after school treats

After we make the chilly trek to retrieve Olivia from school, ,my children always claim to be 'starving'. Today was extra chilly and I had the thought to make apple cider. Perfect for the time of year, don't you think? And so easy to make. Apple juice and cinnamon sticks are all you really need. Cranberry juice and a few extra spices are nice, if you have them. The amounts are also up to you, whatever you family enjoys to sip. We also had a nice little bowl of maple popcorn today, thanks to my nice epicure lady, Denise, from the other evening. Yummy.

Scrounging for the last bits.

Cheers!

going to crafty planet

A couple weekends ago my mom, my sister, Sadie and myself headed to Minneapolis for a weekend of shopping. Minneapolis has so much great shopping! It was fun to go to all of our favorite places. But this was hands down my favorite of the weekend. Crafty Planet. A little shop we found when searching online for a place to get fabric by Amy Butler. It was way better than we were expecting! There was not one piece of fabric in there that wasn't pretty. And the prices were great! The girls that were working were very helpful and fun. I really have nothing negative to say about it. I will definately go again. You should too. In the meantime, you can check out their website, http://www.craftyplanet.com/.

Amy Butler heaven.

More yummy fabrics.


Lots of cute patterns and books.


Have a seat.

santa

There have been a few time lately, in the mall, walking down the sidewalk, where I have heard the occasional parent pull out this line, "you must listen to me, or santa won't come to our house" What?? Is santa god? Who still tells their child that santa exists?? Seriously, I sort of thought that was a thing of the past. I am wrong apparently, Olivia came home from school yesterday and said, "you know mom, Julia really believes that santa is real(insert eye roll here)". My girlfriends daughter also cam home and said, "I'm pretty sure our family are the only ones who don't think santa is for real". I thought it was understood by all around here what was real and what was not, until this morning with Levi(who is 3), who started saying "so, when santa comes..."(what??!) I thought comparing the old man to something Levi relates to would work. Bob the Builder. Santa isn't real, just like bob the builder isn't real. "MOM! BOB THE BUILDER IS REAL!" I guess we'll have to work on that.

christmas countdown

I did it! It took many hours, but now it is done and so cute! Our Christmas countdown 'calender'. sure beats the really ugly cardboard ones with the gross chocolate, don't you think? It is instead filled with little activities, riddles, and outings.

catching up

I am SO behind in my posting...I have many good ideas that I intend to share, and then don't. I will try to get caught up this week.

laundry day

After my man graham mentioned that he may not have any more clean undies and sadie barfed on our sheets this morning, I decided that today better be laundry day. Is this what laundry day looks like for you? I count six big loads here, this doesn't include graham's work clothes(since he is at work), about half the bedding, and also at least one more load that I know is waiting downstairs. Laundry is not a task I hate, but it is going to take a small miracle to complete today. Here I go!(smile)

Sadie's birthday party

Here are some images from Sadie's birthday party. I was pretty pleased with how things turned out. Of course there are always things I would have done differently...next year, right? Sadie was also under the weather, as you can tell in the photos. But, we had given her tylenol, so she was pretty calm throughout. A good thing for a little girl who doesn't fair well in crowds. We served brunch, and cupcakes of course. Coconut and chocolate, both with vanilla cream frosting. I made those fun purple pom-pom flowers that are hanging from the ceiling. Too bad they all fell down a few times and one of them looks pretty squished in the photos. I will definately make those again; super cute, super cheap, super easy!

Hey there, you're standing a little close.



Frosting!

I made mini berry-banana muffins for the children, grown-ups had a full-sized version on their table. My favorite banana muffins, hands down. I will post the recipe later.