IT'S OFFICIAL, LANDON IS SEVEN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!

WE LOVE YOU!!

A LORAX CAKE

was on the wish list for our birthday boy. We had the family over tonight to celebrate with cake and ice cream.

The cake was a 1234 cake with coconut milk, fresh strawberry filling and cream cheese buttercream frosting.

For the trees, I used Pirouettes and cotton candy, and a dab of frosting kept it all together.

ACROSS THE BORDER WE WENT,

to see Uncle Steve and Chuck. Chuck E Cheese, that is.

These two troublemakers had to be separated.
Nothing like an evening full of games, tokens, pizza, laughter, family fun with an aunt, uncle, grandparents and a giant mouse.

GREEN EGGS AND HAM

My wee ones have been obsessed with Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham lately, so the husband made them some for breakfast this morning.It was such a hit, Landon wanted the leftovers made into green egg and (green) ham sandwich for his school lunch.

The cuteness was overwhelming. Their eyes twinkled 'my daddy is a superstar!'

ANCESTRY DNA RESULTS ARE IN!

Months ago, I sent in my DNA to Ancestry.com and now I have my results that reflect my genetic ethnicity, going back up to ten generations! I'm still figuring out how to exactly use this information but one of the exciting things is that they found two 4th cousins that are a 96% match.

I've contacted them and now am just waiting to hear back. I know I shouldn't get my hopes too high, but I have visions of them having family photos we've never seen or awesome family memorabilia. We shall see....

photo via in5d

I'm:

53% Scandinavian - Denmark, Norway and Sweden

41% Central European - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland..

6% Other

Although we already knew it, my father will be so excited to know we do, indeed, have Viking blood. We have the DNA.

GUMMY TREES

My current screen print project.

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO CELEBRATE

my brother's birthday.

1987 in Southern California

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK!

WE LOVE YOU!!

CHASING SEAGULLS

was on Stephanie's birthday wish list, so I took her down to find some seagulls that she could scatter.Although it was foggy, the weather was quite nice and the wind was minimal. It was beautiful day at the beach.

LIGHT THE CANDLE AND MAKE A WISH

Don't wish for bigger hands though - that wish just might come true! Thankfully, it wasn't permanent.

I don't know what Stephanie wished for, but I hope her birthday wish comes true.

Happy birthday, sister.

FOR STEPHANIE'S BIRTHDAY, WE WENT TO THE BEACH

As soon as we got into town, we went to MorArt to take a fused glass class. The owners, Dan and Maurice, are amazing and so much fun. They were encouraging, positive, helpful and dedicated to making our experience successful.

I made a Tree of Life and Stephanie made a panda. Here they are in the kiln, ready to be fired. We'll get our finished product next week, so stay tuned for the final reveal!

Me, Maurice, Dan and the birthday girl. What an incredibly fun way to spend the afternoon. There is no doubt that we will definitely be back for another class.

WALKAWAY

Have you heard of it? You will and it's going to be amazing. My friend, Chris Adler, created this project. In 2010, he also wrote and directed the award winning short film Reco.

This teaser trailer for Walkaway was created to introduce you to the characters and the events leading up to where the series begins.

Walkaway is a new dramatic web series following a journey a man takes to reconnect with his estranged daughter. The series will be presented in a family-friendly format and is scheduled to begin production in the early summer of 2012.

This independent project will only be funded if at least $50,000 is pledged by Saturday, March 31. To help back this project, you can pledge as little as $1.

Walkaway needs friends and needs your help! Follow them on Twitter and Facebook and help spread word of this project.

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO

celebrate my sister's birthday!

1979 in England, our mom holding Stephanie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!

WE LOVE YOU!!

ORIGAMI LEAPING FROGS

for Leap Day.Monday night we decorated our own paper and followed origami instructions for these fun leaping frogs - for a competitive game of Leap Day frog racing.

I might make some Frog Eye Salad for the man clan but that's about it for this lair. What are your leap day plans?

I think Leap Day should be a holiday, don't you?

THREE BIRTHDAY SONGS,

three birthday cakes, three birthday wishes blowing out a total of 98 blazing candles.We had a very festive evening celebrating these birthdays. So much fun!

A TARDIS, NOT A TORTOISE

Three of my siblings have birthdays within days of each other. My youngest brother, Derek, is in town this weekend so we decided to celebrate all three birthdays. My sister called to see if I'd help her make a blue tortoise cake. Of course I said yes, but I was thinking, "I didn't know she liked tortoises so much to want a tortoise birthday cake. And why would she want one blue? It must be a character from some anime show she likes."

photo via dr. who

When she arrived, I found out I had misunderstood. She wanted a blue tardis - a Dr. Who tardis.

photo via tnt magazine article

NOT a blue tortoise!

Stephanie drew out the plans and cut the cake.
We made the fondant and buttercream and meticulously cut the detail pieces.
It was time to assemble and the first piece was falling apart with every stroke. The more we tried to fix it, the worse it got.
We put all the pieces in the freezer and tried again. Nope, it was just a big, hot mess.
We decided to make rice krispies. It looked like it was going to work perfectly! We thought for just a second to let the krispie tardis set up just a little bit longer, but six hours into this project we just wanted it done!
Back to the fondant we went, rolling, wetting and sticking until we had it looking decent. The weight of the fondant on the, not completely set, rice krispies made our tall tardis, a stocky tardis - but it's still cute.
We made planets to hold the 33 candles, and tonight when the family is over for the three cake birthday celebration, the tardis all ablaze will look fantastic!

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO

celebrate my brother's birthday.

1976 Pinetamare, Italy on our apartment balcony

Happy birthday Ivon! We love you!!

KT TAPE TO THE RESCUE

I know I don't look like an athlete, but since I have a running injury and get to be taped up, does that mean I can call myself an athlete?

I've hurt my peroneal tendon - poor me. I've heard wonders about KT Tape and have high hopes.Clinic is in 2 weeks - I need to be hunky-dorey because I am ready and so excited for it to start back up!

I've been loving running the past 9 months but have a few frustrations too.

Loves:

1. Lung capacity improvement. I'm not sucking wind the whole time I run - love that!

2. My running mates rock.

3. I am looking forward to running faster and longer - I never thought I'd hear myself say that!

Frustrations:

1. I thought weight would come off faster. I think part of it has to do with my allergy situation wreaking havoc on my bod, but still, I thought I'd be shrinking. I look the same.

2. My speed - my dang speed. I know it comes with time, and it is getting faster, but I'd love to see my speed improve faster - like over night.

All you running rockstars, you're my idols.

APPLE PIE 101

My man clan had an apple pie class yesterday, in honor of President's Day, and it was delicious. However, there was one problem. I forgot to have them put a couple of tablespoons of flour in the apple mixture to thicken. When we cut into the pie, it looked like apple soup.

We need to have the 101 class again, this time making sure we follow directions!