A Taste of Spring!

What a GORGEOUS day! The kind that makes you want to abandon all house work and obligations and head to the park. So we did. Picked the little miss up from school, packed us a picnic lunch, threw her tricycle in the trunk, and off we went.

The park was just beautiful today. Snow on the ground in some places, but bare (or green!) in others. Almost a 60 degrees today. VERY unusual for Feb in PA! We LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it!

Ruby enjoying the swings. She can actually reach then now and get on herself.

So weird to have it warm out yet be able to play in snow. Ruby liked touching it, making hand prints, and writing her name in the snow with her finger.

Silly miss showing me her stretches from yoga class today.

Is this a gorgeous view or what? The lake looked so pretty lined with geese and seagulls. 

 And these are my favorite below. She had so much fun. Just being a kid doing silly simple things.

Touching the snow with her bare hands.

Throwing it up in the air.

Again and again.

Even putting it on her head.

Rubes found what was obviously the coolest stick ever. It had to come home with us.  She then came across this big puddle. I could tell she wanted to jump in it but was doing the "right thing". So I just laughed and said "ya know what, Rubes? Go jump in! It's ok if you get a little wet". (Heck, we were already muddy so who cared?) She was a bit hesitant, but in she went...

Such a fun day! 

Valentines

My sweetheart signing cards for her school friends Sunday night. Signed 16 of them altogether! I dotted her name and she traced them.

Thought she would bore quickly of this project, but instead she was oh-so-proud. It was really sweet.

Next we donned our aprons, pulled our hair back, and got baking. We made big heart cookies to share with her class. Turned out real cute but camera died b4 we got the frosting on!

Looks wild here, but was actually just being silly Vday morning. We exchanged cards over bfast and told her treats would be waiting for her till after school. This year she was happy to put on her Valentines tutu and, in fact, wanted to wear it to school. Hey, who am I to come between a girl and her frilly fashion? So funny...all the girls in Ruby's class had pink or red on with hearts or something girly. They all looked so darling. When Ruby walked in it was like a greeting committee. RUBY!!!!! They all rushed her, helped her with her coat, and oooed and ahhed over her outfit. The kids really dote on her cause she's the baby of the class. LOL, enjoy the fuss now, Rubes. You won't the littlest in the class next year!

What? A goodie bag for ME??? This is a face that sees chocolate.

Inside the bag... some Hersey kisses, a couple princess lip balms, one little book, and 2 dolls. She was a happy camper!

Had a great afternoon and then later, the 3 of us went out for sushi at our favorite local hang. A wonderful love day spent with the ones I love!

Fun in the City

Went down town on Sunday to see the Chinese New Year parade and have Dim Sum with some friends. The parade was short and loud, but still fun and worth seeing. The weather was much warmer than it's been, too. So nice to be able to be outside! Ended up being a really fun day.

Getting ready to watch the Parade.

Ruby's favorite: the red dragon

The Lion Dance in front of the fire station.

Ruby fell in love with this green umbrella. Was walking around twirling it all day.

Trying to get all the kids together and look at the camera at the same time was not easy!

This was taken at the Imperial Inn restaurant for Dim Sum.

Mommy and a very serious Ruby. She had fun, I promise! Maybe was sick of getting her picture taken again!

Love my silly bug.

And finally, a shot of all 3 cuties smiling together!

LOVE Day!

The celebration has already kicked off at our house. Really, celebrating love is any every day thing, but add some heart shaped cookie baking, pink frosting and lots of sprinkles...now you've got yourself a really good time! Just ask Ruby! :-)

A bunch of pics to share of both our cookie baking and our Chinese New Year celebration in the city yesterday, but no time to post now. Off to the gym for yoga, home to pick up the Princess, heart shaped lunch and goodie bag sharing, then I'm off to the spa for 3 blissful hours while Rubes and Daddy have some special time together. Life is good!

Wishing you all a wonderful day with the people you love!

The Sweetest Little Gift Shop

Are these not the sweetest little faires ever?

I saw these on Etsy and HAD to have them for Ruby. I was looking for some special item with fairies NOT made of plastic or associated with D*sney since we have so much of that stuff. What I found was this sweet little shop on Etsy called The Little Gift Shop.

The fairies are made of wood and hand painted. They are GORGEOUS. The picture doesn't even do them justice. They came carefully wrapped in pink tissue paper, each with a name and fairy title.

And then came this sweet little fairy...dressed like Ruby's pictures from the beach and entitled "the sweetest fairy of all". I cried at the site of it. So sweet and so wonderful of Lisa to share her incredible talent with the world.  She has many adorable dolls and play sets. Here are a few I just loved:

Momma and her baby

Families made to look like you. She can even do cats and dogs!

Princess castle set if you want the Disney characters

Prince/princess and dragon set. 

Peter Pan pirate ship set.

