Multi-tasking

This is my daughter. Want to know how you can tell that she is mine? Check out the multi-tasking she was practising the other day in the backyard.
She is swinging, and reading how to crochet.

Crocheting and swinging. I think there was also a book on tape playing at the same time. That is my girl!

The Silhouette Family

My sister-in-law wanted me to do her kids in silhouette for her birthday. The frame I found was big enough for her whole family.
I don't know why this reminds me of Snow White and the seven dwarfs.

I was dying to try out this idea too. I took the silhouettes and photographed them on white paper, then shrunk the whole thing down and turned it into a pendant! Now I want one of my kids!

Aaaah...Alice!

We did go see Alice with our Grandma yesterday, just as planned. It was lovely! I was a little nervous-Tim Burton can be a little out there for me. But I thought Alice was just perfect, maybe the little bit of weirdness didn't bother me because the original Alice's story was a little out there itself. We did not see it in 3-D and I am glad, I think that might have made it too scary for Josh. It was so lovely to look at. Such fun to watch Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter's colorful faces. I loved how Alice kept changing size so she kept changing pretty dresses. I plan on buying it on DVD and I don't do that very often anymore so that is the highest praise I can give!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

See this woman? She is just about the most fun any kid can have in the Grandma department. She is willing to ride magic carpets with you.

Will go right into the mouth of a shark for you.

Explore animal kingdoms with you.

And meet all sorts of interesting folks with you. Yep, she is one of a kind and we are so glad she is ours! Today is her birthday and we are going to see Alice in Wonderland. More fun with one of our very favorite Grandmas!

Stitchin' Along

My internet was done for several days last week so I didn't get to post any Stitchin' Along pictures. I don't know if this is a flower or a snowflake or what.

A winter house.

A little red bird in a tree!

The Wedding Singer

I took my kids on a trip back to the eighties last night. As a child of the 80's I really enjoyed our local high school's production of The Wedding Singer. They always do such a great job. It was a little surreal sitting there with my kids watching kids that were just the age I was in the late 80's looking just the way I did then. The hair and clothes were perfect, they must have hit the local thrift stores hard. They brought back the mullet in a big way. Even the 80's wedding dresses were pretty familiar. I came home very nostalgic for my youth. I can't believe I am this woman now, I remember the adults telling me back then to enjoy things, it would go so fast. They were so right. At least I have a lovely youth to look back on and I am lucky that the people I cared about then, for the most part are still part of my life. I realized that as much as I loved my teens I really love my life more now. I have so many amazing blessings in my life and even more people to love. I do however really miss the waist I had back then. Don't miss the hair though!

Let's look past the fact that they are brother and sister and just enjoy the cuteness okay?

Happy Spring!

I had my girlfriends for lunch the other day. My very most favorite day of the week! It was a good excuse to get the chandelier ready for Spring. I love having lunch with "my girls" as they are known around here. I still can't believe we have managed to do this all winter. One of the kids asked her mom when they were going to "that women's shelter". Her mom couldn't figure out what she was talking about until she finally pieced together that she was referring to our lunch group! I have to admit to calling it that in my head now, it is so appropriate because these women save my very sanity some weeks.

My friend Tiffany brought cupcakes from Cutsie Cakes in Layton to help us celebrate St. Patrick's Day. They were amazing! If you or anyone you know needs a treat this is the place to go! They also are part gift boutique to!

Liberty of England at Target!

My girlfriends are coming for lunch tomorrow (Yippee!). But do you think I spent my morning cleaning house and getting ready like I should have? Nope. I went to Target and had such a party with Josh looking at all of the Liberty of London goods done for Target. They are so much fun!

I wish I could wear this dress I got for Brittany. Look at the matching headband!

I got this scarf for me! Three Liberty fabrics all in one!

If you want to see more you can look online here. It was fun looking all over the store for the pretty pink butterfly too, even if you aren't a fabric geek like me. Now I better clean my house!

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

This is my new favorite soup! I only wish it looked as good as it tastes. I think that is the problem I have with trying to get my kids to eat soup, really it doesn't look so great sometimes. I loved this one so much I will probably be serving it at lunch for my girlfriends this week. So if you are one of my lunch girls, consider this a preview and let me know if anyone hates mushrooms.

1 6 oz box of Uncle Ben's Long grain and wild rice mix
1 T Olive Oil
1 C chopped red onion
1 C celery (I left this out)
1 C carrot chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 pkg mushrooms quartered(I added more because I love mushrooms)
1/4 C flour
1/4 Thyme
2 C water
2 T cooking sherry
2 C chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
2 C chopped chicken (optional-I like it with and without the chicken)
Prepare rice according to package directions; set aside. Saute the vegetables in the olive oil for 6 minutes. Add flour and thyme, cook for 1 minute stirring constantly. Add water, sherry, broth and milk. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in rice and chicken if desired. Cook until heated through.

