Mothers Day Swap

It's finally time to announce my upcoming

Mothers Day Swap!!

I was going to wait until tomorrow but I may not get a chance to post it tomorrow... so here is the scoop:

I had so much fun doing the swap I participated in and thought it would be fun to be involved in one around Mothers Day. This will have the same theme-

Favorite Things.
The swaps I have done have worked so well and I have heard some bad stories of ones that didn't so I am incorporating the rules used in the last swap I did. If you want to participate please carefully read ALL of the rules:

1. By signing up you are committing to do the following:
a. be able to email me back quickly with a response when I send you an email so that I know that you have recieved it.
b. put together an amazing package of your favorite things. This should be a package that you yourself would LOVE to get. All items should be new (for example, if you are sending your favorite brand of makeup.. it should be a new tube not an old one..)
c. The contents of the package should be worth at least $20 not including shipping.
d. You must be able to ship the package out on or before Monday May 4th. This ensures that everyone gets it by Mother's Day.

2. RSVP to me through the comments before/by April 10th. I will then match up all participants and email you with your partners information within two weeks which will give you at least two weeks to put together and ship your package.

3. Once you have RSVP'd send me an email at dcavw@hotmail.com with the following information:
a. your real name and address
b. your blog address (if you are private you must be willing to 'allow' your partner to read your blog so they can learn a little about you.)
c. your email address
d. any food or product allergies you may have to pass along to your swap partner

4. Once you have recieved your package you can choose to open immediately or wait for Mothers Day. Once you open it create a post using pictures on your blog that I can link to so we can all hop around checking out what everyone got!

If you would like to post about this on your blog that would be great... the more the merrier! Also, you do not need to be a mom to participate in this.. I just thought it would be fun for all of us to get packages around Mothers Day so we welcome everyone mother or not into this swap!! I am so excited to host this and I hope you'll all be excited to participate!!

A Food Storage Giveaway

Check out this cool food storage giveaway on I am Low!

Twilight night

Last night some friends came over to watch Twilight. It was really fun preparing for it. I made a few of these cupcakes but didn't love them so I used another idea for the rest.

I found this idea on another blog but I can't remember which one to give her credit... if I come across it again I will edit this post with her link. I loved the way they turned out. Click on the pictures to make them bigger and you can read the labels.

I also made these little 'favors'. They are just a snack size bag of gummy bears with a few runts hearts and apples thrown in.

I used my Twilight book and Twilight movie books along with some cutouts of a few of the actors, an apple, and a wolf toy for decor.

I tried to make the punch look scary with fangs even though -I know- they don't have fangs in these books! If you've never made this kind of punch it's one package of Crystal Light Raspberry Ice mixed with a 2 liter bottle of Sprite. I added some water to make more since I didn't have any more sprite and it still tasted good... just a little less intense of a flavor.

I should have got a picture of the table after everyone arrived.. but I forgot. There were a lot of yummy treats - veggie pizza (not really pizza) brownies, candy, more soda, chips, cheese salsa dip... it was all great. I wanted to get a picture of the movie viewing but this was as good as I could get- I pretty much blinded everyone too.

Andra came even though she isn't a Twilight fan (she refuses to read them) and tried on some of our fangs! Scary. We were so glad she came.

Especially Taylor.. she has been hoping to become a vampire.

Thanks to everyone who came- it was a lot of fun.

Good Mail: Birthday and Easter edition!

My mom likes to send us her old VHS's whenever she buys a DVD of a movie (she always asks me if I want them first) so along with the other good mail we got on Saturday there were Titanic, Twister, 101 and 102 dalmations, Matilda, and Summer Magic. I was especially excited about Summer Magic. It was one of my favorites as a kid and I still love it. I think it started my love of yellow houses. I love Hayley Mills too. Last week we watched a part of Pollyanna in Relief Society and I was sad when she stopped it- I wanted to keep watching!
So, along with those movies there is a bag for my birthday (I can't open it until then!), an article my mom knew I would want to read, a duck for Abi, and some Easter eggs with candy in them. Abi was so excited. She grabbed the duck and held it up to her face (it's very soft) and said, "Aww.. ducky!" There was also a bookmark in there for her.

Thanks Mom and Dad! Oh- and mom I thought it was really cute that you wrote Good Mail on it!! You made our day!

