Hopping to Easter

I've always loved to decorate for holiday's, but now that I have kids it's really a lot of fun to make the house festive and to make a big deal out of the holidays. My Easter decorating has been contained to the dinning room (except for the boy's doors), but since that room is the main focal point of our house, it makes a big impression.

I found these sparkly eggs at Hobby Lobby and added them to the arrangement I already had. They are too cute.
And I found this little momma bunny with her baby and thought it was perfect for our house.
For those of you who don't know, we are avid M&M collectors. Really - it's crazy! This is most of our Easter M&M stuff, but I didn't put it all out. The boys Easter baskets are hanging below and you can see Tyler's filled Easter Basket over to the side. Samuel's is hidden because he's old enough to know what it is and to want the things now.
This is my favorite Easter book. It's called My Easter Basket and it tells the story of Jesus resurrection with the items in your Easter Basket. I've read it at our church's Easter egg hunt the last 2 or 3 years and will read it to my Sunday School Class on Easter Sunday. I saw the book at Wal-Mart the other day if you want to check it out.
This is my dinning room chandelier and my favorite. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's very danty and pretty and for a mom of two boys, I need a little dainty in my life.

This is my centerpiece on the dinning room table. I want to add a table runner, but haven't found one yet that I like. I might make one for next year when they put Easter print fabric on cheep.
I made banners to put on the boys doors. I like what I did for Valentines so much, I may start doing this for every holiday. I used my Cricut to make Easter eggs for each of their letters. Then I laminated them with my Xyron and used brands with a ribbon threader to hang them.

Ice Storm Cleanup

I shot these pictures at Legacy Landfill a couple weeks ago for the magazine and wanted to post a couple. I was AMAZED at the amount of debris at the site - and parts of the city hadn't been picked up and a great deal of it had already been burned. You really can't get an understanding of the amount of debris at the site unless you're there. From what I've read, they are nearly finished picking up now and will make one more sweep through the city for limbs just put curbside, but it could take another 2 months to burn it all. If you're wondering why they didn't wood chip it, it would have cost the city about another $1.50 per cubic yard to have it mulched rather than burned. If you'll remember, the ice storm that caused this damage was the last week of January.

Notice the guy on the tractor, helps to put it into perspective a little.

Growing Green

Here is my latest column from the Kid's section of Jonesboro Occasions - hot on stands today. :) To read it, click on the picture and it will enlarge so you can read the words.

Not Me! Monday

It was not me that set off a fire alarm on a door at the restaurant at lunch today. It was probably one of the kids.

I have not checked Stellan's blog 6 or 7 times a day in the past week.

I was not excited about buying two new laundry baskets last week. My life is more exciting than that!

I did not go a little shopping crazy last week, buying the boys essentially two Easter outfits. One will do, but who can resist cute outfits on sale!

I did not just finish a bag of Cheeto's reasoning that there wasn't enough left in the bag to justify putting it back in the pantry. Really, it was only a handfull!

Little Baby Ducks

Samuel spent his spring break with Mamaw and Papaw and loved every minute. My parents have a fish pond and lots of room to run and play. But he also had lots of work to do while he was there. He had to help Papaw pickup sticks (which he loves), burn leaves and pine needles and help take care of Papaws new baby ducks. They were about 1 1/2 old when he got there and had to help feed, water them and change their bedding. He loved helping and said they were very messy. In a couple weeks, dad will move them to a cage on the pond and will eventually release them.

After a week of helping to take care of them, he was not so excited about holding them. He said he was afraid they would peck him.He was okay with Papaw holding them for him after a few minutes.

There are 11 ducks total, 9 females and 2 drakes. He ordered 12, but one was not alive when they arrived. Here is the crazy thing - he ordered them through the mail (I'm not sure if they were delievered USPS or UPS or FedEx or whatever, but I know they were shipped). I had no idea you could do that! He said they ship them the day they are hatched because they still have their yoke in their stomach and don't have to eat or drink for a day after they hatch. He said that's how my grandma used to always get her chickens for the farm. Crazy!

