My Sweet Piper Jolie,

You are four years old, love, and I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown, slipping through my fingers. You are everything that is true and bright and extraordinary. There are so many special things that make you unique.

I love to watch you play, weaving your stories and living in fantasy. All of your characters have intricate stories and you often reflect things that have happened to you in your storylines. That's how I find out how your day went at school or if anything happened that made you sad, happy, excited, or funny.

If you aren't making up stories, you're making up songs and singing all the time. I love listening to you sing, it fills our house with joy. I hope that you never lose your song or feel ashamed to sing.

The other day we were in the car and you said, "Mom, I just thought this in my head and I was thinking. Last night I had some really nice dreams."

I wonder what you will be when you grow up, what you will become. Lately you have been arguing with me about who gets to marry daddy first - you or me. You ask me, "Can I be a mommy when I grow up and have a baby in my tummy?" I tell you that you can be whatever you want to be and really believe that you will be everything that God has planned for you.

I will always love you. You can always come home and you will be safe. There is absolutely nothing I wouldn't do for you and there is nothing that would cause me to turn my back to you. I am excited about your future and blessed to be a part of your past.

As we were sitting here this morning before the sun came up eating your choice of cinnamon rolls you looked out the window. The sun had just started to rise and the clouds and sky were your favorite shade of pink, "Look ,Mama! God painted the sky my most beautiful favorite color just for my birthday!"

Happy Birthday. I love you to the moon and stars and all the way back down to your sneakers and toes.

grapefruit and tangerines

My parents live in a very old home, like over 100 years old and that is where I grew up. Until I went to college and then got married I had never lived anywhere else. It is a beautiful home on an acre on the river with lots of old oak trees and a dock and even a swimming pool. I love that house and so do the girls. I could write an entire post about that house and I will, but today it's about the fruit.

A couple of weeks ago I had to drop off something for my dad and we also needed some tangerines and grapefruti so we just helped ourselves to the trees that were bountifully stocked witht the fruit. I taught Piper to twist the fruit until they fell off the branch and the sweet fragrance of the tangerines filled our car on the way home and became very nostalgic for me.

I remember having orange fights with my older brothers and their friends (who I was madly in love with), taking the fruit that had already fallen to the ground and pelting each other with it or squeezing the sticky juice out over heads matting our hair together. These were hot summer days and the only way to get clean would be to hose off or jump in the pool, we were definitely not allowed in the house that messy.

I also remember my Aunt Gert who always used to serve us grapefruit with a cherry in the middle and topped with the slightest dusting of sugar. This is when I came to love the grapefruit. When I was a teenager in high school I was the first to wake up in the morning. My dad would get up while i was showering and getting ready and he would prepare a grapefruit for me to eat for breakfast, a grapefruit from his tree. We would sit together, he was usually reading the paper, and eat our grapefruit. Most of the time there wasn't a lot of conversation which was fine by me since I was not a morning person. My nickname was "Sunshine" in a sarcastic snear.

Now, I bring the grapfruit home to my own house and prepare it myself and as I am freeing the sections to eat I think about my dad and the sweet and considerate act of doing something for somebody besides yourself. I wish I could send you some grapfruit filled with the juice of this kindness.

Because you need to make this and eat it tonight for dinner it was that good

I said I was wanting some Thai chicken pizza, so I made it for dinner and let me tell you - it was SO. GOOD. Here's what I did, probably could be made a bunch of different ways but this is what I came up with:

Grocery List:
pizza dough - I just used the Pillsbury stuff in the can
Thai peanut sauce - was in the Asian food section
a rotisserie chicken - makes it soooo easy
carrots to shred
one red pepper
green onions
bean sprouts
mozzarella cheese
peanut butter - you only need like 2 tablespoons so you probably have that in your pantry.
oh - and some hershey kisses because they are good


Ok, so heat your oven to 400* (based on my pizza-dough-in-a-can). Get out the pizza dough and spread it out to your desired thickness...use a baking stone if you have one...cook the dough for about 8 min.

While the dough is cooking, mix about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the peanut sauce with about 2 tbs. of peanut butter.

