A Royal Tea Party

Peyton has been looking forward to today since yesterday.

What can I say? A two-year-old's world is small. :)

Anyway - we arranged to have our satellite reconnected at midnight so that we could get up and watch the wedding at 3:30 this morning. For all the cynics: it's history. The Royals are history - which has always fascinated Kurt and I - so it was worth it. :)

Last night, I made the Devonshire cream, and Kurt made the scones. Smoked up the whole house and had a little adventure trying to keep the smoke detector from waking up our kids - but that's another story. :)

The scones with Devonshire cream and raspberry jam! I was texting Jessica in Ontario who checked to see if I really got up as planned. :)

This morning, Kurt was the first one to get up - and had a little MI when the satellite wasn't connected yet - but the advantage of it being 3:30 am was that it was super-easy to get through to Shaw - and he had it hooked up by 3:45.

He and I watched Kate arrive, marveled at her super-classy dress (okay, more me than him - but he did say, "Yeah. That's a pretty nice dress, I guess.") and watched her walk down the aisle before Tenley made noise. She joined us for the actual service. :)

Playing with Daddy's face because she was bored waiting for the balcony kiss.

My Royal wedding watchers! :)

Anyway, Peyton woke up just after the kiss - but there were enough replays going around that she got to eat her scone and drink her tea (special for this morning) and watch the "pincess" get married.

Picnic: complete with tea and scones!

It obviously impacted her, too. 'Cause later she was crowning Tenley with a teething ring and announcing, "Oh Pincess Tenley - you look bee-u-tiful!"

I - for one- enjoyed the reading of scripture and the music (thought of you, Julie C.!!!) and seeing a young couple not greeted with overwhelming cynicism was a treat. They both exuded class and elegance - so different from Hollywood. To quote Kurt, "Kate Middleton is no Paris Hilton." Understatement, anyone? (lol)

It really is important to me to take joy the happiness of others. "Rejoicing with those who rejoice" is something scripture commands us to do. Heaven knows there's plenty to weep about on a regular basis. Especially lately. But having experienced people willing to do both - weep and rejoice - for our family - it feels good to wish a new family all the best. :)

So there you go! Fun times in the Manz house - even it was ridiculously early! :)

She Bakes!

Some kind of strange phenomenon has taken over our house. It's one of those "wha...???" kind of things - where no such occurrence has ever happened.

I've started to bake.

Toffee. Cookies. Popcorn variations. Cakes. Muffins.

And - here's the truly strange part - they've been turning out. Ridiculously good stuff.

other then the batch of one dozen chocolate chip banana muffins that may
*cough*.... (waving hands dismissively)...
... have been made with salt instead of sugar ...

What was that? My conscience demanding truthful transparency?
Pshaw.

Moving on!

Previously, if Kurt wanted something of a baked-nature, he kinda had to pull out the ingredients and go for it. I watched cautiously from the sidelines - lest by my simply entry to the kitchen I should cause something to burn.

I think the door opener was the toffee. For those of you who check my links at the side, I've been liberated by the "Girl Who Ate Everything" blog. When I saw the title "saltine cracker toffee" I thought to myself, "I love toffee. What the heck. I'll go look at the recipe."

And when I looked at it, I thought, "Wow. That looks easy. Foolproof, even. What the heck. I'll see if I have all the ingredients."

With all the ingredients located, the children appropriately distracted or napping, and Kurt on the phone in the other room so as not to discourage my crazy thinking with a "YOU'RE going to bake???" comment, I found I was - indeed - baking. And you know what, folks? It was freakin' delicious toffee.

What the heck???

Last night, I was waiting for Kurt to get home and was almost falling asleep on the couch. To show how truly radical this shift has been, I'll illustrate my thought process while my eyes were closing:

"Geez. I'm sleepy. I should make some cookies to stay awake."

Augh! The insanity!
It's even infringing on my subconscious!

When Kurt came in, he said something along the lines of "total silence" which was - as it appears - a big dramatic nothing.
I didn't even know he was in the kitchen until I turned around and saw him standing there with his jaw slack.

(Okay, okay. That was an exaggeration, I guess. :)
But he was shocked enough to say, "What are you doing?" even though I think it should have been somewhat obvious what with the bowl, hand-mixer and the evidence of chocolate chip cookie dough around my lips...)

To his credit, he didn't say a whole lot more after that. Even though it would not have shocked me to hear to hear:
"Where was this woman the first 8 years of marriage??"
or
"I like my new wife!"
or
(gently and with concern) "Do you think you could be having hormone issues, honey?"

I think he should just sit back and enjoy this phase. Yes. Phase. Cause I really can't see myself keeping this up. Baking is expensive and time consuming. Oh - and not to mention it completely flies in the face of that whole treadmill thing I'm trying to maintain.

And it's stressful, people! Fold this, beat that, cream slowly for an exact amount of time... use baking soda not powder, poke things with toothpicks, let it sit, take it out right away! Yada, yada, yada. Baking is so bossy and exact.

