Hamming

Ella had part of her menagerie down in the living room today. She also was in a picture mood and wanted me to take pictures of her faces and all her animals! Ella has always been a stuffed animal girl. There are times when she gets in her bed that we can't find Ella for all the animals (think ET in the closet) but you cannot take them off the bed she knows exactly who should be on there and will go searching for someone if she thinks they have gone missing. So today I snapped away while she felt like posing and captured her little arrangement of friends including Ellie her new addition of a really wonderful pillowlike stuffed Elephant that I fell in love with sitting by her ownself in the clearance section of the grocery store. Oh and after the hamming came a big ole tickle fest!!!

Sometimes when...

Sometimes when someone says something shocking or surprising you just naturally make a funny face...and sometimes when that happens mom is on hand with a camera...She just makes me laugh...

Big ole purple chair...

Ok so many moons ago, when the house was still new (to us that is!) I went to a furniture store searching for a chair. It had to be comfy, it had to be big enough to lounge in, to curl up in, and most of all to read in. Which meant I sat upside down, legs over arms, feet into corners, in many a chair before I found this one... It was in a clearance center, a special order no less, so once it came in the color didn't work for the people who had ordered it. It was too unique...enter one artsy fartsy wanna be!! Plus it took a special place in the world being as it is what is termed a chair and half...which equates to honking huge chair!! So I contemplated and I went home and brought the Irishman to investigate...because chairs that fit me rarely fit him due to a bit of a difference in leg lengths! And it worked and he wasn't off put by it's purpleness... So my big ole chair came home to live in our blue room. When I met the chair I had visions of lazy, rainy days sprawling watching drops trickle down the windows, days snuggling up with a great book, and even then I had visions of a place I would one day gather with children and be able to both fit and read together...this was way before I had even thought that I may even want children...but there was that glimmer and idea...and now every time I find one little person (albeit some not so little any more) clambering up on my lap with a stack of books I get a heart full of warmth and feel good. It just makes me happy...especially when I walk through and see the little person sprawled across the chair reading her very own book by herself!!!!

The last photo is my Christmas present from John finally hung in the kitchen window!! I love sun shining through glass balls!!

Ella Cooks...

Ella's lasagna...

Bronwyn absorbed in eating...

Big smiles for the camera time...I am so lucky!!

Ella's big smile...the orange color around her

mouth is not lasagna however...it was from the

huge carrot she ate earlier!

Bronwyn's lovely big smile...

Ella insisted on helping me make dinner tonight. She sauteed veggies and mixed the cottage cheese and seasonings, she layered the lasagna itself...she chattered and she told me how much she loves being in the kitchen with me. She kept pretending we were getting ready for a party! How lucky am I to share time doing something I love with someone I think is amazing?!! The sunshine was a welcome addition to our dinner as well. After we followed it up with a little kitchen dancing... I think family kitchen dancing is one of my all time favorite activities!

Valentine's Surprise

Bronwyn made us salads...

The Irishman made his fabulous veggie pot pie...

I got a goodie basket and tulips!!

Bronwyn set the table complete with place cards...

It was lovely!

Ella's new Valentine friend was eager for dinner...

Ella checked out her glass and fed the new stuffed friends...

So I came home from work today and the ladies were so excited. Their Dad and themselves had put together a Valentine's dinner. It was a lovely set up and great food and even treats! Dinner was followed by a movie and popcorn and a little nap for me!! So as Valentine's go it was a good one!!

Hope you all were surrounded by love and had some quiet moments with those who are important to you!

Me being amazing....

I always wanted to play xylophone...for any reason...I would have knocked over small children for even time on a fisher price version...so now my time is limited to stolen turns on the one at The Hands On Museum...but I have flair...at least in my own mind!! LOL!! Hey I actually posted a video on here!!! Big ole day!!

Squamates...it is a word!!!

Taking a break listening to some old time radio shows!

Bronwyn celebrates her Mammoth find!

Can't remember his name but that is in fact his head!! And his color was so vibrant!

I so would not like to meet the snake whose jaws could open this large!!

Bronwyn wanted me to take this to show how sad she was to see snakes had died so people could use their skins to make shoes, belts, and purses....future activist???

I love this guy!! One eye was looking at me the other at the Irishman!

Gecko foot!!

Ella matches some questionable looking tongues to the animal...

Nosy Lizard...

Bronwyn and the iguana...

So after school today, after the Valentine's parties, the great lunch at Cafe Zinc with the Irishman, after a stop at the library, the ladies asked to go to The Center For the Arts (conveinently located at the end of our street). The exhibit was for Snakes and Lizards and the ladies have been asking to go since they saw the first flyer about a month ago. This begging was definitely heightened by the appearance of a giant inflatable iguana on the top of The Center. So since there isn't any school for the ladies tomorrow and because we happen to have a members pass, we went...and it was just as amazing for the Irishman and I as it was the ladies. I must say the one I found most fascinating and creepy was the Mamba... if I was walking in the woods somewhere and saw it I wouldn't have been scared. It is a gorgeous vibrant green and has the cutest little face...it is thin and long and just not frightening. Yet this little lovely is extremely venomous!!! I would have been a goner for sure!!! The museum also had a motorcycle exhibit and Rodin sculptures that are touring... it was a nice evening!

The afternoon was saved by my friend Kate. The Irishman and I had scheduled an elegant little luncheon at a newer restaurant downtown that is not at all child friendly. But Ella's second half of school was cancelled because the teacher was sick...I was ready to be extremely disappointed but Kate saved the day. The restaurant was really lovely and every detail was perfection. It was designed like a French Bistro and I think it really has an older feel. It reminded me of a restaurant we would have gone to in NYC. And if you didn't know better you would swear it was a renovated older building not a completely newly built addition to a hotel!! The food was perfect...simple and well done, the service was fantastic...the selection of desserts/pastries was also fabulous, the prices were decent, and the feeling of getting away and escaping in this small town was priceless! We would definitely go back!! They even said the chefs work around dietary restrictions ie vegetarian Irishmen and can adapt and change recipes or menu items to suit!!!

So it was a day seized!! I also helped at two different Valentine's parties today and must say I am grateful I have two lovely ladies who more times than not are respectful, well mannered, and relaxed! Hope you all enjoy your Valentine's days and get to spend them with someone very special!!