The 6 Bears

Monday, April 13, 2009

Noah's birthday party

Birthday parties in both of our families have always been a family sort of affair. This is why we decided to celebrate Noah's 4th birthday about a week early, Saturday the 11th, since we had Stephanie, Shari and Jesse visiting. His actual birth date is April 19th.

Here is the video of the birthday song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Kf2S0yicI

And here is the video of Noah opening presents...in double time. It was too difficult and long (10 minutes) to break up so I just sped it up and now it's just over 5 minutes long. It's pretty funny to watch in fast forward if you want to actually sit through that much. This is mostly for the grandparents =). The speed does break up the in-between-opening-presents time though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w-2sDLgDIE

a showery sort of day

As you can see from the invitation to the left, Saturday was Shari's bridal shower! The only change from what is typed is that the shower took place at 3pm instead of 1030am since there was another very popular shower (over 50 people in attendance) that took place at the exact same time which most of our guests were invited to. So, I moved ours!

I do have to say, I am particularly proud of my home-maid invitation. I did it myself, making use the small amount of creativity that I possess. I think it looks great. It matched her invitations pretty well (see below), since her colors are sage and black.

It was a very busy weekend at the Biers household but we managed to get everything done in time for the shower. I had prepped Jesse by having him answer and video record 20 questions for our "Nearly Wed" game that Terry helped me with.

I also asked Jesse if he would be so kind as to give the guests a few minutes to spend with him outside of church and if he could be prepared to share the story of how he and Shari met and were engaged. He did very well and you can't even tell from this picture that he, and Shari, were a little nervous.

Here is the Jesse's video recorded responses to all 20 questions.

The second game we played was called "Etiquette 911." Terry helped a lot with this one as well. We came up with off-the-wall crazy things that "could" happen at a wedding. Things such as Shari getting spit up on by a baby, a guest having undiagnosed Tourette's syndrome and shouting obscenities during the ceremony, a farting groomsman, Jesse sneezing mucous all over Shari during the vows, etc...you get the idea. =) I gave each guest an etiquette card and asked them to fill out what they would advise Shari to do in such a situation. After Shari would open a gift, I would have the giver read their card and response. It was quite funny.

Stephanie is signing in using a Thank You card envelope.

The sign in table.

Everyone is chatting right before I had Jesse share their story.

What a good looking couple Jesse and Shari are.

Shelli Rehmert, Elaine Schwanz and cousin Tawnya Strauser filling out their Etiquette 911 cards.

Left to right: Kathy Hult, Nikki Rehmert, Cheryl Sitorius, Aunt JoAnn Doering filling out their cards.

Shari missed half of the 20 questions and thus had to take a Dove candy egg out for each wrong answer (but they were pretty hard). Don't worry, we gave them back to her.

I'm assisting Shari with the coolest gift that was given, which was of course the one I gave =). Just kidding, she got a lot of great gifts. It is a red leather recipe box. It came with neato dividers so you can organize your recipes. I loved it so much I want one for myself now.

The gift pile, those that had been opened.

Grilling utensils.

The pretty lady close up.

Here's her sweet nonstick rolling pin...it also makes a good weapon.

Shari's second pizza pan is being unveiled.

Here is what we were ultimately here for, at least according to my plan anyway, giving Shari cooking resources with gift recipes!

excitement

Why is this girl all blurry? She's so excited about our company that she's bouncing in her seat, clapping her hands and talking up a storm. She woke Friday to a full house - Stephanie, Shari and Jesse were around the breakfast table giving Evie their full attention and the girl just loved it.

Clapping hands, smiling lips, twinkling eyes. Sorry Steph, Shari and Jess - Terry didn't think to take any pictures of you guys b/c of how adorable that girl is. =)

I have to throw this in here as well. Check out my first braided bread thingy! It was awkward to cut but it tasted great! It went well with our beef stroganoff that night.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

" A Mother's Gift "

So, I've been putting this off. It's necessary to include if I really am canonizing and archiving our lives. It was quite embarassing in the beginning but I'm over my own vanity now.

What in the world am I rambling about?

Our paper did a story about me...or rather, something Evie and I did. And not just any story, a FRONT PAGE story w/a big weird looking picture of me and Evie (remember how I said I'm over my own vanity - it's true, but it's also true that it's a weird looking picture, except for cute Evie!).

See what I mean? I wasn't lyin' when I said "front page"

Click here if you would like to read the article from their site, or here if that link doesn't work: http://www.gothenburgtimes.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2009/03/27/49cb7feff0fa9?in_archive=1
or if that doesn't work: http://www.gothenburgtimes.com/ and search for me and it should come up.

Or none of those work, you might have to open up a seperate browser and do the search yourself. Stinky blogger won't work for me!

My side of the story is this. When Evie was about 5 months old, she had stopped nursing for her late evening feedings which was right before Terry and I went to bed. I had a decision to make. I could either just completely drop that feeding or I could pump. I wanted to keep my milk supply as healthy as possible to save money and therefore, it would be advantageous to keep that feeding going. Also, this was the same time that Evie started on cereal and I wanted to be able to mix the cereal with real milk. So I made the decision to pump for that feeding while Evie slept.

Then I remembered an interesting link I had seen on my friend Megan's blog which had always been in the back of my mind: http://www.breastmilkproject.org/. I was intrigued and emailed her for more information. If you check out that site you'll see that it is for donated breast milk. Donated what? Yeah, you heard me. Most people, myself included, had never ever heard of such a thing. Lots of people (mostly sex crazed Americans) probably think this concept is absolutely crazy but I think it's amazing and awesomely great. So I signed up. And that's what the article is about.

