Ring Day

The Class of 2011 received their rings yesterday. (Tristan's is on the left)

Please tell me how this sweet young thing



turned into this sweet young man so quickly. 2011 used to seem so far away. It's not. It makes my heart hurt to think that in just 2 years he will be off to college.

A Sea of Yellow

I went to the camera store today with the intention of buying the camera that I have been salivating over for the past couple of months, the Nikon D90. I've been having problems with my camera lately and I picked up a freelance design job that will cover the cost so I was all ready to make the purchase. I spent some time talking to the assistant manager and he messed around with my camera a little. He cleaned what he was able to clean and tried some different settings. Showing great restraint, I decided to wait (I know, shocking) before making the purchase.

On my way home, I stopped at a local park to take some pictures. It was really windy so it was hard to really capture the beauty of the flowers, but here are a few shots.

I love dandelions just waiting to be picked and blown away by a child.

These berries were on a tree by the parking lot--they remind me of speckled jelly beans.

Have a great afternoon...I'm off to play with my camera some more.

Have You Seen This?

Given my fear of snakes, I was happy that this one was found dead!



If you want a good laugh, this video of a baby dancing to Beyonce is hilarious!

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Here's the story

My Shy Child

Recently, I walked around Fells Point with Allie and the twins. After getting ice-cream at Maggie Moos and listening to the town crier deliver the news of the day (from the 1800's), we walked down to Bond Street Wharf.

Kellen always amazes me...at home, he is the wild one in the bunch, but when we are out in public, he is my shy one. Not on this day. He spent his time running and jumping and posing for the camera.

According to Kellen, this was his "Drink Responsibly" pose. Apparently, he watches WAY too many Captain Morgan commercials on TV!

What To Do With 683 Solo Cups

The beloved librarian at Kellen and Ammy's school, Mr. Hallett, has leukemia. Things have not been looking good and he was in a coma for two weeks. To help raise money for the family, the PTA has been selling wristbands with the message "TEAM HALLETT" on them with all of the proceeds going directly to his family. In addition, a group of kids and parents have been meeting before school to hold prayer services twice a week. The day after the first prayer service, he opened his eyes. He is still critically ill, but he has been alert and recognizing people this past week.

Tonight was our back to school picnic and we decided to put a message on the fence at the school. When someone asked how to do it, I suggested that we use solo cups to write the message. I spent hours trying to figure out how to design the sign. I cut out letters and traced them on graph paper. Only problem is that graph paper doesn't match chain link fence. I found axonometric graph paper online and was able to have something that resembled the fence at school.

I tried cutting and tracing letters again, but was left with the issue of what to do with a square that was half full. I then went to a site that sells fence cups for the purpose of fence displays (very, very cool). They had the alphabet online that they use to design what you want to say and I printed it out. Then I copied it onto my axonometic graph paper.

Then we started putting the cups into the fence.

We had to stop at this point because The Baltimore Sun paper was coming to take pictures of us working on the fence. They are working on a story about Mr. Hallett.

The fence with all 683 solo cups and Chico, "the flat mannequin" dressed as a Team Hallett member. Chico just happened to be in my car from an event two weeks ago, so we dressed him up and attached him to the fence.

At each of the prayer services, the kids have been writing their prayers onto popsicle sticks. The sticks were then decorated and a hole was drilled into the top of each of them.

One of the PTA members threaded all the sticks with ribbon and we tied the kids' prayer sticks to the fence around Team Hallett.

Tonight at the picninc, people had the opportunity to write a prayer on a stick and hang it up on the fence.

The kids' messages were so cute!

Some of the kids around the Team Hallett fence.

Go here to check on Mr. Hallett. The article should be in the paper tomorrow or Sunday. I will post the link as soon as I receive it.

Proof That I Have Lost My Mind

Like you needed any...

Details will be posted later today.