A Square A Day

I don't know how many of you remember but I got all inspired last summer by Amy's Square a Day Sampler. It has been a lot of fun but still isn't finished. So when I saw she had started a new one to celebrate her 39th birthday I had to join in hopes of finally finishing mine. It has been a really great project, it has come to represent the different characters and interests in our family.

This is where I am at now.

I have added these new squares since I joined. Good progress, there might just be a chance of me finishing!

Just finished this one too.

You can join up of just look around at all the pretty samplers on the blog that Amy started just for this project. There may be periodic square postings for a little while now until I finish!

A Boy and His Puppy take on The Magic Kingdom

Remember the story of the Velveteen Rabbit? Well we experienced the same sort of thing on our Florida trip. Poor Joshua was attacked the day before our trip by the Croup Monster. Worse case of croup any of my kids have ever had. Well thanks to the wonders of modern medicine he still made it but it was a couple of day before he really felt good. Josh has always liked stuffed animals but in his sad, sickly state he really became attached to the puppy he took on our trip.

Meet Joe, named by Grandma and also called "Puppy" frequently.

Joe the puppy went all over Disneyworld, he even liked the fireworks.

He learned about Winnie the Pooh.
Saw the Bug's Life movie in 3-D because Josh refused to wear the glasses.

Was almost abducted by a statue of Goofy.

Had the very best view of Cinderella Castle

Helped rescue Brittany from a shark.

Even when Josh tried to pretend he was scared on the big, fast rides Puppy was there for him. Not once did they tell Josh that Joe had to stay behind. Good thing too. So now, even though there are many puppies at our house Joe the puppy will always be super-special!

Note: Just for the record Joe enjoyed a really hot soapy bath in my washing machine as soon as we got home!

In Love With Alice

We are really excited for the new Alice in Wonderland movie around here. Brittany painted this painting for me last weekend. I love it!

I also joined a Alice swap. Thought I would post it, I really hated to send this one off. Course that means it is a good one. I made this Alice necklace with a print from Lewis Carroll's book.

An Alice doll. I used the same pattern as the painted quilt.

I put the Alice jewelry in this box. I had fun painting tiny Alice.

All of the parts before I sent it off. Hope my partner liked it!

Folks We met DisneyWorld Part 2

Everyone knows you meet all sorts of amazing folks when you visit the Disney parks. This is Woody coming right for Josh at the parade. You would think any three year old boy would be thrilled. You would think wrong. Joshua wanted nothing to do with any of the Disney folk. His mother was so disappointed. This is the closest we got to a picture with him and a character in it. That is the back of his head.

Flat Stanley accompanied us on our trip as part of Matthew's homework. He was so excited when Matthew found a real jelly fish on the beach and he could have his picture taken with it. Luckily we were smart enough not to touch Mr. Jelly.

I tried to get Mary Poppins to come home with us and be their nanny but this was as close as we got.

I take it back, Josh would get in the big shark as long as Grandma went too. Sad, my family eaten at Epcot isn't it?

The ultimate meeting if you are a seven year old boy is a storm trooper.

Brittany was unimpressed with Stinky Pete.

Much more excited to meet Ariel. When she was little we would ask her if she was a princess and she would tell us she was a mermaid.

A ugly old pirate for Matthew

Every girl needs a fairy godmother right?

Heroes made of Legos, it doesn't get better than that!

Bluebird Necklace

This little bluebird is in the shop.

Leap Year

I went to this movie this week with some of my girlfriends. It was perfect. Light and funny, cute clothes and Amy Adams. Love her. So if you are looking for a movie to make you smile this is the one.

Disney World Part I

Guess where we have been? All of those posts last week? They were just scheduled to post while I was with my fun little family in Florida! William and I decided it was time we finally delivered on our promise (way back when we moved to California) and took the kids to a Disney park. For some reason Florida was much more appealing to the father figure at our house so that is were we went. It was such a blast! Unfortunately Joshua got incredibly sick with croup the day before we left. I am still feeling a little guilty for putting him on a plane in the state he was in. But we made it there and he got better with each day and still had a ball. So prepare yourself for several Disneyworld posts in the near future, I gotta document the whole thing for posterity. So this post is going to be about some of the places we went. Obviously, Magic Kingdom which we loved.

Dinosaurland in Animal Kingdom.

The many countries of Epcot. That is the Eiffel Tower down there.

Under the Sea. We saw an amazing Nemo stage production in Animal Kingdom.

One of the very best parts was that my parents went with us. Everything is more fun with Grandma and Grandpa. One day when Josh was still recovering Grandma stayed home at the condo with him so he could take a nap. Matthew asked why she had to stay because "you are the fun one."