Just keep thinking happy thoughts!!

Well, another round of snow has come and gone.  At least the sun is out.  I'm just going to keep thinking happy thoughts to get through this miserable spring!  A few happy things I'm sharing:

 I made these beauts on Sunday during the dreary afternoon.  Pretzel rolls.  Delish!  If you like to bake you should totally try these.  I was (and still am) so impressed with myself on how lovely they turned out!  Here's the recipe if I've convinced you to try this little bit of happiness.  :)

Ella was obsessed with calling people last night on her princess phone.  It was pretty cute, so I took a quick cell phone (read: terrible quality) picture!  All I have to say is:  At least her PJs she picked last night actually fit her!!  :)  (she may or may not be often wearing PJs which are WAY too short for her!!)  Yet another reason we need spring to hurry up and show itself already so we can stop wearing too small winter PJs!!

It's APRIL! (why is it still snowing?!?!)

TGIF right?  What an ordeal the past few weeks have been (I can't believe I haven't updated since the 8th) So there was the hugely devastating ice storm in my hometown of Worthington which kept much of my family busy toward the end of last week.  Thankfully power is restored to all and life goes on.  I anxiously await our next trip down there as I have a feeling it will look VERY different.

 

I don't know what's going on with Mother Nature this year but I surrender on the winter of 2012/2013.  Longest.  Winter.  EVER.  We got another 4 inches of snow yesterday and I am so tired of wearing winter clothes, snow boots, etc.  Gross. 

 

Not too much has been happening around the Abbas household since Ms. Ella appears to have caught RSV from Sara's school.  Thankfully she's old enough where RSV isn't affecting her as severely as some of the babies, a few of whom have been hospitalized.  Anyway, this RSV thing is really taking its toll.  She's been home all week and we skipped preschool today too.  I think her temperature is finally back to "normal" and I have withheld all meds (over the counter) today to just see how she does without anything.  The most ambitious thing we've accomplished so far today is painting our toes!  :)  At least we can pretend it's almost sandal season!  Otherwise, we've been doing a lot of this:

Weekend agenda - Famous Dave's brisket burgers are back.  Umm..delicious.  We'll be headed there  I also want a new cell phone and...still coveting an iPad Mini.  We shall see!!  I forsee a lot of downtime, napping and cuddling this weekend! 

Who loves Michigan?

The NCAA tournament will end tonight.  The BIG dance will be complete.  It's Louisville v. Michigan.  I AM TORN!  I may have mentioned that all three of us participated in the firm NCAA pool this year.  Ella was out after Ohio State lost.  Jay is hanging in there but is out for any money, and my bracket could squeak into 3rd place depending on the results of tonight's game (or I could lose by a measly 1 point).  Boo.  Anyway, I am torn because I love me some Michigan basketball.  Remember Chris Webber?  Oh.  Sigh.  Despite his calling timeout when they had no timeouts, I still love him.  I mean, back in the day when the NBA was sweet, I even owned Chris Webber jerseys.  Hmm...I wonder what happened to those?  It'd be a fun throw back to wear those out and about - HA!  So, my heart cheers for Michigan but I have to stay strong and support Louisville for the sake of a possible 3rd place finish in the NCAA pool.  We'll see what happens! (and I better find a nap today since the game doesn't tip off until 8:23 p.m.)  Yikes!

In other news, it was "just the girls" this weekend, as Ella loves to say.  :)  Jay was out of town so Ella and I had the run of the house.  We did some shopping, lunched out at Culver's because all Ella wanted to eat was grilled cheese, and cleaned house! :) 

Okay, I have to tell you about Friday night.  First of all, we were eating dinner at the table just enjoying our food.  Out of the BLUE, Ella turns to me and shouts "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"  What?  I am still laughing about it.  I have no idea where she got that line, but that. was. hilarious.    Later, Ella & I were looking through a set of cards we have that show all types of occupations to learn about different jobs in the world.  Anyway,  the two cards above are a waitress on the left and a teacher on the right.  When I asked Ella what these people were, she told me a "restauranter" and an "Apple Valley person." See the apple?  HA!

We also made some delicious brownies yesterday using up Easter candy (Reeses PB cups were layered in).  YUM!  (these are just the "before" pictures - I forgot to take one after they were baked)  But try them - they are super!  I layered in 20 chopped up mini Reeses PB cups into a brownie mix (because I was lazy).

Easter 2013 Recap!

Oh my oh my!  I have been trying to fit in this blog post since Sunday night!  Things just kept happening!  Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We enjoyed our time spent with Jay's family on Sunday.  But, let's reverse to Thursday.  Ella got a super cute Easter basket during their Easter event at Sara's school.  She was so excited to show me everything from her basket!

Friday was the BIG Chuck E. Cheese visit.  Jay was able to meet us for lunch (pizza) but then he took off back to work.  When he was leaving, Ella stood up to give hugs and said "thank you for joining us for lunch Daddy"  Too cute!  We've been working on her manners and it is showing!  A few phone pictures from our afternoon

Shopping & hanging out at Chuck E. Cheese sure is hard work!  Ella was out for a much needed mini-snooze before I was hardly out of the mall parking lot!!

