Monday, March 31, 2008

Warm and Fuzzy

Imagine my surprise to find a totally sweet award on my blog after a horrendous Monday that WOULD NOT END!

Thanks Holly! You are a sweetie. I am honored.



I would like to pass this award along to a few great gals on the web. Firstly, to Nancy whose funny Faces always make me smile; secondly to Laurie who is a great inspiration as a mother, and finally to Katrina whose blog is always glorious Eye Candy.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Lilly's 5th Birthday


Lilly turned five years old this past week! I can't even believe that she is already on her way to Kindergarten in the fall. Wow, time does fly. And speaking of flying, Lilly had a Tinkerbell Birthday Party. She is very into fairies, pixie dust, magic wands and other impish things.

Backtrack to her actual birthday. Here is her Breakfast in Bed- our family tradition. We even do it on their first birthday. It is fun to bring yummies to them. It's a great tradition! So fun.

Lilly's Birthday Prize: A Big Girl Bike. Complete with training wheels and more purple and pink than you can shake a stick at! Sparkly streamers top the whole thing off in a most Lilly-like way.

Can't go on a proper ride without a helmet!

Out for a test ride. Down to the park and back; with a brief stop at the playground. She did such a great job!


Go Lilly, go!

One of Daddy's amazingly scrumptious cakes. Homemade yellow with raspberry frosting. Mmmm....

On to the Birthday Party. As I said, it was a Tinkerbell Party. I am not including pictures of any of her friends because I don't know how they all feel about posting pics of their kids. It was tons of fun. There were 13 little ones in all.

When the little 'Fairies in Training' arrived. They were crowned with Tinkerbell tiaras, and Maddy sprinkled them with 'pixie dust' - shimmery powder. As they were waiting for all of the kids to arrive, they all colored pictures.

We played 'Follow the Fairy'- each little girl got a turn to put on fairy wings and twirl or gallop around the house with everyone following.

We also played 'Pass the Magic Wand.' Kind of like Hot Potato- except when the music stopped and the child was 'out' it was actually a fun thing because they got to keep the wand.

I then told them that Fairies had come to fix us lunch. It was so cute. Everyone went a little hushed. Here is what we served.

Fairy Bread [bread with butter and sprinkles]


Magic Wands [grape and marshmallow kabobs]


And Golden Nuggets [cheese cubes]

Also served, but not pictured, Fairy Fizz [soda pop with pop rocks in it!]

Lilly with her Cake

I absolutely LOVE to make kids party cakes. I have made a lot of them through the years, but I think that this might be my favorite. It is made out of rolled fondant, and it is so much fun because it is totally like playing with play-doh!

5 Candles Burning Bright


Close-Up of the Cake


Make a Wish!

I wonder what it could be, she was staring so intently.

One, Two, Three, Blow! Got them all, yeah!

May All Your Dreams Come True, Sweet Girl.

Disclaimer:
In all of my excitement to post Lilly's birthday, I failed to mention that all of these fun ideas were found on the internet. There are lots of great birthday party ideas out there; I just picked my favorites from lots of sites and put them together.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Idol Watch

A few surprises this week. A few of my faves didn't shine as bright as I might have wanted, but there was one performance that I will never forget. David Cook really rocked it out. Who knew this side of 'Billie Jean?' Wow. Loved, loved, loved it! The Michael Jackson cover had me at 'hello' -- and speaking of which, did you catch his version of the Lionel Richie song? For your listening pleasure, I have included both.

Billie Jean


Hello


Honorable Mention: Michael Johns. Love me some Queen.

Sent Home: Poor Chikezie. There were a few others who should have gone first.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Happy Birthday, John

--picture by Lilly

Lilly and Nick help with our family tradition of breakfast in bed.  On the menu: pancakes with strawberries and bananas, bacon and extra-floaties (okay, country-style pulp) orange juice.  [there is an on-going battle in our house whether orange juice is more righteous without the pulp a.k.a. 'pure' or with icky floaty things in it... John likes floaties, hence the choice of the day]

Mmm....

The best birthday gift-- all these sweet sugars!

Gift from Maddy and Stephie: A Night at the Movies.  
They gave us $20 [weird to get cash from your kids], and they provided free baby sitting so that we could go to see Vantage Point-- which, by the way, was very good.  

I surprised John with tickets to go to the The Police!  This is the tail end of their reunion tour.  He was really excited and I am thrilled to go.  Yeah for presents that we can both enjoy!  

--picture by Nicky
"Mommy making Daddy's cake."  I look messy, but happy!  

John's favorite: Carrot Cake

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Idol Watch

American Idol. You know you love it.

The big winner of the night was David Archuleta!

He did a crystal clear version of 'The Long and Winding Road.' Yes, it was a little bit safe, but I think that he now has his confidence back from his lyrics amnesia of last week. Phew! The YW Pres. breathes a sigh of relief that Everyone's Favorite Mormon Boy was on top last night.{grins}


Love love, love Michael Johns, but he really did lousy last night. Ack!! The guy can sing Queen and Simple Minds, but The Beatles had him baffled. So sad. He is definitely a contender, though, so I look forward to next week. He is not in danger of elimination by a long shot.



Brooke White, our other LDS Hopeful; not-so-much last night. She looked a little lost up there without her guitar or piano, and she did a bit of the LDS shuffle, that looks very out of place on the Idol Stage. She definitely has amazing talent, but missed the mark just a smidgen last night. Sniff, sniff.




Our Resident Rocker, David Cook, definitely has a horse in this race. He has been doing amazingly well. He is crazy talented, but last night wasn't quite as magical, and Simon let him know that, 'I don't think that you were as good as you think that you were...' Classic Cowell. Love it.



Okay, this is our local boy Jason Castro, and he really is amazing. I don't know that he has the 'idol' factor, but let's just say, if I were 20-something, I would be swooning over his soft voice, gorgeous grin and amazing eyes! My mom would have something to say about the hair, but... come one, have you ever seen dreads look so amazing?



Lastly I would like to talk about Chikeze. Funny name; serious singer. I have been hot and cold on this guy. He does Luther Vandross very well. He croons like there is no tomorrow. For a few weeks he fell on his face- I actually was wishing that he would go, but I am back to liking this very talented, happy-go-lucky guy.


But... tell me, is it just me, or does he look like Isaac from the Love Boat?