy!

There was something about this girl that I loved.

This is Chris showing an Indian family how to use the clean water system. They were really sweet and wanted to offer us some tea, but we didn't want to drink unfiltered water.

So, here is the Indian woman pouring the water through the filter. There are two buckets, one for clean and one for dirty water. The families are to pre-filter the water through a bandana to get the rubbish, and then it pours out of a filter into the clean bucket. This particular family was having problems with dissentary, and were thrilled to know that their water wouldn't be bothering them anymore.

Here is the family's kitten. There were actually two of them. I took a picture because they reminded me of Phineas and Ferb. Nellie and Izze...I just wanted you to see a kitten from another country!

So here is the team that I was with today and the family that we helped.

This is that family's little girl. She was very shy, and very sweet. Amanda, the president of Give Clean Water, took this picture. She is quite proud of it, and I am thrilled that it was taken on my camera.

So in my feverish rush to beat my dying laptop (btw, I am on someone else's right now), I uploaded out of order. Tuesday morning, we went to the interantional rescue center, located just outside lautoka. This is also a church that Give Clean Water works with. We started here assembling the kits.

This is actually my hero of the day, Karen (who is also my roommate). She is applying the give clean water stickers to the buckets. She is my hero because she was magical with the Hindu children. They were like putty in her hands. But what was cool was that you could see that God was working through her, and her smile was a relfection of His love.

This is Summner. Every "dirty" bucket needed a hole in it so that we could attach the filter to it. Summner had to drill something like 320 buckets.

This was us driving to Ba Town. It was about an hour drive, and this was one of the most common sights we saw. If you look closely, you can see the train tracks that they transport the sugarcane on...mind you, hand pumped trains.

Well, I need to sign off. It is bedtime and tomorrow we need to install in another Hindu villlage. But, this is for you Yvonne...today at lunch we went to a restaurant that served Indian food. I thought, cool, I will get the chicken curry. Ends up it was rooster, and the way they cooked the meat was that there were tons of bones in it. Flavor was good, couldn't handle to bones, so I ended up sharing someone's goat curry...BUT, I ate it the way you taught me with the naan. Thanks (been thinking of you and Andy lot today).

Also, if anyone is inclined, there was a hindu family that was praying for more money and for healh. Please pray for them.

Until tomorrow!

Existing in Fiji Time

2010-07-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

So...we made it! We were warned that everything happens on Fiji time, I just didn't realize it started in San Diego!!! We all arrived at the Tierrasanta Campus at 4:30 Saturday, but we didn't end up leaving until about 6:00 (I could have gone to church). We then made our way to LAX where we were quite the spectacle checking in approximately 30 different pieces of luggage. Below is a picture of the team eating a dinner before going through security check.

We then boarded perhaps ths most gianormous plane I have ever been on. I always thought that two story planes were a myth. This picture below is after we got off the plane. Amazingly I was able to sleep. I took that delightful little Ambien pill and slept for 7 hours. To boot, the seat next to me was empty so I was able to curl up and genuinely sleep.

Once again, we operated on Fiji time. After arriving in Nadi at 4:45a.m. Monday morning, we sat around and waited for a bus again. As we speak I am waiting for my hotel room to be cleaned! While we were waiting for our shuttle to take us to the hotel, a bus drove up with our luggage that sent a message of hope...you're in expert hands. I must remember that no matter what I am practicing placing faith in God's strength and protection and everything will be o.k.

Once the sun finally started to come up, we began our journey down the only main road in Fiji...Kings Road (or Queen's Road depending on what side of the island you are on). I stuck my camera out the window in an attempt to get pictures of the scenery and this woman at the bus stop waved at me.

After eating breakfast, then eating breakfast again (the breakfast that never ends) we were released to go explore. I walked up and down the boardwalk with some other team members. Below is a picture of Violet, my hero of the day. Violet is terrified of flying (she will probably kill me for posting this) and she climbed on a plane for 10 hours! I have never seen a person run off a plane as fast as Violet.

Go figure...coconut trees on a tropical island! I had to take a picture. I actually walked out onto a jetty and found two halves of a cocnut shell. I recreated clapping coconuts together and pretended to ride my stallion.

So, random...there is a sewing machine factory in Fiji?

In the midst of our walk on the boardwalk, this gentleman, Epe asked us where we were from. After chatting with him for several minutes, he said that he was sitting there waiting for the gospel to find him. As a group (and there were five of us), we prayed for him. If you feel compelled, please pray for Epe. He is looking for work, and needs a job by the end of the year and has a six year old daughter, Ana,who is in 1st grade.

Below is a picture that I think might summarize what I have seen of Fiji in the short four hours that I have been here...The beautiful amongst the mess. By the jetty there was a boat literally rusting a decaying, and in the water a tree was growing.

Even weeds at a tropical island are beautiful.

I am not sure when the opportunity will arise again for me to blog, but look for me tomorrow after we have done some installations of filters in villages. I miss you all and appreciate your prayers and support.

Newbreak's All Church Baptism

2010-07-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday the Rice Family packed up all their beach equipment and headed west to La Jolla Shores. Newbreak church had its annual All Church Baptism. Although we were unable to stay until the bar-b-que and baptism, we participated in the "beach outreach" and played Frisbee on the grass. We really had a lot of fun, so much fun that Izze slept for three hours, woke up, ate dinner, and promptly fell back asleep. One of the highlights of the trip was walking on the beach looking for shells. This was Izze's first time in the ocean (we have really only ventured down to ZLAC and the bay). It was an eye opener for her. She discovered that she really does not like sea grass. Nellie on the other hand is an old pro, and immediately began looking for shells.

Below is a picture of Michael walking on the beach with Nellie. I felt like this was a great picture because it was clear who he was affiliated with, and the beach stretched out into the distance.

Above is Isabelle as a wave crashed in on her feet. Just moments after I took this picture, the looks of glee turned into terror as the wave completely swept her off her feet and she was on her belly in the cold ocean.

Lastly, here is Annella picking up shells with her shovel. There was a lot of seaweed, beached jellyfish, and shells to be looked at by all. Please note the fashion statement, with the ankle bracelet. According to Nellie it makes her look like a real "hula beach girl".

The next time that I post will be from Fiji. I look forward to sharing with you my experiences traveling half-way around the world, through the date line, into a country where clean water is desperately needed!

Sad but true...we all pick our nose.

2010-07-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

I found this cleaning off the memory of our Flip Video Camera. I will probably be cursed someday for posting this on a public blog, but lets face it...we all pick our nose. Some of us are more serious about it than others. Izze, sad but true...picks her nose.

Fourth of July

2010-07-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

So, it ends up that we have this really nice tradition that has come into play. We begin our day going to Scripps Ranch (the neighborhood I grew up in, and where my parents still live) for the Doo-dah parade. I get the girls dressed up in their 4th outfits and we scout out a spot on the curb in front of someone's house.

We were very excited waiting for the parade to start, and I am not talking about the girls, my mother was thrilled to be doing the parade (she was lamenting the fact that my sister Elyse was going to be in L.A. and not doing the parade with her).

