Scarlet's Easter Basket

Cute no?

I bought the robins egg blue basket at Goodwill last October for $2

Inside:

Foam Alphabet Bath Letters - $4.99 at Target

Owl Wash Cloth - $3.99 at Target

Bird Sippy Cup and Bowl Set - $7 at Target

Hair Bows - $3.49 at Target

Hello Kitty Necklace - $1 at Target

Pink Bunny Ears - $1 at Target

 Pink Feather Bird Pen - $1 at Dollar Store

Chocolate Bunny Pop - $2.39 at Safeway

Reeses Pieces Carrot Treat Bag - $1 at Dollar Store

Pastel Plastic Eggs - $7 at Safeway

Annie's Bunnies Fruit Snacks - $3.49 at Local Natural Food Market

The eggs will be filled with fruit snacks and cheddar crackers and hidden in the garden.

 And the giant cherry on top?  A big ole monkey.

Scarlet is so so so SOOO obsessed with balloons.  It's too the point that Ryan and I avoid floral and gift departments at stores that we frequent because we just can't handle the incessent 'bawoon' jibber jabber.  If she has one then every other word out of her mouth is about the bawoon.  She yammers on about how everyone should all look at it, hold it, see it, look at it, see it see it! Bawooooooooon!  She wont eat if there is a balloon in sight because that's takes away from time that could be spent talking about the balloon.  The first time she was given a balloon to take home after church she talked about it nonstop for 4 days before Ryan and decided the deflated balloon needed to go live on a farm somewhere.  THREE MONTHS LATER the girls still asks after that dang thing!  And that was just a regular old red rubber balloon!  So, we decided to be the best parents on the planet and suffer the aftermath by topping her basket with this guy.
 She is going to flip the frick out.

Betcha by next Friday Ry and I will be kicking ourselves for bringing the monkey into our beeble girl's life. ;)

Conversational Back and Forth with My 2 Year Old (25 months)

It's 10:15pm and Scarlet just woke up in her room and called me in there with a slight pout to her voice.

Me:  What's the matter?

Scarlet:  *using her saddest voice for best effect*  I bonka head on na cwib.

Me:  Uh oh!  Do you have owies?  

Scarlet:  Yea *rubs her head* I cwyin' Mama.

Me: You're crying?

Scarlet: Yea.  I habba owies and I sad.  Make a Scahyet happy Mama.  

Me: Oh, I don't want you to be sad honey.  Kisses will make it better and then you can be happy.

Scarlet:  Ummm, okay Mama.

Me:  *smothers in kisses and loves*  Allll better.

Scarlet:  It's okay mama.  Scahyet okay.

Me:  Are you happy too?  Will you have happy dreams now?

Scarlet:  Yea, a Cuwious George happy.

Me:  You're going to have dreams about curious George?  

Scarlet:  Yea Mama.  *puts head back down and hugs her blankie*

Where'd my baby go?

The Beach

3/13/13 Goodbye

Ryan's grandparents are amazing people.  They traveled the world together, taught ballroom dance on cruise ships, visited tribes in Africa and Grandma Loretta even taught Hula classes.  On Wednesday, around 1am, Loretta passed away in her sleep after a year long battle with pain.
Rudy and Loretta are without a doubt the most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I often regret that I didn't get to meet them sooner.  Rudy sang to his wife each morning as he brought her a cup of coffee (often accompanied by his uke) and they were as in love on the day she died as they were over SEVENTY years ago when they wed.  He adored his wife and sparkles every time he speaks of her.  Grandpa Rudy was one of Ryan's groomsmen and he and Loretta danced at our wedding as the longest married couple there.  Grandma wore a candy necklace from our reception candy shop in all of the professional shots we have and I sooo love that!  She was something to be admired.  She even modeled in a runway show for a big name company when she was in her eighties!  She wrote an essay about keeping a youthful heart and mentality that caught the judges eye.
My mother and I only knew them for the past six years but fell in love with them right out of the gate.  From the moment we met them they loved us as if were were always there, always apart of their family.  It's been an honor and an immense blessing.