When I finally finished the process of becoming a qualified donor in February, which is all detailed in the article, I sent huge box full to their center where it is all tested and pasteurized and formulated, etc. I'm not sure how much I sent b/c I didn't measure, but probably somewhere between 100 to maybe 200 ounces.

After they received my shipment (which they paid for, they paid for EVERYthing), they sent me an article that I could forward on to my local newspaper if I wished people to know what a cool thing I had done. I immediately thought "no way," but then remembered that all of my friends I had visited about what I was doing were interested. They were interested and surprised b/c they had never heard of anything like this before. So I reconsidered the article they sent me and forwarded it on to our paper with a prerequisite - that I didn't want the article to be all about me.

It's a good article b/c it's not all about me. The huge picture is just a little deceiving. Oh, and my excuse of how silly I look is that I totally thought the reporter / photographer was taking a picture of Evie so I wasn't even paying attention. I was cool with Evie's face being in the paper, but I not so much mine. My name was alright but my face??? I just didn't want people to think I'd done it for personal glory. I did it b/c I wanted other women to know that this really sweet cause exists. So many mothers have extra milk and then their babies grow up and they have nothing to do with it. It's liquid gold. You don't want to throw it away, you feel bad doing that. The article didn't say this, but breast milk has over 100,000 compounds in it that they can't even begin to imitate. It's truly what God intended for a babies diet to be. So why not pass that on to women who can't give it to their own children - like premature babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (75% of milk goes there) and poor sick babies in Africa (the other 25%).

The continuing story on the next page.

So, I'm proud to have helped. I will do it again if and when we have another child. =)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Evie's project:

"I must feed myself!" Good thing I bought a big bib...

What I get to see when I wash dishes:

It's great isn't it? It's HUGE, almost as tall as Terry. Great job daddy. I think it looks like Shrek w/those icicles in it's head... Noah kept taking his car buttons out. Go figure. He won't even share w/a snow man =)

Noah's project

Back home, the Black Hills have been blasted w/crazy winter blizzards since it's been "spring." I checked the calendar just to make sure that it is indeed spring - It happened March 20th, not April 1st, as you might have thought. We even got a snow storm here 2 nights ago.

Nonetheless, the robins are out. That usually means spring, right? Those robins reminded me of a Christmas gift our church secretary, Terri, gave Noah - a birdhouse. He had to paint it and then help daddy put it together. And my-oh-my, does my boy LOVE to paint. He had a great time. And even though

the project is done, he's still carrying around his paints so he can play with them.

*Note to self - buy water colors at Walmart next week.*

We brought the birdhouse inside when it started raining before the storm and now that it's clear again, Noah insisted we put it back outside.

Now we just need to get our bird feeder out and get some actual birdseed in it and we'll be set. Well, and it would probably be good if we did a little planting or landscaping or whatever you call it. What do I know? My dad forced me to garden and WEED (how I hated those spiky weeds!) as a child and I've hated it ever since (hear that dad, yep, I'm blaming YOU =)).

The boy, the box and the completed paint job. I didn't help him AT ALL. I was proud of my perfectionistic self. =)

Daddy is pounding the nails into the birdhouse. I like this shot b/c Noah looks like he's locked out and is knocking to get back in =)

Evie enjoyed getting outside even though it was way cold.

TA DA!

"Magnificent"

chicken kiev

This is truly one of Terry's favorite meals: Chicken Kiev (forget that spiral sandwich nonsense =)). I hadn't made it for over a year b/c Evie was little and then I was prego... It's quite labor intensive. But it's just the best when you cut into the chicken and the butter pours out...

You see, you have to cut the chicken breasts in half but still keep them connected. Then you have to pound them thin w/o putting a whole through the chicken, as I'm prone to do. You have to make the butter filling and chill it so you can roll it up inside the chicken. Then you have to roast the bread crumbs for the crispiness - which I didn't do. I just crunched up corn flakes b/c I like that best and duh, it's easier. Then you have to bake for like 45 minutes. The meal takes forEVER. But it's worth it.

So I decided that since it was so much work, I would share it. Plus, I think I'd like to do this more often whenever I make a meal I'm particularly proud of and it's somewhat attractive =).

I got the recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I just went to look it up again, but you have to be a member to see the actual recipe - it's their Cook's County business... So, if you're that interested in this yumminess, you'll just have to pay for their membership or email me and I'll scan my recipe and email it to you!

At any rate, it was delish.

This is their perfection. So what if mine's not quite as pretty?! My mouth didn't know the diff.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Evie's birthday video!

Here is the afore-promised Evie birthday video. I hope it shows up. If not, just click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NociE54xr7g

12 months of Evangeline Kristina

A year ago, March 31st, 2008, Terry and I were doing some late morning shopping in Walmart. Two hours later, at 124pm, Evangeline Kristina arrived a safe and whole and beautiful 7lbs 5oz and 19.5 inches long. We are SO very thankful that God has given us an entire year to love this precious baby, whom I must soon begin calling a toddler. Sniff sniff.

We had a small birthday party for the girl squirrel last night with the Doerings - JoAnn and Herb, Terry's aunt and uncle. Their daughter and her husband were out of town so they were watching their three kids. So we had a party of five in addition to our 4 Biers.

Evie was delighted with her chicken pot pie, and insisted on feeding herself. Once the cake arrived, she was more than willing to dive right into her slice. We'd been talking about how she would show no trepidation with that particular feat, unlike Noah who refused to touch his first birthday cake until we cut it up for him. =) After the cake was gone we opened presents. Rather, Noah "helped" open all of Evie's.

We had a really great time. It's just hard to believe it's been a year already. We have much to be thankful for.

And here is Evie's year in pictures.

Evie's first day.