Matryoshka Dolls

I have a 'thing' for Matryoshka dolls.

Big surprise right?

They are just so fun.

The way they stack into each other & come in all the sizes & it's just ....fun.  :)

So I just got the coolest gift...

Matryoshka doll measuring cups!

Aren't they cute???

So red & shiny & stacky...

Each half has a different measurement.

See their cute smiling faces?

Best gift ever :)

Blessings.

Thankful for pies.

I spent a really fun day this week teaching my girl the secrets of baking delicious pies.

What might those secrets be you ask?

Well. The most important part of baking pies is butter.

Yep. Butter.

Butter in every aspect of the pie from the crust to the filling.

Butter makes everything better.

And just for those who may not know: margarine is NOT butter. It's margarine. And margarine doesn't make anything better. :P

The second secret to fabulous pies?

Brown sugar. Brown sugar makes rich, thick, gooey delicious pie filling.

White sugar makes pale, anemic, wimpy pies.

Got that?

Good.

What other secrets are there to making delicious, fabulous, yummy pies?

Pies you just can't wait to get out of the oven?

Sorry.

You're on your own for the rest of the secrets :)

After all, how will it become your special signature dish if in reality it is actually  my special signature dish?

See the conundrum here? ;)

Aren't they pretty? :)

Blessings.

The Tale of the Ugly Chairs

This project has been a long time in the making.

A loooonnnnnggg time.

So, like 13 years ago, when we bought our first house, we bought a set of patio chairs.

You know the lovely, hard plastic, white chairs that stack up & were, you know....cheap.

Yep. Those.

So they were great & all. We had a place to sit but after a few years they began to look well, not so nice.

Dirty.

So you scrub them down each year & call it good.

Then I first learned about the spray paint for plastic & I thought "Cool! I can paint the chairs!"

And due to time, money, life & mostly money, that is as far as that project got. Sigh.

So a few more years go by...

(did y'all ever notice I say "so" a lot? Hmmmmm...)

And the chairs just get uglier

You wanna sit in that right?

So (see? there I go again!) this house that we just moved to has a nice patio right out the slider doors & those ugly chairs just weren't getting any House Beautiful points you know?

It was time for drastic measures.

It was time actually buy the spray paint.

Did you know spray paint comes in really really pretty colors?

Seriously. You need to paint something. Now.

My latest color kick is turquoise & I have always had a weakness for red, yellow & pink so there you go ~ a standard 50's color pallet Oh So pleasing to the eye.

It took a LOT of paint. They don't pack as much into those cans as they used to.

It took a can PER chair !

But aren't they looking better?

And just check this babies out!

Under the twinkle lights & everything :)

Happy sigh.

I really, really,really Like my chairs now.

Blessings.

Yosemite: Part 3

Our last day at Yosemite.

We woke up to gray drizzly skies & damp cold temperatures.

We fortified ourselves with bacon, eggs & oatmeal & headed out for our final trail.

And what a pretty trail it was...

Last minute trail instruction.

Pretty pretty lone colorful tree;

"Oh please feed me. Please PLEASE please feed me. I am just a poor starving squirrel trying to make my way in this world..."

"PLEASE PLEASE feed me! I have a wife! Children! Those evil rangers tell everyone not to feed me & I am starving...sob...sob..."

Top of the trail! Woo hoo! (and FYI...1.3 miles straight up is way harder than 1.3 miles level)

Happy, happy, happy.

Pretty pretty pretty colors.

Ooooo...a cave!

Be still my heart.

Wow! We are way high up here!

Falling...

to their...

deaths. (Yes. We really stage photos like this. All. the. time.)

Push!!!!!!!!

Dad was a wee bit done with photo ops at this point... hee hee hee

My last photo for y'all. Sigh. So, so, so pretty.

Blessings.

Yosemite Part 2: 16

On our second day in Yosemite our second oldest turned 16.

His birthday breakfast of choice was Apple Fritters & bacon. Yum.

We  found more fabulous rocks to climb & incredible gorgeous fall colors on the trails.

Happy sigh.

Reflecting on the river as the sun rose.

The first big climbing rock of the day.

Twas a wee bit higher than he thought it was... ;)

Isn't he a cute little dwarf?

3 Kings of the Mountain.

That was a big bear that marked this tree...

Isn't that just pretty? Sigh.

So stinkin' cute :)

Pretty colors!

Toe shoes are great for climbing...

Death Defying feats of anti-gravity.

BIG rock.

"Brother? Will you hold my sand?"

"Mom! Take my picture!"

16 & King of the World.

I like this one :)

Brotherly Love

Dinner & Dessert : Chicken Pot Pie & Apple Cobbler

One of the funniest parts of the trip was when people continually asked our boy for directions. They would ignore the rest of us & then stop him to ask where something was. Between the Forest Service green pants, the hat & the beard we are pretty sure they thought he worked there ;)

Blessings.