Tag Archives: pizza

March 8, 2015

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After returning from Canada we had a really calm week, as in we just hung around the house and had low-key evenings.  The highlight of the week was on Sunday when I met up with several of my girlfriends from my college days at OU. We (and most of the kiddos, though not Chase) met at COSI for an afternoon of fun! I haven’t ever been to COSI (at least since I was a little kid) and I thought it was great. I actually wish we’d gotten a membership earlier in the winter so we could have headed there with Finn on the cold harsh days of winter. We will definitely be heading back as we probably only explored 1/4 of what there is to do there, if that. We had fun in the kiddie play area, the water zone where Finn and I sat inside a submarine, and several attempts at pulling up a bowling ball using a rope that when the ball fell it launched a tennis ball as high as the top of the ceiling. The kids thought it was great. And while none of us adults had much time to chat as we were all chasing our kids around it was lovely to see everyone if only for a short while!IMG_20150308_111910898 IMG_20150308_114044705 IMG_20150308_114052162 IMG_20150308_120018962 IMG_20150308_120124347 IMG_20150308_120241955_HDR IMG_20150308_122558251 IMG_20150308_130730451 IMG_20150308_132132281 IMG_20150308_133102965 IMG_20150308_133257624 IMG_20150308_133430678 IMG_20150308_133517147 IMG_20150308_133706203 IMG_20150308_151349 IMG_20150308_151303

Friday evening and most of Saturday I was at our Women’s retreat for church. Finn and daddy had a fun guys night in which included a pizza party! Check out Finn and his stringy cheese.

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Birthday week (times two!) is up next, stay tuned!

December 14, 2014

DSC_0469Wow, I’m finding myself constantly behind these days. But our days have been loaded with activities and we’ve been having a lot of fun!

I was able to take Friday, Kevin’s birthday, off work and I figured it would be fun to have a cookie decorating party in the morning with Finn and Sam. I made the cookies and frosting the night before in hopes of having everything ready to go.  Wow, what a fun and messy time we had as evidenced by the photos 🙂 Finn had lots of taste testing of all the cookie decorations. DSC_0427 DSC_0428 DSC_0430 DSC_0432 DSC_0435 DSC_0437 DSC_0438 DSC_0439 DSC_0451 DSC_0452 DSC_0458 DSC_0460 DSC_0465 DSC_0471 DSC_0473 DSC_0478 DSC_0485 DSC_0486 DSC_0480Later that evening we gathered with family and friends and had a pizza party to celebrate Kevin’s birthday. Unfortunately, I realized after that I didn’t snap a photo of the more than 12 different pizza’s we had from 6 different shops. It was a tasty night, for sure. You’ll just have to believe me. I did get a couple cell phone pics of Kevin blowing out the candles on his devil’s food cake made by yours truly. I’ve been having a lot of fun spending time in our new kitchen testing out lots of new recipes.  