This little swap package has had quite a journey. Because of our new address which the post office doesn't seem to recognize, it took this lovely birdie swap a month and lots of effort to get here. Cristin, my partner really went above an beyond not only with the lovelies she sent but all the effort she put in tracking and getting it here. Thanks Cristin! She has a lovely blog too, here.

Wishing for a New Table and Chairs

Well Hubby was out of town this week so that of course means two things around here. We get pizza and I start some new project. Grandpa took care of the pizza with Chuck E. Cheese and I dug right into a big project. I actually have been working on this for a week or so, I wanted the chairs to have time to cure before we used them. See, our table and chairs are old. Really, really old. As in we inherited them from my grandmother when we got married. The top was damaged then so we painted it white. A few years later I added garage sale chairs. Then about four or five years ago I decided to paint them in a cherry theme. They have really served us well.

Here they are white with cherries. They were cute but looking hammered again and the white sort of jumped out of the new house and screamed "Look at us we are old and yucky!". I really wanted a new table and chairs but our kids are still young enough that they are still sort of hard on them. And frankly I decided I wanted some grass out there for the short people to play on first.

So I decided to paint them black. I know I may regret this, it is bound to chip, but I distressed the edges hoping that kid-wear won' t be quite so obvious. I did use Krylon paint which I have had good luck with and I sanded them really well. Brittany says I could commit a crime right now and not get caught because I don't have fingerprints left. That is with the power sander too! I added a couple new thrift store chairs, there were a couple I just didn't even want to mess with.

Here they are. They look so much better in here than they did before. Don't they look pretty with my anniversary roses William sent yesterday? Of course I had to take this picture to prove my kitchen is sometimes clean. Usually only for a minute or two.

Yep, sixteen years. And I still really like him!

I am part of a giveaway on MormonMommyBlogs.

One of these girls are up for grabs. Lots of great stuff so go on over and put your name in the hat!

I Survived Chuck E. Cheese and got This Cute Picture as a Reward

William is out of town so my dad, currently known as the best grandpa in the Universe by the short people around here, took us all to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time tonight. Yes, I have managed to escape the chaos that is that fun-spot until now. The kids had a fabulous time and as tired as I am now it really was fun. I don't really need to repeat it any time soon though. I am very happy with this "sketch" That Chuck E. did for us. I think I look much better with no neck at all. Thanks dad, it was a blast!

On slightly different note a fellow blogger, browneyedsue, recognized us and said hello. It was the first time I have met one of my blogging buddies in real life like that. It was so fun! She totally made my day. I have always wondered if it would be weird to run into one of my blogging friends in "real life". But it was just so fun to meet her. So if you see me out and about feel free to tap me on the shoulder and ask say hello!

Dancing with Our Stars

I have been a bit of a blogging funk. Guess it happens to all of us occasionally. So I was looking through some of my pictures for inspiration. I found these of my nieces Libby and Abby doing their Dancing with the Stars routine. It made me laugh so I thought I would share it. Getting ready for a spin.

No kindergartners were harmed in the taking of these pictures.

I think this counts as a lift, don't you?

Dirt

Anyone have any good ideas of things you can do with kids in dirt? Cause that is all we have out there.

This Week's Lunch

This is what I have been eating for lunch all week. I am boring that way, I find something I like and sort of just stick with it for awhile. I saw it on Everyday Food last weekend and it has been just as yummy as I thought it would be. The tip they suggested on Everyday Food that I think makes the big difference is to brush a little olive oil on the cookie sheet and on the top of the whole wheat tortilla. It makes the little pizza really crispy. To make this yummy pizza you just top with spinach, mushrooms, a little red onion, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. It goes in a 400 degree oven for about 7-10, until it is crispy. Fast, light and yummy!

Another New Chair

I finished the other large chair for the family room. I was hoping to show the footstool at the same time but it isn't done yet. I hope these decorating posts aren't too boring, it is my reward for accomplishing what I intended, to get to show them on the blog.

So here is the new chair.

This is what it looked like before its makeover.

It is very ugly underneath. But it has good bones so we let it keep re-inventing itself.

Joshua the Pirate

Brittany and Josh had a great little playdate the other day. I am not sure how it happened but they were playing pirates. May have had something to do with watching Peter Pan for the first time. Do you like the eye patch "B" made Josh?

The laundry basket is his ship.

Can you hear him saying"Arrrrgh"? Oh, and that is his hook. Definitely a Peter Pan influence.

And the ever-popular toliet paper roll telescope. Did you know they work better with yarn across your eye?

Afternoons like this are why I wanted to have kids.