Some of My New Favorites

Here are some of my latest finds...

http://www.theletteredcottage.net/
Layla and her husband document their home improvement projects on this fun blog. She also is an awesome decorator and offers her services on her blog.

http://enchantresses3.blogspot.com/
This blog is written by 3 sisters and includes lots of diy craft projects and party/shower ideas.

http://www.houzz.com/
This site is a decorating gallery for the home.

http://thebigmamablog.com/
Big Mama lives in Texas and is an absolute scream. She documents life with her camouflage gun-toting daughter (for hunting purposes) and hosts Fashion Fridays. If you need to learn how to tie a scarf, check out this video.

http://lifeongrace.blogspot.com/
Edie homeschools her children and has a really cool house. She has tutorials on her blog for painting furniture.

http://bashfulevents.blogspot.com/
This site sells kits full of everything you need for birthdays, announcements, showers and holidays. Check out this Princess Party.

Please leave me a comment if you know of a blog I must see!

Love Notes

Ammy and Tyler enjoy torturing each other. This is a note Ammy left for Tyler on his calendar.

31 Years of Friendship

I met Andie when we were in the 7th grade. We became best friends and did everything together. We went to the beach and even bought matching shirts and sweatshirt jackets. Andie is responsible for teaching me how to french braid--she had long, long hair and she always wore it in a french braid down the back of her head. When she spent the night at my house, it was my job to braid her hair.

She threw a surprise party for me on my 16th birthday. She got an upper classman (that I had a major crush on) to ask me out. We were supposedly double dating and when we got to her house to pick her up, there were a bunch of people there. He of course left me at the party and I was crushed! Andie is the one that I drove around Reston with on the day I got my license...60 miles in one afternoon!

We went our separate ways after our sophomore year and then we reconnected during the summer after my sophomore year in college. She helped me through a really difficult time and was there to talk and eat ice cream with. Then we didn't see each other again until our 10 year reunion. We were both married with children..I was living in Baltimore and she was living in Connecticut. She moved back to the area in 1999 and in 2003 we started planning our 20th reunion. We both love to plan a good party and we ended up talking almost every day during the year that we planned the reunion.

We've kept in touch over the past five years and this summer, we, along with our committee, planned our 25th reunion. She has kept me sane through the entire process and I value her friendship...no other friend I have has known me for as long as she has...31 years to be exact. Yikes, that is a LONG time! I still feel like that girl in the blue sweatshirt from 1978--just wish I was as thin!



Thanks for a great weekend. Love you girl and I look forward to many more years of memories.

25 Years

It's hard to believe I graduated from high school 25 years ago! Last night, the twins and I went to a football game at my old school. Tomorrow night is the "big event"...let the festivities begin.

I Need One of These!

I need a cricut! It is my dream tool to own for all of my scrapbooking and crafting projects--it is a personal electronic cutter that uses cartridges (that you purchase separately, of course) to cut beautiful designs and alphabets. Just imagine what I could come up with if I owned one of these!

I just had to enter this contest!

This is contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at the Great Gypsy Escape site! http://bit.ly/FWcud

Great Escape Meme

1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
I would go to Tuscany. Hawaii would be a close second.

2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
Anything by Daughtry and "Permanent" by David Cook.

3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
I would curl up with a good book, mexican take-out and a bottle of Shafer Chardonnay. Boring, I know, but I run so much that this would be my idea of heaven.

4. What is your guilty pleasure?
Massages and pedicures.

5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
Japan as a child, Hawaii as an adult.

6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
"The Siege" by Stephen White.

7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
Top Gun (back when Tom Cruise wasn't so strange!) I saw it for the first time when I was in college...and at least 20 times since then.

8. What is your favorite local escape?
Bethany or Rehobeth Beach.

9. How do you escape on a budget?
Take a "family bike ride" to PA with lunch at Paesano's (Best Pizza ever!)

10. Best food you've ever had while on vacation.
That's a hard one. We've had so many great meals on vacation, but I'd have to say it was at Longhis's in Lahaina on our trip to Maui in 1990. We had a large group so we tried a little bit of everything...can't even remember what we had, just that it was fabulous!

