An STJ weekend getaway...

With the District 840 Cash for Kids auction, St. James' premiere event of the year, scheduled for Sunday, wild horses couldn't have kept us away from my old stomping grounds this past weekend. The auction is a collection of items any yahoo off the street can bid in either silently or in the live auction. Dad proclaimed this auction to be his "favorite day of the year" and after the experience, I do believe Grace, Ella and Lily agree.

We arrived on Friday evening and proceeded to kill time just waiting for the AUCTION with the grand opening of TE's Tresses Salon...

Lily was happy to step up as Papa's first customer and Grace acted as supervisor...
She was so thrilled with this day at the spa.
Yet ultra serious at the same time...
The results were definitely something to smile about...
After the haircut, it was time for some relaxation and wrestling, a favorite in the Carter household...
And of course, countless bouts of Sequence...
Exercise was at the top of the priority list also...
After a few portraits....

and expressions of sisterly love...

It was finally time to depart for the auction which turned out to be a resounding success. Mom and Dad scored many of the items they set out to get (and then some). Ella and Lily participated in the crafts that were offered and bounced like crazy in the bounce house. Grace was completely caught up in all the bidding action and even was the key player in locking up the final bid for one of Papa's big gets. Ella was a winning bidder and ended up bringing home a handmade sketch book and even I was lured in by my love of books and ended up adding to our home library.

All in all, it was another memorable weekend that makes me realize how lucky I truly am to not only have one beautiful home, but two.

"Where we love is home. Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr

When good ideas go bad...

Being St. Patrick's Day yesterday and all, my culinary partner in crime and myself decided to attempt to create a St. Patrick's themed delicacy. Rainbow cupcakes seemed simple and straightforward enough so after a quick emergency run to Hy-Vee for the white cake mix I could have sworn was in my pantry, we popped in the Black Eyed Peas CD, got out our mixer and set about our business of kitchen magic.

After preparing the white cake mix according to the directions, we separated the batter equally into six bowls. A cake walk...

Next we used food coloring to create the six colors of the rainbow. So easy even a child could do it...

Finally we began layering the colors into the cupcake holders and this is where things took a turn for the worse. I had seriously miscalculated the tedious and labor intensive nature of this particular step. Lily quickly became bored and abandoned her post as my not so trusty assistant in favor Spongebob and I was left to toil through this ridiculous project on my own. Who came up with this stupid idea anyway? ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES later, I had this to show for my efforts and into the oven they went.
When I pulled the delectable smelling little divinities out of the oven, I was delighted with the results...

But definitely not delighted enough to ever do it again.

Oh and did I mention, they tasted just like plain old vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting? The girls were mildly impressed at the novelty of it all. Grace and Lily each sucked one down. Ella politely accepted one and after a few bites, declared, "I'm just more of chocolatey kind of girl". Glad I tried it, so not worth it...

NEVER.AGAIN.

The Attack of the "Lefrechauns"....

At our house, St. Patrick's Day is quickly becoming a greatly revered holiday. Between the thrilling parade downtown and the anticipation of what those darn leprechauns are going to do, we can hardly contain ourselves. Saturday didn't bring quite as much sun and warmth as we would have liked for a parade but we enjoyed the sights and sounds immensely anyway. Primo seating complete with blankets and hot chocolate....what more does one need for a parade?

The festive parade got us sufficiently in the St. Patrick's frame of mind and the girls went to bed last night with thoughts of little green men dancing through their heads. The idea of a leprechaun trap was tossed around but Ella was adamantly against it as if the leprechauns caught wind of the plan, they may avoid our house altogether and that thought just didn't appeal to Ella in the least.

Jason and I were abruptly shaken from our slumber by the extremely excited voices beside our bed announcing that the mischievous little sprites had in fact made an appearance.

They attempted to block Grace and Ella in their rooms using a play house, fake plants and other items taken from the girls' rooms...

Of course, drawers were opened with their contents spilling out, chairs and hampers were overturned...

Even the stuffed animals were not spared. Those stinkin' leprechauns had the audacity to dig through underwear drawers and outfit those poor innocent animals with the undergarments of Ella and Grace.

The bathroom was a mess and the toilet water was once again turned green.

Yep, those pesky, mischievous leprechauns struck again and left a trail of destruction in their wake. Oh, and hey leprechauns~gold coins, clothes and blankets thrown around carelessly and some rearranging of furniture is all in good fun. Even turning the pictures on their sides and flipping the stools upside down I get. But confetti and Lucky Charms scattered all over the house? That's just cruel and unusual. Someone has to clean that up, you know and let me clue you in, it's not the kids that you are tricking that do the cleaning.

Not cool.

The girls were just disgusted with the antics of these naughty lefrechauns, as you can see....

Allow Lily to describe the scene...

Clearly, this was a very unwelcome violation. Maybe we will get them next year....

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Nice and easy, that's my style....

This past week brought to an end a few major events for the immediate future thus clearing my incredibly harried schedule for some much deserved relaxation time. Wednesday was Lily's final dance class and yes, I let her wear this fantastic ensemble without a trace of embarrassment or hesitation. She totally rocked the leotard with the undies hanging out, Halloween socks and pink ballet slippers like no one else could....

She danced and pranced her way through class and straight into the teacher's good graces. Unfortunately, there is not a class that will work out for Lily's social calendar and so we are looking a brief dancing hiatus. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy these pictures of Miss Thang.... while Lily gives herself a pat on the back for a job well done... Next up on the event itinerary was the big John Harris Science Fair. Grace elected to sit this year out but Ella was gung ho and produced a terrific experiment entitled "Operation Egg Drop". Sadly, she didn't take home the top prize but we are incredibly proud of her hard work and determination. Without Ella's participation this year, we could have possibly made a horrible mistake next time we go to pack up eggs (or any other fragile object) and used shredded paper rather than bubble wrap, air bags or packing peanuts. Thankfully Ella's experiment showed the correct packaging path and our valuables will always be properly protected from damage.Grandma and Papa were able to come and root Ella on at the science fair and stay through the weekend as well. After a long but successful day of shopping on Saturday (barely making it out alive due to Dad's horrendous driving) I was very much looking forward to a relaxing night out. Leaving the girls in the ultra-capable hands of Mom and Dad, Jason and I joined the remaining adult members of the Kolb family for a lovely dinner.
Being able to consume large quantities of cheese spread, crackers and delectable beef noodle soup without once having to escort anyone to the bathroom made this particular meal one of my most favorite meals in a long time.

Happily, signs of Spring on showing themselves: committee meetings for the John Harris year-end party, school supply kit hocking, an increase in work for Jason, Easter dinner planning and the beginning of the soccer season on the horizon. To the Kolb household, these signs are more telling that winter coats and snow pants can soon be retired than sighting the first robin. And for my girls, Spring can't come soon enough. Daily I hear wistful conversations of being able to wear shorts and rollerblades and all I can do is concur. It is definitely time for Spring to be sprung.

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow."~Proverb