happy thanksgiving!

i sure am thankful for all the little turkeys in my life ;)

happening

a few of the children were transformed into beautiful mariposas at a magical birthday party last week.

a typical sunday dinner at my mother's house.

fyi.. there is a full sized couch to the right. they just like to have a weekly snuggle on the love seat i guess.
my latest find from my sat. morn treasure hunt. me likey.
well what do we have here? i like to think it's an early american girl doll. it was my FAVORITE doll. hence the picture i'm sure. it's wasn't even mine. we rented it from the library every time it was available.

i want those shoes back soooo bad!!

which child do you think looks most like me?

sweet salvage

oh how i want to go to sweet salvage today. i've been racking my brain thinking of how i can get down there. it's a big antique salvage market that only opens for 4 days once a month.
i.want.to.go.to.there.
but i just don't think it's gonna happen. unless i book it downtown after dropping off S at preschoool and then only stay 1 hour before having to book it back to the other side of the mountain to start the afternoon carpool.
hmmm.....
i really need a velvet chair or settee.

diner en blanc

i heard about this cool diner en blanc theme and we thought we'd give it a go for our turn at dinner club.

it was a fun night!

i liked the idea of old pictures and torn out pages from old books hanging over the table. i found as much white stuff as i could, thanks to my neighbors :) washed out some old lemonade bottles and used them as candle holders. i used old music flash cards as place cards. put white flowers and candles everywhere and it was fini!

a diner en blanc! my guests did not bring their own food tho. but it was a surprise to them. other than i asked them all to wear white. they thought it was a p diddy white theme. nope.

i made some white feather headbands for the ladies and had a few white props out for pictures. i think the men liked the big white fur coat more than the ladies.

the menu:

two garlic and thyme roasted chickens

roasted brussels sprouts

sweet potatoes with rosemary & olive oil

mesclun salad (french greens) with balsamic vinaigrette

saffron baked brown rice

french bread

and a delicious chocolate cake for dessert (courtesy of my sissy)

bon appetit!
i had fun with these silly girls!!!

maru's baby shower

i got to celebrate another beautiful life on sat. my dear friend is having her 4th baby. her mom and sis-in-law picked an awesome location and we had lots of fun ooohhing and ahhhing over cute baby girl things. i can't wait to hold that little one!!!

my littlest matryoshka turns 5!!!

S is 5!! i can't believe it. she got to celebrate on her actual birthday at school. she was pretty pumped. they have a tradition of picking a toy out of a treasure box and they get to take home Socko, the classroom monkey, for a few days.

we met some sweet friends at rainforest cafe, which was a real hit for her and baby R. after we picked up the girls from school, we headed over to the mall for the traditional

5 yr. old ear piercing!

she chose hello kitty earrings.

she brought in some cookies :)
R was pretty excited to be in the classroom that day.
sooo happy!
i decided to have a matyroshka themed birthday party this year. i found a little necklace at forever 21 a few months ago and was inspired by that.

i printed off a few free coloring pages....

matryoshka doll coloring page

design your own matryoshka page

and ordered her gift from amazon. i also ordered some cute crafts but they did not get here in time. we will just use them as thank you cards... when they finally arrive :)

amazon can be kind of addicting :0

D practiced some special songs for S and wanted to learn how to play happy birthday so she could play it while we sang.
i really put the big girls to work with the decorations. i had hosted a party 2 nights before the birthday party, so i just kept a lot of the decor up and swapped out some things. i printed off some matryoshka dolls and cut them out. i had the big girls paste them onto cardstock and viola! there was the banner. S was really inspired and decided we needed name tags. i was so proud of her, they turned out so cute. she even used a special font just for the birthday girl.
of course auntie sarah hit it out of the ball park with her cake. i sent her a picture of the dolls i ordered off of amazon and she made the cake look just like them!

my pretty little 5 year old.
we headed outside for a little matryoshka hide and seek. they blended right in with the scenery, so it was a real challenge to find them.

the little boys had a wonderful time playing football with the big boys. R was in heaven... so serious throwing, retrieving and waiting for the ball.

S got so many sweet and thoughtful gifts. it was a beautiful day. she is such a funny and sweet little girl and i am so thankful she is mine!!

backyard afternoon

have i mentioned how much i love az in the fall? and i love it when they all go out and "help" dad cut the grass.

baby R was so funny imitating daddy. he kept turning over his lawn mower (excuse the pink) and pretending to fix it just like daddy. he was so into it.
minus the occasional dog pummeling, it was a perfect day.

grass & stuff

we have been enjoying the cool weather and our freshly sprouted winter grass.we don't have summer grass because it's so darn H.O.T. so we really relish the days we can use the backyard as an extension to our home. in other words... kids. go in the backyard and don't come in until the sun is going down. most days they don't want to. they play all kinds of pretend games that last hours. it makes my heart happy.


i have been making fun of my recent "breakouts" but finally i decided i had better get in to see a specialist. turns out i had a weird infection and have to be on some weird blue antibiotic and probiotic. seems counter productive to me. i also had to "rush" over to a plastic surgeon and get the bump removed. it's really dumb. it was really swollen, red and hot. and was spreading down into my neck. painful. but i am grateful to have a plastic surgeon as a friend and could get me right in. i wasn't overly impressed with the dermatologist office i visited. but that's another story. so thankful that it wasn't too serious.

me. all bandaged up.
on a brighter note...

look how cute the kids are in these pics :)

nat's shower

a few weeks ago my sis and i had a baby shower for natalie. it was super duper fun. S wanted to stay and participate. it was her first baby shower. she liked it but decided to stay with dad at the next baby shower... which happened to be the very next day. i know a lot of preggos right now. and no, i'm not one of them.

but i wouldn't mind it :)

we don't know the gender so we stuck with primary colors. my sis made a beautiful cake of course. we had "carmel apples." some had carmel... some didn't. some just melted off onto the table....

it was extra special because both of her sisters and mom were all here together. we snapped a few family photos :) i love how the girls all have really dark hair and dark eyes, but the granddaughters are blonde and blue eyed just like grandma. i love that kinda stuff.


whatcha think? boy or girl?????

happy halloween!

this year we had a southern belle, belle from beauty and the beast, a cheerleader, pocahontas and an octopus (not pictured below)

the fam and some friends gathered drive way style and we had some chili, gram's spinach salad, grapes, orange & black chips and salsa, corn muffins and a veggie & grain dish.

after filling our tummies, we started off to gather candy.
da boys.
oh mom!! that chili you made is delicious! can we have more? do you have any more veggies we can eat? we're gonna go easy on the candy this year!
feeling free and sugar spiked w/ cousin A and a soda.

i called them poke and straw all night. they liked it.
the serious business of candy sorting. preparing for trade.
the whole group.


even tho there were not as many trick or treaters out, the kids had a blast.

until next year.....

BooohaaaaHeeeeHaaaaOOoooooooo

that is supposed to be a scary laugh.