birthday pawty

Eloise is sooo excited..

because today is her birthday!!! She turned 1 today - and now we get to have a flash back of my little furbaby's 1st year

This is the first picture we had before we drove an hour to go pick out our little puppy...

not sure which one she is...any guesses? (i am thinking the one that looks the most pitiful with its paws hanging over the edge...pick me!pick me!)

Her first night home...with her kitty baby that no longer exists..

getting love from her daddy

first trip to the park...and worn out

her first of many many rawhide bones (an attempt to save the rest of our furniture)

a float trip and camping trip

she got her first big girl teeth while she had a weekend of fun at Petropolis

we've had hundreds of visits to the dog park...hands down her favorite place to be

and she grew...

...and then could barely fit under the couch anymore (thank goodness!)

she got to be a bumble bee and loved it

she carried around full bowls of water and then dropped them so she could play in the puddle

went on lots of fun car trips (loves to go for a ride!)

had more baths than I can remember..and jumps right in everytime

got her very first Christmas pj's and looked adorable

and grew some more...

she went sledding

aaaand had some more baths

made a lot of new friends

and is such a big girl now!

Happy Birthday Eloise!

summer 'do

Do you love Miss Sophie's summer 'do?

While I was tending to the newly groomed Mophie, someone found my yarn....

I'll give you a hint. Her booty is in the picture:

Good guess.

She was in trouble in this picture and was cowering from her mother...I am so so mean.

tessert

I just love 'tessert' as MC calls it. After dinner (at home...not at restaurants) I can barely wait for dessert and expect it every night. I ask Patrick right after dinner "so are you ready for dessert?" - he always says "not yet" which can be such a disappointment at times...

I will eat ice cream (had Ben and Jerry's in a cone last night), fresh baked chocolate chip cookies (preferably nestle tollhouse break apart ones), strawberry shortcake (made this all the way homemade strawberry shortcake last week - de-licious), bananas foster (usually just a special treat), of course i'll down some bread pudding..of any type, and my newest obsession---

(I may be the last person to hear about this yummy dessert)

low fat chocolate eclair dessert

It is incredibly easy to make, and so so yummy

you need:

Ingredients

2 packages instant vanilla pudding

3 cups milk

8 ounces non-dairy whipped topping

1 (16 ounce) box graham crackers (you will have some leftovers)

1 (15 ounce) container chocolate frosting

Mix together vanilla pudding mix and milk. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.

Fold in whipped topping to pudding.

Line 9 x 13 pan with one layer of graham crackers.

Put half of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers.

Place a second layer of graham crackers over the pudding mixture.

Put the remaining pudding mixture over the graham crackers.

Place a third layer of graham crackers over the pudding mixture.

Heat the tub of frosting in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften.

Spread frosting on the top of the last layer of graham crackers.

Cover with plastic wrap and let set a couple hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Cut in squares

Yum. Yum. Yum.

and next we are having this apple dip. It is so tasty, I haven't actually had it in several years, but just found the recipe and it sounds about right. I will be trying it later! Pat loves heathbar's so I am making it for him...and I guess i'll have some too...ha

1 8oz block cream cheese, softened

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 bag Heathbar Bits (or Skor)

Apple wedges (granny smith, or roma)

Directions

Cream together cream cheese and sugar

Stir heathbar bits in with spoon

Serve with granny smith or roma apple wedges

pillows

I made some pillows for our couch

and here they are!

I started with 1 1/2 yards of linen fabric (on sale! only $7!).

I used pillow inserts from pillows that came with the couch, they were hiding in the basement because they were made from terribly scratchy material (so that was free!).

I wanted to make birds...so I did.

I drew a simple little birdy, cut him out, and traced him in the bottom corner of the square (mine was 22" by 22" so I could sew 1" in on each side to make it 20x20 for the insert to fit inside..kinda guessed, and it worked).

I thought maybe he needed a friend, so I traced him again (3" from the bottom and 3" from the side)

I bought brown yarn on sale ($2) and a huge needle (have no clue what it's really for..)

Then I started tracing my drawing. I'm not a sewer (just a beginner) and I call my stitch "looping". I am sure it has a real term. This is how I did it so there was no linen showing between the stitches.

Kind of an under and back over, then waayy under, then back over... I don't know. But it worked - see?

Always need a helper!

Or 2 helpers!

See this zipper? It was about to push me over the edge. I am a visual learner. Show me once and I've got it. Zippers are terribly confusing for me. I stole the zipper from the scratchy pillow case (free!). Thankfully after ripping it out I had the other pillows zipper to look at in order to figure out how to put this one on. I have no idea how it got on there correctly, but it did...twice! I successfully placed 2 zippers and hope to never do it again.

The 1st pillow

..and it's other half!

I decided to make the second one with just 1 bird to switch it up. I didn't want it to be too matchy.

p.s. so far Eloise has not attempted to steal or destroy either pillow...

day late

Happy Mothers Day!

This may be a day late - but we love our mamma's so so much!

burd

I love birds...or burds as I choose to call them. I don't know when this love started...I guess a few years ago?

Well, I have some birds here and there around my house. I was looking at some of the new pictures my sister posted and died when I saw this little guy. I fell in love.

And guess what!?!!

He came in a package all the way to St Louis just the other day!!

I don't remember the last time I was so excited :)

It was the perfect surprise (along with a box of incredibly funny other prizes from my oh.so.creative sister)

Here is burd's new home. My coffee table. With a bird friend and a picture of my great grandfather on a horse...in the army maybe??

Have I told you that I have the best sister in the world??

Now onto my next project. I am sewing pillows! We will see how this goes..

cinco de mayo

We avoided the long waits at restaurants for a Cinco de Mayo in forest park. Chips, dip, burritos, margaritas, corona and limes - and most important of all - a pinata!

The group with our super cool pinata. Elle has the pinata stick - this became a problem when people had their eyes closed and were ready to swing and she came flying up, jumping to steal the stick...Luke loved it too.

Chetana got first swing - and did a good job poking a hole. Those things are tougher than they look!

Elle being taken to her designated safety spot so she didn't get nailed with the stick

Spinning Seth

Elle's tree

Luke's tree

Steve's turn

Pat being spun into the branches

It finally was busted after every one had several turns. And yes - it may or may not be a pinata for a small child's birthday - but don't hate. I bet you didn't have a pinata at your Cinco de Mayo celebration....