Of all things Spring

I plugged in my camera to download pictures for (what I knew was) a long overdue blog post but I was not prepared for the 2 bazillion pictures that had accumulated there. I know it's been a while but gracious, how did I get this far behind?

So without further ado...the posting of all things Spring(y)!

Back a few weeks ago, while the snow was still melting, or possibly even while it was still falling, I decided it was time to bring some spring colors to my decor. I'm not creative (or wealthy) enough to change up all my decor seasonally, but I like to change up some little things here and there. My built in cabinet in the dining room is where I usually start.

 I found these fun spring colored dishes at the thrift store.

Our Easter was more than a little non-traditional. We hosted some family a couple of weeks before Easter. I decided I could make a few pintrest-y things to make it festive and cop out of the full course feast. So we swapped out ham and mashed potatoes for a carrot-shaped cheeseball and bird nest cupcakes. I thought it was a great trade and no one else complained.

We had (new) friends over for brunch Easter weekend. Why yes, marshmallow peeps ARE a breakfast food, I thought everyone knew that.

 

 Easter dresses have never been a big deal for us (of course) but I do usually find that we could all use some spring wardrobe help this time of year. I was a teeny bit excited to find the matching gingham shirt and skirt at 2 different thrift stores last week. That's a whole lot of handsome going on there, with a touch of priss on the side.

Don't let that pose fool you, she can keep up with every single one of those boys!

Sunday evening we had a birthday party, so instead of an egg hunt, my kids had and egg sandwich for Easter dinner. I hope they won't be scared for life! How about you? Do you do the whole, great-Easter-feast thing, or are you with me on the easy way out bandwagon?

Goin' with the Snow

 I am snuggled up on my couch. Outside my window is a gorgeous winter wonderland. The kids are off school and I'm conducting an experiment to see how long I can avoid thinking of something to make for lunch. The animal cracker jar is empty, my time is limited.


Any other time when the predicted snowfall is 3-6 inches we would actually get 2. This morning I was scheduled to be at the surgery center by 6:45 and I woke up to 7-8 inches of fluffy whiteness. I pulled on my big girl boots and dug deep down inside for my {long neglected} farm girl muscles to clean off the 4 wheel drive vehicle and side walks. Whoever had the bright idea to park the family van in the barn and leave the SUV out in the snow was really on top of things.

We headed out at 6, arrived with no undue drama and spent 2+ hours waiting for a 7 minute procedure. Literally, from the time they wheeled him away, still awake, until they called me back to consult with the Dr. was hardly 10 minutes. Even though it was quite minor, I am glad to have it behind us, for sure. He pulled through like a champ and we crept safely back home.

I think any day that involves anesthesia is a good excuse for general laziness for the whole family. Currently there is a Monopoly game, an Adventure in Odessey and a bit of napping happening around
me. (The delay of lunch plan lasted all of 4 minutes.) The boys made their 5 minute trek out into the snow earlier this morning, (while Grandma was here to do the boots, gloves, snow pants....routine) but the sub zero wind chill convinced them that it's an inside kind of day. I couldn't agree more. I see a popcorn and movie night in the near future. I also see the dirty kitchen floor and icky bathrooms winning for another day. It's not super motivating to be the one person cleaning while there are 5 people here making messes.

I was happy to see the 'to-do' list actually get some items crossed off while the kids were back in school yesterday but I'm just as happy to have them here again today. There will be plenty of time for schedules in March and April. Of course to many more snow days and we'll still be doing the schedule thing well into June. That may mess with my happiness a bit.

Happy Friday to you whenever you are! I hope it's somewhere cozy and warm, with a working coffee pot nearby!

Happy Days

I do realize I'm behind the times here but I'm going with better late then never. Our kids had the entire week of Thanksgiving off because teacher conferences landed on the beginning of the week. I had been feeling really 'stuck' in the routine thing...Same old, same old, get up and do it all over again tomorrow kind of stuff...so THIS was just what I needed.

More PJ days than our household has known in all of history I think.

Hot cocoa, cozy blankets and a movie (or 3, or 4...)

The creating of [sugar-loaded] masterpieces.

Good books, more blankets, and life-threatening injuries. [Depending on who's interpretation you hear, of course.] He LOVES to read. I LOVE that he LOVES it!

