The park with the train (again!!)

One little girl loves this park very much, so we spent a gorgeous afternoon there again riding the train, feeding the ducks, watching a nasty duck fight (luckily no duck got killed!) and attempting the carousel again.  The up and down motion of the carousel seems to unsettle her and she ended up off of her horse and riding with Halabuhgee instead.  We even saw a wedding photo shoot as they posed at various spots around the pond at about the same pace as we walked.

It pays to know Korean (literally!)

We'll give the local Asian grocery store the benefit of the doubt and say they forgot to take down one sign.  But the way it looked right then.... if you only knew English you paid $2 more for a box of cabbage!

The other set of grandparents

Our week is busy with Halmoni and Halabuhgee here.  My dad is taking advantage of the weather and practicing his golf.  My mom is busy helping our little girl use the potty... she (I meant, Lucia Sora but Halmoni, too -- hee hee!) is doing great!  Sorry not to post photos today but will try to put some up soon.

There's an engineer trying to bust out!!

Daddy's graphing calculator

At the bookstore, she headed straight to these building blocks

What else is a child who finds her daddy's graphing calculator fascinating and wants to build blocks at home, at the bookstore and anywhere else that blocks exist destined to be?!  I suppose she's going to just as analytical as her daddy too....  sigh!

This week's art class: tambourine

Grandma and Grandpa came with us this week!  Because of the bad weather, only two students showed up so we got a lot of attention!  Afterward we explored the Art Center where the classes are held, and found a cool exhibit on guys and their cars.

Overnight breakfast casserole

Probably not the best strategy in life, but I tried a new recipe out when we had company.  I seem to do this too often!  On the other hand, the three of us usually can't eat up an entire recipe at once, so I end up waiting until we have more people around.  This overnight breakfast slow cooker casserole that was shared from the Critters on the Porch blog turned out to be a big hit!  (Thanks!)  Simple, quick and yummy!

Grandma's hair magic

Grandma braided Lucia's first french braid the other day.  No doubt, she's had plenty of practice after three daughters and two granddaughters.  Grandma created another beautiful hair-do on Sunday. Amazingly, little girl left her hair alone all day long, and the frizz that night was really cute, too (although I didn't take a photo of that).

My first french braid

Holding still

Side french braids

with a side part

and ends gathered together beautifully

Grandma and Grandpa visit us!

As you saw from the post yesterday, Lucia's grandparents are here, as well as a couple of cousins!  We have been eagerly awaiting their arrival, and practicing saying "Grandma" and "Grandpa" the entire previous week.  We found ourselves at the park with the train late Saturday afternoon.  (Usually we go during the week when the crowds are much thinner).  En route to the park, we told Lucia that we were going to ride the "choo choo" which excited her greatly.  By the time we found parking at the upper lot, walked all the way into the park, we found the line to be rather long at 4:40 pm.  Yikes, the rides closed at 5, so we hoped we could keep our train promise.  The line moved quickly, and our girl was fascinated by all the kids and activity around us. We managed to get onboard before the closing time and everyone enjoyed the train!

Finally near the front of the line

Trying to photograph a nonstop girl

"Choo choo"

Last night's freak snowstorm

Well, it's the end of February, the daffodils have been blooming for an entire month, the hyacinths are popping up and Friday's and Saturday's temperatures hit 60s with sunshine beaming down on us. So when the forecast called for possible snow showers on Sunday, I pretty much dismissed it. But, last night as we relaxed around the cozy fireplace, we heard ice hitting the windows.  Then soon after, the noise quieted down and we peered outside.  Sure enough, snow accumulated on the car and all other surfaces.  White snow covering grass! 

Last night

Our yard this morning

This morning, ice under that snow and doors frozen shut!

Grandma and Lucia reading last night

Hmmm... Dr. Seuss or Field and Stream???

Birder excitement

Like her daddy, our girl notices birds all the time.  So the other day, Troy hung up the suet he received as a gift and Lucia and I watched birds come to feed right outside our dining room window.  At first, she was so excited to see the birds hopping and pecking around, but then they scared her.  "No, no, no, no," she said and leaned all the way away from the window in her high chair.

My first pony (tail)

Our first fire of the year

The temperatures dropped below 40 last week!  We took advantage of the chilly weather and built a fire, which greatly improved one of our pajama days.  Since our girl is always so interested in whatever her daddy does, she excitedly helped him carry in firewood.  Thanks also to Ken and Mara for the much-needed and much-appreciated fireplace gate.  It's a relief to not worry about the hearth attraction!

This week's art class: rattlesnake

After cutting the legs off of a white pantyhose, we stuffed one leg full of stuffing, threw in some yarn, ribbon and other fabric scraps to make a snake (ok, it kinda sorta looks like a snake if you use your imagination).  The rattle part consisted of an empty pill bottle filled with dry beans, which was Lucia's favorite part.  After hot-gluing the tongue and eyes onto the snake, I put the snake on the table for her to dot with a marker.  The rattlesnake seems to scare her when her daddy makes it hiss at her!

Valentine's Day

Troy brought us ladies this special roll from our favorite sushi place, and our daughter ended up eating most of it (yes, it's all cooked!).

The latest issue of Food Network Magazine hit our mailbox a few days ago and I have been SALIVATING over the recipes in it -- it's their one and only ever CHOCOLATE issue!

While I was seriously tempted to make the molten lava cakes for our Valentine's Day dessert, I could hardly bear the thought of 2 sticks of butter for 8 ramekins.  Yikes!  I really want to try it someday, so will experiment on company sometime since I personally don't want to eat that much butter in one sitting.  Ignorance is bliss or something like that.  I chose to make number 11 of the 50 brownie recipes -- the fudge one since Troy told me that he preferred that kind.  This homemade brownie is definitely a keeper!!

First melt butter

with two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

over low heat (sorry about the turned photo)

add 3/4 cup brown and 3/4 cup white sugars, off heat

whisk in four eggs, one at a time

add one cup of flour

spread into greased pan, bake at 325

for 45 - 50 minutes until toothpick comes out almost dry