reeses chewy chocolate cookies...

are my absolute favorite. my sweet (and possibly evil) friend mary ann introduced me to theses cookies quite a few years ago and i STILL love them more than any other. they are delicious and dangerous and so hard to resist. luckily they are pretty rich so one or two will hold you over for a little while (an hour?). i've realized the best way to have a taste, but not feel too guilty is to give most of them away when we make them...that way i am thinking of others and not just my sweet tooth, right?


mataio likes to come up stairs and help me bake.
he's helped with these cookies a few times now and asked me the last time if i knew how to make "regular" chocolate chip cookies. i guess he doesn't appreciate perfection when he tastes it.



yummy!

happy birthday mio-badio...

my nephew malieo turned 7 yesterday. he's so big now. I remember when he was a tiny perfect baby who was interested in everything around him...right from the beginning he couldn't seem to see enough of what was going on in the world. He even refused to nap as if he was afraid he'd miss something; though luckily for my sister he slept through the night by 2 weeks. he's still a very curious boy even though i was unable to interest him in anything but his new ds on our traditional auntie/nephew birthday shopping trip. he did answer questions, though, and when i threw in a few trick questions he proved he was able to listen and play at the same time.

i love this little boy!

back from whidbey island...

we had a terrific time at the scrapbook retreat. good food, good music and great people...who could ask for more.








i even managed to get most of a whole scrapbook done...and i am even happy with the results!

heading for my bi-annual scrapbook retreat...

is all this stuff really necessary?

i'm going to vegas...

i've never been to las vegas and now i am finally getting a chance to go. my friend christina and i are going together in july...to see snow patrol! if you know snow patrol and you are smart then you KNOW they are awesome and if you don't you should give them a try. i can't tell you how excited i am. i think i actually squealed when i told jason.



we are staying at the palms casino resort, which is where snow patrol is playing. christina is hoping/praying that they are staying there also.

we'll leave on wednesday and come back friday in the early evening because i MUST be home to go to a harry potter book release party...even snow patrol won't make me miss out on harry!

mother's day fun...

my mother's day started with kial waking me up at the crack of 9:30 with a big breakfast (eggs, toast, english muffin & tomatoes)that she had made for just me. i convinced her to let jas share with me and we both enjoyed the wonderful, yummy food. sadly, due to the early (yes, early) hour i was too bleary eyed to think of taking photos of the spread before we partook. it was a great beginning to a lovely day.




next we went to ceb's soccer game. as the time for the game to start came and went with no one showing up for the other team the girls decided to challenge their dads to a game. it was a great game and the girls had a blast. there weren't enough dads at the game so they recruited some guys who were at the field.
eventually one girl showed up from the other team and told us that their team was from vashon island and there were problems with the ferry. their woes turned into a great game for our girls. i just hope they were able to salvage some fun too.




we finished the day with dinner at buca di beppo. my parents, my brother & his kids, jason's mom & my family all enjoyed each others company and most of us enjoyed the food. jas is an italian food snob so he wasn't thrilled, but sweet guy that he is he waited to complain until we got home.

all in all it was a great day and i got to show my mom a tiny bit of appreciation for everything she does for us. she's an amazing mother to me and the dream grandmother for my girls. i am thankful for her everyday.

since the last time i checked in...

we went with jason's dad, mac, & his wife jean to the olympic sculpture park to celebrate mac's 66th birthday. we had a nice time walking through the park and playing down on the waterfront. after the park we went to dinner at outback steak house. ceb & jason had been craving outback for a while now so they were very excited. it was a nice day for all of us. we really enjoy spending time with mac & jean. i hope they end up moving here permanently.



jason's cast came off after 2 weeks of his complaining about it being hot, sweaty and stinky. kial kept saying she wanted the cast but jason & i thought she was joking. well, she wasn't, she REALLY wanted it and she even planned on wearing it...even after jason told her how bad it stunk.
she is a kid who showers everyday with no prompting and twice a day if she's gotten sweaty, i never thought she'd really put something so gross on her hand. but a little packing tape and she was happy as can be...yuck, yuck, yuck!



saturday was national scrapbook day (ok and cinco de mayo) and mary ann, patti, kathy, sherry, diane and i started early by going to our favorite scrapbook store friday night and then out to eat at bucca di beppo. then saturday i got to hang out with mary ann, kathy & sherry at mary ann's where we had mexican food and scrapped and chatted for a few hours. i always have such a great time with my scrappin' friends.



i am a very lucky lady to have such a full and happy life!