An Opening

I have Good(?) News and Bad News.

The Bad News:
One of our Friendly Frogs is leaving us :*(
We are very sad to see him go, but excited for his family and their new adventures together!

Keep in touch Sweet Mr. Jakey! I love you! You can do hard things!

The Good News:
There is an opening in the Friendly Frog class!

Young Learner Preschool Enrichment

Wednesdays 8:30-11:30am

$55/month

Call or email me if you are interested and I'll tell you more info about the program and send you copies of my mission statement, parent letter, and our daily schedule. Or talk to any of the moms that have sent their children here, and they'll give you a reference.

Orderly Conduct

I use canvas baskets a lot in my house. So much that it sort of looks like a canvas basket factory.
-An extra large ($16 at the red circle store where I never shop. shhh...) canvas laundry basket holds shoes in my closet, and another one holds our massive Littlest PetShop collection (thanks Missie!).

-large canvas baskets (Walmart $12 or $5 at the Associate's store when they have them, which is almost always every spring) These line the tops of our bedroom closets. You know that shelf that is so high, that you have to kind of throw the clothes up there, so it always looks like a mess? Now I just take the whole basket down, and everything stays in order. My closet baskets hold off season clothing, swimwear, ready-to-go gifts and birthday presents. The baskets in the girls room hold the Sweet Streets/Polly Pockets, Little People, Care Bears, Horses & Stable, and Ponyvilles. You can say it. My kids have too many toys. I agree...which is why most of them stay in the closet and I rotate which basket we get down each day/week. It's a great system, and they never seem to get sick of things. Plus, items actually get put away in the correct basket when they only have access to a couple of them at one time.

-small canvas baskets ($8.99 for two at walmart. 10 of mine were a housewarming gift from my friend in Green Bay, and most of the others were purchased for 1/2 that price at the Associate's store, but $4.50 per basket is still a pretty good price. I've had mine for 4-5 years and they have held up with LOTS of abuse)
There are 24 of these little guys on the shelves in my living room. The cream baskets keep Corbin's toys, Preschool/learning toys, and VHS tapes organized.
Six of them serve as cubbies for my preschoolers.

(last names blocked for privacy) Each of my Friendly Frogs has a cubby with his or her name on it. When they arrive at school, they put away any excess outerwear, backpacks, share items. They each also have a large t shirt in their cubby to serve as a smock for the really messy paint projects, and a large ziplock bag with a change of clothes and extra underwear, just in case. The cubbies are also helpful as a separation prop for those days when blankies and little toys sneak their way to preschool.

Canvas baskets=everything has a home.

Works for us!

Day Spa Willy

You've heard of that Day Spa in Vegas with the Arctic Ice Room where man made snow lightly falls down on you from a dome shaped ceiling?

Well Day Spa Willy is sort of like that,

except the snow fell in tons
and it is all outside
piled up in the street
preventing anyone from ever leaving the house ever again.

So we followed the "arctic spa" theme, and took advantage of Aaron being home. While he and Corbin had some father/son bonding, the little ladies turned on their "mrs. lady voices" and the grown up girl charm for a full spa treatment at Day Spa Willy.

Their total spa package included:
-a steam (shower)
-scented lotion massage
-"professional" shampoo treatment, a much needed deep scalp scrub (also done by resident professional hair washer), towel wrap, and blow dry
- pedicures with a sudsy foot spa


-sugar cookies to snack on
-I read another chapter of The Doll People to them, while they snacked and soaked

-cuticle treatments and manicures in valentine colors

-all followed by "relaxing music" while they sipped grape soda

Then the boys joined us again, and the relaxing music became the Killers, then Tai Cruz, and then a spontaneous dance party blew up in the kitchen like it's dynamite.

That was my favorite part of the day, perhaps the whole week.

Tia's Baby Shower

A month late, but I am finally posting pictures of the decorations from the baby shower that Britney and I threw for our friend, Tia.

