Baby Jockey Shorts

Tessa's dance class and preschool are on spring break. With nowhere to go and nothing exciting to do....guess what we've been doing this week?

Paintin' Some Eggs

Today we made some Easter eggs. I had this kit I bought last year but never used, with tiny paint rollers. It worked really well for Charley, but for some reason he didn't make any pictures, whoops.

The paint was like a gel, and the hard part was keeping the rollers in their separate color trays. Charley was all about the green. He did his six eggs in all green and Tessa went back and added more color to them later.

Beautiful! I figure if we do a good job eating them, we can make another kind next week, like sparkle ones. Remember the cammo ones Aunt Jess helped us make last year? Tessa does!

Enjoying the spoils of her labor. I told her we would have them for breakfast but she was dying to have one for 'dessert'. After she ate her weight in spaghetti at dinner, I actually set a kitchen timer to make her wait for her egg, for fear she would puke.

"Look Mom, I got to the YELLOW part!!"

Happy Belated Anniversary

At this point Jeremy and I don't really buy each other gift. I guess we do for Christmas but that's about it. We prefer to save our frivilous money for fancy restaurants and fun dates. Not to mention things like new carpeting, which I think will be my birthday present for the next 5 years. (and I'm okay with that!)
Anyway, we I saw this in the Uncommon Goods cataologue, I couldn't resist...

A face mug, with room for a cookie! Given Jeremy's almost daily espresso habit, and my recent venture into homemade cookie baking....I couldn't think of a more perfect gift for him. Isn't it cute? See this week's lemon cookie hanging out in there?

It was back-ordered so it came about two weeks late, but that's doesn't matter. Happy Anniversary all the same!

For the record, I love Uncommon Goods. I want like, everything in their catalogue. It's the perfect place to find unique gifts at a reasonable price.

Today Wasn't ALL Bad

It just ended that way.

We had a busy day! This morning I had a quick dentist appointment. Yup, my teeth are all still there, see you in 6 months. Then I took the kids out to brunch at Sophia's and we headed to the museum!

Our main objective today was to finally see the Dora and Diego exhibit which has been there since early February. For one reason or another we kept getting held back...mostly illnesses. Ear infections, sinus infection (mine) and pink eye. Our kids have been so healthy for so long but man this winter our number was up!

Finally all better we headed out....

There's a funny story here. Tessa has started taking her adventure backpack with us to the museum every time. It has the basics, you know...a flashlight, binoculars, magnifying glass and she always picks up a map at the door.

Well, in the Dinosphere it 'storms' every 10 minutes or so and Tessa grabbed her flashlight and headed to this little cave. Without saying anything, like 7 kids followed her in and they all made a little shelter from the storm, huddled around her flashlight. Instinct, I think.

Climbing on all of the ancient ruins.

For some reason as soon as I helped them into the Colosseum, they wanted out. Perhaps they sensed an impeding doom?

After the museum we headed toward my Doctor's office for an OB appointment. What, you've never taken your two small children along with you to the lady doctor? Really you should try it sometime, so much fun.

Anyway, we got there a little early and parked in the parking lot. Both of the kids were asleep I thought, until I heard some retching from the backseat. I turned around in time to see a projectile vomit shoot out of Tessa and land all over her.

Ugh the horror. And the smell. And the car seat.

I called the OB to tell them that I was in fact in their parking lot but had to reschedule. They were so sweet. They asked...do you want to bring her inside? Uh, no. She's dripping.

So that was the end of our day. She actually was fine after that but went to bed with a bit of a fever. Good thing we got out before the next illness hit.

My Cookie Project Recipe 16- Grammie's Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

When we were visiting Grammie and Grampie in February, Barbara has made some super delicious lemon poppy seed cookies. She says they are a Martha recipe, but I prefer to just call them 'Grammie's lemon cookies'. So good!

I was little intimidated by this recipe because it included zesting and making lemon butter on the stove. Don't forget that this whole cookie project started because of my lack of baking skills. But I thought after several months of cookie making, I was ready.

And it wasn't too bad at all. The finished product- perfection!

If you don't own a zester and have an irrational fear of the cheese grater, you can always go this route. It worked perfectly!

Tessa's lemon face

After you make a lemon butter on the stove, you mix it up with flour and sugar until it's been thoroughly 'creamed'.

After I had made the dough, my helper helped me with the fun part. Rolling the dough balls in a mixture of sugar and lemon zest. Then you flatten them with the bottom of a glass and sprinkle with more poppy seeds.

They look a little burnt but that's actually just the extra sugar, not the actual cookie. Someone got a little heavy handed with her sugar sprinkling. Thankfully Tessa kept me in line :)

They look so pretty in my jar.

I have to say, of all the cookies I've made so far I think these are my favorite. Like I said before I'm not a big chocolate person, and these are nice and light and deliciously lemony. I think rolling them in the lemon zest at the end packs the perfect sour, bitter punch.

While I was feeling especially domestic today, I also made the Pioneer Woman's Dr. Pepper pulled pork.. We've been trying to declare Sundays as 'slow cook a big piece of meat day'...so this was perfect. I started it before church this morning and let it simmer all day until it fell apart.

I'm not going to lie, I don't love pulled pork. And *gasp* I really don't like bbq at all. (I know, you can disown me now). But this is almost perfect...spicy, a little sweet but not too much and tender and juicy.

Here are the recipes for lemon cookies and Dr. Pepper pulled pork. Enjoy!

Stuffie Bath Day

Look who got a bath (in the washing machine) today....everyone! Begone dust, pink eye and unidentifiable slime.

It took three loads to get every stuffie in the house. I wonder how we got so many. Do they multiply like rabbits when we're not looking?

A Beautiful Surprise

"It is easier to seek forgiveness later than ask permission"
In general I don't agree with this principle but when it comes to Jeremy's feelings on Tessa's hair, I guess it applies. You know men don't exactly understand the perils of long gnarly thin hair and the pain inflicted on the Mommy who has to style it every day.

So to Jeremy I say. Tessa's short haircut is AMAZINGLY cute and I can't wait for you to see it in person. I love it and most importantly Tessa loves it.

Before:

After:





I've been trying to talk her into this for a while now but today when she got her hair caught in her jacket zipper twice and a dum dum tangled in her long locks, she simply announced she was ready.

She asked if we could get her hair cut on the way home from dance class, so we did! (this is the way I typically make hair decisions as well...hastily and impulsively. It's more fun that way.)

In other less exciting news, poor Charley has been diagnosed with pink eye. Yuck.

Wine and Canvas- Couples Style

In January, I posted pictures from the Wine and Canvas event I went to with my friend Cindi. I had so much fun, we decided we MUST do it again (and again) and this time we brought our husbands for a double date.

The way all good dates start...with a giant platter of sushi to share.

Cindi says- is it time YET
Greg say- this is going to be fun!
Jeremy says- I'm pretending that my wife dragged me here even
though I'm going to have a really good time



Jeremy's approach was a little more....crude...than what the teacher was instructing. He also kept working ahead of the class and trying to do it himself. Are we surprised?
Jeremy, the teacher said 'knife edge'...not giant glops.
And yet somehow his trees turned out pretty good


53 artists making the same scene. All great and all different.



From L-R...Mine, Jeremy's, Greg's and Cindi's


If you've been to our house you may be in on this inside joke. If not...ask me next time you visit.


The artists with our finished products

An awesome double date. We WILL be doing it again!

Indy locals should check out wine and canvas. It's a great thing to go out and do with friends, and not very expensive. www.wineandcanvas.com