Plant those Dahlias ...

Here is Anna with her favorite rake. yep, some kids have favorite toys....she is attached to yard implements. 

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I ordered all of these Dahlia bulbs, but now they have all arrived and someone (me) is going to have to plant them. 

Well actually I do know what I was thinking....every year that I go to the fair and see all of the HUGE dahlias on display, I think, some day I'm going to have dahlias like those! Well, keep your fingers crossed...maybe this is my year. I have 78 tubers to plant. The weather is still a bit to chilly at night to plant them, so for now I can just anticipate the job....hee hee

My neighbor walked by as I was taking these pictures and said, "are you getting ready to plant your bulbs?"....I said, "no, just taking pictures of them". I'm pretty sure he's wondering about me right about now....hee hee

Hope all of you are out enjoying some nice spring weather!

Something to ponder....

I don't have a picture for today, but had to pass along what I heard at the park today. Anna and I went down for our daily park outing and today we met a little boy who was walking his dog "Rufus"....(the dog was a daschund....so pretty funny that a small dog has such a BIG name).

The little boy with Rufus appeared to be about 5 years old and was quite comfortable striking up a conversation with me while we were all on the swings. He says, "I've met the President before". I responded with, "wow that must have been pretty exciting!" He says, "not really, he was kind of a bummer." I asked, "what made him such a bummer?" He says, "well, he started out by saying that $100.00 was too much, and then he said $1,000.00 was too much, and finally he said $400.00 was too much." To this I had to ask, "do you remember the name of the President you met?" He quickly responds back with, "yes, his name was Lincoln." 

It may not seem that funny to everyone else, but if you could have seen how serious this little boy was about meeting the President and him being such a bummer it would have made you laugh too. During the conversation I'm thinking, oh, he must be talking about President Bush, because he came through our town a couple years ago, but then I'm thinking, well that would have made this little boy only 3 years old at the time. I almost laughed out when he said Lincoln, because all of the sudden the questions running through my mind were for nothing! 

And, the whole time I'm talking to this kid I'm wondering where is his mother? Maybe I'm too protective, but geesh, these days I don't know if I could send Anna off alone to the park. 

So now I'm taking pictures of food......

This is a picture of the fresh fruit salad I made for Easter dinner.....it looked so pretty I thought I should take a picture and share the recipe. 

This is a great salad for summer BBQ's! 

Recipe for Fresh Fruit Salad

Fresh Fruit & Mint Salad

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

4 mangos sliced

12oz. strawberries sliced

6 kiwis sliced

1 1/2 cups seedless grapes (cut in half)

Combine lime juice, honey and chopped mint. Pour mixture over sliced fruit and gently mix in. 

Best if prepared the same day as serving. 

The Chocolate Bunny!

Last night Anna left her empty Easter basket by the front door, so the Easter Bunny could come by and fill it. 

When she woke up this morning she ran out to see if the basket had been filled.....I heard her gasp, and yell "mommy come quick!"

Besides books, a couple stuffed animals, and candy, there was a CHOCOLATE EASTER BUNNY! 

At first she didn't quite know what it was, then she asked, "do we eat the WHOLE thing?" When I said yes, she got a big smile and said, "open it, open it!" Anyways, here is the chocolate bunny. 

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning we went to our local park for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Too bad it was raining! Anna didn't care about the rain though.....she just wanted those eggs. By the time we were done we were all soaked. 

Yesterday myself and a lot of the other neighbors dropped off a dozen eggs each filled with candy and money at one of the neighbor's houses down by the park who coordinates the whole thing, this morning some of the neighbors "hid" the eggs (for the little kids the eggs were just dropped around on the ground), and then we all met with our kids for the countdown to the Easter Egg Hunt. 

Anna had a great time and couldn't wait to get home to see what was in her eggs. 

Happy Birthday to me!

Graphics for Happy Birthday Comments

Jump and Party!

 

Since today is my birthday Anna wanted to have a birthday party for me (I know, isn't she the best?). Well, when you're a 3 year old party planner this is how you throw a party..... We went to Jump and Party! We had never been there before today, so I was not expecting to participate myself.....(I didn't think adults would be allowed on the inflatables). My mistake.....now of course there were other parents there with their children, but Michael and I were the only two adults climbing in and out of these HUGE inflatables. I didn't get a picture of the whole place, but there are several big inflatable things (obstacle courses) for you to play on. I was pooped by the time our hour was up. Thank goodness it was only an hour! Anna had a blast, and I must admit I had a pretty darn good time myself. :0) Great Birthday party Anna! 