Shred the chicken

Chop the green onion

slice the red pepper

shred up some carrots

(hope you can do all that in 8 min- just kidding)

plop (you like that? real technical) about 2 sppoonfuls of the peanut sauce mix into the bowl of shredded chicken and mix it up to coat the chicken

Smear (another gem of technicality) the rest of the peanut sauce mix over your dough

top with chicken, green onions, and red peppers.

sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over everything

put it in the oven for about 7-9 minutes more (again based on the dough-in-a-can)

when it comes out all good-smelling and tasty-looking, top it off with the carrots and bean sprout.

Wha-La - trust me, you will want to marry this pizza it is so good.

Because I'm Lazy

I stole this

Are you...
1. a cuddler? with my children
2. a morning person? uhmmm, not so much
3. are you a perfectionist? no
4. talented? I am seriously talented...what kind of question is that?
5. religious? i guess
6. in your pajamas? no
7. left handed? no



Last:
1. friend you saw: labschool people
2. phoned: voicemail
3. sent text: what's that? have never "texted" anyone
4. recieved text: see above
5. message over myspace: kelly
6. instant message: jason about a post I want him to write baout condoms.

LAST NIGHT:
1. wore: pajama time
2. last night was: routine
3. got any plans: me? don't you know my social calendar is full! right.

Favorite:
1. number: 7
2. color: right now? orange and blue and pink and green...it's so hard to choose
3. season: summer

Currently:
1. missing: family
2. needing: health insurance
3. wanting: thai chicken pizza for dinner

q's and a's
q: first thing you did this morning: shower
q: Last thing you ate: pretzel fish and roasted red pepper hummus
q: Do you have anything bothering you? stressing about Piper's birthday party
q: What's the last movie you saw?:Children of Men
q: Where is the last place you went? picked up Piper and her friend from school
q: Do you wish upon stars? sometimes
q: Are you a friendly person?:I don't know, am I?
q: Where did you sleep last night?: my bed
q: What color shirt are you wearing? white long sleeve thermal under a orange blousy thing
q: When was the last time you really cried? last week when I was sick
q: What was your last thought before you went to sleep last night? thinking about the morning routine
q: What are you about to do? put Finn down for a nap
q: If you could drink anything right this second, what would it be? water
q: What's your job position called? mama
q: What's your favorite month(s)? November, January,February, March, May July
q: What was your elementary schools mascot? Lion and Cougar
q: what's your favorite bottled water? I don't care
q: What were you doing at 9pm last night? reading this book
q: Did you attend your high school prom? yes, it was lame
q: Did you go to someone else's prom? I went to a "banquet" with a boyfriend when I was in 7th/8th grade and the boyfriend was a jr./sr.
q: Do you prefer coffee or tea? tea
q: Something red within 5 feet? tablecloth
q: How much french do you know? oui?
q: Ever crash a car, been in an accident? no
q: Do you look good in yellow? depends on the shade
q: Do you sing? I actually don't ever speak, just sing everything like I live in a musical.
q: Ever sing in public? see above
q: Least favorite color? I don't think i have a least favorite there is something good about every color
q: Ever had dippin dots? no
q: How many driving tickets have you had? I don't know what qualifies as a driving ticket?
q: Do you own your own house? yes
q: At what age do you want to get married? I was 22
q: Have you ever been married? see above
q: How many kids do you have/want? somewhere between 3 and 5 maybe
q: Do you like anyone right now? who don't I like?

More Favorite Things

Ok, so the other favorite things were things that I've been looking at since I've been confined to the bed or the couch and occasionally passing on the way to the bathroom.

Here's another list of more recent favorite things since I am beginning to return to theland of the living although I had to leave church this morning because I could not stop coughing. Seriously, I think I coughed for 20 minutes straight to the point where people were asking me if I could breathe.



