jr. police officers, slumber party, and a happy mail day!

Priorities first!

Today was such a happy mail day!

I felt very international....I got mail from:

Ireland:

(some crocheted flowers so that I can embelish the couple hats I plan to knit up)

and

from France!:

a copy of the Stampin' Up Catalogue, Francais. This sucker cost me $22 (mostly shipping costs) but to me, it's worth it:

Last wednesday, our Girl Scout troop took a field trip to the La Mesa Police Dept:

It was fun...the best part was hearing the girls' questions at the end. "Why is there jail?" "How come there's no mattresses in the jail room?" and my personal favorite: "Why are there homeless people?" :o) All the kids took a quick peek and walked right on by the seat where they do the booking photos...I don't think they entirely trusted the tour guide when she promised she was not going to put them in handcuffs. :O)

And then this past Saturday Arissa had a friend spend the night. It was kind of a big deal, because a) it's only the 2nd time she's had a friend sleep over, and b) we had to totally change our life around for a day and a half to accomodate an overnight guest. We sent Mariah & Mallory to Nana's for the night, because they LOVE Arissa's friend and wouldn't have let her and Arissa have a moment to themselves. Plus 4 kids in the house, plus Jesse, is too much for me!

Jesse went golfing Sunday morning so it was just me and the girls. It was raining, so I had to think of stuff to entertain them. So, of course, we did a craft:

The girls painted these wooden frames that I had bought about a year ago:


...then we took a cute picture of them, got it developed in seconds at Target, and voila:

Arissa's:

Olivia's:

happy birthday time

This is the birthday gift that Jesse & I created for our friend (& neighbor), Gary. His birthday was actually almost 3 weeks ago, but it took me that long to figure out how to post the dang video on here!

We went to a nice party for him, with the yummiest Oreo cake ever, made by his wife Courtney. Lots of fun!

Scroll all the way down and turn off the blog music, then turn up your volume and hit play on the video.....it's not nearly as entertaining without the music!!

I know what you're thinking....

...what on earth could be as lovely & wonderful as this:

And my response would be: nothing.

Except maybe this which comes very very close:

This is my Jasmine...I planted them last spring, and they were beautiful, but I moved them several times and the blossoms didn't last. But the plant stayed green all fall/winter and grew like a weed. Then a few weeks ago I began noticing blossoms, and now this baby is in full swing!

I LOVE THIS PLANT. It's pretty. It's low-maintenance. It's ever-green (I don't know if it's supposed to be, but it has been for me). And best of all....it's perfume wafts through my entire yard! Even from the front porch you can smell it, and it's such a nice smell, the epitome of springtime. And then as you walk into the backyard (which was formerly a pile of junk but I've been working on making it presentable again) it just envelopes you and it's HEAVEN.

I'm training it to climb:

I even arranged some as a "gift" for the SDGE man, so when he comes to read our meter, he can relish in the beauty of it too:

Moving on....

I went a little flower-happy at Home Depot the other day and came home with:

Renunculas:

And the beginning of our new vegetable/fruit garden:

Strawberries in a hanging basket:



And finally, a nice view of our front walkway....once the hydrangeas start blooming, I think it'll be hard to keep me inside. :o)

Queen of Collages!

I like making these. :o) I use snapfish.com, where I "backed up" ALL my photos from our computer...just in case. It's also the site where I print most my photos.

This one is of "les fleurs de mon jardin" (well from one time or another....they're not all there now):

This little tiny....

...is FEARLESS!




Which is somewhat out of character for her! She's not usually "fearful" per se, or at least I refuse to label her that way, but she does tend to be more cautious than her sisters. But:


Mariah just called me to report that she pulled out her own tooth!!!!


It had bled a little after she ate an ice cream sandwich, so Arissa told her (matter-of-factly) to just pull it out. Which she did! Arissa told me she offered her hand to Mariah to squeeze if it hurt, but Mariah didn't even need it. She also told me it was bleeding a lot, and I asked if Mariah was crying (just from seeing the blood, let alone the pain) and Arissa said nope.


When I spoke to Mariah and congratulated her, her only comment was: "Mommy? The blood tastes good". :o) Kind of gross, but also cute.

New hat!

I just finished a new hat....which Mallory claimed before I had even slid it off my knitting needles. I did it in a plain cream color so I could use the crocheted flower embellishments that I bought off etsy months ago. Voici:

Dear Lord,

Why couldn't you have made me a few inches shorter so I could have worn these and not felt like a giant? And a little more wealthy so I could afford them?

:o(