Eine verschneite Ostern

Happy Easter! You may remember the verdant beauty of last Easter. This Easter, however, was a different story:

We made due though. Eliza was very excited about her Easter basket which included such treasure as Princess Scotch Tape, Hello Kitty bubbles, books, sand toys, a game and of course, candy! We had a good day at church. It was an exciting day as Primary President as ALL of my teachers (and substitutes) were out of town. Thankfully, we only had 5 kids. So, we made a party of it. But enough of my babble. You want pictures, right?

In other news, happy birthday to my baby brother, D! Here is a picture of him looking like a cave man. Love you, brother!

Schönen Valentinstag!

Germany hasn't fully yet adopted Valentine's Day. In the stores there is chocolate and cards for your loved ones, but the practice of giving out valentines at school hasn't yet crossed the pond. However, Eliza wasn't hearing it! She wanted to make valentines for her class. So, we did! She personally cut and decorated all the valentines. I did draw the patterns to help her. I also wrote on the backs. But otherwise, she did everything!

**I bought the candy before February. In full disclosure, it took one bag of mini Chupa Chups that I bought off the clearance rack for 1.69 Euro. Shout out to Tamsyn for finding the paper! She is really the best!!! We had the other supplies on hand.

Mothers Day

I had a fabulous Mothers Day. Unfortunately due to aforementioned technical difficulties, I didn't get to talk to my own mother, but I had previously wished her a happy mothers day. Here is a pic of me with my favorite mothers day present. Strange to think that it has been 5 years since the mothers day I found out I was having her. I chose to transfer my mothers day present to her this year, and she got this awesome Playmobil doll house.

Easter 2011: The Pictures

Catch-up: Mother's Day Saturday

Wow! I've really fallen behind. This year for mother's day, I figured I would treat Claron. Claron LOVES roller coasters. So, I found tickets on Groupon to go here:

That is Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier.

Eliza rode this ride at least FIFTEEN times. She is fierce.

This is the view from the ferris wheel which Eliza LOVED!

We indulged in funnel cakes with strawberries. It was AWESOME!!!

Note: There is a really funny picture of us "on the ferris wheel." I will scan and add soon.

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter this year. Clark, Lilly & Violet came from Irvine. On Saturday, we took the girls to an egg hunt. They really enjoyed it. Later in the day, we went downtown and went shopping and then went to dinner at Fresco. On Sunday, the Easter bunny brought the girls candy, books and toys. Scott & Lisa came over for a ham dinner. It was a lovely weekend!

Catch-up: Father's Day

Now that it is September, it is finally time to write about Father's Day. We had a lovely Father's Day this year.

Eliza made a tie for Claron in nursery at church the week before.

Claron had donuts for breakfast before church.

Claron's dad and Clark, Lilly & Violet came to visit, and the girls wore matching dresses to church.


The whole crew after church.

We had a great day. A funny aside from that day... Eliza is very territorial about her chair. Violet found a work around though.... Camouflage!

I'm baaaack! (oh and Easter too)

So, some of you, I'm sure, have been wondering where I have been. I have had technical difficulties. It actually involved making decisions on storage, hardware necessities, etc. Claron and I were at an impasse for quite some time. BUT our friend Jerry came to the rescue.

Thanks to Jerry, here are the Easter pictures:

Wall-E Likes to Move It

Wall-E Likes to Move It! from Amanda Ridge on Vimeo.

Eliza dances with her iDance Wall-E

December Pics

Santa Barbara Christmas Parade

Our friends Chris & Jen own a business that will design, decorate, hang, remove and store your Christmas lights. It is called Santa Barbara Holiday Lights. This year was the first year that they had a float in the Santa Barbara Christmas Parade and they asked us to join in! Chris made an amazing float in only THREE DAYS!!! It was really amazing. The theme of their float was the shoemakers workshop. Chris was the shoemakers and his friends were elves. Eliza was a Christmas tree. It was so much fun!