little elf

This is the face of an angry elf. He's starting his tantrum phase and it usually involves him either crying and touching his head to the floor like an ostrich trying to borrow his head in the sand or a sweet enduring little high pitch piggy squeal and a quality back arching pose. Either way I roll my eyes and walk away.
We lovingly call him our "angry elf".

little flowers

Monkey has been taking Ballet for 8 weeks. Last week was her last class so they had a recital. I enrolled her for another round since she liked it so much. This is her patient teacher.

She took a picture of her dirty ballet shoes.

Sassy.

Bubby thought he could of done a better job at Ballet. Thank goodness daddy's picture is blurry, too scary for words.

I think they're flowers.

play time

Going to the park is fun to do to do to do.
We went to a park with some friends last week. This first shot is what my lame hand took as I was slowly falling to the ground because I took at step down unwillingly and twisted my ankle. I couldn't stop laughing because it was in such slow motion my friend couldn't figure out if I was doing it on purpose or if I needed medical attention.

Bubs trying to give me a heart attack with faking me out with a pseudo body flinging down the slide.

He kept pretending that he was gonna jump off the side. That boy.

Monkey kept asking me to take a picture of her "looking sad." She's so strange.

snow day

Our little mountain got some snow a few weeks ago. After Monkey's ballet class we drove up to play in the snow. Monkey experienced snow when she was 6m old, but not sure if she remembers ;)

The very first thing they wanted to do was make a snowman.

And a snow angel.

The hubster seen here being used as a slide.

Monkey wanted to slide down herself. I should have brought some trash lids to save a tushie.

Bubs was not having it with the snow. Too cold, slippery, wet...

Monkey wanted to keep her snowman, just like in a book she reads. She wanted to put it in the freezer and look at him often. He made it down the mountain, but didn't stand a chance to the 80 degree weather down in the city. See you next year snowman.

Oh and yes, the first couch was the winner! Although, the picture does not do it justice. I think it was the texture of the fabric that made it ugly in the light. Story of my life.

new couch

My old couch I had for 13 years. It was my first piece of furniture. I loved that couch and up until 3 years ago it has been in perfect condition. Enter in children and it's a hot mess. My in-laws concurred and offered to buy us a new one without the foam in the cushions bulging out. Here were our top 3. We liked this one because it was so soft like a baby's blanket and dark to hide stains.

This one we liked too because it was dark as well, but I disliked the pillows. This one we really liked with the built-in ottoman, but we questioned the color.

Which one do you think we picked?

blueberry crumble

I have never been a fan of blueberries. They just had a strange texture and a strange taste. Our friends down the street had us over for dinner on New Year's and we had this for dessert. I thought "I'll just taste a little in front of her so she see's that I did try it and then say how full I was and couldn't eat another bite." I polished off the entire serving and ate some of Monkey's. It was that good. I make it all the time since blueberries are in season right now.
Here's how to make it.

Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of lemon juice over 3 cups of blueberries in a square or round baking dish.

Make crumble and sprinkle over blueberries and bake for 30 mins at 375 degrees.

Crumble:
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. quick oats
1/3 c. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

what is it?

When we were at the airport waiting for my MIL's plane to land I saw a new sculpture right under a flight of stairs. Our airport for years has been trying to remodel from the 60's Brady Bunch art and architecture to a modern cultured look.
Took me a second to fully get what this is.
Do you know what it is?

sunny days

I don't know what kind of weather you're having, but we are swimming in warm days and can't seem to get enough of the park. We go as much as possible and it's always the same story 1 1/2 hours later, " I don't want to go." Oy.

pancakes outside

Just last night while making dinner I wished it was nice enough outside to sit in the atrium and eat a meal. This morning I made pancakes and instead of boring ole Log Cabin syrup I chopped up strawberries and made a syrup with them. Which by-the-way they are on sale at Fry's for $1.25. I always stock-up hard on fruits and veggies that are in season and we eat them for as long as they are in season. So, for breakfast we sat outside and some of us who shall remain anonymous played in the birdbath water. Yuck.