Edamame Beans

Our family loves Edamame Beans...they are easy to cook (just boil them) and fun to eat...and good for you! We eat them with Kosher salt.

:::BLOG CANDY:::

Here it is, the long awaited BLOG CANDY! Wow, I've had 6000 hits already! I'm so excited to offer this to all of you dedicated viewers of my blog...I really appreciate it! I also wanted to do this to see who all of you are out there???

To enter, please provide a comment and include:

• your full name


• tell me your favorite stamp or stamp set (be sure to include the stamp manufacturer)

***Get an extra entry for sending a friend over***

I will draw for this on Friday, April 13th at 11:00pm. Good luck everyone!

Included are two discontinued popular stamp sets: Too Terrific Tags & Delight In Life...and...

A recent card I designed using my current favorite stamp set: Big Blossoms from Stampin' Up!

Steven & Chris

So I was supposed to be working this morning, but I was intrigued and watched Steven & Chris on CityLine. It was great to see those guys, they always have such great home decor ideas and are hilarious. I now have an idea of what to hang on my two bare walls of our great room...I was so stuck on what to put up. They now have a beautiful furniture line too!

Happy Easter

HAPPY

EASTER!

(projects the kids made at Day Care, so cute)

First Wagon Ride

After ordering this wagon online, it arrived and we were finally able to take the kids for a ride on Sunday...they loved it!

Casablanca Friends ~ Reunite

When I first moved to Calgary in 1996, I started working at Casablanca Video. I worked there for 4 years and had a wonderful time since it was such a fun working enviornment and I love movies so much. All of the staff there hung-out together often...little did I know then that having this job would bring me many life-long friendships.

I met Kelly (Carson) Macdonald at Casablanca when she was only 16 years old. Her and I have became great friends and have remanined close ever since. She was one of my Bridesmaids, now our kids play together and we see each other on a weekly basis...I love having such a close friend as Kelly.

Kelly & I have always wanted to find some of our old friends from Casablanca and see what they've been up to. So Kel tracked down the DeCecco family who still own the video store. Kelly had us all over on Friday night to catch-up since it's been at least 5 years since we had seen each other.

We had a great time at Kelly & Ross's, thanks for having us over... you put on a scrumptous spread. We all visited and looked at old photo albums from our time working at Casablanca...they brought back great memories and we had some good laughs! Everyone was great with the kids too!

Hopefully we can get together again soon and meet up with some more old Casablanca friends! Thanks again Kel for setting this up, I had a great time!

Starr, Mandy, Kelly & Michelle

Mandy & Starr
Kelly & Michelle
Starr, Scarlett, Jesse & Kelly
Ace had so much fun playing the drums...after Mandy showed him how!
Michelle walking on her hands - something her and Kelly used to do for hours!

Pink: A Year of Color - Week 4

~ Scarlett's pink hat ~

Is Spring Here?

I put up my 'Spring Decor' the other day hoping that winter was finally over...not sure if it's safe or not yet? Hopefully it will set the weather straight.

Decorating Easter Eggs

Everyone enjoyed Easter Egg Coloring on Thursday night! It was the first time the kids participated.

Meeting Nancy

Last Wednesday I was finally able to meet one of my favorite stamp bloggers: Nancy from Nancy's Creative Mess (& her very patient son, Matt). We met at Scrapbookers Bliss for a bit of shopping and visiting. It was so great to meet her, she's such a lovely person & great card maker. I hope we can meet again soon...and maybe do some crafting together. Above is a photo of all the goodies I picked up that day...we had fun shopping together.

For all you OFFICE Fans

click here...so cool Elsie! I can't wait until tonight's episode!

Baby Bumble Bee

Isn't this the cutest little dress-up costume!

