Hippity House Hoppin'

Sunday morning started off rather "blech". I wasn't feeling well, there were ants roaming randomly on the kitchen counter and Danny was attacking with Comet and it was drizzling and cold outside. Fortunately The Boy was in a good mood and playing quietly upstairs. We'd expected to get The Girl the night before so we could all get ready for Easter Sunday church services together but that plan fizzled, so I told The Boy that the Easter Bunny probably wouldn't deliver their baskets until we were home together later in the day. I was pretty disappointed that the morning wasn't turning out as I'd expected.

We headed out to church and of course, the place was shoulder to shoulder! The Girl ended up being 45 minutes late in coming so Danny didn't even get to sit with me during the service (even though I was holding a place for him) because he couldn't find me...ugh! So, even though we'd just gotten out of church and I should be feeling gracious and patient, I was steaming mad instead!

I needed a good rest of the day to snap out of it...and a good day is exactly what I had!


Why, oh why, can't I get this kid to smile normally?!

After service we took the kids over the grandparents. Fortunately our "house hoppin'" doesn't involve us going far...the grandparents live right next door to each other!


With Grandma LaVerne

We started with Danny's mom's. I changed The Girl out of her jeans & t-shirt into this sweet green gingham shift dress and the white shoes from the wedding (that I'm trying to get plenty of use out of before she grows out of them!).


The $6.40 dress from Kohls!

Grandma LaVerne had some great baskets set up for them, filled with Christian books and puzzles. Uncle Wesley filled in the Peeps and a new kite!



After a round of Old Maid with Grandma, the kids headed outside for their egg hunt.



Danny & I had fun hiding the eggs throughout the yard. I'd filled them the night before with malted milk eggs (blech!), Hershey's minis and my personal favorite...SweetTart jelly beans!


Oh yeah, the blue SweetTart jelly beans are the best!

There were some pretty good hiding spots...



The kids were a whirlwind, zig-zagging around the yard, scooping up the obvious eggs first, then taking more time to find the sneaky ones!


They are out of the starting gates!!


Darting around.


Looking ALL AROUND the egg...


Still darting around.


Do you think they hid the eggs under the car?

After a lunch of ham, carrots, scalloped potatoes and homemade lemon meringue pie we house-hopped next door to my parent's house for dinner!

The kids played in the yard while the grown ups chatted and watch Jesus Christ Superstar on TV. It had been a long time since I'd seen that movie but all the old
70s songs came back to me!

The kids decided to try their hand at kite flying and with the wild wind we were having, they had no problem getting their kite to stay up.



In fact they used all the kite string and the kite still wasn't very far in the air. Danny had the wise idea to tie fishing line onto the kite instead and rigged it up to the pole so The Boy was able to fish and fly at the same time! Sure did get that kite up a lot higher!



Dinner was ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and rolls. The yummy (looking) pineapple-coconut cake went completely untouched but with promises to send me home with a few slices today when I pick up The Boy after work. I might finally be hungry again after all that ham to eat a slice!

Random Wednesday - Easter Edition

It's Easter in our house.



The first thing I put up was this lovely "stained glass" tissue paper artwork that The Boy made in school this year. It looks especially pretty when the light shines through it, of course.

I got his permission to throw out a paper bunny rabbit basket that he'd made in Kindergarten last year. The bunnies eyes were a little weird and frankly, the thing frightened me. The Boy got a kick out of that comment but was okay with me tossing the spooky bunny in the trash, whew!

I have my buffet table all decked out with Easter goodies this month.

However, it didn't come out eggs-actly (hee-hee) as I would have liked. I'm sure you'll know without me having to tell you what is bothering me...



Unfortunately, the corner edge of the table is sharing space with a big blue plastic water jug that my husband insisted go there. After all, he says (only halfway teasing me), "The table should hold THINGS, not just decorations!".

Whatever! I will find a new home for that water bottle soon and get my buffet back!



That jar should be filled with candy but I have two reasons for not filling it quite yet. #1. Danny would think it should be filled with something healthy like dried beans instead of jelly beans! #2. I was afraid the kids would knock the bunny bowls over trying to sneak into the jar to get candy!



The Easter Bunny is going to take all the plastic eggs from the large jar, fill them with treats, and hide them in the house for the kids to find on Easter. I am partial to the polka dotted ones, I think they are so cute!



These sweet little bunny bowls are from work, as is the paper garland. You can use it to spell out whatever you like. I love the colors for Easter but I think it would be fun for a birthday party too.



Is the Easter Bunny coming to your house this weekend too?

Bunny Trail

On Sunday this past weekend, Danny's mom picked up the kids to take them to a special company sponsored Easter party.



The Girl's skirt is from a Tie Dye Diva pattern . Love this skirt pattern and plan on making lots more (it is so full and twirly and has attached bloomers underneath!).

I've had this sweet bunny print fabric for about three years and never had the chance to use it before so this worked out great! And I found a perfectly matched polka dot to pair with it for the ruffle and underneath bloomers.



The tee was my own creation that I mustered up the energy to finish on Saturday evening so it would be ready for her on Sunday morning.




There were rides...



There was rock climbing...



There was an egg hunt...



There was great fun had by all!



Looking forward to more Easter festivities this coming week.

Mom's Day "Off"

As I've mentioned, The Boy and The Girl have opposing Spring Break vacations this year. So the week before last, The Girl was at a school-run day care program and The Boy was still in school. And now this week, The Boy is on vacation, spending his days off with my parents. The Girl is back at school. Hmph, no vacation for me!

