Friday, July 15, 2011

The Week in Pictures

This week . . .


Thumbelina became Belloise' chauffeur.
Somehow I believe this is a true indication of their individual personalities.

We enjoyed a little porch swing reading time.



Belloise entered one of my favorite baby stages. When she wakes from a nap she insists on handing me every stuffed animal and pacifier from her crib and then I must also carry her.
Friday she gave me everything including her pillow.


This frog is her favorite. A gift from Nanna.

By the way you are banned from examining the background of the previous two pictures. It was after a birthday party weekend and I am pretty sure a bomb . . . or two may have exploded in our house. . . don't judge.


MMM I made one of my favorite meals. I used PW's fried chicken recipe and it turned out beautifully.

As a side note I also purchased her cookbook this week, after having borrowed it from the library and deciding that two weeks was not long enough. 

That is one cookbook that MUST be owned!

It's not just the recipes and witty writing, it's the pictures, the lifestyle portrayed . . . it's what she's sellin' and I am buyin'

When I cook with it I close my eyes and imagine my neighbors are 3 acres away in every directions.

It's pure bliss!


Penny has found the girls favorite hiding spot.


She thinks it's her new bed.


I found this a local discount store. The picture made me laugh but my Beloved loves it for his shiny noggin'. He had been looking for something better than my body lotion for his head.
Review: "I like it."

Have a blessed week everyone.

~And So That's What She Did.




Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Your Guess Is As Good As Mine + Giveaway

This months giveaway is an imagination exercise. I want you to come up with the dialogue/captions for one or all of the following pictures.


1.



2.



3.



4.



Rules:

Please include at least your intials with your comment.

You have one week for this assignment.

Winner will be announced Thursday July 21st. And they will recieve a homemade coffee cuff for all of their traveling beverage needs. Thank you to Day By Day for the inspiration for this craft.

I will print your comments remove the names of the commentor and whichever makes my husband laugh the most is the winner. If he can't decide we'll fall back on the reliable hat for a conclusion.

With your comment please include which fabric you would prefer if you should win.


~And So That's What She Did.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Thumbelina Turns 3

Last week my little Thumbelina turned 3.
On her birthday we had Rainbow Burst Pancakes for breakfast.


A little something I made up that she LOVES!! The recipe is coming soon.


Mmmm taste the rainbow. . . OK so the purple ones look a little like dirt in this picture but they weren't so bad in person.


Look at her she looks so much older already, where does time go??


One of Thumbelina's favorite places to go is the Jantzen Beach Carousel. So that is where we went. 


Belloise loves it too.


My Grandpa was up visiting from California so this was a great place for my sisters and I to get together with him. The kids loved riding the carousel and we enjoyed visiting and watching them play.


Here he is with all of his grand kids.
Deedle, Lolo (Aunt D.'s Kiddos), Belloise, Thumbelina (my rascals, of course), and E-Man (Auntie Gus-Gus' boy).

A kid at heart really. . .

We had Thumbelina's birthday party over the weekend and I, like the organized mother I am, forgot my camera. So just take my word for it, it was great! Pony rides, cake pops, go-cart rides, trampoline, cowboy boots and tutu's, naturally.

~And So That's What She Did.

Fourth of July Get Together

After nightmares of more people than space the day finally came for our festive get together. We started out our day with a little yard work and house cleaning.  Uncle M and Aunt K came to help out in the morning and of course they brought Chunky Monkey.




Belloise wanted to hold Monkey


One of our guests brought this beverage carbonator in which they had made homemade root beer.


Here are a few guests visiting on the back porch.

Penny found a friend and did really well with the fireworks. I was a little worried about her since last year she ran away and was found down by the waterfront which is a few miles away and across a highway. This year, as long as she was with someone she was fine and went into the house after dark on her own.


Belloise had her fair share of fun entertaining the guests.



I realize now that I really underestimated the size of our yard when thinking about how many people we invited. Actually I didn't know how many people we invited. I just sent out an email to our entire assembly, and personally invited a few friends until my Beloved said uh perhaps you should stop inviting people. Which is when I began to panic. . . all for nothing.

