My favorite Christmas stuff

And now that we've covered the past 3 months, I can share with you some of my favorite Christmas songs and movies (or I guess they're songs IN movies). Anyway....

Hugh Grant as Britain's Prime Minister
after he stands up to a bullyish US President (Billy Bob Thornton...yeah, I know)
(Love Actually *)

The Christmas school show / play in Love Actually *
The little spiky-haired drummer learns to play drums to impress Joanna, the singer
(and yes Joanne, that's Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson, as husband and wife)

The Paris "BellHarmonic" led by Quasimodo in a rendition of " Carol of the Bells"
(Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas)

More Claymation with the Three Wise Men and their smooth singing camels

What list could be complete without The Muppets ?
Bob (Kermit) Cratchit's family singing "Bless Us One and All" in
The Muppet Christmas Carol

And since we will be getting (yet) more snow on Christmas Day, here is my finale,
"White Christmas"

* If you'd like to watch Love Actually, I strongly suggest you watch the network version or certain cable versions (like on TBS) instead of renting the DVD. The movie is rated R (yes, I know, I'm evil). Although it has some very cute scenes, it also has some scenes that are not so great (and unnecessary in my opinion...)

A Season of Gratitude

Yes, I know that as I post this, it is the evening of December 22nd, 2 days until Christmas, and I'm just now getting to blog about Thanksgiving. I would tell you why, but I already did, so if you really want to know, go here.

Continuing with our Holiday Flashback, we spent Thanksgiving at Stan and Leslie's home (Stan is one of Andrew's older brothers). They just moved to Kimberly, ID (near Twin Falls) and were gracious enough to host Thanksgiving dinner and let us stay with them for a couple of nights.

Forgive the lack of actual dinner pictures, but I was part of the preparation / feeding of a 2-year-old / cleaning crew, so my pictures were mostly limited to time spent playing, hanging out, etc.

Amber going for a "hike" after dinner

Sisters-in-law: Leslie and daughter Jessica (right) and Jenn

The unveiling of the turkey piñata (made by Stan, Leslie, Justin and Jessica)

Joey gets a good swing at it

First, the head and a leg came off the turkey.
The boys (Ethan, Joey and Justin, from left) ponder what to do with them.
The head was later stomped, to the delight of all boys present.

Diving in for goodies

The boys, surveying their loot.
Click on the picture to see Ethan's (second from left) orderly row of Hershey Kisses.

Lest you think it was all fun and games, there is a reason I chose the title for this post, and here are the things for which I'm grateful this year:

• Health: Our entire family has had a quite uneventful year, as far illness and doctor's visits are concerned.
• Love: We've spent time with family and kept in touch with friends.
• Our ward / the Gospel: We have been very blessed for the past three and 1/2 years, to be part of a loving, united ward. Our friends, leaders, home and visiting teachers have shared with us the pure love of Christ.
• Work / self sufficiency: At a time when many people are losing jobs or homes, we have been able to keep both, and I was even blessed to have a job fall right in my lap, and to have a friend care for Amber while I go to work.
  

Every year, when Thanksgiving comes around, these words (from a song by Don Henley) come into my mind:

I've got great expectations

I've got family and friends
I've got satisfying work
I've got a back that bends
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

For every moment of joy
Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

Forward and Back - Halloween '08

Well, I'm going back a bit so I can move forward (with blogposting) without skipping over the past two months...

First, right after Amber's birthday, we had the Linder Ward Halloween party. Amber had received dress up clothes for her birthday, so we decided to make a costume out of them. She looked quite precious as a little Tinkerbelle (not that I'm biased or anything).

Our cute little Tinkerbelle

...and her sparkly wings

Practicing her pageant wave with Dad during the parade...