Samuel was happy to come home as far as I could tell, but didn't seem to miss us at all. He did kiss and hug all over Tyler though when we met to pick him up. After a few minutes I had to ask for a hug. LOL And no, this wasn't his first time to go, he has been several times for a week, so this wasn't a big deal for us. We're just happy that he likes to go there so much.

One Tip Wednesday

So what do you do with all of that adorable arts and crafts work your child makes? A couple of years ago, I made Samuel a board to hang all of his arts work on so that he can proudly display it in his room. I bought a silver dry erase board that was also magnetic. Using red, blue and yellow paint pens, I wrote "Samuel's Works of Art." You can rarely see the words however. :) As we make things or he brings things home, we add and take away on the board. A few things are left up there all the time, others come and go. I do kind of try to keep it seasonal though. Next week, I'll show you what we do with it when it comes off the board.

Remember, if you have our own organizational ideas, grab the button and add it to your blog with a link back to mine. Also add a comment so I'll know to go checkout your great tip. I love looking at others ideas!

Daffodils

Mayday...Mayday...Mayday

Today we met Daddy for lunch in Walnut Ridge. He has been wanting to take the boys to eat at the airport for a while now. A cafe at the airport has turned an old Southwest Airlines plane into a dinning room attached to the restaurant. Samuel had a lot of fun eating on the plane and playing in the cockpit. He also got to see a jet take off while we were on the plane which was really exciting for him. Tyler was just excited about getting to eat French fries and chicken.

Wordless Wednesday

One Tip Wednesday

One last thing from Samuel's room. I like to have things easily accessible and ready to go at a moments notice. Thus, I have lots of bags! Hanging on the inside of each of Samuel's closet doors are the bags he needs for school, church and quick summer trips. School mornings, I always know where his backpack is and its ready to go when I hang it on the hook. The bag behind it is our summer bag. It has sun screen, Samuel's swim suit, a towel, sunglasses and everything else we need to be outside. So if we decide late morning to head to the park or the nature center, I don't have to rush through the house to gather things, I just grab the bag and we go. And if we're at the park and Samuel decides he wants to go to the splash park, I have his swim suit handy. This bag was a life saver for me last summer!

On the other side is his church bag. It has crayons, coloring books a small Etch-sketch, kleenex, wet wipes (learned this through experience) and snacks. It's always ready to go and we just grab it before heading out the door to church on Sunday night.

Want to join the organization fun? Copy the button at the top of the post and add it to your own post. Either link it back to my page or add my blog address to your post. Be sure to add a comment so I can come look at your great idea!

Not Me! Monday

Here is the list of things I most certainly did not do during the past week:

I did not go to Wal-Mart on Saturday so that I wouldn't have to take the boys today. And I did not forget to get one of the main things I went for only leaving us to HAVE to go to Target today.

It wasn't me that tried to mess with friends back at my home church yesterday while at home yesterday with a sick child. I did not watch them online and text them things like "I see u" and "Turn around and wave." That's childish and silly. And I wasn't extremly disappointed to find they didn't have their cell phone on them at the time. :(

It wasn't me on Saturday that made a mad dash through the house picking up when my in-laws called to say they were coming for a visit. My house is always clean and presentable for any company that happens to stop by. Yes, even with two small boys, I can have a spotless house every moment. Just ask any of my friends.

I did not do something as stupid as pour hot grease into a plastic cup yesterday while making lunch. I obviously am smarting than that. And I totally kept my cool yesterday when the cup began to melt and hot grease began to run all over my luckily ceramic stovetop with hot burners on. My mother did teach me better than that!

I did not also - during the same meal - melt a Tupperware spice container that was on the back of my stove.

I was not up until 1 this morning finishing my "homework" for Bible Study this morning. I was not also 30 minutes late to Bible Study this morning and I'm positive it had nothing to do with the fact that I was up until 1 a.m. finishing it. I did however let Samuel sleep in until 10 - the same time the Bible Study begins.

I was not in disbelief last week when I heard that we could get ice and snow on Thurday. I mean, it was 70 and I was in sandals. I know it's Arkansas and it can and will change from 80 to 20 in an hour.