The cake wasn’t super impressive, but the frosting was delish!IMG_20141212_202930770_HDR IMG_20141212_202942581 IMG_20141212_202948500 IMG_20141212_201537460_HDR IMG_20141212_201415427 IMG_20141212_200549672IMG_9755 IMG_20141212_200515656 IMG_20141212_200508673 IMG_20141212_200411815_HDR IMG_20141212_203731047_HDR IMG_20141212_203757534 IMG_20141212_203948293And here Finn shows his new skills of racing along the floor on his back. It was actually really cute, he laid down next to Uncle Andy and then realized how he could scoot using his heels – and he was super fast. It was pretty hysterical. IMG_20141212_205112418 IMG_20141212_205122593Our sweet girl Cameron also celebrated her birthday on Friday too. Yep, she and Kevin have the same birthday. Here is our 13 year old girl in her party gear. DSC_0497Saturday we made a surprise visit to see Grandma and Grandpa in Mansfield to visit their churches inaugural Nativity Open House. I believe they had over 160 nativity scenes to view, many from their own collection. Finn quickly found the kids Veggie Tales set! We enjoyed dinner out and some play time at Grandma and Grandpa’s too before heading home to gear up for Sunday’s festivities. IMG_20141213_153958547 IMG_20141213_154653454IMG_20141213_154517046IMG_20141213_201249054 IMG_0951We ended the week with a bang on Sunday with our inaugural Candy Making festivities. I remember from my childhood when my parents hosted other families for a candy making day to make hard-tack candy and buckeyes. All of the kids would come too and help a bit with candy-making and also made some crafts.  Earlier this fall my dad suggested that our newly renovated kitchen would be the perfect place to revive the tradition – and I thought it was a fabulous idea! And here you go – images from the day (sorry for those out of focus!) Unfortunately Amy was sick and wasn’t able to come. It was a long afternoon, turned into night, but we had a great time and all of the kids really enjoyed helping.  I made some notes of things to tweak for next year, and we will be scheduling the date far earlier so we can have it on a Saturday!  We ended up making 6 flavors (6 double-batches) including cherry, lemon, black licorice, buttered rum, sassafras, and cinnamon. Mom and dad had made peppermint a couple days before as the trial run. We also made fudge (which was an interesting experiment and needs some perfecting for next year!) and buckeyes.  And mom prepared several crafts for the kiddos, including reindeer ornaments, jingle bell bracelets, and foam ornaments. Everyone had a lot of fun!IMG_20141214_145247542_HDR IMG_20141214_145305810_HDR DSC_0506 DSC_0511 DSC_0509 DSC_0514 DSC_0524 DSC_0519 DSC_0521 DSC_0525IMG_9827 DSC_0540 DSC_0541 DSC_0546 DSC_0549 DSC_0554 DSC_0556 DSC_0557 DSC_0560 DSC_0562 DSC_0543 DSC_0563 DSC_0564 DSC_0565 DSC_0569 DSC_0571 DSC_0574 DSC_0575 DSC_0577 DSC_0580 DSC_0582 DSC_0583DSC_0499 DSC_0585 DSC_0588 DSC_0590 DSC_0592 DSC_0594 DSC_0604 DSC_0600 DSC_0606 DSC_0608 DSC_0614 DSC_0526 DSC_0527 DSC_0529 DSC_0531 DSC_0533 DSC_053420141220_10553320141220_10544420141220_105618

