Splendid

the Secret Life of Bees

big sis has been studying insects for a couple weeks now for science. She's read a few books, watched 2 documentaries on insects and has been keeping a insect log. But did you know an insect has to have 6 legs and 3 body parts (head, thorax and abdomen) to be considered an insect?  Spiders are not insects.  I thought all little creepy crawly things were insects, not so...We've went to a show put on by the Philadelphia Insectarium and went to a local beekeeper today to learn about the process of beekeeping. The beekeeper has this amazing backyard with a beautiful koi pond with a waterfall, a deluxe chicken coop, many raised garden beds and now she's a beekeeper extraordinaire.  I dream of a backyard like

this..  I love that waterfall...

homeschoolers enjoying watching the dancing koi fish...

it tickled when they bit on your fingertips

little sis was in love with them

big sis' best friend (with the white sunglasses on her head) was visiting us

then we went and said hi to the chickens

"whachu lookin' at???"

then we went to the the bees-ness of beekeeping.  big sis learned about "smoking them out."

(she loved her oh-so-fab hat) (all this time little sis was giggling at the koi fish, she could care less about bee bees-ness)

sugar water for the bees

honeycomb

more gardens beds just built

whew! This is hard work!

hi

hi,

rain, rain, go away

 

this is a layout I did a week or two ago, with my rainboots on, inspired by kk's pic.  I'm diggin' all the spring layouts and pictures I've been seeing people do.

This one was from our Annual Easter Talent Show, my dad LOOOOOVES it! (ha!)

Like this one <3 I am in love with cherry blossom trees<3.  One day I'll get the guts and continue my sailor jerry bluebird tat I have on on my back into cherry blossoms and such.  Peek...

 

and this was just for fun...where the fairies live

and I was so stoked to find out that I won the last Creative Type challenge!!!

Thanks ladies-you made my day!  I was so excited to be able to order $20 worth of goodies from the Living Room Floor!  It was hard to make up my mind!

And just so you know, Scrap Mojo is taking off the month of June, returning to one challenge a month in July.  I think a lot of us, especially Marie, are feeling overloaded at the moment.  But don't worry, the fun challenges will be back in July! 

Big sis started learning how to needle felt in her sewing class. Here's the bluebird she's made this week. I can't wait until she starts making the adorable figures like we have on our nature table. 

 

The last few days have been super busy. Getting ready to spend so much time in Mex, and even though it's taken forever to finalize everything and you'd think I'd be more used to the idea, but many changes have happened, I definitely feel overwhelmed with the upcoming move. I'm having some anxiety over the thought of leaving my home and neighborhood, our friends and the convenience of life here.  But the beginning of June we'll sojourn down to Mexico for a the beginning of a 2 year experience.  We'll return to the States throughout the year, but the bulk of the next couple years will be lived in a high rise apartment in a super crowded city. I'm trying to see the positive in this experience, my daughters and I learning a new language, living another culture, having some amenities that we otherwise don't have here.  But I'm also pretty nervous about things like safety and the inability to just run to the store and grab some yogurt.  Everything takes FOREVER there.  Or not being able to stop by the organic farm to pick-your-own flowers, or running into Trader Joe's for milk (organic here, finding organic there is difficult), or running into the craft store for glue dots, the craft stores I've seen there are not really geared towards what I've got in mind...It's the silly little things like that that make me feel a bit claustrophobic. So life while we're there will be simplified somewhat. Hard for me, I'm always ready to go, have trouble settling down and am definitely at times a little high strung.

But these pictures are making me smile.  Little sis joined a gardening class through Pennypack Farms not far from our home. "Little Sprouts" is a class for ages 3-5 and each week they do some sort of gardening activity and read a book. This week she planted eggplant and peppers, weeded some and picked lots of fresh chives and mint.  She is beyond happy with her hands in the soil and digging around.  She loves to uncover worms and delicately cover them up again. Big sis liked seeing her friend from gym and swim and they explored the greenhouses and took pictures of the chickens over in the coop while the class was happening.

this place was beautiful, too! Sarah took us here earlier in the week.  All the kids had a great time splashing in the water, looking for rocks, minnows and exploring.

lastly, so drooling...

 

what's cooking, hot stuff?

Whew! It's been a great week, lots of errands and school projects trying to get finished up, lots of spring cleaning and crafts...so TGIF...

Come play along with us at Category Stories, the newest challenge is up,"What's Cooking?"  I loved this picture of big sis in her vintage-y lace shirt and pearl necklace, smiling so demurely with her milk-glass cake platter of lemon-blueberry cupcakes. So June Cleaver-ish... Little do you know she was also wearing her rollerskates in the other pictures, which was too funny. 

 

the picture of big sis looks a little dark and grainy here, what about there?  I don't think it looks like that on Flickr, hummmm...who knows, Well, she's a doll, take my word for it!  Don't you love that Sassafras paper, god, I'd totally wallpaper a room with that!

And speaking of cooking, or eating rather, I can tell this is going to become an obsession for me...this blog has me drooling...

I can tell, this is gonna be baaaaad...I have 2 already, but these cuties are making me want more.

Dave is back in Mexico, I miss him, but we'll be going down the first week in June for 2 weeks. Then I come back (girls in tow, of course) and we pick up our new family member (a South African Boerboel, "practical" for apartment living in Mexico, I said...but I have to pick and choose my battles), then I'm off to Sisinaversary in Tennessee  (I'M SO EXCITED---yes, I was just screeching there) with my gal-pals (you know who you are!!)

And lastly, look at what my sweetheart of a friend sent me...Beth Perry, you doll! It was so unexpected and I think it's amazing, just like her.  I'm so thankful for our new friendship and I can't wait to party down with her at Sisinaversary!

