Thursday's Thoughts

Hearing: The beeping of my cell phone from a text message that needs to be read.

Tasting: A crunchy salad that I made from cucumbers, chick peas, tomatoes, kale, parsley, olives, asparagus and more. I will post the recipe later.


Seeing: Newly framed artwork created by Arabella Ripp. I love how it is so bright and the colors pop in the black frame. It really brightens up the plain mantle in her playroom!



Smelling: Clean fresh laundry.

Feeling: Worn down and defeated and HOT, HOT, HOT now that summer had finally arrived.

Grammie & Auntie Lori Visit

Grammie & Auntie Lori came to visit for Memorial Day weekend and to celebrate Arabella's birthday with her...it may have been a week late, but she still had a great party!

Auntie Lori was the first to arrive. Her train was over 3 hours late and by the time we got home from the train station Arabella it was way past her bedtime, so she zonked out in the back seat of the car. I just love how her leg is on the back of the seat, too funny, how they can sleep in any position!

After getting Auntie settled in and Arabella into bed, it was time to relax and celebrate the upcoming weekend. And we couldn't think of a better way, than with a shot of Tequila Rose...YUM!

Grammie arrived on Friday and she and Arabella had a fun time playing with dolls. Olivia got special treatment and a few new outfits! It was so fun to watch Arabella and Grammie playing together. It made my heart happy!


Arabella also had a fun time playing hairdresser with Auntie Lori - she did a great job and Auntie loved being pampered!


One of the fun things that we did that weekend (and love to do now that the weather is warmer in the evenings and it is a tradition for Lori and I) is to have a fire in the fire pit. We had more than 1 over the weekend...I think there were 3!




And when we are enjoying the fire, we like to enjoy a yummy, fruity beverage and get silly!


Lori even practiced her sleuthing skills to see what the loud kids next door were up to!

Arabella and Grammie took a few walks around the neighborhood and went to the park together. They had a lot of fun! Arabella even took her cozy coupe out for a ride to see what was going on down the street and ended up pushing it up the hill!


In the midst of all the fun that we were having there is one more important thing that we did over the weekend...we celebrate Arabella's birthday. It was a very Pinkalicious party...and we all loved it!


I made another Pinkalicious cupcake cake...and this time I remembered to make the vanilla cake pink! We decorated and Arabella was very excited and surprised to see how we transformed the backyard for her while she took a nap!










We had such a great weekend, it was hard to say goodbye. Arabella hated to say goodbye to Grammie and had to give her one last hug at the airport.

And when Auntie Lori left the next morning, you could see how sad Arabella was at the train station.

Thanks Grammie and Auntie Lori for spending the weekend with us. We loved having you and can't wait for you to come visit again!

After All The PINK

When all the excitement from the PINKALICIOUS party died down, we had some fun family time just relaxing and playing in the yard. Arabella loves to swing and she loves balloons so what is a girl to do when she wants to swing, but not let go of her balloons...


Then it was time to climb George and Peggy, our next door neighbor's tree...

And Peggy had a princess surprise for Arabella. She was so excited to wear her crown and try on her jewels!

More Birthday Fun

This is another late post, but since I will eventually be turning my blog into a book, I need to get everything caught up! Better late than never, right??

Arabella's birthday was a beautiful sunny day, and it always starts out the same way, with ballons outside her bedroom door...

Creston, Amy, Ava and Little Creston came from Toronto to spend the weekend with us. It was a lot of fun and since the weather was so warm out, we spent Arabella's birthday morning at the park. The kids had a great time playing and running around.






During lunch, Arabella received a special telephone call from Uncle Mike

After a yummy lunch, it was nap time! Amy and I did a few errands while everyone else slept and by the time we got back it was time for dinner! Dinner was yummy, but what we all were waiting for was CAKE! Arabella was so excited about it, she could hardly wait!




I didn't make this cake...wish I could do something as great as that. It was a raspberry & mango sorbet...so delicious! After cake, we let Arabella open one gift, we didn't want to over load her since her friend birthday party was the next day. I had purchased the Melissa & Doug stable for her a while ago and held onto it for her birthday. She was so excited when she opened it. She even had to bring it to her room and the horses had to go to sleep when she did!


Arabella had a great 3rd Birthday! I am so proud to be your mommy, you have no idea how much love and joy you have brought into my life the past three years!! I love you my little bean!