Lots and lots of rounds of Battleship, Scrabble and Sorry. Bonus: Most of them included Daddy.

Our own little feast, inspired by a free fresh turkey and a couple of refrigerated pie crusts. (Personally, I was really feeling like another PJ day, but of coarse I wasn't sorry that I got off my tush and threw together a little fun for the family. They were appropriately appreciative!)

I am most Thankful for....

{That wreath in the background, a fun project for a friend. It was a perfect fit right there. She's lucky I  parted with it in the end!}

The official 'breaking-out-of-the-Christmas-music. Which led to a little impromptu dance fest.

I think maybe by the time everyone climbed back on the big ol' bus Tuesday morning I was supposed to be ready for some peace and quiet and order but the truth is we could have continued for another week I'm sure. More weeks with 5 Saturdays please!!!

My little buddy had a little trouble adjusting to all of his playmates leaving (Baby Girl spent the day with Daddy) so we had ourselves a Memory and Hot Chocolate Date. No report on who beat who. Let's just say it won't be long before mom will not have to be careful not to get to many matches.

This weekend brought us this...

I hope you're enjoying the Magic of the Season! 

Take time to have a little fun.

{I lasted at least 3 minutes before my toes were frozen and I decided half a dozen pictures was plenty}

Farewell Summer

Such craziness around here the past couple of weeks. I thought my life would slow down a bit with the arrival of the big yellow bus, at least between the hours of 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. but suddenly out of nowhere came project after project.

So much handsomeness we had to split them up into 3 different school buildings this year.

 3 different Back to School Nights

3 different schedule systems

3 different sets of fundraisers

3 different lunch menus 

My organizational skills are already over taxed!

 First Day of First Grade

 Off to the Middle School

First Day of Fifth Grade

He thinks he's pretty big stuff!

 First Day of Seventh Grade

(this picture thing is not as cool as it used to be)

And with that, Summer officially ended. Sniff!

I'm never ready for return of homework and schedule and early mornings.

Thankfully they were (in varying degrees) so the transition has been fairly smooth.

********

So I sent them off with backpacks and folders lunch boxes and water bottles, new shoes and cool erasers. All the important stuff. :)

And I turned into house-wifey Hilda!

I don't have a garden here so I am ever so grateful for friends who share their abundance but it doesn't come with much warning.

When I arrived at church last week I found a box of tomatoes for me.

My sister bequeathed her green beans to me when she left the country.

And I already had 5 baskets of apples waiting patiently in the basement.

So there was some of 

this...

a lot of this...

a bunch of these...

and a bit of this...

 

plus 50 quarts of applesauce and 6 batches of homemade granola,
along with the usual grocery shopping and
three meals a day.
Sometimes I wonder what percentage of my life revolves around food.
I'm not complaining! I feel very blessed!
I enjoy cooking and serving my family this way and I am grateful to have plenty of healthy food to offer my growing men.
But I'm ready to think about something else for awhile now.

Maybe I should start with filling out those fundraiser papers.
Anybody wanna buy magazines or coupon books, or maybe support my 'Race for Ed' runners?

Worth Celebrating

A Daddy who is faithful and committed to our Mommy is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who works hard and then willing hands over the pay checks to be drained into the grocery store (among other things) is worth celebrating.

Father's Day Breakfast feast.

A Daddy who can accommodate 4 sleepy kiddos with snuggle time at once is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who sacrifices his weekend to serve strangers and make a boy's dream possible is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who loves you just the way you are is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who patiently takes his boys along to work with him is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who reads bedtime stories and shares his Father's Day chocolates is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who teaches his boys how to be a man is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who can find a smile in the grumpiest of girlies is worth celebrating.

A Daddy who puts up with a $5 yard sale TV
 (an *ahem* upgrade from the original 12 year old, 19 inch)
with terrible reception for years (and therefore misses many of his favorite games)
is worth a trip to h.h.gregg.

His name is Garry but we call him 'Daddy'

and he is definitely worth 

CELEBRATING!

