Factory Outlet fun!

Last week, my friend Maria invited me (and Renee, but she couldn't make it) to come along with her to the Carter's outlet to look for pajamas for her baby. I couldn't pass up the chance to go somewhere and hang out with a fun friend!



Oliver was lucky enough to get to come shopping with us. He's usually happy and patient with it, for the first hour or so. After that, he gets pretty squirrelly. He was exceptionally well behaved at the good ol' Boise Factory Outlets. He wanted to get out of the stroller after a while in the first store. He started bringing cute baby girl outfits over to show me. He was so into it. He'd been observing Maria and me holding up little outfits to show each other, so he knew just what to do to fit in. He carried the same outfit over to me 3 times. He must've really liked it. =)

We stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some treats because we were all

being so good! We got an apple dipped in three layers of yumminess: first caramel, then white chocolate, lastly enrobed in milk chocolate. I'm not sure why I settled on that kind. I guess I was overwhelmed with the choices. There were so many kinds to pick from, and most of them had a coating of candy or cookie crumbs on the outside. The one we got was really good, so I'm not regretting the choice. I guess what I'm saying is I want to go back and sample the other varieties.

We asked the lady to slice the apple up so we could share it. We also got a large piece of milk chocolate covered toffee to split. I got Oliver a big snickerdoodle to snack on. Everything was so tasty.

Oliver posing next to Kenley. She was so sleepy by then. Such a cute little doll.

Oliver didn't quite know what to do. He was just trying to cooperate for the camera.
Those are little legwarmers Kenley's wearing. So fashionable!

Maria and Kenley.

Holy cow! I look like my sister Megan in this picture:

Our outing wouldn't have been complete if we hadn't moseyed on over to the Dress Barn! It's such a great name for a dress store. Whoever came up with it must have known exactly what makes a woman feel feminine and pretty!

We were kind of disappointed about the selection. Most of the dresses we saw were cute rather than catastrophic. Where's the fun in that? We went in there with the intention of finding a souvenir for Renee since she couldn't join us. We found one thing - and one thing only - that was perfect! I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it, but it's a super-soft, leopard print shrug. (We liked calling it a shawl.) It was on clearance for $12. I thought that was a little pricey, considering we were getting it as a joke, but what sealed the deal was the Dress Barn tag sewn on the inside of the collar. It was just what Renee needed! So we split the cost. Between the three of us it's sure to get used.

Can you feel the enthusiasm?

It took several tries to get both of us in the picture without one of us blocking the Dress Barn sign. Then we were kind of too far away from it.

Maria couldn't contain herself. She was so jazzed to be there so close to Dress Barn. We were within clucking distance of it...





I look like a complete doofus in the video below, but I just had to include it. I had Maria try taking a picture of us, and being unfamiliar with my camera she mistakenly pressed the record button. She kept pushing the button over and over, so each time she did that we thought it was going to take a picture, but really it was just filming us. :) I was just a little bit embarrassed when I viewed the footage, as anybody else who watches it will be. But it made me laugh. a lot.

I'm glad Maria invited me to come with her. It turned out to be such a fun time. But of course I didn't expect anything less out of Maria's company. =)

Grab Bag!

I find the concept of grab bags amusing. I almost bought one at Dollar Tree for this post, but I decided it would break my "no buying things I don't need" rule. I like variety and surprises. I know I bought at least one grab bag when I was a kid, and I'm sure it was full of cheap, dumb things - which explains why I've never bought another one. I think a fun business would be Grab Bag Haircuts - for those who can't decide what style they want. Customers would blindly select a picture of a new 'do (out of a hat or other receptacle), and they'd have to let the hairdresser cut their hair to match the pic.
Anyway, the rest of this post has nothing to do with actual grab bags, but it includes various photos and things that I didn't want to devote individual posts to.


