high tea.....

Oh my, it's been quite a while since my last tea party.  It was so entertaining last time and I had a lot of fun planning it.  I love the little sandwiches, the herbal tea, and I especially love my tea cup collection (the above is not a picture of it, sadly).  Any ideas on what I could do for my next one?  That includes recipes (scones, sandwiches, tea cookies etc.) or decorating ideas.  I used a tea set for my last party but would like to use individual tea cup and saucer sets this time.  Any tips would be appreciated, thanks!

am i ready for school?

I was so set on homeschooling this year that I ignored looking into, for lack of a better word, real schools.  We did a walk-through of a school yesterday and Blaine fell in love.  He loved the teachers, he loved the classes and he loved the other kids.  On the drive home he told me that he wanted to go to school there and I just about burst into tears.  Now I know that he's ready, but am I ready?  How can I let him go?  *sob*

I sometimes forget that Blaine partly belongs to deaf culture.  I'm just so used to him being Blaine, you know what I mean?  I'm used to our lingo, our own way of talking and communicating.  It only springs to mind when someone else asks me what he's trying to say...or asking me to get his attention so that they can talk to him.  Today, at tae kwon-do, we met a family with a deaf and mute daughter (she's the teenage aunt of a fellow little ninja).  Her mother was interpreting for her and I was desperately trying to sign (my limitation in this area is embarrassing) so that she was part of our conversation.  Blaine loves meeting other people with hearing aids and was excited when she gave him his own sign name.  She also gave me one for which I am grateful.  Only a member of the deaf or hard of hearing can give you one, so I thought that was pretty cool :).  When we left, I felt so blessed to know that we are not alone in our troubles and that there are people out there willing to help by sharing their own experiences.  She is who she is and he is who he is.  Now it's time to move forward in acceptance and let him live.  Ciao~

i feel pretty.....

I really love wedding dresses. I would always design them for myself and friends. And even though I'm married now and I've done the whole dress thing, I still love to look. Do some oooooo-ing and awwwww-ing. Surely I can't be the only one?

camping....

Alone time can be overrated. Michael took the Blaine-bop camping this Thursday and left me to my own boring devices. Within the first hour I was clueless about how to entertain myself. And I just missed them both so much, really. Blaine and I had a mommy/son date when they came home and it was so sweet to be with him! Those boys are the best family anyone could ask for.........fact.

tiny kicker....

Blaine had his very first ever Tae Kwon-Do tournament today. Michael and I couldn't have been more proud! And it was certainly a lot of fun to watch all those 5 and unders punching/kicking/jumping and also running an obstacle course. He received a medal today and liked that immensely! So I hope that this is something we can stick with in the coming years. Now a white belt, tomorrow a black belt. Well, you know......not literally.

Hahahahaha, I love you Bill.

didn't have a clue...

So my hubby Michael and I have been going on 11 years of marriage this July. But I still find out things about him that I never knew before. Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else? Like for instance, while on his mission to Argentina, Michael ate an entire goat. A whole goat!!! That blows my mind because I was particularly pleased when I once ate an entire chicken. Yeah I get it, that's pretty disgusting. His mom also told that when he was 8 he announced that he could never get married because he loved all women. I don't know what that says about us, nor do I want to know. We'll leave it as a cute comment :). I'm just happy that after all this time, I find him interesting and I fall a little bit more in love with him every day. Even knowing he gorged on a goat.

I so love my Goodwill. But I don't think I've ever gone there to kill time, I always have a purpose! Definitely serious business :).

isn't she lovely...

There's no one quite like Audrey....

places i'd love to go someday....

despair....

Today, I ate the last of my thin mints. Life no longer has meaning or purpose.

just pondering....

If you are mother you are going to have a bad day every now and again. And if you think about it, that's just like any other job really. But I was thinking (after one of my bad days) that my little boy is the cutest and sweetest when I'm tucking him in at night. When I look at him our bad day just fades away. And then that made me think about our Heavenly Father. When He looks down on us as we're sleeping, does He feel the same way? I think He does.......

friday funnies...

does anyone else think this has to be a missionary??? hahahahaha

gonna miss 'em...

Michael's little brother and his family moved out west today....can't believe we won't be seeing them very often (not often = once a year). I'm going to really miss my lil nephew, Andrew especially! Good luck on your new adventure, we will miss you!

blaine turns 5...

Well technically, not until tomorrow. He is no longer toddler....he is kid! For his birthday surprise we went to the Museum of Science and History (the MOSH). It was so much fun! But the really special part was the planetarium. Blaine loved it but was at first disappointed when he realized we weren't really going to the moon lol. Today we had a miniature birthday party, just us and the grandparents. It's just been a really great weekend and I feel so blessed to have, know and love Blaine!

really?

It has been mentioned before (like a gazillion times) that Blaine looks like the kid from Home Alone 3. Only 5 and already has a celebrity doppelganger lol! I don't know though...I can kind of see it....what do you think?

i do believe in fairies.....

the circus was a bust!

Blaine and I have been counting down the days until the circus came to town. We both wanted to go so badly! But I did a terrible thing and never looked at the ticket prices all the while making promises. BIG MISTAKE! The circus is an expensive show folks and there are no children's prices. Everyone has to pay almost $25 smackaroos a piece. I am NOT paying a mint to watch a show through binoculars in the nosebleed seats. But I'd promised Blaine we would go......what a dilemma. So Michael puts on his excited daddy voice and says, "Blaine, how about we go go-karting tomorrow instead of the circus?". I was anxiously awaiting some kind of tantrum (like the one that little brat threw on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) but none came. Whoosh!!!! Disaster avoided!!!! He just looked up at us and said, "Can we? This is awesome!" So the moral of this story is....never make a promise unless you've done your research. And never spoil your kids (unless it's with love) unless you want them to turn out like Veruca Salt.

the girl in me.....

So maybe I've just realized that I'm a girl and that I love girly things sometimes. And since I hit a big milestone this year (it's something that rhymes with flirty but is not nearly as cute) I've been trying to take better care of myself. I'm also cheap. I'd like to take better care of myself and my wallet. So here's a really great facial scrub recipe that I came across.



you're going to need a half of a lemon (or some lemon juice)
a teaspoon of granulated sugar.
and 2 cotton face pads

First you squeeze the lemon juice onto your stacked cotton pads. Then you will sprinkle the sugar on top of that. Any excess sugar on your fingertips, just rub that onto your face. I like to wet my face with water first. In gentle circles massage the lemon juice/sugar/cotton pads onto your face until all of the sugar dissolves. Your skin will be a little red (I recommend doing this before you go to bed rather than in the morning). Rinse your face and let it rest for a minute before applying your moisturizer. This will brighten your skin as well as lighten acne scars, sun or age spots. I've been doing this about every 2 or 3 days for 3 weeks now and I can see a difference. It's an inexpensive and effective home micro-dermabrasion. Hope you guys like it!