green mango madness

Sometimes it's hard to make sure the kiddos get enough veggies each day.  Heck, who am I kidding?  Sometimes it's hard to make sure I get enough veggies each day.  For  Christmas we got an amazing refurbished Blendtec Blender from Tony's Parents and it has totally changed our lives.  We are lean mean smoothie making machines! (Actually, as a warning, if you invest in this your husband may or may not try to blend every single meal into a smooth slurry... We've made pancakes, waffles, soups, hummus, brownies and of course smoothies.  I've stopped the random experiments to blend chicken bones and odd misfit toys.)

the big game

Sorry to mislead you - you couldn't  possibly have thought I meant the super bowl?  I must admit I did come up with lovely color coordinated outfits for everyone (in fact we choose our teams based on the most prevalent colors in our closet - who knew we were secretly stashing Seahawk paraphernalia all this time?)  But I'm talking about something bigger in our parenting sphere:  Taking turns, sharing, winning graciously, loosing graciously, and following basic directions (because sometimes there are paths you have to follow in candy land and in life dag nabbit!)

a little love

Each January 1 the streets are full of folks with misshapen trees tied to the roof (or bumper) of their cars - out with the old and in with the new.  For me I am hard pressed to let go of the joys of the holiday season in such a speedy and efficient way.  I cling to the magic that is a dark room with twinkling lights like Jack clings to a ride at an amusement park and am content to surroud myself in that wonder for a few weeks longer than we usually consider acceptable.

back in the saddle

Oh hello there blog land.  It's been awhile... did you miss us?  I totally missed you and all of the escape and joy that writing can bring - not to mention the fact that this is one of the only places that I consistantly shared and documented the amazing going-ons of our lovley little household.  It's been over a year, and what a year it's been - I won't go all crazy and try to recap - though there may be the occasional flash back post now and again.  I make no promises.

lovely little bunting

Inspired by the many beautiful mantle designs that we see all over the web, my girls and I set out to make a lovely little bunting for valentines day.  Although I'm very late in telling you about it... this craft adorned our home for well over a month and was super simple to make.  Keep it in mind for next year!  

little love trees

I was so inspired by the success of last weeks little craft-scapade that I spent much of the next week seeking out an additional love inspired project for my budding artists.  Presenting week two of valentines crafts;  the little love tree!

dusting

It goes without saying that when parents are prepared for an event - it most likely will not happen.  Thats why we drive around with tiny potties, diapers, first aid kits, extra granola bars, and applesauce packs in our car.  It's why at the end of each season we pack up four pairs of hardly used snow boots to send to good will.  Our little part of the world is nestled between two rather cozy hills - and those hills do all they can to keep massive amounts of snowfall off of our streets - to the dismay of every school age student in the county.  

The first winter that the girls could "play" in the snow we regaled ourselves with a multitude of mittens, hats, pants, coats, and boots.  I believe we used them once.  The year after , if memory serves,  we were startling unprepared (discouraged by the lack of snow the prior year), as such we missed the biggest snow of the season.  It seems the more prepared we were for snow, the less snow we got.  So, much to the disappointment of four little kiddos on Rosebud Street, four new pairs of goulashes complete with winter welly socks have been sitting unused.  Until this Sunday!