Ella wore the cutest outfit on Saturday - it was very Easter-ish so I wanted to snap a picture.  She is really starting to love to wear "pretty dresses"  :)

 Doesn't she look so old here?  Holy smokes!

And of course we did some baking!  Bird nests (chocolate peanut butter chow mein noodle "nests"), Frosted Strawberry Lemonade cookies and Sprinkled blondie bars (not sure what those are actually called).  I meant to take a picture of my treat tray that I brought to Easter lunch, but I forgot.  Boo.

We went to sunrise service on Easter Sunday at St. John's.  It was a really great service and probably one of the top sermons I have ever heard from our pastor.  Ella had an egg hunt BEFORE we left for church so we had an eventful morning.  And, since this "spring" is not conducive to an outdoor egg hunt, we had ours indoors! She had a good time and thought it was really cool to get coins from the Easter Bunny for her piggy bank.  :)  Note: she's dealing with a runny nose so her little upper lip area is all red!

 Reading the note from Mr. E.B. himself about the egg hunt and I don't really know what's going on with her facial expressions in some of these pictures - I think it was a wee bit early!  :)

Checking out her loot

Easter pictures!

 Her dress & the little sweater were so sweet.  LOVE! 

On the above photos - be advised that Ms. Ella insisted that Jay & I hold this Easter basket in the photo since she was holding hers.  HA!

And, of course she was excited to open her Easter basket after church.  

 

She had another egg hunt at Grandma Jolyn's later in the day which she found more coins and jelly beans!

  And, how about these glasses?? Hilarious.

What a weekend! (Spring Break, Annie's Baby Shower)

We have been busy around the Abbas house.  Most of last week "Sara's School" was closed so Jay was off with Ella up to all kinds of shenanigans!  Wednesday there was a library/parks and rec event with a "bunny" theme that they attended.  She had a good time! And they spent the remainder of their afternoon shopping away! 

 Hilarious!

Thursday's event was supposed to be a surprise, but Ella spilled the beans at dinner on Wednesday night.  They came downtown on the light rail train to have lunch with me and meet everyone in the office.  :)  

 

On the train!

She was so excited about it.  And, Jay asked at one point if she wanted to play a game on his phone.  She replied No, Daddy.  We just need to sit here nice with our hands in our laps like all the other people.  So funny.

 We had lunch at Jimmy John's so Ella could have her favorite - ham & cheese!

When we got back to my office she had some work to do and some emails to send.  :)

On Friday, Ella had Beach Day at preschool and here are a few pictures from Mrs. Mills:

Saturday was the baby shower for Annie!  It was a lot of work and I'm relieved it is over, but I think everyone had a good time and Annie got lots of cute baby clothes (and tons of onsies!!)  Thank goodness for Pinterest.  I found loads of fun baby shower ideas!

The motorcycle diaper cake I made.  I found a tutorial via Pinterest so it wasn't hard at all!  I incorporated a crib sheet (the "body of the cycle"), hooded towel & baby socks (the "handlebars"), butt paste (the "headlight") and washcloths (the "fenders" and the "seat").  I think it looked cuter in person (but maybe I'm biased since I made it!!)  Here are a few assembly pictures I took (mostly so I could remember how to do it if I have to make one again!)

 My cute little helper!

 

I made little favor bags with almond bark covered pretzel nuggets that I made & then mixed with mini candy Robins Eggs.  I added a scrapbook paper topper to the ziploc bags which I think made them look so cute!

 

If you search for baby shower punch on Pinterest you will come across a recipe for the punch I served.  Note, I have never made punch before in my life - I don't like it - the sherbet in the liquid grosses me out.  Not that making punch is hard to do or anything, but a first time rookie may note that that stuff splatters ALL OVER when you are trying to pour it all together.   It sure looked cute though! (I wonder how many time the word "cute" will be used in this post)

I made paper pinwheels, since pinwheels are all the rage everywhere.  Next time I will use double sided paper.  The boring white side kind of made these not so great.  Oh well.  It was still festive!  And I also made a paper pennant which went along the patio door in the kitchen.  I forgot to take a picture.  Boo.

 Lunch went over well!

 And we remembered (barely!) to snap a picture of Mom to be with her cake!

 Another Pinterest idea:  Use Onsies to decorate!  Genius!

 A quick photo (with Ms. Ella bombing it) HA!

And Ella got to spend some time hanging out with Grandma Jolyn too!

I can't believe it is Easter weekend.  We will be in the Cities this year.  I have to get our egg hunt organized and wrap up those Easter baskets!  I've got a few fun treats I'm planning to make, so we'll see if I find the time (or make the time).  Ella doesn't have preschool this Friday so I've told her if she's a good listener this week we may make a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese!  She's beyond excited.  Oh, to be a toddler!  :) 

Here's hoping for some more spring-like weather and for a wonderful Easter weekend!