Dec 13, 2010

New ipad

I am being a total dork and writing this entire blog posting from our new ipad that Carl won at his holiday party at the depot last night! It is pretty sweet but a right huge pain to get online for the first time. I ended up shutting our entire Internet down this afternoon trying to change security settings! I am learning a lot on this though and am having a blast. The calendar on here alone is worth it to me! I am really grateful though that we were able to win this since I know that we would have never set aside the $500 to buy one ourselves. This also solves our kindle decision, since this works just as well if not better in that area :) Carl is not taking to it to well which makes me wonder if it is just cause it has been causing so much hullabaloo Internet wise or if he is just not a mac person. Personally I am loving this setup. Just seems to make more sense to me! So I guess it is all mac for me from now on! Plus I am loving typing without having to actually push down any keys. Makes me twice as fast and amusingly more accurate, ha ha

Nov 24, 2010

Thanksgiving Goodies!

Jake with his sweet potato pie in the right and pumpkin in the left.

Bert showing off his coconut pie skills.

Sweet potato

Scratch Pumpkin

Impossible Coconut Pie

Cherry Cheesecake

We made 15 pies/cakes today for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow! 4 coconut pies (one was for a friendly neighbor), 5 pumpkin (2 from scratch, 3 from the canned pumpkin), 3 sweet potato from scratch, 1 lemon cheesecake, and 2 cherry cheesecakes (one of which was for Carl's work feast today)! Whew! Took about 8 hours in total!!

Carl was in charge of the cheesecakes and did a fabulous job as always! I have always been a sucker for my hunky husband and his cheesecake skills! He even made his own graham cracker crumbs in the food processor :) Alex helped me out with the coconut pies, adding all the ingredients to the blender and sprinkling the coconut on the tops. Jake was a super helper, working with me for over half the time on both the pumpkin and sweet potato pies! For the most part, I was HIS assistant! :) He peeled the sweet potatoes, measured out all the ingredients and he even took some of the pies from the oven on his own. And, special props go out to Lauren and her friend Sidney for making all the crusts for me! Thanks so much gals, I really appreciate it and they were Fabulous looking!

Now, I think I am going to go take a rest!

Nov 17, 2010

Ancestry

I have been having a lot of fun lately trying to piece together Carl's family history. There have been quite a few suprises, some unknown relatives unearthed and names discovered. I now have him back as far as his great grandparents and as far wide as some 3rd cousins, and that is just awesome. This is where it gets tricky though, as the two main branches of his family tree come from Ireland (notoriously hard to trace) and American Indian (lots of looooooong names there brother!) But, I think that is what is going to make it the most fun! I have had the wonderful help of my ever patient Mother-in-Law Jackie and her box 'o memories that has helped tremendously! Now I think I am just going to have to roll up my sleeves and get down and dirty at the Family History Library.:)

Nov 15, 2010

Sick Day

I am sick and not appreciating it! I told Carl that I would get back into the blogging world so that our family and friends could be informed as to what we are doing. (I certainly fell off the wagon for a while) but I am back on and sadly, on this first day all I am thinking about is being ill. Ha

But, being sick has given me the opportunity to do some things I have been wanting to do and haven't in a while, so I thought I would give you a list...

1. Lay in bed for hours during the middle of the day
2. Watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights whilst lying in the bed
3. Using all the super hot water in the water heater so I could spend 20 min in the shower
4. Sit in front of the computer and do silly things with no/little guilt
5. Wash some laundry (but only a bit..seriously, we were running out of socks...)
6. Sit in lounge pants and comfortable shirts all the live long day
7. Make myself a large cup of hot cocoa

So, here is to looking on the bright side of sickness and hoping that, while I can see the positives, this goes away soon!!

May 1, 2010

I are a college gradgiate!

Well, it took 5 years to complete a two year degree, but I did it! I am an official college graduate. Yay!! I got my Associates in Liberal Arts...a nice way of saying I learned a whole lot of unrelated things. Just never found anything I wanted to specifically major in there. So, now I get to move on to eastern Michigan University for their Reading degree and if it works out, to Wayne State for a Masters in Library Science. Congratulations me!! : D






More Talent Show Goodness

In addition to the solo act jake did, he also participated in his class act. His teacher Donna made them super cute firefly outfits that had little lights all over them. Here it is, enjoy!

2010 Burger Talent Show

The Burger Talent Show has come and gone for another year. This time was particularly interesting as Carland I did not get to go. We spent the afternoon in the ER, trying to figure out what was wrong with Carl's back. Came home from work a few days earlier saying his back was hurting him, and by Thursday is was completely seized up. Luckily it is just muscular, but unfortunately, Carl has to sit and lay and sit and lay and sit some more. It's getting old fast!

