Mini Fairy Door

The other day, a magical discovery was made behind an old piece of furniture in my daughter's room. We moved the bookcase and low and behold- a mini door.
  I was able to video tape the whole thing when the kids found it and it's something I'm going to cherish for a long time. There is absolute magic in the imagination that children have.



1) Buy a little door. This one is nice.

2) Prime, then paint your door. I chose gold paint that shimmers only when the sun hits it just right. Magical!

3) take flat handsaw and cut (yes, be brave) into your baseboard. The cleaner your cut, the less caulking you'll have to do on the finish end.

4)Glue door in place using construction adhesive

5) caulk cracks and touch up paint

6) Now this is the important final step... hide it and wait. Let the kids find it so they're imaginations won't be hampered with logic of seeing you with tools and a mess and pointing them to look at a certain wall. The moving of a bookcase coincided with St. Patrick's Day and lots of talk of leprechauns.

Summertime Dandelion Picking

Enjoy your weeds.

Van Gogh Painting Party

 

I decided to throw a painting party. Above is the graphic that was sent along with the midnight black invite. I forgot to take pictures because I was so eager to mail them, but the envelopes were black and thick and I calligraphied the addresses in silver pen and actually mailed them. I adore getting mail that looks nothing like a bill.

Here were the favors for each guest to take home:  A "mix-tape" CD with songs that went with the starry night theme, and a mini Chinese take-out box filled with shadow animals, or as the kids call them, chocolate animal crackers.  They are possibly my favorite thing on the planet.

 I decorated the house with lots of clumps of candles. The fantastic thing was that my mom and sister owned 30 of these pillar candles that are actually remote controlled so I didn't even have to deal with the pesky fire-ruining-a-fete problem that could have arisen from mixing canvases and flame.

This is what the weather was like in late April, so fire and hearty foods and indoor activities were perfect. (Everyone tells you that Hell is a hot place.)

We had a whole spread of sort of Parisian foods, really crusty breads and cheeses and fruits dipped in midnight rich chocolates and my friends (who know that cooking is not my strong suit) brought incredible dishes.  After eating and chatting I got everyone into aprons, really ragged muslin affairs that I pictured Van Gogh, or a crazed and poor butcher, wearing. 

 

At this point-- and truly this was the highlight of my year when I  couple it with the bowl of shadow animals-- one of the guests entered the room stripped down to nothing but his skivvies.  He was prepared to be the model of the male form.  Nothing gets the party started like some skin and some fearlessness. I have the coolest, most family-like friends that I could have believed existed.

We all did our best renderings of Van Gogh's Starry Night.  I set the table with and 11x14 canvas for everyone and a plate pallette of paints and lots of brush choices and instead of a napkin, a rag to wipe up messes. I set out books with the picture so we could copy the image, but most of us ended up embracing the digital age a bit more than old Vincent would have imagined and since the book pages kept flipping, I just texted the image to everyone and then we each propped up our phones right where we could see them.

It was incredible how great the paintings turned out.  Honestly, if I would've seen any of them in a store I would have plunked down money for them. And I am a cheapskate. They were that good.

Like, I might turn to a life of crime- art heist level of criminality in suburbia and individually go steal a few of these so that I could have a little collection withing the secret vault within my panic room. The above is my favorite picture because Chuck has just managed to fling himself into the shot after setting the timer on the camera and then misjudging how high you must jump to clear a tall sofa.

 Here's the one that I did.  Believe me, it looks AWESOME in real life. 

Scarlett turns 3

The first morning of the first birthday that she'll actually remember

Scarlett had an Easter tea party to celebrate the big day. She invited her besties, Ellie, Olivia and Ainsley.

 The party was a serious blur of little princesses.

I made Tinkerbell sized cupcakes and WOW were they a hit with the 3yr old crowd. Coconut macaroons with cut marshmallow slices were made to resemble bunnies. And each girl got her own candle to blow out when we sang the Happy Birthday song.

Honduras pt. 2

Western Caribbean Cruise- Belize

 Belize was much more au naturale than our previous stop at the domesticated beaches of Honduras.  We got off the tender boat, had to fight our way for a taxi and then pay nearly $200 for a half hour ride for the 8 of us.  That kind of bill always hurts my soul, but now looking at the pictures of where that money took us- it feels totally worth it.  
  We saw the ruins of Altun Ha; we walked where ancient Mayans walked, and we had bagel sandwiches where... well, where they most likely performed sacrifices.
 
Altun Ha, a place that was occupied from the pre-classic time period through the classic time period (200 BC - AD 900). This city may have been one of those referred to in Alma 51:26 regarding cities that were on "the east border by the seashore".  Also cool that the name fits right in with ones like Ammonihah and Nephihah and Moronihah.

other cool info on Book of Mormon and Mayan connections--- http://desertsaintsmagazine.com/2009/12/01/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-ancient-maya-a-connection/

It was ridiculously hot- around 100 degrees hotter than the temps we left in Minnesota, so we were a bit melty feeling. We were able to climb each of the 4 towers, but by then end, we were dragging and too tired to even snap a photo of our miserable shiny faces. 

 
At the top of this tower- the temple to the sun god- the priest was buried and to mark his tomb there was this jade head- the largest carved work of jade ever found.  It's currently in the Belize City Museum.


Monster faces (below)- These were representations of the Earth God of Mayan culture- frequently seen in doorways.

As we left the ruins, we met some local boys and their pets. Crocodiles. !!!  Put yourself it Charlie's mindset and this was the coolest thing you've ever experienced in 8 years of life.  Each croc had a rubber band to hold its jaws shut and man, oh man, were they cool.

When we left the oldest boy offered to trade Chuck a crocodile for his watch and Charlie's eyes lit up like I've never seen.  We declined and the whole way back to the ship Charlie kept telling each of us how nice those boys were. "They risked their lives to catch those crocodiles just so we could get our pictures with them."  FYI- going rate for a photo with a croc was $5 for each boy.