A Perfect Dish

I have to brag about my sister's creation. She made this chip and dip platter for a wedding gift for a good friend. Stunning no? She came up with the design herself and spent an entire day making sure every detail was perfect. She did the zebra hide freehand! She is as steady as they come and could be a surgeon. Did I mention her friend loves dips? And her friend's wedding colors were black and red? About mid-point in the dip well, you'll notice some black squatty zebra-esk lettering. Freehand as well. This spells out the couple's last name. I'm in love with the dish...in fact I said, "someday when I get married...," about to put in my request for my dip creation and then realized oh yes, I'm married. Perhaps for my 50th? It is a perfect wedding gift in every way! I struggle to come up with good wedding gifts for people. It stresses me out. What unique wedding gifts have you given or received?

On another note, I just sent Kedrick back to his nap and told him to stop playing. "I'm not playing mom, I'm just pretending to play."

Fragrance of Home

My honeysuckle, once on death's doorstep, is thriving. It numbers in the top 5 of my favorite floral scents. I list them in no particular order:
honeysuckle, orange blossoms, lemon blossoms, plumeria, the deep red rose bush from my mother's garden. Four of these five were abundant on my parent's property as we grew up. In spring the air was perfumed and heavenly. Honeysuckle covered one hillside. As a girl I liked to play detective. Naturally I would put long white socks on my arms to serve as gloves and head out back with paper and pen in hand. First stop, honeysuckle hill. I would pick the flowers, pinch off the bottom, pull out the pistil and suck off the nectar. Nothing was better. I loved that it was homegrown. I've always been a sucker for the novelty of picking something to eat out of one's own yard, a trait I credit to my father. I then would blow air in and out of the blossom, okay, yes I think I was pretending I was smoking. It is shocking and I am not proud of the follies of my youth. But thus it is. It seemed the right thing for a detective to do. From there I went on to solve the world's mysteries. I just sampled one of my honeysuckle, not as good as my parents' but the sweet smell will always take me home.

A condition called TWO....

After several days of constant screaming....really loud screaming...and a long sleepless night, I finally convinced myself that Brock must most certainly have an earache. I rushed him into the doctor the next morning so excited to pick up a prescription that would restore order to my home. The doctor asked me what was going on and I, half asleep, muttered some unintelligle mumblings about way too much screaming. She checked his ears and then apologetically told me his ears looked great and this is what you call "two." Dejected, I left the office with no meds. My $15 copay purchased me two sugar free lollipops for the boys. At least I got something! Brock is learning screaming lands him in his room alone and we are making mild progress. Kedrick is thrilled to see his brother getting time-outs. Finally, justice. I'm sure I have sustained some hearing loss.

Slaps and Kisses

We have finally entered the stage where our boys will actually play pretty good together. One morning, they just started playing on their own. I showered, did the dishes, read my scriptures and then sat down on my bed confused. I felt so relaxed and in control...it was completely foreign. The key is they both must be rested and well fed. If not, they are screaming at the top of their lungs and hitting each other. Yesterday I couldn't hardly pry them apart as they tried to attack each other. Gave up and just put them down for a nap. As soon as they woke up they were all giggles and smothering each other with kisses and hugs. I love seeing them get along!