This is what you get when you let the two year old take a picture of you. Just turn your computer screen upside down and you realize that it isn't such a bad picture!

Izze got VERY excited when she saw the old trucks, and when she heard the "arugah" of the horn.

Annella on the other hand got very excited to see the Star Wars Storm Troopers. I don't think she really knows what they are (soldiers for the bad guys) but she did think of her friend Cameron and was excited to tell him all about the parade.

I personally love The Society For The Preservation of The Middle Class. Every year, since I was a kid, these guys come out with their lawn mowers and their beer and do synchronized routines. My favorite part is the teenage sons who push the wheel-barrows behind their fathers picking up the beer cans.

Then we are off to every carnival that San Diego has to offer. This is a picture of the Scripps Ranch carnival that takes place at the end of the parade route in Hoyt Park. Nellie is a huge fan of the jumpies. We actually went to the Santee Carnival, across the street from our house, but frankly, all the pictures looked like this one!

With ice cream cones in hand, I had a hearty laugh when I saw this because the lawn mower guys lined their lawn mowers up like Harley motorcycles at a bar.

So, then after swimming, carnivals, crafting, and napping, we bar-b-qued. We had a great time this year because not only did Arline come over this year, but we had my parents, and Nicole & Thurston come over. Every year, Annella has insisted that we bake a birthday cake because it is the USA's birthday. And now the challenge has been, how do I make an American cake? Well, after Annella, Izze and Thurston blew out the sparkler trick candles, we cut into the cake and....

It was red, white, and blue!!!!! Okay, so it looks a little like Bastille day, but even so, it rocked! After cake, we watched fireworks from our front porch (after getting soaked by the sprinklers), and everybody...and I mean everybody had ice cream cones with us.

Well...I hope to get up another blog before I leave for Fiji....

ooopppppssss....

2010-07-02T17:33:00.001-07:00

The blog is:

knittedkats.blogspot.com

not knitting!

I am so embarrased.

A New Blog because I have nothing to do...

2010-06-30T17:08:00.001-07:00

Coming soon...

With a house full of cats and yarn, I have decided to journal my adventures with both. When the kittens come out of hiding, I will begin the endeavor.

www.knittedkats.blogspot.com

Mother's Day and Mission Trails

2010-05-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

This is a mishmash of two days, two separate events. I finally got around to posting pictures from mother's day. Mike, I would have posted the picture of Izze talking on the phone to you, but it just wasn't very flattering of me! Below is Annella presenting me with the cards that she made for me. Please note that she is wearing a crown. Afterall, on mother's day, I am the queen and naturally that makes her a princess.

I received from Isabelle a plate that she made at childcare. I love that it is handprints.

Here is another card that Nellie made, wishing me a, "happy mudder's day".

After my morning, Nicole and Thurston came over and Mike made lunch for the two of us...hamburger pizza (mmmmmm).

Pretty much, that is it from mother's day. I forgot to take my camera to my mother's house, plus Izze ate it at the pool and scraped up her face, so we will just skip to the next weekend...Mission Trails Day. Here Mike and the girls are waiting in line to ride the ponies. Please note that Izze refused to get dressed, and I decided to not have that battle (Thank God for Crocs).

Dude...she is always posing.

Although she doesn't really look like it, Izze was giggling and laughing. Nellie had just as much fun.

Then we went to some table that had a frog jumping game. We were there for quite some time.

After the frogs we learned all about caterpillars and butterflies. This is a monarch butterfly caterpillar (is that what they are called?????). We also say a 3 day old caterpillar...under a microscope!

Izze was fascinated by the tarantula. Of course, now every time we see a spider in or out of the house, it is a tarantula and the girls squeal.

Then we learned about bats. This bat was being fed a "bug-shake" through a syringe. That was one of the coolest things we saw.

Then, after the bat, we went the the west nile virus awareness table and the girls made their very own mosquito hats.

We then walked out via the fire truck and the girls got to see an ambulance, learn how a gurney works, and check out where all the firemen sit. We also admired how big the wheels were. By this point it was getting hot, and Izze was starting to sweat in her footed pajamas, so we headed home.

Maybe my next entry will be my marathon trip to Magic Mountain as a chaperone for MHS tomorrow!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-11T16:31:00.001-07:00

Can I gloat? My kid is so artistic. This picture has actually been up in a frame for quite some time now (and has nothing to do with mother's day, but I am a proud momma)...I just love it. Check out the detail!

I received this handmade card from Annella on Mother's Day. What a beautiful sunflower (and flying fish...I think?)

This was on the other side...she and her teacher schemed and made this!

To all you mothers...I hope you had a wonderful day, the world wouldn't be what it is without you!!!!

Not even blog neglect...

2010-04-13T15:50:00.001-07:00

I could give you a thousand and one excuses why I haven't blogged in a while. I apparently was abducted by aliens, and they replaced me with an overwhelmed, forgetful mom. Well, they finished experimenting on me, and I am back to update you on our life for the past several months. We had birthdays...oh boy did we have birthdays. Not only that, but we are still singing happy birthday every night at dinner because that seems to be Izze's favorite song. Singing the song usually comes with the turn of phrase, " I NEED cake and ice cream." Who doesn't??? I must admit, we have had so much sugar that even Brussels sprouts are sounding pretty good. So, are you ready for the world's longest blog?????? Here are the pictures (mind you, getting the correct on the blog is difficult, so please bare with me):

Izze got a fly boat for her birthday. If you are familiar with Wonder Pets, you know exactly what I am talking about...if not, she got a toy boat and loves it!

She was being goofy and leaning from the rail at the zoo...ends up that she looks like a super model.

On her actual birthday our friend Amy (who has the same birthday) came over to have dinner and cake. She brought Izze a present, and Izze was really excited because it was a princess/Tinkerbell wand.

Izze and Amy blowing out the candles on their cake.

This was Nellie at our shared birthday (April 7th). She decided to be brave and go on the Seaworld tower...this is a courtesy smile.

Even big six year olds fall asleep in the car on the way home.

For dinner on our shared birthday we went out to Corvette Diner. I had class on my actual birthday (giving a 20 minute presentation) so I played pretend this was my actual birthday. Izze was thrilled to eat cake and have a balloon.

Nellie being sassy at Corvette.

Back to Seaworld ( I told you to bare with me)....here is Nellie interacting with a dolphin.

We always go and touch the starfish. She LOVES them.

At Shamu stadium. Be warned...no matter how cool it is, the aluminum seats make everyone prone to sunburns!

We were totally in the splash zone....so close, I didn't have to zoom on the camera. Nellie gasped with excitement when she saw Shamu.

So now, back in time to March again...here is Izze at her birthday party. She LOVES balloons and wouldn't let me attach them to anything.

O.K. Deborah Harry.....

she use to be scared of the swing, but I think, if she could, she would spend the entire day in it.

Izze getting happy birthday sung to her, with a cup cake. I love the little girl next to her who is somewhere between excited and terrified.

