Happy Valentine's Day

Snow Day

School is closed... again.

Federal Government employees in the Washington DC have off again on Wednesday. That's 3 days in a row!

Snow is coming down thick and heavy but we are all tucked in, nice and cozy.

Stay warm everyone.

win a Janome!

Guess what? I know I said I wasn't going to be blogging that much but I've got something to share. For you creative types, there is a new website, The DIY Dish, that offers advice on DIY projects in sewing, crafting, scrapbooking, home decor, kid projects, machine embroidery, hand embroidery, and more!

Here's how to win one of these awesome Janome machines. Go to The DIY Dish and follow the instructions here.

Here are the goods;

Janome 350e EMBROIDERY machine

Janome DC4030 Sewing Machine

2010

okay, I have been sooo bad with blogging.
My dear friends, I have been busy. Busy with the kids. their schools. Daisy Troop. PTO. my house. work. my friends. crafts. sewing. quilting. photography. digital scrapbooking. and so much more.

My unofficial resolution for this year is to get back into blogging... by 2011. Sorry. I am just going to focus on the above things for a while and when I feel like I'm "caught up", I'll get back to it. It can happen. I used to feel like I could do it all but in the past year or so I've slipped on a lot of the things that are important to me. I think I've missed every single birthday of everyone I care about. I hate that I didn't send cards in time. I mean really, how hard is it? I do place blame on the fact that my birthday calendar was wiped out and I'm trying to cobble it together from emails, facebook, notes and old calendars. So if yours was one I missed, be assured I thought of you and am so sorry I didn't express it to you with a card. In fact, when I get caught up, maybe all my cards will be handmade! Yeah, you're right, that's quite a stretch.

Well, this has been enjoyable but I've got to go pack school lunches and make breakfast for the crew. We've had teacher workdays and snow days all this week and I don't want them to be one minute late for school today. Especially since it may well be only today and tomorrow and then we'll be stuck in the house again this weekend and early next week.

how cool is this?

oh no

it's happened. my oldest dd (who just turned 6!) asked me how mommies get their tummies put back together after they have a baby.

i ignored her long enough until she lost interest and went to go color. despite the fact that i want to be honest and straightforward with her, neither one of us is ready for that bit of news.

It's not bad enough that Sophie has cut her own hair (twice!) but now she has cut her little brother's hair. And with no remorse. I caught them in the bathroom, giggling and preening in the mirror. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Fall Swap

Hey all,

I'm participating in Hopsy's Fall Swap over at Monograms and Manicures. If you haven't been following her, rush over now. She is the cutest thing. She's hosting a Fall Swap that sounds like a treat so if you are interested, sign up. Hurry, it closes soon though.

Just testing out my new mobile blogging abilities.

Good ole' USA

This is the coolest map. You click on the flag and it tells you more about the point of interest.

Tommy Hilfiger Iconic Map

you say tomato...

setting: living room

me: are you doing gymnastics?

S: yes, but I didn't do a split, I did a splat!

cut to S in a heap on the floor

Happy Anniversary

me and my sweetie

3 children +

3 dogs +

2 houses +

2 apartments +

5 vehicles +

innumerable memories =

8 years!

I've been busy baking. Here's what I made for my husband's office. I hope they enjoy it. Death by Chocolate Triffle.

I used frozen Milky Bar instead of the Skor bars though. Yummy!

bangs

I've reported in past posts that my kooky daughter S. likes to cut her own hair. I guess she comes by it honestly. I got bored with my hair and cut bangs this afternoon. They are crooked and too short but what can I do? I guess that'll teach me! Now I remember why I swore I wouldn't cut my own hair anymore - the last time was in college (over 20 years ago for those of you counting).

Just like Daddy

Initially I thought it was because he wanted to be like Daddy but after a night sleeping in a chair with my sick son, I realized it might just be in his DNA. When Davis finally relaxed he put his hands behind his head and fell asleep. :

make your own peppermint patties

I came across this great website that had instructions on making your own peppermint patties. Since I love them sooo much, I had to try.

I suggest you do too, you won't be sorry.

It was fun for the kids to help me roll the peppermint mixture into balls and flatten them. I didn't take pictures of the dipped chocolates but you get the idea. One word of advice; don't put them on a cooling rack once they are dipped!! I thought, "oh, I'll let the excess chocolate drip off and it'll be nice and neat." Wrong. They stuck to the rack and I had to scrape them off, resulting in more shaved peppermint pieces than patties. But next time you bet I'll be cooling them on parchment or waxed paper. Let me know how yours turn out!

ghetto farm

we went to a birthday party at a local kids "ranch" or the ghetto farm as my friend calls it. It was, in fact, her daughter's birthday party so you can see she wasn't being too critical. The kids all had a great time getting muddy and chasing goats...

There were some cute animals and some animals that were just so ugly you couldn't help but like them. ah, good times.

cherry blossom time

I haven't been able to go downtown this year so I pulled some of my old photos out to show the cherry blossoms. This is from 2006, I'd just finished the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. It's surprising to me seeing how young my kids look. And this was before we even thought about having a 3rd child! The girls were 2 & 4 here; now they are almost 4, almost 6 and DCB is almost 2!!!

I haven't done any 10 milers since then either. I did the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon in Virginia Beach that fall and my running days are behind me. My knees have had it.

Forgot I was supposed to be posting about the cherry blossoms. CNB works for the National Park Service and shares an office with the Chief Horticulturist, Rob Defeo so we usually get a heads up on when the blooms will be at peak. Still, it's a madhouse downtown and I don't usually drive in with the kids... I will try next year. And maybe I'll get tickets to next year's White House Easter Egg Roll.

Pavlova

I've always wanted to make one so when I saw Martha's chocolate version I had to start baking...

USS New York

USS New York
It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite , LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.' Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.'

The ship's motto?
'Never Forget'