Alice in Wonderland set. How cute is that? I can't imagine being able to paint so well. She is so great with the details!

The Nutcracker set. (Maybe a Christmas idea for Ruby if she is still into the Nutcracker next year).

Little wooden dolls in a travel case. Cute! Cute! Cute!

Please stop by her store and take a look. You can click on the title of this post or on the link above. Sweet little things come in small packages!

Rubes On Ice

My sweet girl was VERY excited to ice skate today. On the way, she kept asking me "where my skates?"  I tried to explain the concept of renting/borrowing, but she continued not only to ask where her skates were, but where were her pink ones like Barbie. Ha! She wasn't demanding but rather curious how we were gonna skate without them. Finally, I said there were no pink ones where we were going - only white and tan -and we had to give them back when we were done. She seemed to accept this. Imagine her delight when we got there and low and behold someone had the great wisdom to spray paint a little hot pink on the sides of the girls skates. Ruby was delighted as if they were there just for her. Ah, it's the little things in life that mean so much!

Happy momma and girl ready to hit the ice.

Look at that smile. She said "I skating! I AM skating!"

We went around a couple times b4 finding this handy walker. She loved her independence but tired of it quickly and wanted to just hold the sides and hold my hand again. It was so fun.

Video of the lil miss in action. Wish I caught her earlier on tape when she was especially silly. At one point (while NOT with the walker) she tried to lift a leg up and duck down a bit. I had her hand but said, oh, honey, what are you doing? Be careful! She looked at me as if I didn't have a clue and said "under the tunnel! Like Annika!" Of course. Princess Annika, as in the character from her Barbie movie "Pegasus" where they do a lot of ice skating. She was so into it and limited only by those silly skates that were obviously slowing her down. LOL. I think this is something we both will enjoy doing again. But for now, she is resting up on the couch watching Pegasus with a cup of hot chocolate.

Update: Ice skating is a fine activity for tuckering her out, too! She was fast asleep at 7:45!

Silly Things That Make Me Smile

Jello Face

*Ruby woke up the happiest, sweetest little thing today even though she had broken sleep. Wish I was so charming on so little rest!
* Was an absolute angel and delight both taking her and picking her up from school today. Leapt into my arms upon entering (like most days) and said "Mommy! Mommy! I so glad to see you!" That just never gets old.
* Has been hugging me a lot and saying "Momma" real sweet and with such love in her eyes. Makes mine tear up!
* Has been particularly silly and sassy today. Jumping, dancing around, twirling, and is oh so chatty.
* She came in the door today and said to Jeff "oh-lay-hee-hoo!" We both just cracked up.
* She now calls her piggy bank the "money pig". LOL, we love this.
*She still sings to her Christmas tree every night b4 bed. Has to do a bit of a concert for us complete with bow and pretend flowers we give her as she blows kisses. Silly lil diva.
* Watching her paint with Jello today was hilarious. She ate much more than actually went on the paper and had little bits of it all over her.
* We decided a bath was in order so lil miss silly pants is now soaking in bubbles and having a blast. I am in here with her, but she is gleefully playing and having a full conversation with her Mermaid Barbie, dolphin, "Daddy swimmer guy", Kailan, and pig. It's so funny. I really wish there was a video camera up here cause "they" are talking about choo-choo trains, the Bubble Guppies, how to do stuff, and even playing out parts to her favorite movies and books. Just random statements amongst splashing and silliness. Literally, my face hurts from smiling today. And it's only 3:00 pm.

UPDATE: It is now almost dinner time and she is now making Daddy over...putting pretend lip gloss on him and "blow drying" his hair. Here she is using the "flat iron". Think the jewelry is coming next. Haha, Daddy is such a good sport and this girl is such a trip! Such a fun day with her.

Feeling Crafty

International Fairies

Call it a yearning for Spring. Or maybe just excitement over Ruby's birthday party. Or quite possibly, it was the cabin fever that made me snap into action. Whatever it is, I am feeling ever so crafty these days!

Rubes & I had fun making this silly butterfly.

And hey, what says spring more than butterflies and "cappapippars"??? Ruby especially loved these although getting the little buggers to stand up for any length of time has been a challenge. I told Ruby they were tired. LOL!

Made a fabulous mess with the paint, but, luckily, we did the toad stools first. Ruby painted two of them (one red and one pink) and did a really good job! I gave her paper to paint afterwards while I focused on the dots and the fairy house below. LOL, she had paint on her paper, the mat under it, her hands, arms and in her hair. It was hilarious. And that is with me sitting right next to her but focusing on painting for a half a minute. Too funny. Anyhow, I gave the mushrooms a coat of white later on the stems and now they just need some clear glitter coat. Gonna look so cute in my garden this spring! Making a fairy garden for Rubes this year.

