DeCrows Nest

Sickies

All the little kidlets around here have the sickies.
we have seen a lot of

and


here's to hoping everyone starts feeling better, and we
actually get of the house in the next few days!

FOUR?

 

Townsend turned 4 years old last Thursday. I am a little late posting, but here's a Happy birthday shout out for our little man.  We had a party for him on Saturday night with lots of good friends, yummy barbecue (although I think all he had was cantaloupe and popcorn), and one of my favorite desserts - lemon and chocolate lush with a few cute little monkeys...

happy birthday townsend, we love you!

Perfectly Perfect Lemonade

My niece has enlightened me on the ways of perfectly delicious lemonade. Seriously, the best lemonade you will ever make! Here is how lemonade use to go: Squeeze some lemons, add the juice to a pitcher full of water, throw in some sugar, taste, and hope for the best (usually ending in a puckery sour face, or a mouthful of sugar water with a hint of lemon). Well sorry Edgar, sugar water no more!

Even if you already have a lemonade recipe you love,
this is super simple and worth a try!

We have a billion ripe lemons right now, so we just squeeze LOTS of lemons all at one time, pour the juice into ice cube trays and freeze the fresh juice. Then we split up the cubes into baggies of 8 (which is about a cup of juice) and they are ready to go any time you want fresh lemonade! I make the simple syrup fresh and add the juice cubes to the hot liquid, let them melt, and then add the water. It really is so good and super fresh!

Typical Tuesday

Townsend inspecting a leaf, or stick, really anything will do as long as he can tear it in half continuously until it turns into dust. A favorite outdoor activity (next to running of course).

Mintchip ice cream. I think she needs a bigger spoon to really start shoveling it in properly. We will have to work on that.

Merrill is not quite standing by herself yet so Piper comes in very handy as a lean-to. (Unfortunately for Piper this also involves some hugging and petting (aka squeezing and hitting). She never sticks around too long.)

Merrill doesn't understand why her lean-to just left.

Please get rid of the kids, and please, get that camera out of my face. Thanks. -Piper

Rub-a-dub-dub

three kids in the tub.

One Little Word

  

1. The state of being active 2. an act that one consciously wills and that
may be characterized by physical or mental activity 3.energetic activity

Strong reasons make strong actions. {Shakespeare}

This year is about action. Action in the Gospel. Action against Autism. Action in being the best mother I can. Action to embrace the things that bring me and my family joy, and action to root out things that don't. Energetic action.

I have had a hard time deciding on my one little word for this year. But, seeing as we are a couple weeks into 2009, I figured I better take some action and decide! {You can read here for more info about one little word}

Check out the sale!!!

There is an awesome sale going on over at {we are} storytellers! 50% off everything, plus several designer raffles... and Kellie Mize just opened up her shoppe over there as well! Head on over, its worth checking out, but the sale is only thru the end of the weekend!

I am having a special right now as well, buy one (or more!) of my new blueprints and you will be entered into a raffle for a
$75 gift certificate to my shoppe!

And I give it...

 

Three stars. The animation in this is amazing, truly beautiful, I would love to shake the hands of the artists behind this! Go just for the delightful whimsical enjoyment of the animation. The story was also  cute, a few kinda scary/dark parts, but also some very good messages. We took the kids and they really enjoyed it to, although Merrill and I spent some time in the hall toward the end, so I must admit I didn't get to see the whole thing. We will be buying this one for sure!

Four Stars. I know I already gave a report on this, but it wasn't an official review so here it is. We* LOVE it. It definitely has a few uncomfortable moments** and I am really looking forward to the new director (Chris Weitz who did About a Boy, one of my top 5 favorite films of all time) for New Moon, but I must admit I totally love the movie. The music is incredible, the story is good, and well, Edward*** is just yummy. I have lost count of how many times I have seen it, but I went through mine and my moms purse and threw a few of our tickets on the scanner to give you an idea...

{Yes, those really are all twilight tickets! Don't judge, just laugh.}

* this inculeds Tim, and although he won't admit it, I think he has been 4 times!
** "Beautiful?... This is the skin of a killer Bella... I'm a killer!" It takes all I have not to bust out laughing during the whole scene.
***to be honest i heart Jasper, and I really think i might need this shirt.