Fun times with Farmor

Emma wanted to try a "Chopped" dessert round. So we let her. She was throwing EVERYTHING in the bowl. The ingredients: chocolate syrup, blue juice (above), walnuts, lime juice, canola oil, salt licorice candies, coconut, water and strawberry ice cream.

Below is the finished product. Ice cream soup.

Mmm....mmm...mmm.

The super sack of platter (Swedish pancakes) that Farmor cooked. Everyone was in pancake heaven.

Swimming in the new pool. Even Farmor got in!

A trip to Lindenwood.

Complete with a surry ride.

Finding fish on the beach.

Floating in Glendalough State Park.

What a fun 2 weeks we had! It went way too fast.

Lately

I know I haven't been very faithful to this blog lately. Sorry. The picture above is one from our trip to Winnipeg. I hardly took any pictures on that trip, which is a complete and utter shock to me. I had expected to come home with a thousand pictures to go through. I had 99. Now, had I known that I had 99 pictures on my memory card, I would have NEEDED to take one more to make it an even 100. That's my OCD talking.

Farmor left yesterday evening. She is probably home now. I miss her. It was a lovely 2 weeks. Man, did that go fast! It's been such a whirlwind. But today, it's back to reality. Bigs is back at work and the house seems lonely. I have a TON of things I want/need to do. Laundry is piling up, the house is a mess, I have a gazillion photos to go through and it's already after 9am and I haven't done a thing.

Hanna has been gone for a week with my mom, house/pet sitting for my brother while he and his family are in Colorado. She came back today, briefly, because mom had a doctor appointment to go to. She got here and we were all talking at once. Constantly. It seems like she's been gone a lot this summer. We had so much to say! It's good to have her home. Although she will be gone another 4 days before she is back. Then it will be almost August! Oh my, where has the time gone??

While I am waiting to hear about my trade name registration for my little business venture, I am planning on applying for a job. I still need to do a cover letter and revamp my pathetic resume. It's been 8 years since I've worked outside the home. 8 years! Just the thought of going to an interview gives me cold sweats and sends me into a panic. But, I really want to try. I need to. For myself. I need to take this fear by the horns and show it who's boss! Plus, it would be so cool to be making my own money again. I need a wide angle lens ;) I love being a stay-at-home mom, but with all my kids in school now, I think that the time is right for me to get a job. I want to work. I'm not planning on giving away where I am applying, but I will say that the place suits me VERY well ;) I'm not really expecting to get hired. But I have to try anyway.

good week

We have had such a terrific week!

Andreas came back from his 3 day trip to Seattle on Wednesday. Farmor arrived that same evening. It's been gloriously HOT outside. We haven't been doing a whole lot, but it has been relaxing and wonderful.

We went shopping for a few items for Hanna's newly painted room. Yesterday I spray painted her desk black and we are going to be putting that up as soon as Andreas' back cooperates. I'm very excited to get everything on her walls and see how it looks!

Tomorrow we plan on spending the day at the beach because it's going to be another scorcher. And Wednesday, Andreas and I will leave for our little trip to Canada. I'm excited to get away to some new scenery with my camera. Emma and Farmor will stay back home and do a little bonding.

There were so many bees buzzing about yesterday morning. I took a LOT of pictures. Usually only a few of them turn out because they are constantly moving. But I really liked this one.

Tedward

My mom was staying with me while Andreas went to Seattle for 3 days and of course she brought her baby with her. That's right, I've been replaced. I'm no longer the baby of the family. Now she has Teddy. Or Tedward as we like to call him.

Here she is with her witto baby. She loves that little guy. He is quite the cute little thing. It's always a challenge when he is here though. He's very afraid of Lizzy (can't imagine why). Lizzy, of course, is extremely curious and wants so badly to chase him around. But Teddy just shakes when we hold him so that Lizzy can sniff. So he spends most of his time in the family room with the doors shut. At least we have French doors though so he can see out.

Look at those dark eyes. So cute! He's a hard little bugger to photograph. Always moving. It's really fun to throw the ball and watch him fly across the yard to fetch it. It looks as though his feet hardly touch the ground at all. I wonder what it would be like to have a small non-shedding dog like this who can easily be held and snuggled. One whose accidents on the floor don't cover a 5x5 area. Oh, and he doesn't bark either. Which is one of those things that small dogs usually do, because they don't have size to use for intimidation. I guess Lizzy missed that memo.

Well, I sent in my trade name registration application yesterday. Fingers crossed that it goes through quickly. I registered the name "Prints Charming" but if that falls through, I'll try my second choice.

My mother-in-law is flying in from Sweden tomorrow evening and the girls and I have spent the last two days trying to get all the last minute cleaning done so that the place isn't a pig sty. It's pretty clean, I'm guessing it will stay that way for about 5 hours max. It never ends, does it?

