ok, we're off to canada. almost. the van (old faithful it is not) wouldn't start this morning, of course i can't blame it on her, we are the ones who left the lights on. the battery was so dead we couldn't even jump start it. so, patrick went to buy a new battery. auspicious beginnings!

the long awaited party post (warning: may be time consuming)

Preparation

I know they don't remember their first birthdays, but i do. i was so excited about charlie's party, i'd been planning it for months. and months. i'd lost so much sleep over menus, invitations, decorations, music. Going to garage sales to get theme decorations. Scouring used cd stores for the right background soundtrack. I don't know why it matters to me, but it does. It's fun. Initially, I wanted to do a whole lunch, traditional picnic food with a twist. Big baskets of fried chicken, biscuits, done family style at long plank tables. Outside. With pony rides after lunch :-). Bobbing for apples, until someone told me people don't do that anymore because it's somewhat questionably hygenic to share the same water like that. Country Living was going to come do a story on it :-). But that would have been waaaaay too expensive and too labor intensive as well. So we settled on an in between meal, and were able to invite more people. Mom and Lar came, and helped so much. I hope we had fun, I did. I know patrick was glad it was finally over!

Above: mom and hannah unwrapping caramels for caramel apples, our take home gift.

i apparently have little control over where i get my pictures and text to go i'm sorry. anyways, hannah is mixing up the poppyseed citrus vinaigrette dressing for the sweet potato salad. There was a ton left over, so i guess this opinion was not shared by all, but i absolutely loved it. i like potato salad ok, but in the end it just tastes like mayonnaise. this had orange juice and poppyseeds and pecans and red onion and all kinds of things. so good!

Lar and I working on the fondant. Here, there are only a few options available: the white, then you mix color in yourself, and i hear that's difficult to get it distributed through evenly. or small packages of various colors, primary or pastel. so, that's why we ended up doing each layer a different color, all patched up at the back. It was alright.

We had quite a few things I wanted to get done around the house/yard, as well. Here, Patrick is digging holes for a new fencepost, and gate. I love seeing Patrick working with the kids, or at least letting them "help." I know charlie will learn so much from him.

We had some regular white cake, and another layer pumpkin with cream cheese filling.

Someone getting curious a little early!

Party



We used alot of animals and stuff from his bedroom on the tables. we already  had the sawhorse and planks in the garage. the basket i got at a garage sale for $1. and the fabric at Hobby Lobby for 50c a piece, i think. we also had ham biscuits, herbed devild eggs, and sliced apples and cheese.


Any time you're outside, you're taking alot of chances! it was still very, very warm, first weekend in october. our grass hadn't been planted, so it was dirt everywhere. but i think that contributed to our theme :-). everything kept blowing away, reminding me we are in fact in KS.

I am so thankful my mom and Lar made the effort to come all the way here for such a short time. Having their help, but even more just celebrating with us, is so special to me. Thank you guys!

 

Post Party

In my opinion, the after party is what it's all about. The post adrenaline rush, kind of like walking out of an exam. But more fun :-). You can relax, eat because you don't have to worry about the guests having enough. have a drink, if you're into that sort of thing.

The tag says thank you for coming. we couldnt' leave them out, because it was so hot they'd all melt. But of course when people start to leave I forget we even have them. So we had a ton left over, and ended up giving them to the neighbours! 



"I'm cool and glam like Auntie Lar!"



"Please, no more pictures!"

I love what Charlie's doing here.

Before i had children, i never anticipated how i would feel when i looked at them. Actually, it happens even more when I look at pictures of them. maybe because in pictures they aren't whining or fighting or pooping :-). They just look angelic, to me anyways. I am so thankful God gave me my children, and thank everybody that had a part in celebrating with us, not just then but all through their lives.

happy belated birthday, Charlie!

the new and not at all improved crisp family blog



alright folks, i have no idea what was wrong with the old page, but blogger, since it's free, i guess, is not in the customer servicce business, so here we are. i might go back and do some from charlie's first birthday, but other than that it'll just be current activities. because there are more than enough of those to choose from! Thanksgiving was wonderful, we saw lots of family, some extended family I'd never met before. We loved having Uncle Brett and Aunt Jess around, they are awesome with my crisplings!



of course these aren't in order. (really, if i came back with some perfectly well written, well designed blog, you wouldn't even believe it was me :-). we got our christmas tree thanksgiving weekend, which i think should be a tradition. patrick actually cut it himself! this was the first of many times charlie tries to get up close and personal with the tree.



i can't decorate the tree without christmas cookies, so hannah and i whipped some up. i tried not to control too much as she decorated the cookies how she wanted. (with nana overseeing)

my mom always gives gifts for each sunday in advent, so we opened the first ones a day early.

this is the cookie girl, right here! i think she ate 6. just that one night.

after our second thanksgiving dinner on friday, there was some target practice going on. i remember 6 yrs ago (i think), my first thanksgiving in haviland, before we were even married, patrick teaching me to shoot in this exact spot. this year he helped Jess. charlie and i just watched :-).

so ever since this summer, hannah loves to pretend she's roasting "mousemellows". here a pile of leaves did the trick.

thank you for going the extra click to our new blog, and i'm sorry for the last few months! Patrick has been working very very hard at his new job. He would like to hire another operator but right now there's only one, so he's sort of doing that job and the manager/sales job. he's often out even after dark, and it's getting fairly chilly here! The kids and I are doing well, we are just starting to babysit more. That, I hope, will keep us busy. or busier. we love our house decorated for christmas, i really will take some pictures. the most recent renovation was getting the clawfoot tub back in the main floor bathroom, Patrick's working on redoing all the old plumbing. more leaks! i'm not sure where's he's picked up all this knowledge, but i'm so proud of him. oh, charlie's walking!!! yeah! we're thrilled. i was done lugging him around :-). he also got 3 teeth all at one time. ok, thanks again for being here. i PROMISE to do better now that i have no excuse!