Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes

Looking at these two cuties, it's still amazing to me that they were both born with brown hair and blue eyes. Within a couple of months of birth, Ella's baby hair began falling out and began growing in lighter and lighter. I expected the same with Lucie and was not disappointed. Now people look at me and ask where they get their hair color. That always surprises me...in my mind I'm still a blond! But, I guess in reality, it looks a bit darker.

However, I always figured that if one of my children were to inherit my brown eyes that she'd have them at birth. Ella managed to keep her beautiful blue eyes, but over time Lucie's began to change. I wasn't sure what color they were going to turn...but now there is no mistake about it. Lucie has her momma's eyes. Funny enough, it is something that she likes to talk about nearly every day. "Ella and Daddy have blue eyes. Lucie has brown eyes like Mommy." She looks for brown eyes in other people...and animals too! Today we were swimming at a friend's pool and they have a beautiful dog that Lucie just adores. After getting up close and personal with the dog, she was very excited when she noticed "Hey, puppy has brown eyes like Lucie!"

Ephesus & Patmos

Please don't be confused...the following photos are NOT recent. They are from our Spring Break Trip to Greece. Yes, I realize that we're now in July and this trip was in April. But, better late than never, right?

You'll recall that we started out in Athens on Easter Sunday and then began our island cruise the following day with a stop in Mykonos. Tuesday did not bring good things...at least not for me. It was scheduled to be a full day -- a morning stop in Turkey to visit the ancient site of Ephesus, followed by lunch on the boat while we sailed to the island of Patmos for an afternoon tour. What was unscheduled was sickness for ME. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and could not get back to sleep. As the hours ticked by, I started obsessing over my lack of sleep and began to feel sicker by the minute. Suffice it to say, I did not feel well enough for the morning's excursion so Lucie and I stayed on board while Ella and Brett explored the ancient ruins. I was totally bummed, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Thank goodness for Greek cartoons and the Eeboo "Once Upon A Time" Matching Game that Lucie hadn't played with yet.

Although I didn't get to see Ephesus in person, I do have some wonderful pics to share that Brett took for us. If you didn't know, Ephesus is an ancient Greek city (and later Roman city) that is now a part of Turkey. You might recognize the name from the Bible as Ephesus was an important center for Early Christianity. Ever heard of Ephesians? Paul wrote that famous letter to the believers in Ephesus. Judging from the photos of the ruins, Ephesus must have been an amazingly beautiful city in its day.

(Note: You can see Ella's very important necklace from Mykonos in the above picture!)

The ruins of the theater are rather spectacular. It had a capacity of 25,000 seats. It was not only used for concerts and plays, but also for religious, political and philosophical discussions.

Not only did the Ephesians have a magnificent library and theater...but they also had toilets!

After the tour of the ancient ruins, Ella and Brett had some time in the marketplace as well as a tour of a rug making factory.

Brett enjoyed some tea and very nearly purchased a rug. Unfortunately, someone (aka, Janel) forgot to call our credit card company and tell them that we'd be in Turkey so our card was declined. Note to travelers, if you plan to travel overseas and use your credit card, tell your credit card company otherwise you just might be out of luck. After shopping, it was back to the boat.

Despite sleeping most of the morning, I was still not feeling well enough for the afternoon excursion. So, while the girls settled down for a nap with me, Brett headed out solo to visit the Monastery of St. John on the island of Patmos.

Patmos is a small island that also makes an appearance in the Bible. In the Book of Revelation, it is recorded that the apostle John was on Patmos when he received a vision that was recorded in the book of Revelation. The scene of John narrating his Revelation to a scribe is depicted in this mosaic which hangs above the doorway into the monastery.

Alas, these are the last pictures that Brett was able to take because photography is forbidden inside.

When Brett returned to the ship later that afternoon, the girls and I were still sleeping. We were quite amused to find Lucie napping like this...

I would like to say that the girls and I rallied for an evening of fun on board. Unfortunately, that just didn't happen. The girls were still incredibly tired, and it was a nightmare to wake them for dinner. After experiencing a rather grumpy dinner in the dining room, we headed back to bed with hopes that the morning would bring well-rested girls and a healthier mommy for our trip to the island of Rhodes.

A (Like) New Patio Set

When we first moved into our home seven years ago, my sweet mother gifted us with an outdoor patio set from Ikea. It came with a wooden table, two chairs and a bench. Once we assembled it, it looked very much like this...

For the past seven years, this set has sat (and weathered) on our back porch. It no longer looked like the above picture. At various times over the years, we've attempted to give it an oil treatment but it never looked quite the same. Quite frankly, refinishing the table was just not at the top of our list of things to do...especially after kids came along.

However, since we started our plans to remodel our backyard, we've thought about replacing our patio set. We would love to buy a nice metal set with thick cushions...but with all the other expenses in fixing up the yard, I thought it might be more prudent to try to refinish the set we have. Since Brett was busy tackling the yard, I took on the task of fixing up the patio set on my own.

I started out by using our electric sander to take off the old layers of oil and stain...and dirt. Then I wiped down the furniture to remove the dust. I won't lie to you, it took me a few afternoons while my girlies napped to sand it all down. Because the furniture has wooden slats, I still had to sand some places by hand. I wasn't too fussed with sanding it perfectly because I hoped the stain would help camoflage the places that I missed. After the hard sanding work was done, it was time for the fun work - the staining!

