It takes a long time to grow young

Pablo Picasso

Birthday outfit Knitted by grammy, it is incredible check it out

Happy Birthday Sally Jane...2

To our sweet, silly and sensitive Sally Jane. Happy Birthday.

Sally Jane the day after she was born, in her all pink minkie onsie that she wore every other day until it no longer fit. With her still special birdie.

She already knows how to drive, steering is still a problem.

she got pink crocs for her birthday with a Cinderella Jibbitz. She LOVES "Linderella"

She can eat multiple suckers at once.

she loves chocolate

she loves to wear hats. especially the one my brother made for her

she is loved and squeezed often by her sisters. Caroline squeezes a little harder than Annie Kate.

she always says cheese when taking photos

she has blonde curly locks, no idea where these came from

We love you Sally Jane!

Goodnight Sally Jane, when you wake up you will be 2!

Good Mail

before you read this, just think about what it would be like to type all this up & add photos and then watch it delete before you eyes... yes that was my morning.

How can I not brag about my good mail this week? I love running to my mailbox and discovering treasures and love wrapped up in envelopes. I have sent a plethora of good mail this week in very odd packaging that I hope will make it through the mail and not get sent back and it has been wonderful to think of the smiling faces when they find what is inside.
I really want to start taking photos of what I send to remind myself, I have said that to Jill 100 times and still I get too excited and package it in the mailbox with out any photos.
I am a total padded envelope recycler(not a real word). As some of you may have found out. My goals is to resend any padded envelope that gets sent to me, so I know that I am keeping the good mail cycle flowing. If I ever have any envelopes laying around, I know it is time to pass on the goodness.
Here is some tangible generosity I found this week.

A darling black and Pink card from Heather S. She had knit me a scarf this Christmas, and i had finally sent her a thank you and then she sent me a thank you for my thank you. She is the very nice gymboree hunter of the shirt months ago in Arizona. She is an original Pink Christmas gal from 2006.

My mom sent this thank you card that was pretty funny and I loved seeing that she has her own good mail labels from Jill.
Jill, sent a thank you for some attire for Whitney and it reminded me that, that was some of the most exciting mail I sent all year. I love sending something and just thinking of what they will think when it arrives on their doorstep.

Ms. New Home owner Amy W had a birthday recently and can now wrap herself up in ribbon and bows and she wrote me a thank you to tell me so!

Liz also had a birthday and wrote a nice thank you. I have not see Liz for over 6 years and I was amazed recently at her memory of when I had my gal bladder taken out. You have a quite a memory my friend.
Mindy shared her favorite Easter treat! My kids asked what is in there, I totally lied and said, "oh Nothing!" thanks Mindy.
In my love for stamps, Amanda S. sent this package covered with old doll stamps. These are some of my mom's favorites as mine too. Where did you find them? I love using many stamps on the front of packages. I am afraid she may have over stamped, but loved how many there were on there. On the good mail blog, there is a link to calculate your postage.
If you send mail regularly I strongly suggest a home scale. I use mine every day!

She sent a great jump rope that Annie Kate will wear out for sure. a darling notebook and the best! glitter eggs! girl did you make these? i love the idea of glitter plastic eggs. Thanks so much for your Easter wishes and I know you will be having fun at your house. She is so CREATIVE. Have you seen her scrapbook room?

Julie sent me a Superman plate that is PINK! I don't know if I really am superman but the plate will give me a reminder that I can do my best! She knows i am not fan of cell phones and so gave me a cell phone charm to give me a hard time. Julie, if i find my cell phone I will put it on there just for you! The card she made was such a great idea with tying the card shut on the side. thanks for my fun pink package!
she has also recently posted the "how to" make the roll recipe to teach your children about the Resurrection. this is a great Easter Sunday activity.


Later in the week my mom sent a fun package for Sally Jane's birthday which is tomorrow. She threw in a few things for me. Oh i am so lucky. I really can't post everything because you may become insanely jealous... hee hee, but here is a sampling. These cute spring boxes.



this stuff is liquid gold at our house. Mom where did you find this. we have been out for weeks!


and I loved that she passed on a book Jill sent her, she read and paid if forward by sending it to me. I am also thrilled about Sarah's quilt.

I also got a letter back from the Stake Presiden't wife who spoke at our R.S. conference. I had sent her a note with a self address envelope wondering if she would copy down a quote I was not quick enough to write down. She sent me a wonderful letter with the quote.