Easter morning! Doing the best she can to look good with the headbands, she ran around the house looking for eggs.

SUCCESS!

Don't think that Nellie stole eggs from Izze, she did her damage.

As a matter of fact, she immediately sat down and started to eat candy right away...it has been a down hill battle ever since.

Nellie's Birthday....in the morning she opened presents. here she is telling us about how wonderful the queen airy is.

That night on her birthday, we had the entire gang (Granger-Clines and Rogers) over to have cake.

Izze was a little mad that the cake wasn't for her.

Nellie opened more presents. She was so excited to get a Barbie Movie.

At her birthday party we made crowns out of aluminum foil.

While we made crowns, Izze helped herself to the food...again, and again, and again.

After lunch, we sang happy birthday to a homemade tiara cake.

Lastly, Nellie sitting with Carter...it is really cute, she is very gentle with him because he is so little (unlike her sister, who she is starting to push back to).

alright people...seriously, that is about all we have done in the past couple of months. Thank God it is almost summer so I can recover from all the parties!!!!!

Nellie's Class Field Trip to Seaworld

2010-02-10T13:28:00.001-08:00

We got into the park just moments before it opened. After the "special" show that Seaworld puts on for school aged kids, we headed over to the Stingray exhibit. They were really active, leaping out of the water into people's hands as they pet them. Nellie wanted to pet their underside, but honestly, I was afraid their carnivorous teeth would bite her.

She was stoked to be petting the stingrays. It wasn't exactly a tropical heatwave when we were there, and she got her shirt wet all the way up to her elbow! She commented so many times how soft they were.
In the middle of the park was a surfboard, and one of the other mothers offered to take a picture of Nellie and me.
Then, we headed to the shark exhibit. I have no idea what it is with kids and sharks, but they were fascinated by them. Seaworld has this really cool tunnel that you walk through. It is made of plexiglass, so you can see up into the shark tank. Nellie kept cranking her head around to catch the different angles of the sharks.

Then, we were off to see the penguins. The penguins were the pinnacle of the trip. Nellie has been telling Mike and I all about penguins. The night before our trip, I had put in "Surf's Up" and she proceeded to tell us all the different types of penguins in the movie. Needless to say, she really enjoyed seeing real penguins.
Next to the penguins, we went to the Wild Artic. There is this whole ride that takes us on a "helicopter" ride to see polar bears and beluga whales. Below is Nellie walking down the sunken ship to see the polar bears.
The girl gang.
Polar Bear Butt.

We handed my camera to one of the girls and asked them to take a picture of us. Stunning picture of my chin, and there is another mother that was actually cut out of the picture.
I just love this picture.
Nellie and her teacher Mrs. McCormick.

Selling Girl Scout Cookies

2010-02-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

It is Girl Scout cookie season, and my little Daisy didn't even have the cartons of cookies in the house before she had sold her first box to our neighbor. Teresa was kind enough to pose for a picture.

The Mother of all Posts (December 23rd, 24th, and 25th)

2009-12-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

It is not Christmas unless you have baked until you can no longer stand sugar, and the kids have smeared icing all over the house. We began with decorating cookies. Last year Izze was too small to decorate, and some might say she was this year too. Afterall, more frosting went into her mouth than on a cookie.

Annella on the other hand was masterful at her cookie decorating. She lasted a long time and was able to really focus on icing placement.

I love this picture, and at the time was terrified of the damage that Izze might have done with that much frosting on her fingers.

When all was said and done, they looked really good.

Then, it was off to Steve and Penney's for our new family tradition: present opening on the 23rd. Izze adores Auntie Eho, and I think that Auntie Eho adores Izze.

My mom was a giggle monster (I think egged on by Erin). This was the first time in years she was able to have her family open presents at the same time, and ti was the first time in years she could watch (and not make dinner).

Nellie was not at all excited by her Fancy Nancy Sticker book.

Every once in a while, a mom just has to be cruel. Seriously, 2 out of 3 photos of izze end up with drunk eyes. Please laugh with me, and then check out the stocking my mother needle pointed for Izze.

Fairy wings were a big hit. She wore them for the rest of the evening.

Thurston is somewhere under the hair...I still like the picture of him.

So then on Christmas Eve, we had to play with all the toys that we got at Grandma Mom and Poppa's house. Here Izze is having a tea party while roaring like a jungle animal.

So, then we jump straight to Christmas morning. Nellie here was really excited to have a real tea set (and let it be known that we have been having high noon tea parties daily ever since).

Nellie went shopping at the school store and gave Mike a gift he really liked.

Izze opening her Hess truck.

Nellie, excited to look at her Hess truck. It isn't Christmas unless one of them is under the tree.

Nellie made an ornament in her class...it is really beautiful.

Christmas Dinner at Arline's house. Izze got a pink crown, of which she was really fond of.

Christmas at Disneyland (aka Izze's first trip)

2009-12-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

We decided to take the girls to Disneyland, but we decided not to tell them. We took the girls out to breakfast, put them in the car and started the drive to Anaheim. Nellie said, "Momma, where are we going?" I told her it was a surprise and that she could ask ten questions. She asked over and over again, "Is is food? Is it fun?". Finally, when we hit Tustin, Mike told her it was a place. She started guessing things like: California Adventure, SeaWorld, the beach. I told her she had been there, but Izze hadn't. She said, "Arkansas?" Finally she guessed at Santa Ana, and the squealing began.

Our first ride (other than the tram) was the carousel. Izze loved it. At first she cried, but then when we started to go around, she started to smile. For the record, I didn't get to go with her because Nellie wanted to sit on a princess horse several rows up.

BUT...she did love sitting on that princess horse.

This is the girls and me on Casey Jr's train ride. Izze cried once we started moving.

This is Mike and Izze in line for the Storybook boat ride. She cried on that ride.

Nellie didn't cry.

The whole reason why we decided to take the girls to Disneyland was because I have a new standing tradition with my friend Jill to meet at the Grand Californian to visit and eat cheese. This is me with Jill.

Jill and Nellie.

Izze crying with Jill.

Disney has the most amazing trees. This was one of the smaller ones...Izze cried because she was afraid of Santa.

We got to sit in the front cab of the Monorail with the driver. Izze didn't cry.

Mike certainly didn't cry...he was so excited to sit in the front.

Small World at night...it was really cool. Izze didn't cry because she was asleep.

Punk tired.

Last thought of the evening by Izze...,"Are you kidding me? We have to drive home now?" She was asleep before we left the parking structure.

Izze's Babies

2009-11-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

I over slept today, and I am just now getting to today's blog. This is a great video of how Izze takes care of her babies. Several week ago, Isabelle discovered that she had dolls. She has become the little mommy, and likes to feed them at dinner. Mike would be horrified if he know I posted this on the blog, but one night at dinner, Izze grabbed a piece of sausage, placed her baby on the table, lifted the baby's leg and said, as she pointed to the sausage, "ewww....poopies." We have diapered all of her babies. We have bathed them and we have put them night nights. When you watch the video, you can see her stuffed monster (named dabby-nam) diapered and sleeping on the rug!

