Cherry Kingdom Valentine Swap

My sweet Aunt Keke, of CherryKingdom.blogspot.com, has decided to host a Valentines Day swap despite all of the craziness in her life. Actually I think it might be because of the craziness in her life. I think it is fair to say that art is a family trait with us and is always sure to cheer you up. There is nothing like a little beauty to make a day seem not quite so bleak.

The swap guidlines were for a medium sized matchbox. It was to be embellished and decorated and then filled with a vintage valentine, something sweet and as my Aunt would say some little "yumyums" or bits and bobs of pretty things.

My design was based off of this adorable Vintage Valentine I found, printed and reglittered.

The paper is part of a new Melody Ross design, sold at Archivers, that I am simply in love with. The paper, as if it wasn't pretty enough already, is also flocked.

I love birds. They remind me of Home and of my Momma and sweet spring days.

My piece still needs some yumyums, but I am hoping to get it in the mail, and off to my swap partner tomorrow. I am really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to see what I get in return.

Viewer Discretion Advised

I feel that I need to caution you before you continue reading this post. This blog post deals with one of the darkest and most horrifying parts of my life here in Nannyville. It is twisted and disturbing and may haunt your dreams, it has mine for the past couple of weeks... If you want to continue that is up to you, but please brace yourself for the next photo because if you choose to scroll down, you are about to gaze on the face of pure evil....

AAAAAHHHH!!!! I WARNED YOU! OK so this little lion may appear innocent and friendly enough but don't be deceived. He hangs from the playmat waiting... waiting... always waiting. Brown eyes never blinking, he watches as you go about your day... waiting.

Then, without warning he strikes, playing one of his four, horribly metallic songs! Over and over again the same annoying tunes play, working their way into your brain. Oh how I despise you Evil Lion!

It is just horrible. You find yourself humming those songs in the shower and while you are doing the dishes. You hear them in your head while you drive in your car or as you lie in your bed waiting for sleep. There is no escape.

Sitting there on a nice quiet night with a cup of tea and a good book (The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury right now. Ryan picked it out for me and I am loving it!), the boys play nicely on their playmat. Everything is peaceful and then.... DO DO DODO, DO DO DODO, DEEDA DEE DO DUM DUM! Insufferable LION! I hate it so much....

You might ask "Why don't you just take it down Bodecia? Put it in a closet somewhere never to be seen again. Then you can have a nice home again." Here is why....

The boys love it... =(

The many faces of Victor...

Victor was hamming it up for the camera yesterday and I just thought I would share some pics.

Male model pose...

(LLLLadies....)

Baby Megan....

This is baby Megan... She has tiny toes and tiny little red polka dotted shoes that go on them. She has long honey colored hair and bright blue eyes. She is a princess and a little over dramatic. She looks just like her daddy, and she came over to play with us yesterday.

At first she was a little nervous. She cried for a little while because she wasn't quite sure of where she was. But Vic heard her crying and woke up from his nap to come cheer her up....

He started waving his arms, bouncing and laughing. He said "It's OK Baby Megan, just look how much fun you can have here! Megan stared at him for a few minutes... ... ... and then stopped crying. Ya!

She and the boys played games together and had lots of fun. I was a little worried about having three babies to take care of but I think Megan's Mommy was a little more nervous. She dropped Megan off and hung out for a little while going over everything.... twice. As soon as she left Megan started to cry. I looked at her and said "Ok Baby, we are going to have lots of fun, and take good naps, because you need to help me prove myself." It worked. She took a three hour long nap (very unusual since she dosen't usually sleep at all in new places.) and was happy and chipper when Mommy walked in. I was so pleased, Megan's Mommy was surprised, and Ryan called me the "Baby Whisperer" last night =).

Yes I am awesome! Victory is mine! Give me ten elementary kids and send me into the woods with nothing but hot dogs... I got it. Give me twelve highschool aged kids and ask me to lead them in an hour long Bible study, no problem. Give me two little boys who sent the last baby-sitter home crying, don't worry. Give me three infants I will put them all to sleep... because I am.... SUPER NANNY!

Yahoo =)

"LOST" CAKE BUILDING BAKE-OFF!

"Lost" is a scifi drama about a group of people whose plane has crashed on a mysterious island. Over the course of five seasons we, along with the plane survivors, discover secrets and mysteries about the island as the group tries to redeem themselves from their pasts and escape. I don't care much for the show but Ryan and Louise really like it. I watched a couple of key episodes and Ryan and Louise got me all caught up on the rest because last night was the premiere of the final season. We were all very excited so we baked a cake. Or rather cakes.

Louise thought we should focus on a delicious tasting cake. So she made this AMAZING chocolate flourless cake that she then cut out a stencil of a logo from the show and dusted powdered sugar on top. I think it looked fantastic but it tasted even better. If you have never had flourless cake it is sort of like a fudge-brownie-pudding-thing-a-ma-jig. It is really hard to explain but with an entire pound of chocolate in this one little cake let me just say, you need to try some! There is only one picture of this cake because that is all Louise could get before Ryan and I devoured it.... yum.

I went for a more design oriented cake. I made a simple box cake and frosted it. Then I covered it in graham cracker crumbs, green coconut, pretzel and gummy trees, and sat it on top of a blue jello ocean. I also added paper cutouts of the main characters, and a crashed plane. I felt that the Swedish fish in the ocean were a very important part of this cake. Seriously, there is a ridiculous amount of fish in this show. Everyone is always either catching fish, eating fish, cleaning fish, cooking fish, even drying fish! I know they are on a island but do the fish really need so much screen time? I am surprised they don't have thier own spot in the credits.

Kate Austin- Evangeline Lilly

Jack Shephard- Matthew Fox

Fish- Fish