"through the power of the Spirit, we catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the gory of our former home."
Joseph F. Smith

Birthday Party

Last night I went to a fun idea for a birthday party. A few girls in our church congregation had a birthday this week. So one of them threw a party for them all. She used Evite which is such a wonderful way to invite a large group of people. (we used it last year for our annual blog party, are you coming?)

Everyone brought a birthday gift, but everyone left home with one. We took a quiz about the birthday girls and depending on how many answers you got right put in you position for the game. The person who got the most right was the last person to pick, which meant they got to pick any gift.I got the least amount of answers right and so I got/had to pick first. I picked the BEST gift. It was wrapped in a Nordstrom box and was a awesome pair of Sunglasses. I made the mistake of putting them on and wearing them, showing how much I loved them.
I made it near the end of the game with no stealing and then one of the birthday girls took- STOLE them from me! I was so sad, but since the party was for her how could I feel bad. I ended up with an awesome assortment of Bath and Body supplies!
I had brought some Very Bradley items in the new Peacock color scheme. And the girl who got it, it matched perfect for. After my glasses got taken, I was even tempted to pick that because I loved it so much!
It was a great night and fun to see everyone from my other ward for a night. Our new calling downtown in a way is socially cutting us off a bit. So, I always love having a reason for everyone to get together.
As I posted this picture of the four women above. I got a little teary. These four women are AMAZING! All with different trials, strengths, talents and gifts. The photo could tell so many stories. I am so lucky to have met them. The one second in from the left is the Stake Young Women's president. I stayed afterwards and talked with her for half an hour about our ward downtown. We both were in tears. She gave me some great advice, as did many of you who really took the time to comment after our last Sunday.

Great Kids Movie

I am always on the hunt for great kids movies that don't deal with so many issues of the day. "My Netflix" recommenced this after seeing what other movies we had been renting.
It is made by the creators of The Gods Must Be Crazy, (which is funny because I saw that at the movie theatre at the Wilkenson Center)
It is so funny and quite educational about animals in Africa. I strongly suggest it.
Our girls laughed out loud every time when the monkeys doing somersaults down the hills.

If you have any other great kids movies please share!

You can buy the movie on amazon here

Welcome Home

The lens was unfixable so my insurance bought me a new one, which has now paid for my insurance for the next 4 years.
Oh my I am so excited to have my camera back and took 90 photos yesterday when I brought it home.

The Mystery Tree

I just wanted to give an update on my recent tree search. I have had so many different answers and since I don't know the real answer I am in a little pinch. I have gone to the tree owners home and knocked on their door to find out, but have not found them home yet. My quest continues.

But I did take a photo of it a few days later and it has yellow fuzzies all over it now. Kind of fun to watch this tree change.

I will keep ya'll posted.

Me at Mt. Vernon
I should be a docent

I spent the day at Mt. Vernon again. I think I may just apply for a job there. I was thrilled to get a photo for my "Me In D.C." gallery because I had forgot to take one two weeks ago when I went.some of the girls in the hands on center trying on the clothes

I went with the girls from our Kentlands Ward "A" days. We call it "A"days because no one can remember if it is Achievement or Activity days.

The girls did the adventure maps (a must if you take your older kids) and got the gold seal at the end and rewarded with a stick of old fashioned candy.

It was a long day, but am just amazed how you can go again and again and always learn something new.

Lucky for me Jeff was home to watch the little ones, so I could have another fun day with Annie Kate. I love Mt. Vernon.

More Photos

She Photographs on Tuesdays

This weeks challenge was Spring Fever!

On a walk this past week I saw one of the many fields of daffodils in our neighborhood. They seem to be every where. We have not lived here in the spring and I am just amazed at it's beauty. The cherry blossoms are coming out and it is just incredible.
I thought to myself, perfect. I will lay down in the field of beauty and take my photo.



I took two photos. I am glad I did. i thought the one behind the flowers would be more artsy.



but I am glad I took the second because it reminded me of what I love about myself.

1. i love my eyes
2. i love that i have brown hair even though i get blonde highlights
3. i love my nose
4. i love my freckles
5. and i love that i have nothing on my lips but that they look pink!

Now all of this really has nothing to do with Spring Fever, but I have so loved having a fun challenge every week and the self discovery I seem to find out something new about myself.

Thanks again Lelly for our fun challenges every week. I have been on the hunt for the perfect gift to send you as a thank you. And yesterday I found it at a second hand shop. It was exactly what I had in mind. As I was cleaning it to send to you,(that will teach me to clean) it slipped and fell on the floor. The mirror and the plastic broke. I was crushed. It was vintage, great color, two sided mirror and the perfect symbol to thank you for encouraging me to look in the mirror every week!