Suzie and Amber looking for lollipops in the pool o' popcorn
(although they were mostly just eating the popcorn)

On Halloween night, for the first time since we moved to Meridian, we went trick-or-treating instead of passing out candy. At first I wasn't too sure we would go. Amber was all dressed up and loved it, but any mention of the words "trick-or-treat" or just "treat" made her cry. Eventually we just told her we would just "go for a walk". I guess that was the magic password, because she rushed to the door saying "Walk? Walk?" And off we went... Amber had some candy that night and in the few days that followed, but let's face it, at her age, most of the candy goes to Mom and Dad =).

Here's our little Tinkerbelle* after an exhausting (trick-or-treating) "walk"

* By the way, did you know that Andrew's nickname as a kid (and teenager) was Tinker? It's true =) And he's told me time and again that they gave him that name because he liked "tinkering" with stuff. I don't know....I think it was because of his last name. You know...Tinker Bell... and yes, he may get mad at me for divulging this well kept family secret, but hey, he doesn't read this blog that often. It will be a while... ;)

We're back!

I know, I know, it's been over a month. Things have been a little crazy. Right before my last post, I interviewed for and later accepted a new job: staff interpreter at the Ada County courthouse. It's been challenging and rewarding work, and it's made November (and now December) a very busy month.

This is where I work - the Ada County courthouse (Boise, ID)

I'll be posting Halloween, Thanksgiving and (random) December pictures shortly, but I just wanted to have a new post...it's been so long =)

Just in the nick of time...

I had a chance to do this on October 23rd...

That's why I have a chance to do this tomorrow...



And now, a few words from our sponsor...
Craig Ferguson
(another newly minted citizen)

Who are you voting for?
(don't forget to take this week's poll)

They say it's your birthday!

Amber turned two yesterday.

(Already? you say... I can't believe it either)

A cute card from Grandma and Grandpa

After a "Happy Birthday!" , the day started off like most days: we had breakfast, watched cartoons and did a little cleaning around the house. Then Amber stayed at a friend's house while I worked (over the phone). After that, we went window shopping for a "big girl bed" ( this will be a joint gift between Grandma and Grandpa Molnar and Mom and Dad) and bought "Big Bird's First Book of Letters ". Once we came home, it was time for a nap, and while Amber slept, I took care of few other things (work and house related) until Andrew came home.

At about 7:30ish, a UPS truck came by with a present from Christian, Kristen, Hannah, Ethan and Jack (in Seattle).

Oh fun! A box!

Mmm... packing peanuts

A birthday card from Christian, Kristen and the kids

Cute!

A dress-up trunk with 2 Tinkerbelle dresses - wings and everything!

Later on, Amelia and Jeremiah came over for some pizza and birthday brownies, and some more present-opening madness ensued =).

What is that, uncle Jer?

Letter magnets!

Look at that smile and those hands

Let's Rock!

Please don't make me blow out the candles!

Aaalright, I'll do it

Mmm, chocolatey goodness
(much better than packing peanuts...)

That was Amber's birthday in a blogger nutshell... which reminds me, we started this blog a year ago with a mention of Amber's birthday.
It just goes to show you, it's all about...

What we did this summer

Well, I haven't been very good about posting regularly during the summer, and since Fall's already started, I better post a recap now!!

Below you'll find photo albums* of our summer adventures...

Blue Angels - July '08

Twin Falls temple

Trip to Seattle - September

One last thing that happened this summer: after waiting for a full year to hear from Immigration Services about my application for naturalization, I finally received a notice for my interview! The interview took place September 26th, and was quick an painless (2 words I would hardly ever use to describe immigration procedures...) and the naturalization ceremony is scheduled for October 23rd. Finally!

* I'm so thankful Picasa Web decided to re-introduce the "Embed Album" feature. It makes it 10 times easier to post albums in blogs.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid!

No, no, this post has nothing to do with the movie "A Christmas Story" or with Christmas for that matter.
Halloween isn't even here yet.
This post has to do with sippy cups, of all things.

Amber just asked me for her favorite sippy cup. It has a flip-up straw and has been very useful in helping Amber transition out of more bottle-like sippies. It has just one small teensy-weensy problem: whenever we flip up the straw, it squirts water in all directions!