 The whole family is doing okay, relieved that she will no longer endure the pain of her broken body.  It's hard to know she's not in our world anymore and even harder to think of Rudy and Loretta apart.  But the family has all come together and the love for them and each other is palatable.    Ryan has been reliving some of his favorite stories from his childhood with me over the past few days. Her life will always be cherished, remembered and definitely celebrated by everyone that had the privilege to know her.  Goodbye Grandma Loretta, there isn't a soul alive that isn't better off for having you in their lives. 

I'll be taking one week off from the blog.  See you all very soon.

A Royal Offense

The other day I was cleaning up Scarlet's room and found this picture that Ryan drew on the MagnaDoodle.  At first I thought it must be me and decided that in place of taking offense to the monster lady depiction, I would instead pity my poor husband's drawing skills.  

But then as I tidied more I found an old magazine and realized who the illustration was of.
 Any guesses?  

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Needless to say, I don't think Ryan will be hired to paint portraits of the royal family any time soon.

International Play Date of the Future!

Scarlet and Nolan danced and giggled with Darcy this morning.  

Our kids are the Jetson Generation!

Me and my girl

Flooring and Fixtures - Potty Talk #2

Yea yea, "number two" and "potty", I gets it.  Moving on.

Today we narrowed down the field with fixtures and flooring.  The easiest decision was the tub.
This one is a deep soaking tub that's so comfortable I could have napped in the display.  It doesn't have the greatest reviews online but Ryan thinks that's due to poor installation   The Lowes man assured us that it's the tub he sees returned the least.  We shall see I suppose.  It's nearly 20" deep!  That's practically double what our dinky little puddle tub holds now.

Sterling Ensemble Soaking Tub 60 x 32

Then we headed to flooring and grabbed two samples.  

A woodlook vinyl flooring that would give this effect:  

picture property of the internet home alliance

Or light cement tiles to open up the space (seen on left).

The next decision to be made was a bit harder. Do we stick with the free chrome faucet that was given to us?  The faucet is perfect with the style of room I'm envisioning but it's polished chrome and I was hoping for brushed nickle.  Not only would the brushed be easier to keep clean but it would be a bit more understated in our small space.  If we stick with the chrome then I need to find a matching bath faucet set, hand towel bar, vanity lighting and toilet handle.  That's a lot of shiny metal in yo' face.  For kicks, I wandered into the faucet area and picked out my favorite brushed nickle sink faucet (top right) and realized it's the exact design as the chrome one we were given for free.  So then I toyed with what other chrome fixtures I would choose if I stuck with the freebie.  Pictured below the faucet is an inexpensive bath faucet set that I don't mind in chrome as well as a light fixture.   What do you think?  Keep the chrome and purchase more of it or sell the chrome freebie faucet and go for the brushed look?

Here's what our flooring samples looked like at home.  While I adore the look of the wood in the washroom I think we may go with the cement tiles instead. They're a better fit for a damp terrain and the light color will open up the space rather than closing it in like a dark wood might. 

We're not totally sold there but I think I'm leaning away from the wood look.  In order to match the real hard woods we have in the rest of the house (under our soon to be ripped the hell up carpet), it has to be quite dark like this.   I'd much prefer something warm toned.

Opinions?  I'd love to hear them on both the fixtures and the flooring please!

And then I warbled over the bacon

Scarlet's come down with a little cold so most of our day looks like this.

