Sweetie's Lollypops

Whew!! What a day. My youngest is a massive ball of energy, always asking me to help her do something. (I am now wondering if she learned that by watching me always ask her father to help me do something??) I am glad she asks me though and doesn't just set about doing something on her own because many times it involves some kind of danger. (again wondering where she learned that...)

Today she asked if we could make lollypops. I had bought everything to do this a few days ago but got side tracked by my buddy Rebecca who, besides being able to do everything else in the world, is a fire hooper. HUH?? Well, she hula-hoops and lights the hoop on fire!!! How cool!! She is such an amazing person! So she called me Friday night and said she and her daughter were going hula-hooping in the park and did we want to come. Uh... YEAH!!! And just for the record, I have never been able to hula-hoop. Seriously. Never could keep that hoop going around and around my tummy. So Becky taught me Friday night and it is now my new obsession. Yes, I will be having a party and paying Rebecca to come and teach my girlfriends!! Needless to say, when someone calls and asks if I want to do something new, I am all in and I knew the lollys would wait a few days. So here we are on Sunday afternoon and Riley remembers we were going to make lollys on Friday so of course we need to start NOW!!! (Never mind I have a paper due tomorrow and a take home test to turn in!!!)

Sweet Keith decided to get it all going while I finished my spreadsheet and paper (love that guy!!) and then I joined them and took some pics. (Of course if I had remembered to put my flipin' card back in my camera, I would have had great pics of us hula-hooping on Fri. night! DUH!!) We had fun making the candy. You have to boil the sugar and corn syrup until it reaches 305 degrees! and then put it in an ice bath for 10 seconds. Only Sweet Keith counts in Mississippi-Mississippi's for his seconds so I think it was a little too long. Anyway, then you add the flavoring (we used orange extract) and the coloring. They came out too thick because we decided to jam ourselves into a corner of the kitchen instead of using an open counter and so we were all on top of eachother trying to work too fast because the candy was cooling too quickly and getting hard fast. It is ok, because we can try it again another day!! And you have to be really careful not to touch your skin and stir slow when adding the water based stuff cause it boils immediately! Here are some fun shots! Enjoy!

This Boy!!

I adore this boy!! He has the biggest heart of any boy I know!! He has such love and compassion for others - mostly babies, kids and any "under-dog"! He gets really mad when he sees that there is no JUSTICE in a situation. He plays hard, and almost never realizes when another kid is playing "mean" or teasing him - he just has an innocent heart. This boy gives the BEST hugs (and has actually been told that by several quite attractive "princesses" at Disney World. Seriously, Cinderella hugged him and then went and got her friends and came back to have them all hugged AND get another hug!! (He was 5 for that trip!) He actually made me cry this morning too. He said they were starting shark dissection in school today and he didn't want to do it. Being a boy, I thought this would be VERY cool to him so I was confused. I asked him Why he didn't want to do it (he really seemed to be looking forward to it last week). He said that the teacher talked to them about the dissection process yesterday and told them that they may end up with a shark "mommy" that has a baby or babies in her belly. Well, that was it for Quinn!! He wanted NOTHING to do with dead babies! He said he was sure he would throw-up if he ended up with a momma shark and then he would pass out, and of course, that would be embarassing to him. No wonder he did not want to go to school and do the dissection! Oh - poor kid! I tried to make him feel better and told him to ask the teacher for a boy shark. (How do you tell a shark apart???) I just hugged him and told him to do as much of the dissection as he felt comfortable with. Can't wait til he gets home from school and I can find out what happened. (But I didn't get a call from the school nurse, so that is a good sign!) Well, we can cross out anything in the health care field for him. :)

New Clothes!

Oh I just love new clothes!!! I love yellow and green!! They are my favorite colors and i love when i find them in the right shade to wear!! I am so excited to get new clothes! I just wanted a couple of new t-shirts because mine are 2 and 3 years old. (yes, really) I hate to shop. As a matter of fact, I started trying things on and the first few items were Waaaayyyyy wrong for me so I got frustrated. (yes, I do that quite quickly when it comes to shopping) I almost just said, "Forget it!!" and left the store but I thought, "So, what do I have to go home to? The same tshirts I have been wearing the heck out of for the past two years??!! Just get it over with!" So I stuck it out and I am so glad I did because then things started fitting right and being the right color! yea!! And, I found 2 yellow shirts I love and a green one. (I love green but with the red tint to my hair and skin, it doesn't always agree with me :() I am set for spring, summer and fall!! So excited and comfy! Here is a pix of me in my new yellow shirt and camo capris.

Free Spirit

Ok, I just had to post this! My girlfriend Amanda (who IS the craftiest girl I know) has inspired me to get some layouts done and try to post them on my blog. I am not sure how she got her layouts posted so wonderfully but I will find out!! Anyway, the point being, I love her work and she always has such fun doing it so I figured... get to it Kel!!! So here is the layout I worked on last Friday night at Amanda's house. (Thanks Amanda for the smaller letters and I found a sheet at JoAnn crafts in St. Matthews to get the final "r"!!) (yes, it is just like me to start a layout and not pay attention to whether I have all the letters I need to finish it!! I just finished it this morning after picking up a sheet of letter stickers.)

You should go check out Amanda's "Crafty Girl" page. It is sweet! Her link is: http://craftypapergirl.blogspot.com/

She always has something interesting going on!

By the way, I love this bird paper from Basic Grey!! (Check out Dee's crafts in St. Matthews!)

My mom took the picture of Riley last summer at the Melwood Arts Center. They had a mini golf art exhibit! Riley loved it and wanted her picture taken in the "clouds" so she laid on the ground and had memol take the picture like she was "floating"! I love this girl! She is my Funny girl with the FREE SPIRIT!!!

The Reader

This kid has had his nose in a book since he was 7. He loves to read!! I am so happy all of my kids love reading!! I love that Quinn can read history, politics, fiction, science-fiction, etc. and never get bored! He is 10 now and I am wondering when To Kill a Mockingbird (my favorite book) would be appropriate for him. ??? He read Bridge To Terebithia at 9 and it made him cry. (don't tell anyone!!) I don't know about boy minds but I want to give it to him when he will LOVE the book. Maybe I will wait a little longer. :)

I am personally reading the book, "A Prayer for Owen Meany". It is my cousins favorite book and told me I should read it. It is definately a boy book and i am nearing the end and still wondering WHERE it is going. (Quinn will have to wait for at least his 12th year for this one). I will let you know what I think of it once I find out how it ends...

I BELONG in Greece.

In case anyone was wondering, I am pretty sure the stork got his direction wrong when he was dropping me off. I think I belong in Greece. I think maybe my parents belong there too. Isn't Partiniokos what our name used to be??? Of course, it is just across the Mediterranean from Lebanon (but with less fighting for eternity I hope) so they are quite similar right?? Well, at least the food is about the same. YUM!!! I am thinking when I am done with nursing school, I may be going to Lebanon AND Greece!! Oh Boy!!

Happy Daisy

Wow, I wait waaayyy too long to post on my blog! I am always ready to say something but usually get totally side tracked! What' new right?

Anyway, I am so ready for the cold and rain to end and the summer to get here! I miss the flowers and in particular, the daisies!! They are the happiest, most care free flower there is and I love them. Now, if we are talkin' smell, I gotta go with the carnations. NO, they are NOT a funeral flower. They have a BIG SMELL and they come in soooo many colors!!!! I LOVE the colors!!!!!!!! Ironically, I hate the food coloring colored daisies! So here's to looking ahead to smiling flowers and sunny days!