Day 32- Good Value Flowers

I'm so impressed with these flowers!  We picked them up at the grocery (LOVE PUBLIX!)  and they are still kicking after almost 2 weeks!  The dye has kinda seeped down into the water, but the colors are still so vivid and the petals aren't droopy.  All for $3!

When we bought these, I told my 2yo they were called daisies.  When we came home she went and told our dog, who is named Daisy, "We got you your flowers Daisy!"

Day 31- V's View

I generally take a lot of photos using my iphone throughout the day and often look back at the day's photos to choose one to post.  When I looked at Sunday's photos I came across this one which was unknowingly taken by my backseat passenger.  Currently we have 1 seat in the middle and 3 in the back.  To make things fair, the older 2 rotate who sits in the middle seat by whether it's an even or odd date.

Can't say I've seen the view from this perspective.  I thought my hair flipped under, not out.  (I'm not on my phone, I often drive with my hand holding my head.  Besides she had my phone to take the photo!)

Day 30- Backyard Campfire Fun

Today was a great day with friends.  We had a backyard camp out at our friend's house.  We only went in the house to use the bathroom. :)  The girls had fun playing in the backyard, eating tacos in a bag and roasting smores on the fire.  It  inspired us to plan a campground camping trip in April.

Day 29- Carline Sleeper

She's sick with a cold :(

She got a nap in with a few of her favorite things while waiting to pick up "her girls" :)

Day 28- Obstacle Course

I told the girls to clean the litter box, their (and my) least favorite job :(  I told them they could watch one show when it was finished.  After they were in there for nearly 20 minutes I peaked in.  Turns out ingenuity overruled Disney channel!  They had set up their own obstacle course.  They had to bounce on the ball, hit a ball from the tee, dribble, roll on one roller skate and hula hoop.  It was a riot and they loved it!  I LOVE real play won out over tv :)

Day 27-Lemon Drizzle Birthday

Happy Birthday Sweet Pippa!
You are SO loved.

Two birthdays ago, we celebrated in London and our baking capabilities were somewhat limited.  We did a Lemon Drizzle box cake that turned out to be divine!  This year she wanted it again.  I substituted Dunkin Hinze Moist Deluxe lemon cake and whipped up some powdered sugar, butter, smidge of cream cheese and lots of fresh squeezed lemon juice.  I think we have a new favorite :)

Day 26- Fancified Birthday Brownies

Tomorrow my eldest turns 9.  

To celebrate with her class she decided to bring in brownies.  We talked about using stencils and powdered sugar to make them look birthday special.  After a serendipitous trip to Michael's craft store that happened to lead us down their Dollar Aisle, we came across Paula Dean dessert stencils for ONE DOLLAR!  I think they came out just darling!

Day 25- Sweet Boy

My nephew, Charlie, is a twin.  

I wonder how his life as a twin will be different than if he wasn't.  

He prefers to sit back and take it all in.

He's such a sweet boy :)

Day 24- Barbies Livin' Large

V got her birthday present from her Grandma today. Her very own Barbie Dream House.  It was nice to see she was really excited and not too big to still love Barbies :)  

These Barbies sure have it made!  Notice the 3 skinny dipping in the hot tub and the lucky few who were put to bed cozy with covers.  If you look closely, you'll also see Dallas hanging out next to the house.  He's mine, circa 1982!

Day 23- Warm Sunshine

It's a little chilly outside today, but these two found a warm spot to cuddle. :)

Day 22- Kid Chores

Every so often I make the girls fold some of their own clean clothes while they get to watch a favorite show.  The show must have been really good because the quality of the folding was really poor!

Day 21- Happy to be Here

This is our dog, Daisy.

She's really happy to be a part of our family.  In the summer of 2006 we lost our first dog and took a few months to heal.  After visiting family over the holidays and being around their dogs we, we felt we were ready to start looking for a canine addition.  The VERY day we decided this my mom called to say she'd found a stray in the parking lot of the hospital she worked at.  She was hungry, skinny but very friendly.  We had her scanned, no chip.  Called all the vets, put an ad in the paper to no avail. She was meant for our family.  That was 4 years ago this month :)

She has some separation anxiety and loves to ride in the car, but she sheds so bad!  On days when I feel like my car is already in need of a vacuum, she gets to tag along to drop off and pick up the kids from school.  This was one of those thrilling days for her.

