Drafts....

I felt I should actually update this blog.... you know, post something.... anything....

So I went and opened my dashboard and looked at my post list and do you know what I saw?

Yup.
DRAFTS.

Four drafts of half finished posts.... that I either ran out of patience, energy, or creativity for before I finished them. And in every one I realized, I wanted pictures for this. And again I found myself putting off publishing them.

Why? Because I am not an amazing photographer.... and all of the pictures I want to go along with the post (if I have any in the first place) are taken using my iPhone. And not the cute Instagram iPhone pictures either.... the lame-tastic, overly yellow, wonky ones. And I'm embarrassed.

So. I'm not posting my crafty tutorial- again.... and I'm not publishing my drafts- yet.... but I am posting a totally sweet -albeit poorly captured photo of my boy in his bed the other night.

 I couldn't resist. I found him curled up side-ways on his bed next to the kitten and with a laundry tote by his side. 

My attempt at urban photography using Old Camera

 Do you see what that is? He made a sweet little "room" and bed for his Baby in the laundry tote. I am in love!

In. Love. People.

Do you Blog Stalk?

This question came to my mind after a parent at my children's school said she noticed my blog updates on Facebook and "poked around the blog a little. But not in a bad, creepy way!"  It made me smile to think that someone actually took the time to check this ol'rag out ... let alone tell me about it! And honestly, isn't that why one blogs in the first place. For the READERS! Who cares if the only reader is your cousin from Wisconsin or your best friend (because she has to!) ... we want our thoughts heard, and comments aren't bad either. So, that brings us back to the question at hand, do you blog stalk?

So do ya?.... Com'on... We're all friends here.... You can tell us me!

Are there any sites you stalk...er, read regularly? Like every day

Twice a day?

Twice PLUS stalk the Facebook updates?!

Yeah.... me neither. HA!

What? You don't believe me.... well, shucks, I'm guilty. I love good blogs! Here are a few of my favorites and a little bit about why I like them.

I'm A Lazy Mom...
HELLOOO! The name says it all, doesn't it! Stacey is a riot! In fact, to use a Junie B. Jones term, "that lady cracks me right up!" I love her light hearted approach to parenting, laundry, and life in general. As the wife of a pastor, mother of three (super cute) kiddos, and a well-known review blogger, she is ripe with commentary designed to keep your funny-bone in action and your outlook on life a lot less serious. I get all giddy when those emails pop up and tell me that she has posted another Lazy Recipe (MUST contain 5 ingredients or less... genius!) or a great Lazy Mom Confession. That's right, we tell all of our dirty little secrets and jubilate as we realize, we aren't so weird and slacker-like as we thought! If you need a moment to get back to reality and want permission to say, "I don't have to be perfect to be a wonderful Wife, Mother, Neighbor, Friend, and Sister!" Come on by I'm a Lazy Mom and see what all the noise is about {I promise it's not my kids this time!}

71 Toes
I saw Shawni and her mother, Linda Eyre from Values Parenting, at a women's conference a few years ago and was immediately impressed with their relationship and parenting styles. I saw a story I could relate to, a daughter who looked up to her mother, and wanted desperately to raise her children with all of the love, strength, faith, and stability she had experienced in her parents' home. Shawni is down to earth and honest about her shortcomings (read her "disclaimer" here). Her writing style is very sincere and well put together, I really admire people who can post almost daily - with pictures even! I can't hardly post once a week month! One of my favorite things on 71 Toes are the posts about what she calls Deliberate Mothering. It is a conscious effort to parent children in a way that brings them joy, self-awareness, safety, and cultivates their loves of learning, faith, and family. On my other blog, I wrote that I want to be a mother who teaches her children on purpose, meaning that I want to deliberately have a focus and goal in mind all through the year that I will teach my children about and help them to cultivate in their own lives. This is important to me and I appreciate Shawni for her insight and example of real mothering.

NieNie Dialogues
Stephanie (Nie) Nielson is one of the most inspiring, faithful, intellegent, compassionate, and beautiful women I have ever heard or read about. Noted by several sources as a "well-known and admired Mormon mommy-blogger", Nie began keeping an online journal about the devastating plane crash in 2008 (involving she, her husband (Christian), and their close friend and flight instructor) which left her deeply scarred over 80% of her body. I first heard Stephanie and "Mr. Nielson" talk about the accident in an interview on the Mormon Radio program Conversations, however, she and her blog have been profiled on numerous television shows such as: 20/20, Oprah, TODAY, and Glenn Beck. She has a new book Heaven is Here: a memoir will be available this April; available for pre-order here.

