This is what sweet looks like...

Poor baby. Yesterday she came down with a sudden high fever. Then today, she's perfectly fine. We'll take whatever snuggle time we can get.

Heavy on the photos

We just came back from a week at my parents house and we had a blast. After church and shopping this morning, we came home to play outside:

A while back, I mentioned that we had painted our bedroom. Here's the "finished" product. I say finished because we have plans to buy some new dressers for ourselves. We painted the recessed window a darker green as a contrast. You can see my anniversary gift to Michael: The lyrics to our song over the window as well as some framed photos of us hanging on the walls. Our song, "Waste" by Phish, is all about how he would rather waste his time with his love than do anything else in the world. Even 11 years later, Michael and I still feel that way. The headboard was his gift to me. It's perfect and I can't wait to get the matching dressers to finish our room.

Easter Blessings

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. "

John 11: 25-26

The ham is in the oven and the kids are enjoying their Easter surprises. Eli and Charlotte are having the best time with this:

They're making their own fairies and putting "additions" onto the house. Apparently, they're currently constructing a public restroom...? I'm not going to ask any questions because I don't want to know.

Lucy got a BapPap Doll (Dora) and Eli got a new book. They looked adorable (Ok, Eli looked cool) in their Easter outfits.

And then we were off to our Egg Hunt. The girls had such a fabulous time and Eli was such a great big brother, helping Lucy find hers. Charlotte showed her true colors by passing by all the "easy" eggs so the littles could find them.

^^LOOK! A RARE FIND! ^^

Off to go baste the ham! Have a Happy Easter!

Preparing to celebrate Him

We dyed some eggs today and made a cake to eat tomorrow after dinner. I'm so excited for the girls tomorrow because we're having an egg hunt with our neighbors. We couldn't be more pleased with our street. We have two of the best families we could ask for as neighbors here and that's always been a dream for us: To have a traditional neighborhood with cookouts and street parties and holidays together. We watch each others children and our kids play together. Tomorrow's our first annual easter egg hunt and I'll be sure to post photos.

DYING EGGS

We tried something new this year. We boiled our eggs yesterday and then everyone got to draw secret messages and pictures on them with a white crayon. Then they all went into a bowl and we were all surprised by what "popped" up today when we died them.


In case you're wondering, yes she is indeed usually naked.




I was SO CLOSE! But he's quicker than me.

BAKING OUR CAKE FOR CHRIST


G.G. made the girls these aprons. They love to wear them.



HAPPY EASTER!

Bringing up a Bargain Babe

While out shopping, Charlotte spied some coupons laying on the ground. "Mom! Someone just tossed these out! Why would they do that? It's like THROWING MONEY AWAY!"

That's mah girl.

In other news, Lucy is a handful. That is all.

What does Charlotte get excited about???

EVERYTHING!



Sure, she has her moments. But this girl can be happy about the littlest darn things and that can help the day seem so joyful. Just the other day, she had her friend Autumn over and she came down to ask if they could make an indoor garden by taping paper "grass" to the wall. When I said yes, you would have thought I had just granted her permission to get a pet pony AND eat cookies for dinner. She's a real blessing, that girl.

Today, we went out to eat at Pondagrossa. We had a coupon. (I love coupons.) There's just something about that place. The food is no good but we have a blast every time we go. One time, we dared Eli to eat his ice cream with no utensils. And he did it! Today, when Mike sent us up to the buffet to get him some pudding, Eli and I dished him up a giant soup bowl full. Ok, so I know these things don't sound as silly as they seemed at the time. I guess you had to be there. We had so much fun that a every time the waitress came to our table, we were all laughing too much to speak to her. She must have thought we were crazy. (She wouldn't be too far off the mark.)

Here's a shot of Eli. I swear he has a face.



And here's one of SweetPea.

Littles can have cute hair too.

CHEESE!



I did Lucy's hair yesterday. Even when it doesn't hurt, she says "Ow." She thinks it's funny.




Here's my first attempt at a french braid:



It's a rainy, dreary Saturday here so we're stuck inside. We're tackling the kitchen. Let's just say that Mike and I had no idea that you were actually supposed to be able to SEE through the oven door and we'll leave it at that.

Shining, gleaming, streaming, waxen, flaxen

Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy

We've found some blogs online of different hair styles for little girls and we've been having some fun with it.

We took a ride to our friend's house. Janet, Autumn, and Solan have a beautiful log cabin on some hilly, grassy acres. The girls played in the mud and hunted for frogs and we all took a hike. It's gorgeous here again.

Now we're off to the dentist. Poor Charlie's cap fell off...AGAIN!