September 21, 2014

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We’ve had a fun week in the Armstrong house!  Tuesday was Griffin’s 18 month birthday! Wow. I can’t believe it. I thought it would be fun to do something to celebrate his half birthday so we made chocolate cupcakes together and then indulged in one before dinner 🙂 Finn taste tested the batter before baking, he approved with a “mmm”. DSC_0128DSC_0129DSC_0133DSC_0142DSC_0146DSC_0147DSC_0149DSC_0153DSC_0161DSC_0163Tractors are all the rage for Finn lately. He wakes up and first thing in the morning says “tak-tah” and wants to hold the one from his bookshelf (that isn’t a toy!). Kevin mowed the yard one evening and Finn just wanted to watch the entire time. He even went and retrieved his farm tractor with animals to have with him while he watched from the window. DSC_0176 DSC_0171 DSC_0184Another of our family favorites is pizza, and this week was Slice of Columbus, held downtown at the Columbus Commons. It was a beautiful fall night to be outside and enjoy (way too much) pizza from many places around Columbus. The proceeds benefit Nationwide Children’s Hospital and this year there were TONS of people, though the lines moved fairly quickly all things considered! Finn also enjoyed dancing and riding the carousel. DSC_0186 DSC_0188 DSC_0203 DSC_0190 DSC_0217Griffin’s 18 month checkup was on Friday, and he checked out great! He weights 23 pounds, 14.5 ounces (46th percentile), is 32.25″ tall (44th percentile), and his head circumference is 48 cm (68th percentile). His growth charts look super and he surpasses the targeted marks for development, walking, talking, and so on. He got one shot, which he watched, and didn’t even cry! To enjoy the day afterward, he and I headed to the Zoo for a brief visit. Of course, within an hour of the doctor mentioning the biggest area of concern for kids his age is safety  (as they do everything more – run faster, climb higher, etc) Finn got a nice bruise/scrape on his face during our afternoon adventure. He slipped off the running board of the Jeep that the kids can climb on in the Heart of Africa, all while I was holding his hand and standing right behind him.  Ugh! You’ll see he has a little shiner to show for it! But he’s a tough cookie and doesn’t seem bothered after the original incident.  He is beginning to adventure away from us and into crowds of kids. He kind of watches and observes what is going on and then after a short bit looks around to find us and usually walks over to check in before heading back. It’s cute!DSC_0236DSC_0233DSC_0238Saturday we headed to Lynd’s Fruit Farm for the second year to pick apples. Last year Kevin, Finn, and I headed out on a solo venture, this year we went with some friends in a play group. It was lots of fun, full of climbing on tall hills, riding the barrel train (twice for Finn, all by himself!), and a wagon ride around the apple farm. Then we picked more apples than we’ll know what to do with – I think it was a peck! I’m gonna be looking into making some applesauce I do believe!DSC_0241 DSC_0245 DSC_0252 DSC_0256 DSC_0259 DSC_0261 DSC_0263 DSC_0266 DSC_0268 DSC_0274 DSC_0280 DSC_0289 DSC_0291 DSC_0292 DSC_0298 DSC_0299 DSC_0301 DSC_0303 DSC_0307 DSC_0309 DSC_0310 DSC_0314 DSC_0317 DSC_0319 DSC_0321 DSC_0323 DSC_0326 IMG_20140920_123041819_HDR DSC_0330 DSC_0331 DSC_0358DSC_0361Next up we headed to Enon, where we had tasty pizza and cake at Brett & Missy’s to celebrate Pat’s birthday! We spent time outside and in their screened porch, it was such a nice afternoon! Finn, in particular, loved playing in the sand he found in the backyard. And the yellow ball, of course, was his favorite of the three he was playing with. Everything is “wellow”. DSC_0379 DSC_0399 DSC_0394 DSC_0383 DSC_0384 DSC_0377 DSC_0385 DSC_0367 DSC_0363Sunday was the Family Fun Day at the New Albany Classic. We enjoyed a few hours after church walking around, petting the horses, donkeys, llama’s, and bunnys and watching a pig race. We watched the horse jumping for a short bit too, Finn wasn’t too interested in sitting for long. The plants that decorate the jumps (on the grass) are rented from Millcreek for the event – so I’m always curious how everything will look! I love watching the horses, and petting them too. Such majestic animals. DSC_0137-2 DSC_0099 DSC_0100 DSC_0090 DSC_0089 DSC_0073 DSC_0066 DSC_0064 DSC_0049 DSC_0002 DSC_0027 DSC_0037 DSC_0130-2 DSC_0134-2 DSC_0110 DSC_0121 DSC_0104 DSC_0051

On the remodeling front: our bathroom in nearing completion as Kevin hung the mirror and light fixture this week. We aren’t set on the light location or direction it is facing (we kind of like it facing downward better) so we are letting it ride to see how it wears on us. Brett did some fine detail work on the ceiling between the dining room and kitchen this week – it looks really great. This is our fix for having part of the downstairs with cabinet-colored trim and the remainder of the downstairs being oak trim. We’re thinking someday we may go to white/off-white woodwork rather than oak, but we aren’t ready to make that call just yet! The pull-out drawers for several of the cabinets came in this week too, as well as the final corner cabinet. It will all be finished soon. Our freezer for the pantry has arrived too, though it hasn’t been filled up just yet. DSC_0143-2 DSC_0147-2 DSC_0148-2 DSC_0149-2 DSC_0150-2 DSC_0151-2

Here are a few other shots from the week: Finn continues to talk and play with the dogs (especially Lily because she follows us around) all the time. First thing in the morning, last thing at night, “yeh-yee, yeh-yee, yeh-yee”. And he’s sporting his airplane PJ’s from Gisle. And we finally brought our houseplants back indoors, and Finn has found the “dirt”. Maybe working on a fix for that soon! Yikes.  And, since Sammy is potty training, Finn is sort of interested in the potty, so we sat him on it for the first time this week. No results, but he seemed to like trying and we’ve done it a couple of times since. IMG_20140918_203648 IMG_20140918_203016879 IMG_20140920_082905338 IMG_20140920_083110033_HDR DSC_0136DSC_0226