meet Austin

The newest of the cute boys next door!!

home beautification

I have finally found a cute planter to put the orchid in. Here it is. I need to get a little of that Spanish moss stuff to cover up the yellow container more.

When Mr. D. came home from work today, he brought me flowers (insert "awww" here). Here is how I arranged them. I just love how it looks!!

weekend recap

Here is a few picture of my cute little nephew-- HENRY!! One of the perks of the shower weekend was spending lots of time with this little guy. He is SO fun!!

I really like this picture of me with Henry.

I can't tell you enough how much fun I had loving on this little love bug. He is an absolute angel!

This weekend was the wedding shower for Scott and Erica. I thought it was a great party. We could not have asked for better weather. It was a great afternoon. Here is a photo collage. If you click on it, you can see the pictures larger on the screen.
It is going to be a fun wedding and the family is all a buzz about it.

April Showers

Tomorrow, My fellow Sisters-in-law Meredith, Laurie and I will be welcoming the newest Sister-in-law Erica in to the family with a bridal shower. It's gonna be a great event. We have been planning it for a few months now and it is all coming to fruition this weekend. I promise full coverage of the event to come later. One item I am responsible is dessert. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this because as you know- CAKE is my favorite thing in the world. I decided to make a cake - but put it in a trifle type bowl to make it more convenient for traveling. I know that the groom to be is a fan of the German chocolate type cake- so I made one. It is probably only the second cake I have ever made from scratch- and I would say it was much more difficult than the first. It probably took me around 2 hours to make the cake with an hour and a half involved in constantly stirring the frosting. Because I am cutting the cake into cubes for the trifle I was able to bring a little sample to school. Kate devoured it. I must admit that I do not even like chocolate cake- but it's really delicious. The frosting is very good and well worth the time it took to make it. It you would like the recipe, I found it here. I am sure that it will be loved at the Shower.

Tonight, I will be attempting to create this. Hopefully I will not lead to a blog entry on what a bad idea it was! I am also making gluten free brownies, Caesar Salad Pizza, Mini veggie pizza bites, and a fresh fruit tray.

Stay tuned!

frog blog

As many of my long time readers know, we are always plagued by frogs in the spring and summer. I can't stand it. We didn't have frogs for the first three years we lived in our home and now we have plenty to spare. This weekend was our first frog occurrence. Mr. D. made a deal with me that if I would put the frog in a box, he would walk it down to the near by creek and release it. He did and that was all for Saturday night. Then last night the croaking began around 9pm. I had crushed the box used the night before for recycling so I had to find something else. I chose a jar that had some rice in it. I vacuum sealed the rice to empty the jar. I caught the frog and put the lid on the jar. I spent some time thinking about how to mark the frog or put a armband on it or something so I could see if the frog came back. Then I decided that was stupid and we drove the frog to a local church and released him (in the spirit of Easter and all). About 15 minutes later the croaking started again. I captured that frog too and we drove that from in the other direction down to a little creek and released. About an hour later I was snugly in my bed when the croaking started again. I got up and captured that frog. I will tell you, I am convinced that it was the first frog. Mr. D. says that I am C-R-A-Z-Y. I put this one in the jar and poked holes for air. I put him out on the front porch since I had to get some sleep. This morning I put him in the car and drove him across town to my work.
I put him in our school atrium. He seemed happy and if he croaks all night, he will not bother a soul. Sounds like a win-win.
I hope that the word gets out in the frog community that we have a zero tolerance policy this year. Just in case it doesn't, I am going after art class today to get mothballs. They worked last year, but I HATE them. I guess I have to choose a peaceful nights rest over backyard enjoyment.

warning: so cute it may hurt your eyes

I simply HAD to share this super cute picture of Alice and Eden.

Thursday 13: Thirteen things I want but do not really need

1) new bath mats for our bathroom
2) new bath sheets for our bathroom
3) eye makeup from Bare Escentuals
4) a housekeeper
5) a vacation
6) about a million things from the Pampered Chef new Spring catalog
7) new shade and window treatment for the master bath window
8) new window treatment for the living room
9) Amazon Kindle
10) a trip to the spa
11) My Passport Elite
12) a new camera
13) a hammock