Popcorn and Sunglasses

A friend of Grammy and Grandpa's lived here with them until recently, and gifted us some off-roading movies (which K loves), and even brought theater popcorn the day he brought the movies. K loves popcorn too.
She also loves sunglasses - go figure; here in CO it's hard NOT to love sunglasses in the winter because the sun shining off of that snow is killer.
She also loves throwing things (eg: Sharknado).
A(sunglasses)+B(throwing things)+C (popcorn) = a convenient way to wear sunglasses indoors and still see your treat.

Have you seen the Buffalo?

We went to visit Grammy at her school, and we enjoyed a lovely time learning about Hi-Liters and sticky notes, stacking dice (no, not gambling. Literally stacking large dice), and meeting Grammy's team mates. In an effort to create conversation with our shy-to-talk-around-strangers toddler, one of her team asked "Have you seen our Buffalo?" The cue worked its magic, unlocking K's heart and loosing her tongue to speak to all of the team and especially to talk about seeing the great metal beast.
It also took us on an adventure to visit The Buffalo.

The Buffalo

We narrowly missed an eternity with The Buffalo - saved only by the promise of treats in the car. (Her boots were not waterproof, and it really was cool enough for a coat in the shade, so I pulled out all the stops to get her out of the snow with minimal chasing and screaming.) As we left, we waved and promised inanimate The Buffalo to visit again soon.

Animal Farm

This is what George Orwell's book should have really been about.
Sunshine in February, family from out of town, pony rides, baby animals.. friendly dogs. Yep. It's a farming life for us. Well, to visit anyway.

We had so much fun on the pony, K didn't say much about it right away so I thought she wasn't sure about it. I guess it just took a few days to process, because then she talked about it for days and even woke up once in the middle of the night and said "Ride Tangy?".

We returned again later and played - K loved the "baabaa sheep".

Gong Hay Fat Choy!

I love Chinese New Year.  I especially love this huge party a friend of ours here in Colorado puts on every year because the Dad served his mission in Hong Kong and they have visited there multiple times. Because I am half Chinese I feel a special affinity for all Chinese traditions - by that I mean all Chinese foods and large family/friends gatherings. (This is probably because my mother is Hawaiian-born Chinese*). I have always been too lazy to put on my own organized events.. So in an effort to turn over a new leaf and actually celebrate ancestral holidays (which I just realized means I will need to actually celebrate Pioneer Day this year too for equal representation), we really did learn about the New Year this year.

We = I taught K.

I think I must have needed something as a pressure outlet from my work-from-home job, because we spent all week talking about it.

We talked about Goats - Happy Year of the Goat!

K learned to say "Gong Hay Fat Choy" and "Happy Chinese New Year".

We watched Malaysia's World Champion Lion Dance - it blew my mind.. so we made this:

Step one, spray paint a cereal box then cut to size and find decorations...

Almost done.. just missing its tail and nose.

 K actively participated so it took 3 days. Lucky me, I didn't have to think about what to do for entertainment for 3 whole days.
Lastly, we made Almond Cookies. Oops, no pictures. But they were beautiful and delicious. Well, the ones we didn't make together were.
And we went to the New Year Party. Oh Man. So yummy.

Happy New Year!

K wouldn't wear it long enough for a photo, but it looks good on J too.

They even gave out Red Envelopes with candy inside. Yum. 

I feel so inspired, I may even celebrate Moon Festival this year too. At least, we may eat moon cake.

* Modern-day Hawaiian culture tends toward celebrating via large family gatherings where food is a necessity and comes in extra large proportions. Friends count as Ohana, so the more the merrier. Oh, and a low-key serve-yourself style is also a part of the culture.

Snow much fun

We have been loooving the on and off snow here. It's perfect, in my opinion. Snow for a couple of days to play in, then sun for a few days to melt it all away.. Oh perfect winter.
One day we built a snow bunny - it is funny how quickly the phrase "do you want to build a snow man?" catches K's attention.. hmm.. who do we thank for that??

Ok, it looks more like a very surprised, leg-less pig. In my defense it was melting so quickly!!

Another day, it snowed enough to be more than a few inches deep. In keeping with proper Quillen tradition, we have introduced K to fresh nature-made (free-range?) snow cones.

Yep, brain freeze.

 Yet another day - after yet another total melt - we played in the freshly falling snow on the swings. It cracks K up that Teo always runs under the swing to get his ball (which he puts there..) when she is in mid-swing.. it makes me question his intelligence a little but hey, who am I to get between a dog and his ball?

K: "Watch out Teo!!"

More proof of genetics

We were playing outside and K looked up at the tree and said "climb?"

Yep. She is my daughter.

Breakfast with the Eldredges

Korrali decided she needed to have breakfast with her "cousins" and "Aunt Katie" (Sorry, she loves you Jason, I guess your name just didn't come out this time around).

She picked up the photo, hugged it, and then brought it to the table and contentedly ate her breakfast with them.

I love how much she loves her family.