Willow Lane

Fun Stuff

We had another yummy Sunday! The kids really like picking out a menu and helping with the prep and cooking. Madyson did most of the menu making this week.

                                                            

And here is sushi chef Madyson

Oh yeah, manic mom, a blog I read daily was having a contest. She quit posting until she recieved  100 comments telling her something interesting about yourself. I was comment number 99, and I'm a runner up (the winner hasn't been picked yet)....I never win anything, LOL!. Anyway, the comments were really interesting, they range from serious to hysterical.

You've got mail!

Today was one of those fun days, when you get the mail and there's a box with your name on it. I love when that happens. I got this great package from Jennifer. I love the fabric fortune cookie. There were also some chocolate hearts and a chocolate dipped fortune cookie....they all seemed to disappear rather quickly, and I have three children with chocolate breath, hmmm.

                                                      

Better late than never?

I was just looking through my pictures and I found this one.

 

Linda send me this seamstress journal she made. I love it. It's sitting on my new sewing table and I'm filling it up with notes and ideas. She also sent the cutest cards, but I've already used them and forgot to take a picture.  Thanks Linda!!

Happy Birthday....to Me!

Sunday was my birthday. We started by going to Ikea and Barnes and Noble on Saturday. Ikea was so crowded, but I mananged to pick up a few things....definitely need to go back on a week day when it's not so busy.

My son told me to pick out some recipes and he would cook all day for me. He has two cookbooks, Better Homes Junior Cookbook, and an Emeril kids cookbook. If I was a good blogger I'd have links to the books, but I'm too lazy. Anyway, I picked the recipes. Here's a pic of the menu.

I love that my husband refers to himself as Chef DH. He asked me the other day what DH meant, I told him, but he didn't believe me, LOL!

My birthday also happened to be Chinese New Year, so I had "DH" make some spring rolls, they were delicious and so pretty! Happy New Year!

OK, here's the grand finale, it definitely deserves a blog picture.

I love cupcakes. I first saw some here. I kept telling the girls that we were going to make some for my birthday. "DH" surprised me and bought me the pans for my birthday.  The cupcakes were really good, but I was feeling ill after eating mine. Half a cupcake is plenty. Yummy!

Here's another picture to give you a better idea of the size.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last week the kids had three days off of school because of the extra cold temperatures. Tomorrow will be their third day off this week. Yesterday we had snow, sleet, ice and rain. Then it changed to all snow. When I got up this morning it was 32 degrees out. When I turned the news on at noon it was 14 degrees.  Today the girls were disappointed that school was cancelled. That meant no Valentine party, and no dodgeball tournament. We only get one snow day a year, after that the days have to be made up. If this keeps up they'll be in school until July.  OK, enough rambling about the weather. I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day.  Here are some pictures of my Valentines.

    

Holy Crap and a contest!

I was just reading my post below. I was clicking on the pictures and cracking up looking at different things we have in that garage. First it's important to note that the garage AKA," Paul's Garage Bar" is the neighborhood hot spot from April-October. I try to have a couple theme parties each summer. My favorite last Summer was the Napolean Dynamite party. There are some remnants from that party hanging around.

So, click on the pics, (in the post below) leave me a comment and tell me  some of the things you see. I'll draw a name and send the winner a prize.      

Sewing room!

My Husband and have son have been working hard to put together a sewing room for me. It's close to being finished and I am so happy to finally have things organized and all in one place. Last week the boys worked on the sewing table and cabinets. Friday night they put the floor in and Saturday they put the table in. I've been trying to organize and put stuff away. Here are some pics of the boys working hard. I'll put pics of the room up when it's finished.

  Drawers!!   

Break TIme!

Mini-swap

I signed up for the What's Cookin' mini swap. I've decided to list Marley, since her birthday is in April....when the swap it. I think her sister will understand, and I'm sure her brother won't care, LOL! This should be alot of fun. I'm anxious to see all the little aprons!

BTW, Marley always licks the spoon, but rarely eats the finished product.

Cold!!!

I've never been a summer person. I really don't like the heat and humidity. I think it's from all the years that we didn't have air conditioning. We had an attic fan that my dad would turn on at night and it would "cool" the house off. It would also make the house smell like a barn, because my dad would fertilize his little gardens around the house with manure and all that fresh air would get sucked into the house. My mom rarely uses her air conditioning now. Last summer it was so hot in her house that her candles melted. They were bent and miserable looking....kind of how I felt when I'd go in to see her. She finally agreed to turn it on, when my kids said they wouldn't come see her because it was too hot.

This week I've found myself longing for Summer. We've been stuck in the house, and school has been canceled because of the record low temperatures. I'm crossing my fingers that school will be open tomorrow. I love a day off as much as the kids, but 3 in a row and we all get a little stir crazy.

I'll probably re-read this post in August, it'll be hot and miserable. The kids will be tired of going to the pool......and my hair will be a frizzy mess. And, I'll be longing for Winter.