Exciting News!

Exiciting news here at the Wehri house! The Wehri 3 are soon to become 4! Yes, we are expecting a little boy in early September (maybe the end of August if I'm lucky!) We are all very excited and can't wait to meet him. 

Initially, when we told Maren we were going to have a baby she said she wanted a sister. When we told her that it was a boy she looked at us and said, "ok" and that was that. She has been really cute talking about what she is going to show her baby brother or what she is going to teach him. I think she is going to be a great big sister!

Let the countdown begin!

Fishing!

Last week we had the opportunity to go on a fishing field trip to Gold Creek Trout Farm with Maren's preschool class. She had actually asked Jonathan recently to take her fishing. I actaully grew up fly fishing with my grandparents. My grandfather taught me how to tie my own flies and the art of casting. Are you thinking a little, "River Runs Through It" with Brad Pitt? Not quite, but  Jonathan is from Montana!

Anyway, back to Maren. At first I wasn't sure what to expect, a bunch of 3-4 year olds attempting to fish? I had visions of hooks everywhere and someone going in the water for sure! We were going to give this fishing thing a shot and hope for the best!

So here's how this was going go down. The kids were going to get to use bamboo fishing poles with fishing line and a nice sharp new hook at the end. She made a point of telling us they were fresh hooks, now a 3 year old was for sure to catch something or someone. The adults were to put some bait, thankfully just some fish food, on the end and then the kids drop it in! Once they caught a fish they had to scoop it out with a net and put it in the bucket. Then the adult got to take some fun plier tools and get the hook out of the fishes mouth while it flopped around in the bucket. Now, how I remember this going when I was a kid was I caught the fish and then handed it off to my grandfather to take off the hook and knock out. Then the club gave it back to us cleaned in brown paper ready to go home and cook. This was not how this was going to go... I was going to have to do most of it, but thankfully once the hook was out was going take care of it and give it back to us in a plastic bag.

Let the fishing begin!

Step 1: drop hook and wait...

Step 2: Catch fish! This was the moment she hooked the first one!

Step 3: Catch the fish in the net. I held the rod while she 'fished' it out, all by herself. Must pose for first photo-op with fish.

Proud shot of the fish, he's probably not so happy... at least I got the hook out.

Both trout, yes she caught two, bagged up and ready to go.

We really did have a lot of fun. No kids went in the water, which was AMAZING! Maren was a bit confused at first, she thought we could bring them home put them in water and they would swim around, not so much. They went in the freezer for Daddy to grill. He actually did and she tried it, which I was very proud of her for. She already wants to go again! It did kinda make me want to fly fish again, we'll see...

Easter

I know I haven't posted anything since Valentines Day and now it's April 9th. I do have pictures I have just not had any time to post them! That and I will admit that I have been a bit lazy in the posting department. A lot has been going on in the Wehri house as of late, sickness, emergency vet visit for the dog, and well just life in general. So, needless to say the blog has taken a back seat. I am hoping to get back on a more regular blogging schedule soon!

Here are some pictures from Easter and the glorious weather we had leading up to it.

Decorating some Easter eggs

 

 

 Easter basket! Lots of goodies from the Target dollar bin and a bit of candy.

   

 Egg hunt, Mom tried to be as sneaky as she could! Look at all my eggs! I love the princess crown that she is wearing while collecting. Thank you Mr. Easter Bunny!

 

 Easter brunch at the Hyatt complete with princess pancakes. Her day was going pretty good. 

 Finally, this is one of my favorite pictures from Easter weekend. We had been having an absolutely beautiful week leading up to Easter. I got this pic while we were outside enjoying the sunshine.

 

 Happy Spring!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Day has never been a real big deal in the Wehri house. I usually make a nice dinner for us and a special dessert and that's about it.

What was really cute this year was Maren getting to do Valentines for her school friends. Of course now that Pinterest exists, seriously what would we do without it for ideas, I found some really cute kid Valentines that didn't involve candy.

Maren loves bubbles, so I thought this one was perfect for her.

I found the package of bubbles at Target, just like the blog said. I happen to have some left over card stock and bakers twine, so it was super easy to put together. The hardest part was getting Maren not to open each tube of bubbles!!

Mine turned out pretty similar to hers, looks much craftier than it is!