Where I usually find my Beloved.

More visiting going on, on the sun deck.


I was so thankful that our wonderful Spanish speaking friends came as my step-mom's mother was in town from Mexico and doesn't speak English and most of us don't speak Spanish. I should really work on that.


We did not supply any fireworks this year. We just didn't get to the stands with everything else we were doing. But as people started to arrive so did the ammunition and boy howdy we had quite the show.


Some people enjoyed themselves lighting things on fire in the front yard.


Or just visiting.


In the backyard as the sun began to set everyone headed to the backyard to get a good seat. We decided to set the fireworks off on the bottom tier of the yard. it worked wonderfully.


 I don't think I got any good firework shots, but here you can see a few spouting up in the background. I was actually trying to see the people on the lawn without moving from my comfy perch on the swing.


But since that didn't work I ventured down and took a few pictures. 


And on the sundeck


Even on the roof. There was plenty of room and just enough blankets.



Chunky Monkey loved his first Fourth.


Thank you to all of our pyro' friends you put on a great show. . . see you next year.

~And So That's What She Did.


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Hostage

HosTAge


 RAnsoM


oR elSe

yOu KnoW whO YoU ARe. . .




~And So That's What She Did. . .

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Daddy Brought His Work Home

This past week we have been getting ready for a get together at our place for the fourth of July. We like to do these types of things that are waaaay out of our comfort zone every now and then, it  pushs us to do a few extra chores around the yard. A few years back we had a wedding in our backyard . . . yikes!(It was a blast but I doubt we will do that again. . . but I always say that). 

This last week my Beloved brought a box tractor up to the house to smooth out a driveway on the east side of our house where he parks his truck. We are hoping to do a combination of rock and grass that will look really sharp when we are finished. For now it is just dirt, but at least it is smooth dirt.

As soon as he pulled up with the tractor Thumbelina wanted to ride with him. So up onto Daddy's lap she went and she loved every minute of it.



Here she has her mouth wide open in great excitement.

You may be wondering what makes this a box tractor, I believe it is the deal on the back that looks like a box. Apparently it is also called a float tractor.


"I'll just play with this while Daddy's not looking."


Then Belloise came out and wanted to ride.


She liked it . . .


For a minute


Here the screaming begins. . .


Then she saw me and I am sure the whole neighborhood heard, over the sound of the tractor,  "Maaaamaaaa."

Thumbelina thought for sure that she would be allowed to drive this by herself once Daddy was done.

She was not.

World War III followed.

The Allied Forces of Daddy and Mommy won.

The girls have been playing in the yard a lot lately to take advantage of the decent weather we are finally having.


Getting some quality swing time in with my girls.



We have been working a little here and there on the playhouse.


 There is still so much to do, but slowly we are getting there. A few weeks back my Beloved planted some grass and put in a rock pathway, and I planted some pansies in the flower pots.



Today I planted some mint moss in the path and we moved our columnar apple tree back here to get more direct sunlight. So excited we are actaully getting apples on it this year. This is the second year we have had it and last year we got nothing.

As you can see, the pansies didn't last long. Thumbelina yanked them out shortly after they were planted, telling me that, they died. They were nice while they lasted.

As I said we have been busy with yard work here and there.


Filling pots to place around the yard.


The pond flower bed is looking good. The clematis is extraordinary this year! And my hydrangrea is indeed comingback after being nearly completely dug up last winter by the dogs. You can't see it here because the blue bell flowers on the left surround it. Next year we will have to remedy that, they are too pretty to touch this year.


As a side note if anyone knows what type of flowers these are please let me know I just call them blue bells. Of course I call every orange lily a tiger lilly and my Beloved is starting to catch on that I have no idea what they are really called.


And finally making the porch look cozy and inviting. . . hmm needs pillows, I'll have to get on that.

By the by check out that trunk my Beloved found on the side of the road. He came home with His pick-up bed mounded high with bark dust and this trunk perched very picturesquely (made-up word) on top. I began to wonder if he knocked off some pirates somewhere along the way.

Hope you all have a happy and safe fourth of July.

~And So That's What She Did.