Oliver has really taken a liking to The Wiggles (and he likes to nestle into the corner of the couch behind the cushion). He gets the biggest grin as he watches them. I also rather enjoy The Wiggles. Their songs are catchy and I love hearing them talk. I just discovered (embarrassingly long after the fact - because we only own the older videos of them) that Greg Wiggle had to retire about 4 years ago due to health problems and was replaced by Sam Wiggle. I found this out after checking out a new DVD from the library called "The Wiggles Go Bananas!" I was disturbed to find that someone "new" was in Greg's place. I liked Greg! Sam is cute, but I don't think his singing blends with the other Wiggles' voices. Sam is, or was, a Broadway singer. Obviously that doesn't jive with The Wiggles' style. I read about it on Wikipedia and I now understand a little more about why they picked Sam. If the kids of the world can live with it, so shall I.

I forgot I still had this shirt when I did my Beatles post. I found it a few weeks ago, all neglected and lonely in the back of a drawer. I used to wear it a lot in High School. It belonged to my older sister, but I took it over (along with assorted other accessories - a watch, a belt buckle, Yellow Submarine boxer shorts, and a pen). The Beatles had a White Album, which had a blank white cover. A lot of kids didn't get the significance of "The White T-Shirt" when I wore it, but that was their problem. :)

The back of the shirt had all The Beatles' songs listed on it. I'm not sure why it did, since it had nothing to do with the album reference on the front of the shirt. But that didn't stop me from liking it.

Oliver always drinks the milk from his cereal bowl. He looks so cute when he does it.

This was when Cora had a school assignment to take Flat Stanley (there is a book by that name) on little adventures. We went to my sister Megan's improv show at Rembrandt's Coffee
House one evening. They call themselves Chicks and Giggles. They've been having fun performances there every other Monday. I haven't missed one yet.

This is a corn bag that Becky made for me. It's so cute! It can be frozen or heated up to give customized relief when I'm sick or injured. I love the fabric she picked just for me. I'm looking forward to using it. Maybe I'll have to hit myself in the face with a frozen lasagna again like I did recently.

I checked this movie out from the Library a couple weeks ago. I hadn't ever seen it before. It's not uncommon for me to miss a lot of movies that come through.

I really liked Juno. I loved her personality, her dry humor, the way she said things. I loved the music in it. I liked the script. It made me laugh, it made me cry. That constitutes a good movie.
I watched it again before I had to return it.






I decided it wouldn't be Easter if I couldn't make a Peeps cake. I wasn't supposed to. I had resigned myself to the fact that there would be no Easter baking this year. :( My sister was in charge of the dinner menu for our family gathering and we were going to have french toast casserole for the meal, along with other brunch-type foods. I had been waiting since January to make something Eastery, so I was bummed when I learned that my dessert was not necessary. Not only that, but it would be overkill. Sunday morning came and I decided that I needed to bake something. This was my favorite season. I couldn't not create something sweet and cute for the occasion. So, first I made sugar cookie Easter eggs, a sun, a hot air balloon, etc. I didn't have the Peeps assortment I needed to adorn the cake with (I only had orange chicks), so I had to make little bunnies using Peeps play dough cutters I have. They just weren't the same as real Peeps bunnies and chicks. What was I thinking! I made a sheet cake on which to arrange my Peeps scene. I know I wasn't supposed to make a dessert, but I figured we could cut the cake up and send some home with everyone after dinner. It all worked out juuuust fine... My holiday wouldn't have been complete if I hadn't baked anything.

The flowers and shapes I made later with the leftover dough. They were mini cookies. I love tiny things!

Oliver and Cuddles.

Janey and Cuddles

Pretty blossoms in Ryan's parents' yard. Someday, around our future house, there will be beautiful flowering trees.

Ahhh, Primary Health. Looks like a pretty safe place to take the kids in an emergency. . .

. . . THINK AGAIN!

Cora pointed out that when she tilted her head to the right the red cross took on a whole new look. She said, "It looks like a scary face!" I never noticed it before, but now whenever I drive past one of these signs that's all I see. Mwaahahaaaa!

