Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Chronicle Books)

I posted this on my blog a while back, but it's just so cute, that I just had to re-post.

next gen VW beetle!

I guess I'm on a VW kick... I just love when the beetle launches herself (Ilsa says she's a girl) off of the "cliff"...

sweethearts

Every holiday has that certain treat that just is...it:

Halloween: candy corn

Christmas: mint Frangoes

Easter: Cadbury Mini Eggs

Valentine's Day: Sweehearts -- the real ones

I just can't say no to the girls when they ask for those little pink boxes of Sweethearts. I love 'em too. The purple (grape) is my favorite, with yellow (banana) a very close second. And don't you dare try and sneak a generic brand into my candy dish. I can tell the difference.

When Mr. BikeMan and I first started dating, Valentine's Day rolled around, and he bought a box of Sweethearts for us to share. We sat at the counter of a casual Russian restaurant in Bellevue Square in Bellevue, Washington, and he handed them to me one by one. He'd saved the best for last: "I Love You". True story.

10 things for which i'm thankful

Haven't done one of these in too long. Rules haven't changed. They are listed in no particular order:

1. Excedrin Migraine
2. Direct flights on Alaska Airlines from the left coast to the right...see number 3
3. Mr. BikeMan is comin' home this afternoon!
4. Streaming Netflix has added The Munsters and Flipper
5. Our church
6. Starbucks Italian Roast at 0630 on a Saturday morning
7. That I can re-watch last night's Fringe epi on Fox.com -- I actually fell asleep, not because I was bored, but because I was overcome by exhaustion
8. An amazing new recipe for Dutch Babies
9. Blue and white fingernail polish on little thumbs
10. Snow days and school cancellations

Dutch Baby of my dreams...

"Look Mama, she's wearing a dress!"

i wonder if these will work with Legos...

Character Options, who also make Zhu Zhu pets, will be releasing the first ever Doctor Who construction toys this spring. Think Legos or Playmobil style play. I love the little Cyberman...never though a Cyber could actually be cute. The smirk on 11's face is pretty priceless. Wonder if they'll go back and do sets for 10 and 9 as well...

Ilsa, who is my Lego girl, already has these on her wish list.

More cool toys from the London Toy Fair 2011:

lollipop the turtle

Lollipop the Turtle aka, "Turtlie", celebrated her 5th birthday today. She received a gift from her Mommy wrapped up just for her.

Lollipop loved her book. Well, it's appropriate as Ilsa wants Chicka Chicka Boom Boom read to her every. single. night. She also takes CCBB with her to bed.

princess ilsa

The princess has arrived and graced us with a stop on her grand tour of Almost Mexico, AZ.

i've discovered amigurumi

Kyuuto!* I've discovered Amigurumi...Japanese crocheted animals, dolls, fruit, wrenches, cars, . Anyway, I'm making "ami" Easter bunnies for the girls' baskets. I think I might just throw in some eggs, too. As soon as I have a picture, I'll post. These are about a 2 hour project at the most. I just need to buy some stuffing tomorrow. I could get hooked on this. Faster than baby blankets, more useful and definitely unique. The free pattern I'm using is from Lion Brand yarn (this is their picture). They have bazillions of free ami patterns. I'm doing my bunny in white with speckles of pastel Easter-type colors, and a coordinating pastel puffy tail. At etsy, I found 30 patterns for ami DUCKIES alone! I'll be able to provide a pipeline of ami duckies for Ingrid for the next 30 years.

Here's a link to a great instructional book on Amazon that I've added to my wish list.

*If you haven't figured out what that word is yet, it is Japanese for "cute".

1 down, 30 to go...

30 days to Halloween. Yep. 30. I've been hearing about the candy explosion day for oh, 11 months now. Ingrid has asked me every day, at least 5 times a day, if she can be:

• Princess (Easy)
• Pink Princess (Easy)
• Ducky Fairy Princess Mermaid (Not so easy)
• Ariel (The Little Mermaid -- tail logistics could be a problem)
• Jasmine (no way...too much like a belly dancer)
• Belle (a personal favorite)
• One of The Incredibles (would've been SOOOOO cute - red shirt and leggings would've been practical, too!)
• Wall-E (a box...what could be easier?)
• Eve from Wall-E (hmmmm, a white garbage can?)
• Hula Badula Girl (hula girl...) (See Jasmine)
• A genie (See Jasmine)
• A door (Huh? Maybe we could've tacked the 95 theses...appropriate considering it is Reformation Day the next day)
• A rubber duckie in a bubble bath (easier than you might think...)

Ilsa would then chime in echoing whatever Ingrid said, except for a while, she really wanted to be Jack Jack from The Incredibles. With pretend fire on her head.

The question is now finally settled: Ariel and Cinderella. Thank you Target for reasonable, cute costumes.

cuteness

If only every moment were like this one...

cuteness

Sorry for the bad resolution; I still love this picture.
Oh to be 2 1/2 and in love with princesses again.