Annual Family Picnic and Visit to the Apple Farm

2009-11-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

Every year my family takes a trip to Julian for a picnic and to get fresh apples. We always go to the same camp grounds (William Heisse Park) and sit under the same trees. This is where Mike proposed to me, so it is a very special place for us.

Thurston was captain nature. He and his friend Carson spent a lot of time around this tree. I think that T-bone might be looking at the ants in the bark.

The dogs are Louie and Kona. The kids are Izze and Nellie. The grown up...wait Elyse can't possibly be a grown up? I swear, the kids most favorite part of the picnic is, always, bar none, walking the dogs.

We tried to simplify our picnic this year. In years past we have given Martha Stewart a run for her money. So, in simplifying, Nicole brings these (ok...so maybe she is more like Alton Brown). Pickled beets, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Erin (my brother's wife) will probably kill me for putting up this picture, but this is a classic "Erin is about to laugh" expression. I love it.

This is a great picture of Nicole and Dad. Not much more to say.

Izze has this thing for E-ho. I was total chopped liver once Elyse and Vince arrived on the scene.

This is Erin's father Ken. He cracks us all up because for Ken a day with out champagne is no day at all.

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...."

Okay...so this is really where the fun begins. We get to the apple farm, and they tell us that the tree have almost been picked clean, but we can go in and try anyways. Dad and Mike were so into it. Because they are both tall, they would lift Nellie into the tree and she would grab apples. So there is this one tree with a lot of apples, but they were high up. My dad says, "come here Nellie...I am just going to lift you through these branches to grab some apples." Nellie looked up at the tree with trepidation. My father lifts her up, and Mike shouts, "Don't let that branch poke you in the eye!" It was seriously a circus balancing act. BUT we got lots of apples.

Why wait until you are done picking apples...just eat them straight off the tree!

Nellie was so excited to pick apples...but how is she going to bite into them with four front teeth missing?

I thought that this was a really neat picture. The apples on the ground seemed like a really natural occurrence.

Let it be known that Izze was not going to be left out. Anything on low branches she grabbed.

Sisters in the apple orchard.

Bates Nut Farm

2009-11-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

We had a really busy Fall season. I pushed back our trip to Bates Nut Farm in hopes that it would be cooler (you know...that crisp feeling in the air that makes picking out pumpkins magical????). No such luck. It was the perfect storm. Mike was really sick...he had the flu and to boot, it was 100 degrees outside. Thank goodness for my sister Nicole who helped me keep it together. Despite heat, we found pumpkins, took pictures, and celebrated the harvest.

The very first thing that we did was go on a hay ride. This is one of my favorite things to do. They take you around the pumpkin patch and through the sunflower fields. When Izze saw the pumpkins, she squealed in delight!

I am not sure what Thurston was doing here, but if it had anything to do with the heat, he was panting.

Monkey see, monkey do. Izze had to put out her tongue just like her older cousin.

The bane of my existence this day was getting everybody looking at the camera and smiling at the same time! No such luck. But, here is my attempt at a pseudo-family picture.

This is one of my favorite parts of the pumpkin patch...sunflowers. They are so beautiful, and gigantic!

This was Izze's pumpkin patch picture. I love the blur of orange in the background. I must admit that she really did enjoy scaling all the pumpkins, and kissing everyone of them.

Seriously...this is my award winning photo of the year. I asked Thurston to show me his pumpkin and I snapped this. I think he was as excited as Izze to climb through pumpkins.

Okay...so my oldest frustrated me. She kept doing this unnatural cheesy smile. I constantly asked her to say, "pumpkin" or "cheese" put she kept up the smile. So, she stormed off in frustration and went to the princess pumpkins. I asked her to give me a princess pose, and this is what I got. Voila...Nellie's pumpkin picture.

This was a photo in attempts to keep my spirits up in the heat. The kids were running out of mojo, and I was running out of patience. Nicole said, let me sit with them on the pumpkin. Ends up that it is a really fun picture (especially because she got them all to laugh).

Although Mike and I weren't in the picture, I still think in the end this turned out well. I must admit, I was grateful to get this picture, but even more grateful to call it a day and climb into my air-conditioned car.

Our Daisy Girl Scout Troop

2009-11-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

With Nellie starting Kindergarten, it only seemed appropriate that she belong to a Girl Scout Troop. At a street fair in Santee (last spring before I was accepted into a PhD program) I had expressed interest in being a troop leader. Be careful what you express interest in...I am now a troop leader. It ends up that I look forward to our meetings...after all, Nellie is third generation scout.

This is Ms. Amy (my co-leader) and her daughter Olivia making a sit-upon. Sit-upons are clever little devices to separate the fanny from the concrete in my garage. I think that my mom might still have my sit-upon in her garage as we speak.

We start every meeting discussing what the girls' did that day before their scouting meeting. We call this the Daisy circle. One of their most favorite activities is to put their dues in the container and say, "Clink clank, clink clank. The Daisy gold is in our bank."

Here is the motley crew. We took a picture of them at their very first Daisy meeting. Some day when they are Ambassador Scouts (seniors in high school) we will pull this picture out.

So, now fast forward to several meetings later. This is the girls' investiture ceremony. We did a flag ceremony, said the Girl Scout promise, sang "Make New Friends" and were officially pinned and welcomed into Girl Scouts. Here is Nellie and Genevieve saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

This is an important moment in scouting. In order for them to get pinned, they have to be able to say the promise, "On my honor, I will try: to serve God, and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law."

I am pinning Nellie is this picture. After they get pinned, they shake my hand doing the "scout shake" and I welcome them into Girl Scouts.

This was a big deal, so my mother, who was my troop leader, came to witness a third generation of scouting in our family. My mom once told me that if you cut us we bleed green. So, here is past generations, and future generations of scouts.

Halloween

2009-11-21T09:11:00.001-08:00

It is Saturday morning (November 21, 2009), and it is the first day of my Thanksgiving vacation. Mike said to me, "the memory is full on both of the cameras, why don't you go upload the photos." Much to my chagrin, I realized I hadn't done any really blogging since school (MHS and USD) started. There is no rhyme or reason to how photos will be put up, but stay tuned. I intend to begin each day of Thanksgiving break with a blog.

This is Genevieve and Annella. Genevieve is one of Nellie's friends in her Kindergarten class (and she is also in our Daisy troop). Nellie really wanted to be a cheerleader for Halloween. My guess it is because she has attended more than her share of high school football games.

Princess Leia? No. Princess Izze. I bought this costume on clearance last year. I must admit that I was nervous that she wouldn't wear the costume, but she didn't want us to take the hat off. She loved it.

Candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, and more candy.

I am chasing Nellie as she trick or treats, Mike is at home manning the front door, and Izze is beginning to poop out. I strapped her into her stroller; she begin to yell at me. So I did what any sane mother would do...I gave my kid chocolate. Izze loved it, and then her brain starting firing at full speed. Say, "Trick or Treat" get more chocolate. Trick or treating became a huge hit.

