Family Reunion

We went down to south Florida for my family reunion this past weekend. My cousin, Billy, took us out on his boat to a nearby island and we spent the day exploring, eating and causing a ruckus (including two dearly-departed chairs... SORRY about that!) It was so much fun spending time with everyone and pigging out on Aunt Lill's ah-mazing food. Thanks for planning such a wonderful day- we are already looking forward to next year!!!

Beach Weekend

We went to the beach this past weekend. I do not think that this story needs many words- you can actually see the chain of events:

1. happy family walking to the beach

2. admiring the ocean's waves

3. ocean attacks toddler

4. Daddy laughs at toddler's retreat

5. toddler grabs on for support (look closely!) and teaches Daddy to laugh at her! The look on his face suggests that this is not a pleasant pinch.

According to Miss E

Miss E decided to coach Daddy and Mr. E at BJJ the other night and this picture just makes me smile. In general, she really cracks me up- below is a recent conversation with her. There are 2 things you need to know- "tool" is about the worst thing that you can be called in our house and E loves Sunchips.

Daddy: Mommy is a tool.

Miss E, very mad: No she not! Mommy is a good girl!

Daddy: Nope, Mommy is a super tool.

Miss E, steady fussing: My mommy is a good girl, she is NOT a tool!

Daddy: Do you want a Sunchip?

Miss E, nodding: Mommy is a tool.

Me: Oh!

Miss E, looking at me: Mommy, I really like these chips.

I guess that is an apology for throwing me under the bus?

Nonni's birthday party

We had Nonni's birthday party at our house the other day. Gran's cake turned out so well that I thought that I would make Nonni's cake, too. I was quite confident- I made both the cake and icing from scratch. I made a chocolate cake with toffee chips throughout and some caramel icing. I'd never made caramel icing before and did not know that you have to pour it on hot because it will harden. It firms up pretty quickly so I had to put the toffee chips, Hershey bar segments and Heath bar segments on fast. So much for pretty! The Hershey bar pieces actually melted from the heat of the icing! It does not look nearly as fancy as Gran's cake, but it tasted great. Happy birthday, Nonni- we love you!! I hope that you had fun with us.

Visions of Vader

Not to be outdone, J has made his Halloween decision as well. My Star Wars fanatic is going to be Darth Vader, of course! He has the cape, light saber and mask already so he will only need a few more things to complete his dark lord look!

Snow Wonky

Miss E is C.R.A.Z.Y. for Snow White- has been since Nonni got her the movie for Christmas last year. She knows all the dwarfs and the songs and tells you the scenes before they happen. It was very easy for her to decide who she wanted to be for Halloween this year. (Thanks to Ape & Bana we already have the dress!)

Being a blondie, her hair is all wrong so I ordered the Snow White wig online and this is what arrived. When Daddy saw her in it, he said "that's frightening!" Umm, not exactly the look we were going for. When J saw her he said, "She's not Snow White, she's Snow Wonky!" Okay, so apparently I am the only one who thinks that she looks adorable. I guess that's a mama's job. When she saw this picture on my computer, she said "I'm Snow White." Aww. That moment made it totally worth it- who cares what those boys think!?!

Her obsession runs deep, the other day we were in the kitchen and she was moving the magnets around the refrigerator. She was having a hard time reaching one, so I helped her. She did not like this and told me "No, I do it!" I responded "Ooh, someone is grumpy." Not to be mislabeled, she said, "No, I'm Doc!" Such a funny girl.

This is just a teaser... wait until you see the whole Snow White ensemble. :)

Let's Make Cookies!

We decided to make some cookies the other day. No special occassion.

Gran's 80th

We had an 80th birthday/slumber party for Gran this past weekend. I made her birthday cake because she loves it when I make crazy cake concoctions. This one was Devil's Food with peanut butter chips, milk chocolate icing in the layers and topped with peanut butter icing and Reese's peanut butter cups. I made the embellishments with the Wilton candy molds and I will admit that it took longer than I expected. It turned out pretty good and tasted great so I am glad that I was able to make this for her. As you can see from these pictures, she is one sassy chick. :) We had a lot of fun and I hope that she did as well... WE LOVE YOU, GRAN!!!!!