Marine Corps Ball

Every year to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday each unit has a Marine Corps Ball. Last year we were unable to attend because I had just given birth. This year I pretty excited to get all dressed up for a night on the town! The Ball was held at the Portland Convention Center. Dinner was pretty good, drinks were over-priced and as soon as the dancing started we left. :) Below is a picture of the guys in the shop Daniel works with. Ssgt Najera, Sgt Clement, Sgt Perez and his wife Diana. This is another one of the guys. Who is that hottie on the left?

This is Clement and his date Heidi. After the ball we went to a club with them and some of her friends. We had a pretty good time dancing. As the crowd got bigger, louder, and younger we decided to go to Kales. Kales is a little Irish Pub downtown and it is tradition to go there every year after the ball .

This is Perez and Diana. Diana is such a sweetheart, beautiful inside and out.

All in all we had a pretty good time. It is always fun to get dressed up and go out but I don't think we will be doing it again for a while. By the end of the night both of our feet were killing us from all the walking, me in heels and Daniel dress shoes. Next time I plan to stick with flats! =)

It's rough being the baby!

The other night Daniel decided to mow the lawn. I was thrilled because this ment I would not have to worry about doing it while he was gone om the field. Usually the kids will both stay in while the lawn is being mowed but Lillian insisted on goin out. So out she went and I put up the baby gate to keep Logan in the house. He did NOT like this at all! He wanted to go out SO bad!!! After a few minutes of crying and trying to climb up the gate he decided it was okay to be in the house with mom. I even got a few smiles...

Most of the time though he kept his eyes on Dad and Sister while they were in the yard. He's getting so big!

When Daniel was done mowing Lillian was a little upset that the slide was not put back right away for her to play on.

She found something else to play with though until the slide returned.

Yum! Looks good, doesn't it?

She even got some yummy pool water to pour over her creation making quite the little mess. :)

She knew just what she was doing though. It is so fun to watch her play by herself. She has such a colorful imagination!

Not to mention a great sense of style. Check out those kicks!

She was cutting the grass up into little pieces for baby. What a nice big sister!

Looks good...

Growing up

My babies are growing up... I know I have been saying this in the past but it is really starting to sink in for me. Logan is 10 months old and before I know it Lillian will be THREE!!! Seems like just yesterday I was in Jacksonville, NC reading a home pregnancy test with a plus sign. Who knew one little plus sign could change my life so much! As birthday season draws nearer I am trying to accept the fact that getting older is a part of life and I need to enjoy every moment of everyday I have.

This year, since almost all the family has a birthday between September and January (making it birthday season), we are having a cousin's party. For the invites we decided to put pictures of the kids on the front. We tried a group photo but that bombed. Trying to get a good picture of one kid is hard enough let alone 6! Option two we decided to do three pictures. Ingrid did one of her girls and one of her boys, so I was to do one of my kids. Getting a good picture as I said is never easy. As you will see we had a 'great' time taking the photos! Shot one Lillian had a cheesy smile and Logan had the dear in the headlights look. The next two were okay but nothing that struck my fancy.

Then they did this! HOW CUTE!!! They really DO like eachother!

Since they were all dressed up I decided to try for a few more good ones but they had other plans as always. Logan looks a little tired here... just a little. (Soon after the photo shoot he took a nap.)

Lillian was a little tired too. Not sure what happened that made her SO upset but her cute little happy face changed really fast!

I got her to calm down but there were no smiles left in her for the pictures. With one looking down and the other looking up, I threw in the towel and went with the best one of the day. Now I look back at these photos and just smile. You can see the love they have for eachother even if they both despise the camera at times. :)

Lillian and Logan

Lillian loves to go outside to play. Most of the time Logan and I go out to join her but somedays I take advantge of the fence and let her go out with the dog and open the door so I can keep an eye on her while she plays. Yesterday was one of those days. I had a million things to do inside and Lillian wanted to go 'wee' (swing) so I put her out and Logan and I stayed in.

Logan was crawling around the livingroom while I was folding some laundry. I think he liked having free range of the space.

Every few minutes he would crawl over to the gate to take a peek out at sister.

Sometimes he would pull himslef up to look out but most times he would just look through the gate.

A few times Lillian came over to say hi and get some water. After about an hour of playing outside she was ready to come in. She set up her little high chair for brothers bear to sit in.

Brother of course had to go investigate...

Lillian was not too happy about that but she cleaned up the spilled water all by herself and put the bear back in the chair to play.

While she was cleaning up Logan crawled back over to the gate to look outside.