So, untill I find the next one, this photo will have to do! Thanks again.

Easter Tree

I just finished our Easter tree. This is so easy and so incredibly "cheep"

I didn't do a photo play by play, because I did this over a series of days. Anytime I needed an egg I would blow it and then sit the shell aside. But here are my tips if you want to make one for yourself. This is a great center piece to do anytime of year for a baby shower. You can tie all sorts of bows on the branches.

1. pick branches that have blossoms just getting ready to bloom
2. i found my container at Goodwill, you will be amazed at what you could find a thrift store to make your tree in. You could also just use a metal bucket
3. when blowing eggs don't be afraid to make a bigger hole than you would think. I actually used a small screw. You will place a bead over the hole. this will keep you from getting a head ache when blowing out the egg. (Mindy I know this part will be tough for you, ask a neighbor... she gets grossed out by eggs) run a lot of water through the hollow egg before drying, get all that stinky egg out! I even sprayed with bleach to get it to run down in the egg.
   
4. when dying eggs i use the egg dying kit PAAS that can be found in any grocery store. I double the water and add a tea bag to each color. I also dye a few with just tea and no color. The make the color more vibrant add a few teaspoons of vinegar.
5. The eggs will be hollow when you dye them which means they will float. The get them to submerge place an ice cream scoop over the egg.
6. last year I used a flat stretchy yarn to tie the eggs on to the branches and then tie a bow on top of each egg to cover the hole. This year I used a pink heavy thread 50g weight.
7. I bought some flowered beads at the craft store and placed on at the bottom with a knot and one at the top. You can also tie a bow at the bottom to keep it from slipping through if you use ribbon.
8. I taped two needles together to string the thread through because my needles were not long enough to get through the egg.
9. I placed a another flower bead at the top to cover the blown hole. You could use all kinds of beads and even shapes of wool felt would be great.

Great project. My oldest daughter loves to blow out the eggs and I love seeing the tea dyed eggs, each one comes out so different.
Enjoy.

Drained

We came home today from church and Jeff hit the nail on the head when he said. "I am not physically tired, but emotionally"The beauty of spring is everyone was on the front steps as we walked into church. There is no foyer so everyone greets each other on the steps.

It was our Sunday where members from the congregation share their feelings about the church and it is always so emotional to hear of others trials and struggles. The cute little lady that gave us $1.00 our first week sang a little song from her childhood again. I don't know if she does this every month, but I quite like it.

. I feel like I can't stop hugging anyone I walk by. When I hugged cute little Chad this week, he was as stiff as a board and am sure thinking, "Crazy lady get away from me"

Primary is such a struggle. I am so torn with how you teach reverence to the children. Children yell during the prayers, get up and run around during sharing time, scream the songs and turn them in to rap songs. It is just something I have not learned how to do yet. So after 2 hours of being with the kids, the Primary President up front, on the edge of tears, me in the back being the primary bouncer, a girl raised her hand. She was visiting for her first time and had come with her neighbor. She asked. "If you are telling me Jesus loves me how come some people's lives are so hard and they die and get cancer?" A small silence went over the room and me and the Primary President looked at each other with tears. And that is why we do it!

Jeff and I got in the car and just looked at each other. We both said, you will not believe the stories from today. We both had experienced some real hard stories and struggles of these great pioneers. I feel I am have so much, but so helpless. What can I do. I want to take some of them home with me. Take them to our family reunion this summer and give them a break from their day to day struggles. I feel just like that little girl who raised her hand and I want to say, "Why do I have so much, why does my life seem easier than others?"
15 miles down the road from where we go to church is some of the nicest parts of the city or country for that matter. The extremes I see on Sunday's often make me confused. Where is my part in this. How do I give? How much do I give? How could we stop going to church here in 10 months? That is not enough time to really help. It is a flood of emotions for sure.

After church a young married couple invited us over for dinner. They live in a great place in Chevy Chase, with a doorman and someone calls them up from the front desk to let them know we were there. She was an incredible cook and made our favorite Mexican.
It was great to talk with them as they are ending a 3 year service of attending that ward. (they were asked to do a year too) They are moving and I can see on their faces how how it will be for them to leave.
I told Jessica that I have been crying all day and the reality is almost too much for me. She is the Young Women's president and told some incredible stories. It was great to talk to her and a huge help.

So at the end of this Sunday I realize it feels good to be needed and have a responsibility even though at times it hurts my heart.

Caroline walking into church