Earlier though, while I was making bacon and Ryan was tidying the counter tops in the kitchen, this happened:  

Me: *cooking at the stove*
Scarlet: "Wook Daddy! A cinna-nellya pincess."
Ry: *Hastily fussing with dishes, stops in his tracks, lowers himself do his daughters eye line and places a hand on the small of her back* "Oh Cinderella? Look at how beautiful she is. Look at her pretty hair and her make up. Wow and she has a pretty dress, see the sparkles on her shoulders? She has blue eyes just like Scarlet."
Scarlet: "Sewwww amay-thing!"
Ry: *kisses Scarlet's cheek*
Me: *immediate tears as I step away from the stove and look at Ryan.*  "That's sooo sweet."  I warbled and gushed at him.

Ry:  *totally confused*  "What just happend??  *I nestled into his neck kissed his cheek between sniffles*  What is going on here?  Are you getting sick too?"

I loved how natural his response was.  He didn't even have to think to stop what he was doing and take that time out with his daughter.  Before Scarlet, Ryan could barely tell you one Disney character. Now, he delights in them all along with his little girl. I'm SOOOO SOOO thankful for what a natural daddy to a daughter that man is. ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Two Pics

Scarlet's God mother sent over these two shots that I love from Scarlet's birthday party.  

I plan to add them to the party decor post but I think I'll let them linger here a few days.

For the Love of a Glove - 30 Seconds of Silly!

A Pin-Test: The "When You're Hard Up For a Cookie" Mug Cookie

I've seen various Cookie Mug recipes flying around pinterest every now and then so tonight when my sweet tooth struck, I decided to give it a go.  Everywhere I looked the recipes were pretty much the same so I blended a few and went for it.  It's ridiculously easy and a great idea for those gotta-hava-cookie moments. This way, without making an entire batch you're saved from a sink full of dishes and sheets of cookies begging for consumption. 

Here's the recipe I made.  Meet me below the recipe and I'll let you know how it went. 

 

Now, I'm definitely not a cookie snob and you can't go too wrong with this butter, sugar, chocolate concoction but don't expect the best cookie of your life.  

Pros:

• It did cure what ailed me thus saving me from making an entire batch of cookies that would then taunt you from your kitchen through the night.   So it saved me a few calories there!
• It was fast and easy, only dirtying a few measurement tools and the mug. 
• Whilst I was making it, I stopped right before I added the egg yoke and instead added the flour so I could eat the dough.  Without the egg, it was a more firm ball of cookie dough.   I nommed and declared myself a winner.   Then in a minute flat I had remixed the ingredients to get back on track for the real experiment. 

Cons:. 

• My sugars did not completely melt and my cookie was a bit grainy.  This could be due to the fact that I was using organic brown and sugar in the raw which have a thicker milled grain.  If I wasn't in such a rush to stuff my face with cookie I could have avoided this by putting the mug into the oven instead of the microwave. 
• It wasn't much better than taking a store bought cookie and zapping it in the micro for a few seconds to get that soft gooey goodness.  This method is the option you reach for when there are no other cookies in sight.  Otherwise just reach for the Chips Ahoy.

In the end, I think the forced portion control and the lack of dirty dishes are enough to make me a fan of this on the fly treat!  Plus the dough was mighty tasty too!

Excuses, Excuses

Aw crap.  I completely forgot to update today.  Yea, yea it's after 1am so technically it's tomorrow but my rule is, today doesn't end until my eyes close.  Right now they're baaaarely open and slightly crossed but it still counts, today isn't tomorrow yet!

I have an excuse for my tardiness though.  On friday morning at this time:

(That's AM mind you)

I was shampooing the carpets in an incredibly meticulous, take 4 times longer than anyone else do the the same job, fashion.  I have the callouses today to prove it.  

From 11pm-3am I was a deep cleaning wackadoodle.  

When the clock read that ^, the house looked like this:

Aaaand I looked like this:

But don't worry, I was sustained by this:

It may seem crazy having a midnight love affair with my carpet shampooer, but it's actually the best time to do it. The carpets had all night to dry without little Beeble feet tromping all over them and we all woke to clean, refreshed rooms.  Not to mention I get as many hours as I like as I can last to myself without interruption.

See you Monday!