The table (minus the food)
The setting was a lot cuter when it was full of yummy food! Spinach and artichoke dip, Kasey's homemade sourdough, fruits and veggies with dips, pound cake, apple tarts, and Britney made a million tiny Paula Deen Red Velvet cupcakes. I probably ate 1/2 of them.

I love any excuse to use pretty dishes...especially the little blue dessert plates.

The problem with dessert plates...not enough room for food! Instead, I had to keep going back to the table for more cupcakes ;)

The mulicolored dot fabric inspired the rest of the decorations... 60+ feet of bunting!
1/8 yard strips of fabric were cut into squares and sewed to ribbon and hanged (hung? I never know) from the ceiling. The photos just don't show how cute it was, but the effect was pretty dramatic and made a cozy environment to celebrate a very beautiful, and very deserving friend and her soon-to-be-born very beautiful baby.

Kasey came over the night before the shower and helped cut out these little onesies to hang from a tiny clothesline.

Yes! The cardstock print matches the table runner fabric, the ribbon on the dishes, and the fabrics in the bunting!

more bunting...

and some mini tissue paper pompoms above the table

pink and blue, since baby's gender was a surprise.

(see the cookie post to see what she had!)

We love you, Tia! Congrats on your sweet little arrival!

It's Cookie Time!

We made some conversation heart cookies while we were snowed in, yesterday.

Buttercream Frosting:
4 c powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened (DO NOT substitute some wanna be butter product, here.)
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/4-1/2 c whipping cream ---and that is how you get perfect buttercream frosting. Yum.

Combine the sugar, butter, vanilla and almond extract in the mixer, and slowly drizzle in the cream until the frosting is at the desired consistency. Continue to mix on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

Mmmmm, eat some right off the spoon.

ok, let's be honest, I licked the frosting right off the paddle on the kitchen aid on it's way to the dishwasher.

The girls dumped 1/2 a container each of pink, red, and chocolate sprinkles on their cookies (which were more like sprinkles with a little cookie on them), and I made these for my friend Tia, who recently welcomed a baby girl to her home:

Tia-there are cookies coming your way as soon as your street gets plowed ;)

a few pics of the baby shower decorations coming up next.

Um...

That's not right.

Oh and our snow total was 20 inches in Bella Vista!
20 inches in 9 hours.

Again, not right.

Mission 10 and California Trip Catch Up

Here are the race pics that I never got around to posting

The 10 mile racers:

Back Row: Paul, Zac, Loren

Front Row: Me, Erin, Melinda, Stephani, Caroline, and Amy

Mark and Josh ran the 5K with Taylor, Garrett, Parker, Zach, Tyler, and Brock.

Garret came in first in our group for the 5K. He tried to be cool and act like he was only doing it for extra credit for his PE class...but I think he was impressed with his time, I know we were!

Go G!

Josh and amy also ran the 1 mile fun run with Steven. It was so cute!

Taylor, Me, Amy pre race and freezing! (see that cute white jacket? Yah, it finally warmed up after the race started, so I took it off at mile 2. It's lost now. Boo.)

Me, Paul and Tay gettin' fired up!

Stacy (go Hollister psycho runner's group!), Me, Amy, Melinda

Paul standing by as bodygaurd ;) while we show off our Purple Pinkies...End Polio Now!

THIS is the reason I signed up for this race.

Rotary is committed to getting the Polio vaccine to the ends of the Earth, and created the Purple Pinkie Campaign as a fundraiser for their determination to End Polio Now. I support that.

If you live in America, you really do not have to worry about your child getting Polio.

You have Rotary to thank for that.

I LOVED the course: 3 miles flat/rolling, 2 miles up a crazy hill, turn around, 2 miles down the crazy hill, and 3 miles back to the finish line. Having only run one time in the 2 weeks prior to the race (Thanks for nothing flu, sinus infection, and bronchitis. You are not my friends. Please do not return to my home ever again. Ever.), I had set a goal to finish the 10 miles in under 2 hours.

