Rainy Day...

On Monday, I was wearing a tank top... by Wednesday, I was wearing long sleeve sweater... by Friday, we were water logged! It's RAINING! And with similarity to gloomy skies, I've change the blog look temprarily.

Jena, didn't you hear?!! It's raining!

Looks like the gutters need cleaning out. Look at the water pour off the roof!

It's so funny to see Jena discover new things... like our new water feature. Think Jim would make this mini-waterfall permanent? It makes our front yard look very tropical, lol!

Once Jena figures out the water won't hurt her, she goes on the attack. Get that water, Jena!

Oh, Jena! What a mess!

I'm wishing everyone clean puppy days, and the return of sunny skies!

Easter Day

I know that I already posted an Easter post; but since I've been lax at the blogging the last couple of weeks, I decided to post another... with more pictures :oD

Here is the Egg Hunting crew! But where are my kids, you ask?

Well, both of my kids have graduated from egg hunters to egg hiders. Here's Chris with an empty basket... what a good egg hider he is!

And here's my pretty girl!

Wait a minute! What is Chris doing with all that candy? Chris, you were supposed to hide those candy bars! lol!

We had a GREAT Easter visiting with family. I hope you all had a GREAT Easter too!

Happy Easter

I saw this gift jar made up last year and tucked it away in my memory to make up for this year. Of course as I've gotten older, things that I have tucked away have a way of getting lost. So thanks to my friend Beth, I've been reminded of this fun jar and made it up this year for my niece to make for her family.

I lifted these directions from my friend, Mara, who also got carried away in the Peep jar madness, lol!

I started with a wide mouth quart sized mason jar. And then added the ingredients in layers:

Bottom: 1 sleeve of crushed graham crackers
Middle: 8 peep bunnies around the jar in a ring. Add 1/3 - 1/2 cup brown sugar to fill the hole in between the peeps. Pack down tight!
Top with: 1 1/4 cups Easter M&M's. Pack down.

That's it! So easy and so FUN! I added a tag with the baking directions:

1. Dump contents of jar into a bowl.
2. Snip peeps into small pieces
3. Melt 1/2 cup butter. Add butter + 1 tsp vanilla to bowl. Mix all ingredients well.
4. Press ingredients into an 8 inch square pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
6. Cut into squares and eat!

There you have it...Peeps In A Jar! I'm going to ask my niece take a picture when she bakes these. Even though I've found lots of recipes for this jar, I didn't find a single picture of what they look like baked.

Happy Easter! I hope you all enjoy family and friends as you celebrate the miracle of the day!

The Coaster Run 10K

This is our 3rd race in our "12 in 2012" challenge. The Coaster Run was sold out, and was even delayed a bit because participants got stuck in traffic getting into the parking lot. It was 52F at the start... the announcer guy was not a popular person when he announced the delay.

We started in the first corral, or as Cheryl says, "The first trough." We all did really well!!!

Cheryl finished 7th out of 44 in her age group.
Her time: 56:13, pace: 9:04

Chris finished 3rd out of 20 in his age group.
His time: 48:46, pace: 7:52

I finished 1st out of 31 in my age group.
My time: 52:09, pace: 8:25

So, if we had known, Chris and I would have gotten prizes at the awards ceremony. One of these times we'll have to stick around to see what we win!

PTI Blog Hop

I couldn't resist the gorgeous colors in the PTI blog hop color challenge. Here's my card made with the Modern Basics stamp set:

Costa Rica Birthday - part 3

Happy 19th Birthday, Chris!

Jim and Chris celebrated at the beach. This is called Playa Palo Seco. Miles and miles of empty beach, just for them and the birds...

Hmmm... not exactly the type of birds you'd expect to find at the beach. Vultures? Really?

Lita's mom, Rosa, told them over and over to be careful at this beach... don't stop if anyone flags you down, don't talk to anyone. Jim was calling this the Beach of Death. Doesn't that vulture set the perfect ambiance? lol!

Turns out they had the beach to themselves. It is a beautiful beach!

Chris's birthday dinner was a big family affair at the restaurant!

Chris had a very special birthday dinner!

Doesn't it look yummy? Chris LOVES fish!!!

And look at this cake! Chris said it was the best cake he ever had! Thalita made it and it had three layers filled with cream! YUM!!!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!

BTW, Chris is looking over my shoulder and he said, "That cake was so GOOD!"

Costa Rica - part 2

Well, with Jim and Chris's pictures all mixed up it's hard to tell, but I think this is day 2. They took a trip out to Manuel Antonio National Park.

Oh, give me a home where the monkeys roam... The monkeys were not behind glass like a zoo. They were up in the trees doing monkey things.

There were also scarlet macaws...

Hmm... whatever that is... It kind of reminds me of a raccoon.

You know how we sometimes get lizards in the house? How would you like one of these in the house? "Oh, no, Mr. Lizard!" lol!

So who went on this jungle safari? Chris and Lita of course...

Lita's younger brother, Eric... looking COOL, Eric!

... And their fearless leader, Jim!

The BEST place to stay in Costa Rica

I realized that I didn't post the name of the restaurant and hotel. After all, someone might come by the blog looking for a NICE inexpensive place to stay near Jaco, for only $25 a night, and a 5 minute walk from a GREAT restaurant!

Here it is. The Cabinas Calova in Parrita, Costa Rica...

Here is the restaurant. Don Camilo in Parrita, Costa Rica. AND a plus for you travellers... they speak English!

Costa Rica - part 1

I'm not sure how many parts this Costa Rica blogging will take. Since I wasn't there, I'm a little vague on the details. The boys left here just after midnight on Friday, March 9, and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at 9am Saturday morning (there is only a one hour time difference).

Thalita and her dad, Randall, met them at the airport. It's a good thing they did too! The rental car company lost Jim's reservation. It took Randall and a long conversation in Spanish to straighten it all out. On their way back to Parrita, they stopped at a "soda stand" for lunch. Here a photo taken by Randall at the soda.

Here is another picture (with Randall in it) of the kids on a bridge over a river.

Hey, Chris! Whatcha looking at?

42 alligators!??... like I said, it's a whole different world...

Thalita's parents own a restaurant and hotel in Parrita. Here is the front of the restaurant.

Jim tells me that the restaurant is completely open one side. There are two sides... a take-out side:

And a sit-down side... This place looks wonderful, and Jim and Chris say the food is GREAT!

One more CUTE photo to share today :oD

With Love from Costa Rica

Here it is... the photo that everyone has been waiting for... Chris and Lita:

It's Card Kit Time!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the month! Card kit time!!! AND what makes it more wonderful is that I got to put the kit together! There is so much I wanted to share... I started off with some yummy new MME paper. I was origianlly going for a cupcake theme, but ended up switching to a butterfly theme. I topped it all off with some wonderful sentiments from Unity Stamp Co.

And here are the cards that I created with the kit:

What only three?!!! Yeah, well... I've been sick, lol!

This first card is my favorite. It was in my mind as I was putting the kit together. It uses those gorgeous flower roses and the Be Happy for this Moment sentiment from Unity, and one of the cute butterflies from Dream Big.

Here's a close up of those rolled flowers:

This card is made from the cupcake template that I sent with the kit. I added some old paper flowers, a cute girl stamp from Me & My Big Ideas, a cute Hello my Friend sentiment from Unity, and another one of those cute Unity butterflies.


Here's my last card. Of couse I need to add some mixed media in the mix... not too much this time. The sentiment that I used on this card is from The Best from Unity Ippity.

Thanks for stopping by, now go checkout the inspiration and creative genius of the other ladies in the group!

Mary
Beth
Mara