It's crazy. And I'm crazy to attempt it!
(taking a deep breath, and a mental step back from pre-bake-master Kendall's angst...)

Sigh.
All that being said, though: seeing Kurt's eyes close in satisfaction as he slowly chews one of my chocolate chip cookies - and hearing him say, "Wow. These are the best cookies I've ever had." is pretty gratifying.

So I guess - for now - I'll just go with it. :)

Harvest 2010

Praising God for a SECOND day of great weather...
Visiting Daddy in the field.

Posing in front of the "ka-bine"s...

In the "semi-tuk" with Papa...

Waiting for the fill with Daddy...

In the meanwhile, the road outside of our house in town is a semi-super-highway!
Lots of dust, lots of noise - and lots of delight for Peyton! :)
Looking back at 2009, it sure is obvious the changes that one year can make.
At least I'm not the only one who looks bigger different. (lol!)

Nice Ride, Kid.

After swimming all afternoon, the method of transportation is both creative and effective when dealing with little legs + a steep hill.
But the question remains: just who came up with this idea?

The Most Adorable Picture of the Weekend Is... ?

Votes? :)

I LOVE Polls!

So - we had the ultrasound on Tuesday. Our goal (after making sure he/she was healthy) was to find out whether he/she is a he or a she!

Even if you already know - go ahead and add your answer. I'll post the true result after a satisfying number of guesses. (Bah-ha-ha! I feel like Ryan Seacrest!)

BTW: if you want to leave a comment telling me who you are which answer you picked, I'd love to know who thinks what! :)

World Cup Switcheroo

For anyone concerned about the current state of my marriage: I've thrown my hat into the Germany ring now that both England and Ghana have been eliminated.

Kurt is thrilled - and a wise man to not cackle and rub his hands together. ;)

Go Deutschland.

(enthusiastic enough, Kurtie, my love?)

*Cough-Cough*

I'm sick enough to stay home from church today. It's rough to not be able to stop coughing. Rougher, still, to not be able to take anything for it. I'm pacing my Tylenol - no closer than 4 hours apart - and it does a nice job of managing the headache and throat pain. But this is - by far! - the worst cold I've had in a long time. I've tried a few unique things in the last couple of days including: Vicks dabbed in my ears (it made the scratchiness stop for a while), and this morning I stuffed a cotton-ball soaked with olive oil into my left ear. I think it helped! Yay for ancient remedies! (lol!)
--
Peyton didn't want to nap yesterday so I offered her the big, brown, fuzzy blanket from our bed. She acquiesced right away. As I lay her down she was sure to remind me, "Blin-ket." and pointed over at it (where it was dragged from my room) in it's big, brown, fuzzy pile on her bedroom floor. It kept her remarkably content. Bribery can be so simple sometimes...
--
This morning I taught her to say, "Go, Ghana - GO!" and told her were were cheering for them because that was Auntie's country. She got pretty good at it by the end of the game. She had 90 minutes to practice, after all...
--
I'm so thankful for the sun and cheerful breeze that is keeping my house fresh and warm this morning. It justified wearing my pink Hawaii dress today! It's a tad tighter in some areas than it was in February. I wonder why... :-P
--
Happy birthday to my wonderful mommy! Love you so much, mom!
--
Well, I'm off to tidy the dishes before hopefully more Vicks and a nap (?) and then Germany v. Australia. I'm going to cheer for the Aussies just because Kurt will not. Plus - we have to stick with the Commonwealth, right? ;)

Whew...

On that heels of that somewhat sober post, I just want to exclaim that Word Cup starts tomorrow!

(If you had told me 7 years ago that I would be excited about a soccer tournament, I would have seriously laughed out loud. But I've evolved! ;))

Kurt is going to be predictable and cheer for Germany. He really doesn't have a choice, though. That's all he is.

I, however, have cast about my considerable and eclectic Canadian heritage and have decided I'm going to cheer for England. I found out that my great-grandfather was born and raised in Manchester, UK.

(On an interesting side note, I've also found out that Manchester United are the Montreal Canadians of soccer. You either love them, or... really don't love them. I asked a guy Kurt used to work with who was from England who his favorite team was and he answered - word for word - "Anybody but Man-U." lol!)

So let the fever begin.
God save the Queen! :-D

Za Wee Bump

... and Peyton saying, "Cheese!" She does that every time she sees a camera, now. :)

Pre-date last night - those are preggo jeans. I already have some of the stuff. Why not be comfortable, right? :) I'm only 13 weeks and I honestly look at least 16 or 18. Sigh.
Oh well - 3rd baby, right? Gotta love it!

Anyway - the movie was interrupted by a power-outage. It was so far so good... but we got theater credits to go see it again.
Or, as my husband casually suggested as we exited the lobby, "We could just rent this one at home and go see Robin Hood." Hmmmm...