This is just a small glimpse of the trick or treating frenzy in our neighborhood.

We have this DVD called "Spookly the Square Pumpkin". Izze LOVES Spookly. Every day she would pat the pumpkins and say, "pumpkin...spookly". Carving pumpkins was this magical thing where she just hugged and hugged her pumpkin.

I just like taking pictures. Here is the inside of Mike's pumpkin.

So, even though it is almost a month late...Happy Halloween.

First Haircut

2009-11-16T10:33:00.001-08:00

I know that there are so many things that I should be uploading (like visits to the pumpkin patch, trick or treating, school fairs) but this is making it up first...Izze's first haircut. She was definately apprehensive. But, she sat in my lap and took it like a big girl. It is so strange to see her without hair in her eyes!

Nellie's First Day of School

2009-09-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

(Before I begin this blog, let it be said that I am getting this blog done in avoidance of homework. Also know that there are two other blogs that were posted nearly at the same time...get caught up!) Every Labor Day, I traditionally go and have a pedicure (sometimes by myself, sometimes with girlfriends). It marks the end of the summer. I am usually a little beat from working in my classroom, and it is a nice way to reward me for going back yet another year. This year is Nellie's first time going to school. We decided that she needed to come with me.

Here we are getting Nellie's haircut. We decided that her hair was looking a little bit shabby and needed a trim.

This is Nellie getting her pedicure. She loved every moment of it. They gave her the full leg massage and royal treatment. (She truly felt like a princess).

After pedicures, we decided that we had to have ice cream. After all, summer is almost over and we had to live it up!

So, here we are at the first day of school. I got a colleague to watch my students and I feverishly drove from Madison High School to Rio Seco Elementary to see Nellie off to her first day of Kindergarten.

When I got to Rio Seco, Nellie was already playing in her new classroom. She didn't hesitate to welcome me to her room and pose for a picture.

Then, Mrs. McCormick (that is her teacher) got them all to sit on squares and introduced the book and the activities they were going to do.

Here Nellie painted her hand to make a hand print for art in the classroom.

Then she colored a picture of our family.

This is Nellie and Mrs. McCormick. WE LOVE HER! All in all it was a great first day.

Elyse and Vince's Engagement Party

2009-09-18T19:41:00.001-07:00

Just so you know, there are two posts in one day. Please look below for soccer pictures (and know that missing front teeth, and first day of school are coming!)

Happy Birthday Mike (the party was on his birthday!)

Thruston's dinosaur found a glass of wine....

Thurston's dinosaur likes wine....

Thurston's dinosaur really likes wine...alot.

Penney's carrot flowers.

Please don't think I am a loser....

2009-09-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

Nellie is playing soccer...here are the photographic highlights (by the way, their team name is The Dolphins!):

Look at the red cheeks!

Picking flowers?

Picking flowers again?

We kick the ball that way! (They scored several goals on themselves).

Recipe for Instant Fun

2009-08-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

1. Pile the Rice family and beach toys into the car.

2. Drive down to ZLAC Rowing club.

3. Unload the girls, the toys, blankets, chairs, and lunch into the sand.

4. Unleash the Rice girls.

a video for you to watch:

Who are really the animals at Night Zoo?

2009-08-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Summer isn't summer unless you make a trip to the zoo at night. The question is who is the biggest animal?

These were the dancing vines. Two women doing ballet on stilts. It was kind of freaky. As a matter of fact, Thurston (my sister's son) thought it was so freaky he freaked out. Nicole has a grapevine in her garden. It is huge and produces a lot of fruit. I can only think that Thurston was afraid the grapevines would come to life in their backyard.

Really, there are so few pictures of Mike and I. I tripped out on the fact that my hair matched my shirt.

We went to the new Elephant Odyssey, and Izze went bonkers. She would no longer remain in her stroller and it was like bull riding. As soon as the gate on the stroller was open, she bolted and was wild!

Nellie the elephant keeper.

Thurston the elephant keeper.

Rachel the elephant keeper.

The long over-due Camp Grandma

2009-07-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

In June, my mother, instead of merely babysitting my girls while I did some work at Madison, went whole hog and threw a summer camp. Some of Nellie and Izze's best friends came and the crafted, played, and learned in my garage. The kids were tired at the end (a definite perk) and I think my mom had a blast. Here is my favorite story: Olivia and her mom were walking back from the playground from a different path that my mother, Nellie, Izze, and I were. Nellie started to cry because it was the last day of Camp Grandma. My mother told Nellie that we could do it again next summer and to start thinking about all the things she thought she would like to do. When Olivia and her mother met up with us, Olivia was also crying. When I asked what was wrong she said, "I am just so upset because Camp Grandma is over!"

Everyday we (the parents) provided snack for the kids. You would have thought that we were concerned that our kids wouldn't either get snack or share, because we had enough food to feed an entire preschool. Nellie is demonstrating here how to eat salt off a pretzel.

My mother is so clever. She had the kids put together items for a 4th of July parade. We painted costumes that we walked around our neighborhood in. I am not really sure what Nellie is going for here, but she does love to paint.

This is little Molly-boo (Olivia's sister). Molly is a pistol and easily kept up with the big girls, including jugging chocolate milk in 2 seconds flat!

Isabelle my little bubble blower (more like bubble eater). In between activities, my mother would set up bubbles to keep them occupied. Even today, Izze was wandering around my parents backyard shouting, "bub-els?"

The bigger girls were experimenting with bubbles. This is Olivia's hand. She was SO excited that she could catch a bubble and not have it pop. She insisted that I take a picture.

Here are the girls lined up for their 4th of July parade (Izze, Molly, Nellie, Olivia). We sang Yankee Doodle, waved our flags, and shook our tambourines.

Hands down (or maybe up) this is my favorite picture. Izze went to town with some paint and my mom went to wash her up. Que tiene mas macha? Penny o Isabelle?

Here is a video of the parade...so sorry you have to turn your head.

SeaLife Aquarium

2009-07-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

For our birthday my mother purchased for Nellie and me three month passes to Legoland. We discovered that there were several perks to our passes including admitance to Legoland's SeaLife Aquarium and free rounds of minature golf. I have never taken Izze to an aquarium, and her eyes just about popped out when she realized that she was looking at a big tank of fish and sharks! Here are the pictures:

An All American 4th of July

2009-07-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like an all American 4th of July! We started out our morning at I-Hop (a 4th tradition for us). It started in Arkansas when we took Nellie to visit my grandmother, and seems to have continued. We ate all American pancakes and coffee. We then went to an all American doo-dah parade in Scripps Ranch. It was Izze's first parade! At first she was really afraid of all the cars and people cheering, but as soon as she saw big sister getting excited, so did she. After the parade, we had an all American nap. It was great. We slept for several hours. We then went for an all American swim, followed up with an all American bar-b-que with some of the best hamburgers we have ever had! We then watched an all American fireworks show eating ice cream cones with all our friends. The fire works are shot from across the street so we were able to lounge on our front stoop!(Of course I posted backwards!) Above is Nellie, exhausted after a long day of parades and swimming.
Happy Birthday America! Nellie blows out candles.
The Rice Family at the Scripps Ranch Doo Dah Parade.
Izze putting on Daddy's hat.

