Sunday, June 7, 2009

A Berry Fun Weekend

This Saturday Nick, Alexa and I took a trip to the local bookstore to see Strawberry Shortcake. When she walked in we all had to giggle a little, because her head did not fit well through the doorway. Alexa was very excited and liked listening to the stories that were being read. After they finished reading the books, each child got their picture with Strawberry Shortcake. Alexa gave her a big hug and ran down the stairs to tell me she really smelled like Strawberries.

Strawberry Shortcake did not do much besides stand on the stage and move her head, but the kids were going crazy for her.
Alexa was all smiles when her turn came. She tried her very best to play it cool, but I could see that she was a little nervous.
She gave Strawberry a hug, a very very quick hug. The picture looks like a much longer embrace, in reality she wanted it over asap!
My mom made me the cutest apron for mother's day, and I have been looking for a free weekend to break it in. Alexa and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking and making pizzas. She is starting to love to bake just about as much as me. We have been working on reading recipes and she is doing an amazing job. When I see her reading the ingredients to me, it just reminds me how grown up she is getting.
One of the Strawberry Shortcake books talk about crepes, so of course we had to make some. We made dessert crepes filled with vanilla ice-cream and topped with fresh raspberries. They were pretty tasty!
These are the cookies Alexa made almost completely by herself. We each made a batch of cookies, peanut butter for her and cream cheese sugar cookies for me. She read the ingredients, figured out the measurements, added and mixed everything on her own. She was also quick to point out that the cookies she made were just a little better than mine and they were:)
Thanks to Fresh and Easy, we were able to make homemade pizzas. They are so fun to make and Alexa goes crazy with the toppings. She is a veggie loving girl! All in all it was a pretty great weekend.







Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Music

Quick side note. I know that the music does not really got with the post this time and I try to pair them. This is what was playing on my Ipod during the drive out to the camp ground, so in a wired way it works! (right?) :) If you ever need a pick me up this song works, you can help but dance around when its on or in my case while I am driving drum on the steering wheel (Gary style). This song has got me through rush hour traffic many times!

Camping Clark and Karas Style

We recently went camping in Flag with my family, rain and all! It was a muddy mess, but we still had so much fun. It was nice to spend some time in nicer weather, with family and making a couple new friends. It has been a while since I have been around a camp fire making smores and it was a first for Alexa. Nick (who says that he does not enjoy camping) even had a great time, riding quads, playing with Alexa and spending time in the WILD :)
Several families from my mom and dad's church went camping as well, and it was so fun to meet everyone. We had not seen many of them since the cruise, and of course Nick spent sometime getting to know everyone :)
Alexa was very worried about the mud she saw from her window on the drive to the camp grounds. She was pretty convinced that she was not going to enjoy comping and tried to get us to head back to Grammy's clean house. However the second she stepped out of the car, she was sold and though camping was the best.
The drive in was very muddy! It rained on and off all day, making for muddy conditions, which were very fun of course. Who does not like to drive around in the mud:) When you go just make sure you have someone in a truck who can pull you out just in case, Blaine and E were out safety net!
Oh yeah tip number two, make sure you have enough wiper fluid.
Alexa and Kennedy quickly became friends. I think Alexa spent 99.9% of her time running around with Kennedy. They spent time watching Barbie movies, writing in their diaries, coloring, riding quads and zooming around in a go-cart. Watch out though they are now known for running over small children :)
It was so fun to get out and ride the quads, even though we got very muddy. It was so pretty up there, I could have stayed forever.
This is the meadow that was right next to where we were camping. It was a great place for Alexa to learn to ride her quad and zip around with her pal Kennedy.
The camp fire was so huge, that it was still smoking the next morning! It took a lot of water a couple people shoveling dirt to get it put out.
Thanks mom and dad for inviting us to go camping it was GREAT!