I had not been very blog-savvy pre-2008, so I did not have the pleasure of reading her insightful musings before the accident. Hearing her speak about the miraculous occurrences in her life, her struggles, her faith, her love of family gave me a huge desire to "get to know" this amazing woman. The blog is full of the same things, each post radiates love and gratitude. Some are simple with only a single picture and a few lines of text, many others are unique glimpses into the joys and struggles she faces. As a mother of four, and expecting a new baby in Spring 2012, Stephanie has many day to day posts that strike a chord with me and inspire me to be a better mother. A more involved, more faith oriented, more (yes, deliberate) mother, as well as a better sister and daughter. She says that the honest reason she is still blogging, is that she knows people feel the Spirit when they read her posts and her purpose is to bring people to Christ. She will send a Book of Mormon to any reader who asks, she has sent close to 1000 copies to readers all over the world since 2009. This is amazing to me! It took me nearly two years and several pleadings from my sweet little boy to pluck up the courage to give a copy to my neighbors this Christmas! I love the words inside the Book of Mormon: the special witness of Jesus Christ, the affirmation of the presence of a loving Heavenly Father, and especially the promise of eternal families that it contains. I hope one day, to be able to have the ability to be not only open about my faith, but to have a missionary heart! Stephanie's story is one of faith and hope, if you are in need of inspiration or diversion, please join her journey.

Thanks for reading through my obsessions *grin*. I hope that you will enjoy these blogs and share with me the ones that bring you joy. *Please note, the opinions stated within this post are strictly my own. I was not solicited or paid to write positive reviews for any of these bloggers, they had no knowledge before hand in fact, I truly admire these women and said what I felt needed saying. Thank you.*

Science Fairs and Birthday Parties!

That is the run down on my week...

My Itty-Bitty tried so hard to make a nice science project for her school science fair.
She came up with it all on her own, growing green beans with different soils to answer the question:

"Which soil will make the plants grow the fastest?"

She had three soil samples and labeled them: Fertilized Soil, Potting Mix, and Dirt (from our backyard). Then she wrote a prediction; The bean seed in the Fertilized Soil will grow the fastest and largest.
Unfortunately, her initial soil samples had too much water in them and the seeds floated to the top...
She pushed them back into the soil and finally they began to grow! Part of the experiment was to be exact in her watering and to measure, regularly, the growth she observed. We were all so excited for her as the sprouts began to break the surface!

I'm not sure exactly what happened then .... to make it veer terrible off in the wrong direction.... but veer it did. It might have been the cats, who love to sit in the window and paw at stuff. It may have been the little brother.... who was a little too over zealous about pulling touching the new growth. It may have been the really amazing tip the Little Scientist found in a gardening book. Apparently, putting eggshells in the soil is a wonderful fertilizer. Knowing that she couldn't add extra items to one soil without also adding to the others, she haphazardly carefully dropped piles of crushed eggshells on the tops of the soil. On top of the teensy-tiny little sprouts. *shakes head* Thankfully, we pulled enough off of one to get a decent shoot, but it didn't do enough to save the project. In an effort to salvage the project, she: planted a new batch and made new predictions, she put together a wonderful project board, and turned in the whole thing. She didn't win any awards, but she felt good about what she learned and she was happy to see the projects her friends did also. It was a good learning experience for all of us.

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On the other end of the week, our focus and planning has turned to the next celebration in our home.

The seventh birthday of my sweet little boy!

When it comes to birthdays, I always have amazing, grandiose ideas.... however, they rarely come to fruition. *sigh* This time, I didn't plan anything at all.... until 9days before the "friend party"... And I called parents and blamed their lack of invitations - on the shoddy mail system out in our little town!

Yes, you can vote for me as Mother of the Year here!