Grandma Mom, Eho, and Nellie at the parade.

Swimming blues

2009-06-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today Mike and I had this great idea. Let's get up have breakfast and take the girls to the pool until they are exhausted. We jumped into the pool at 9:00 A.M. and at 11:30 I had to drag Nellie out by the bathing suit straps. We had fun, but Izze had a melt down before we could get her into the high chair for lunch, so Mike went to go put her down for a nap. I continued to make lunch for Nellie...grilled cheese. Who doesn't love grilled cheese? Nellie had a melt down and went to the couch to pout under a blanket. Next thing I knew the house was really quiet and Mike was M.I.A.. As snores roared from Nellie, Izze, and Mike, I knew I would have a chance to rest myself. Here is what swimming first thing in the morning does to your family:

The Disneyland Adventure and the Royal Magic Princesses

2009-06-08T19:35:00.001-07:00

This is Nellie's Blog (I am typing what she says!)

"This is me on the Monorail [I think she means tram]. I like the Monorail. I liked how it was brand new."

"This was me on the submarine climbing up the stairs. It was the Nemo ride on the Submarine. It was bouncing full of volcanos; it was so fun. I couldn't wait to ride on it."

"This is me at Small World. I really liked how it was between me and Small World. We saw Ariel and we saw Lilo and Stitch. There was Lilo and Stitch and they were riding on a surf board."

"I had, this was Sleeping Beauty. And I really like Sleeping Beauty but there was this long long line. I asked Sleeping Beauty that she was so beautiful and cute. We took pictures and that is all it."

"This was Snow White and me taking a big huge hug. Her voice was so beautiful; she was as beautiful as a cherry pie rose. And, her friend was Mulan."

"Mulan was so beautiful. I asked her why she was so beautiful and was she really a friend with Snow White."

"ohhhh....that was me on top of the river having lunch with my new journal. The journal was for writing and taking pictures in and most of all it was for writing anything I wanted in there."

"This was the Jungle Cruise. And the man in the front (called a boy) was riding off. And when the ride was done there was this little hole with water flowing in and out of it."

"This was Sleeping Beauty's Carousel Ride. And the whole was beautiful after the carousel. This is where Prince Phillip kissed Aurora. There was kissing and sleeping. It had a lot of horses."

"MICKEY! Mickey wrote his name on my journal and then I said he was very very fun. I watched a movie in Mickey's house where Donald and Goofy were messing around being worry-less about the people. And the people said, ' hey what's going on' and I laughed and had a great big smile.

"This was me and my favorite friend the lollipop. We were at the ice cream and the candy store and we couldn't stop eating our special favorite treats. We got the three little ones and I had one big bite. We ate on the train and then the girl said there was no eating, drinking, or smoking on the train, so Daddy held my lollipop for me."

"Me sitting at the railroad with my friend the lollipop again."

"This was me writing and writing and writing until I stopped writing and I drank lots of water. I didn't go to the bathroom at Disneyland because I did not want to use Daddy's bathroom."

"This is me closing my eyes and chatting with my picture. Daddy and my friend the lollipop and me are in the picture."

"Me sleeping in the car. I sleeped and sleeped and sleeped and then I woked up and I was ready to climb out of the car. That's all it!"

I miss my sister

2009-06-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

The only way I can get Elyse to respond is to write on my blog...tomorrow is like a billion years away. Hurry home!

Pony Girl

2009-05-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

There is this family song and it goes like this (maybe you have heard of it):

Pony girl, pony girl. Won't you be my pony girl. Don't say no. Here we go. Off, across the sea. Carry me, marry me, ride away with me. Giddie-up, Giddie-up, Giddie-up whoaaaaa. My pony girl.

Izze is the newest pony girl.

Check out the video...watch her giggle as they gallop!

A smorgasbord of photos

2009-05-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks....an eclectic collection of pictures of the last month in the life of a Rice (from most recent to most not recent):

Because of the connection with my sister-in-law Erin, I was able to take my Seminar English class to a Final Dress Rehearsal of Orchestra Nova (formally known as the SD Chamber Orchestra). Maestro Jung-Ho Pak was gracious enough to give my students some of his time. He talked to them about the music they were going to listen to, the process of rehearsal with professional musicians, and he answered their questions. Thank you Maestro Pak!

This is Heather Janiak. She is a history/AVID teacher at Madison with me. I was fortunate to have her accompany me (along with my student teacher) to the concert. In front of the La Jolla Contemporary Museum of Art there is this giant statue of a man hammering (it actually moves). We tried to get it in our picture!

Now for a totally different event: Riley's 5th Birthday Party. We had a bike parade. It was super cool because we had parade music, whistles and noise makers, balloons, and by-standers (our neighbors) watching us ride our bikes around the homes.

This is Nellie's new bike all decorated for the parade. She is a champion bike rider.

Now to an even older event....California Adventure. Here is Izze eating dinner at the Storyteller Cafe. She had so much fun.

Nicole and I love this picture. Nellie and Thurston held hands quite a bit at C.A..

This was on Heimlich's ride. I think that it is funny.

Nellie playing with the recycled musical instruments in "Northern California" at California Adventure.

Believe it or not, Mike did have a good time. He didn't know I was photographing him. Sometimes I like to capture his contemplative face.

I might be catching up, or you might be falling behind....

2009-05-07T20:24:00.001-07:00

Here are some professional pictures of the girls:

Celebrate! (Rachel's birthday at Disneyland)

2009-05-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Usually I blog about my children, but I am going to indulge and blog about me. I turned 34 last month. Nothing spectacular. 33 was a rough year; life has only been a little stressful. So when my sister asked me to consider going to Disneyland on my birthday I jumped at the opportunity. It was a great trip. I think my facial expression was one of apathy, but inside what I felt the whole trip was how nice it was to be at a place I could almost consider a home-away-from-home. Disneyland has always been a special place for me, my siblings, and my parents. And don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed the time I have spent with Nellie and Mike and Arline there, but there was something mellow and soothing about getting soaked to the bone with my older sister on Splash Mountain.

You would think that this was the moment when we got really wet. Nope. You go on this roller coaster ride with the bumble bees, and at the end you hit water. It didn't just hit me in the front, the deluge came in from the sides soaking every single person in our boat. For the record, the one guy in the back who didn't raise his arms-- I gave him grief when we got off the ride; he took it well.

So, if you follow my sister's blog, she spent quite a bit of time talking about how we got on this obsession about the details of Disneyland. These are mine. Above is from Big Thunder. It is a corrugated metal fence (somewhere near the staircase to the loading dock).

I really like this picture. It is a big bolt from the queue in Big Thunder.