It was not me that cried in the middle of Chick-Fil-A the other day when I heard Steven Curtis Chapman's song Cinderella. I do not get all weepy over such things.

And I am not currently multi-tasking, running between the computer and cooking dinner so I can get my list finished for this week. :)

One Tip Wednesday

More organizing in Samuel's room. When we were moving Samuel into this room, I had planned on buying a chest for his clothes. But then we discussed what to do about the bookshelf that was already in there. I decided that keeping the bookshelf and using boxes to store things would give us much more storage than a small chest. It's another great way to organize his room. Some of the boxes hold toys, one has all of his pajamas, one has underwear and socks and one has all of his outside clothes like gloves and hats. At one point I had written in chalk on the outside of the box what was on the inside, but found that got quickly erased as he took boxes down to play.

I've been tagged

Randy tagged me to complete this task...

1. go to your documents/pictures
2. go to your 5th file
3. go to your 5th picture
4. blog about it
5. tag 5 people

This is a picture I shot fall of 2007. "Bee on a Mum"

Tag...Your it...

Emily, Paula, Amanda C., Rhonda, and Sarah

The Tale of Two Trees

I know you have all been closely following the story of my two trees and you are dying to know how it turns out. [Well, if not, read post over the last 6 weeks and you'll get caught up :) ] After lowering themselves to about a 45 degree angle again, Kevin enlisted the help of our friend Chris and some stronger rope. The guys re-staked the trees and got them just nearly perfectly straight on Saturday evening. On Sunday, we again had some pretty strong winds and were under a wind advisory, but they didn't seem to move. Some of the branches are brown, so we're not sure if the trees are trying to die or if it might just be from the trauma. But at least we've tried. 

Not Me Monday!

It wasn't me who made Samuel cry Saturday night by telling him there was only enough ice cream for me. I forget he hasn't learned yet when people are joking and serious.

It was not me that had to lay on the Wal-Mart floor THIS week to get a sippy cup from under the Wal-Mart shelf.



Did NOT just say "Because I said so." I have not made it a habit of saying those 4 little words!


Is not making it a habit of letting Tyler fall asleep in his pack-n-play every night. So what if he hates his bed, this is just another version, right?

Plugged-In Kids

I begun in the March issue of the magazine writting a column. My column will focus each month on kids or being a mom, basically it will be geared toward other moms and will be in our kids section.

If you click on the image, it will enlarge in another screen so you can read it.

One Tip Wednesday

Organizing a kids closet, or room for that matter, can make any mom crazy. As Samuel has gotten bigger, so have the toys and the size of those toys. As a person who likes organization, I don't like toys all over my kids rooms. It actually drives me crazy. While they are playing, sure, go at it. But the remainder of the time, I like to be able to see the floor! After looking at a couple of different options, I decided this drawer system places in his closet would work well. At first I just had one (each has 3 drawers), but when he moved to his big boy room, I added a second one.

This system works great! Samuel knows which toys are in what drawer and they are organized by the types of toys. The top drawer is small games and puzzles, the second drawer is a collection of small toys, the third is his Planet Heros, the forth is his Hot Wheels city, the fifth are cars and trucks and the bottom drawer are electronic type toys.

And what I like most about this system is that when he wants to play with something, I can pull out that entire drawer and set it in his floor or in the living room and when he is finished, he just loads everything back into the drawer and I put it back up.

The remainder of his closet is mostly tubs of other toys. The large one at the bottom houses his Thomas the Train Lego set (about to be Tyler's set). The rest are legos, Hot Wheels and other small toys that I don't enjoy stepping on in the middle of the night.

SNOW much Fun!

We finally got snow! We got a little more than 2" at our house and Samuel was so happy to see it. We were a little worried that he wouldn't get time to play in it before it melted, but after church and lunch on Sunday, he was able to play and build a snowman in the snow that was left in our side yard. Samuel said he wished we lived where it snowed all winter, but I told him it wouldn't be as exciting if we lived where it snowed all the time. :) It was great snowman building snow too. It rolled very easily. In fact, Samuel made the middle section of the snowman so large, Kevin was barely able to lift it onto the bottom.

If you are wondering where Tyler is - he was inside taking a nap.