Monday, September 20, 2010

Mackinac Island

This past weekend Eric and I were blessed with a weekend get-a-way to Mission Point Resort on
Mackinac Island.  It is only 3 1/2 hrs north of our home and made us glad to live in such a beautiful state.  See, I am typing this now so I can remember it when we are knee deep in snow in the next few months!  The seasons truly are amazing and refreshing. 

It was one of the best weekends we've had!  The weather was crisp and sunny.  The sunsets and sunrises were magnificent.
We've been there several times before, but this trip seemed different.  It was extra relaxed...

Our hotel behind - it is gorgeous and has great history!

Extra active...
Eric ran around the Island - 8.2 miles!!
I rode next to him and kept his pace an overall 8.5 mph...I know, I know, I had the "tough" job! ;)


Extra beautiful...

Extra fun...













 And a pumpkin spice latte on the cool morning made it extra special! :)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Olivia's Cooking Party

My latest crafting venture was to make hats for Olivia's birthday party (the theme was cooking).  I had almost purchased some hats from the Oriental Trading Co., but I didn't want to pay the shipping and all the free shipping offers had a minimum of $49...that is a lot of junk to buy!  Those of you who know what Oriental Trading Co. is know what I mean! Soooo, I looked up a couple ideas online on making your own.  All the tutorials I came across called for using tissue paper as the hat part, but I was sure that the tissue paper would get destroyed/ripped.  This same week we had a new couch delivered for our family room and it was covered with this white, muslin-type cloth.  I definitely saw a connection!
So the only other ingredient to these super cute chef hats was a piece of poster board.  Process: Cut a chunk of material, tape it to the strip of poster board, and staple it closed.










  Of course what made them cute were the kiddos that were wearing them!

It was a fun day!  The kids made their own "pigs in a blanket", fruit skewers, and decorated a cupcake to take home. 

"Doggie Bags"

Rolling Pin Favors









Playing a game of "Oh Waiter!" - the goal is not to spill the water
Tired of guessing yet?? lol  It is an apron cake.  Basically a 9x13 sheet cake with the corners taken off and trimmed in licorice. http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/apron-cake-685580/
So thankful for wonderful friends!
Oh! I must put another thing on here.  For Olivia's birthday we got her some cooking gear and a good friend of mine made her an apron from a dishtowel.  You must visit her site here!  I found the dishtowel (and matching oven mitt) at Burlington.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

September 5

Today is September 5, 2010.  Probably very insignificant to most people, perhaps not - there are a lot of stories out there!  September 5th was my dad's earthly birthday...the day we celebrated his life every year.  One birthday I remember asking him what his favorite color was (I wanted to make a card for him and this was a much needed piece of information in my little world).  He told me brown..."brown?!" I thought?!  Yuck!  I asked him why he liked brown and I don't remember the exact answer, but it had to do with the leaves and fall.   Recently my 7 year old daughter wanted to know MY favorite color.  I looked around our house and then I thought of the colors of most my clothes..."I guess I wear a lot of brown and I like neutral colors, I have brown eyes...so I guess my favorite color is brown or black."  *gasp*  My daughter was probably thinking "Yuck!" lol   It wasn't until just today that I put two and two together.   I had told her my honest answer and I just today remembered that time I had asked my dad his favorite color.  I can't count how many times God has used little moments like that to bring a smile to my heart.  He is so good.
Back to September 5th, that was also my due date for Olivia who just turned "5" this week.  If you want to really stretch it we could say that 5+5=10 which is the year.  Those of you who knew my dad will surely be laughing at this because he was always coming up with funny ways to remember things.  He also had a little motto that he used with his struggle against MS - "alive to 55" he would say. :)  I can hear it now.  He would have been 56 today...
My Dad's last birthday with us - 2008