The Hendricks Family Experience

April 3, 2009

Mason’s 13th Birthday!

Filed under: Birthday, Kids — Steph @ 8:19 am


Here I am getting behind again. Having three birthdays six days apart makes it difficult for me. At least that’s my excuse. A few of Mason’s friends came over on Saturday and Chris took them to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D at the IMAX theater. When they came home the ran around outside playing whatever it is 13 year olds play. There were plenty of sticks, oh I mean swords involved. We made pizza but apparently they only kind his friends eat is cheese, (boring!).  They claimed they were not hungry because they ate popcorn at the theater. It is the only group of boys I have come across who where not ravenously hungry after running around outside for an hour. They did have a well balanced dinner of ice cream and soda. They finished off their evening playing on the Wii. On Sunday, Mason enjoyed opening his gifts, eating his favorite special meatloaf and 4 cheese macaroni and cheese.  We followed it up with a white chocolate cheese cake covered with Reese’s peanut butter cup crumbs and white chocolate.  After the amount of birthday cake we have had this month it is good we don’t have another birthday until August.  Click here to see more pictures from Mason’s birthday.

March 29, 2009

Best Birthday Cake Ever!!!

Filed under: Birthday — Steph @ 8:38 pm

This is my slice of birthday cake. Thank you Michelle for finding and introducing me to the best cheese cake I have ever made at home. I missed that she wasn’t here to help me make it. It was so good I had to have some for breakfast too. Then I didn’t look at the scale at the doctors office. It was worth every extra pound. That is why I try to make one only once a year, otherwise I would become very fat.

It is 32 oz. of cream cheese, 1 cup of unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 2 cups heavy whipping cream, and 6 eggs. Whipped up and then cooked in a water bath, which insures it is cooked evenly. It comes out extremely rich and creamy.

Click here to see more pictures of my cheese cake.

March 23, 2009

Happy Birthday to me!

Filed under: Birthday — Steph @ 8:43 am


Chris thinks he will be ridiculed for buying me a washer and dryer for my birthday. I could have certainly had a new ring or something but boy am I excited. They are going to make my life so much easier. No more bending over, so many washing, and drying options, quieter and most important a much larger capacity. I was able to wash and dry twice the amount in half the time it normally takes me. Now on to my yummy water bath cheese cake!!! Yum Yum!

Claire’s baby quilts

Filed under: Kids — Steph @ 7:49 am
Claire's baby quilt Claire's patchwork baby quilt

I have finally finished Claire’s quilts!!! I normally only make one, but when I went to buy the backing for the first quilt I saw the cutest new fabrics and I just couldn’t pass them up, so I decided to make a smaller patchwork quilt as well. They both turned out really cute and I am very glad I was able to get them done before she was born. Click here if you would like to see some close ups of her quilts.

March 19, 2009

Happy 8th Birthday Alexandra!

Filed under: Birthday, Kids — Steph @ 2:50 pm

Yesterday we celebrated Alexandra’s 8th birthday. It took me most of the day to convince Kate it was not her birthday. She is catching on and Alex was nice enough to let her help open her gifts. She even sang a nice happy birthday song to Alexandra instead of to herself which is what she has been doing since the party on Saturday. Between the two of them we have the cheesiest grins I have ever seen! If you want to see more pictures from her birthday click here.

March 16, 2009

Only 7 Weeks Left!!!!

Filed under: Parents — Steph @ 8:57 am
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It is hard to believe how time flies. If I have my way it will be more like 5 weeks. It has taken me 6 kids to let Chris take a picture of me pregnant some where other then at the hospital. I regret this, especially when the other kids want to see pictures of me when I was pregnant with them. We all know you look your best while you are in labor. I was trying to get a picture of Kate feeling the baby, which usually involves her sticking her face right into my belly. She would not cooperate, which is pretty normal for her when the camera is out. We can’t wait for Claire to come! (I think everyone here is tired of me being pregnant!) March is such a busy month it should help us all pass the time.

Build-A-Bear Party!!!

Filed under: Birthday, Kids — Steph @ 7:44 am

Final shot!

Originally uploaded by Hendricks_NY

Alexandra has been going crazy for weeks waiting for her birthday party at Build-A-Bear. I think she woke up at six in the morning and started asking if it was time to go every 30 minutes. I took her to pick out an ice cream cake and balloons to pass the time. Everyone had a great time picking out their animals and marching all over the store. We then came back to the house for cupcakes and ice cream. I think everyone ate 3 or 4 cupcakes before running off to play. Later in the evening we took her out to eat at 5 Guys burger and fries. Thats one party down and one more to go. What was I thinking having 3 birthdays in March all a week apart.

March 13, 2009

Daddy-Daughter date!!

Filed under: Kids, Sightseeing — Steph @ 8:07 am

I am playing a little blog catch up before I get any further behind. Last Saturday Chris took the girls out for a date. They told me I was a girl too, so I got to tag along. He took them up to the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum in Poughkeepsie. We spent a little time checking out the ice floating in the Hudson River and then they spent an hour running all over the museum checking everything out and doing most of the activities three or four times. The museum was really small and we knew it was time to go when all Allie was doing was playing hide and seek, or playing tag with a new friend she had made.  We had time to kill before dinner so Chris, Sarah, and Alexandra played a round of miniature golf, some ski ball, and air hockey. Kate’s favorite part was pulling the tickets out of the machines and stuffing them in her pockets. The girls thought that was the best time ever. He then took us all out for teppanyaki. The girls loved the susi and their dinner entertainment. Even though we were all stuffed the girls insisted on topping it off with some Cold Stone Ice Cream. We had a great date and the girls are already asking when they can do it again.

