Catch up

Ok, so we haven't posted in a while. Here's the short version. Chandler got asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance. Diane brought him some balloons and some cheesecake which she had made herself (it was delicious). In some of the balloons were puzzle pieces that we had to piece together but it didn't say who the invitation was from. Then as we were eating the cheesecake (I'll never tell who ate most of it), there was a message inside it which let Chandler know who the invitation was from. Then Chandler answered her by having his mom make some delicious cupcakes with frosting waves.

Oh, and swimming fish.

Their group went to a rodeo for their day date. Chandler certainly looked the part. Ride 'em cowboy!

Then, that night, they were running late for dinner and Dan and I had left for stake conference. So we told Hanna to not let them leave without a picture. So Chandler ran out the door when Diane got there but Hanna managed to get one picture.

Last weekend we planted a garden. We were too late to plant seeds so we planted plants. Don't be jealous, we have no idea what we are doing.

Hanna found a recipe for this jello and thought it would be fun, and it was.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Those of you who know me know that I am so festive, ha ha. We couldn't have St. Patrick's Day without green eggs and biscuits with green gravy, yum! Everyone thought it was kind of weird, no wonder we usually ignore holidays.

Andria refused to touch any of it and instead had leftover pasta. At least her bowl and cup were green.

Helping Hanna =)

Hanna is trying to earn money this week (Spring Break) to help pay for girls camp and EFY. She is an excellent helper and has already cleaned everything we are able to pay her for at our house. She is willing to:

clean out the fridge
scrub bathrooms
mop floors
organize closets, shelves or rooms
dust
fold laundry
entertain children
fix dinner
or almost anything else you can think of.
Please call if you have some work for her and she will run right over :)

PS Hanna is a genius at getting children to participate in the cleaning.

Preschool Zoo Day

On Monday, Zanya and I went to the zoo with Samantha's preschool. We had such a great time! Miss Peggy teaches the kids all about the animals before we go so that the kids can teach the parents while we are there. The day was perfect with nice weather and active animals. It was a perfect zoo day! Here the kids are singing "Zola the Zebra" after we ate lunch.

Pictures Galore

Danica and Hanna both recently decided to take some fun pictures with their friends. Luckily we have friends and relatives with excellent cameras as well as a talent with photography.
This is Danica and her cousin Kinsey, best buds. Photographs are by Greg Garn, a man of many talents.

Here, Hanna and her friends, Christy and Heather, decided to spray paint some t-shirts for neon day at school. It was a fun project and these girls are so creative!

Hanna's pictures with her friends Kathryn and Kylie. Photographs by Patrice Crandall, a very talented photographer. These girls have so much fun together.

My Mom is Home

Well, my Mom is home for good. She finished her missionary service in Berlin and came home last week. She got home on Thursday night and left Friday morning to see my sister and her new baby, Laney in Utah. So we haven't seen much of her yet, but we are glad she is home.

Welcome home Mom!

Teenagers are Awesome

There are many things that bring joy to my heart. Here are some from this week:

--Chandler's willing and happy attitude about running my errands. Amazingly, he cleans the toy room and mows the lawn with equal willingness, but not in the same time frame. Also, he got his wisdom teeth out last week and hasn't complained at all.

--Danica's amazing piano talent. Currently she is working on "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlson. She has not been assigned this song by her piano teacher, but she just wanted to learn it for herself. It is a beautiful song and it is incredibly moving when played by my own daughter on my own piano.

--Chandler and Hanna wrestling. Afterwards, I get the details from Hanna, victor in her own mind. Also, Hanna's seminary is doing missionary week this week so she has to live like a Missionary. One thing she has to do is cook for herself. I keep forgetting this detail until she is preparing something different for herself. This morning, she was making a bagel while I was making waffles. Of course, I forgot why, so I asked her what's up. She reminded me that she has to cook for herself--oh right, you're killing me, Hanna. Who is going to eat the rest of these waffles?

Cupcake Question

Ok here are the chocolate cupcakes with a hint of cinnamon. The frosting is flavored with maraschino cherry. I thought they were quite delicious but some my my children with unsophisticated tastes didn't love them. Who wouldn't love that beautiful pink frosting?

Now I have a question. I might be thinking about selling my cupcakes. Some of you have mentioned that you would buy them so I am checking to see if that is true. Cupcake stores, such as Sprinkles, charge $3.25 per cupcake so I would think about charging $2 per cupcake. My packaging is obviously amateur (paper plate?), and I would probably need some advance notice to make sure I have what you want. Plus you would have to come to my house to pick them up. The flavors I would consider are:

Tres Leche

Chocolate Orange

Peach

Vanilla

Coconut

Chocolate Maraschino

Chocolate Caramel

Cranberry Almond (in season when I can get cranberries)

And possibly other flavors that sound fun.

So, let me know!

By the way, I have a batch of coconut cupcakes that I am making for my Mom to bring to Utah but she doesn't need all of them so if you want one, they will be frosted some time on Thursday. Email me at danjanand7@gmail.com