Caroline this morning hunting eggs

Easter

Our Easter week has been a long and wonderful week. As a family we started having A Christ Center Easter about 3 years ago. We do a various of things each night to follow the last week of Christ's life. I will try to recap the week after Spring Break. It has been a simple tradition with such wonderful meaning.
Last year I sent out Easter Cards to a few friends. I loved making the cards but after I put them in the mail I had already started to think of what I could send the next year to have the card be more focused on the true meaning of Easter.

So this year I decided to send an empty envelope. I know it sounds crazy. Inside the envelope near the top I put the scripture Mark 16:1-6 on a clear sticker. I hope those who receive the envelope will then be prompted to go to read the scripture which talks about when they looked for Christ but the tomb was empty. I think of how surprised they must have been, fully expecting there to be His body inside. Just like you would never think to open an envelope and have it be empty. I think of how fast the word must have spread after they found the empty tomb - "He Lives, He Lives"
It is a miracle that He lives. It is all apart of the wonderful plan for us all to live again.

Happy Easter

Annie Kate's bike handlebars
4th on the 7th

Our fourth of July was not what I was hoping, but the fact that no one threw up I felt I could hardly complain.
The weather was absolutely wonderful in the morning and most of the day. We managed to get out that morning and make it to our neighborhood parade. Annie Kate loves decorating her bike for such events. It always amazes me how non-embarrassed she is to go all out. Taking photos for me was painful. I felt horrible, I was tired, my camera seemed so huge and in the way, so I only snapped a few.

but this photo was one of my favorites. We live in the most American neighborhood, big front porches, flags everywhere and bunting - oh I love the bunting. (they don't put bunting on their porches in New Mexico)
This cute darling couple sat on their porch of their darling yellow house (a total far out dream for me to live in a yellow house) on the parade route and waved to everyone. I need to print this photo and put it in their mailbox. I just wanted to run over there and hug them!
another photo of a house on the route with everyone waving.
at the end of the parade route is a carnival for the kids. This is our second year and Annie Kate run to get in line for the dunk tank again. She did it like 4 times and loved it.
Caroline was thrilled for the pony rides and specifically wanted this pony. Sally Jane was so tired by the point and ready to go back to bed. And I guess I didn't look so great either because Jeff came up to me and said, "you better get that look off your face, you look like you are about to throw up" and laughed and said, "I feel like I am"
So after that we went back home.

(pineapple with ribbon is the best hostess gift)

Fortunately our friends invited us over for dinner so we would have something to do. But Sally Jane did not last long and the night ended early. We even had a hail storm during dinner which is always exciting to watch. Once we saw that the National Mall was evacuated due to weather about 2 hours before the fireworks, I told Jeff that was the perfect time to go downtown as we would have any seat in the house. But even the spontaneous us, had no energy for such an event. We saw a few fireworks from our house and went to bed early.


I had such a great 4th post in my head that I wish I would have drafted earlier, but I will have to save it for next year. It is amazing how much a little sickness stopped our little family for two weeks.

Jeff's Father's Day breakfast this morning.

Father's Day 2007

'To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter.”

To be a successful father...there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid,
don't look at it for the first two years.

~ Ernest Hemingway

Jeff was again a sport in wearing his homemade tie that the girls made. I think we now have 6 of these. This year we put on shrinky dinks of their art work, I will do this again for sure. This year was our second year sewing on the bells.... poor guy. the sliver charms from the craft store were great and so cheap.

and huge congrats to my dad who did his first (of many) half marathons in
Durango, Colorado, yesterday. Way to go Dad we are all so proud of you!

Easter Egg Roll

When leaving the White House Lawn today, I wished I could have called everyone I know and done a large group call and shared my excitement for the great day I had with my girls.

Very last minute I got tickets to the Annual(since 1872) Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn. read history here.

Tickets are really hard to get and the story on how I got them is a post within itself, but I am not sure if I want to reveal my sources in case it could keep me from getting them again next year. If you see me, ask me in person, let's just say that I need to add, "resourceful" to my 100 list. (and I didn't even use any of Jeff's connections)

It was freezing outside and up until 10 minutes before I considered staying home and meeting my sister in law at Mt. Vernon. Jeff went back to work today after a fun Spring Break and I thought "do I want to do this with just me and the girls?" So glad I did! It was really hard to take photos and push the double stroller over the grass and chasing Caroline, but so worth it.

the girls each got a poster in our amazing goody bags

For you graphics people the tickets and logo were just amazing! the signage was just beautiful to look at.

Each child has the chance to roll a real hard boiled egg on the lawn just yards away from the front doors of the white house. The White House volunteer said they were boiled 5 weeks ago.Sally Jane and Annie Kate getting ready to roll.
Thanks Mimi for the new birthday dress for her to wear.

Caroline rolling away!

