Sometimes you get lucky

I've started a collection of these vintage 2-tier serving dishes. I don't know why, but I think they are so cool. I found this one at the Bargain Barn. Oh how I love the Bargain Barn.

Speaking of the Bargain Barn, Timmy found these cool tea light things there. I was so proud of him :0)

Lastly, we found this microscope there for one dollar! Jane has been inspecting all kinds of things ever since.

Bargain Barn FOREVER...

Birdies

There is this cool website where you can hear any bird call you want. Whenever we learn about a new bird, like this one, we like to hear what it sounds like. This is a Bohemian Waxwing. We just found out that they like to visit our apple tree.

LLLGGC

A few of us moms started a class for our daughters to learn more about notable women like Mother Theresa, Esther, and Jane Austen etc. We take turns teaching once a month. This month was my turn and I taught about Mary. It was so darling to have them come and do the little activities I planned. I turned the logo above into little pins for them to wear to class so they feel official and they also bring their folders to collect their work in.

                                                          Could not be any cuter!!

The sand is like flour. 

Fresh Guacamole Everyday For the Rest of My Life!!

Just the view from our third floor balcony. We can hear the waves all night.

 No big deal.

These are for our 4 biscuits we are missing

We call it "Cloudy with Meatballs", They call it "Raining Hamburgers."

Tim says I subconsciously close my eyes for every picture because its cute. That can't be true because its so NOT cute and I do not understand how I defy the statistical laws of blinking for a picture...

This was taken after church on Sunday. We took the 40 min bus ride to church and it was so good to attend with all the Mexican members. They couldn't believe that I didn't speak spanish and Tim does.

A sailboat like Uncle Eli's.

This one, and the next couple are for Charlie. He loves lizards.

Quotey Lotey

Tim can be way deep sometimes:

"There's nothing worse than a teeny towel."

Mexican Minimalism

One really shouldn't read Thoreau while in Mexico- it leads to far too many thoughts of abandoning ship and leading a slower, simpler and thorough way of living.

"For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that, by working abut six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear for study."

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived... I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms..."

Balderdash

This is what happens when you play Balderdash with Uncle Jared...

Oubit:

A German monkey cork ball who does dishes in the dark while listening to Miles Davis.

Macropodine:

A Jewish tribe of obese turtle doves who can levitate in space.

Keedug:

Intergalactic underwear made out of licorice hand crafted in uranus by Dutch alligators.

Carotelle:

A nipple used to extract urine out of a donkey butt in Belarus.

It was extra fun playing this with Mariah. It was her first time and afterwards Tim and I both noted how well she played. I thought she was so cute about when Mark would pick her answer. She didn't tease him for it, she just loved him. Love birds!

cotton candy overdose

 Robyn, in case you were wondering if Jacob liked your gift... he's having the time of his life in every picture. I don't know what got into him- must have been the 3 pounds of sugar...

 This small cotton candy machine works like a dream! It fascinating to see the candy form like a spider web. Thank you Robyn!!!

 I will be posting from Cancun soon...because Canadians need sunshine too.

Quotes and Boats

"I like to live buried in my own thoughts like a tree stump in the earth."

-Murasaki Shikibu

 Japanese writer

Berfdays

On friday we went swimming and then stopped at the only Mexican restaurant around here for miles. One giant plate of Nachos. So good. You have to know that these guys have only eaten out a handful of times in their whole lives so this is unusually exciting for us.

 

Timmy and I stayed up until 3 am putting this baby together so that Jacob would find it when he woke up on his fourth birthday morning. He was so excited in the morning :0) Yes, the deer head is wearing Charlie's hat from cousin Shane. Yes, the deer head is now out of our house- but only after Timmy hid it in our teeny master bathroom with its head by the toilet. Upon discovering it in there, I of course squealed and woke the baby doing it.

 Uncle Jared got this blanky for Jacob's birthday and the cool thing is, Jacob is named after Jared and they both like to wrap themselves up like burritos with their blankies.

 Jacob also woke up to a big bowl of his favorite... RED PEPPERS. He ate one for breakfast and another throughout the day and few more the next...

Now little miss Jane turned 7 recently too. Jane loves to tell every single person she meets about it and she starts a good week or two before :0)

 I made her this healthy Raw chocolate cheesecake. Its mostly made out of ground nuts. Its heavenly. Thank you Amber for sharing your top secret recipe with me.

 Another birthday suit from Uncle J-dog.

 Mariah will appreciate my organic wrapping here. I got Jane a book about butterflies and a tea ball because she is constantly making tea. Rose petals, lemon, lavender, mint... She loves tea cups and pots and tea parties. She almost loves being sick so she can feel better with tea.

House Tour # I can't remember

This shot is for my dad. He hasn't been able to come up yet and its lucky for him because we have about a million things he could help us with since he's such a handy kind of guy. So this is the house that is stressing us out but also capturing our hearts all at the same time.

These are the views from our front porch. There's a creek at the bottom of the hill across the street which we are looking forward to exploring this spring. We've been enjoying the daily sledding in the meantime.                              

Below is our little wood in the backyard.

We have this extra single old garage that I want to turn into an art hut. I've been dreaming about easels and paint all over the place in there. Jars on the window sills filled with paintbrushes and flowers...