The *REAL* Party.

Greg gets the cutest little cakes at Sam's Club that have cupcakes around them. They are perfect for birthdays.

Maren agrees. Here she is driving a car on her presents. Greg wrapped that one, yes that is blue painter's tape...
This, my friend's, is the face of *pure* excitement. She is probably squealing too! Good stuff. I think it's a Jeep with a trailer and ATC. Perfection.

She had a blast, and got lots of cars. The Loop's really know how to throw a party.

Maren Turned 2!

Nana flew in on Maren's 2nd birthday. Just in time for the table dancing festivities. I'm sure the Roundtable Pizza in Auburn really appreciates this... We actually celebrated at home on M's big day. Over the weekend we took Nana out to see the house in the country. After that we went to Auburn for lunch, the rest is history.

The Kids Were Playing Hospital...

And guess who the patient was?

The little wicker table with the lamp and rocking chair in the background is Dr. Declan's office. He's 'making important notes' in his office when he's done administering medicine. Nurse Teagan was very busy tending to her patient. Of course, she was dressed for the occasion!

So, back to my grain mill.....

I got a grain mill after taking the nutrition classes from Amanda. I've milled flour exactly twice. First time was to make whole wheat brownies (turned out about 1/4"thick and hard) bricks, then today to make whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. This time I used soft wheat berries instead. They are yummy, but about 1/8" thick. I bought several cookbooks about grains and how to use them. Then, out of no where, a recipe will call for All Purpose Flour. Well, they don't sell All Purpose wheat berries at Whole Foods, so I am out of luck! =)

Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

Camping Pictures.

We went camping with our friends this past weekend. I am glad to say that I actually took pictures this camping trip! I don't usually think to do it until we have camp half broken down! This is the William Kent campground in Lake Tahoe. The weather was perfect, which was good, since this was our first attempt at 'dry camping' meaning: no water or electricity. It went very well!

We were across the highway from a beach, but we drove to a sandy beach for the day on Saturday. The kids played in the water all day. Teagan got tuckered out and napped on Greg. Declan and Jamie played in the 'hot tub."

There were no dogs allowed on the beach, so we made sure that Otis stayed up on the chair... (there has to always be one that breaks the rules....).

ETA: LOL! After I posted this picture I realized Otis isn't on the chair.... whoops.

Are you ready for some serious cuteness?

I took the kids to the local donut shop. You know, because I'm all about eating healthy... and they begged. Well, turns out that I got a better picture of all 3 of them than I did at JC Penney portrait studio. Seriously cute!

Teagan horsing around. Look at that skill.

I thought this was pretty cute too.

This is the windowsill in Teagan's room. Maren *loves* to line cars up here. This is what I found this morning. Maren was so proud of herself too. I personally like how some are stacked.

I met my friend Janice at free movie Tuesday last week. Yes, I was the crazy lady taking a picture of my kids in the dark movie theater. Hey people, you can't complain, it was free. We saw Space Chimps, and the kids had a blast (even the wild littlest).

Thought I'd impress you all with my cooking prowess as well. Maybe there is something wrong with me, taking pictures of food???? I should be making notes of what these recipes are so I can make them again.

This is Declan and Teagan at Adventureland (like Chuck E Cheese with bounce houses). This is what they would be doing on my sofa at home, so I figured we may as well go get pizza too...