Miscellaneous March

Another day feeding the cows.

 Lego Robot by Clyde.

Riding in the tractor.

At the zoo with our Overall cousins.

Clyde's new room and Lego space.  He got to move to the big room by Alice's.  Mommy got the little room for a guest/sewing space.  All the school stuff got moved in with the art stuff in the front room.  Mommy feels a little better for reorganizing, but could still use some storage space!

Candy experiment from a library book.  We've been going to the library once a week or so.  The kids really like it.  They pick out so many different interesting books.

Pizza Night - Thank you Overalls!

This year the Overall family had our name for Christmas.... lucky us!  Kara made Clyde and me two great aprons and got Alice an apron with lots of accessories.  She made us a menu board to go with them and got us some cookbooks for kids.  The other night we had one of our family favorites, homemade pizza.  The kids really enjoy picking out their toppings.  Alice used tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, lots of olives and some hamburger.  Clyde used a lot of ham and pineapple, some pepperoni, and olives. 

YUMMMMMMMMY!

Caught You!

The day after Christmas we had the Rydalch Christmas dinner at our house.  Ben made bread and popcorn balls.  I made shortbread, turkey and ham.  Everyone brought tons of other food, especially mashed potatoes - I think there were 4 pots!  Kristen, Britta, Josh, Katie, Julie and Kara brought their families.  It was great to see everyone, but I got vinegar in my eye and believe me, that's no fun!

I had fun making a dessert display, and Alice had fun raiding it:

Stories with Santa 2011

We headed to the Arid Club again for "Stories with Santa" accompanied by Aunt Shelley (who was a little tired but always fun), the Wises (look at Martin's bright blue eyes!), the Overalls, Mumsy and Kay.  It was the first year that both kids were really happy to see Santa.  There weren't quite as many people as previous years but the kids seemed a little wilder this time.  Another little Harrison (not our sweet one) befriended Alice and they ran around like mad people.  We all had fun.



Visitors & Pony Rides

Ben was really busy working and we weren't quite up for company through the winter. We made up for it these last two weeks. On the 30th, we had dinner for Mumsy, Gayle, Tommy, Sharon, JG, Rollins, Kay & Gregory (turkey dinner, mmmmm). The 1st Ben's family & some friends came for lunch and pony rides (about 35 people). The 2nd my childhood friends Joe & Mike came with their families (that's who the photo is of - 5 kids & 4 adults plus us). The 3rd Shelley called and wound up coming over with 3 Seattle area friends and their 3 children. We had just gotten the house clean when Erin's family came to town, so we had a big Rydalch dinner on the 8th (about 35 people again). Then on the 9th it was branding day so I made homemade rolls, potato salad and banana muffins for that and Janelle's family came over for our 0-1-2-3-4 photos and breakfast (huckleberry pancakes, elk sausage and fruit). On Sunday the 10th, Merche called and brought Chispe and her 5 kids out for pony rides and to feed the calves. So our tally was around 100 for the last couple of weeks and we have more coming this weekend. It's fun to be able to share our home, yard & animals with so many good friends and our families. The kids love seeing their cousins and friends.

Stories with Santa 2010

We went to the annual Arid Club "Stories with Santa" and the kids had a good time. The Overalls, Bjorkmans, Snyders, Wises, Wards, Shelley, the Yearsleys, and Jill & Josh joined us.

Our First Houseguests

My sister Janelle and her family were our first guests. It was really fun to see them and have her stay in the house we stayed in as kids during the summer. The kids rode the pony, we went for walks, Janelle took Clyde to the beach and we managed to get a little more unpacking done too. The kids loved playing in Sadie's cage. I was tempted to get one for when I want a little free time!

The next week Kara (Ben's sister) and her kids, Jack and Sam, came for a visit. We went for a hike, rode the pony and just played. It was fun to see them.

Halloween

So, my friend Kay gave me a cool hat after my surgery and one day mom made me wear it with a vest, a little window on a stick (magnifying glass), and a weird black candy (licorice pipe). Mommy said I was Sherlock Holmes, but I'm just Clyde.

My sister had to wear an orange sack with a face and some leaves on it. She wasn't very happy about it:


Elliott and my friend, Olivia, came over. Elliott borrowed my boots and hat and wore a crazy cow vest. Olivia had on wings. It was so funny how all our parents made us wear funny things on the same day!

Alice and I got into my wagon with some pillows and went with mom and Kay.


We walked around the neighborhood and my sister fell asleep.


Some of the grown-ups were dressed up too. This is Lisa. She is a blue rooster. I got to pick out some brightly wrapped candies to give to my daddy (but he did let me try some).


I stopped to look at Lisa's dog through the fence.

The next day a lot of my cousins came over and they were dressed up funny too!

Mommy gave Nora a matching outfit so she and Alice could get pictures. Alice kept crying.

Grandma Rydalch's birthday

We had a party for Grandma Rydalch's birthday at my Aunt Kristen's house. Here I am with my Aunt Kara and Jack:


This is my cousin Rachel:


Grandma Rydalch brought her dad, my Great Grandad Hiatt, over to visit. We had a fun time.


Here we are, four generations!