Eloise

Hannah wants to know why I haven't blogged about Eloise yet.

So, without further ado, meet Eloise...

I know.
Scary.
And potentially dangerous.
Ouch.

Eloise is the (toothpick) brainchild of Hannah.
A possibly bored-at-the-time Hannah who happened to have available to her, a styrofoam head and 800 toothpicks.

This is scary sight too.

Hannah striking an Eloise expression.

Is this what they mean by coming face to face with your maker?

I can't wait to see what creative adventures the approaching summer holiday holds.

A Case Against a Cat

 For those of you who know and love Sir Pounce...

 ...you may ask yourself, "Why don't they let him come inside?"


To you I submit...EVIDENCE!

The only thing I was unable to capture on camera was the puff of filth that leaves his body when he gets up and walks away.

Birthday Continued

Because of something else previously planned, Jenelle's teacher and I arranged for me to bring in birthday cupcakes on Tuesday...the day after her birthday.
Not a prob!
Let the celebration go on and on and on!

We decided to make an extra cool cupcake that I have seen on other blogs in the past!
Rainbow!
While I was making them, I soon realized that if I added 6 colors to each cupcake two things would happen...
One, I'd run out of batter and two, I'd have giant overflowing cupcakes.
So, I decided to try and stick to three colors each.

Topped them with rainbow chip icing and of course...rainbow sprinkles!

Jenelle was a little embarrassed to have the entire classes attention.
At least she pretended to be anyway.

I wanted to take a couple of pictures of what the cupcakes looked like on the inside.
Jenelle would only hold hers so I could take a picture of it.

But other classmates were happy to pretend to be biting them!

Hi Colin!

Love this group of kids Jenelle's lucky enough to go to school with!
Happy Birthday again cutie!

Spring arrived slowly but surely...

open windows and breezes...

lilacs for the eyes and nose...

sweet peas sprouting...

and flowers to plant...

A Visit from Meema and First Communion

A lot has been going on this spring!
After Easter, we were lucky enough to have Meema with us for a visit.
Its always fun to take our visitors to places we love here in the Northwest, and this time was no exception.
We've had an enormous amount of snow in the mountain passes this year and I thought it would be fun to show my mom what a ski resort is like.
It was the last weekend of the ski season, so we took a drive up on the weekend so Meema could see the snow and the skiers.

We only stayed long enough to play around a little in the snow and then have some lunch in the chalet.
It was a gorgeous day and I only wish that she could have seen the kids ski.

That weekend was Jenelle's First Communion and the last one for our family.
Four years ago it was Hannah's turn.
(I am SO LOVING that expression on Jenelle's face!!)

I spent many hours making her dress and swearing I never wanted to touch tulle or raw silk again.  It was a labor of love and I was thankful that Jenelle was anxious to wear that dress instead of having her own.

Our spring was late, so there were no lilacs to take pictures in front of yet.
But the ladies still looked gorgeous!

We styled Jenelle's hair in the flip - so cute!!!

A few more pictures at church...starting with Jenelle devouring a donut!

It was a nice day - a wonderful week!

Thank you Meema for sharing it with us...and thanks Papa for sharing Meema!

The End

As all good things do come to an end...so we arrived at the last day of our trip to England.
I know I've said this before, but when we moved away several years ago, I realized that there was a chance I would never be back.
To get another chance to spend time in a place I love so much was more than wonderful.

The day of our flight back to the states allowed time in the morning to do a bit more sightseeing.
Since we were already in Windsor, it only made sense to visit Windsor Castle.

The view of this amazing castle (when DON'T I think a castle is amazing?) from Legoland.

Once you get into the town of Windsor, you realize this HUGE structure and its grounds are sitting right in the middle of it.

Life just carries on around the castle.

There are some things that will always amaze me...and seeing "in real life" the sorts of things you've grown up reading or hearing about are one of them!

For real?
The changing of the guard?
Happening right in front of me?
In those crazy hats?

This flag, called the Royal Standard, means the queen was home when we visited.
COOL!

The State Rooms were unbelievable to see...all the treasures and original art that are housed there.
Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed.

After a mad dash to the airport and a tearful goodbye to Dad, we made it to our gate at Heathrow to relax for a few minutes before we headed home on a 9 hour plane ride (and what would be a harrowing drive over the pass once we landed).

It is always nice to get home, but I missed England before I even left the ground.

Birthday Girl

Before I write the last post about England, I want to wish Jenelle a proper Happy Birthday on the blog and show pictures of her fun day yesterday!

She was allowed to open one gift in the morning before school and it was a new watch.

Her little wrist is so tiny that she has it tightened to the last possible hole on the strap...and it still wiggles around a bit.

She's very good at telling time and when you ask her what time it is you'll get an exact answer...none of this "nearly 7:15" business.

This year, Jenelle told me she wanted to design her cake.
She drew out a picture with some instructions.
Ivan and I went shopping this weekend to find what we needed and Hannah decorated the cake.

I think Hannah was surprised at how difficult lettering can actually be.
We had a good laugh at "Harry Birthday"!

Hannah lights the cake (and burns a finger)...

Lots of birthday love...including a special birthday message from Dad!

And why stop the fun on your birthday?
Today I'll take cupcakes to her classroom to celebrate.
They are going to be cool rainbow cupcakes - if they turn out right!
Pictures will follow!