Oooohhh La LA!

Thank you oodles & smoodles Shelley! You are a gem! My new vinyl is AMAZING!

Oh Mr. Sun, PLEASE SHINE DOWN ON ME!

The sun has been shining all week-and let me tell you-THAT is a spring MIRACLE and YES- I have been relishing in it! So while Mr. Mike has been at work, I dragged the kids to a couple trips to the nursery for play-bark & river rock, and the lumber store for some materials to make a new planter box for their new garden area we are creating for them this year.

Check out my hired help-*note: it doesn't matter how old you are, plumbers cracks show no age discrimination. See example below:

He is a cutie patootie though-and such a good little laborer :) I took load after load of river rock in my wheelbarrow-and he followed behind with 4 rocks in his own mini wheelbarrow. Happy as a clam.

So inventive is this little man-made himself a ramp out of leftover decking...smart cookie.

He got it to the end of the ramp-dumped it & shook it from side to side, making sure he got every rock out-just like I had been doing. Love it! So as you can see-Bryce helped finish the kids new sandbox/water table area & it is working out wonderfully!

Finished putting the new bark in the swingset area & moved on to building and painting a new fence for the dog run area. TIP OF THE CENTURY: Do NOT buy vinyl fencing if you live in an incredibly windy area! The boards are merely glued together & break off quite easily. They are entirely too expensive to be so cheaply put together. I'll step off my soapbox now because fence #2 is FANTASTICLY SOLID! I decided to use cedar decking material instead of fence boards. 

Dug out the power tools & cut the boards to my desired length and I LOVE the outcome. Seriously-LOVE LOVE LOVE. Of course it is not finished entirely-but I'm happy with it so far-and all in a day's work WITH kids in tow! (Not neglected kiddos either for you nay-sayers! :) Next I'll need to organize/clear out all that crap inside the poor doggie area. lol

The next day, the kids and I worked on moving the rest of the river rock from the truck to the new garden area-in the hopes that it will serve as a dry "river bed" for the roof rain run-off. Adios to the soupy muddy mess of a sideyard! Pulled out the power tools again and cut the treated lumber I needed to make the raised planter beds....and hung the spanish fountain & other outdoor decorative items that  I've had stored in the shed for the past couple years. It's slowly coming along out there :) Makes my heart happy.

Once that was done-I used those sweet power tools again (which the kids now call "Momma's Tools"- :) and cut the Trex decking that we have had sitting by the shed for the past 3 YEARS-(no joke) and actually cut them for their intended purpose....our front steps! Another spring miracle! Set them up to see what they would look like and....WOOO-HOOOOO! 

Arrivederci ugly "temporary" (3 years temporary) stairs!

While out there I decided to spruce up the front yard too-so I installed the new flag I got at Costco 2 months ago :) I love that it is so HUGE! Our flag definitely makes a statement as it sways out there.

God Bless America!

Now-the let down

....as I finally sit back with a glass of water, and look around to admire my hard work this week-

THIS CRAP 

stares me in the face. 

UFF-DA. That really sucks!

Such a HUGE undertaking and MAJOR budget buster.....Do the home projects ever end-let alone on a house that is over 100 years old? Oh the joys of home ownership. Thank goodness the whole house doesn't look like this-or else I might keel over!

Thanks Dad!

I love the music box & that it plays "You Are So Beautiful" :)

Very thoughtful & much appreciated.
Made me smile today. Thank you.
"Hershey's Hugs" back to you :)

Easter Pageant at the Park

Auntie Shannon invited the kids again to the Easter pageant her church puts on at one of our local parks. They do a short rendition of the resurrection and then have a small celebration full of all sorts of family festivities for the kids to enjoy the holiday. Music, bounce houses, giant inflatable slides, face painting, a booth of homemade baked treats, and a HUGE easter egg hunt-what's not to like?
Thanks Shannon!

standing like Dadda-as usual-as he watches Jesus & Mary Magdeline on stage :)

Then we were lucky enough to have Shan & Kirsten over to join us for Easter dinner. mmmmmmm. Brown Sugar Ham, ham sauce, green bean casserole, special potatoes & nummers Strawberry Rhubarb cobbler for dessert.

my new cute little glittery lamb-which I adore...

and 2 of my favorite girls-no mind that my own child is out of focus...wrong lens, sorry....still-you get the gist of our holiday dinner :)

Of course my children wanted NOTHING to do with the meal I so lovingly prepared-so they ate 

THIS:

 
yeeeeaaaah-that would be Corn Dippy w/chips & yummy "carrot" cookies that Grandma made for them. Some Easter meal huh? lol But how cute are those cookies!?
A great reason to share a warm meal with people we love. He is Risen!

