yum, yum

It was hot this afternoon and we needed something to cool us off. Green smoothie popsicles to the rescue!

Dolphin loved his chocolate peanut butter g.s. popsicle.

Monkey downed her "strawberry" g.s. popsicle.

Monkey's Smoothie

8 oz water

spinach

6-8 strawberries

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 banana

1/2 orange

honey

Place water in blender and add spinach until packed full. Blend. Add rest of ingredients and blend until smooth. Makes about 1 quart.

FIVE

Dophin turned FIVE today.

I L O V E this kid soooooo much it hurts!

We had a water party in our backyard and played games like:

Pin the Fin on the Shark

Over and Under Water Balloon Race

Musical Beach Towels

(Dolphin rrrrreally wanted a pinata so....)

we did a Pinata

Fish, Fish, Shark

etc. etc.

I got my craft on and made him this birthday crown.

(Shhh, don't tell. It was super easy to make!)

He originally wanted me to make him a praying mantis birthday cake.

I talked him into a beach/water themed birthday cake.

Hello! I couldn't find a praying mantis cake anywhere on the internet, besides, I think this cake turned out waaaay too cute for words. ;)

I used this cake recipe - Dolphin's favorite! and this frosting.

YUM!

Happy Birthday!

I love you to pieces.

I'm glad you had a fun day.

painting

monkey looooves to paint. when the watercolors are out, she usually has more paint on her than whatever she is painting. hubby came up with a great solution to this: water, paintbrushes and a towel - no paints. monkey doesn't mind and grabs her paintbrushes and a bowl of water whenever she can. today i caught her painting her toenails.

the "W" sisters

I had a lot of fun with these two a little while ago.

{psst! check out her eyelashes!! aren't they gorgeous?}

Sunset

This evening the kids and Hubby went out in the backyard to sit on the fence and talk.

While they talked I snapped a few shots.

My kids absolutely adore their dad - and he absolutely adores them.

{Insert contented sigh and smile here.}

{my three favorite people}

cousins

my sister G and my niece H have been in town.

my sister makes the cutest tutus for H.

maybe someday she'll make one for my little monkey.

wink wink

the whole cousin crew

in love

...with these two...

I Love Flowers...

...but I really love flowers when they are a surprise.

Dolphin loves to go to the grocery store with Dad to get things I have forgotten to pick up from the store earlier in the day for dinner.

Along with the needed groceries, Dolphin likes to sneak in flowers for me.

He'll walk into the house and tell me to close my eyes, then pulls them out from behind his back.

{he makes me smile!}

Easter

We woke up Easter morning to a fresh coat of snow on the ground. I'm surprised the Easter Bunny was able to find out house through all of the snow. We also left the kids Easter baskets at my in-laws the day before after the annual Easter egg hunt. We improvised with "You Are Special" plates. That bunny is a pretty smart fella' and figured it out.

Spring will come, right???

The kids "baskets"

Happy Easter!

"To Infinity...And Beyond!"

Florida

We were fortunate to be able to go with my husband's family to Destin for a week.

It was perfect.

Dolphin, the night we arrived.

I wondered if we would be able to get him inside.

Speaking of dolphins, we were able to watch several swimming right off the beach a couple of times. It was pretty cool.

My two kids.

They really are best friends.

This picture is my favorite from the whole trip.

It says everything about their relationship.

Monkey face-planted it a few times running from the waves.

Dolphin loves to fly. The higher the better.

Hubby and Uncle "O" survived their brave voyage out to sea.

The Family

I found out 5 minutes before we took the picture that I would be taking it. I don't use the timer on my camera very often and didn't have time to figure out how to change it from a 2-second timer to a 10-second timer. I had to run FAST!!! I made it!

Big Rabbit's Bad Mood

Several days ago the kids and I walked to the library.

One of the books we brought home was this one:

"Big Rabbit's Bad Mood" by Ramona Badescu

I actually laughed out loud while reading it to my son.

You should check it out.

Will You Be Mine?

My son had his preschool Valentine party today. I saw these robots here and thought they would be fun to make. Dolphin signed his name on the back and drew all of the mouths on. He also made sure that I didn't burn my fingers with the glue gun.

We were pretty pleased with how they turned out.

He's Gone

My husband and I sold our puppy last night. You might think we're mean, but "he's in a better place." The kids are not heartbroken. They were excited to finally have the easels they were given for Christmas brought upstairs. They spent the whole day "creating".

Patterns are Totally Overrated

I drive my husband crazy. I get all of these hair-brained ideas of things I can create because I've "seen it somewhere". I get home and try to figure out how to make it, thinking it will take no time at all because it looks so simple. I do this frequently enough that my husband now asks, "Wouldn't it be easier to follow a pattern?" This question usually comes after I've sat at the dining room table trying to sketch out my own pattern (I can't draw), have cut and recut the pieces several times to get them just right (I tend to cut the fabric the wrong direction resulting in me sewing the pieces back together and praying that it won't look too silly), and have unpicked stitches (okay my husband usually does the unstitching for me), the whole process taking several hours MORE than I had planned on.

Yes, it probably would be easier to follow a pattern and sometimes I do: quilts (for the most part), aprons (unless I think a little tweak would make it better), etc. But where is the fun in that?

I decided to make my niece a doll that I had seen on the internet somewhere. "That can't be that hard to make!" I drew up a pattern, realized the legs and arms were WAY too small and made new arms and legs. Then I had to figure out the order of sewing it together. My skills in dishwasher loading (I'm an expert at it - ask anyone that knows me well) came in really handy at that point. I did it the first time without a hitch. Sewing the face on was an experiment. I don't do embroidery, so I just sort of made up a stitch.

Isn't she cute? I hope H likes it as much as I do.

My sister (H's mom) calls her the "Voodoo Doll".

Hmmmmmm....

The "O" Family

A few weeks ago I took my sister K's family pictures. My nephew, D, was a good sport, considering it was his birthday and he turned FOUR that day! Bribing him with a birthday dinner at McDonald's Playland with his cousins M & M seemed to do the trick.