You were going to say, "another picture from Big Thunder?" weren't you? This is from New Orleans Square's train station. We watched them fill up the train.

I think that this is a fabulous picture. I took it from the train station on Main Street. I just like the curves of the wood and the white paint on it.

Ceiling fans...from the Main Street train station.

When you aren't chasing a kid, or desperately looking for a few moments to sit down at Disneyland, there are some really interesting things to look at: like this big clock at the Main Street train station.

Nobody tends a garden like Disney (don't ask me where this is...Nicole, do you remember?).

You would think I got my share of water from Splash Mountain, but here is the what ever this thing is called from the line in...yes Big Thunder (o.k. people... there are some great photo opportunities there.

OK...the coup de-tat of the trip...Pinocchio dancing. There was a lot of coordination that went into making this video. Nicole operated the right side of Pinocchio, while I operated the left...AND held my camera. Frankly, some stunning camera angles, and panning of the stage. Mike says this is incredibly boring, but I know that Nicole is laughing just watching this. Pay close attention to how Nicole and I figured it out right at the very end and Pinocchio gyrated in a manner suitable for "Dancing with the Stars"!

Take your kid to work day

2009-04-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

I took Nellie with me to work yesterday as part of the national take your kids to work day. She was hard at work.

After my ninth graders had played with my small white boards and markers, Nellie wanted to do the same. At one point, she had all the boards lined up and was drawing a picture of her with an anaconda (of which she asked my students how to spell).

After drawing anacondas, Nellie moved to a desk for more precise work: coloring butterfly and dragonfly wings. She was very impressed that she was able to cut with big kid scissors.

This is Nellie's friend, neighbor, classmate Cameron. He also came to work with his mother. We carpool, so the kids talked the whole way to school about what they were going to do, and then at lunch they chatted up a storm about what they had done. After lunch we had a rousing game of chase each other in the teacher's lounge.

The last period of the day is my prep period. Cameron and Nellie were starting to feel pooped, so they came to my room and watched Dora the Explorer from my online Netflix account. It was just as well with me because I had work to get done.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T11:26:00.001-07:00

Eventually I will get to posting pictures from the Nella Olympics and Disneyland...here are some pictures from Easter.

Izze wanted to be part of the action. So she climbed up on Nellie's stool and looked desperately for some eggs to decorate. Too late Izze. I don't think it really mattered; she was so proud to be able to see ontop of the counter.

There is nothing more beautiful than eggs freshly colored. I love taking close-up pictures, and this I am especially fond of. By the way, this morning, Nellie and I went for a bike ride and the hard boiled eggs were in a basket on the table. Skippyjon Jones decided to help himself (yes Nicole...beware) and he ATE an entire hard boiled egg...or at least most of it leaving behind incriminating evidence.

Nellie wanted to make sure that the eggs were good and dark. She let the eggs sit in the dye for prolonged periods of time and meticulously turned them so that they would be evenly colored.

This was after she pulled out her first egg. I love the look of surprise on her face...the amazement that you can dye and egg.

I love my little crafter. Here she is carefully spinning the eggs. I think she gets this from Mike because he was watching with as much anticipation as Nellie.

Happy Easter...and happy egg hunting!

Birthday Cake Madness

2009-04-10T10:31:00.001-07:00

So, I am a little behind in posting about birthdays. Here is video of both the girls eating birthday cake.

My mixed up life and the butterfly on Nellie's head.

2009-04-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

My blog is out of order (even the pictures). If I weren't impatient, you would have video of two birthday's worth of cake. Instead...here are pictures from mine and Nellie's adventure at the Wild Animal Park's butterfly exhibit on our shared birthday (Nellie's day is 4/6, mine is 4/8, our shared is...4/7)

This is a picture off of Nellie's little camera that my brother gave her for Christmas. I love that she has it because it gives her something to do while we stand in line. This is somewhere in a line somewhere in the Wild Animal Park.

Another picture that Nellie took. I think this was right before we went into the Butterfly exhibit. She was really into trees, leaves, and flowers.

This was the picture that she took in between bites at lunch. I made us a lunch and we parked it by the lake at some African named pavilion. She was enamored with the birds, especially the ducks who were diving for their lunch.

This is a picture I took, and people...up load it as a screen saver (it looks fabulous on my desktop). I don't know what kind of butterfly this is (although, frankly, Annella does). I was not really zooming in. I was that close to it.

These are two owl butterflies. That big spot is suppose to look like the eye of an owl. When they flap their wings, they really do look like an owl blinking. The crazy thing is that they are bright blue on the inside of their wings (although, I guess they very rarely will sit, unprotected that way).

A picture of us inside the butterfly jungle on a bench.

So, Nellie was feeling impatient about a butterfly landing on her. I said to stand like a statue and if it was meant to be, a butterfly would say hello. I had turned around to look at another butterfly when I heard a person say, "look at the butterfly on that girl's head!" and cameras started going off. I turned and said, "Nellie look at this..." and realized it was Nellie who had the butterfly on her head!

Trying to check out the butterfly.

What a great picture! She loved every moment of it!

Looking at the butterfly decorations. Below is video from Nellie's camera. We were walking on a bridge and I think she thought she was taking a picture, not video. Anyways, she handed me the camera and I got footage of her. I love the REALLY rough feel of it.

Better late than never...pictures of the wedding!

2009-03-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of the sweetest pictures from my brother's wedding (sorry to do this to you Todd). My brother is so in love with his wife that he cried uncontrollably at his wedding. Elyse and I found ourselves passing up our soggy kleenex (let's face it...crying brother = crying sisters) so our brother could blow his nose.
They just kissed, the best men are cheering and they have the biggest smiles on their faces! Look at how amazing Erin looks in her wedding dress. Consensus is that she would have looked odd in white and the green emphasized her red hair and skin complexion.
There seems to be a lot of questions about why the Homel's wore black. I wish I could say something humorous (like we wanted to mourn our brother and give a eulogy) but really, #1 it was an evening wedding, and #2 black is a slimming color. At least we Homels are consistent!
The siblings. There is this other photo that I have of us that was an "I love the Homel Kids" photo, but this one takes the cake. I am going to have this printed up and framed for my photo hallway. I can't seem to click beneath the photo below, so here it is: This is a picture of the painting that all the guests did for Todd and Erin. Vince paited the background, I painted the two trees with the bride and groom beneath. Everything else feels like a bad acid trip(hence, I have personally named it peyote).

My Brother's Wedding (First Installment: Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner)

2009-03-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, my brother Todd got married at the Pine Hills Lodge to his long time girlfriend/fiance Erin Oleno. The setting was beautiful. Vince Vitale (Elyse's boyfriend) and I got our creative ya-ya's out taking pictures. These are some of my favorites that we took.
Above are what I consider to be the two best pictures of the weekend, taken by Vince, of course. The first one is Arline and Izze playing in the lobby of the lodge. It was rather cold out during rehearsal, so Arline watched the I-bug while I assisted with the flower girls and took pictures. I love the laughter and smiles on both of their faces. Directly below it is a picture of some of the wedding party and Todd. The daffodils were in full bloom and so I find this picture of particular interest.
A classic...Elyse and Rachel. I am not sure when Vince caught me without the camera to my eye, but I do like this picture of us an awful lot. I like the quasi-boho look I have going on!

