Laowai

Nothing big happening around here lately. I have things on my mind but I’d have to actually do some thinking to put my thoughts down and right now I’m feeling lazy. So instead I’ll just show you a few pictures that I’ve taken recently.

Brian bought the biggest apple ever!

Sometimes we go out for dessert. Sometimes we take our best friends.

I took this picture of my quilt a while back – the back is almost more interesting than the front. I’m on to the quilting now – making good progress with lots of quiet days.

Bea is very against painting her own fingernails, but she likes to paint Claire’s. A rare moment of getting along.

This might be my favorite kid art ever – a little lady face that Bea made at her after-school art class.

We took a walk at the botanic garden.

Some photos from Brian’s recent travels:

Chicago from above

The Clarence in London (significant only because Clarence is what Brian calls Claire)

The blue boat on Lake Zurich (significant because we used to go to the window and spot that boat with Bea right before we tucked her into bed)

It’s still all Simpsons all the time around here. That’s a Homer slipper that Brian found for Bea – in case you couldn’t tell what you were looking at.

The end.

I bought daffodils and made marmalade. I want to try making marmalade once more because I think I cooked that batch too long. It does have a nice carmel flavor though. And outside my window I see yellow witch hazel blossoms.

Last week’s warm temperatures had me thinking of pretty colors and flowers. I don’t like to rush it, but since there is no snow outside (only dreary brown all over) I couldn’t help looking forward to Spring.

I made another egg carton wreath. I love, love, love the thick cardboard of egg cartons – how they feel and how they soak up paint is great. I made this wreath nice and big and used the new liquid watercolors that I have.

All my girls got together in Southern Michigan to celebrate our February birthdays last weekend. What a memorable weekend it was – mainly because of the weather. It’s February, but we spent time at the beach and climbing the dunes barefoot and without our coats. The sun was shining and it was in the upper 60s the whole time. We couldn’t stop remarking about how strange the weather was. Other than the weather we had fun swimming and eating cake and playing games and antiquing. Happy Birthday Jennifer and Jenna.

I made these surprise balls for the birthday weekend. They were really fun – I bought a bunch of mini gifts like candy, jewelry, bath bombs (made them smell good), little collectible trinkets and I also included some money. Then I carefully wrapped them in crepe paper streamers one at a time so they formed a big ball. When the girls opened them they had to unravel miles of crepe paper streamers to uncover the presents. As the girls get older – it’s sometimes hard to find a gift. These seem like a good solution because you can give them something little plus some cash and they feel special.

There are lots of tutorials and ideas for making surprise balls online. Here, here and here are just a few.

We celebrated Bea’s Birthday as a family last Friday. I can’t believe it’s been ten years since this sweetness came into our lives.

It was a very Simpsons birthday.

Work In Progress

6 blocks x 8 blocks = 48 blocks (so far)

Each block is made of 36 two inch squares. So 48 x 36 = 1,728 itty bitty squares.

So there, Bea, that is why we have to learn to do multiplication: – so we can know just how silly our obsessive hobbies are.

Bea invited four of her friends to celebrate her birthday last night. We went out for pizza and let the girls sit at their own table. Then we came home and had a sleepover. Her actual birthday comes in a week. She had a really fun time with her friends.

I made s’mores cupcakes – they have a graham cracker layer at the bottom and gooey marshmallowy frosting. I used Grandma Dice’s chocolate cake recipe for the cake part.