Very random thoughts

Friday morning we went visiting teaching and I thought she looked just darling in this sweater and jeans..

But soon after we got home she changed into her pink tee shirt dress.. and from there she changed outfits about 4 more times over the course of the day (no pictures of those). It's so funny.

Onto other things... after she changed we decided to have another 'movie time'. This time we picked Mulan which Abi hadn't seen yet.

She really liked it. I remembered how much I really like that movie too.

I looked over at one point and saw this....

Pure Abi

I went in Abi's room to check on her during nap time and she was on the floor, lying on her stomach, with her chef hat on reading a book. The next time I went in she was wearing her knee high, a few sizes too big still black boots and three blankets over her head standing by the window. I got on the floor next to her bed and told her that if she got in her bed I would stay next to her until she fell asleep. She jumped in. A few minutes later her pillow falls off onto my head. I left it there.
That's when this conversation happened between Abi and her pillow..
"Why hello pillow. Have you seen my mommy."
"Yes, I have."
"Oh! Will you go get her for me please?"
"I would be happy too."
"Thanks!"
I busted up laughing.
"Mommy, was that silly?"

Twilight Tide Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Twilight Tide Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!
This skirt is so cool and I love the pictures of the girl wearing it... she has boots like Abi!

Macho Macho Girl

Last night Abi found my hand weights. These are my heavy ones. Doug started showing her different exercised to do with them. She was struggling so much at first and then got the hang of it.

She was so proud of herself every time she was able to get it up completely over her head.

"I'm so strong!"

Good Mail

When the UPS man pulled up we were in for a surprise this time when there were 3 big boxes from Doug's mom and dad !

This Anne of Green Gables picture has been hanging up in their laundry room forever and they decided to give it to me...Yay! They also sent us some lunch container things, some packages of potato pearls for food storage, a planter wind chime, notepads and notecards, stickers, Easter napkin ring kit, a bunch of fabric she didn't need, some pushpins, an adorable tote bag, a magnet girl set for Abi, 2 new dresses for Abi, and a cute pink chef's hat for Abi.

She was so excited as were we all! Thanks Gramps and Grammy!

Finally!

This past Sunday was the first that Abi went to all of Primary completely by herself. I gave her a little Book of Mormon of her own and she was able to use a purse my parents sent her a little over a year ago as a scripture tote. I told her that every week she goes by herself that I will make her a file folder game that she can bring to church so that she will accumulate a bunch more (I'm planning on getting the Finch family ones that are church related for this ) and she loves file folder games. So, Sunday we went in before anyone else was in there because I thought she might do better this way... crowds intimidate her. I sat with her. She threw a fit. I had a little bag of fruit snacks in my bag so I put a few of them in the pockets of her scripture tote and as a couple of her friends came in I walked out. I couldn't believe it. I waited in the hall for a minute to make sure she didn't freak out and went back to peek in once about a half hour later but she was doing fine.

We were so happy! Of course as soon as we were in the car and I told her that she had earned one file folder game and next week she could earn another, she immediately said she didn't want to go again.... so I guess we'll see what happens next week.

Last Saturday

I've been a little behind on the posts from the last few days.. Saturday Abi and Doug built this great fort. It was so much fun. They sat in there for quite awhile reading stories together.

When Abi heard the camera go off she peeked out to see what I was doing.

She and I then went out to run a few errands and luckily stopped by the library. They were having a big book sale and everything below was purchased for the few dollars of change I had rolling around in my bag. Prices were anywhere from .25 to $1. It was so much fun.

Then we stopped off at Target so I could get my copy of...

That night I went up to Milwaukee for the Stake Relief Society Conference. I carpooled with some friends and afterward we stopped off for some custard. I had never been to this place before and had no idea a 2 scoop would be this big.

And no.. they are not both for me. I couldn't even finish my own. It was really good though. Emily and I were trying to imagine what the 6 scoop must look like.

Taylor- it's your fault I put this picture on! How could I resist? It looks like you are a vampire or something.

Notice Anything New?

So, notice anything new on our blog?

Movie Review

We are still in the midst of season 3 of Lost but the movies/tv shows we have watched in the last two weeks are:
The Jungle Book:
As you saw on Friday's post, Abi and I watched this together. She loved it and I loved watching it with her. It really is a pretty fun movie and brought back many memories of watching it as a kid. I think Abi's favorite was Baloo which surprised me.. i thought it would be the monkeys.