Lillian saw him standing at the gate and raced over to put her hand on his back. This made me so proud! She loves her little brother so much, it makes me so happy to see her protecting him.

This picture brings almost makes me want to cry. My babies are growing up right before my eyes! I am so happy they will always have eachother. They may fight over toys or get upset when the other one takes a special blanket but they love eachother thru it all.

Lillian's 'friends'

This last weekend, Lillian spent the night at Grandpa's house. Although she has gone to my Mom's house mutiple times, this was the first over night at Grandpa's. Grandpa, LeeAnne and Uncle Joe of course spoiled her rotten! On Sunday they went to the Lewis county fair. They played games, rode rides, and watched the Demolition Derby. After the fair they went to Chineese then brought Lillian home. Along with Lillian, she brought home two little 'friends'. Let me introduce you to pinkie and fishie. Since she came home, she has carried these two blow up floaty things EVERYWHERE. Yesterday we went to WINCO and pinkie drew lots of attention to our cart to say the least!

When we came home she quickly made an outfit change and in the pool they all went! I wish I knew how to post videos on here because not only was she dancing with them in the pool she was singing and dancing!

Lillian loves her new little 'friends'. I hope they are short timers but while they are here I will continue to laugh with the rest of the neighbors as she dances in the pool with them! :)

Logan 9 1/2 months

Logan loves water. He loves to drink it, be in it, and, most of all, splash it EVERYWHERE!!! The other day we were outside enjoying the sunshine while sister napped. Logan had so much fun splashing the pool water!

Every so often, in between splash fests as I like to call them, he would crawl over to me and sit on the blanket.

Isn't he CUTE!

He wouldn't stay on the blanket long before he would beeline back over to the pool.

Splish splish splash!

He enjoyed every second of it!

He even stopped a moment to pose for a picture with momma!

As you can see he was pretty wet but very happy!

He's so cute! Don't you just want to pinch his little cheeks and kiss him all over! :)

Pickles!

In the Henrickson house we love Pickles! About three years ago our neighbors Dave and Alethea invited us over for a BBQ and in this cute little container were the most delicious pickles I have ever eaten! 'Where did you get these?' I asked. 'I made them.' Alethea responded. 'Teach me how...' I responded, and she did! That summer She planted a garden and when it was time to harvest she invited me over and we picked these cute little cucumbers and in a few short steps we had pickles! The next year I tried to plant my own cucumber plants but they did not produce more than a handful of cucumbers. This year I put in 4 cucumber plants and on Sunday I made PICKLES!!!!You start by picking your cucumbers, gently wash them, then slice them.
You will need a few ingredients to add to your cucumbers. Apple Cider Vinegar, Pickling Salt, Sugar, Mustard Seed, Celery Seed, Onion, Garlic, and Dill.

You mix together 4 cups Vinegar, 4 cups Sugar, 1 1/2 T Mustard seed, 1 1/2 T Celery seed and 1/4 cup Pickling salt in a stock pot. (this is enough to do 3 Qts of Pickles so you may need to double or triple the recipe depending on how many cucumbers you have.) Heat on Medium until the sugar dissolves stirring occasionally.

While your brine is heating, you will need to slice your onions and peel your garlic. As many of you know, I used to sell Pampered Chef. During the time I was selling, I picked up a few useful tools, some of which I use everyday and others I have never used. One of the tools I purchased was the garlic peeler. I am more of a pressed garlic person so up to this point I have never had to peel garlic. If you ever have had to peel garlic you know it is no fun! After peeling one clove I remembered I had this nifty little peeler. Let's see if it works!!! You take your clove and place it in the peeler. Slowly roll the peeler back and forth a few times.

Pick up your peeler and dump out it's contents onto your cutting board and....

wahlah a peeled clove a garlic and you didn't even get your hands garlicy!!!

I will use this tool more often!!!!

Once all your onion(s) are sliced and your garlic peeled you can start stuffing your jars. I say stuffing because cucumbers shrink A LOT and as you will see if you don't stuff your jars you will have a lot of wasted space in your jars. (One onion sliced will accomidate 3 jars so slice accordingly.) To fill your jars you put in 1/3 your onion, LOTS of cucumber slices, a head of dill and 2-3 cloves garlic.

When your brine is ready, sugar is dissolved, you pour your brine into your jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. After all your jars are full, place them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes to process. Bring your water to a boil, put your jars in and start timing when the water returns to a boil.

After the ten minutes remove your jars and let them cool for 12 hours. You may want to wash off your jars before storing them, they can get a little sticky in the water bath. You will want to wait a few weeks before you eat your pickles but once you do ENJOY!!!! :) MMMmmmm PICKLES!!!!!!