After I picked Maren up from school I decided to take her out for some Valentines cupcakes

A funny thing happened while we were there, but first I need to back track a bit and say that Maren is OBSESSED with Taylor Swift. Back when her song, "We are Never Getting Back Together," came out Maren heard it on the radio and really liked it. She always wanted to listen to it. I thought it was cute and catchy and decided to buy it on iTunes. BIG MISTAKE. I had to listen to it constantly. Then because I am a glutton for punishment at Christmas there was a special on her RED album for $1. For some reason I thought sure lets buy it. I think I was hoping that I could get her to listen to some other TS songs so we could stop with never ever. Well, now that has turned into us listening to that album all the time. She loves to sing along to the songs, she actually knows a lot of the words, and dance in her tutu. It really is kinda cute.

Now, back to the cupcake place. So, I am paying for the cupcakes and Maren had gone to sit down. She comes back to me and very quietly says, "Mommy, guess who's here?" I'm thinking she sees a friend. She continues, "Mommy Taylor Swift is here!!!" I spin around a notice a girl reading with her head down. She has long blond hair and the thick straight across bangs, she does kinda resemble her. I look down and Maren is beyond excited because she thinks it's really TS and she's trying to wave to her. I had to tell her that it wasn't really her, but she was right it did look like her. She was a bit bummed, but I think the cupcake helped. Maybe one day we will run in to the real TS, but I doubt it.

After the cupcakes we came home and I decided to make chocolate covered strawberries for everyone. I realized that I hadn't made them in a really long time. I forgot how yummy they were. Of course Maren said she didn't want one. My kid is a little odd when it comes to the food stuff. She loves strawberries and chocolate, but wouldn't try one. Come on, who wouldn't try one of these!

Happy Valentines Day!

Christmas 2012

Wow, another month has already gone by! Happy belated holidays to everyone! I kept meaning to post about some of the Christmas things we were doing throughout the month of December, but time got away from me. I know I said it before, but I thought I was going to have SO much time on my hands once Maren was in school! So it's just going to be one really long post summing up an entire month!

December was a month of fun stuff for the Wehri family. We were really excited to celebrate Christmas this year because Maren was really into it. We have a few traditions that we always do, but we started out with a new one. Back in the fall I purchased "The Elf on the Shelf" for Maren. Friends have sworn to me that having this little elf (who I think looks a little creepy) has made their children behave rather well leading up to Christmas. I figured why not give it a shot, I welcome having something else in my repertoire that I can use to get her to listen. 

The elf comes with a book and supposed to make its appearance right after Thanksgiving. The elf watches your child all day and then leaves at night after they go to bed to report to Santa on their behavior. Oh and I am leaving out the most important part, its up to mom and dad to move the elf each night to a different spot in the house. I admit now that Jonathan and I forgot to move her a few times or remembered at the last minute, but thankfully Maren didn't catch on. I predict as she gets older we will need to get better at it. The other fun thing about trying to find new places for the elf each night was that they had to be high enough so Maren couldn't touch it, because if she touched it the magic would go away and it wouldn't be able to fly to Santa every night. It made for some very interesting and creative spots. 

 We also had to name the elf, Maren decided on Twinkle Twinkle, mainly because she had just been singing that song before we read her the book. I will say that having Twinkle Twinkle around to remind her to listen was helpful. We would remind her that Twinkle Twinkle was watching and that unless she wanted her to give Santa a bad report she better stop doing x,y,z. There was one time that I even went up and had a conversation with Twinkle Twinkle (yes, I was talking to a fake elf) about something that Maren was doing to which Maren then started crying, "Mommy no, don't tell Twinkle Twinkle!" That right there folks made it worth every cent! Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of our beloved Twinkle Twinkle, but here is an image from the net in case you aren't familiar with the elf. 

Our next tradition was cutting down the Christmas tree. We have done it every year since moving here, so this would be year #3. We love going and picking out a tree and cutting it down. I love the way a fresh Christmas tree makes your house smell! We found the perfect tree, despite Maren's bad attitude at the beginning. For some reason she was just not very pleasant. Eventually she warmed up after we got her a rather large cookie and took a hay ride around the tree farm.

 

The 'perfect' tree!

 

Mommy trying to get a cute picture with a crabby kid...

 

Maren helping to decorate. She really loved decorating this year. She loved looking at each ornament and finding the right spot for it. She did really well with not touch them too much either. We only

  

 Finished tree! So pretty!

  

A shot of M by the tree at some point, she is actually doing a cute smile here, a miracle. 