It's okay. I actually prefer to watch movies at home. Eat my own food. Use my own bathroom. Wear my jammie-jams and get a back rub from Kurt - without having to sit elbow-to-elbow with strangers. Besides - I swear that theaters smell like feet. I deal with that enough for work.

Win. Win.

Oh - and one more pic that helps sum-up date night:
This is Kurt's face as he realized what the little "treat" of side-gravy for the fries cost us - a whopping $1.25 - lol!

I couldn't stop laughing after I looked at this picture. He's trying to be calm (it is "date night" after all) - but you can tell by his eyes that he's kinda freaking out on the inside.

Ahhhhh... I so love, love, love my thrifty German boy. :-D

Skiing Collage

Although I have no actual pictures from the hill, I think you can tell from our faces that we had a good time. :)

It's been 30 Years...

... Since God created this perfect man for me. :)

I wanted to do a list as has become my tradition for the past few years - corresponding with his age - the 30 things I love about him.
Alas, I have a child who is about to wake up from a nap and I'd rather just give one of my favorite memories from this year than be interrupted for the next week. :)
--

Allow me to paint the scene:

We were driving around Langley BC in a pounding rainstorm trying to find our hotel. The radio was playing pretty loud because, oddly enough, it seems to help Peyton stay asleep.

As the opening beats of a song came on, Kurt gasped and cranked the radio - even louder than it had been.

After looking in the backseat to make sure our sleeping child was still doing just that, (she was) I turned my eyes upon my husband who was now moving his head back and forth and tapping the steering wheel. It also registered that I didn't recognize the tune at all.

And so, I waited.

I have to say that although I knew Kurt went through a rap phase in high-school and first year of university - I had never been exposed to it.

Imagine my shock as my husband - perfectly in-sinc with the radio - proceeded to recite every world of Tupac Shakur's "California". With attitude.

When he saw my jaw drop, he only winked and proceeded to do the west-side hands while he spun his rhyme. (Is that the term?)

Oh. My.

It was super-duper cute, and still makes me smile almost 3 months later.
Who knew rap could be so sexy? I sure didn't! :)

So happy 30th birthday to my very-own 50-cent.
I love you, Kurt, 'cuz you just brighten my world. :)

The Manz Clan In Vancouver

Where we've been since October 31st. :)

Leavin' On a Jet-Plane

We did it!
Our tickets for Hawaii are booked! :-D

After the excitement faded a little, the reality of holding an 18-month old on my lap for 9 hours started to kick in.

Oy.

The way down isn't too bad: first to Denver (3 hours) then to Los Angeles (1.5 hrs) and then a "short" jaunt to the island (6 (gulp!) hours). At least it's broken down a bit, right?

RIGHT???

Coming home means leaving Honolulu at 11:45 pm and flying all night to Denver. We don't get off the plane until 9:30 the next morning. I'm kinda shuddering. What if she is restless and loud? Other people probably want to sleep during that flight...

The blessing of being with my family (mom, dad, 2 brothers and sis-in-law) is helping the anxiety a little bit - but I really am a little nervous. And it's over 6 months away!

We'll have a test-run at the end of the month when Kurt, Peyton and I fly to Vancouver. That's only a 3 hour trip. To quote Kurt: "We'll just have to have lots and LOTS of books."

... AND make sure she looks super-dooper cute, just in case she is cranky. :)

(Did I mention we're flying out of S'toon on October 31st? :-D)

It's Harvest! (Expect pictures...)

Family photo - September 2009
(We should have had glasses for miss-squints, I think...)

Visiting Kurt at work.
(Peyton keeping an eye on the dog...)

The truck Kurt was driving that day.

And a glamor shot for all my fans... ;-D
Peyton looks like she's cut in stone, though... chuckle!

With the puppy belonging to the farm we were beside that day.
A perfect fall day... praise God!

Driving with Daddy (not really... just waiting for the combine.)
Don't you just love the sippy-cup dashboard accessory? :)

Waving to Daddy while he was unloading the wheat into the bin.
(And yet he still managed to take a picture for me... what a sweetie!)

Such a happy girl with her Daddy!

My favorite farmer... and Kurt. (lol!)

I must say it is a lot easier to get in and out of the truck this year. :)

Forget Sports!

I need to find out where my daughter can learn to do this.
I just hope she can teach me...

(You may want to pause the music player...)

Happy Canada Day!

From the little jail-bird...

And her mommy...

Yay for Canada! :)

Too Cute (Part One)

We got together with Melina on the 17th of May for Peyton's photo shoot. She is the gal that did all our pregnancy pictures for both girls.

I have always been so pleased with her ability to capture the feelings of the day... and this was no exception. It's hard to pick my favorites - but here are a few to start with! :)
(Please forgive my lack of self-control... chuckle)

The one above is my favorite, favorite...
I think. ;)

I like that you can see Autumn's ring on his hand in the above picture...

I'm also uploading a few to a Facebook album - for those who I connect with there. Thanks for looking! :)