I love this kind of pizza. My mom used to get it when I was growing up, and I get it occasionally now. Pizza mix from a box? you ask. Yes, I say. Mmmm . . . yes.

Something about the sauce packets enclosed and the flavor of the crust cannot be duplicated. I hope it never gets discontinued. I might cry if it did.

The pizza we made this week. Pepperoni, olives and artichoke hearts. And lots of cheese. :)

I finally found a mouthwash I like. I hate the kind that burns my face off or tastes like mentholatum. Blech! This kind has a pleasant cinnamon flavor. Yum.

Bleeding heart flowers. They are so intricate and pretty. I don't know how anybody can see something like this, not to mention the miracle of human life, and not believe in God.



And that's all for now! What a neat grab bag that was!

P.S. All comments are always encouraged and welcome. :)

Peep Pandemonium

The pictures posted below represent my most obscene collection. It's nothing less than shocking. I didn't know how seriously bad it was. I'd never had the entire lot out at one time until a few weeks ago. As I opened the first storage bin and began extracting one thing after another, embarrassment set in and I began to wonder how this collection had spiraled out of control. It started out innocently enough. About five years ago, a new take on an old product hit the store shelves: plush decorative Peeps! I was thrilled to see Peeps in a different form (other than pure sugar-coated sugar). I've always liked Marshmallow Peeps. Something comes over me - some kind of wonderful - each time I behold a newly stocked aisle of cheerful, colorful, symmetrical Peeps. I like the way they look on display, so crisp, so perfect. The epitome of orderliness. And they are so cute! Peeps chicks and bunnies standing at attention, preparing to make their silent descent into idling grocery carts. I admittedly don't like eating Peeps as much as I like looking at them. I loved eating them when I was a kid, especially stale. As I grew, I lost some of the appreciation I'd had for snacking on them. They just don't taste as yummy as I remember. So when the plush Peeps and other merchandise began appearing in stores I was instantly smitten. They were adorable! They were just the thing I needed . . . and so the madness began.

Warning: the pictures below are ridiculous.






Over the course of three or four Easter seasons I collected - okay, hoarded - all the cute Peeps loot I could justify. In my defense, most of it was obtained after Easter at markdowns of 50-75% off. And I mean it when I say I didn't know how much of it I already owned. I kind of had a hunch that maybe I'd reached my quota, but I literally couldn't make myself pass up a cheap Peep. As I accumulated new ones I'd toss them into storage boxes until the next year. Then for two years I didn't unload any of it at Easter because I didn't want the kids carelessly scattering it around the house. All the while whenever I'd see any on clearance I'd get some and tuck them in with my ginormous stockpile.

I think I got my fill of Peeps merchandise. It kind of makes me sick to look at it. I really, really didn't mean to collect that much of it. It just happened, I swear.

When I had the thought to take a picture of it all my first instinct was to leave a lot of it out, "accidentally", so people wouldn't know just how insane I am. But I couldn't do that. I didn't see any point in lying to myself and others about it. Afterall, it's not a current issue. I'm not obsessed with Peeps any longer. I'm over them. They aren't available in stores anymore. I think I bought them all. Nobody else got any and they are now extinct. I rescued three or more generations of them. They are safe with me. Safe and sound, home with Mama.

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete? Wouldn't you think I'm the girl - the girl who has every(peep)?

I found this t-shirt at Savers one year during the height of my Peeps craze. I was SO excited and amazed and I knew it was there just for me. It made my heart swell to think that I could have missed it completely had I not gone in there that day, had I not been browsing through the shirts that I normally don't bother looking at.

My big feet in my cute socks.

I just looked at the top picture again. You know? It's not as bad an obsession as I thought. . .

Makin' cookies

Oliver had a hankering for cookies. All day at church he was thinking of them. When I picked him up from nursery the teacher gave me his coloring picture and there was a cookie drawn on the bottom in crayon. I asked the teacher if he'd asked her to draw that, and she said he had, and that he was talking about cookies a lot throughout class time. =) Little cookie monster. I decided if he wanted cookies that bad I wanted to make his wish come true. So later that day after he woke up from his nap I told him we were going to make cookies. He was so excited! But he didn't want to wait for the finished product. He kept trying to eat the ingredients.



