Florida in February

Richard's National Convention was in Florida this year. All that really means to us is that we get to go on a vacation to DisneyWorld. We had 3 days to spend there. We left the plans open so that we could just go with the flow when we got there.
Day 1--Magic Kingdom. Spent the entire day. Rode every ride we wanted to. . .almost. Emma missed out on Splash Mountain. Bummer. Everyone got new sunglasses. We ate yummy food and treats all day. The weather was PERFECT. We saw 2 parades. Loved the electric light parade (again). Cried tears of joy and happiness during the fireworks. We are in love with Tinkerbell flying through the sky. Got totally worn out.

Luckily, we were staying in the Presidential Suite, which is a room the size of the main floor of our house. Two bedrooms, plenty of bed space for everyone, 3 bathrooms, including a bidet which was absolutely enthralling even though noone dared use it, a full kitchen and dining room, 2 separate "living room" areas, and the best part of all. . . all the drinks and snack foods were free. Plus, we got a big basket of goodies when we got there from the hotel event planner. Yeah, we were spoiled. Day 2--Sleep in and spend the rest of the day at the hotel pool. Downtown Disney for dinner at the T-Rex. Animated dinosaurs everywhere and a meteor shower every 20 min.

Day 3--More swimming at the pools (3 large pools, 1 large waterfall that you could sit under, which I did most of this day, 2 large hot tubs, and a beach area), a husband who brings food and treats out whenever he has a minute, just like a cabana boy, peddaling the swan boats for a while, got dressed, went to the boardwalk for dinner, Lauren was picked to be the helper in a magic show, movie in the hotel room.
Day 4--Headed to Downtown Disney. Ellie designed her own t-shirt, Lauren got her face painted, Emma bought jewelry, and Maddie was just happy to be there. Then back to the hotel where a limo was ready to take us back to the airport. We were super spoiled. It's nice to be pampered every now and then. Thanks Richard for a fun trip to Florida.

Honk Jr.

Emma has just finished her musical, Honk Jr. It is the story of the ugly duckling. It's actually quite cute. Emma played the part of a flight attendent goose. She did a great job. Her song was very cute and well-done. Her moment in the spotlight was shared with her friend Kassidi. They were the lead geese. Her other friend, Anna, was Mother Duck. My little girls really liked this show and have been singing some of the songs almost non-stop. ". . . You can play with your lunch before you eat it. . ."

Clue, The Musical

Sadly (and lamely), this is the only photo I have of the musical that Maddie just participated in. Yeah, she's not in this photo. I do have some thumbnails that I stole from Facebook of her, but I can't seem to get them on here.
Anyway, the show was cute. Different. Well done. Maddie was in the chorus and did a great job. If you've never seen this musical, or heard of it, the cool thing about it is that it calls for audience participation and it has something like 29 different possible endings, depending on what the audience picks. Also, you are playing the game as the show goes along. They hand out a clue sheet with the program and you can actually be solving the game as the show continues. It's a pretty cool concept for a show. If I find some better pictures I will add them to this post later.

Happy Birthday Lauren

This sweet girl (yes, I said sweet) is growing into such a kind-hearted, energetic as always, fun tween. She's finally 10. That means she got to have her ears pierced. She was so excited, right up until the very last moment when she suddenly decided she wasn't ready yet. I was able to convince her that she was, indeed, ready and would really regret it if she didn't go through with it. In the end she was glad she did. This is a girl of many eclectic styles and tastes in . . .well, everything. She is certainly destined for something that requires imagination and a free spirit. She has the ambition and energy to make things happen.

She wanted a "peace" cake. She wanted to get her ears pierced. She wanted a cool sled. She wanted to get her American Girl doll's ears pierced and get new stuff for it. She wanted to spend the day at Chuck E. Cheese. I talked her into America's Incredible Pizza. She was very happy with that choice. In fact, she took her best friend and we spent about 6 hours there. Who knew you could eat and play games for that long? She was thrilled and kept saying that it was the "best day of her life." Yay for best days! She also really wanted a motor scooter. She's been wanting this for about a year now. It just doesn't seem to ever happen. Maybe someday. Other than that though she was able to get everything she wanted. Happy Birthday, Beautiful Lauren!

cookie press

I found a brand new Pampered Chef cookie press at the thrift store the other day and just had to get it. I've been curious about this for many years. It turned out so fun. There are tons of recipes out there for the cookie press. This is just a simple butter spritz that I colored pink for Valentine's Day. Not all of my kids like them (This is meaningless. They don't like anything.), but Richard liked them pretty well. I think they are tasty, but mostly just fun to make.

Spinach Cubes

So, what do you do with that giant tub of spinach that you bought from Costco and know there's no way you will ever go through the entire thing before it goes bad? I decided to make spinach cubes. This was my own idea that I thought was pretty ingenious. I can't be the ONLY one who's ever thought of it, but this did come from my own brain.

First I cooked it, then blended it, then poured into ice cube trays.

Now they are ready to throw into the blender with my smoothies. They don't blend as quickly as ice. I noticed it takes a bit more blender time to really get them smooth. But it works. Fabulous.

Well, just when I thought I was on to something my friend told me that she just throws spinach into the freezer fresh. I had no idea that would work. So I guess I'll try that next time. Anyway, it was a good idea for a minute. Have any of you ever frozen fresh spinach before? Does this really work? I want to know.

Reading List for 2010

A list of the books I read in 2010. Not super impressive, but for a slow reader like myself I'm okay with it.
So glad I started the year with a classic. I loved Little Women and also loved that my own little women read it with me.
Favorite fun fiction was Tea House on Mulberry Street. I loved how it all wrapped up in the end. Bite-sized chapters always left me wanting more. Memorable.
Favorite Dramatic Fiction was These Is My Words. Good old romantic western. Made me want to be a pioneer. No, actually, it made we want to be romanced by a certain Capt. Jack. (swoon) I can do without the snakes and indian attacks and stuff. I should mention The Poisonwood Bible also as a good read, notwithstanding the political and religious propoganda.
Favorite non-fiction. Can't decide between In the Presence of My Enemies and Columbine. Both amazingly sad stories that provided a lot of insight as to what would make humans do unthinkable, horrific things to other humans. While Gracia Burnham's book was autobiographical, which left her able to write based on her own memories of conversations and experiences, Dave Cullen had to do a ton of research for his account of the Columbine tragedy. It was very well written and I was impressed with his ability to keep it so objective. Certainly worth the read.
Check out my Goodreads account for starred ratings on all.
Happy New Reading to you!


2010 Reading List

• Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
• Columbine - Dave Cullen
• Illustrated Children's Bible - Grosset and Dunlap
• The Christmas Box - Richard Paul Evans
• Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• A Girl Named Zippy - Haven Kimmel
• The Thirteenth Tale - Dianne Setterfield
• Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
• These Is My Words - Nancy E. Turner
• The Walk - Richard Paul Evans
• More Than You Know - Beth Gutcheon
• Atonement - Ian McEwan
• The Continuous Atonement - Brad Wilcox
• The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
• In The Presence of My Enemies - Gracia Burnham
• Better - Atul Gawande
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh - Robert C. O'Brian
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
• Girl With A Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
• Cherry Cheesecake Murder - Joanne Fluke
• The Tea House on Mulberry Street - Sharon Owens
• A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
• Masquerading As Angels - Lance Richardson & Bruce Miller
• The Christmas Sweater - Glenn Beck
• Little Women - Louisa May Alcott