After she went to bed, I converted an old crate and a wooden bird house into the beginnings of fairy land. So excited! Now if you haven't guessed by now, the theme of this years birthday party will be fairies. I was kinda pulling for a proper princess party, but when I asked Rubes and gave her the options of princess, cats, Elmo, fairies, fairy princess, etc....she said fairy princess. So, fairy princess it is! I am perfectly giddy getting all the ideas together and planning it!

My fab mother-in-law, Martha Stewart Larae, found this cool stamp/cut-out thing that makes butterflies. Found some gorgeous old wrapping paper upstairs, glittered the page with sparkle glue and then made a zillion cut-outs. Gonna string them and make a pretty, decorative garland for the party. Now, as for those dolls pictured above...they originally looked like this:

When searching for an international doll house family ages ago, I found and bought these online. Don't remember where now, but it might have been Mandy's Moon. Anyway, loved the dolls, hated the clothes. (Except the one on the top left that has already been through my make-over). Wasn't sure when I was going to give them to her until the idea of this party came up. Decided to make them into fairies and strategically place on the table, the shelf, etc., for decoration and for play. Here's more of a close up shot of what they look like now:

They still need wings and I have 2 more to finish, but I think they turned out pretty cute so far. The cool thing is, everything I used for the outfits above I already had. Tulle from a gift. An old scarf, ribbons, scrap booking stuff, etc. I only need to find something for the last 2 and order the mini-wings from Bugs-n-Blooms. Then wa-la! They are magic fairies!

 (Then, of course, all I'll need to know is where I can buy pink glitter in bulk). 

Sweetness

My first blog award! I have to say it's nice to be called "sweet" during the sweetest month. While Jan can be boring and a little let down after the holidays, Feb is filled with thoughts of love and valentines...AND the hope that maybe we only have one more month of really cold weather!

This award was bestowed upon me by my bloggy friend and brilliant/funny/witty writer, Wendy, over at Born In Our Hearts. A fellow adoptive parent, she's a straight shooter, tell-it-how-it-is gal, and has me cracking up all the time over her life and adventures as a parent, writer, and teacher.

Now my job here is to suggest a few people I want to nominate and also share a few of my guilty pleasures. First the pleasures...
1. The Spa. Oh, how I love a spa day...a great massage...the smell of the place...the wonderful pampering! (And how I miss it, too! Haven't done this nearly enough this year! But you know V-day is coming soon so maybe - just maybe - a massage will be coming to me!)
2. Shopping. Yea. I know. This one is a big shocker, huh? Online. In stores. It doesn't matter where. :-)
3. Red red wine. And the occasional white. But only if it's good wine. Don't come near me with white zinfandel or anything in a box!
4. Hot scented bath and a warm and fuzzy read. Usually a good spiritual or self help book filled with positive stuff sets me right.
5. Baking. Cookies and breads. And eating them, of course. I am a carb freak. (Which is what makes my dieting so hard!) Working on it and getting better though. Moderation is key!

 Oh and I should add just one more...cheese and crackers. I think I could live on them and have actually skipped meals in favor of a lovely plate of cheese, crackers, and grapes. Mmmmmm.

Now onto my sweetest blog awards...
1. Mireille @ Funky Doodle Donkey. Artsy, fun, creative lady with two gorgeous twin girls from Thailand. A fab photog and a world traveler, I love going to her blog see what fun things, great shots or exciting adventures will show up!
2. Jessica @ Life Untamed. A beautiful writer and a beautiful person. Watching her journey to her sweet boy has been such a joy. Now we get to watch him grow and see the wonderful parents Jess & Matt have become.
3. Dawn @ Eggrolls & Chopsticks2 - Another favorite family of mine. Dawn is witty, smart, funny and just a great, great person. Love hearing about life with her adorable little (and not so little) munchkins.
4. Jules @Pink Velvet Baby - Wonderful, creative lady with a beautifully done blog and lots of great stories, shopping tips, etc. But most of all, I just stop by to see what's new with that gorgeous little girl of hers - Hayden. Ok, and to see what she is wearing as her Mommy has her dressed to the height of fashion at all times.
5. Last, but not least, I am a lurker at Salsa in China blog, amongst many other devoted followers. This chic puts the "super" in super mom, coming up with all sorts of creative stuff - arts, crafts, activities, outfits, etc. - that I love to try! Plus her girls are adorable and I love to see what they're up to.
NOTE: Ladies, you are supposed to now do the same kind-of post on your blog, but don't feel obligated.

There are many more blogs (and some really great friends and people I just love) but these 5 are my top cause they blog often and keep it interesting and fun. They make me laugh and make me smile. I would have nominated Rosemary for her writing, wit, and big heart had she not dropped off the planet (hint hint if you are reading this! We miss you in blogland!  :-) ) And, of course, I would have included Wendy, but I think I am supposed to pay it forward to someone not nominated already.

Hope you all find some love and sweetness this month..and some chocolate wouldn't be bad either!