Sweet 16.....

My oldest "baby" turned 16....which means a whole lot of things....growing taller than me, drivers license....and of course dating!!

He'll have a hard time finding any girl who loves him quite as much as these two do....:)

And for the record, no he doesn't typically wear his hair like that.....he was dressed up 50's style for MORP...and here was his cute date....he had a fun night!

Driving test...and yes he passed first time....:)

We celebrated in style with a cold and snowy weekend doing lots of his "favorite things"....

a day of snowboarding (or skiing for the girls)....

Dad versus boys at snowball fights....not totally sure who won/lost:)

....whilst Amelia built a snowman....(with much enthusiasm,love and care I might add...she told us she had never built a snowman before??? Could that really be true?)

Snowmobiling....a first for us all and pretty fun!

...trying to find a steep enough hill to sled down proved challenging but after a little trial and error we eventually made something work...the boys even managed to create a jump and snowboard down the little hill!

Favorite restaurant...Oregano's Pizza and Pazookies all round...

 Yay for fun birthday weekends....love my Danny Boy xx

Pancake Day!!!

There are actually not many days when I can say I'm glad I have Facebook...I'm not totally loving the way it keeps friendships so superficial...but that's a whole other blog post....

Yesterday, however, I was glad that Facebook reminded me of the grand old tradition of Pancake Day (aka Shrove Tuesday)...as legend serves (well my 'legend-ous' memory),....Pancake Day is the Tuesday before Lent begins and in preparation for this period of more simple living/meals etc families would use up their dairy products....hence the pancake tradition. In England it is a pretty big deal and as a kid, the day at school would revolve around a pancake theme...(kinda like the Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham type of day here in the US)...

And another thing...English pancakes are a little different to US pancakes....a little more like crepes....traditionally you'd top them with lemon juice and sugar and then roll them up, but I've seen lots of variations so I think by now pretty much anything goes...

Here's a basic recipe:
4oz plain flour
pinch salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water

mix til nice and smooth (it's pretty thin consistency) and cook in a frying pan.....you have to try and toss it to cook the other side (it's the funnest part:)

Yay for Pancake Day!!

Friends....

Some days I just realize how much I truly treasure all the friendships that I have made over the years and the miles....whether it be friendships with my sisters (who by the way are the best!) or friendships with some pretty wonderful women, I have been really blessed. And even though I don't live close to many of these wonderful women, they have the ability to touch my life and my heart with a simple phone call, text message, email, voicemail, or even a quick facetime chat....

It's almost Valentines Day and maybe love is just in the air, but feeling the love today for all my great friends:) Thank YOU!! xx