So, anyway, in our family, the most anticipated part for me is the telling of each child's "Birth Story"! Last night, I snuggled my great-big little boy on my lap and retold the whole beautiful event.... in appropriate terms, of course! Fritz really loves to hear about when he was a baby, baby. It makes him all sweet and cuddly again, so I always love it as well! After a sweet family prayer, thanking Heavenly Father for our sweet little boy and our beautiful family, Nana and I finally got those big babies to sleep. Sister set her alarm for 5:57am and of course, Itty-Bitty woke up to it and ran to wake the Birthday Boy!

Another tradition we have is The Birthday Fairy. She ... I'm sure it's a she, although I've never actually seen her.... is related distantly to the Tooth Fairy and the House Fairy, so I hear. The BF comes in the night (duh) and leaves a specially wrapped little gift for the child to open as soon as they wake up! I am not sure exactly how she came to visit our home, but not a single birthday goes by without the children anticipating her return. Fritz received a Kre-O (like Legos) Transformers set today, and when I went to get the kids up, he was sitting on his bed with Itty-Bitty building Bumblebee! After getting dressed, we celebrated Master "Fritz's" birthday today, eating pancakes for breakfast, bringing cupcakes to school, having his special meal (Reuben Sandwiches with potato salad and chips), etc.

We opened a few gifts after dinner.... he was very grown-up and good-natured about the two pairs of long johns and t-shirts. He really is getting big! He was so much fun when he opened his new Hex Bug Nano "environment" that we decided to give him all of the pieces we had been saving for the big party! The kids were all having a great time snapping together the different pieces of track and watching their bugs "battle". Even the cats and dog got into the action! It was after 9 o'clock when I finally got him to take it all apart and get into bed. We ended the night with simple prayers and a customary lullaby. Hush Little Baby, was the request tonight.

Gosh, I love this sweet little man. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful blessings he has brought to our family. I don't know why Heavenly Father lets things happen the way he does, but I am eternally grateful for His wisdom in bringing this special spirit into our lives, we love him more than we ever could have imagined. I will forever be a better woman because I am raising one of the Lord's Stripling Warriors!

Check out my view!

So my good friend {read:sistah} Laura commented that I'm not blogging enough... At all.

So... I thought I ought to show you all what I've been up to this summer...

We spent a great month with our cousin Ashley from California. We took her to parks, went swimming, saw matinee movies, rode "Roaster-Coasters", and laughed a LOT! I'm so glad she was able to come and get to know these crazy Northern relatives of hers!

After the Fourth of July, Fritz tried to stay focused at Washington Intensive Wrestling camp. It was an intensely tough week of training, perhaps a little much for his barely First Grade body! Poor kid even fell asleep in the car on the 2 1/2 minute drive home three days in a row!

Itty-Bitty turned nine, so we planned her a backwards birthday. We made her pinata from a leftover snack box -covered in scrapbook papers and about 50 sheets of fringed tissue paper- and filled with more than 5 pounds of candy! We decided to serve a lunch  meatloaf "cupcakes" with pink mashed potato "frosting" along with "Corn on the Cob" cupcakes. Surprisingly, the meatloaf was a huge hit!

Itty recieved another exciting gift on her birthday.... a new baby cousin!!!! His name is Jamari Lee and he is absolutely adorable - and not at all underloved! Checkout our little "Pajamas" and all of his adoring big cousins!

So.... now that it's finally gotten decently warm up here in the Great White North, there is one last view that I am particularily grateful for.... the lake by my home! Ahhh the peace.

I hope you enjoyed this (seriously condensed) photo-recap of our summer!

Stay cool and don't forget the SPF!

Crazy Week... or two.

I've been SO exhausted. We have been running, running, running.... non-stop for three weeks. Fritz started wrestling and has two practices a week, plus an all day tournament every Saturday. The first two hosting schools were 35miles and 99miles away.  And weigh-in was at 7am! UGH! Add to that the typical weeknight activities: two piano practices, Activity Days for church, and various school and church randomness. See why I'm exhausted?! LOL

We also spent a few nights "in town" getting ready for Nana to leave for her time in California to visit her mother. Then we had to pack her.... and worse, say goodbye to her. Fritz was very sad. He said he isn't going to even sleep in her bed because she won't be sleeping there. Aww :-(

So... instead of whining on and on all night about how tired I was... what do you think I did?!

No. I am not that smart. I didn't go to bed....sillies.

