Pass the Salt

I need to thank three friends for their help in this post: Shannon, Kurt, and Marc.

These are my salt and pepper shakers.

The salt is on the right.

And here is the story behind them.

About three years ago two good friends (Shannon and Kurt) were moving out of the country and had an "Anti-Housewarming Party" which basically means come over and take any of the stuff for yourself that they didn't want to move with them. I picked up a really cute salt and pepper shaker set. The salt was an orange wedge and the pepper was a lime wedge.
About two weeks ago Jacob dropped the pepper shaker on the floor and it broke. I don't know what he was doing... he has been known to "drink" from the shakers and then I would have to empty and clean them which annoys me, so maybe it was that. Anyways....
So now I only have a salt shaker. But then I notice the little grain elevator that has been sitting on the back of my stove for about six years and has made three moves with us.
When I lived in Saskatoon I saw a commercial on TV for these commemorative salt and pepper shakers (the salt one had a white roof) for the city's 100th anniversary. The only problem was you had to buy a bottle of Polar Vodka to get one. I told my my friend and co-worker, Marc, about my problem. A couple weeks later he surprised me at work with the pepper shaker. (You had to buy something else, I don't remember what, to get the salt shaker).
And that is the story of my somewhat unique salt and pepper shaker set.

Like New!

So here is a picture from June 2009 when we recovered our kitchen chairs.

Isn't he cute and little?

I just LOVED that fabric. The chairs were a beige micro-fibre which I found a little boring. So we snazzed them up with this funky upholstery fabric in a geometric pattern. Now imagine two years later.... I wish I had taken a picture for you. The fabric was so stained and discoloured... these chairs needed a makeover. But what to do about two messy little boys? I cannot take credit for the solution since I read it in a magazine, but I decided to cover whatever fabric we chose with clear vinyl so they would be easy to clean. Now choosing the fabric became a bit of a chore since I have painted our pew bright purple, but Jeff found this awesome matching fabric on a 5$/m clearance table of quilting cottons.

Taa-Daa!

I LOVE my NEW chairs.

Blue Kitchen Fun

Our plum tree gave us 12 plums. Tasty.

Jacob holding "Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber"

Daniel modelling Mama's slippers.

Birthday Pictures... As Promised!

So for at least a month leading up to Jacob's birthday he was asking for licorice. Specifically black licorice and he wanted to share it with Mommy, Daddy, and Daniel. So what does this Mama do? Why throw a licorice party, of course! With 12 people to sing to him and to share his licorice he had a great time. Also, I HATE black licorice so I picked up four different kinds of licorice for him, including black.

NIBS to decorate the cake...
the top half was white cake and the bottom half was chocolate.

Jacob clapping after we sang "Happy Birthday"

Daddy helping blow out the candles.

Black Licorice PLEASE!

Black, Rainbow, & Red.... the rainbow were gross but the kids liked them.

Happy Third Birthday Bean!

And... Daniel eating cake. He also likes black licorice.