2 months later

For my birthday back in February Connie bought me a ticket to go see Florence and the Machine in concert. Now lest you think I am really into the music scene let me assure you that I know next to nothing about music that has been made since William was born. I love listening to music, but it is something that not only got put on the back burner when I had children, it was taken off the stove entirely. My only exposure is the mixed CD's Connie makes me (bless her heart) and some that I have gotten from Brett and Natasha. Both have provided me with great tunes. One of Connie's CD's had two Florence and the Machine songs and I loved them. So when Connie told me she was coming and asked if that is what I wanted for my birthday I said yes and have been anxiously awaiting the day since then.

We started the night off with dinner and Cibo 

Waiting for a table

Deciding what to order. This is always really hard for me. I have gotten better since I was younger, but it is still hard for me and kinda gives me anxiety.

I really liked all the art work at the restaurant.

I took a picture of the appetizer and the dessert but not the pizza. All of it was delicious and why do I love taking pictures of food? Because I love food.

There is ice cream in those crepes. mmmmm crepes

At the show. I liked seeing all the different people that came to the show. Connie over heard a lady with a squeaky voice say, "everyone is just so hip". It was true, well mostly anyways.

The stage was beautiful and she came out and from the moment she was in view it was magic.

(doesn't she sort of remind you of Ysma in this picture?)

I loved every second of the show (except when the lady in front of me started swirling her cup of beer around over her head, if she spilled it on me I would have been an.gry. I hate the smell of beer).

I love Florence because her costumes are awesome and she was barefoot and she would spin around the stage and she performed her songs in such a way that I felt like I was hearing them for the first time. It was THE best live performance I have ever been to.

I got home feeling tired (sign I am getting older) and so great. I feel like in another life I would like to have been her. Don't get me wrong, I love my life. I guess I should say if I was a professional musician I would be a lot like her. I have had her music running through my head ever since the show. It just won't leave my head and I don't mind one bit.

Amazon is having a sale on her last album and it is only $4.99. You can buy is here and also listen to a sample of all the songs.

Also there are some youtube videos of her sing live with only a harp and a guitar and I think they are amazing! wonderful! beautiful! And if you watch them you will here her speaking voice which is equally as beautiful as her singing voice. Did I mention I love her? (Gracie just informed me that she loves her too).

Okay I am done.

A late Easter Picnic

Since my sister in law Ashley and nephew Sam came into town a week after Easter we decided to wait and do our family picnic with them. 

Joseph had fun playing with his nother mother. Gracie called her that a long time ago and I still call her that because if anything ever happens to Russ and I she gets the kids (does my blog count as a will?).

We brought the stroller to ride down the hills, of course.

We also tried to get a picture of all the grand kids (we were only missing 3).

Sam loved it:)

The it was time to ride down the hill while the grown ups hid the eggs.

my girl.

My camera battery died at this point so the rest are taken with my phone

Sam was getting fussy so we let him start the egg hunt before the other kids came over.

Here they come!

Too fast for me to even get a picture.

Joseph brought me his sucker cause it was dirty. We decided to give him a new one.

And here I am snuggling my nephew Kevin. He is only 5 months, but so big! I thought Joseph was a big boy!

full

I have been fighting an inner battle with myself the past week about what is most important (that sounds more intense than it is, I just didn't know how else to put it). Each day when I look at my nasty kitchen floor and the toy room that literally looks like an explosion, not to mention the guest bed being piled sky high with stuff I feel a guilty pang that says, "you are not doing your job". But then I remind myself why. This week I have two sister-in-laws in town. Each with a cousin in tow. On Sunday we all got to visit with Mindy and Carmen and on Tuesday we met up at Chick-fil-A and let the girls play and play (they could go on for hours with the little dramas they create) while we got to talk. They were in town buying a house! We are so excited we are going to have them close(er).

Ashley and Sam are also here and on Friday night (or was it Saturday?) my parents got some food and brought it over to my house and we visited and ate and had a good time. Joseph and Sam especially had a good time since they found an unattended (luckily clean) toilet to play in. Then they got to play in the bath.

Then they ran around in diapers while we all watched.

It makes me remember when they looked like this.

Also remember that the skinny little boy on the left is 5 months older than the solid little boy on the right.

Oh look, Joseph is throwing something. Big surprise.

We sand nursery songs while they were on the stage and they loved it.

Then my dad turned into Harry Potter.

And Connie explained why she was NOT going to cut her hair short when my mom suggested she should.

But guess what? She did it anyway a few days later and it looks dang cute.

This week also involved friends, parks, thrifting, date night (Hunger Games again), family picnics (still doing Easter), and tonight a concert (Florence and the Machine!!!)

And when I really think about it, those things are important too. More important to me than a clean kitchen floor.

All in the family

Russ' sister Kirsten started a blog. This makes me very happy. It is mostly to share with us the huge renovation they are doing to their home in Washington, which we will get to see in real life come June. We are having the family reunion there and even though it is only scheduled for a weekend we are going for about 9 days. To say I am excited would be an understatement. I can't wait to see them and the rest of the family in that beautiful state. But that is not what I meant to write about. Sorry, I got side tracked. 

So Kirsten wrote a post about Grandma Clara and it was so lovely. In it she shared Clara's pie crust recipe. Russ became very sentimental after reading this post and decided that we needed to make these pies for FHE and talk to the kids about their Great Grandma. I thought it was a perfect idea.

I bought some apple pie filling at Trader Joe's and made the crust just as instructed except I used lard instead shortening and it worked fine except I should have refrigerated the dough for awhile before I rolled it out so the lard would set up a bit. We have made them again* since then and refrigerating it did the trick. 

They were delicious and perfect for taking in your lunch the next day.

We will make a tradition of this, making pies on Grandma Clara's birthday. I love learning about our family before us. And I love Kirsten for sharing her memories with us.

*if you know how little I bake you know this is a big deal.