1. Ta-Da! My bike. It is the most awesome bike ev-ah. When I was little I wasn't allowed to ride my bike around the neighborhood because it wasn't safe enough for my mother so i never really learned how to ride a bike. This is a perfect example of ignorance causing fear. It wasn't until we were in Birmingham last year visiting my brother when i saw how much fun the girls had riding around in one of those trailer things on the back of the bike. We were going to get bikes and we just never got around to it until this Christmas. So, Jason and I got bikes. I got an Electra Townie. It is kind of like an old lady bike but I love it. It is a cruiser and I just cruise. We ride up to the local park that is right next to our neighborhood tha has soccer fields and tennis courts and a playground and across the street is the other part of the park that has anohter playground and ison the water and usually has people windsurfing or kite-boarding. It is just so perfect. Thanksto my Sean and Susan (my bro and sis-in-law) for helping me pick it out and watching the kids while we test drove. More pictures here. She's cute, no? It originally came with a gray and black seat and the bike guy thought I was nuts for wanting to put the daisy seat on her but she turned out purdy.





2. Family bike rides. We played "Family tennis" on Saturday afternoon. interesting. We usualy bring a soccer ball and play soccer which Piper is showing some talent (amazes me since I suck at soccer, but Jason is good and that's oneof the things that is so hott about him).



3. Dairy Queen. We all went together on Firday night and it was fun. Something special to share together.

4. Did I tell you i got a new sewing machine for Christmas? My Bernie! She rocks!

5. Date night with the hubby. We've recently seen some really good movies: Children of Men: intense but really good, Casino Royale: first Bond mvie I've seen and I loved it!, the exception? The Holiday: hated it, hated it, hated it,love Kate Winslet, hated the stupid sappiness unrealisticness but then again it is a movie?


Happy now? That is the bike.

interesting projects using magnetic and chalkboard paint this weekend, hhmmm.

Favorite Things

Welcome to sick land! Between Piper and me we have shared a case of strep throat and a really nasty sinus infection. Apparently it is quite concerning for an adult to have a fever of 104*. Who knew? Anyway, thanks to antibiotics we are both on the mend, she quicker than I as my head still feel like it is lost in a fog. The weather is beautiful so I feel wasteful. BUT! In light of my dreariness I thought I would share some of my recent favorite things.



1. This little white dish my mom gave me in my stocking at Christmas and it is sitting on a table runner made from beach stones that Jason received from my parents for Christmas. Inside the little white dish is some sea glass. Jason dove and found this sea glass at a beach in Curacao when we vacationed there almost 2 years ago. I look at it and it makes me smile, makes me think of the warmth of the sun and the crispness of cotton on a sunburn and the smell of sun lotion on my babies. Ahh, that's better.

Also in the dish is a little clay bead that came with:



2. My latest purchase from Etsy. A tray of little pots. As I was unwrapping each of the little pots Piper was up on the chair next to me and each one got an, "Oh, that's so beautiful Mama! I LOVE it!" and then when they were all assembledon their little tray," It's a breakable tea set for me! Thanks Mom, thank you thank you thank you!"




3. Japapnese pattern books! Love them! such cute patterns for little girls, not like the boring ones in your local fabric store. I can't wait to get started on a new spring/summer wardrobe for the girls. One of my new year's goals is to make the majority of the girls clothes and start learning and making more for me as well. Also, whatever I buy new I have to get rid of something old. So far, so good.




One of my favorite of the Japanese books is this one that gives you ideas on how to use your child's artwork in your creations. So good, so practical, and so cute. This way i don't have to keep every scrap of paper that Piper draw on and let me tell you it's a lot, that child could draw all day long, not that I'm complaining.



4. Birdie

Lots to do this week to prepare for the bug's Royal Birthday Ball! That's right, a fairytale birthday party for my princess (sort of makes me want to throw up and so it won't be all girly fairytale but more fun fairytale whatever that means, I'm telling you I am highly medicated hence the rambling...uuhhmmm) A few more pictures at flickr

apples and bananas... in this case

pretzels, apples, cheesy bunny crackers and bananas. a little snack for us girls while I try to figure out where Piper is going to go to school...

it's a very good thing that I have another year left to decide.

nothing much of an update

Preparations for Piper's 4th birthday



Shrek Chia Head





growing a mullet

for your pleasure

a few places or you to visit.

Kim Family Auction

Free Credit Report - you get one free per year.

Sea Spray - where we will be spending our summer vacation thanks to my ever-hard-working husband!

I'll update soon, maybe.