Click here to see more pictures from their date.

March 1, 2009

New Videos! This time on Vimeo… UPDATED!

Filed under: Kids — chris @ 2:44 am

Well, after a long wait, and even longer comparisons and feedback, we decided to STOP publishing videos to YouTube due to the changes they made.  These changes affect the quality of videos viewed.  We decided to go with Vimeo because the quality is better.  You can even do HD, which is good because we now have an HD camcorder.  Vimeo is free, but  you can upgrade to a better class of service, which you cannot do with YouTube.  Apparently people have been complaining about these quality issues with YouTube for the better part of a year, but YouTube isn’t quite sure why they are occurring.

Anyway, here are some of our videos.  They are a combination of piano recital videos, and Mason’s choral concert.  Both occurred in January instead of December due to New Yorkers’ fear of winter weather. Click on the photo to go to the related video album.

Kids’ Christmas piano recital Choral Concert
Mason’s 7th Grade Choral Concert		 Chris with the All-County Orchestra

And more to come soon! We’ve got video of Chris in the All-County High School Symphony Orchestra, and it is about ready to go.

UPDATED!  I ended up quickly editing the video we took of Chris at All-County Orchestra at the end of January, and published it last night, well, early this morning.  My lack of sleep is your gain! Click on the All-County Orchestra link to go to the corresponding video album.

Now we should be mostly caught up, but you never know what I’ll find going through other videotapes!

February 8, 2009

Winter fun photos!

Filed under: House & Yard, Kids — chris @ 6:53 pm

OK, so if you’re one of the few, the proud, who visits any of our online stuff (blog, Flickr, YouTube), you’ll know we’ve been slacking off lately. And we keep generating digital information, so I had to do something about it. I decided to publish some of our backlog of photos, starting with a set titled “Winter Fun 2008″. Just some photos of the kids having fun in our Winter Wonderland.

Click here to see the rest of the set!

January 29, 2009

Don’t take my picture!!

Filed under: Kids — Steph @ 5:18 pm
Kate trying to hide from the camera Here is a smile! Kate's new hair cut Kate's new hair cut Kate's new hair cut

Click on the photos to view larger.

She got a haircut earlier in the week so I decided to curl her hair for church. It was so cute I had to try and get a picture. She tried to hide or pout or just run away. She drives me crazy! I did manage to get a few though it was painful. I also decided to get a recent shot of all the kids. Laying them on the floor seemed the easiest way. I just had to shoot quick between Kate looking at the other kids or putting her feet in front of her face.

Chris’s 15 Birthday!!

Filed under: Birthday, Kids — Steph @ 5:13 pm

Did I say 15!! Yikes that makes me feel old. He is also taller then me now. He has started to bug me about when he can learn to drive which thankfully in this state doesn’t start until after they are 16. I need the next 11 months to let that soak in. Chris is a great kid and it is hard to believe how quickly the time flies. I have a few years left with him in the house. I am not sure what I will do when the time comes for him leave home. Cheer, cry, etc. I am sure I will have a lot of mixed emotions.

Girls Christmas Dresses

Filed under: Kids — Steph @ 5:06 pm

Christmas was great!! The girls loved their dresses from Grandma. Alexandra was a little disappointed that she also didn’t have a matching dress.  We found Kate’s by accident, so we were lucky just to have the two that matched. They were cute. I tried to get a picture of Kate and Sarah together, but Kate doesn’t cooperate when the camera comes out.

December 24, 2008

New videos!

Filed under: Kids — chris @ 12:00 am

We have a number of new videos up on our YouTube channel.  It’s been busy around here with Christmas concerts and the like.  We have Chris’ first high school concert, playing his bass in both in the jazz band and the concert band, and Sarah’s very first choral concert.  As you’ll see, they both did a great job!

Unfortunately we didn’t get a couple in, thanks to the local fear of winter weather.  Mason’s choral concert and all of the kids’ piano recitals were cancelled, but they will be on again in January.  This means we’ll have more to show everyone then!

To check out the videos, click here.

In other news:

  • Sarah auditioned for a part in her upcoming school play, ” The Princess and the Pea”.  She was chosen for the part of Princess Gillian.  She will be singing as well as acting, and is very excited.  She has rehearsals every week, and will until the performance in April.  
  • Mason passed his Board of Review and earned his First Class in Scouts.  This new Scout troop has been great for the boys and they are learning a lot.  Chris has taken on a bunch of service projects, including gathering food for the Washingtonville Food Bank.
  • Chris has also been working hard on bass.  He earned a spot in the All-County High School Orchestra.  We have been told that it is unusual for a 9th grader to get in, so we were delighted!
  • Allie is our constant piano player.  She is always figuring out a new song by sight reading, or making up her own.  Not bad for a seven year old!  Both of the girls regularly play piano in Primary.  They also don’t have to be badgered to practice.  We like that.
  • Kate is true to her nickname, “Busy Lizzie” (Elisabeth is her middle name).  There is no keeping up with her!  She has learned how to be a big helper from her brothers and sisters, and is eager to help with any project she can get in the middle of.  She is also very excited about snow and Christmas presents.

December 10, 2008

It’s a Girl!!!!

Filed under: Kids — Steph @ 8:34 am

Claire Claire

This is Claire, we are still deciding on a middle name.  Mason was a little disappointed because he really wanted a little brother but I know he will get over it because he loves to be Kate’s big brother.  (He just wanted to kick Chris out and share his room with the baby.) We are thrilled and glad that she is healthy and growing.  The scan took a while because she kept moving around.  I guess she still has a lot of space to move around in.  Our next step is bunk beds which is good because Kate is getting a little big for the crib.

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