One of These Guys Turned 5 Yesterday

Here's a hint: it is not the 6'5", 230 pound quarterback with a rocket arm.

The Foamerator

I'm always on the lookout for something fun and easy to occupy the kids during those periods of time I like to call "the witching hours" - those pockets of time that if left unplanned will ultimately result in the boys rolling on the floor fighting while Riley scales the kitchen pantry in her never-ending quest to eat everything not nailed down. I saw this craft in Family Fun magazine, and so this afternoon we made "bubble snakes". Aside from occasionally inhaling the bubbles, everyone had fun making them and playing with the bubbles, and it did eat up some of the witching hours. Now if I can just find something to occupy the remaining 8 hours, I might survive another Monday.

Better Than a Quidditch Stick in the Eye

I'm missing most of the hoopla surrounding the new Harry Potter movie because my kids aren't old enough for the books or movies, my husband has no interest in Harry Potter, and the chances of me getting out to see the movie on my own are about as likely as me riding my flying broom to the theater. Luckily, one of my favorite fabric designers and all around craft genius Heather Bailey has gotten completely carried away with Harry Potter mania, and has created several recipes and crafts to indulge in all your wizardry desires. The one I'm most likely to try is her recipe for Butterbeer, which I always wished I had a frosty mug of while reading the Harry Potter books. Now, if she would only get to work on an invisibility cloak...

Where are Those Frickin' Dwarfs Now?

This is one in a series of photographs by Dina Goldstein titled "Snowy", and I love it. Haven't we all felt like this at some point - like "This is NOT the Happy Ending I signed up for!". I'm a fan of this very theatrical style of photography, and although I feel several in her series go to far and unnecessarily reinforce some negative stereotypes, I think this one is brilliant. My favorite part about this photo is the fact that the prince is watching polo on the TV. Typical.

Lake Effect

We're back home from a quick weekend vacation to Lake Michigan. We rented an adorable cottage in Sawyer, MI that was a short walk to the beach and Warren Dunes state park. We managed to pack quite a bit of activity into a short amount of time - shopping, swimming, hanging out at the beach, long walks, cherry picking, wine tasting, and just meandering through the area. Traveling with 3 kids under 5 is tough, and we were all sleep deprived, but even with tired, hyped up kids we were able to have a great time. And even better was the fact we were able to take Ani with us, as we're pretty sure she would not have survived the sounds of fireworks on the 4th here by herself (I'm started to suspect she did a couple of tours in 'Nam, just judging by her behavior during thunderstorms and firework displays).

Everyone had a favorite part of the trip - Casey loved cherry picking, Connor loved the campfire we built (he had a weird Beavis & Butthead moment I wish we had captured on tape where he just stood transfixed by the flame and repeated "fire" over and over again in a slightly demented voice), and Riley loved the beach where she ate sand by the handfuls. I mean, alot of sand - to the point that I was concerned about how much sand an 18 month old child could safely consume, as I was pretty sure she had exceeded that mark. And I think Rob & I could agree that our favorite part was the few moments we stole Saturday night after the kids finally went to sleep and we sat by the fire pit and talked uninterrupted and ate smores (a special dark chocolate version I had saved just for us).

We really loved the area and are planning to return again. There was plenty we did not get a chance to do or see, and although we all could use a vacation to recover from our vacation, I'm already feeling the effects this morning of the wonderful memories we made our first weekend at the lake.

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