That's what's so unrewarding about cleaning. You know that after all the work is done, you'll just have to do it all over again in a few days. You know that saying, "A clean house is a sign of a wasted life"? I tried that logic on my husband. Apparently he doesn't agree ;)

Our carpet is pretty much a disaster. But I guess that is to be expected when you have 3 kids who refuse to listen to my warning NOT to eat in the carpeted rooms. I'm going to start saying, "Hey, why don't you go into the living room and pour your chocolate milk all over the floor." I figure, at least it would seem like they are listening to me then. Save myself the disappointment. Oh, and having a dog who drags in dirt or decides that when she has diarrhea, going on the carpet is a much better choice than on the tile where it's easier to clean. Hence, our newest robot in the house, the spot bot. That thing is magical! There isn't much I dislike more than cleaning stains out of the carpet (especially diarrhea stains). And I'm not very good at it. Which is probably why I don't like it.

Do you remember the story about when Lizzy was a puppy and she had an accident on the den floor and Andreas decided to put flour on it to soak it up? Pee paste. Not fun to get out of carpet. He is a very smart man but there are things he does that just make me want to say,"What the hell were you thinking?" p.s. honey, if you are reading this, you know you deserve it once in a while ;) 

Cleaning sucks. But do you know what is almost worse than cleaning? Getting your kids to clean. Yeah, ever tried to get a teenager to clean the bathroom? If I had no arms and was blind I could do a better job. In half the time too. But I can't complain. My little ankle biters unload the dishwasher for me daily which makes me happy. I don't like that job. And typically I refuse to clean up Lizzy poop in the yard. Hey, I didn't want the dog! Sure I love her, but still. You almost feel like you should walk behind her with a shovel when she goes outside. But now that the days are hot and dry, the bombs get a good crust on them which makes it a lot less messy. Sorry, was that too much?

Ok, I think that's a good place to stop.

brownie recipe

These brownies are actually (gasp!) healthy. Not only that, but they taste amazing! They are moist and delicious and have no flour in them. Yum!

Now, who wants to see the recipe??? If there is interest, I will post it.

One other thing to note, my 9 year old now has her own blog. A baking blog, no less. If you are interested in checking it out, click the link below.

http://edencooks.blogspot.com/

She chose a hilarious title. "Sorry, I'm baking..."

cherries?

Wow, really? ONE comment? Haha....

Thanks, for your input Chris! I prefer Prints Charming as well. I didn't find any businesses in ND with that name, so I should be good. Although there is a business in Canada. I also found a blog with that title when doing a search.

We didn't do anything exciting on the 4th. We didn't even go watch fireworks. We just decided to sit on our deck and see what the neighborhood had to offer. Not much. I was a bit bummed out because I had my tripod all set up and ready for some action. I only got a couple. Too many trees in the way.

Sunset.

This is one of the only shots of actual fireworks I got.

And below, I just thought that the streaks of light from cars passing by was pretty cool.

You get this from having a high shutter speed (and a tripod).

Nothing spectacular, just something cool caught on camera while waiting for fireworks. Next year, I'm going to have to go to my sister's house. She lives close to MSUM where they light off all the big fireworks. We sat on her roof one year and had the best view!

Oh, and we had cherries. So I photographed them. Why not?



So.....

.....I need your help.

I'm planning on starting a little business out of my home soon. Well, hopefully soon. I've been saying this for the past year. The thing is, I am almost done with the website, just some final details and registering my trade name with the secretary of state and yadda yadda yadda. There's just one problem.....I can't decide what to call it.

That's where you come in.

I've sort of narrowed it down to two and I can't quite decide which I want to use. And I don't know if they are stupid. Please tell me they aren't stupid!

The choices:
1) Memory Makeovers
2) Prints Charming
3) [your idea here?]

I would love love love some creative input from my followers! Let me give you a run down of what my business entails. It's web based, I will have no physical store. But I will be selling fine art canvas wraps of some of my photographic art (flowers, nature, landscape, etc). And I will also be offering image editing services, for people who want their own images edited but don't know how to use the software.

Please leave a comment below with your ideas or help me out and vote for your favorite!

Missing Eden & Hanna

Sisters....

Can't live with them

Can't live without them

Emma is missing her big sisters. They are both visiting Grammy and Gramps.

We usually have our share of arguments around here but for the most part, they love each other and play very well together. So much so, in fact, that it's hard for Emma to be the 'only child' when they are gone. Usually, they are gone every other weekend, when they are with their dad. But their week long absence will be harder on her.

Both of her big sisters are equally important to her. She has been very excited for Hanna's return. But she and Eden share a special bond, maybe because they are closer in age. And Eden is the perfect picture of a caring big sister. Always looking out for Emma. She's very nurturing and motherly by nature. And she is incredibly mature for her age, which makes it SO easy on me.

I really got lucky because I've got the 3 BEST children a mom could ask for.

We miss you girls! See you soon.