February's Ten Things

Here are my Ten Things to Smile About in February:

 

1.  I turned my old photo 365 blog into a food blog and have had lots of fun taking food pictures this month!

2.  We celebrated Todd's 30th birthday!

 3.  We started a Valentine's Day tradition and had a fancy family dinner.

 4.  I had a love affair with homemade chocolate pudding and, after losing the recipe, discovered that I have it memorized after all.

5.  I found a preschool for Madeline for the Fall, two days a week - just right for her.

6.  I'm now obsessed with homemade bread and have discovered that it really isn't hard to make if you find the right recipe.

7.  We went to the zoo for FREE!

8.  With the help of my mom, I found a $73 jacket on a clearance rack for $2.97!! 

9.  I made it another month exercising 6 days a week!

10.  We got to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday yesterday and it seemed to be one of the most enjoyable afternoons I've had in a long time.  It's so so nice to live by family!

Food Craving Problem Solved

I walked right past the Cookie Crisp today at Walmart and did NOT buy it.

I have lost my chocolate pudding recipe,

and my kitchenaid broke today. 

My wrists will no longer allow hand kneading (a discovery I realized today after my kitchen aid broke).

I guess that solves that problem.  No more over-eating of those three things anymore . . .

A Trip to the Zoo

I can't believe that I've been so busy lately, that I almost didn't go to the FREE zoo day yesterday!  I'm so glad we decided to go.  Sometimes it is just really good to pretend your mile-long list doesn't exist - at least for a couple hours!

Ethan really liked the big cats

 And the giraffes seemed to be Madeline's favorite.  Hence the unhappy face in the picture . . . since I was making her turn away from them:

 And the peacock gave us a great show!

 Have you ever seen the back of a peacock when his feathers are up?  I thought the brown feathers were a little surprising.  Compared to the blue, they sure were an interesting contrast . . .

 Madeline also liked watching the little Mara eat.  Mara?  Yeah, I don't really know what they are either, but if you'd like to know more, you are welcome to ask Ethan!

Ethan liked seeing ALL the animals, as if that is a surprise to anyone who knows about his animal obsession.  And he would say things like, "Look!  There's a lemur"  or "Yes!  I knew this zoo had Mandrills"  before reading the sign to see what they were.

All in all, it sure was a fun day!  Nothing like a FREE trip to the zoo!

Three Things

Three things I crave lately, am in love with, and can't get enough of:

Cookie Crisp Cereal . . . who knew?
Homemade Chocolate pudding - I made it last night and just might have to make it again today . . .
Homemade bread - I made two more loaves yesterday!

And no, I don't plan on posting a picture of Cookie Crisp on my photo blog.

It works out

Today, I felt like I had a mountain of stress sitting on my head.  Lots of callings with lots of meetings, lots of details to try and remember, lots of people I have to do little things for.

Sometimes, you feel like you have no idea how you are going to make it.  But then someone gives a lesson where they say the EXACT thing you need to hear to make you feel better.  And you decide to cook a dinner that everyone loves and dinnertime is happy.  And then a neighbor calls with the help you need.  And a little voice says, "don't worry, it's going to all work out."  And then you smile.

Tray

A week or so ago, I was in my favorite design store when I noticed every bed in the show room had a tray sitting on a throw with pretty things in it.  I thought it would make a nice addition to my new room.

I bought my tray at JoAnn's with my $5 off coupon, so it only cost me $1.99.  I painted it white, lined it with purple, and then covered two Styrofoam balls with fabric strips left over from my pillows.

 It was cheap, quick, and easy.  But little things like this make me smile each time I pass my room with the laundry basket.

Our Fancy Valentine Dinner

When my sister told me how she was planning a fancy Valentine dinner for her family, I knew I wanted to copy her!  And it turned out to be so much fun, I think we have a tradition here for the future.

First we dressed up!  Complete with boutonnieres and corsages that I made (out of silk roses from the dollar store - now I can use the same ones next year!).  Madeline was excited to wear her princess dress during dinner.

 We ate heart shaped-pizza for dinner.  After pizza, we cut chocolates into four pieces each for a chocolate tasting. 

 We also had pink and red layered jello, with sugar around the rims.  Madeline felt lucky to eat out of such a fancy glass dish.

 And of course, the table was decorated, candles going and pretty music played.  What a fun evening!

Going out with Todd would have been nice, but this made Valentine's Day special and fun and memorable.  My kids really liked it and we did too!

When the night was over, Ethan was happy to blow out the candles, but sad that he couldn't make us any more valentines.  In the one week leading up to Valentine's Day, Ethan made over 40 valentines.  I'm talking, homemade, with animal drawings on them.  And store bought ones, he did about that many too.  I've got a stack of ferocious dino valentines like you wouldn't believe.  That's how I know I'm loved!