It's my blog, I reserve the right to brag. I finished in 1 hour and 46 minutes. PR for me? Yes! My pace was a consistent 10 1/2 minutes for 10 miles! I'm a pretty slow runner, so this was a pretty big deal for me. Plus, I came in first out of my family...which was an even bigger deal for me ;) A BIG thanks to my family, and Paul's folks for coming to cheer! Racing is a lot more fun when you have loved ones waiting at the finish line. (How sweet is Corbin snuggled up and sleeping under his turtle blankie on my mom's lap?)

The post-race feast took place at Running Rooster. (thanks for buying, Dad-o!)

I got all of my favorites there: the spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, french fries, apricot milkshake, a big fat chocolate chip cookie, and a my other favorite: a second big fat chocolate chip cookie.

You'll notice I am wearing shorts in those pictures.

California was BEAUTIFUL.

Like, perfect.

We ate outside, sat and chatted in the sunshine, watched the birds, felt the breeze.

I am trying to remember that it will not feel like Hell has frozen over forever.

The 18 inches of Freak Snow that fell last night and today will melt.

Right?

I say it, but I don't even know if I believe it anymore.

The rest of the visit was just lovely. I helped my mom sort through a fazillion pictures, put them into frames, and covered an entire wall in the hallway with them. It looks great.

Corbin enjoyed my parent's toy closet, and had 100 books read to him by everyone.

We dined at the place where you go to eat food dreams are made of. Well, my dreams, anyway.

Corbin was PERFECT on the flights. He just sat there, holding his toys. Once we took off, he would fall asleep peacefully in my lap. I couldn't have asked for a better baby, and we still managed to get crusty looks from other passengers. A silent 20 month old on a 3 1/2 hr flight (followed by a 1 hr flight), you can't ask for anything better than that. It makes me sad that the mere presence of a child on a plane disgusts some people.

One day that I was there, my mom and I had lunch with my friend Annie, (and I finally meet her husband who dropped her off for her "date" with us) We enjoyed Erik's Deli outside (did I mention the weather was perfect?), then did a little shopping at the Gilroy Outlets, where I scored some freaking cute Aeropostle Bayla Skinny Jeans for $10 (woot) and a pair of $19 Ashley ultra skinnies. (Two pairs of jeans for $30? Double Woot.) They were so cute, we picked up a pair for Taylor, too.

Funny story: I first tried on jeans at JCrew ($60 and not as cute) but they were out of the color I wanted in the size I wanted, plus....$60? At an Outlet? Really?

I came out of the dressing room and wandered around the store looking for Annie and my Mom to get an opinion on the jeans.

Annie: Uhhh Megan? Where is your purse?

Me: Huh? What? I don't know. It's in there. Back in the dressing room. Do you like these jeans? Are they worth it? Annie? Where'd she go?

Mom: [laughs] You are not in Arkansas. You can't just leave your bag in a dressing room at the outlets!

Annie returned, carrying my bag, "I'll just hold this for you, while you shop, Sweetie."

Oops.
I guess I've been away too long?

Usually, I leave California feeling soooo glad that I don't live there anymore. Not that I don't miss my family. I do. Too much. But I usually can't get past how crowded, expensive, unsafe, and busy busy busy everything and everyone in California is, to have any desire to ever even consider moving back there.

This time was different, and I was pretty sad to leave.

I had a REALLY nice visit with my family (missed you, Scott and Kristie), we spent one evening just looking at my parents old pictures, talking, playing Farkle (ahem 6,000 point record holder, right here, folks), and laughing at funny youtube videos. I wish I could have stayed to spend more time with them...especially since I returned to Snowmageddon and we were all on house arrest for the week that followed. Next trip to Ca, I am bringing the whole family, and I am staying longer than 3 days.