Now you Very Bradley fans, notice the QUILTED tablecloths... they are actual Very Bradley quits with her newest print Capri Melon. It was everywhere! Even on the face painting tables. Seriously they decorated with Vera Bradley quilts in my favorite print... I am playing with my girls on the White House lawn singing to Johnnie and the Sprites, The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana, photo ops everywhere...does it get better than this?
This was Annie Kate with one of the MANY characters walking around the south lawn. Notice the fabric on her sleeves... yes Vera Bradley

Every PBS character was there. They even had a great Amelia Bedilia. I was tempted to ask her if I could take a self portrait of my in her cool hat, but didn't have enough arms to do so.

When we walked in we saw Denise Austin on stage 1, working out with Shrek. Funny combo huh?
They had a reading corner with famous people reading children books. We had missed Mary Pope Osborne, darn. But saw Kasey Kahne (some Nascar guy)

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We then went over to one of the two performing stages and hit perfect timing for a mini concert, 5 feet from the stage of the Jonas Brothers. Annie Kate rushed the stage and her fingers in the air to try to touch them. I had both little girls in each arm and was singing every word and dancing like a kid.

We then went to the next stage and hit it perfect for Johnny and the Sprites. Jeff imitates him all the time and I was laughing the whole time. We love this show! Caroline and Sally Jane were jumping out of their skin they were so excited.

We had missed Hannah Montana the first time she performed, as it took a long time to get through security. We then overheard that she was going to perform again, we went back to the stage and waited out the next performance for Annie Kate to get as close as possible. Me and the little ones stayed in the back. I don't know if there would be anyone that I would be more excited to see than these kids stars. I was like all the 10 year olds around me, screaming and dancing. This was the best photo I could get.


As we left all the kids got a goodie bag from President Bush. A box of peeps, crayons, coloring book, book mark, the book "Guess How Much I Love You?" and a wooden egg with the year and his signature. (they are already selling them on eBay)

President Bush was in Arizona working on Border Patrol but we saw Laura Bush just before she went into the White House and she waved goodbye to everyone.

This was the sign on the way off the lawn, "See you next year"
You better believe it!

The photos from the day.

last minute.

tonight (9:45 pm) while finishing the girls Easter Baskets I came up with this great idea for a card to send to the girls I visit teach for next year. I hurry and ran to my Scrapbook Factory Program and drew this out by making circles. I wish I would have thought of this sooner!
So if you see any of those bunny ears 50% off next week pick them up and use to give them away for Easter next year. Target had them in their dollar section. (if you click image you should be able to save it, the quality is better when you double click it)

now i am off to run outside to use powdered sugar to make bunny footprints, i hope it doesn't snow again tonight.

and with all my spring break D.C. history "festivas" I forgot to post my favorite bird nest cake. So if you are up late and want to make one, here is the one I made last year.

... have I mentioned how much I LOVE holidays. How does one sleep on these nights.

Suburban Life... I love it!

I still always dream of myself on a big front porch with my gardening gloves, in a old restored home on some plot of land, but until that day or if that day never comes, I love suburbia!
We live in a neotraditonal neighborhood, that is quaint, charming and oh so convenient! We can walk to church, school and the grocery store, wholesale bead shop, the craft store, two lakes, post office, gym, Lowes and every yummy restaurant.
Our entire neighborhood had an Easter Egg hunt last Saturday. The clubhouse put it on and it was ever so dreamy!

They had people to do face painting and tattoos.
Very yummy food that was so kid friendly. I love that they got the kids favorite chocolate milk.

I just loved this photo of Caroline beginning the hunt, she was just so happy and I was thrilled to catch her natural laugh.

But this had to be the best photo of the day and was years in the making. These neighborhood hunts have always proved to be a disaster in our family. The ones where the eggs are scattered everywhere and marked off by rope and are hunted by age group. Annie Kate has always been very timid in times past and picks up one egg and becomes numb after that. 45 seconds later the field is empty and we leave with her in tears and one egg. This year was the first time she got the guts to get out there and hunt. But we did leave with the other two crying. SJ & CBshe made up for it at the second hunt with just our close neighbors

So until I go move out to the farm I am soaking in this suburban life all I can. Who knows maybe I will never be able to leave it.

Target had these spring coats for $14.99

Here is a little craft project for you embroidery girls.

Wool Felt
Easter Bunny graphic from Tyme 2 Stitch.
Font from BunnyCup Embroidery
After stitching to one side sew another piece on back and cut around edge with pinking shears

Happy Birthday Mom. I am sorry I am just so tired I don't have time to write a birthday wish or put any photos on. I didn't send a card or have time to call, I will try to get to it. Hope it is a good day.

The Holiday Queen celebrates a birthday.

I love Holidays and I love traditions. On my profile it says, "I was raised in a home full of traditions" It is all thanks to my Mom,

My mom loves Holidays, traditions and has always been a good mail sender. Today is her birthday. A April fools baby.This is a cool photo of my mom 2 months before delivering her first baby fishing at

Rat Lake in Montana.

