A Little Reader

Grandma and Grandpa know that Audrey loves to read, so they got Audrey a year of Highlights/HighFive magazine subscription as Christmas gift.

The first issue was showed up in our mail box quickly after the holiday season. The moment Hubby took into the house, Audrey spotted it and said over and over again "I want to read it" till I ripped the plastic wrap. She sat comfortably in a hamper that happened to be in the family room and padded it with her blanket, and started reading this magazine. She enjoyed it so so much.

After I sent these pictures to Grandparents, they said the HighFive magazine would love these pictures, too.

Home-Made Granola Bar

My neighbor invited me to attend a hot yoga session during the past holiday season. She offered me a Cliff MoJo bar for the empty stomach afterward. It was so good, not too sweet, had the perfect balance of nuts and oat. More interestingly, it had pretzels in there too. On a health note, it had no high glucose corn syrup. I liked it so much that I was inspired/decided to make them at home.

I found one recipe on foodnet work by Alton Brown. Of course, I edited it according to my memory of the Cliff MoJo bar and add more healthy essences.

I used oat, wheat germ, pretzel (low salt), hazel nuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, raisins, 1/4 cup brown sugar, honey.

They tasted so good. Even my daughter liked it very much, too. I am a bit proud of myself.....

Ready to bake:
The Bars:

Niagara Falls Trip on a Cold Day!

Parents-in-law came to town to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with us. On the day they were heading back to IL, we took them to the Niagara Falls in Buffalo. It was a cold day. On the way there, we had heavy rain. I was sort of worried. Fortunately, it cleared up and the sun peeked out for a few seconds when we got there.

A nice couple helped us to take this picture on the lunar island, facing the Canadian side of the Falls.

2009 Thanksgiving!

2009 Thanksgiving was special! It was because my parents-in-law flew in town to spend it with us. Audrey met Grandma and Grandpa once before when she was only 6 months old, but she was bonded with them almost the moment they got in our house.

On the big day, everybody was busy!

Audrey was busy being cute!

Yes, she had two outfits for the day!

Mother-in-Law was busy scrubbing our baby-crusty breakfast table! Thanks a lot.

Father and Son were busy in the kitchen:

The Bird was ready for the oven incubation:

The Bird was ready for our watery mouths and hungry stomachs:

I was SUPERVISING:
not really. :-)))

Audrey and Grandpa were busy kissing:

All carved:

The feast:

My plate:

It was a big dinner, I did eat all of these AND took more later. I was very much into the Thanksgiving culture here.

Audrey's 2nd Birthday!

Audrey turned to big TWO on November 15th last year.

We did not have a party for her. No party for a not-yet-to-know-appreciation toddler. Our plan was to bake her a cake and call our neighbors over for a birthday cake time. However, Audrey's late nap made the plan fall through. In the end, only we three had the cake in the evening. We even let Audrey blow off the candles several times because she insisted and enjoyed it so much. :-)))

She enjoyed opening her gifts:



Of course, she deserved the Baby Panda chocolate cake.

What was I up to?

Yeah, I know. I did not post anything since Nov.1st. It has been more than 2 months since my last effort here.

What was I up to? The answer is right here: It was either I was busy or I was lazy.

Now, I would like to make up for it and share my pretty eventful last two months with everyone.