Lucky Me

I have two little beauties to call my own. They look so different and yet so alike, don't you think?

More Reasons to Melt...

You can imagine my pure melty bliss when I linked and linked and linked and found this website. I've always known chocolate and I had special relationship...but this has taken things to a whole new level. This packaging alone has convinced me to add this serendipitous stop to my hit list when I return to London in the fall. ...melt... ...melt... ...melt...

Easter Morning

I have a bit of catching up to do...mostly pictures of my little fam. Life is crazy, things are busy - it happens every spring. I can't wait for a free afternoon to catch up on my blog (and yours - and all my other favorites!) So for now, here is part one of Spring Break 2009.

Sun AND Fun

If you're anything like me, sometimes the success of a vacation can be increased exponentially when an unexpected bargain appears. Am I right ladies?? Check out these darling shoes for Josie here at Zappos. I didn't pay $50.90 for them. Not even $20.90. Nope, not $10.90 either. These little sweet feet treats are adorning my baby's tootsies for $8.99. Oh yeah! Now we're talking sun AND fun!

Are you nutty or sweet?

Home again and so excited to unpack my bags and bags of groceries. Yep, you guessed it. Bags and bags of Trader Joe's made the 10 hour road trip back home and straight into my empty cupboards. We'll be eating high on the hog for at least the next few weeks. This reminds me, if you haven't seen the silly TJ tribute video, you can find it here.

Not Done Having Fun

But I did decide to rejoin the world of technology for a minute to play around with this picture Bryce took with his iPhone. His iPhone, can you believe it? We'll be returning to real life soon enough...until then, you can catch me by the pool sipping Crystal Light. See you next week.

Easter Ensemble

Each year I enjoy putting together our own little collection of "looks" for the kids' Easter outfits. (Dont' you remember loving Easter dresses as a little girl ?) It's always one of my favorite pictures of the year. For my own kids last year, I went bold and bright with Hanna Anderson dresses. (Bryce likes to call my usually predictable choice of bold and bright clothing, "shoutfits.":) However, this year I decided to go for a more subtle and monochromatic look. In the spirit of financial wisdom, I've decided to do a little "re-using". The dress on the top right is Ella's baptism dress from last fall and is hands down one of my favorite articles of clothing ever. It is just beautiful! She hasn't worn it nearly enough since it quickly got cold after her fall baptism date. This white Jottum beauty was an easy enough starting point so I opted for an all white ensemble. I found a beautiful Biscotti dress for a great price at Nordstrom Rack for Kalli and a sweet eyelet dress for Josie (also on sale ;) at the Children's Place. Max was easy enough - I didn't even have to buy something new. He has the perfect white linen dress shirt. I'm excited to see how it all comes together. Do you do Easter ensembles for your kids - or better yet, for you?

Can you tell?

We love our chalkboard wall. (Have you noticed it shows up in posts from time to time?) Sometimes it's menus. Sometimes it's favorite sayings. Sometimes it's surprise announcements. Many times it's just messy scribbles. Lately, we've been in a countdown mood. First for Max's birthday, and now for our highly anticipated spring vacay. The excitement builds each morning when we tick down another day. For a peek at some more kitchen chalkboard ideas, check out Apartment Therapy's chalkboard roundup.

A few more party pictures

1. The invites
2. Race car cookies made by the "Cookie Lady." (I haven't asked permission to publish her name...but if you need some cookies for a party e-mail me for her information. She was an excellent resource - and very reasonably priced.) Thanks Kristin!
3. The favor bags (I knew we would run short on time, so I packaged up the cookies into frosted treat bags to eat on the go.)
4. We spent the previous evening turning Max's wagon into Lightning McQueen and the kids took turns giving each other rides.
5. One of the many classic park games played at the party. Who doesn't love a rousing game of ring around the rosie?

Max's Party at the Park

A Story: Once there was a boy named Max who loved playing at the park. His very favorite park was just a couple of blocks away from his house. All winter long when his mom would drive by that park he would longingly gaze out the car window and see the swings and slides covered with mounds and mounds of snow. He couldn't wait for the day that the sun would peek out from behind that big Wasatch mountain range and tickle his playground with its warm and sunny rays.

Max's birthday came in the month of March. About ten days before his big day, he announced to his mom that he would like to have his birthday party at the park he loved. His mom thought it was a marvelous idea since the weather was looking lovely and spring had almost arrived. Well, Max's birthday came and went and so did the nice weather. It started raining, then hailing, and sometimes even snowing. Each day his mom would check the weather forecast for some chance of returning warmth, but it kept raining, then hailing, and sometimes even snowing. Still, he was so determined to have his birthday party at the park. He never missed a night to ask his mom before bedtime what the weather would look like in the morning. For nearly two weeks, his mom would say, "Not yet Max, its still raining, hailing...and sometimes even snowing."

Then one Saturday, Max's mom was reading the newspaper and glanced at the weather section. "Max!" she called. "I've found a day where it won't be raining, hailing, or even snowing!" Max's mom quickly gathered together all her party supplies and sent invitations to all of Max's friends asking them to join Max in just 2 days for a birthday party at the park...in the sunshine! Each and every one of his friends joined him for a glorious sunny morning at the park. They had pizza, cookies, balloons, and games and Max couldn't have been any happier.

"Whew!" his mom said to Max. "I'm so glad we could finally have your party at the park TODAY Max... because do you know what the weather looks like TOMORROW?" she asked.

"Let me guess" said Max, "Raining, hailing, and sometimes even snowing!"

Tomorrow...

...meet the star of our show. Max and I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Glowy Goodness

I spotted these Candela Toolis all over the design blogs a while ago and knew they would be a perfect match for the "afraid-of-the-dark-sweetheart" that lives at my house. Not only are they super spunky funky, but they charge all day and last all night and don't even require a nearby plug. My mister has them right on his pillow. Click here if you don't believe me.

The Rain Rain Went Away...

...and left us with an evening to play! And it was a perfect evening for a chilly spring walk. The rain and snow finally stopped and we zoomed outside to enjoy just a peek of the sunshine. We hadn't seen her for days. The fresh air, juicy worms, and good company made for a perfect evening.

Necessary Tools

I'm thinking a late night run to Ikea (Do you know how many years I waited to say that? Literally years and years and years. Hallelujah!) might be order to make our Saturday afternoon project complete. Seriously, at $3.99 how can I go wrong with these sweet little woodland animals?

Rain / Snow Go Away

*Image via odeedoh

I only have to look outside for a cruel reminder that my days of sending the kids outside for some playtime fun are still a distant longing. Since we'll be spending a good portion of this weekend inside keeping cozy and listening to church leaders at our semi-annual General Conference, I figured some indoor activities were a'callin. Last Sunday I made some homemade playdough as a teaching aid for the primary children and it was a huge hit. We'll be adding to our color assortment this weekend and breaking out the cookie cutters for Saturday afternoon. If you'd like to join along, here's the best recipe I've found.

1 C. Flour
¼ C. Salt
2 Tbsp. Cream of Tartar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Water
1 Tbsp. Oil
2 Tbsp. Food Coloring (paste works best but you can use any kind)

Mix ingredients in order listed preceding. Use heavy skillet pan on medium heat( may need to be turned down lower to keep from scorching). Stir well until it sticks together (does get really lumpy at first but don't give up). Turn out on pastry board or sheet and knead. Make into small balls and add different coloring to each ball. Store in tight container.

Gottcha!

My best prank of the day involved a little tampering of our school lunch menu. Can you imagine the reaction when they read " Country Fried Cow Tongue?" Happy April Fools!

Miss Brace Face

I think this means I'm getting old.