One of the things that I think is so cool about my Mom is that she lived in one house her whole life. She is very generous and has always been aware of celebrations. I don't think she has missed many years where she has not sent me a Happy Anniversary card for the day I got married.

She still remembers this awesome poem from her childhood about a humajuma Genie and thing-a-ma-jigs. We have got to write that down!

She knows how to make many things from scratch. Some are..

• Great Cinnamon Rolls
• Baklava
• Ravioli's
• Dinner Rolls
• Egg Rolls
• Tostada Compeustas. oh my these are the best!

One of my favorite stories of my mom is that when I was in High School she sold a car to pay off any credit card debt our family had. We had 1 Volkswagen rabbit for 8 people. My dad rode his bike to work. I can't figure out how we all got to church. Once the debt was paid, we got another car. Really kind of amazing.

There were a lot of things I wanted to list but didn't know if I knew the answers. So, Mom you get to take a little 5 question quiz for your birthday and put the answers in my comments.

1. What is your favorite book?
2. What is your favorite Hymn?
3. What was the name of that cute little place you got sodas after school?
4. Where did the lullaby Neena, Nina, Neena, Nina Poopa song come from? I have sung that to all my kids.
5. What is your favorite holiday?

Happy Birthday Mom. I hope you have a great day!

Easter Tree

I just finished our Easter tree. This is so easy and so incredibly "cheep"

I didn't do a photo play by play, because I did this over a series of days. Anytime I needed an egg I would blow it and then sit the shell aside. But here are my tips if you want to make one for yourself. This is a great center piece to do anytime of year for a baby shower. You can tie all sorts of bows on the branches.

1. pick branches that have blossoms just getting ready to bloom
2. i found my container at Goodwill, you will be amazed at what you could find a thrift store to make your tree in. You could also just use a metal bucket
3. when blowing eggs don't be afraid to make a bigger hole than you would think. I actually used a small screw. You will place a bead over the hole. this will keep you from getting a head ache when blowing out the egg. (Mindy I know this part will be tough for you, ask a neighbor... she gets grossed out by eggs) run a lot of water through the hollow egg before drying, get all that stinky egg out! I even sprayed with bleach to get it to run down in the egg.
   
4. when dying eggs i use the egg dying kit PAAS that can be found in any grocery store. I double the water and add a tea bag to each color. I also dye a few with just tea and no color. The make the color more vibrant add a few teaspoons of vinegar.
5. The eggs will be hollow when you dye them which means they will float. The get them to submerge place an ice cream scoop over the egg.
6. last year I used a flat stretchy yarn to tie the eggs on to the branches and then tie a bow on top of each egg to cover the hole. This year I used a pink heavy thread 50g weight.
7. I bought some flowered beads at the craft store and placed on at the bottom with a knot and one at the top. You can also tie a bow at the bottom to keep it from slipping through if you use ribbon.
8. I taped two needles together to string the thread through because my needles were not long enough to get through the egg.
9. I placed a another flower bead at the top to cover the blown hole. You could use all kinds of beads and even shapes of wool felt would be great.

Great project. My oldest daughter loves to blow out the eggs and I love seeing the tea dyed eggs, each one comes out so different.
Enjoy.

Easter Ideas

I have so little time to blog today, but had to get this on here in case anyone wanted to order this book before I start talking about it every day for the next 3 weeks. (ok I will try to not over do it, I am just get so excited about this book)
I picked up this book last year and it seriously changed how we celebrate Easter. I have had in my head for years of coming up with an Easter Advent Calendar and this was the first thing that has really got my mind going and hope someday to complete it. (the idea still sits in my head) It encourages you to spend the week before Easter focusing on the last week of Christ's life.

You can order the book here. This is a great book for any faith that celebrates Easter. It also applies to all age groups, family with no kids, little kids, teenagers or a combo of both.

I didn't do a great job of documenting all we did, but did take some photos in 2006. You can see our Smugmug gallery here.
I will have lots more to come on this for sure, but wanted to give anyone interested a heads up and plenty of time to get the book if you would like.

I found after we had used this book that the author is Lara & Katie's aunt or cousin. (is that right?)

Leprechaun Kisses

Here is the little kisses poem for you to give to friends, neighbors for St. Patrick's Day. This year I changed the label and tried to do something Celtic looking. You should be able to right click it and copy it and print it if you like. or save it from here
We just wrap up Hershey Kisses and drop them in their mailboxes either early the day of, or I usually do it at night the day before.

Here are two other ways I have packaged them. In boxes.

and in library green checkered library envelopes.

This year I think I am going to tie them up in green tulle. Like the Halloween advent with ribbon in between each kiss. I wanted to post the poem early so anyone would have a chance to make them too.