For the stain/sealer, I chose this nifty all-in-one Krylon Exterior Semi-Transparent Wood Stain that I picked up at my local Ace Hardware on sale for $5/can. This stuff is great -- it provides a stain (7 colors available) as well as a water repellent and UV protection all in an easy spray can! I chose "Earthen Brown" hoping it would help camoflage my imperfect sanding job. After I wiped the dust from the furniture, I put on my protective gloves and got spraying. Since I wanted the wood grain to show through, I sprayed a light coat and then used a paper towel to remove the excess spray. I was able to coat the entire set one time with just one spray can. For extra protection, I decided to add an extra coat of spray and needed to start on a second can. The results? Beautiful! Even my husband was surprised at how nice it looks now. (Unfortunately, our backyard is currently a disaster, and I can't move the chair to a better spot for a picture.)
 
 

 
The best part is that our patio almost like new again...and it cost us only $10 to do it. I hope to post better photos of the entire set when our backyard is finished. Hopefully, that will be before the end of summer!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

For other budget-friendly ideas, visit Life as Mom for Frugal Friday.

Blue Banana Smoothie

Two weekends ago, we took a break from remodeling our backyard to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having. We took a short drive to Restoration Oaks Ranch to pick blueberries. For years, we've passed the sign but never stopped. Blueberries aren't cheap at the store...and I still wouldn't classify them as "cheap" when you pick them at the blueberry farm. But, for $15 we got an afternoon out picking (and tasting) blueberries with our girls and came home with 2.5 pounds of fresh blueberries. Since we had far more blueberries than we could eat fresh, I took Jessica's advice on how to freeze berries.

Frozen blueberries are wonderful to eat as a cool treat...or to throw into a fruit smoothie. Here's my version of a "Blue Banana" smoothie. Since I have a Magic Bullet (thanks to my father's retirement infomercial shopping), it's easy to whip up a smoothie for one or split it into two cups for the girls. When you use frozen fruit, you don't need any ice cubes.

Blue Banana Smoothie

1 banana, frozen and cut into pieces
1/2 cup blueberries, frozen
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Place all ingredients in the Magic Bullet cup with blade on (or in a blender) and blend until smooth.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For other "cool" recipes, visit Life as Mom for Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Ballet Open House

Since January, Wednesdays have been a special day in Ella's life. They have been "ballet days." I LOVE Ella's ballet school. Miss Christine, the studio owner and Ella's teacher, is a wonderful French woman who offers caring yet firm instruction. I'm so glad that we've been able to give her lessons this year.

The studio doesn't have a recital for the youngest dancers...and that is just fine by me. Given Ella's past performance anxiety issues, I'm not in a hurry to get her on a stage in front of hundreds of people. Instead, the studio offers an "Open House" on the last day of the session. The dancers have a normal class and we parents get to watch.

I was so proud of Ella. She performed beautifully...and managed not to talk to her best friend Vera too much. I even got to see her "arabesque" which is her favorite part of ballet.

At the end of class, Miss Christine gave each girl a beautiful pale pink rose. Ella was so excited to have her very own flower...and to pose for pictures with Vera. I hope to get to watch my Ella enjoy ballet for many years to come.

Lucie and Her Pronuncation

My oldest sister Jessica claims she doesn't believe me when I tell her that Lucie can talk. The past few times that we've visited with Jessica and her family, Lucie has been pretty silent. So I guess I don't blame Jess for her disbelief. But, Lucie really CAN talk...granted, she doesn't always pronouce words properly, but I know what she is saying. Sometimes her pronuciation just makes me laugh...

• Like when she says "Goggy" instead of "Doggy". She can say "Daddy" just fine, so one would think that she could say the D in "doggy". When I try to work on it with her, she just switches to using "Puppy" instead.
• Like when she says "cocklate" instead of "chocolate". She LOVES chocolate...and I love hearing her mispronounce it!

One day in the not-too-distant future, she is going to learn how to say words properly. Right now, I just enjoy listening to her when she talks. She really is a sweet little girl, and I'm so blessed to have her!

The Aquamarine & Mykonos

Back to the long overdue recap of our Spring Break trip to Greece...

After visiting Athens on Easter Sunday, we woke up bright and early to head on over to the port of Piraeus to get aboard the Louis Lines cruise ship, the Aquamarine. When I began researching our cruise boat prior to the trip, I was a little disconcerted by a few of the news articles about Louis Lines. Just a few weeks prior to our trip, three 26-foot rogue waves hit a Louis Lines cruise ship and killed two people off the coast of Spain. Rogue waves are a rare and not something you can forsee -- just an act of nature. What concerned me more was the fact that Louis Lines had a ship hit a reef off the coast of Santorini and sink in 2007. In fact, it was the same itinerary that we were following. I believe that the cruise line blamed the accident on faulty maps. Of course, I didn't discover this until after the trip was booked by our tour company...not that we could have done anything about it anyway. So, I just told myself that they wouldn't make the same mistake twice and crash into the reef, right?

The afternoon was filled with settling into our cabin, safety drills, and having lunch. We didn't arrive to our first destination -- the island of Mykonos -- until the evening. The sight that awaited us once we docked was beautiful!

On Mykonos, our time was our own. We had just a few hours to walk into town, eat dinner and explore the many shops that lined the streets. In the first shop we went to, Ella fell in LOVE with a particular necklace. We didn't buy it then since we wanted to see what the other shops offered...but she didn't stop thinking about it all night and worried that we wouldn't find the shop again. We ate dinner a seaside cafe with a lovely view and followed it with a nighttime stroll around the island.

After continuing our search in various shops for a suitable necklace for Ella (no luck), we stopped for some ice cream and headed on our way back to the ship. Of course, we had to find that shop again with the necklace! The saleswoman was charmed by Lucie and Ella and also gave them each a freebie -- a small flower magnet for Lu and a lanyard leftover from the Greek Olympics for Ella. With our souvenirs in hand, we got back on the ship and into bed. The next morning's activities were to begin early as we had two desinations -- the ancient city of Ephesus (in Turkey) and the island of Patmos.

Happy 4th of July!