Frog leaves

Tonight, we were sitting at the bar and commenting on how surprised that our flowers from Valentines day are still lovely. We were all talking about what we liked in the bouquet. Lily mentioned that she liked the "one with the frog leaves". You'd think with Joey and I both being in flower businesses, we'd know which was the one with "frog leaves"; but we were both stumped. She said, "the one with the long stick in the middle and frog leaves on both sides". We took a closer look. Ah yes!

Sure enough, there was a couple stems of eucalyptus in the bouquet. And the leaves on the eucalyptus certainly do look like lily pads. And lily pads are what frogs sit on. Thus - frog leaves. The thought processes of a 5 year old are astounding.

Anna's belated birthday party

Anna turned 8 in July, but had asked to have a sleepover party instead of a traditional birthday celebration. So, we agreed to wait until we were in the new house to hold the sleepover so she could have several girls over. Unfortunately, between getting settled in the house, dealing with the business of the poinsettia show and Christmas, and then my period of being laid up with my knee injury - it got reeeaaallly pushed back. But we were finally able to pull it off this past weekend. And it went over quite well I think. She requested that they play a bunch of games, and so as not to be sabotaged by little people, I made arrangments for Joelle and Eva to stay at their auntie's overnight. It was kind of strange to not have to do a whole lot though! It was all (except Lily) bigger girls, and they didn't need (or want) much input from us! Anna did request a scavenger hunt to find the favors, but otherwise, just wanted to play board games, Wii, and watch movies - so easy! They made personal pizzas for dinner and later we set up a make your own sundae bar. They were having such a good time entertaining themselves, that Joey and I actually played a game ourselves and then watched a movie! Anyway, they all seemed to have a good time - though not much sleep was had! Here's some pics!



We had fun picking out girly favors - hairbrushes, lotions, hair things - and then personalizing their little shower caddies!

Update

I haven't updated in quite a while, and I apologize to those of you who log on regularly - waiting with bated breath while my page loads, only to sigh in disappointment to discover I still haven't blogged anything new. The last several weeks were difficult, as I struggled through physical therapy and my regular life that was rather impeded by my lack of mobility. But the therapy paid off and I am now fully walking! They released me from the physical therapy last week on the condition that I would buy weights and continue my excercises at home at least 3 times a week. So, now Joey gets the joy of watching me doing leg lifts and squats. But, my leg is definitely improving - so praise the Lord for that.
In other news, we'd (meaning me and Jessi) been busy helping to plan a Valentines event with another church. It was a dessert and dancing party - which was a great success. Jess and I did all the floral arrangements, which turned out lovely and yet once again, we didn't get any good pictures. But I also made some new desserts - which turned out awesome! I'm very excited to have some new recipes to pull out for company and parties! I made Mini Java Cakes, Cheesecake Cookie Cups, Smores Cupcakes (which I had made before - yum), Mini Lemon Tartlets and Dulce Le Leche Cream Cake. Unfortunately, there was tons of left overs and I've been having to take care of those over the last several days - oy. I had great intentions of wanting to don my adorable new apron over my dress and get some pics of my lovely desserts to post here - but unbelievably, was running late and didn't get a chance to do it. Story of my life. *sigh*
On Monday, we threw together a little Valentines party for our kids. We weren't going to do anything, but they kept saying, "when are we doing our party with the pink pancakes?", so it looks like we started a tradition! Turned out to be a great time for all!
We've also been working on plans for my mom's wedding coming up in May. Overall, it's going well. It's an adjustment, and there's a lot to deal with in that situation - but God is good.
So, other than getting back into the swing of regular life, with schooling, and catching up on the cleaning that lagged for weeks - not much else exciting happened lately. Sorry to disappoint ya'll! But, we are throwing Anna's long-awaited birthday sleepover this weekend, so I'll be able to post some pics of that soon.
In the meantime - here's some random pics from the last couple days.

As much as I despise being helpless, I think I could get a little spoiled by Joey's new found confidence in the kitchen! He has been in charge of all food shopping and preparation since my "incident" - and he's gotten quite adventurous! He has wowed me (and sometimes the girls) by making things like roast beef, snow crab legs, bacon wrapped scallops, mashed potatoes topped with lobster cream sauce, chicken picatta and broiled scallops! He's been so great to me while I'm laid up - though he is beyond tired - having to tend to me, the girls, the house and the woodstove is really wearing him out, and I can't wait to be better so I can give HIM a break. I am just reminded again and again what a wonderful husband I've been blessed with.

I"m a wimp

I have been terrible lately at updating my blog - but I claim the excuse that I'm injured and therefore have been spending more time on the couch and less time at the computer and when I AM on the computer, I'm usually a little dopey from my medicine. So, for those of you who haven't heard - I fell UP my stairs - twice, and ended up with "micro-tears" on my tendon, which equals a lot of pain and a major inconvenience to my lifestyle. I had my first ever experience with the legal and morally approved version of torture that I'm told is called "physical therapy". Joe, cruel husband that he is, sat by quietly and watched as some brutal Amazon woman held firey torches to my thigh and jammed spikes into my knee. Ok, so, it was more like an average sized woman, older than my mom, doing stretches and ultrasound therapy - but it felt ugly. Apparently - I was horribly disillusioned to think I have a high pain tolerance. Tears dripped onto the table while I did heel slides; I wimpered my way through the ten repetitions of leg lifts. Ultimately, I discovered that I'm a big baby. And, lest I forget what a spectacular wimp I am - I have to go back and be reminded three times a week.

Crazy December...

The month of December for us is usually busy, and this year was probably even more so. Starting off the month we have our annual Poinsettia Show Openhouse; this year the theme was Route 66, and was another great success. This was the first time in 10 years that I was not part of the preparations for the openhouse, which was a much needed break, and yet felt very odd to be left out. If you'd like to see pictures of the show, you can visit Aunt Beth's blog here:
After the openhouse - Joey helped transform my house into holiday loveliness in time for hosting my family's Christmas Tea. Jess and I had started this tradition years ago and loved hosting it, until she moved and we ran out of room. It has been 3 years I think since we had the joy of holding this event, and I was thrilled to be able to open my new home for our Holly and Ivy themed gathering this year! Here's some pics of that!



After the Christmas tea we had several other gatherings in celebration of the holidays! We had a good time with my sisters in law baking Christmas cookies.

I even got to host my entire family for Christmas Day! Here's some pics of Christmas here. Cliche Christmas eve scene: The sign on the basement door before Christmas - and then pics of the girls gifts that were the reason I was spending so much time downstairs!



The girls waiting patiently at the top of the stairs:

And the whole gang here:

I haven't been able to corral all four of them for a picture yet, but I had some time alone with Evie today and we had some fun!