 

Isn't it so pretty???

Okay, have a groovy day people! 

rain rain, go away...

It's been raining here for a week and a half...not that there's much you can do to control the weather, but seriously??? I mean, I'm getting soggy over here!!  Although I must admit my hostas and ferns love the cool, wet spring days.

 

big sis reading on the front steps...I just noticed the 7 in my address is crooked, hmmm...

pansies reaching for the little bit of sun we've had...

fairies live here...

fallen petals...

one of my favorite places to sit a spell..

my rain boots get much use here...

The Creative Type has a new challenge up called (and I love this, snicker...) "hand job." It's about using your handwriting to determine details about yourself through hand writing analysis. Mine was done a couple years ago and I was was told I am "artistic, loyal, private, can be worrisome, adventurous, likes to live life to the fullest." I love those girls, they're so awesome, go play along with them.

I had the Easter photobooths pics blown up individually and I made a 8x11 layout for each pic. The last one is of my mom and the girls, I miss her so much!! 

What's up doc?

there's more, but I'll leave ya be now, and post more later this weekend!

hola!

For scrap mojo's newest challenge, the Cinco de Mayo inspired theme is so fun, go play!!! What would you do if you had one day all to yourself?  A full day of spa treatments?  Hike a mountain? Relax on a tropical beach? Go shopping in NYC? Party with your friends or favorite band? Go make something muy bonita and use Mexican or Cinco de Mayo inspired products or decorations..

now now, I hope not to offend anyone here.  I mean, c'mon, we're all adults and this is meant to hold a bit of light-hearted humor, but you may want to divert your virgin eyes from the following scrapbook project... 

Hola!

(and a close-up for you-ha!!)

Well, as you may have picked up by now, I'm a little (just un poco) bit of a smart ass, and when my friend Sarah gave me this card, I about peed my pants!!!  She wrote my hubby's name for the hot lil' enchilada sitting on the donkey, and innocent me playing with my beach ball...

and for NSD/weekend, I managed a few layouts.

Sunshine Smiles

 

one for each of the girls albums, slightly different...

  

big sis, keep on smiling, girl.  I'm not sure why this pic looks like the layout has a gangsta lean, hmmm...

and little sis, same layout basically, same pp and such...I loved the angle of this one and the slightly blurry, orangy-ness, but it looks like she's got a red spot on her check which she doesn't. hmmm...

 

and so sweet Amy Tangerine made these little beauties for my girls. Big sis was all about the seriousness of modeling them, awwww, the drama, so her...

   

 

 

we watched the movie Doubt on Sunday night.  It was pretty good although yet a little sad, and slightly disturbing. I worked on some embroidery. We made a super spicy arrabiata sauce with turkey sausage and pasta, spinach salad, yum!  I indulged in a couple Hoegaarden beers, I LOVE it, with a couple orange slices, delish!!

Oh, and I'll give a little shout out to Seeds of Change Tikka Masala (Sarah, you'll love it!), it's no Tiffin, but hey, it's pretty darn good!  I made chicken masala, a spinach salad with a homemade garlic-ginger dressing, brown rice, curried chana with potatoes, and naan Friday night. SO GOOD!!! 

now adios! 

Unexpected

Hey ya all, I was supposed to be on a plane bound for Mexico yesterday, but with the swine flu in full force we have postponed our trip. Scary what's going on...it even sounds awful, "swine."

Speaking of the unexpected,Category Stories newest prompt is "Unexpected" and I hope you'll come play along with us! What is the Unexpected for you?  A flu pandemic?  A cancelled trip? A new found love of dark chocolate? Sounds like me...hmmmmm... Here is my layout about matroyshkas since the girls and I collect them. We're always on the hunt for them at yard sales and thrift stores, excited to see how many are inside. It's the unexpecting part of guessing that makes it so fun! (For the record, our matryoshka with the mostest is 16, the smallest is the size of a seed bead....)

 

 

and I asked the totally tubular Amy Tangerine to be our Guest Designer over at Category Stories.  She's not only one of my most fave scrapbooker's, but she's well known for her awesome designer t-shirts that sells in high-end boutiques like Kitson and Olive and Bette's in NYC. I actually had a couple of her shirts from a couple years ago before I ever knew she and I shared the same love of scrapbooking. Now we've become chums and I'm so excited to meet her face to face at Sisiniversary the end of June! She's even shipped me custom shirts for my girls, big sis is especially thrilled! I'll take a pic soon and post it. She's adorable, huh?  Go give her some love!!!

now, I know this doesn't have much to do about scrapbooking, but I just had to give a shout out to this new jewelry company I found. I was shopping in Old City Philadelphia (a neighborhood downtown) and went in this cool store to find a display case of the raddest jewelry I've seen in awhile.  Hot Cakes, oh, how I adore thee...

 

I picked up 2 necklaces and 2 rings, awwwww..so fab...they are hand cast resin that are reminiscent of vintage Bakelite jewelry they say, I agree...

I'll be back in a few days to post my scrap mojo layout, you'll love what the prompt is.  As always, the mojo girls aim to please!! Marie is always coming up with awesome ideas to spark our creative fires!  And hopefully get my hand-writing Creative Type layout done for their challenge...go check them out-really fun!

and finally, scoot over a little will you because I need a little bragging room if you please....look what my super talented, fabulous, amazing little 8 year old made!!! Can you believe it? She's been taking private sewing lessons for about a year now with a wonderful teacher. Big sis made this for her Grandma Rose (my mommy) for Mother's Day.  She wrapped it up all pretty tonight in lime green paper and fancy chenille ribbon so we can mail it off tomorrow.  

now ciao ya all!