Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

Our new blinds in the livingroom!

Taylor's new musical instruments!

Rides at Chuck E. Cheese (I really hope we NEVER have to go back).

Dinner at Red Robin!

The Birthday decorations and cake (and the little cheeser).

Cool Buzz Lightyear lego spaceship and Zurg!

Our new bird feeder and birds.

Taylor turned 5 on Friday! It was such an exciting day. If you ask Taylor it went by way to fast, but if you ask Craig or I it was the longest day of the year! Craig had been gone for work in the UK last week. He flew in on Friday at 5:30pm. After we picked him up from the airport we got a special Birthday dinner at Red Robin with Taylor adn then we went to Chuck E. Cheese to play all the arcade games we could stand (that place is hell if you ask me or Craig, or Katie, she really hates the big Chuck E. Cheese guy). After we got rid of all our tokens we picked a prize and then, thankfully, we got to leave. We went home for cake and ice cream and presents. Then we did bedtime as fast as humanly possible and Craig and I collapsed into bed as soon as we got the kids down. Whew! I'm tired just typing about it! Craig was exhausted because of jetlag and I was completely worn out because I had caught the cold/flu virus that Craig had passed to the kids before he left. I'm not achy now, but I don't have a voice. Good times. Lovin' every minute of it. I'm trying to remind myself that he didn't get us all sick on purpose and he didn't leave because he wanted to.

Taylor did have a great day though. We made his birthday cake in the morning after a fabulous breakfast of pancakes and bacon. We got to pass out blue cupcakes with blue frosting and stars to all his little bus stop buddies. He got to celebrate his birthday at school on Wednesday and give all his little friends parachute guys (there is a "no candy" rule at his school). He got to "open" his big present in the morning, a new bike! Spiderman! On Saturday, Craig took off the training wheels and Taylor pretty much hopped on his bike and rode off! Looks like he takes after his dad!

I was feeling really horrible on Friday so after we made the cake, we watched the birds eat some birdseed from our new little hanging feeder. There is so much wildlife around here. Sophie liked sitting on Taylor's lap! Ha ha!

He also got a new helmet and bell (both spiderman). Thanks to Auntie Rachael and fam for the musical instruments, and thanks to Auntie Hailey and fam for the bowling set. Also thanks to Grandma for the new Superman costume!!! He's already worn it on Saturday and it fits perfectly! What a great day!

Craig also put up our blinds in the livingroom and kitchen and it's so fantastic now to be able to close them at night. It's like we've been given a couple rooms back to our house! No more fish bowl for us!! Hurray! I can't believe what a difference they make in that room! Thanks for the help with those mom!

First day of Spring

You can see the Venezualan Rose blooming, see how tall the greenhouse is!

Sophie had fun showing Craig around. He's in demand, I'm glad we had the chance to go see the butterflies while he was with us!

Taylor is so daring!

You probably can't see all the butterflies floating around in the pictures that well, but it was really cool to see them all over when you looked at the plants and when you looked above you. They even landed on people!

They order the chrysalis' from South America, Africa and Asia. The butterflies "hatch" within a couple weeks and as the butterflies' wings dry out they let them out of the "incubator" into the big tropical gardens. They have pots of nector for them to feed on and misters keep the gardens warm and moist. It was so cool being in this tropical garden with all these butterlies flying around and seeing the snow falling through the huge windows!Taylor REALLY liked the carnivorous plants! He went back in there 3x's.

Didn't this pic turn out so cute??

Katie and Sophie's are modeling their new Easter dresses! How cute are they?!

Check it out! There is even a mormon butterfly!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Taylor made this Leprechaun hat at school and he followed little leprechaun foot prints into the woods with his class to a pot of gold! They also make leprechaun pudding and had played "Lucky Charm" bingo!

This my very own "green baby"! Not exactly the Incredible Hulk, but much cuter!

Sophie had 3 plates of green eggs and ham. I have to say it did bug me a little that the eggs were green. The leprechauns also dyed the milk green . Katie asked me the night before if the "lepers" were coming. Thankfully they did not, just the leprechauns!

Here are some pix from our St. Patrick's Day. I had so much fun dying the shamrock biscuits and cookies that I also made Green Eggs and ham (with spinach) for breakfast on St. Patrick's Day. I also make green cupcakes (and mini cupcakes). It was fun! I think I'm a little like Percy Jackson's mom (except with green instead of blue).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are some pix of our St. Patrick's Day green biscuits we had last night with dinner (really great buttermilk biscuit recipe from America's test kitchen) and the St. Patrick's Day cookies I made this morning. Also is a pic of the nana's apple cake that Rachael sent me. I really don't

miss the stress of preparing for parties with Tastefully Simple, but I do miss the food! Yum Yum! Thanks Rachael. I made it on Sunday and it was finished of last night! So yummy! I would have loved to make cherry cobbler with it, but out of love for Craiggle, I did not!

Last night during scriptures, Sophie fed herself her oatmeal and applesauce! She did such a great job! How exciting!!!! Way to go Soph!

Make your reservations for Chez Starkey now!

Turned out pretty good, huh? I'm not super creative or crafty, but I think that overall it looks great. Thank heaven I was mostly just in charge of decorations. It was stressful enough.

Here are is the fruit of my labors (and man am I tired). These are decorations for the "New Beginnings" night tonight at church. I will be at a Brain seminar (discussing treatments for ADD), but I'm also missing Taylor's Kindergarten meeting. (Craig is out of town, some help HE is! :> hee hee!) Why is it that mostly I have no where I HAVE to be and then I have to be everywhere all at once???

There is a fundraiser at Katie's school where you pay a bit for this fun little apple to show up in your yard! Pretty exciting! It stays overnight and then magically goes off to surprise another fam.

Sophie and Ike had so much fun (I think they had fun anyhow)walking around. Sophie seemed to want to "walk" him. He didn't seem to mind too much and they didn't fall down too often.

All the neighborhood kids meet in our backyard at our playset!

We had such a great week last week. So much sun and warmer weather, ALMOST to 40 degrees almost everyday! Funny how that feels so warm now. The sun was fabulous though. The kids in the neighborhood have been on scooters and in the back on the playset nonstop until dinner each day.

We were so excited that cousin Leisy and cousin Kent (and the boys) could come visit this weekend. It was just the pick me up that I live for! I'm so excited to know that now that we're not a million miles apart we can have more family visitors on a regular basis. What a wonderful blessing to be close enough to have them come and to have the room to have them stay! I can't wait for more visits. All the kids and parents had a great time! We hung out and played inside and outside and went for a walk on the nature preserve trail in the neighborhood and it was something I hope we get to do again many times in the future!

Here's the new curtains/chandalier!

You can't see them that well, but I replaced the dark curtains the previous owners had at the window with these indoor/outdoor curtains from potterybarn (only $26!!!). It's nice to have it a bit brighter in there and being a creature of habit, it's comforting for me to have my grommet curtains back at the slider!

Here is a pic of the dining room. Isn't the chandalier fabulous??? I absolutely LOVE the curtains also. I really adore the print. The style and the colors are all perfect for that room. The background color matches the adjoining livingroom color also.