My Mom on the Ledge

Don't you wish this woman was your mother? Too bad she is mine! My mom has an amazing talent for decorating and any arrangement of furniture, pictures or ledge arrangements is probably due to here. She came over yesterday and helped me with the little ledge. Oh, and she doesn't know I took that picture of her risking her life to arrange my lovely vintage I-spy. I am sure I will be grounded when she finds out.

This is the sort of thing she can do! I really think it is like my own I-Spy. How many hats can you see? Can you find my great-grandmother's iron?

Of course I think it is only fair to reveal the mess that is required. We have to be able to see all the choices. It gets a little messy. But man is it worth it!

Thanks Mom!

Lunch with my Girls and Cupcakes

Today was a nearly perfect day. A couple of my favorite girlfriends came for lunch and to see the new house. This means I got a clean house, lots of good talk and dessert. Company definitely warrants a good treat so it was a good excuse to make some cupcakes. I tried to make them a bit more sophisticated by adding orange zest and strawberries but who was I kidding? I personally wanted the ones with the sprinkles. It did make me think maybe I would share my favorite frosting tip. You take a small package of instant pudding, mix it with a little milk and then whip in a large tub of Cool Whip. It makes a nice light, not too sweet frosting. I wish all days could be like today and include lunch, friends, a clean house and a little crafting at the end. It would have been perfect if our fourth friend hadn't had a sick baby and had to stay home. Next time Tif!

Oh, and this is how I got the house clean and lunch ready. Thanks for the Kipper tip Tif, Josh loved him. Why is it that two-year olds make this face when you take their picture?

Spring in Utah

Ugh!
Remember the last post. The one with the blossoms at Temple Square?

Well this is today. Gotta love Spring in Utah!

Hoogle Zoo

This Spring's trip to the zoo!

I Love to See the Temple!

Part of our Spring Break activities included a stop at Temple Square. Okay I have to admit Dad rounded the block with the kids in the car while Mom raced across the street to try and snap some pictures. I have been wanting a new picture of the Salt Lake Temple to hang in the new house and my mom has me adopting her goal of having unique items in my home. It is fun to have something that you know no one else has in their home. So visiting and getting myself my own version of at Temple picture was something I really have been wanting to do.

I like this one but the unknown people in it sort of bug me.

So I tried it in sepia, I think the unknown folks are a little less obvious.
There is now more gorgeous time of year to visit Temple Square in my opinion. Look at the trees in bloom!

Luckily I didn't look like too much of and odd-ball running (literally!) around snapping. Lots of other folks had the same idea. Does that still make mine an original?
Can't decide if I like the pale colors or want to go with a sepia.
I am so glad Spring is coming!

We are all ready for Easter!

We have finished decorating the Easter tree. I found a bunch of twigs that had blown down at the park, bound them together and stuck them in a bucket with rocks to hold them in place. Then the kids and I decorated it with our little ornaments and ribbons.

Here it is on the table at the front door.

A Duck's eye-view.

We have the eggs all dyed.

Josh was really into it this year.

In fact we are so ready we have already been to our favorite egg-hunt this morning.

Thank you Dopp family!

We hope you are ready and have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Birdie Chandelier

I had such a great time making paper clay birdies for the swap I was in that I decided to make batch to hang from my chandelier for Easter.
This is the whole chandelier. A close up of the largest bird
And some of his friends.
The garland is made from tying bits of ribbon onto a cord.

The whole thing just makes me happy and now I am feeling like it really is Easter this weekend!

Crafts for Spring Break

It was General Conference for our church this weekend. For most of our members that means you get to wear sweats all weekend and listen to the messages prepared for us by men of God. For my kids it means a big ole craft-a-thon. I started the tradition with my kids years ago of having a number of crafts on slips of paper that they draw out of a hat and we work on while we listen to Conference. It is a lot of fun but does result in my house looking like this:

Since it is Spring Break here and the weather is supposed to change from lovely today to yucky tomorrow I thought I would share some of the things we did and their links.

Hot Rocks. So much fun! I found this one here. Basically you stick a rock in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes and then use crayons. They melt like magic.

Of course if you live in a new construction area like us you have to be happy with chunks of cement.

Clothespin people. Found this one farther down in this post. I like this because she had you break matchstick and glue them on for arms. These are Brittany's pioneers.

And Matthews Superman.

I bought a bucket of the beads that you put on spiked plastic boards to make patterns and designs. We haven't had them in awhile and they were a HUGE hit. Even Josh liked them

The kids had to make their own version of the stars of Monsters vs. Aliens. which we saw too this weekend. It was very cute, maybe even as cute as their creations.

So those are some of the crafts we worked on, we also did salt dough creations. Did you know you can dry salt dough in the microwave? About a minute at a time until it is dry. Have a fun Spring Break!