Whine and Cheese(iness)

Before I remark on what's been happening around here lately, I have to rant about blogger and it's user-unfriendliness. I am so frustrated with how cumbersome it is to post anything with pictures. It takes forever to upload anything, and once it's uploaded it's hard to format. It loads pictures in backwards so you have to think backwards or else try to move everything around which is next to impossible. And WHY does it leave a bunch of white space between pictures every time you upload more??? You can't edit pictures once they're up, even anything as simple as rotating or cropping. I was frustrated with this 4 years ago and assumed the problem would be worked out over time. It's not. Grrrr.

Anyway, in no particular order, (since I can't get them in order!!) Here is a look at what has been keeping us busy lately

Claire had eye surgery (again). Here she is bravely awaiting the procedure.

and after...not so happy anymore :(

Eden turned 1! She was very excited about these bowls (it doesn't take much)

and Claire's gifts, an assorted selection of toys from around the house

and a BEAUTIFUL girly pink dress that I can't wait to dress her in

hmmm, I fixed this picture already, but blogger stinks and doesn't work, so here it is dark and with red-eye...Eden after enjoying her cupcake

We were lucky to have my mom and dad in town for the week! Doesn't my mom look great? She looks like one of the girls!

probably wondering if the cupcake is fattening

tried no less than 6 times to rotate this picture before it uploaded (which took several minutes each time) and although it rotated fine outside of blogger, this kept happening! Did I mention that I'm hating blogger right now? Cute Minnie Mouse cupcakes though, huh?

My mom introduced Geo Cashing to us and the kids had fun going on these mini treasure hunts! (and no, there is no good reason Janelle is wearing a swimming suit in February. I tried to tell her that, but in her mind, the less sensible, the better.)

a close up of the cupcakes

We had to take the opportunity to visit the coast while my mom was here - and it was an unbelievably gorgeous day!

One of the girls here, Brooke and Janelle's friend, does not belong to me, but she might as well. Whenever they come up with some ridiculous idea I'm never quite sure whether it originated in their brains or hers -they're all a little crazy :)

Mom and I got a girls night out with a red shoe party (she didn't have any red shoes, so we found a pair of inexpensive flip flops for her at Old Navy - it worked.)

We got some snow here, which is unusual, and Janelle saw nothing wrong with wearing slippers out in it. At least she didn't have her swimming suit on too.

1/2 inch of snow calls for mini snowmen - or snow"people" I should say, as one of them is supposed to be a woman (she even has snow nubs!)

Found a geo cash treasure!

Did a couple of mini makeovers when I was bored. Here is a re-do of the entryway which will be covered in everybody's coats and shoes in a matter of hours in spite of the obvious and easy to reach hooks and bin.

Finally got a good start on the dinnig room. Here is a "before" shot:

this is not a complete "after" shot, but rather a halfway after shot. Don't you love the ceiling medalion around the light? It was my motivation for finally getting started. It was on clearance at Lowe's and I just couldn't pass it up. The mirror I got at Goodwill and spray painted the frame. I spray painted the birdcage in the corner of the picture too.

As seen here in my paint shop drawing, I still want to do a chair rail and frame moulding, as well as crown moulding (not shown) and I need to find some curtains I love. The ones I have will have to do for now.

Oh, and I got a haircut :) It was so long ago, it hardly seems like news now, but I had a picture, so here it is

Other than considering taking up swearing to relieve my blogger frustrations, that's what we've been up to!