Zipline

Piano lessons today for the older two...so played in piano teachers backyard! It's been our first time to do so, since it's been too muddy back there until now...and there was lots to do. The littles loved it! 

Grey wanted a picture of his rock climbing skills

Biggest news of all...they have a zipline!! The kids LOVED this!

Sonny!

Maisy Daisy!

Grey!

Sonny again, doing "tricks" this time (they liked to "spin around" and "bounce back" really hard...whatever!)

So, May, ...Now before you watch this and think I'm torturing her. It's a kid sized zipline, you are not a million feet in the air. Also, Sonny and May both are very athletic and very strong for their ages, so I knew she could handle it. Also, she was BEGGING me for "my turn now" while the boys had fun. So I got her all rigged up, and camera ready to immortalize the cute event, and then she really thought better of her decision, haha!! ...But I was all ready to go, so it was really too late to back out now:-) Watch this!


(Note: Yes, she calls me Mom/Ma. When encouraged to say Miss Darla, she calls me Masada)
Here's her pic right after that "terrifying" ride:-) She went on it 3 more times, and had a blast (pic above of her dangling is from a another run down the zipline:-)

Growing Skinny

Brooks was always a solid kid, and Grey definitely was. Something happened...and they got so skinny:-) Grey recently has been totally thinning out and losing all that baby chub I love so much. So sad! I'm glad he still has chubby cheeks to smooch! Anyway - skinny minis! They all but disappear if they suck in their tummies...

Brooks sucking in, Grey pushing out to be fat. I think if we had to compare Brooks to an animal it would be a Greyhound or something.

Pushing tummies out to make fat bellies:-)

Coach Pitch

They've moved up in the world. No more teeball! They played their first game today, and from a spectators point of view...it's so much more fun to watch them! It's not nearly as boring, they make real plays, strike out...it looks like real baseball. Finally.

They are the Phillies this year. And notice their shirts? They were delivered from the shirt company with the soccer logo on them, instead of the baseball one. I say Ooops! Kenna says this is unacceptable, and it's practically ruining her life. She just can't imagine how she lives in a world where something like this could happen. She simply can.not.believe.it. and mentions it often.

So, the first game was a big success! Brooks got a great hit, and actually was stranded on 2nd with bases loaded, so he didn't get to score. He said when he hit the ball his eyes got big and he forgot for a second that he had to run. I guess his expectations were low:-) The Phillies beat the Yankees 8 to 4, so a really great start to the season!

It's a Boy!

I was asked to make a cake for a baby shower. In keeping with the theme of their day...

 I traced pics like these - from the plates, napkins, etc, and made the characters with royal icing

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And then I just put them on top of the cake! It turned out pretty cute, I think. The best part of this cake is the recipe. I'm posting it here in case in the link ever disappears. I had this cake once, at my sister in law's wedding, and it was one of the best cakes I've ever tasted in my life, I think. It was so good!

DELICATE WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 box Duncan Hines Classic White Cake Mix
1 (3.4oz) box of instant vanilla pudding and pie filling
4 large egg whites
1 C water
1/2 C vegetable oil
5oz finely chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all together, except the white chocolate, blend on low for 30 seconds, then blend on medium speed for 2 minutes. Hand fold in white chocolate. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 18-20mins, or until done.

With this cake, I did a cream cheese icing filling, with a layer on top of that of seedless raspberry preserves. I iced the cake in almond buttercream.

I sure hope it tastes amazing! Since I am not going to the shower, I won't get to try it out. Sad face. Need to make this again for ME...maybe for Brian's birthday:-) Or Easter:-) Or both!! :-D

Spartans...

...are so gross. All I can say is EW! So, a few more pics came in! They have professional people taking pics of the race, and they "tag" you in them based on your race number.

So enjoy a few more pics of very manly men, doing very manly things, in very manly ways...

(Edited to add this pic I forgot):

Can you spot Brian here? Keep scrolling down and you'll see the progression from running like Spartacus to floating like a muddy fairy

He's in the background here

And this guy? Totally don't know who he is. But that strong, manly, muddy arm in the foreground? Why, I'd recognize that anywhere;-)

Spring is here

It's our first spring season in the Willow house. It's always interesting to me to see what surprises each season holds. Since this winter was long, hard and COLD...{I know I can't complain too much, it was a rough one all over, but for what we are used to here, it was insanely cold}. We have been MORE than happy to pack up those winter coats and enjoy the sun...and oh, hello allergy season.

This mound of ? weeds ? popped up over night out of nowhere!

This is pretty...

...but it's a tangled mess. I'm afraid of/unsure how to get this under control!

And a sneak peak...for a cake I'm working on!

See Friendship

There is this thing on facebook: See friendship. Brian and I are obviously fb friends, but the "friendship" as it were, is definitely one sided. In a bored moment, I click the button "see friendship", and am reminded that I am about 99.9% more friendly than he is. In fact, I believe I only have one post (EVER) from him. From Feb 2, 2014 "Happy Birthday, Babe." Haha. For as much as he talks...a little light on the words, wouldn't you say?:-D Anyway, I came across a posting of mine from Nov - kinda funny:-). I'll continue to post my unrequited friendliness all over his wall, much to his general annoyance, I'm sure;-)

"So today, I get a call, asking for you. I said you were at work, can I take a message? Oh, its the from the Republican something or other, and they can talk to his wife too. Ok, that's me. Asking for money because 17 seats are about to be lost, or stolen, or burned at the stake. I wasn't really listening to the schpiel. Then of course they want money, in absurd amounts because they somehow figured we must have fallen into about 2.2million dollars in this excellent economy. So I said no. Then he asked if he could send me information to read. So I said yes. The catch. They can't send the information without a pledge amount. FINE. I'll do $10, and then we'll see from there. So they mark me down for my $10 and collect our address etc, Not without first offering to take the money via credit card on the spot, since money is put immediately to work in seat-saving endeavors. I declined. And then comes the fine print - thankfully I was listening to that part. "We cannot accept money from blah, blah, foreign nationals, blah, blah..." Hang on a minute. I'm not an American. Do you need to put this in my husbands name? Oh, um. Let me put you on hold. I waited while they assembled the congress to vote on the matter, apparently. And the verdict came in. They can't take my money. And that is the story of how I almost participated in American politics, but instead, saved $10"