Happy {belated} Father's Day!
the celebration wasn't late, only the posting thereof

Happy Hearts Day (& the battle of the Mamas)

Some days, well, most of them, actually, there is a struggle going on here. A struggle between the rational, conservative, realistic Mama and the idealistic, "sure, why not," over achiever Mama. The rational Mama knows that Mama's can. NOT. do. everything. She knows that sometimes it's just not a good idea to try to squeeze in one more thing. And she knows that everything planned for today's to do list is merely a suggestion and could be over-ridden at any moment. The other Mama, she knows that if she waits until the laundry is finished, the floor are clean and the kids are happy, there will never be a project completed, ever. She knows that sometimes you just have to keep on going when you're beyond exhausted. And she knows that memories do not make themselves. And so goes the constant tug-o-war...do more...don't try to do it all...just one more thing...really, enough is enough...but that would be fun, the kids would love it...but we don't have to do every. single. thing. we see on Pintrest...oh sigh!

This week the "try to do it all" Mama won. There has been years when I suddenly realized that Valentine's day was less then 24 hours away and I had no clue what I was going to do about it. There was the year I joined the throngs of men at the card racks in the Dollar store on Valentines day to purchase cards for my kids and the year I decided at 4:00 p.m. that if I cranked out a heart shaped meatloaf for dinner that that counted as celebrating. This year however I had it in my sights well ahead of time. I think Pintrest is to thank for that. All those organized people pin cool things the first week in January and remind the rest of us that it's coming our way too. But really, you don't HAVE to do all of them!

First there is the matter of valentine's for 6th graders. Apparently there was a meeting held amongst the 6th grade class wherein the decision was made that went something like this, "We're too old for those cutesy little cards that say 'Stuck on You' but we still want the candy!" There are also strict rules as to the usage of hearts. i.e. Moms are supposed to make heart shaped toast for breakfast, but one must n.e.v.e.r give anything to a classmate with a heart on it, because "that's just weird!"

I anticipated at least some of this so I suggested we make something homemade...cookies, brownies, rice krispies (but definitely not cut with heart shaped cutters :) He finally decided on this...

He did all the dipping himself. And did an impressive job of it I must say.

And while we're on the subject of valentines. Somewhere, sometime, someone has upped the ante on kindergarten valentines. Me. I look for the biggest, cheapest box that doesn't have creepy characters on and includes the sought after sugar rush in it's smallest form. Not so with other Moms these days.

This boy came home with a grocery bag of loot today. It's insane! He didn't find it to be over the top at all.

Mama even made a few treats for her friends because little paper polka dot bags are not to be resisted and left on the Hobby Lobby shelves. It just wouldn't be right.

This little project (again courtesy of  the great P) was really much easier than I thought, perfect for the crafty impaired. I avoid paint projects at all costs so they thought they were really living it up.

My mission today was to make every possible heart shaped food. I learned 2 things. #1- It takes A LOT of time to cut everything you eat with cookie cutters. #2 - Valentines just might be the most wasteful day of the year in our house. I felt like I threw so much food away in the form of scraps today. I recycled as much as I could but... I produced heart shaped pb&j for lunch but I did draw the line when the little man wanted me to cut his grapes into hearts too. I even tried the heart shaped hard boiled egg trick but you will not  find any pictures of the results here. *Ahem,* diced eggs are just as tasty!

The requested 'heart shaped toast' for breakfast.

My husband was not home for dinner tonight but I decided to treat these fine little men (and the little miss) to a special dinner.

some were more excited about it than others

raspberry tea

rolls

salad

ham balls (with heart shaped cheese)

heart shaped roasted potatoes

broccoli  

(that's a hard one for the heart shapes too)

heart shaped jello

and

chocolate raspberry trifle 

w/ chocolate covered strawberries 

for dessert.

Mmm!

I think they enjoyed it. The tablecloth sort of stayed on the table (but is now appropriately stained in shades of pink and red.) They only played with the fire (candles) a little bit. And perhaps a manner or two was dusted off and put to use.

And at the end of it all.

This boy declared "I'm stuffed!"

(I did not know that was possible these days!)

And this Mama is exhausted but my heart is happy! The memories are made. The fun has been had. But you can expect the reasonable conservative Mama to talk me out of most anything for the next day or two. Except I should probably still wrap the gift I bought for my Valentine before he comes back tomorrow afternoon.

I've kinda missed him. a little. just a little!