10 on Tuesday....plus one for Wednesday!

1.. The David Gray concert was on Monday night and it was AWESOME! He sang lots of my old favorites and some of my new favorites from the new album. Royal Wood opened the show and he was pretty good too. We had a lovely dinner beforehand (at the delicious Muriettas) with my cousins (Stephanie & Laurie) and their husbands. We had lots of laughs and it was a great time!

2.. My new bracelet from PRETTY.SMASHING is awesome. It's purple. I LOVE it. Which is why I bought it for myself for Mothers Day :) My cousin, Stephanie, not only crafts the jewelery herself but every bead is handmade too!! Each bracelet takes over 2 hours to make!! She creates necklaces, bracelets, pendants and jewelery for little ones. The pieces are gorgeous and it took all my strength not to come home with a bangle for Olivia too. If you love it, let me know and I'll put you in touch with her. She can customize and create anything in any color. I'm sure she'll have another open house sometime soon....and she's developing a website too!

3.. I know that we need them......but I wonder why it sometimes feels like Doctors are idiots?@#! I'm not saying I can diagnose myself better than they can, or can I?? And why is it that taking out the RX pad is the easiest route??

4.. Happy 6th Anniversary to us!! I can't believe we've been together for 9 years!! Seems like just yesterday......

Tessa & Scott watched the kids and Ralph and I went out for dinner and a movie on Friday night. Boston Pizza and Iron Man 2. Just the two ouf us. Nicey nice.

5.. We were power planting this weekend! I made a VERY successful trip to Costco last week and we got some great stuff. We put in a new little tree (because Rico ate the bark off the old one - that was doing awesome up until then - which died over the Winter.) planted a gorgeous bright pink Dahlia, moved the bird bath, planted two dwarf lilies and two poppies. We transplanted a rose bush (it's symetrical garden partner was Rico's second victim) and a juniper to the front flower bed. Which is going to be a cool little rock gardeny deal. I planted my favorite "hen and chicks," tufty grasses, two daylilies, another juniper and some little flowery bits. And once the rocks go in, it will be perfect. For this year anyway :)

6.. Apparently we have voles. Never heard of them......I thought we had mice. I found a dead one when I was raking (gross!) and then Gia the kitty had a fight-to-the-death with another one. (He was a scrappy little guy but he still lost the battle.) We have found 3 more dead. Super yuck. But, the more we talk about it, the more we hear that other people have the same problem also!!

We made a trip out to UFA for a "humane" solution to the problem. I guess "humane" isn't in the rodent killing vocabulary, cause they thought it was funny that we asked. We bought a trap armed with poison (and peanut butter) and put it under the sealed deck. Ralph dug out the trench the little buggers had created and filled it up with dirt. We're crossing our fingers that we have solved the problem. Gia is a bit sad and feels as though she is no longer earning her keep :)

7.. Ralph took the kids out for a ride in the bug for their first spin of the season and they had a hoot! Ralphie's "toy" has quite the stereo system....which is also a DVD player (super safe, I know).....so they were all rockin' out on their cruise. I know, I know, Olivia isn't in her seat. Please don't call social services.....it was just a short ride around the neighborhood :)

8.. My children have become very early risers lately. And I don't really like this new 6:30am trend. EVERY MORNING!! If we are lucky, Hayden doesn't come in until 7a. And since we have told him NOT to wake us up until there is a 7 on the clock, if he is up early, he comes in and out every 5 minutes until it IS actually 7a. And I've been staying up way too late so the mornings have been brutal. Yawn!

9.. Since we were up early anyways......I made the greatest banana pancakes on the weekend. They were a huge hit with everyone but Ralph. He is not the hugest banana fan, but he set a very good example and tried them :) I topped them with fresh blueberries and fresh sliced strawberries.....DELICIOUS!

10. The recipe:

Banana Pancakes
1C whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch nutmeg
2 pinches cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1C milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture, will be slightly lumpy. Use approx. 1/4C batter per pancake. Use med-high heat on a lightly oiled pan or griddle. Yummy!!

11. Citadel is having their parade of garage sales on Saturday (that's where my in-laws live) so we're Spring cleaning this week! I LOVE purging my life and house of stuff that I don't need and/or use anymore. And I'm gong to try not to bring any other "treasures" home :)