Want to try to win a Cricut too? Go forth and meme!

8 Points

Here is the latest member of our family. We call him 8 point and he has been in our yard for the past couple of days. We have an acre of woods surrounding our house and we often have does and fawns, but rarely do we see "the poppa" hanging in our yard. For some reason, we have a lot more deer this year than we usually do.



He is in our yard at all times during the day, although morning and late afternoon appear to be his favorite times.



It takes a lot to scare him away. Usually when he hears us, he looks up and wags his tail like a dog.



He needs to move on since he has obviously created his share of offspring. Yesterday, we had five deer in our yard-one doe and the rest were babies.

Fishuneral #2

This was the view of King Titus when we woke up on Saturday morning. I seem to recall the same view of a different fish 8 months ago. We finally managed to pull off a fishuneral last night. (Thank goodness because he was starting to stink).

Ammy loves to lead the service. She always says a few words and asks those in the crowd to add their comments. I decided it would be inappropriate to add how happy I am that I no longer have to clean out the fishbowl so I just kept my mouth shut and took the pictures.

Flushing the fish.

Goodbye King Titus.



Some of us will miss you.

Who Needs A Fire

The other night, I bought stuff to make s'mores. I was thinking that we would build a fire outside in the fire pit, but by the time we got finished with dinner, I just didn't have the energy. Never fear, the big kids came to the rescue with a solution. Nothing like using the stove to roast your marshmallows.

The marshmallows catch on fire just like those over a camp fire.

I like burned marshmallows.



Apparently, so does Ammy.



S'mores are really good if you use Barefoot Contessa's recipe for french chocolate bark for the chocolate.

Makes 18 to 20 pieces

1 cup whole salted, roasted cashews
6 to 7 ounces very good semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 to 7 ounces very good bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried crystallized ginger, 1/2-inch diced
1/2 cup cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, 1/2-inch diced
1/4 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a pencil draw a 9 x 10-inch rectangle on a piece of parchment paper placed on a sheet pan, then turn the parchment paper over.

Spread the cashews in one layer on another sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Place the semisweet chocolate and half the bittersweet chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 20 to 30 seconds. Stir with a rubber spatula. Continue to heat and stir in 30 second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Immediately add the remaining bittersweet chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.

Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spread it lightly into the drawn rectangle. Sprinkle the top evenly in the following order: first the ginger, then the cooled whole cashews, the cherries, apricots and raisins. Set aside for 1 to 2 hours until firm. Cut bark in 18 to 20 pieces and serve at room temperature.

Meet C.C. and Leo

We added two African dwarf frogs to our family yesterday. I am pleased to introduce...

C.C. (after NY Giants football player, C. C. Brown)

and Leo (as in DiCaprio).

Kellen and Ammy received a Frog-o-Sphere for their birthday. They saw the Frog-o-Sphere when we were on vacation this summer and have been wanting one for their room ever since. The only reason I agreed to more pets is that this is a self-contained, self-cleaning ecosystem. It comes with 2 aquatic mini frogs that live for 2-4 years, a snail, living gravel and a bamboo plant. The frogs eat twice a week and you only have to change the water twice a year. These are very low-maintenance frogs compared to the last couple of frogs that we have watched/owned. (One time we had the class frog over Christmas break and we almost cooked him by placing his aquarium on top of the radiator cover. Thankfully, we returned him alive. Then someone thought it would be a great idea to give my older kids a Frog Kit for a birthday present. This frog was the nastiest, smelliest frog ever. He actually jumped into my garbage disposal one time when I was cleaning out his bowl. Thankfully, my husband was able to get him out.

Anyway, I think we will be able to manage these two. They are pretty fun to watch and they fight like two other people I know.



Thanks Grandma and Poppa for the great gift.