This is during the actual rehearsal dinner in the bar. I am standing with Ray, the best man. I haven't seen him in at least five years, so we were catching up and he was playing goo-goo eyes with Isabelle.

The three sisters (which, isn't that some landmark?). I don't know if this is before or after the shots of tequila, but we were having a great time.

I have mixed feelings about this picture. I love the composition. Nellie is sitting at the bar, bundled up, drinking her milk with her grandmothers in the background. BUT, Nellie is sitting at a bar, and loving every moment of it!

Ken Oleno and my father at rehearsal. My dad is beaming from ear to ear; his only son, finally married. I think that Ken was quite reflective over the weekend, and it shows in his facial expression on this page.

Once again, the daffodils come into play. So, Nellie and the other little girls at the wedding were in love with the yellow flowers. It became a battle all weekend long to make sure that we left some of the attached their stems! Nellie wanted to hold the flower as she rehearsed being a flower girl.

When we rehearsed, I told the flower girls to pretend that the deck was a bowl of spaghetti that needed Parmesan cheese sprinkled on it. Here Nellie and Rocky are practicing sprinkling the cheese. Ends up, they didn't sprinkle anything. They just held bouquets.

I took a picture of the wedding party, and asked them to have a fun shot. They had a lot of fun. Dad, you complained last night you weren't in the picture...I think you were with the caterer or the AV guy.

Nellie's loose tooth.

2009-03-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Nellie lost her first tooth!!!!!!

The Road to Dr. Mommy

2009-03-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today I was accepted to the USD SOLES (School of Leadership and Education Studies) Ph.D. Program. I intend to accept and start work on my Ph.D. in the fall!!!

http://www.sandiego.edu/soles/programs/leadership_studies/academic_programs/doctoral_program/overview.php

A special shout out to my sister Elyse who has been

accepted to graduate programs at UCLA and Boston University in Public Administration.

I think she rocks!

Izze's Love Affair with Ken Oleno

2009-03-09T12:47:00.001-07:00

Ken Oleno is my brother's father-in-law (or at least officially will be in 4.5 days). As far as my kids are concerned he is another grandpa. Nellie and Izze have never known life without him. For some reason, Ken and Izze have this "thing" going on. They are absolutely adorable together. She strokes his beard, he cuddles her. They both look into each other's moony eyes! This is a picture of Ken placing his sunglasses on a very ammenable Isabelle.

Here is Izze stroking Ken's beard. (Although, by the look of it, she might be yanking on it and Elyse has come to Ken's rescue).

Izze's First Birthday

2009-03-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Happy First Birthday Isabelle Alene Rice! We threw her a party in our little neighborhood park. Above is a picture of her in the wagon going for a ride around the park. She thought that this was the bees knees and couldn't get enough.

"The Two Ellas" These are some of my friends from Madison High School. From left to right: Ella (17 months), Robin Peters, Megan Richards, and Ella (6 months)

Nellie had some of her friends come to Izze's party. This is a picture of Nellie, darn near squeezing to death, her friend Olivia and Olivia's younger sister Molly.

I asked Vince to take pictures of the party, and I got a ton of pictures of Elyse (I wonder why????). This was one of the best. I love both of the girls' smiles.

Our friends, and neighbors had a special tent for infants they provided for our friends with little infants. Nellie thought that it was made for her for camping and relaxing.

My brother-in-law, Jay, and my nephew, Thurston, eating macaroni and cheese and fruit in the middle of the tot-lot.

Time for cake. Izze has never had refined sugar before. There was not a drop left. She was systematic in her method of eating cupcake. In all truth, there was hardly any mess because she quickly and swiftly got all of it in her mouth. My favorite moment though was when Barbara Rogers said, "I am surprised there isn't any in her hair," and Izze immediately smeared frosting in her hair. For the remainder of the party, Elyse insisted she was going to gobble up Izze because she smelled like frosting.

All I can say is: Intoxicated with sugar.

"Give me some sugar momma." No way was I going to kiss that messy cupcake face!!!!

Izze kept signing "more, more, more" which translated to GET ME WATER! I think she might have drunk the entire class in one sitting.

p.s. Auntie Eho and Uncle Vince...I will post video as soon as I get a moment's peace.

Angelfood, Beef-Ring, Angus, Meat- Pie, Cake

2009-02-23T09:21:00.001-08:00

This is a story about how a little family joke, and a little bit of beef, became a big ordeal. Discussions at Homel family dinners range far and wide. This Christmas, we kids were reminiscing about some of the crazy meal ideas my father had (for example...liver spaghetti. YUCK!). My Dad confessed that he thought that meatloaf would be best if prepared in an angel food cake pan. Mike said that the center of the meatloaf could be filled with potatoes...and then it was on. I said that I would make it, and my sisters made me promise that I would document it.

Mixing the ingredients together (breadcrumbs, onion soup mix, ground beef, sausage, bar-b-que sauce, egg)

Into the blender everything went. To be honest, I use my Kitchen-Aid every chance I get.

I had to double the recipe to make the mixture big enough to fill an angel food cake pan. This mixture is 4.5 pounds of meat.

As I was getting ready to put the pan in the oven it occurred to me that angel food cake pans have a split bottom so that when you flip the cake over you can remove the bottom seperately. Unless I wanted a mess in my oven I needed to put a pan underneath. As the meat ring cooked at 350 degrees for two hours, the juices boiled out. I thought to myself, "self...this might actually make the meatloaf lower in fat!"

Making the frosting. I was worried that I wasn't going to have enough potatoes (I was always told one potato per person), but let me share that these were some HUGE potatoes...on sale at Henry's!

About half way through the cooking process, I decided to check the meat's temperature. Most meatloafs take 1-1.5 hours to cook, but because of the size of this loaf, and the hole in the middle it was unknown. I was checking for 160 degrees. This picture...not yet, 123 degrees.

Boil potatoes boil!

At last it was done. But the meatloaf was surrounded by juice and flipping it was not an option. I got out my baster and sucked the juice out of the angel food cake pan (reserving for gravy). Then, with the aide of my husband, we flipped the meat-ring onto a...yes, take it in..CAKE PLATE!

Meat-ring with the bottom still attached.

Meat-ring with no bottom, ready for frosting.

At this point, I was actually becoming a believer. I wasn't sure that I was going to pull it off. I figured the meatloaf would break apart, or that the potatoes would slide off of the meat-ring....

...the potatoes stuck to the sides! Of course, I like to put sprinkles on my cake, so we sprinkled it with cheddar cheese.

It actually is kind of pretty.

My father was so excited that his dream came to fruition, he insisted that I take a picture of a complete plate. The Angus Meat-ring was served with potatoes, gravy, greenbeans, and a parisian mushroom salad.