City of Ember:
Doug and I watched this together and both really enjoyed it. After some disaster (not really specified what it is unless I missed that) the human race is sent underground to a man made city called Ember. They are supposed to be down there for 200 years but the secret box that has all the info in it is misplaced. All of the residents believe this town is the only light in a world of darkness and it is illegal to try to find a way out. Two kids set out to solve a mystery and see if there is a way out. It was intense and fun and very clean- it's only PG.

Rocknrolla:
This was one of Doug's picks. I agreed to watch because I liked Snatch and this was another Guy Ritchie film but I wasn't sure I would like it. I actually did. It was a little violent and strange but interesting and funny. Not my favorite ever though.
Lost Season 2:
I'm still loving this show. I can't believe it's taken me so long to watch it. There were quite a few things this season that totally surprised me but i was hooked and I loved the extra information we got and the new characters. I am still loving Sawyers nicknames.

The First day of Spring

Originally Abi and I had planned on going down near Doug's work (driving him in and staying until he got off) and going to the Chocolate factory but then we found out it wasn't open on Fridays. I wanted to think of something that she would love doing today that we didn't need a car for that would make her forget about that plan...
so I picked up the Jungle Book from the library last night because she hadn't seen it yet.
I promised her a movie day with popcorn and soda and she forgot all about the chocolate factory.
So, today after breakfast and a few hours of playtime and art center time (we stayed in our jammies) we made some popcorn- she loved pouring the kernels into the popper. We broke out the Root Beer and settled down on the couch with pillows and blankets.

It was so much fun! She really liked the movie and I enjoyed watching it for the first time in many years. We had Madeline and Bitty Baby on the couch with us by the middle of the movie and had to share our treats with them too.
When the movie was over we decided to go walk by the pond down the street to try to see ducks and geese. Abi dressed herself in the outfit I realize now should be hidden away forever.

I say I never really learned to sew.... that is only a half truth. I did take a sewing class in high school but it was "outdoor clothing" where most kids produced fleece blankets for their final projects and we all made an excessive amount of boxer shorts (sorry to all of my friends back then who received these for gifts... truly sorry) For my final project I made this sunflower dress. It was the easiest pattern in the universe and my mom helped a little. You can make the picture bigger if you want more details. It is basically a kids version of a mu mu... it is so huge. Also... the fabric... this was the early 90's when I made it okay... but Abi saw it and wanted to wear it.
We walked the pond and saw the rat/otter/not sure what it is that I have been trying to see up close for years.. I pulled out the camera and it went under the water and I never saw it again.. It's a sneaky little guy. I still have no idea what it is.

Abi had a little accident so we went home and changed clothes... YAY! and packed a picnic lunch as it is tradition to have a picnic on the first day of spring. She did decide, again, on a skirt.

We walked to the park. The problem was it was really cold. We played for a few minutes at the park but I was freezing.

Abi learned why ladies ride side saddle when wearing a skirt.

We tried to eat our lunch but it was so cold we had to hurry and walk home.

The rest of the day was spent reading and playing with toys and Abi fell asleep about 2 minutes after her head hit the pillow around 6:30. Wow.
Happy Spring!!

Wish list item

When Abi and I walked to the park a lady passed us on a bike with her little baby in a seat on the back and a minute ago I saw a picture of my brother in law Jake with his son Ian in one. I just keep seeing them everywhere!
This is something I wish I had, especially now that its getting warm outside again. When I was little (probably about Abi's age) my mom used to take me around on the bike like that. I think they are so cute. So, if you see one anywhere for cheap, let me know!

Chalk girls

Alisse really wanted to go out and do sidewalk chalk during school today after seeing the artwork on the driveway from yesterday so with about 15 minutes left to go we bundled up and went out. It's sunny but cold today.

The girls had fun doing hopscotch together.

What cute girls!!!

Best friends

Good Mail Day

You all know how much I love good mail! I just love looking in the mailbox and seeing this.. instead of bills.

Our good mail was more for Abi than me this time. She had sent my mom a get well card when she was sick a few weeks ago and this package had some fruit snacks, some stickers, and a letter for Abi from my mom and dad. They did throw in a little thank you note that was to all of us. Thanks mom and dad! Abi was so excited!