I've been itching for a day to myself, just to get some things done around the house. It's hard to even etch out just an hour to myself. A few weeks ago was MY day. Of course, it didn't go exactly as planned because things never really do when I try to plan it...but it was still very productive!

1. I slept in. In fact, it was so much later than usual that The Boy came into my room and asked if he was going to school that day. It was great to not have to rush around getting ready at 5:45am like usual. We ate breakfast leisurely and I dropped him off at the curb when the bell rang (instead of at morning care). He liked walking across the street by himself (well, with the crossing guard), he's so independent!

2. I took maternity pictures at the park. This is my cousin's friend, who also happens to be the daughter of The Boy's kindergarten teacher (his class last year).


With cool Sepia action!

3. I spent the morning and late afternoon photo editing the 60+ pictures that I took. Whew!

4. I washed two loads of laundry. That's not really anything new, though, I do that every other day.

5. I baked a batch of cupcakes. The idea was to test these silicone crown baking cups for work, to see if they are something we'd like to carry at work. They have a fill line inside each cup, which I dutifully followed, but it didn't seem to help (as noted by these overflowing cupcakes!). They also took an additional 10 minutes to cook all the way through, a total of 30 minutes for four cupcakes! At least they still tasted good.



6. Went to Target and bought a bunch of organizing supplies including a wire storage rack (on sale!) and some great lime green storage bins (on sale!). My sewing room was in desperate need of some organizing. There were stacks of fabric, completed outfits, scraps, buttons, laces, patterns and pre-made tees in piles all over the room. All that mess was really affecting my sewing mojo. It's really hard to build up the drive to create when you can't find a darned thing in that disaster.

I haven't been able to get a decent photo of the sewing room but I'll try and post one soon. It's been a few weeks now since I organized and it's starting to get a little cluttered again, oops!

7. Around noon my husband called. The job he'd been working on was ending and they were sending him home for the day. There goes my afternoon chick flick...Bring on the Locked Up marathon!

8. We ate a lunch of leftovers, crock pot beef with garlic cloves on corn tortillas with green chilis, cilantro, green onion and sour cream. YUM!

9. I assembled the wire storage shelf upstairs by myself. I was dripping sweat and just about finished when my husband poked his head in the door and asked if I needed help putting it together. Uh, no, you're about 30 minutes too late, honey!

10. Picked up The Boy from school. My "Me" day was over, boo-hoo.

At least the day ended on a "sweet" note!

A Day at the Lake

There are a few things I can count on during a day at the lake.


Despite packing sandwiches, nobody except Dad will want to eat them. Everyone will only want to eat chips and cookies.

And I never seem to pack enough to drink. However, despite the lack of beverages, someone will always have to pee in the bushes.



The kids will always wander off to explore, leaving Dad to man three fishing poles.

But the kids were always there to hand off more Powerbait when Dad needed it.


This one will always end up shirtless at some point during the day!



The fish is going to wiggle and scare the pants off someone (usually me!).



But everyone has a good laugh about it in the end.



It's always a great day spent together, even if they don't catch a thing. Fortunately this time they came home with four trout!

Flashback

Something got into me yesterday and I was having major baby fever!

My cousin had TRIPLETS earlier in the week, so that might have had something to do with it! Not sure when the babies will be released from the hospital but they are all well-sized (all around 5 and 6 lbs) and I can't wait to take their photos when they are home.

I'm looking forward to seeing how much the babies will look like their parents. I can already see a resemblance to their mother, just in the brief photos of them in the hospital.

This of course, got me to reminicing and thinking about family resemblences. My brother and I looked very much alike as children. Not so much now that he has a full beard! I won't even SHOW a picture of my mother!! We joke that my mom just took a stamp of herself and put it on my brother and I, we all look so much alike!



My brother & I in the early 80's


My brother now with his son, who also got my mom's "stamp"

I love watching my son and seeing how his features are changing as he's growing. He was born with his dad's eyes which are very dark brown, so much larger and not deep-set like mine. But The Boy definitely has my pointy chin and smile.


The above photo is The Boy at around 3 months. It's one of my most favorite pictures because I already knew what a little stinker he was and this expression on his face proves it. He was born with a cleft lip & this photo was taken before he had his surgery. What I find funny is that the gal at Picture People who took this photo had him in a bean bag and she took the photo upside down. She must have digitally flipped the image and printed it out, so his cleft is on the opposite side! Whatever, probably only a mom would notice, right?


Here he is, post surgery with the scar on the accurate side this time!




This is me, about age four. I was already reading by myself at this point, I think I've probably got a Toys R' Us catalog on my lap!


This is The Boy at about the same age, in the same location in the same house (minus the 70's style gold plush chair), but with the same smile and pointy chin.





And sometimes he just looks so much like my brother! The expressions, the similar grin, the mannerisms are just so "in the family".


I mean, come on...they look like the same kid! This is us in the late 1970s, me on the left and my brother on the right, even though I think we have the same haircut!




This is The Girl and The Boy on their first outing together, just after Danny & I started dating. We took them to an Easter egg hunt at the park. They just look so small and round cheeked!



This photo is of them about a year ago on our Spring Break vacation in Pismo Beach. I can even see a difference in them from here to today. For one, The Girl has just about lost all of the curl in her hair. It still waves, especially around the face, but nothing like it was last year.


At her birthday party, 2010


They just look so gosh-darned old. Which means, well...that I'M getting older too!