Matt and Amy Visit

We just had our first official overnight guests in our new house! Thanks to Jenette's free passes, and Grammy and Grandpa for watching the kiddos...Matt and Amy were able to fly for free to Calif then rent a car for the rest of the trip. It didn't take long for Matt to make his mark in the house:

Notice the "F-16" drawing and "best plane ever" narrative.
We put them in the car yet again for a drive over the mountain to take a tour of the specialty food store Harry and David.
We walked around a bit:

We saw them packing their famous pears:

And making moose munch:

And enjoyed shopping for goodies at the large Country Store.
Then had some yummy food at Kaleidoscope Pizza:

Then stopped at this lovely spot for some quick sledding runs on the way back home:

Matt and Geoff taking the boys up the hill:


I couldn't get too many pictures bc I was in tennis shoes and the snow was DEEP:

Amy in the snow...right after discovering just how deep the snow was:

The boys eating some crackers after sledding:

The next day we went to the local indoor rock climbing gym for some exercise. Everyone climbed but me due to my non-stop shoulder pain:

Amy climbing:

Geoff climbing:

Matt's turn:

And now...J's turn!

And now, W climbs:

Taking a break:

W very excited about the "Alternative Baking Company" cookies they had at the gym...made without eggs, high fructose corn syrup, etc. I must say...that pumpkin cookie was yummy! Tasted like pumpkin bread.

W and J when we arrived at the gym.

We are thinking of enrolling them in the "itty bitty yeti" class for 3-5 year old climbers! We had a lot of fun the last few days-thanks for visiting Matt and Amy!

Easter Morning

The boys were ready to go this morning when they saw the colorful eggs around the house. I was watching with my mouth open at how fast they were finding the eggs. No need to point things out to them! They found all 86 eggs in no time.

Still looking....

Spotted on the chalk board:

Found one on the fireplace:

W showing off his loot:

Sorting out the goodies:

What's funny is what they do in the aftermath.

Here is J - thinking he is hiding under his "basket" while sneaking candy.

Here is W with his "candy train":

Next they found their baskets which had some puzzles, a mini chocolate bunny, a train magazine, a mini pirate ship, and a small Richard Scarry book each. I also found these great little Martha Stewart balloon animal crafts on clearance at Big Lots...so so so cute. Fun project to do with kiddos.

W after making the chick balloon:

J with his balloon cow:

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter Egg Hunt-in the Snow!

On your mark...

Get ready...

Get set...

Go!

My cute boys!

Birds of Prey

We returned to the Running Y yesterday for a Birds of Prey presentation. And this time, the rink did look like this:

...from all the snow! Lots of beautiful snow.

Here are the boys in front of the lodge.

And inside the warm lodge:

The presentation was so good! The boys were a little squirmy because let's face it...they are boys...and sitting still for more than a few minutes is just plain difficult...

but I thought the whole thing was so interesting.

Two ladies from the Badger Run Wildlife Rehab provided the educational presentation for their not-for-profit organization.

They brought some of their "ambassadors" with them: a starling, two red-tailed hawks a great-horned owl, a Swaison's hawk, and a kestrel.

Both of the hawks had been hit by cars. Their website has the stories of their ambassador animals, their success stories, and their statistics of releasing animals back to the wild.

www.badgerrun.org

Here is Gaea - a red-tailed hawk...she had gorgeous coloring and they said she was surprisingly large - almost 4 1/2 lbs now.

"Ewok" is a Great Horned Owl who landed on a faulty power pole in a rainstorm and was electrocuted. To save his life they had to amputate a portion of his left wing, rendering him unable to fly. The power company fixed the pole immediately. I knew that owls had exceptional hearing...but I didn't realized that one of their ears is higher than the other so they can hear side to side and up and down. An owl can sit on a football field goalpost and hear a mouse's feet on the other side of a football field and swoop in and retrieve it w/o ever even seeing it. They have special hairs on the edge of their wings to make them silent when they fly.

An owl can carry something four times its weight and fly. Liz (the President) said that would be the equivalent of her carrying 600 lbs on her back and running! Liz said that owls don't prefer to prey on cats and small dogs because it is a lot of work and risky...the owl could get injured as well...but when they have a nest of owlets to feed and are in need...they will-most likely from January-April when the babies are born. I remember some people losing their cats or their cat losing a tail due to owls when we lived in Idaho.

The boys and I with "Ewok":

Liz clarified that if you see a baby bird fall out of its nest..to put it back...and no, the mama bird won't reject it if you touch it. However, in many cases the mama bird knows there is a defect in a baby bird and she can't expend the energy to feed it. You do need to wear thick leather gloves with mammals like squirrels.

We will definitely go back when the boys are older...and we might even volunteer with their baby bird program.

Good Buys and Favorite Things

One of my favorite things to read in magazines or blogs are lists of favorite things, goodies, good things, treasures, good things to share, etc.

I love hearing about great products. I haven't done a favorite things post in awhile and wanted to share some recent good buys and favorite things.

Here is the list in no particular order (excluding all family members, pets, friends, etc. of course):

1. Odd-sized measuring spoons...mine are from Williams and Sonoma (cups also shown below but I don't have those)

The odd-measuring spoons in 2-tsp., 1 1/2-Tbs. and 2-Tbs. sizes--They seem like a luxury but I use them as much as my regular measuring spoons for baking and cooking.

2. JR Watkins All Purpose Lemon Cleaner. It's all natural, smells wonderful and doesn't leave streaks. Love the same brand hand soap too. I was so happy to see this at Target recently for a great price!

3. Glass storage containers. I found these at Macy's a few weeks ago and bought two (Martha Stewart line). Then a few weeks later I found the exact same brand (just without Martha Stewart's name) at Costco. A whole set for about the price of the two I bought at Macys. I love them though. Everything in glass - so I can store food in the freezer, in the fridge, use in the microwave, and I don't have to worry about certain foods staining the glass (like plastic does). A great way to get away from all of the plastic.

4. Dave's Gourmet Pasta Sauce. Geoff spotted this sauce the last time we were there so we tried it. It is fabulous. A nice change from tomato sauce. Really different...really good...the whole family ate it up. For those of you who don't live near a Costco, I saw this listed at Amazon as well.

5. MAC mascara

I have tried lots of different brands but none that work for me like this one. No clumps. Long(er) lashes!

6. Striped socks. I love striped socks. Hard for me to resist striped socks for me or the boys. Here is a photo of some from Baby Gap. I think all of the boys' striped socks are courtesy of the Baby Gap.

7.

I have a love/hate relationship with Pottery Barn. I LOVE everything in their catalog. I drool over their room designs. I like to go through the website and just add things that I love to my "cart" then as soon as I see the total I just close it down and walk away. But I hate their prices. Have you ever seen that episode of Friends where Rachel keeps buying things from PB for her apartment but lies to Phoebe about where she bought it? It is so funny. Especially at the end when Phoebe walks past a PB store window and sees that the window display is their exact living room. And instead of being angry, all she can think about is how they are missing a piece that is in the store. I just want to pick up whole sections of their store and move it to our house. I don't just circle items in their catalog...I circle or earmark whole pages. This is where I would choose a shopping spree. Most definitely.

8. Pride and Prejudice

I bought this movie a few years ago for $3 at the Target day-after-Thanksgiving-sale. I had never seen it and I figured it was worth seeing it for $3. Best $3 I think I have spent on a movie. So so SO good. Have you seen it?

I would love it if you would please leave me some of your favorite things or recent good buys under the comments section. I would love to hear your recommendations!