After our first encounter with "the straw" Amber and I both learned to avert our eyes whenever we opened the sippy's flip-up lid. This morning, however, Amber was being careful as always, but I bent down to hug her at just the right time and...
BAM!
My right eye received the watery wrath of the flip up straw.

Owie = (

The keyword is "cooperation"

I had heard about co-ops before, but always associated the word with the little markets that sell locally grown products, or the community farms that grow produce and share it within a group of families. This all changed a year ago. Two sisters in our ward suggested creating a Babysitting Co-op. I had no idea such a thing existed!

These ladies had both been part of a co-op before and offered to be the ones to set it up. They created calendars, "tickets" (no money is exchanged, only babysitting hours) and medical release forms. I signed up, but was skeptical at the beginning. Would I have enough tickets when I needed them? What if Amber or I got sick on a day I was supposed to watch kids? Would Amber do ok going to different houses with so many different kids of different ages?

Fast forward a year... I couldn't be happier. Co-op is a great fit for my line of work. I usually work (outside the home) only 1 or 2 days a week and there has always been someone available to watch Amber. I've enjoyed having kids over at our house and Amber loves her Co-op friends. There are "free" days built into the calendar, when nobody has a co-op shift scheduled, just so people can pick up extra shifts if they'll need tickets later on. And last but not least, co-op has given me a chance to get to know some wonderful ladies in our ward.

Flickr Fun Quiz

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

I would tag certain people, but it didn't work so well last time (*cough* Deah *cough*), so if you'd like to do it, go ahead! (if not, fine then, be that way...)

The Fruits of our Labor

When we bought our house, we immediately planned on starting a garden, but somehow never could find the time to do the prep work involved (dismantle the sandbox, rototill the soil, get rid of the multitude of rocks that filled our intended garden). We told ourselves this year would be THE year, and this spring (in May), Andrew prepared the soil, bought the plants/seeds and planted our garden. I wish I could say I helped, but the truth is, although I don't have a "black thumb", it isn't very green either. He planted seeds for squash, peas, cucumbers, corn and pepper, and also planted tomato plants.

Andrew planting seeds for peas and squash

Fast forward to July, here are pictures of the grown squash, peas, peppers and tomato plants and (at the bottom) our first harvest. The corn and cucumbers never grew, we're not quite sure why.

And here is my contribution to the process (drum roll please!) : the cooking / baking/ eating of our produce.

Zucchini Chocolate Bread
(yes, yes, much more chocolate than zucchini)

A yummy yellow grape tomato

Childhood memories

I love googling stuff (or is it googleing? maybe googlying?) . This morning, as I set out to do just that, I found a pleasant surprise when the page came up. Little Peter Rabbit was looking at me, nibbling on carrots, Mr. McGregor raising his rake in anger in the background. The scene brought back fond memories. My parents read to us pretty much every night when we were little, and then encouraged us to read as we got older. I remember other stories, but it is The Tale of Petter Rabbit I remember best.

Sun+River+Fun

Ahhh, finally. It's taken me a few weeks to get all our vacation photos together but here they are. We had a wonderful time last month in Sunriver, Oregon (a resort town 15 minutes away from Bend). We spent five days with my parents, my brother Christian and his family. The resort has over 30 miles of bike trails, so we had a blast biking to the stables, the river and other places. Amber also had a chance to play a lot with her grandparents and her cousins, which doesn't happen very often =). We liked the place so much, our vacation to Sunriver may become a bi-annual family tradition (stay tuned...for another couple of years).

I was originally planning on posting a video of Amber doing crazy (and cute) stuff, but I couldn't get over how annoying my laughter and comments were on that video (yes, I know you're gonna say "oh, I'm sure it's not that bad!" Trust me, it is.) So, until I find some music to add to the video, I won't post it. But never fear! I found a movie editing site today, and it seems pretty straightforward, so the video will probably be part of our next post =).