Quick Recap

Saturday Night~ St.Helena Firefighter's Lobster Feed. Amazing, as usual. Definitely something we will make the drive for every single year. Afterwards, Anna's Cantina, which is always fun, despite the incredibly rude bartender.

Sunday~ Fairyland with Donnie and Jackson. Can you imagine Donnie's excitement when I asked him if we could go to Fairyland?! Haha. It was smaller then I remembered, but Jackson LOVED it. You buy a little key to turn in these boxes all over the park that play nursery rhymes. All of the nursery rhymes and stories are in person, in his size. The Old Mother Hubbard Shoe, Alice in Wonderland maze, Peter Pan ship, and tons more that he could run around and scream in. He was in Jackson heaven.

We were thinking of going to the zoo, but have all off week to, and Fairyland is only open on the weekends. So, if we do go to the zoo this week, I think we may have to buy one of those Monkey Backpacks (aka, Kid-Leashes) first. Yup, I have to admit that I was one who judged people who used them. Of course that was before I had a kid. Like Jackson. Who isn't one to lay back and watch the world in his stroller. He wants to be in it, running around, and discovering everything. And we/I am too lazy/don't always want to look like a lunatic running after him because I want him to be safe. Nothing wrong with that right?

Dear Taylors,

That was an awesome free food night. Sure, we waited in line for over a 1/2 hour, but it was well worth it. Free champagne, beer, cheeseburger, Mahi burger, chicken fingers for Jackson, all with fries. And huge Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches for dessert. It was very well organized too, because we were 2 blocks back in the line, so I thought our wait would've been much longer. I only wish I had brought my camera to take pictures of all that free food and how messy Jackson got. And, free T-Shirts for all 3 of us with your new name! Whatever that name is. I don't even remember, because it will always be Taylors.

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done one of these in a while and I need to start again!

1. I'm thankful that Spring Break is next week. And after Spring Break, I only have 10 weeks of school before becoming a SAHM (stay at home mom, a term I can't wait to use)!! Yeay! And Donnie has vacation next week too.

2. I'm thankful that Donnie hasn't gone too crazy with our escrow taking 2 MONTHS. Ugh. Hopefully, hopefully, we'll close this coming week and be able to use some our vacation time to go up to Chico and unpack our Pod.

3. I'm thankful Jackson's really starting to show his little character. He's a little laughing comedian lately and it's just hilarious. And he'll say hi to strangers and try to make them laugh, so cute.

4. I'm thankful for Blair driving with a car full of furniture from Cal Poly to home. Thank you! And thank you for Potterybarn discounts!!

2 Weekends,

2 Festivals.

Weekend before last was the Mustard Festival. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it to anyone, tourists included. One ticket per taste, lots of vendors, free music, very well planned.

This past weekend we went to Taste of Yountville. Which is free, so it's too good to pass up. But, out of the 2, the Mustard Festival is so much better. The town could easily make Taste of Yountville better. Close down the street, spread it out, better music, etc. So who knows, it may get better in the future. Donnie's station has a booth, so we had a good time hanging out. Jackson finally likes the bouncy house, and was a little madman running around.

St. Patrick's continued...

We had a great St. Patrick's Day. Although we didn't have any corned beef or potatoes, I did make a little file of my favorite recipes for next year. We just enjoyed our non-dyed Coronas on a beautiful day in the backyard.

Jackson didn't quite fit into his Cal Poly shirt (sorry Blair!), so he'll be sure to show it off next year. That is a promise!


With one of his favorite trucks. No, I guess they're all his favorite.



I did end up making the St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Cupcakes. They turned out too cute.


And Jackson even got to enjoy a cupcake!

Although, he took one bite out of the top and then decided to finish all of his teriyaki tofu first. He did eat it his cupcake, but I was stunned he liked his tofu better, haha!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We're all wearing green! No pictures yet today, but I'll be sure to take pictures of Jackson in his adorable Cal Poly green Snoopy shirt from Blair! It's so cute. I love that we had the same college Snoopy shirts when we were kids.

I'm in a cooking funk. I just dislike cooking when it's not in my own kitchen where I know where everything is. Normally I'd be so excited for themed cooking day adorableness. So, we'll see what's for dinner.

I'll have to remind Donnie about last year's St. Patrick's Day :)

Mustard Festival

We are enjoying everything we can while we're still in town and are pretty much booked up until the summer! This weekend we went to the Mustard Festival. Donnie and I went on Saturday and had way too much fun. Once again they had one ticket/one taste, perfect. We purchase our tickets the week before at Raleys and get $5 off and 5 free tasting tickets!

Sunday Mark, Maureen, Susan, and Janet went. Jackson and I joined them in the afternoon for the concert. He loved it and walking around saying, "Hi, bye," to everyone.

And, we now have a collection of 5 Govino Glasses. They are glasses I wanted to try for our pool. They say Mustard Festival on them, even more perfect! I am glad I didn't end up buying them though, because I don't think they'll make it through the summer.

Pink Slip Wednesday

I got my official notice of my pink slip yesterday. Is it wrong to be excited?

Looking back at last years pink slip, I was so disappointed. This year, I'm just happy we were able to be prepared for it. Only 57 more days of school and I couldn't be more excited! It also feels good to hopefully be giving my spot (if I am to get hired back by the next schoolyear) to someone who's feeling the same as I was last year.

Onto moving news, we have none. We've put in an offer, had our offer accepted, everything is running smoothly, now we're just waiting for the bank. And waiting some more. My spring break is in two weeks, so fingers crossed it closes before then. It would be nice to have the whole week to move in and hopefully some pictures to share!

The Park

The sun's come out and every opportunity we have, we go to the park. Yountville, Kennedy Park, Harvest Middle School, Snow School. Little Daredevil's favorite thing is to run across any high bridge.

The teeter-totter, not really his fav.

Valentine's Cookies

Another late post. For Valentine's Day, Jackson, Janet, and I made cookies to take to Donnie, who had to work. I was thinking sugar cookies, but Janet suggested her Snickerdoodles which aren't quite as sweet. The dough was already made, so I couldn't say no to that. We just rolled the dough in assorted Valentine's sugar that I got at the Dollar Spot at Target. And baked!




And put them in an Ikea cute Valentine's Tin! Although the tin might actually be Christmas, I'm not sure, it looks like it could go for either holiday. Oops, I don't have a picture of the side of it.

Donnie said all of the cookies were gone in less than a couple hours! It's probably something about the Snickerdoodles and the cream of tartar in them. Not too sweet, which they love.

Snickerdoodles

Mix together thoroughly: 1 cup shortening, 1-1/2 cups sugar, and 2 eggs.

Sift together & stir in: 2-3/4 cups sifted flour, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, and 1 tsp. each soda & salt.

Chill dough. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in sugar. Place about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. (I use parchment paper instead, I think it's the key so that the sugar doesn't burn.) Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned. I try to take them out right at the hint of browning, no more. I like them soft, not crunchy.