Our Simple Life

 We don't really go anywhere.

We don't travel much.

We haven't been to any foreign countries.

 Or exotic island resorts.

 But I'm okay with that.

 I enjoy the simple pleasures of life here at home.

I also enjoy red lipstick.

Jan's scraps

I bought some pillows and a few men's dress shirts at Salvation Army.

My plan is to re-cover the pillows and use the button portion from the shirts as a way to easily get the pillow in and out.

Thank you Jan for that incredible idea.

Check out all the other fantastic stuff she came up with to do with men's shirts.

I'm not nearly that creative.

But I'm pretty proud of my little pillow cover.

I finally finished the table runner I began over a year ago.

This fabric (and the pillow fabric) were both given to me by the famous Jan Shipley mentioned above. 

And Scout has curtains.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

We have been watching a lot of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

I have always loved Mr. Rogers, just the thought of him makes me happy.

I never understood why he changed his shoes and took of his jacket, just to put on a sweater when he came inside, but it was one of my favorite parts....still is.

A couple weeks ago Granny spent the day. 

We enjoyed some afternoon sun.

I got a nap.

That evening we had our neighbor Mary over for dinner.

She is such a sweet lady. She gave us a welcome gift when we moved into the neighborhood.

She has since given the children coloring books, crayons, boxes of chocolates and other assorted sweets. she shared her delicious tomatoes with us last summer.

Sadly, her husband passed away earlier this month.

I wish I had taken a picture of her reading Sebastian his bedtime story.

Sticky buns and other culinary endeavors

I enjoy baking.

I enjoy knowing the food we are eating is made from fresh, whole ingredients.

Sometimes the things I make are successful...

The day we had these sticky buns for breakfast Scout kept saying, "Oh, thank you, thank you, Mom.  I love these. Thank you so much."

I used honey instead of the corn syrup it called for, and half white wheat flour.

This Focaccia bread was delicious.

Hot cross buns! What are hot cross buns, anyway? Does anyone actually make them?

I saw the recipe, and was reminded of the song I sang as a kid.

Is it a song or a nursery rhyme?

Anyway, I wanted to know what they were.

They are pretty good.

Not so successful:

I have a graham cracker recipe that is Uh-mazing! But it's kind of involved.

A lot of chilling.

I decided to try this recipe from weelicious (I am absolutely LOVING this website!)

It was okay. 

I will probably go back to the more involved recipe next time.

These Ritz crackers did not work out.

I will try again.

Sailor Alice

My heart just overflows with love for my tiny little girl.

I can never get enough:

kisses

laughs

giggles

clapping

waving

gibberish

time with her...

Oh, it goes by way too fast

The Roast

Monday, for Family Home Evening we roasted Marshmallows!

Before the roasting began we had a lesson about how Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

Grandpa Randy, Ryan, and I each shared a personal example of how a particular prayer had been answered.

Then Scout shared a made up example of a prayer being answered.

    ...Sailor was there, too.

Today's Shenanigans

This morning in Joy School we learned about goals.

We talked about the goal of saving money in order to buy something.

They emptied their piggy banks and

Scout has been on a mission to earn enough money to buy the Barbie pool she saw at Target.

This afternoon Scout and Sebastian went out the front door by themselves.

I panicked for a moment. 

We found them half way down the block, bare foot.

Scout had her Hello Kitty bag slung over her shoulder weighed down by the coins from Sebastian's piggy bank.

They were off to buy Sebastian a new toy.

Thankfully, we live in a very safe neighborhood. At the end of a cul-de-sac.

Most of our neighbors would have known where to return the two platinum blonde, curly haired children.

Perhaps I should have been more worried, but all I thought when I saw them was how

completely innocent they looked.

...We shall see what other adventures we can find today.

Isn't he Handsome?

Mr. Ryan Jerome Anderson

I am a lucky girl!

Ann McElroy Anderson O'Rourke

Bamma
Grandma
Grannie Annie
Maga
Grandma Annie

January 8th was her birthday

The night before her birthday, Heather invited the family over for a last minute gathering.

She does so much for us, how could we not make the short trek to Salinas to surprise and celebrate her?

We Love this silver haired beauty!

The door is no more

We have a tiny cupboard under the stairs.

Sebastian calls it his house.

There was once a door.

Too many tiny little fingers caught, and far too much loud slamming.....

Our Solution.
*sigh of relief*

I adore her

The Boyces

Our famous relatives came to visit. Well, not really famous, but practically.

They live in Los Angeles, and work in the entertainment industry.

My sister, Crystal is a talented make-up artist. Check out some of her work here.

Her husband Deon is an AD (Assistant Director). He's worked on several big budget movies, but the only one I can think of at the moment is Twilight. (Sorry, Deon)

Obviously they are way cooler than we are.

We loved having them visit.

Crystal is everything Scout adores.

Fancy make-up. Fancy clothes. Fancy long hair. 

Oh, so fancy.

I am so blessed to have a sister that I admire and look up to and can be shamelessly silly with.

As a child I never had to be worried or afraid...I always had my big sister.

I love you, Crystal.

Christmastime

These are a few of my favorites from Christmas Day...

Stockings!

I realize her eyes are closed, but I thought she looked so sweet anyway.

Paper crowns from our poppers

Santa (aka Daddy) stayed up very late out in the cold assembling this fancy contraption.

This was my very favorite gift. It's from my Mom, she made it as a child in primary.