hello birdy

The other day I ran to Office Max (for pushpins!) and noticed the sign had a little guest. A bird's nest in the 'e'. There was also one in the 'a' but I didn't get a picture of that one. Can you see the little birdy? Adorable!

Skittle Vodka?!

A few weeks ago on a Friday night Chris and I were bored and none of our friends were up for hanging out, so the plan was to get together on Saturday. What should we do in the meantime? Apparently Chris decided we were going to make Skittle Vodka for the following night. We hadn't done it before and thought it might be fun for an evening activity together. Well, it was quite a bit of fun, especially eating the extra skittles!

the stuff
sorting the skittles by color/flavor

filling the bottles (after we emptied them, I insisted we drink the water rather than waste it...that wasn't so fun) with the vodka as evenly as possible. I say we did a remarkably great job.

Then we filled them with the respective skittles, shook them up, and put them in the freezer over night until the skittles had all dissolved and the flavor infused. Then just strain the remaining white stuff and it is ready. They turned out fantastic, I've got to say the boys enjoyed it the most, seeing as how they drank all of the vodka in about two nights. They preferred it in shot form, but Leah and I enjoyed our drinks (the only one we got) mixed with some Sprite.

Day with my mom

Last Saturday I had a wonderful day, just me and my mom. First, I went over and we made strawberry jam! My favorite. I feel sorry for those who only grew up on store-bought jam. It is just not even close to the amount of fabulousness as homemade. My husband is also now hooked on this jam, so it was neccessary to make more for next year.

the stuff
the process

the haul

This is just about enough to get Chris and me through the winter. Next, we went to see The Parade of Homes! One of my absoulte favorite things to do, tour beautiful houses. Hello, dream come true. We go every year and I look forward to it every year as the school year comes to a close. Then we ended with the traditional after-parade-of-homes-ice cream. It is always so warm ice cream in needed. Usually this is in the form of a blizzard, as it was in this case. We were also quite famished, so we also split a chicken strip basket (another one of my favorites). So all in all, a great day filled with things (and people) I love.

Paisley is 1!

This weekend we went to little Paisley's first birthday party! She is our littlest cousin and she is very sweet.
She wasn't quite sure what to do with the cupcake at first.
With a little help, she figured it out. But she decided she doesn't really like chocolate cake because only one or two bites made it in her mouth. It was apparently more fun to smear it all over her face.
Then she was done.

Paisley, we have been told, will be the last of the cousins to be born and therefore....we will be the next to have a baby since we are the oldest cousins/grandchildren however you look at it. Erin (Paisley's mom and Chris's aunt) told me that I will inherit a plethora of baby goods from her, I'm eyeing that portable highchair in a very cute shade of green (perfect for a boy or girl). BUT don't get too excited, this is not an announcement. We will not be having a baby for a few more years. I am excited for that stage of my life, but for now I am going to enjoy this one spending time just the two of us (and, of course, our two furry children). Speaking of which, here is a picture of my babies not bugging eachother (very rare).

a night out and some new friends

So Friday night we had to go see Ironman 2. We went with our bestest friends Leah and Chris (pretty much our only married couple friends) and Josh and Doug. Leah also invited a couple of new friends, Phil and Emily...am I sensing a new pair of married friends?! The answer to that is a firm YES. You never know if you'll have the right kind of chemistry with new people to be able to say you will be fast friends, but I think we all hit it off. We went to The Cheesecake Factory beforehand, here is Phil trying to consume his fish taco without losing all of the contents.

SUCCESS! oh ya, and Ironman 2 was pretty good too.

what made me happiest today

I have been super stresssed out the last couple weeks with the end of school approaching. I have been up until about 4 am everday for the past five days working on my final project. Today I was working at school and came back home for dinner and surprise! My husband cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom! It was such a relief to come home to a clean house. So thank you to my wonderful husband, I am blessed to have someone so thoughtful in my life. Now back to school...