I'm delighted to say that tonight Anna will be with my dad while Michael and I go out to dinner....a little more relaxing. 

Last Day of Gym Class

It was a sad day....this was Anna's last day of gym class at My Gym. Due to the economy they are closing their doors after being open for only a year and a half. We are all disappointed :0( It was a great place for all of our kids to meet once a week and a nice break for us parents once a week. Anna had the best teachers....Thank you Miss Dawn, Miss Amy and Miss Maria. We are going to miss seeing them each week. It was a great learning experience for both myself and Anna.

Easter 2008

Last Easter we rented a house over on Alki in West Seattle. We went to the zoo where Anna was able to join in the big Easter Egg Hunt. She loved that!
Anna 28 months, Danielle 15, Michael 13

Easter 2007

Here are a bunch of pictures from Easter 2007. I can't believe how much the kids have all changed in 2 years time. The two older ones (Dani & Michael) were not too thrilled when I told them we were going to color eggs....they're much too old for that ya know!....well, isn't it funny that as soon as I got those little cups full of color and handed them their eggs they were all over it! Too old my foot!

hee hee, and they're going to be so happy I posted these pictures....shhh,
don't tell them.



Anna 16 months, Danielle 14, Michael 12

Here's a site for moms to check out: www.nannydeprived.blogspot.com

Mom Quotations

The World Pays Homage to Moms.... as it Should!
Enjoy these great Mother Quotes!

"My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint. ~Erma Bombeck

"I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on." ~Roseanne Barr

"Cleaning up with children around is like shoveling during a blizzard" ~ Author Unknown

"Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease."
~ Lisa Alther

"By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class."
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

My New Theme Song

Everybody sing along!

All I can think of is the 60's show "Laugh In"

You would think the same thing if you witnessed her riding her trike in person. She tips over a lot!.....I'm not laughing at her, I'm laughing with her.....Its not her fault though, we have a lot of cracks and seams in the driveway and that little trike just doesn't take them well. She has a bigger trike, but she can't reach the pedals on that one yet.

At last, the park...

...and some play time with Daddy!
The sun was shining and no snow on the ground. Happy Day!

Isn't this how you garden?......

Maybe there would be less back trouble if everyone took lessons from Anna! She seems to have gardening down....hee hee
Maybe its the fact that I'm always asking her not to get dirty, and this is the closest way she could make herself suspended over the flower bed......she's a thinker!

We went to Lowe's a couple nights ago and bought dahlia bulbs and she's been dying to plant them. I keep telling her it needs to be a little bit warmer before we can start planting anything, so again with the thinking, she looks up and says, "how about rocks?....can I plant rocks now?"
So, that is what she is doing.

Now, who is going to be the one to tell her that rocks don't grow?

Spring?.....

We were finally able to bring out the swing and hook it back on to the playset. The fact that there is no snow on the ground is something to be happy about all in itself! I thought it was pretty funny when we were getting ready to go outside that she thought she needed her sun glasses. Michael (daddy) tried to talk her out of them, because it was 6:00 in the evening and the sun was starting to go down. Her argument was, "look daddy, the sun is out". Okay, I guess a person shouldn't argue with 3 year old logic.

She had to bring her "friends" Larry (short for Malaria) and Marty (short for Martian Life) outside to play with......um yeah. Would I make that up? She found these creatures at a game store called Uncle's out at the Valley mall around Christmastime, and she is attached to them. Its this strange brand (in my opinion) of stuffed animals that are named after different types of microbes. She has another one that we call Penelope (short for Algae)....I'm not sure how she got Penelope out of that one. Anyways, they have provided us with a lot of entertainment.

You can tell I'm bored when I'm willing to put myself in the pictures!

I don't know about you, but Anna and I are tired of this weather.....so we've been doing whatever it takes to entertain ourselves. This time it was taking pictures with the computer.....Out of 20 pictures I was able to capture 2 where she wasn't a moving blur. I need some of her energy. I think tonight we'll try to see if we can get some with Michael/Daddy. Its pretty funny to watch Anna see herself on the computer. She tries to make the silliest face possible.

What do you do when it insists on snowing in April?

Bring out the Play Doh!