We also went to a kids showing of the Nutcracker ballet. We went with Maren's friends Eva, Olivia, and Oliva. It was so cute, the girls loved it. Then we went out to lunch afterwards. I tried to get picture of them all seated, we had front row seats, but they all came out too dark and blurry. M did pretty good during the performance. She was a little chatty at some points, but overall good.

On to more December fun!

   

 Maren and Jonathan made this adorable gingerbread house from Trader Joe's, it was only $7.99 and came with everything you needed!

  Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Maren has been super excited about Christmas morning for weeks. Jonathan and Maren always make sugar cookies together for Santa, they love it. I love watching them make them together, its so cute! We also always do a letter to Santa. This year what she really wanted was a Snow White dress and race cars. Santa came through for her this year!

   

 Getting ready for Santa!

   

Onto present opening!


 
A 24 pack of Play-doh, oh boy! This kid can't get enough Play-doh!




Cool, a remote controlled race car!

 
The Snow White dress that she wanted SO badly from Santa

 

Our little Snow White, so happy.

 

The other really popular gift, the Little People Disney Princess Castle, they sing and everything so much fun!

   

The obligatory family picture, or the attempted one. You take so many to try and get a decent one.

We had a fabulous Christmas with family and friends and we hope you did too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

One more holiday down! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Here at the Wehri house we were surrounded by yummy food and family, all one really needs to have a good time! The only bummer, the constant rain we have been experiencing ALL week long. Thankfully, it stopped for Turkey Day, but it is back again with a vengeance today.

Uncle James was back for a visit, Maren was thrilled. Someone to give her undivided attention, what wouldn't she like about that. Plus, he showed her the video for her favorite song by Taylor Swift "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together," on his phone. Let's just say he played it for her a lot over the last 6 days. Maren loves that song, she woke up singing it at the top of her lungs the other morning. I have to admit that it is kinda catchy. Uncle James will probably find himself humming it like we do now.

I of course cooked the big Turkey Day meal. Jonathan did ask if he could help, and I told him to stay out of my kitchen, but then thanked him for the offer. His job was to keep Maren entertained. I have a thing about doing things myself.

On this years menu a brined turkey (never have done this, but it was quite tasty and easy) with a pomegranate citrus glaze, quinoa and red rice stuffing, cream and herb infused mashed potatoes, green beans wrapped in bacon with a brown sugar glaze, and a arugula salad with candied pecans and blue cheese. It was all quite tasty if I don't say so myself. I think the boys thought so as well. Oh, and for dessert it was a apple pear pie with a walnut crust. This was also quite tasty especially with some vanilla ice cream.

Enjoying some bunny crackers before the big feast

  Documenting my cooking, you can tell I'm thrilled

 
Green beans wrapped in bacon...

 
The main centerpiece, not a bad looking turkey

  Jonathan trying to figure out where to start carving

 
The pie, YUM!

  Getting ready to eat the big meal

 
Cassie gets to take part in the turkey as well, she was SO happy!! 

 Now for the family pics, we actually got some decent ones which is rare these days. We will start with Maren and Uncle James's glamour shots. There were so many good ones it was hard to pick just a few!  

 This was that the Thanksgiving card that Maren made for family. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

Happy belated Halloween to everyone. Halloween here in the Northwest was a bit wet. It has been raining here for about a week now, yuck. I think we have officially entered that time of year. We had a fantastic summer, so it had to end sometime.

Maren had decided a while back she wanted to be a fairy. Originally, she wanted to be the $90 fairy from Pottery Barn Kids, I think not. The $15 one from Amazon was just fine, especially for a kid that was changing her mind on a daily basis. She was pretty happy with it, so that's all that matters.

I was hoping that Maren would take a nap, they have become less frequent these days, but no such luck. Which meant that we would need to get out earlier. We had deiced to go to a small local indoor shopping place that was having a trick-or-treat. Not how I grew up trick-or-treating, but I also was not a fan of going out in the rain. We ended up seeing Maren's friend Eva there, so the girls went around together. It was packed but they got to trick-or-treat, so that's all that matters. Next year we are going to go drive to a neighborhood so she can do some real trick-or-treating!

   

 The night before Halloween, I decided to carve a pumpkin with Maren. It was fun, I did most of the work though. She wouldn't even help me scoop out the inside! She did like playing with the seeds.

 

 The finished product, complete with pumpkin seeds for teeth.

 

On the hunt for some candy!

 

The girls comparing the candy they got.

Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween!