These are a few of my favorite things

Josiah has two enduring favorites in his life:

Big Froggy:

and Popcorn:

Life is sweet:-)

Happy (early and SURPRISE) Birthday to my mom!

My mom's birthday is September 12 so imagine her surprise when we celebrated last Friday night at the Honkers game:-)  A little background:  The Honkers are a summer collegiate baseball team based in Rochester that our family has taken quite an interest in over the years.  We faithfully attend at least a few games every season and usually do so in the comfort of a luxury box or the esteemed patio compliments of my dad (thanks dad!!!!)  No long beer lines or waiting for food for us, it's delivered to the box/patio prior to game start and available on demand.  Good living.  This year's day to be on the patio was August 5th and Dad decided to use the opportunity to surprise my mom with family and friends waiting for her when she arrived.  Like I said, her actual birthday isn't until September 12th so she was caught completely off guard as most of us would be 5 weeks before our actual birthday:-)  It was a beautiful night and we had so much fun celebrating my amazing mom and enjoying yummy food, drink and of course, the game...

I think we surprised her:-)

Cousins!  Josh - Marc - Brian

Blaine - Tressa - Jen

Olivia - Terry - Blair

Dad - Laura - Cody

Grandma Sissy - Kyle - Rosie

Gloria (Go-Go) - Robin

No game is complete without the YMCA!

Jen - Marc - Callan - Slider

Josh - Dad

Avery

Payton - Madison

Slider and the birthday girl!

"Don't worry officer, they only rode across the street this way":-)

Friedt Family Vacation 2011

Well, I started with over 350 pictures but was able to whittle them down to a manageable amount...still too many to just post the pics though so here is the slideshow instead:-)  As you'll see, we had a really fun time and amazing weather!  A BIG THANK YOU to Jay and Renee for letting us crash at their "cabin" (read: beautiful lake home) for the week, we appreciate it so much!!!  Josiah is still talking about going on "bay-cation" at the "caven" and wants to know when we can go back:-)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

St. Patrick's Day has become one of the biggest parties of the year for my side of the family and this year was no exception!  My dad (dubbed Michael John Patrick O'Becker for the day) holds nothing back preparing the feast fit for an Irish king!  This year he even corned his own beef..deee-licious and picture worthy (see below).  Other items on the menu this year included colcannon, mulligan stew, green beer, guacamole, and mint chip ice cream among many other yummy green/Irish items. Everyone gets in on the preparation:

Henry helps Nana make the green jell-o salad...no, not traditionally Irish but green and yummy anyway!

A small taste for good measure...

DEE-Licious!!!

Yumm-o!!!

 

Along with the yummy food there is always plenty of green clothes and of course, pieces of flare....even the littlest ones get into the fun:

And of course no celebration is complete without matching PJs and an endless stream of group shots...some more successful than others:-)

6 kids under age 3 group shot...mildly successful:-)

Fun at Nana and Papa's house

These pictures are actually from Super Bowl Sunday but I hadn't had a chance to post until now.  Enjoy!

"I wash dee haaands"  Josiah's favorite activity of late...washing his hands and face

Also a favorite...crayons!

Hanging out with Helen and meeting her friend Mahmet

I love this one:-)

Helping Papa make corn muffins

No more batter you say?  No problem, I'll make Cheerio muffins instead!

Learning to be nice and gentle to babies

His father's child

Watching "tee bee" with Auntie Nykki

Greseth Muffins!

Ever since I can remember, it has been a special breakfast treat to have Greseth muffins.  I can vividly remember making them with my Grandma Greseth, Aunt Terry and my mom when I was little, it's a very special memory for me!  They used to let me stir the batter, put the muffin cups in the tin and help get the batter in the cups...after we taste tested the batter of course, yum!  While the batter is tasty, the final product is even better.  In order to make them "official" Greseth muffins you have to top them with dark Karo syrup.  A few people prefer them with regular maple syrup (not as good in my opinion) and some people even prefer them *gasp* with NO syrup (travesty if you ask me!) Josiah and I spent the day at home on Sunday just relaxing and hanging out so I decided it was the perfect time to bake his first batch of Greseth muffins and see how he liked them.  He helped me with all the things I used to enjoy like stirring, muffin cup placement and batter tasting and when he tasted the final product (Karo syrup and all) he LOVED them!!  Check it out:

Note the concentration!

"Mmm, batter!!"

"Want see it!" He had to personally oversee the baking process, cant' trust the timer you know!

Ready to eat!

Yummy!!!

Adopt-a-family 2010

It was another successful year for our annual Adopt-a-family project!  For those of you who don't know, in lieu of giving each other gifts, our family has opted to "adopt" a family in need and buy gifts for them instead.  This year we "adopted" a family with 8 kids who needed a little help to make Christmas a merry one in the gift department.  With everyone's GENEROUS donations and purchases, we were able to get each child several articles of clothing along with at least 2 toys/items on their wish lists.  We were also able to give a grocery gift card and a Visa gift card as well.  We have done this for a few years now and it gets better every year!  I am the "organizer" and while most people think that is a big job, I really love it!!  What better way to express the "reason for the season" than to be able to give to our brothers and sisters in Christ and share the gifts that He has richly blessed us with.  Thank you again to ALL who made this year's event a huge success, your generosity is humbling!  May God bless you and keep you this holiday season!  Merry Christmas!!!!