Spring if FINALLY here!

Here is our beautiful Cherry Tree in bloom! I love it. The blooms on it are gorgeous. Our yard has amazing Spring flowers. After our winter I am ready for spring flowers and weather. Sun for more than two days in a row would be lovely.



A view from our living room window! Spectacular.



This is our Tree Peony. I am not sure what variety, but the blooms are incredible. This is the bloom in the morning.



This is the bloom in the afternoon. The flowers stay on the tree for quite awhile, so come by and see it.



This is the Bleeding Heart.



Friday Night was La Fiesta Latina at NB school. There a potluck, crafts, performances... A Latin Dance Troupe was performing... Can you tell which child doesn't belong? Where is NB? Yes, there is my daughter up on stage with the dance troupe!?



They had her dance on center stage and here are the pictures! She was not the least bit shy. Nice of the troupe to share their performance.

Where's Toto?

This past weekend I made a trip to wichita, Kansas to see Ian. The last time I was in Wichita I was 10 years old, so I was excited to see it again after all these years. It is actually a pretty fun city full of great steak houses and BBQ. As many of you know, I LOVE BBQ. Wichita is a carnivore paradise! I may have to be a vegetarian for a week or so to put my body back in balance.

My friends Jodi and Mark came up from Oklahoma City. First we went to have lunch at B&K BBQ, it's a meat-fest buffet. This restaurant looks like it is in an old barn with chandeliers on the ceiling with live blues music. Sorry no pictures, apparently, I was too busy eating and visiting.



After lunch we went to see a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was beautiful. Next time we will have to arrange for a tour http://home.onemain.com/~allenlam/.



The beautiful garden concrete vases around the perimeter of the yard. Inside there is a beautiful garden and koi pond.





Mark and Ian looking at all the beautiful houses. You can tell Ian is really studying the architecture.



Coolest mailbox ever at the Cowtown Museum. We didn't go in as they were preparing for the Cowboys Ball!



Colin's scootering outfit--hat, scarf, diaper and shoes. It was a warm day and he needed to wear his hat and scarf.

My Mac has been Taken Over!

It's been a challenge to get any work done on my computer thanks to Chai and Colin! They both require my attention. As you can see it is very hard to type when there is a cute kitty head on the keyboard!



Then Colin joins in the fun and Chai is trying to catch his fingers! Both think this is the funniest game ever and Colin has nonstop laughing.



Nothing is as soft as a kitty tail...hmmm not quite sure where that tail has been.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We started with coloring Easter eggs on Saturday morning! Both kids did a wonderful job.



The egg decorations are from the Williams-Sonoma kit. This is the second year using it and there is still quite a bit of decorations left! A good buy, especially if you get it on sale.



Cute Easter egg stand!



We went to the annual Easter Brunch with Ian's extended family. They have been doing the brunch since the Ian was a small child. It's quite the occasion. It was at Karen's beautiful house in Redmond. A great place for the kids to run and play! Not sure how Colin was still standing after running for four hours! He was pretty funny on the Easter egg hunt- find an egg and eat the candy. He did get a good head start before the professional egg hunters came out!



NB looking quite pretty in her Easter dress. She does love to dress for the occasion. She is a dress-up girl.



The chickens were almost as popular as the Easter egg hunt! Colin stayed in the chicken pen for quite awhile. He loved chasing them and the older kids too!



Close-up picture of more chickens. I think there were about five. I want chickens! I think Rebecca should have them in their yard!! We could have shared neighbor chickens! What do you think Rebecca??



I liked the horses too! They have a beautiful barn that Steve built!



On Sunday we had a brunch and Easter hunt at our neighbors house! It was a great time and the kids had a blast finding their eggs!



Once again, Colin finds one egg and then eats it!



Are there eggs hidden in those rocks?

Ballet + Kitty Bed

It was observation day at NB ballet school. Of course, since I have the wild child that will NOT stay still and sit next to me, we had to leave. Thanks to Anne, another wonderful ballet Mom, she took pictures for me.




Nothing like a good stretch!



Tell me why I have bought a cat bed for Chai when he LOVES the bean bags!? Earlier today he was in NB sleeping on her pink bean bag and then moved to Colin's room to sleep on his bean bag. The kitty believes in equal time! He especially loves Colin's room because it gets a lot of afternoon sun.



The life of a cat! Can you see him meowing and saying leave me alone you are disturbing me.




Colin looking cute at the bottom of the stairs!

Killer Bees

While waiting around at the hospital you can't help being bored and eavesdropping at times. There was a family that was quite distraught and looking for a doctor of toxicology. From the conversation it sounded like it was a bite and not drugs or injesting chemicals. I was thinking a spider bite, you know my fear of the Brown Recluse! As I was watching the news last night the story came on. The man was using a backhoe and disturbed a KILLER BEE nest. They think he was stung 2,000 times. Poor man. He was so covered in bees that the couldn't see his skin. Fire department removed the bees with a firehouse. I am sure that didn't feel so goo after all of the bites. MOst all of the bees in Southern Nevada are now the Africanized Killer Bees. Scary thought as these bees will charge at anyone if disturbed. Here is the article. I hope he will be okay.



Notice Seattle that THIS is a street cleaner! They come around and sweep the streets and gutter. What a concept? When I have mentioned street cleaners people usually look at me like I am crazy, see now I have proof.



Progress on the Hemlock Ring. It's going fast. I think I am about half done. These are lousy pictures and the color is not even close to the color of the yarn. It is a midnight blue color-Paris Nights! Hmm...I may have to go back to Paris to double check that!!



Close up detail

Healing Garden and Friends

I have a lot of time to wander around the hospital, while my Mom is in ICU. St Rose Dominican has a beautiful Healing Garden! A great place to sit, relax and reflect. Sometimes in the hospital you need to get out and this is the perfect place to escape to! My Mom is slowly getting better. They are trying to wean her off of life support, which is very good news.



See there are trees in Las Vegas!



I am not sure what this tree is, but it is gorgeous. Something with the name weeping? I may come out here and work on my Hemlock Ring. By the way, it is progressing nicely. I will try and get a good picture!



My thought this year is to make more time for friends and reach out to friends I haven't talked to in awhile. Thanks to Facebook I have been able to chat and visit with friends I haven't seen for a bit. It's a great starting place, but then you need to take it to the next level and actually see your friends in person! This trip to Las Vegas I have been able to get-together with friends I haven't seen in awhile and I am very thankful for that. If you are reading this blog and we haven't talked, let's do something about that.

This is my beautiful on the inside and out, best friend Sharon! I hate having my Mom in the hospital, but I love talking to Sharon everyday and spending time with her. Please move to Seattle and don't kill me for posting this picture!!