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!

More Tea Party

Okay, so in the middle of our photo shoot my camera died. I was afraid it was terminal but fortunately it just needed new batteries. So here are the pictures that were on it. Number 1 This must during the actual tea party don't you think?


Number 2 I wish that cup wasn't right in front of Abby's face.

Number 3 You can tell Matthew isn't loving this.
Number 4 And tea party in action


Number 5 This might be my new favorite. Glad I was able to extract it from the camera.
Thanks for you comments on the last post. Do you like any of these better?

Our Photo Shoot!

We had our own little photo shoot yesterday at my Mom's. We took a tea party picture of the grandkids about 3 or 4 years ago, before Josh. So needless to say we needed a new one. Plus the fact that the window of time when dressing up like this is cool is just about over. At least for Matthew. So I am posting them here because they are cute, but also because I need my mom and Sis to tell me which they like the best. Number 1 I think this is probably the best.

Number 2 Although this one is cute, if the boy pointing doesn't bother you.

Number 3 This one is really good of everyone except the oldest one that you would think would know better than to cover her face in a picture.

Number 4 Again with that oldest child.

Number 5 I do like this one too.

Which one do you like the best?

A Birdie Swap

I signed up for a fun birdie swap. It should have made it to my partner by now so I thought I would share. I love doing swaps because they give me an excuse to try something new. I have been dying to try sculpting with paper clay. Jennie had a great tutorial on how to make a chickie so I decided to give it a whirl.

It was really fun! I turned mine into a blue bird. I will definitely be trying more of these. I think they would look really fun hanging from my chandelier for Easter.

This is the whole package. I decided to try a felt birdie on the tops of these boxes with some birdie jewelry inside.

I wanted it to look cute when she opened it too so I made little birdie bags to put things in. Another idea I saw on someone's blog. It was great fun, hope

Easter Bonnets for Everyone!

I have been working in a flurry this week trying to finish these girls. I had in my head that it would be fun to make them little bunny bonnets. I know I am on the edge of being too late but they are going in the shop today and I will promise to mail them the day of purchase of possible, the next for sure.

I really love this one, her dress is made from vintage sheets.

I had forgotten how fun the girls with slightly larger heads and yarn hair are.

I want a dress like this, it just makes me happy!

I want a soft pink corduroy dress with black Mary Janes too.

I guess I dress my dolls like I wish I could dress myself!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think I have mentioned how I use my blog as my own little online cookbook. It i just so easy to find my favorite recipes here once I have posted them. So when I wanted to make our favorite mint chocolate chip cookies this weekend and couldn't find the pitiful, stained scrap of paper I have had the recipe on for years I figured I had better post it to avoid future crisis. These cookies are made with these chips.

Yep, the same ones I used to make green fudge with. That post is here, just in case you want some for Easter. They are easy to find if you live in Utah, any Thriftway market like Dan's or Macy's have them. I couldn't find them in California so I would hoard the ones I bought when we went home.

So here is the recipe.
In a bowl combine 21/4 C flour, 2/3 C cocoa powder, 1 t Baking soda, 1/4 t salt. In a mixer beat together 1 C shortening, 3/4 C sugar, 2/3 C brown sugar, 1 t vanilla. Add 2 eggs one at a time. Then slowly spoon in dry ingredients while mixer combines them. Add chips. I actually use about 3/4 of the bag but that is probably because I have to eat at least a handful while making them. Bake for 7-10 minutes at 350.

You will hate me for this recipe, you will want to eat the entire batch. Especially if they are warm. Although they are a handy weapon to have in your arsenal. I can get my kids to do just about anything if I promise to make these!