He liked helping me mix the dough.




Here's a "Ryan's-eye" view of our fun. Okay, he's not that tall... He lifted the camera way up high to get an aerial shot.

I might be the only person I know who doesn't own a Kitchenaid mixer. I don't know how many thousands of times I've made cookie dough in my life, but I've always managed to blend it with a little hand mixer. That explains how my arms got so incredibly ripped. =) If I had a Kitchenaid I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself while waiting for the work to be done for me. I'm not saying I wouldn't accept one if someone wanted to give me one, but I don't consider it a priority or even a necessity. More like a luxury.

Wearing the apron Ryan gave me the Christmas before last. He asked why I hadn't tried it on without anything underneath. I told him I had. He asked where he was at the time. "At school", I answered. What can I say, I was curious. So sue me.

Jane sampling a chocolate chip cookie.

Jane with a mouthful o' cookie - Cora with a kooky mouth.

What a ham.

Here's the picture that made the whole experience worth it...



The fact that this snapshot was not supposed to have a hand reaching into it makes it priceless. I was minding my own business, taking a pic of the (ugly) cookies, and from out of nowhere came Oliver's chubby little hand - making a perfectly timed appearance in the photo. I love it!

I always have to kick myself a little for making the cookies because when Oliver knows they're there he can think of nothing else! But he'd been requesting them for days, and I kept having to tell a very bummed boy that we had no cookies, so I didn't have the heart to let him down yet again.

A walk, lots o' rocks and an otter.

Last evening, Ryan and I took Oliver on a walk. The girls were playing at a friend's house and chose not to come along with us. I wish they would have, but they were having so much fun so I didn't make them. What a sweet mom I am...

Oliver was sauntering along at a snail's pace. He didn't want to be carried and he kept stopping every time he saw rocks. He's passionate about rocks. He brings them inside, carries them around, but mostly he loves throwing them in the water.
We were going to the river that is a short walk from us, behind the subdivision behind our apartment complex. That's the one thing I love about our location. It's so pretty back by the river.

Tightwall walking.

The second we got to the rocks he got right down to business.

Evidence that we were both there at the same time.

Winding up...

Words aren't necessary.

So glad Ryan had the camera handy to catch me brushing dirt from my seat.

I love his little pose. He looks as though he's deeply contemplating something. Probably rocks.

Wiping junk from his dirty hands. He can't stand being messy.

I saw a creature jogging (yes, it was jogging) on the other side of the river. It looked like a ferret, but I couldn't think of a reason one would be along the river, unless it was a runaway pet. After a minute of Ryan and making "wild" guesses at its identity, I said, "Maybe it's an otter!" I don't think I've ever seen an otter in person. The only thing I had to go by was the illustrated Otto the Otter featured in those water safety coloring books they give out at school. They don't have otters at the zoo, at least not that I recall. It was too long and skinny to be a beaver or a badger. I'm sure it was an otter. My camera would not zoom far enough to get a good picture of it, dang it! If you look closely near the shoreline at the center of the above pic below the two tall trees you'll see a small, dark figure. That's him! He was so cute.

It was very overcast. Here's the sun trying to peek through the clouds.

Having a little fun by the real estate signs on the way home.

I had a hunch it would come to this.

No comment.

This house always has a cardboard standup of Zac Efron in the garage window. The first time I saw it it scared the crud out of me!

Pretty flowers along the way. I promise I didn't pick any.

Mallards in the canal by our apartments.

Oliver didn't like riding up so high on Daddy's shoulders. He was a little freaked out. Or maybe he was just mad that it kept him from scrambling for rocks on our way home. Either way, he wanted down!

After we got done at the river we collected Cora and Jane and went home.




Classic sisterly love.

What a nice little adventure we had. I am excited for warm weather so we can be outside more.