Scenes from a birthday

There was cake in the shape of a "neigh."



There was a Little Bear for Sparrow (check out that cake-induced pot belly!)



...what the?!



There were neighs from Dove, Turtledove and Dove's hubby, who I am naming Dodo. Because he took Dove from me, and I do not like him.



There were presents from Hawk's parents (thanks guys!)



There was a really cute outfit from Auntie Owly, which suited him perfectly (but then again, everything Owly does is practically perfect in every way!)



There was jumping for joy!!



Bamboo does not approve of birthdays.

A circle is round, it has no end.... and a giveaway!

Man, what a hard weekend! Dove left on Saturday morning and it seriously felt like my heart left with her. That girl woman is my best friend, my inspiration, my sister. I look up to her so much and admire her, and she is my sounding board when things get bad and I am depressed. Dove and I have been through a lot together, and there's a lot more to come. I just wish we lived next door to each other and STAYED next door to each other for the rest of our lives.

Hawk and I have been looking into moving to California, as now two of my best-friends-turned-sisters live there. I think I would hate living in California. But we'll see what happens. I wouldn't mind trying it. Too bad our bank account isn't constantly replenishing itself or we'd be moving every year.

Sparrow is over his nastiness, which is good because his birthday is this week. Two years! I never thought we'd survive this long.

I went to a college for an entrance interview on Saturday. I earned my Associate's degree when I was 17, completing two years of college during my senior year of high school. I was pretty burned out after that and haven't set foot in school since (though I would have dearly loved to, but there's that problem again with the bank account.) I'm looking into going into the respiratory therapy program, but we'll see. All I know is, it gave my heart an INSANE boost of self esteem when the adviser told me I needed a 23 on the entrance exam to get into the R.T. program and I got a 30. It was a freaking hard test, and I haven't taken any tests in 5 years. So yeah, I was pretty darn proud of myself.

I'm thinking about hosting a giveaway. Whoever wins will get an AWESOME PRIZE.

Are you ready for this?

If you win my giveaway, you will get to come to Utah (at your own expense) and sweep and mop my floor! What an awesome prize!!! Leave a comment for your first entry, subscribe for your second entry, stand on your head for your third entry, poke a random stranger in the eye for your fourth entry, and for your fifth entry eat some haggis.

AWESOME. What a great giveaway! Who's excited? I know I am!

Well fine, if this giveaway doesn't do it for you, Keeper of the Home and Steady Mom are having one here. Go sign up for that one instead. But I guarantee my entry options are way more fun than theirs.

Nevermore

It's been a pretty crappy week. Sparrow is sick with some sort of intestinal bug (think poop soup) and Dove is leaving tomorrow.

Pretty much just want to give up now, kthxbai.

Spirit-chal

The other morning Sparrow pulled himself up to the table, opened up my scriptures and pulled out a picture of Christ (that was my bookmark.) He then proceeded to "read" to his horses and cars about Jesus. It was pretty stinkin' cute.

Puppy love

Can I share with you a secret?

I really want Sparrow to marry Turtledove (pictured below) someday. Every family function would be a blast because Dove and I as Mothers-in-law? Oh man. Hilarious. Look at these two sweethearts - wouldn't they make an adorable couple?







"Here, let me help you."



Hand-holding already. Young love, so romantic.

Our Home I

Once upon a time, my house was actually mostly clean. So I grabbed my camera to document this rare and exciting time. I'll be posting every so often with different spots in my home.

Today I am featuring my bedroom, because that is where I spend most of my time right now, between the hacking and the coughing and the dying.



We inherited this beautiful brass bed and the nightstands and lamps from my grandma when Hawk and I got married. The bed holds a lot of childhood memories as I used to spend every weekend at my grandma's house and slept in that bed with her. I remember I used to have to take a running jump to be able to climb into it.

Someday I am going to finish the quilt I am making for our bedroom (in light blues, whites and browns) but that day is not today. You can see my Bamboo cat on the bed, and my stuffed wolf who I looove (her name is Silver and I made her at Build-a-Bear in September.) Those awesome reading pillows we got at Kohls. They were originally $40 a piece and I got them for $2.40 a piece. That's pretty much my deal of the century.

The door in this picture leads into the walk-in closet. Not pictured is the master bathroom which has the biggest shower I've ever met.



The other side of the room, featuring our laundry corner and the beautiful dresser my grandma gave us.

And that is our bedroom. Expect more photos from our home coming up later. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. You just never know.

Great

Sparrow is just teething and that is making him have a gross sounding cough. Apparently when two year old molars come in, the saliva pooling in the back of the mouth causes coughing fits. Who knew?

Meanwhile, I have pneumonia.

This is not my best week ever.

2010: Worse than 2009

Besides Sparrow and me being deathly ill, 2010 has thrown another crap-bomb at us.

My best friend is moving to Idaho in two weeks. Yay!

I give up at life and at trying to be happy and at hoping that anything is ever going to get better, because clearly it's only going to get worse.

Englanditis

I am sick. Very sick. Not swine flu, but most likely it's bronchitis. I get bronchitis every year, just like strep throat. I have the world's crappiest lungs, because I was a 6 week early preemie. I worried about Sparrow's lungs since he was 7 weeks early, but thus far he has proven to be a better preemie than I ever was. Good boy.

Yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of when I left for London. I lived there for 6 months, and I have missed it every single day minute since I left. I will make it back to London before 2015 or I will die trying. Dangit.

Anyway, to celebrate, I took Dove and her baby and Sparrow to the London Market in Salt Lake City. I stocked up on tons of goodies and snacky-snacks, including Galaxy bars (mmm), Turkish Delight (Mmmmm!!) and Mr. Kipling's Cherry Bakewells (be still my heart!) They didn't have everything I wanted, no Exceedingly Fine French Fancies for example, but I got enough to last for a good month at the very least. Sparrow got a metal British taxi car since he has two London buses and I wanted to round out his collection. He actually already had a taxi car once, but a heavy box fell on it and it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

After I spent our grocery money on chocolate, we went next door to Elizabeth's Bakery and had a little lunch. Dove and I split a curried veggie pasty, an English trifle, Millionaire Shortbread, and a cheese scone. Sparrow had a tiny egg custard tart, which he snarfed and then proceeded to eat 3/4ths of the shortbread (smart kid!) Everything was absolutely perfect and just DELICIOUS. The staff was extremely friendly too, and joked for a good 5 minutes with Sparrow. He had so much fun, and so did Dove and I.

We have plans to go back in March. I'd go back every day if I could, but this little slice of England in Utah is something I kind of want to keep a special and rare treat.

But oh, how I am looking forward to more scones. Mmmmm.

First Craft Attempt

A few weeks ago, Sparrow and I tried to make salt dough handprints for all his grandparents.



He wasn't sure about being up to the counter like this, it kind of freaked him out.



Once he figured out I wanted him to get his handprint in the dough, he was very cute trying to be helpful.



All done! We give up!



The finished product. They pretty much all looked like ... well, not good. So we threw them away and will try again another day. Sigh.

My score as a mom is totally going down after this. Craft Attempt Status: FAIL.