the cocoa ritual

babysat my niece a while back. after a rather chilly trip to the local park, we all enjoyed a spot of cocoa. ah, the cocoa ritual. instilled in me when i was young by my mother. why not make cocoa drinking a special moment? jack already loves mini marshmallows. i put approximately half a bag in a bowl for us all. i gave jack a special mug and a bendy straw. enough to blow a 2 yr old's mind. claire and i had special goblets and i poured the cocoa from my white teapot with the big yellow polka dots. to keep the cocoa cool for little mouths, i poured cold milk from a little white ceramic cow. i'm pretty sure we all had a really great time...with cocoa.:)

valleyfair

went to valleyfair with my family, dan's mom and stepdad, and dan's sis, bro-in-law and niece. had a lovely time. jack was very brave about the rides. he went on the mini carousel all by himself! he also went on the regular carousel and ferris wheel w/me, the antique cars with daddy and i, and he went alone on the kid's train and semi-trucks.

i rode on the ferris wheel, carousel, antique cars, excaliber, renegade, and thunder canyon. we spent a lot of time at the water park. a lot.:) jack took almost a 2 hour nap laying on me. i was pleasantly surprised that he got such a large and painless nap. i am sure the day would have been a disaster without it.

andy, jack and claire had their photo taken at an old timey photo place. i will have to scan the photo and post. it is pretty fun. speaking of fun... valleyfair still had the ben & jerry's shop and they still had "coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz". yum! but i almost got "chocolate therapy". :) glad we don't live anywhere near a b&j's. too much temptation. and who needs that?

como zoo/como town

sunday we went to the como zoo. the butterfly exhibit was actually really really great because there were butterflies everywhere -- as it should be!:) one landed on my forehead and i took two photos of myself with a little natural bling. we saw all sorts of really cool animals in very nice habitat and the weather was great. went to the little amusement park attached to the zoo. jack drove these little corvette-like cars 3 times, and then he drove a little horsecart. andy rode on the swings with claire. it was such a nice vacation.

marshall family reunion

went to the marshall fam reunion saturday. the party was very nice: in-ground pool, yummy food, dice game, family. dan, andy, jack and i spent about 3 hours in the pool. the food was plentiful, and featured the family's required porketta. my pound cake was a hit.:) the dice game went well. i brought 3 gifts and ended up with 5. double:).

stick that in your shaleleigh and smoke it

oh danny boy did i have a great st. patty's day!:) today was my second day watching my niece, claire. we read, played blocks with jack, watched muppet shows, had lunch at culver's, bought some yarn:), went to starbucks, made kool-aid play-doh, went to the park, and ate rice crispy bars. apparently we also kissed the blarney stone and turned our lips green.

pie with little claire/i love old things

i watched my niece, claire, for a few hours wed. afternoon. while she was here, we made a strawberry rhubarb pie. it was the best pie i ever made. it was one of the best pies i ever ate! once again, betty crocker cookbook... i love you! the crust was so soft and tender. the filling was the cutest, perfectly jelled pink.

i set this photo up. i didn't realize until just now how much it gives away my personality. i like old. i like color. i love heirloom. the tablecloth was a wedding gift from dan's aunt brenda. the plate is fiestaware. (i have cobalt blue, red, turquiose, sunflower and pale yellow.), the silver fork was my great grandma elerene's. the pie server was my great great aunt alfreda's.

at the park

monday my niece, claire, came over for the day. claire, jack, andy and i went to the park. i packed us a picnic lunch and a thing of kool-aid.:) we met my cousin's pregnant wife, melissa, and her two girls, stephie and rose. i realized later that jack had not gone on the swings, or the slide... he was just having a blast wandering free and throwing wood chips!

after awhile we went over to the beach. i was going to put swim trunks on jack... but he looked so adorable in his swim diaper. he loved playing in the sand. he was very interested in the water, but did not want to be in it. too scary.

barbie as the island princess

anyone seen "barbie as the island princess"? (i kept forgetting the "as" and claire kept correcting me.) my niece brought it over and we watched it together. confession: i almost cried when rosella (barbie in disguise) was reunited with her mother. sap! i guess it's the mother thing. i scorn myself.

what crappy animation! they must know that the audience is young and will gobble up any garbage they can dish out. the philistines!

i have "ro"'s opening song stuck in my head now. i keep modifying it. "here on my island the sea says hello!" has become, "here in my kitchen the fridge says hello!" and "here in my bathroom the tub says hello!". claire thought it was hilarious.

confession

confession. i went shopping last night at 8pm with my baby and 6 year old niece. claire pushed the stroller at khol's as i pulled clothes off the racks. claire pushed a cart whilst i pushed my own cart with jack in it at cub foods. cub was having an excellent 10-for-$10 sale and i couldn't tear myself away. we arrived home at 10:30 to a frantic dan. oops. guess next time i will leave a note or use my cell phone to give him the heads up. well, i guess that's karma. but, i didn't mean to teach him a lesson, really!

the "three piggy opera" star!!!

here is claire, star of the "three piggy opera".:) actually, she didn't have a real part, but she was the star to me. her kindergarten class had a very nice program and i got to go see. after the performance, we all went back to visit her class. i thought the book reading area was so cute that i needed a photo. this is claire, my husband's sister's daughter. my niece!