{Photo by Dee-Ann}

Ace @ 2 1/2

This is our wild & crazy little man Ace at 2 1/2 years old. We had this fun little photo shoot a few weeks ago. I just love how the orange in his jacket brings out his red hair. Here's what he's been up to these days:

• keeps us goin' all the time and we wouldn't have it any other way...he's so energetic & fun!
• favorite foods are ice & chocolate chips (as you can see in the photos below)
• great on the computer and loves www.kidscbc.com
• his vocabulary is great and he's become quite the chatterbox
• loves to draw, color, paint & craft
• has no interest in potty training
• has alot of love for his sister

Ace & his 'doggie'.

"Please crush me some ice Mom."

Sitting still - wow!

Loves chocolate chips.

Blog Candy!

Sometime over the weekend I exceeded 5000 hits on my blog...I'm so excited and have enjoyed every minute of having my very own blog. Stay tuned this week while I put together some yummy blog candy to give away. Thanks everyone for visiting!

Orange: A Year of Color - Week 3

Our favorite little guy in his orange Zara sweater.

If you'd like to participate in my friend Dee-Ann's year of color challenge...go to Sparkly Things, it's alot of fun!

Watercolor Wonder Crayons SPECIAL

I am offering 20% off Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons until the end of March. I created this card using them...just love the watercoloring technique. As a challenge in Stampin' Up! Bootcamp, we were asked to re-create a card from the current catalogue (this is from page 129).

Wishing You Happiness Card Recipe

Paper: Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa & Whisper White

Ink: Whisper White craft pad, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp set: Summer by the Sea

Accessories: Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Stampin' Dimensionals

Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Bordering Blue, Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow & So Saffron

Tools: aquapainters, 1/16" hole punch

~ Taco Night ~

Hola! Tonight I was stumped for dinner ideas; when that happens I usually make tacos. I spiced things up by adding our Mexican blanket for a tablecloth and displayed the taco toppings in cute little bowls. I thought that by making it a bit of a fun & fancy meal that our 'picky eater' Ace would eat...and he did much better than he normally does. And Scarlett had sour cream head-to-toe (straight into a bath for her). Cory thought I had surprise tickets to Mexico or something...unfortunately that wasn't the case, I wish. It was a great family meal!

Books & Reading

Both of our children LOVE being read to and are so interested in books! Today Jennifer, our Usborn Books rep dropped off our new book order. Ace was so excited to read 'Shark in the Park' that he rushed through his bat &, bedtime routine and ran to get into bed so I could read him this book. I love that they're so excited about reading because I've never liked to read.

In fact, reading books has always been a challenge for me; it's like torture (OK that's a bit exaggerated). Just recently I visited a new optometrist and she asked if I had ever had a hard time with reading...I was shocked that she asked this question because yes I did. She said that because I have an eye that turns-in occasionally, that when I read my eyes have a hard time following a line of text and then switching to the next line; I loose my place often. It all made sense, that's why it has always been difficult for me. She suggested that I read with a ruler or straight edge and that might help with my shifting eyes. The optometrist also suggested that we bring Ace & Scarlett in to have their eyes checked as soon as possible because the condition is hereditary and can possibly be treated before they are 6 years-old (that's when your eyes are finished developing).

Ever since our children were born, we've read to them because I wanted them to enjoy books. I'm so pleased that they love their books so much. I'm working on my reading...however I've never had a problem reading magazines, I'm a mag junkie!

Poker Night

A few weeks ago when we had the Reeves family visit, we also invited Mike & Tobi over for a dinner party...which was followed by an intense poker game.

Tobi - I believe she won against the three guys

Mike placin' a bet

Darrin bluffin'

The players: Cory, Mike, Darrin & Tobi

The Reeves Weekend Visit

We enjoyed a great visit with the Reeves family a couple of weekends ago. They came down from Edmonton for a visit before the newest member of their family is born (due date: April 14th - Cory's birthday). We had a wonderful time, as we always do together...it's too bad we didn't live closer.

Starr & Hannah (almost 9 months pregnant)

Carter & Ace at the park

Carter, Ace & Cory preparing breakfast.