Day 20- fishy

This guy lives at Pet Smart.  We were there buying the mouse stuffing and a new water bottle.  Had to look at all the fish while we were there and thought he was pretty. :)

Day 19- Opposite Effect

I took the littlest one to a jumping bounce house place today.  She liked it well enough, but I thought this photo sums up her response 75% of the time I ask her to smile for a picture.  Maybe I should instead ask her to cover her eyes!

Day 18- Glamour (early) Birthday Girl

Today, Valla celebrated her birthday a few days early with some friends.  They went to Glamour Shots and were treated like models with their hair and make up done then their own photo shoot.  They really had a great time and I heard a few times, "this is the best party ever!" Too bad the photos were so outrageously expensive to buy more than the 1 pose included in the package.  

Day 17-Sparkly Shoes (& a little tech frustration)

This is one of those nights where I am SO frustrated with technology or more precisely my lack of understanding of some technology!  I took this photo of my littlest one's favorite shoes and then uploaded it to iPhoto where I played with the saturation value and did a cute little vignette around it to add emphasis to the shoes.  But when I came online to upload, blogger doesn't seem to recognize the file.  I've noticed sometimes when I edit in iPhoto, the file name changes from black to light grey.  These light grey file names are not able to be uploaded.  After doing a little googling it seems iPhoto is some how using file names that aren't recognizable when I make these edits.  It's not all edits, but some.  I'm not sure what the explanation is but the fix for tonight was to "revert to original" and then only play with the saturation value and not use the vignette effect.  I'll have to figure out how to use recognizable file extensions on the cooler edits.     

So here they are, her favorite shoes, minus the vignette!

Day 16- Think They Were Tired?

Last night the older 2 and I slept over Snooze At the Zoo.  After a full day of school, a flashlight tour of the zoo, a movie and lots of giggles, these Girl Scouts finally fell asleep between 11pm-12am.  After a night on the floor of the bug room, it was up at 7am.  We then had an awesome time a birthday party complete with a horse, pinata and lots of running around.  This was shot after the ride home... at 3:30pm.  I think they are worn out!

Day 15- Middle Sister

Photo quality isn't the greatest, but the brand of wine behind her is Middle Sister, just like her.  The flavors are Drama Queen, Rebel Red, Wicked White, Smarty Pants, Sweet & Sassy, Mischief Maker, Goodie Two Shoes and a few others.  Too Funny.

Day 14- Daisy GS Friendship Bracelets

My Daisy Girl Scouts and their brand new Friendship Bracelets after earning the Yellow Petal- Be Friendly & Helpful

Day 13- It's a Mommy & Baby World

Here I go, crossing a line... the camera is in the bathroom.

This is a shot from the Target bathroom this morning.  My 2 yo saw two drilled holes that had red plastic threads in them.  One larger than the other.  She exclaimed, "Look, a mommy one and a baby one!"  

Day 12

We went to the park this morning after trying the Library Storytime for 3-5 year olds.  There's a big difference between the different storytime levels.  We need to step back and go to the 2 year old version :)  After the drama subsided, we played at the park.  I've been wanting to try out my new camera even though I have very little idea as to how and use it's capabilities.  Between the very aggressive squirrels trying to get into my bag, a toddler who wants to stick her tongue out for every photo, freezing fingers and not knowing what I'm doing... I'm considering this shot a complete success.

Day 11 5:33pm

After a day of grey, the sun peaked out to say goodbye.

Can't believe what great photos my iphone takes.

Day 10

Ring My Bell

We bought this bell at a flea market in Amsterdam in March 2009.  I really wanted something special as a souvenir, not just some piece of commercial junk.  It's heavy and lugging it back to London and ultimately back to the US gave it a spot on our garage shelf.  It didn't seem to make much sense in hanging it in our rental.  Well, today it finally has a proper home. 

The girls want me to use it to call them to eat.  Jason thought it should go outside our front door.  I like it being in our main hallway where I will see it daily and remember our great European Adventure.

Day 9

My brother, Natalie, Valla and Jason ice skating at the local rink.

A few falls but they did great!

Day 8

Great way to spend 2.5 hours of my afternoon with one of my favorites.  

She's now totally hooked on Legos.

Day 7

LG watching Bambi, or at least the silly baby fawn parts.  When it turns serious, she runs to me and hides her eyes. 

Day 6

The girls and Will frolicking on New Smyrna Beach, beach is great even in winter!

Day 5

Amusing themselves while grocery shopping.

Day 4

By request- N's Lego village

Day 3

Maude the elephant

Day 2