F.Y.E (For Your Entertainment)

Yet another self-dressing mishap-to which he saw nothing wrong with! :) Enjoy

Bonkers for E.B!

A couple weeks ago Nana sent the kids money to go see the new Easter movie "HOP!". If you've seen the commercials, you'll know why Mike & I were totally reluctant to go, but the kids wanted to DESPERATELY-so we braved it as best we could. The end result-they L-O-V-E-D it! Not really our cup of tea, but....

anywhooo-ever since that day everything has been about E.B (the main bunny character in the movie who was learning the tricks of the trade to become the Easter Bunny). We have used E.B. visiting the kids as leverage, and even promised our annual Suncadia Easter Brunch as added incentive :) See those chocolate bunnies above? They were covered in golden foil paper in the movie-JUST LIKE the ones you see in the stores. My kids spotted them immediately at Fred Meyer & truly believed that E.B had delivered them himself for their store inventory! ha ha ha

So you KNOW we had to stash away a couple for Easter. In fact, we left them waiting outside their bedroom doors with a trail of nibbled carrot cutouts & mini chocolate eggs (just like in the movie)-which lead the way to their respective easter baskets!

Of course when the kids woke up & discovered this road of treasures, they squealed like it was Christmas morning. Each quickly gathered up their Hansel & Gretel like piles of little chocolate crumbs, before they explored their new Scentsy buddies sitting atop their baskets! :) Emma's first comment was "Ohhhhhh-my very own Mary had a Little Lamb...." and Bryce said "Yeah-and I got a ROOOOOOARRRR Lion Emee! It mine!" 

(P.S. The Scentsy Buddies are SUUUUPPER soft, oober cute, & smell DIVINE! Highly recommended). Of course I picked the Lion & the Lamb because I thought it was fitting for Easter. Get it? :) Clever right??? Ok.Whatever.

The baskets were a hit. What's not to like, some packs of mini M&M's, new utensil sets, 2 new Viewmaster cartridge sets from Nana, and fun colored "shaving" foam for the bathtub!

Needless to say-we had a couple happy munchkins this morning...

(yes-he dressed himself-thus his shirt is on backwards. We are all about encouraging independence so we are TRYING to be ok with what that result looks like...lol)

Got them dressed in their new Easter outfits-(thank you for those traditional gifts Nana)-and somehow they became even CUTER kidlets!

Is it me or does Bryce look like he is SICK TO DEATH of my camera in his face? he he he-TOO BAD! :) Plenty more where that came from dude. 

Arrived at Suncadia &  his feelings about my memory capturing device had not changed much....

 Em could hardly stand the wait for E.B's arrival! So to kill the time, we sat & ate our breakfast while we anticipated his hopping through the doors. Check out the vases on each table. ALL CHOCOLATE.

Happy to help themselves....

Like every other year-the Willy Wonka Waffle bar is a hit! Who wouldn't want to dump Cadbury mini eggs, fresh whipped cream and M&M's all over their French Vanilla Belgian waffle? YUMMO!

we even ran into some friends, which Em was thrilled about-she hasn't seen her pal Marissa in a really long time :( 

then finally-

 HE'S HERE!!!!! HE'S HERE!!!!

On our way out we admired a horse drawn carriage-

and we couldn't help but give an Easter greeting to each pony...

Shock of all shocks-when we pulled in at home, our backyard had been EGGED by none other than E.B!!! This egg hunting was serious business. They were EVERYWHERE!

And when at last the most anticipated of all eggs-the golden ones, were found....

and the clues read, leading to the treasure-discovered...

...our Easter extravaganza FINALLY came to a close. Hope your family-time this Easter is as memorable as ours was! Until next year-