The Pioneer Woman Giveaway

So I just posted a comment on The Pioneer Woman blog for a kitchen tool give-away. Guess what number my comment was???
10,665

Seriously, the woman's blog is amazing! Who gets over 10,000 comments on their blog? I have posted comments for free stuff plenty of times, but never have I come across this kind of madness. Crazy-huh?

Anyway, check it out. She's giving away five of her favorite kitchen tools, and they're good ones!

April 2008









I was going through some photos on my computer and found these taken almost exactly one year ago. How is it that time seems to move so rapidly when you have kids. How is it that my kids were just 3 years old and 1 year old in these photos? Where did the last year go? Looking at these photos reminds me just how precious our time is, how quickly it slips through our fingers, how much things can change without really seeing them. I am so thankful for being able to spend so much time with my kids while they grow, but I think I need to spend more time watching them too. The many things on the daily to do list maybe distracts me from really seeing my kids sometimes. It's so hard to cut through the busy-ness and to just be present in the moment. Today I am going to try to do that.

Pears and Bears

There's a terrific sale going on at Pears and Bears with lots of items priced at $10. Lots of classic girl's dresses on sale and women's shirts and dresses.

Easter Photo Shoot














Of course my kids are so goofy, that it's practically impossible to get a good photo. Andrew never smiles and Eva never sits still. Oh well. This is what I've got.

Loads of Easter Fun










Unfortunately Andrew and I were sick on Easter, so we had to skip church-- very sad. We figured that it would be so crowded that we wouldn't be able to get a seat away from everyone else, and we didn't want to spread this terrible cold, so we spent the morning at home.

When the kids woke up, they came downstairs to find Easter baskets. One set was filled with goodies and one set of baskets was empty so they could hunt for eggs. It rained, uncharacteristic for AZ (in AZ, you can almost always count on no rain!), on Saturday, so it was pretty wet outside. The Easter bunny cleverly hid most of the eggs inside the house and hid a few in the backyard. Later, the kids entertained themselves by hiding eggs for each other and finding them.

We ate brunch at home. I made a yummy crab and asparagus eggs benedict (my favorite) and then lemon bars for dessert. Then Eva took a little nap.

Off to Gma and Gpa's house in the afternoon to hunt for more eggs! When we arrived, the kids weren't allowed to go out in the backyard yet, but they were spying for eggs through the windows. Their cousins arrived and then the egg hunt began. Eva and Michael, both 2 years old, were on their own for the first minute. After all that practicing throughout the day, Eva was a real pro and found so many eggs. Andrew and Jacob were then let out next. They had a blast.

We had a wonderful dinner prepared by Gma. Spare ribs and homemade mac and cheese. She also made a delicious apple cake.

It was a great day!

Easter Food




Mmmm, mmmm, yummy. For Easter brunch we made a crab and asparagus eggs benedict with a potoato bake. I also made lemon bars for dessert. It was so good! Lemon bars recipe can be found here (and I used the modifications suggested in the first review).

Happy Easter!


"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die". John 11:25

Good Friday Twittering

Passion Play performed through Twitter by Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church.

Sick at Home


Andrew stayed home from school today because he has a sore throat and pretty bad cough. We made the most of it by decorating our Easter eggs. My next door neighbor gave us 4 coloring kits, add that to the 2 I already had and it was a decorating extravaganza.

Dreaming About Green




I love this dress from Shabby Apple, but this fabric would hug me in all the wrong ways. Unfortunately it's a no go for me. Too bad...at $46, it's a steal.

Banana Bliss


You must, must, must try this recipe.
I made a banana cake a few months ago and couldn't remember where I put the recipe, so I did a simple google search and found this recipe. It's very different from the recipe I had tried, but I had all the ingredients it called for, so I gave it a go.

Oh my.

It's so delicious, moist, smooth, flavorful. It's practically perfect. Trust me, your family will thank you if you make this cake.

Vinegar and Water


I have been really pleased with the glass cleaner I normally use, Odoban's Glass Control, which I pick up at Home Depot. It's supposed to be more environmentally friendly than other products, and I think it cleans better (ie. less streaks) than other brands. Recently I've been reading about home made cleaners and thought I'd try to make my own glass cleaner since I just ran out. It couldn't be easier to make, and it was certainly easier to whip this together than to haul the kids to HD. All it takes is just one part water, one part white vinegar.

After cleaning the glass furniture downstairs, I'm surprised at how well it cleaned without streaks. The vinegar smell was hard for me to get over at first, but then I figured it was better to have a smell from a natural product rather than a fake smell from a product, because what you're really smelling are chemicals.

I'm sticking with the vinegar and water method, as it's natural, works just as well (if not better), and it's cheaper. Guess I need to put more vinegar on the grocery list!