Playing in the Snow - Zeke Style

Winter means cold, which means we don't go outside to play very often. Zeke loves to be outside and takes every opportunity to stay outside whenever we need to go out. So when I went out to brush off the car on Monday I figured it was a good chance for Zeke to play outside.

He's not a big play-in-the-snow sort of kid. He just shuffled through it and explored the contrast of walking on snow versus walking on concrete.

He also loved standing at the edge of the driveway watching for cars and trucks and telling me all about them.

I didn't bother with his gloves because I figured he'd just take them off anyway (they're a bit big). To my surprise and amazement, his hands were nice and toasty warm the whole time because they were inside his coat sleeves.

Making a Meal

Sunday dinner was more excellent than normal this week. It's always good, but usually trying out new things is less than fabulous. However, this week it was fabulous. When we chose the menu, we picked an old standby main (Italian chicken), a new, largely experimental side (scalloped potatoes), and an easy vegetable (steamed broccoli). On Sunday morning, Aaron decided butter cookies were the order of the day for dessert.

I read probably 6 scalloped potatoes recipes online to get ready to make it up as I went along. The potatoes took took longer than I planned to prepare, but all went well. Then we decided not to grill the chicken because it was cold and snowy out, so Aaron cooked it in an electric skillet - something we had never done before with this recipe. And the cookies we had made only once before; good recipe but the initial results were only semi-successful. That made three new adventures in one meal - and that's risky. Most new recipes need some tweaking even when we deem them tasty enough to enter into our normal rotation.

But we are so pleased to announce that dinner was a smashing success. The chicken was awesome. (I think I like it better this way!) The potatoes disappeared quickly, so they must have been good. For once no changes are needed to a new recipe. And the cookies were amazing - Aaron used mini cookie cutters to create bite-size buttery treats. Three newer recipes, three triumphs. We couldn't resist sharing them with you - they are all on our recipe blog for you to enjoy next Sunday or any day of the week.

Steakhouse Dinner

There is a Texas-style steakhouse just down the street from where we used to live in Salt Lake, and ever since Draper went to Texas we planned to eat there with him. He's been back for a while, but we finally made plans and went. It was a fabulous night out with my family - Mom and Dad Carlile, Draper and Carrie, and Dynna, who claimed Zeke as her date for the night. (She even got a goodnight kiss!)

I had a mushroom burger and Aaron had steak and shrimp. Zeke had, as our waiter put it, a 'smorgasbord' of all the plates at the table. Zeke ate wheat bread and colored contentedly while we waited for our food and then had a miniature five-course meal: Aaron's chicken soup, my fries, Dynna's seafood pasta, Grandma's Texas rice, and then our waiter brought a one-scoop ice cream sundae. Zeke was really already full but there was definitely room for ice cream.

The food was really good. We'll have to go back some time to try out the other items on the menu. The prices matched what the food was worth, and we were so impressed that the portions served were perfect. The best part was the company. How often do we take the time to stop being busy and sit with those we love most? We had a great time. Let's do it again, and next time we can go for Japanese food.

Preserving the Memories

There are moments that we forget, even just transiently, that come back full force when we flip though our photo albums or open a folder of digital pictures. Aaron and I treasure our picture collection and the stories and feelings the photos represent.

This month I began the project of scanning my parents' printed photos into digital form: making them easier to share, organizing them chronologically, and creating a backup. We started with baby Dynna, primarily because she will want baby pictures for a wedding video in the near future. I have scanned and named about 2 years of pictures so far.

Though these pictures, I see tangibly just how Zeke links our two families together. I see Zeke when I look at a young Aaron. And I see Zeke when I look at a a two-year-old Draper as well.

Aaron (3 years old)

Draper (2 years old)

Child of the Technology Age

We knew it was inevitable that Zeke would be a computer nerd. Just look at his parents. And it's true. Zeke seriously loves computers. Unattended computers will be explored, and computers in use will be supervised. As we stand up from our computer chairs, Zeke hops right up and starts typing away. His computer activities are typically limited to long strings of text, unsuccessful file searches, and navigating back and forth through picture slide shows, although he has become quite adept at using Aaron's flight simulator (not at flying, just taking off and hitting the reset button when the plane crashes). It's practially impossible to keep him away, so we just let him do his thing and then close all the windows and rearrange the icons after he is done. The other day we looked over and he had the system restore window open. Now our not-quite-two-year-old has his own computer account. And he has already started to personalize it.

Helicopter in Action

Ever had a helicopter flying in your kitchen?

And, thanks to this tiny heli, Zeke now says 'helicopter'.

Noisy & Malfunctioning Sounds on Blogs

I've been to several blogs recently and there seems to be a trend to put a playlist of music or have some sort of music playing when you first load the blog. While these things can be fun it can really be a pain in the butt when you are trying to keep the volume down to avoid waking others; STUPID HEARTBURN. Tonight I got to listen to a song that sounded like it was being dragged down like it was playing on a dieing cassette recorder, thought that we had gotten past that sort of thing. Ah, the joys of technology. So for those reasons mainly I probably will never do such a thing to my blog. ^_^

Flying into 2009

Aaron's flying club hosts an aptly named Freeze Fly each New Years Day. We dressed in layers and Zeke wore his new snow gear and we stayed fairly comfortable. Aaron, as club treasurer, was put to work immediately supervising raffle tickets. Zeke wandered around and played in the snow a bit, thoroughly enjoying being outside for an extended period of play.

Not many planes flew because it was too windy. We didn't fly either because by the time the wind died down and Aaron was free of the raffle, Zeke was ready for his nap. So we went home. We'll have to find another date for our January flying.

Aaron got a mini helicopter for Christmas and he flew that in the kitchen after we got home. It's a lot of fun to watch. Zeke has a very important job as helicopter retrieval: if the heli lands on its side, he picks it up and puts it upright, ready to take off again.