I signed up to be a First Responder at Digitals a scrapbook community and store! It's really very simple and a lot of fun! AND the best part is that I HAVE to use my digiscraps and ScrapbookMax! So..... I've been up several late nights making some LO's (lay-outs) and posting them on the forums... and responding to other posts. I also got a great deal for a printed photo gallery book and was up WAY too late designing one for my mother with all of my family's GREAT new photos! Happy Birthday Nana! I'm having it shipped to my Grandma's house, so it will get there on her birthday.

So.... what have you been up to?

Momma's Vegetable Beef Stew

When I was about six years old, my mother took me to a few Weight Watchers meetings...

No. This isn't a weight loss post...

Although, it does bring up the thought that I really SHOULD try that sometime...

To lose weight, I mean. Hmph.

ANYWAY! At one of those meetings -at least- they gave out a recipe for a garden soup that is now one of my MOST FLAVORite foods ever! Honest. We make it a lot during the cold months, and living up here in PacNW, we have lots of cold months! It is an extremely easy and inexpensive meal to make.

While I couldn't find the original WW recipe, this is a similar vegetable soup recipe found on a blog called A Veggie Venture. It calls for vegetable broth, garlic, onion, carrot, cabbage, tomato paste, green beans, basil, oregano, and salt. I like my soup to have a little more body, so I have always added yellow crookneck squash and zucchini. We never ate cabbage in my house as a kid *shrug* so, instead of that, we use quartered Brussels sprouts. Trust me. I adore Brussels sprouts in this soup... my kids actually ARGUE over who gets the MOST in their bowl! Seriously. I'm not just sayin' that to get props. No, really.... ah, well, thanks!

So, my typical recipe includes: canned stewed tomatoes, onions, green beans, cauliflower, corn, carrots, garlic, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, crookneck squash, zucchini,  home-made salsa, vegetable broth or bullion, salt/pepper/Italian seasonings/crushed red pepper flakes and a 4-6 oz bone&skin-less chicken breast diced or shredded. This means that by the "old" standards, this soup is more accurately dubbed - 4point Chicken Veggie Soup. I don't care.... I don't count points... I just LOVE this soup!

Today, I didn't have any vegetable broth.... or chicken stock. So instead I used some left over roast beef stock that my mother and daughter had frozen late last month. (They took all of the meat and veggies we had left and mixed them with a gravy my eleven year old made from the crock pot juices! It was awesome for her first 'from scratch' gravy) To make it taste better with the beef, I omitted the salsa. I have a fabulous loaf of fresh French bread ready to break open and sop up the tasty broth at lunch! I can't wait!


Here is my Vegetable Beef Stew recipe:

3c reserved roastbeef pieces and gravy - including vegetable pieces

1 Onion -diced 
3 Carrots - rough chop  
3 Cans stewed tomatoes

1lb fresh Green beans - snapped to size 
1/2 lb fresh Brussels sprouts - halved

3 small Zucchini and 3 small Crookneck squash - cut in half, chopped rough

4 medium potatoes- quatered, chopped, boiled with salt

1 cup water   
Seasonings to taste (basil, oregano, thyme, salt, cracked pepper, bay leaf) 

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 1 hour.  Serve and enjoy!

I'm linking up with these parties:

edited to avoid unintentional copyright infringements

I'm A Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinner!!!!

HOORAY!

Kari at U Create sent me an email last night to tell me that I won the random draw for her Say It On The Wall $50 giveaway. Can.You.Believe.It.????

I posted earlier that I was following Texas Type A Mom in her quest to enter giveaways... what you don't know is that I was saying to myself, "I need to enter eleventybillion, because I never win those things..." Well my dear readers (all 6 of you!) never say never!

So, $50... in vinyl... that's like good chocolate for my walls!!!!  Here are a few of the things I am looking at purchasing:

This is the HIL-AR-IOUS saying that I commented on for the contest.

Those of you who know me personally, you KNOW how true that is! LOL and at $10, I think it will be the perfect little tongue-in-cheek hanging for our front door.

I also really like this one - for my girls' room ($12)

And this for THE Boy's room ($15)

I've been looking for something to go over our piano... something about practice... angels... music.... blessings... I don't know...

Maybe this ($18)

That could fit on a 12x12 tile if I aske for it resized a bit.... or I could ask her to widen it a bit and increase the font.