So, since we were not in attendance, Alex was our videographer this year! He went with Jackie (Gram) and Lauren (cousin) and did a fabulous job for someone who is only 7 years old. "I didn't drop the camera at all!"

So, here is Jake "hip-hop" dancing to "Lean Like a Cholo". Enjoy!

Apr 25, 2010

Happy Birthday Carl!!

Carl is 35 years old today! All my newer pictures are on the other computer, but I wanted the world to know! :) Happy birthday Carl!

Apr 14, 2010

Kite fun


The boys got kites for Easter, so a few days ago we took them out for a test spin in the field by our house. Here are some of the shots we took. Enjoy!

Apr 11, 2010


The more I push Alex to improve his writing and spelling, The more I know I am going to miss days like this. I love his little signs.

Feb 28, 2010

Carl's First Talk

Carl got to give his first true talk in Sacrament meeting today. He has been up once to bear his testimony after he first got baptized, but never had done a talk yet.  He did such a wonderful job!  His topic was Forgiveness. He got in quite a few zingers while he was up there and had the whole congregation laughing. My favorite one was when he asked the congregation to pray for the strength to forgive him if he had bored them. Hee hee! Great job Carl!

Feb 23, 2010

Retraction

In the last post I unfairly stated that the cold bug that has been visiting our family did not like Jacob. It came over for another visit last night to explain that it did indeed like and appreciate Jacob very much. So much in fact, that it came back to visit him in particular. So, I am writing this retraction in the hopes that Jacob will not have to stay home from school again tomorrow and the bug will feel appreciated enough to leave and make it's way to another family. I am also hoping it does not take revenge out on me for besmirching it's character.

Feb 22, 2010

Martian Death Flu



As I am typing this, Alex is in the next room coughing, Carl is coughing laying next to me and I just got done coughing. "The Martian Death Flu" has come to live with us and I just wish it would go away! Alex has been sick since LAST Thursday. Yes, that would be 12 days now! He got a cold from one of his many sources and it turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis.  So now he is on antibiotics. Carl went to the doctor today for what we thought was strep for all the pain it has been causing him. But, it turns out that it is just that same nasty cold, and his sore throat is from all the draining. (sorry, not a nice visual) So, now he is on a nasal spray. Jacob woke up the other morning with a nasty cough, but the cold must have decided he wasn't worth it and left thim that day. I have been hacking in the morning and evening, but my in between times are reletively cough-free which is a blessing because I get to take care of all the sickos! Here is to hoping this cold leaves soon and never comes back!

Feb 21, 2010

Trey's Got Talent!

Trey and his friend participated in a telent show shortly before Christmas. As this is my catching up time since we were so lame, I figured I would start back at the beginning and work our way down.

We were all very proud of Trey and the great job he did! Way to go Trey!


 Notice all the cheerleaders behind them, such studs!

Feb 18, 2010

Student of the Month

Jacob was nominated by his teacher for Student of the Month! Let me tell you, he has been vying for this honor since he was born, and his day finally came. When we went to basketball practice on the 2nd, Carl noticed that Jacob was nominated. His teacher had not let us or him know since she was waiting for it to be announced over the PA in the morning. So Jacob got a huge suprise and let everyone know how thrilled he was by screaming up and down the hall and dragging all his friends out of practice to see and scream with glee some more. Congratulations Jacob!!

Feb 9, 2010

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Seems our family may not be in the minority as much as we thought. The radio station did a survey this morning trying to see how terrible snow really is. Seems that over 40% of local Michiganders thought that over 20 inches would be awesome! We at the Bellanger home agree. We felt totally overlooked when that snow storm went right over us and on to Washington. But, today seems to be our lucky day for the most part. Winter Storm warning is in effect for our area and we could see as much as a foot by tomorrow mid-morning! Hooray!!! In honor of this occasion, here are some wintry photos we have taken so far in our measly rationing of winter snow.

Feb 1, 2010

2010 at the Bellangers

Ok, so we have been super lame bloggers...again! Computer went kaput and we got busy.

We did have some fun though, and I do plan on downloading all the photos of it. Here is a general "how's life been" for us just to get caught up.

Carl- Depot, Depot, Depot
Chris- School, School, School
Jake- Scouts, Basketball, School
Alex- Wii, PS2, School

Yes, lame is what you call that! But, we have a goal for 2010 to be a more interesting and fun family. So, bookmark this if you haven't already. There will be many photo's to upload and new experiences to share with all our family and friends!!