This one is a great one as well ($8.75)

As you can see, I've got a decision on my hands. Which ones do you think I should get - Yeah, I know you are going to say *ALL of them* but really, I only have $50!

Visit Sayitonthewall.com and tell me which ones are your favorites as well!

Don't forget to follow her blog too!

It’s done

I started a craft blog for my plan to make Christmas fantastic by not purchasing any gifts!

I tell the story here and share some beautiful and frugal inspirations with you. I will be including photos and videos as the projects get under way.

I have decided to keep this a family/life blog. I will continue to post oddities about my home, family, and interests. This way, I can keep a journal of our lives AND enjoy the selfish desires of frugal creativity! ;-)

Here's a taste of what I'm talking about ---

These adorable Hammock pillows (using old cloth placemats) are featured @ The Red Chair Blog. Who doesn't love a little POP! of color in the backyard?

How about a stack of these 3-D cards for your Pixie family to enjoy? Check 'em out @ Skip to my Lou!

I love these tile coasters from Little Birdie Secrets. A stack of these tied with a ribbon would be a beautiful teacher gift from your child.

I hope you enjoy these great ideas, snag a couple and craft yourself a Frugal Christmas (in April)!

So glad it's Summer!

Well school's out... I'm SO glad! I have a basement to declutter and kids to set free in the backyard! I have every intention of spending my afternoons down at the beach -- once it stops raining of course! Here are a few things that have happened since my last post...

First of all, some very exciting news for me... I was able to do something I thought I would have to wait many years to do. I was able to have Temple work done for my Great Grandma Jessie Aurora Bowser, my Great Grandpa Charlie Bowser, Great-great Grandmother Sarah Clements, as well as for my Grandpa Gene Driggers (my mom's daddy). I went with the youth to do the baptisms, I haven't done that since I was 15. It was very cool to see the awesome youth in my ward! They were so happy to be there, and they were so welcoming to one another, I love those kids! What great examples you are to my children! Then the next week my mom and I did the names in a session. The men's names were done the same night! It was such a cool week! I felt so close to my Grandma! Way cool!

For spring break, we took a family vaca to Seattle/Tacoma and went to the zoo(saw a really cool bald eagle and elephants), the science center(the butterflies were awesome and so was the planetarium), and had dinner with our Grandpa and Grandma Leonhardt (we love you and miss you and can't wait to see you again!)! Then we traveled back through Spokane and down to Rigby, ID to visit our friends Sara and Barri Farnes. We had an amazing time there reconnecting and walking around BYU-I. Sara and I did a session at the Rexburg Temple, and we even got a little guided tour... of the sealing rooms and the waiting area for the children. It is so beautiful!

Things got a little crazy after that though... Mom was in California, I was in school.... Girls started Softball. They played on a team called Hot Chili Peppers (the team chose it because their shirts were red!) Both girls did so great this season! I'm so proud of them for stepping out and learning something new. This was Sister's first time playing and Itty-Bitty was the youngest and smallest player -- being the only 6yo on a team of mainly 3-4 graders! They were AWESOME!!!!! They made good friends, as did I, and their coach was fantastic!

Things got really wild when my brother Dave got very sick from an abcest tooth. He was so sick they hospitalized him and did two oral surgeries to remove the abcesses.... EW! I spent a lot of time at the hospital so his son, Jon, could see him. It was a very tender week and I am so grateful to have been able to help my brother and nephew. I am so grateful for the Lord's hand and plan in our lives. I am so grateful for David, for being my brother and my friend. I am so grateful that I have a good relationship with him. I love him so much! I am so grateful he is healing well and able to get back to his regular routine!

After I took Dave home from the hosptial, I did something really stupid and got into a car accident.... IN my mother's car!!!! EEEEEEK!!! Thank heaven that no one was hurt. My kids weren't with me, which was another blessing because I got a little hysterical when I couldn't open the front doors. I had to climb out through the back of the Mountaineer!!! Mom was still in California, so I had the 'pleasure' of calling her and reporting the damage.... Oops! So... that brings us up to about last week.... LOL

There was other stuff like: Fritz and I went to Cattails with his class... Itty went to Riverfront and to the lake with her class, Sister went to YMCA with her class and climbed the wall there... Oh, we got a new kitten too.... Purrsia.... she's really cute... looks like a Mini-Me Domino. Domino boycotted the house when Purrsia came, for about three weeks!!! Talk about tempermental!!! But she's back inside now, staying up on Fritz's bed because Sabrina and Purrsia can't get up there! Laura came for a dance....YAY!!!! Mom bought a new car.... Suzuki XL7 -- way cute! And... I think that's about all!

WOW!!!! I'm so glad for Lazy Dazy Summer!!!!!!

Through his eyes

"How do you make oranges?"
"God made them grow from fruit trees, with sun and water"
"How did frogs grow?"
"God made them from little tadpoles"
"Why do we have rain?"
"God gave us rain to water the plants and give us water to drink and bathe in."

These are the kinds of questions and answers I give Fritz each day as we drive to school or walk outside. We play I Spy and he notices his world. Sometime he lets me look at the world as he sees it. On those days, I am truly blessed.

Yesterday we were doing the same Q&A while running errands. We were walking in the parkinglot when he reached up to hold my hand and asked... "Momma, why did God give us Wal-Mart?" To which I said... "Because God knows your Momma loves a good deal once in a while!" Isn't that the truth? God Knows! He knows ME! He knows what I need... even if it's just a good deal on cough syrup for my babies who have the crud. Or if it's the extra money needed to pay that last nagging bill. Even when I need something as important as a sweet moment with my boy. God Gives because God Knows! That's all that matters.

Have a Blessed day.

Love Letters

I've decided I'm going to send love letters this week.

To whom? you may ask... "Why, to my lovelies, of course!"

I've written one for each of my children... Fritz's is really short and sweet! He'll like it when he's older, right?

Anyway, the first said letter was recieved quite well.... albeit, not found in the mailbox as I had planned (it was on the banister waiting for a stamp when the recieving child spotted it)! I don't think anyone even noticed it didn't have a stamp.... or that it wasn't found in the mailbox for that matter. They got MAIL! It had their NAME on it! YAY! Smiles and warm -fuzzies were in abundence. It was deffinately the spark I needed to write the other two notes.

I hope this will be a treasured "tradition". I've written them each letters in the past... at Church, on mgna-boards, on the whiteboard... on the bathroom mirror with whiteboard markers ;-) yup, they work great for little inspirational quotes too But I've not done it routinely, I think this is what I need. I need to tell them how I feel , before they get too old to care. Yes, I know they are young, I am SO grateful that they are... I need all the time I can have to love them and teach them.

I think this is what I need, to have a sense of love and togetherness... lead by example... no unkind words and letters of love and adoration. My kids are so good at that. I get some of the sweetest art work around: flowers, hearts, portraits, rainbows, animals... even musical compositions that they want me to play with them on the piano. Ahhh, I am blessed... even when my days are rough... when my nights are long... and my sleep is short.... I am so blessed!

Picture Perfect

We haven't put the finishing touches on just yet.... the hills need trees and the village usually has a river>waterfall>lake>skate pond but we haven't 'built' it yet. That is on the agenda for this week....
Anyway, here are my pics! Enjoy, we sure do!


It's hard to believe that the mess that was my living room could turn into ... THIS!!!!

The piano is beautiful, so simple and elegant I think. I bought these candle holders for my mom last year and they are so fun to decorate for the different seasons.

The little tree is a musical cookie jar! The little trains on the base go around the tree.
What a perfect fit for our home!

This little piano belonged to my brother when he was a baby, every grandchild has enjoyed it's precious music. As you can see by the lack of the right leg, it has been well loved in it's 34yrs!
I bought this Santa's Advent calendar last year and really think it's cute. Putting it on the "little piano" means that it is just the right height for getting out little treats as we count down the days until Christmas! I made the Family picture at a Super Saturday for our ward (congregation) last month. Above that is a plaque that simply reads "Pray".



My mother's curio cabinet is full a beautiful things, but nothing is more precious to her than the collection of Napoleon hand crafted porcelain flowers that my father used to buy for her each Christmas. Always wrapped in a special package; no tag necessary, everyone in the family knew exactly who the beautiful gift was for. She placed this one at center this season. It is remarkable.

Close-up pics of the top.

"The Littlest Christmas Tree", it's just right for us and with the 'stars' to light the night, who could ask for more ?

AND NOW..... The Pièce de résistance!!!