My Ol' Girl

B's new thing is to take my phone and take a gazillion pictures. Now my phone screams at me daily that it's running out of storage space, so I have to go through my phone and delete photos of the dog's noses and paws, and pictures of plants and flowers, and let's not forget furniture. 

However, in this new found past time she did capture this one:

And I kind of love it. 

This was after Sydney had minor surgery. 

She has an incision on each side and one on her stomach. 

During a teeth cleaning we asked the vet to remove some fatty lumps she developed from age.

One was cancerous. I am glad we asked.

I may have taken it harder than I should have. 

I cried.

 Like just had to say good-bye to my mom after I had a baby cried. 

The cancer was removed, I am relieved.

But it was just a gut wrenching reminder to me that she is old.

 Her body is old. 

My very first dog.

My constant companion, my loyal friend, and my family's protector. 

I pat her a little more now. I hug her a little bit longer. I tell I love her all the time.

 I don't know if she understands, but after 12 years she must know, right?

Easter Ham

 

Happiness is giggles, curls and sassy little girly girls.

 The early part of the week of Easter we headed downtown.

We looked at the flowers, sniffed the flowers, and some of us tried to pick the flowers.

 

In the fountain picture my first born is taking her shoes off and had I not physically picked her up she would have gone swimming in there. The little one just wasn't quite tall enough or she would have happily joined in on the shenanigans. 

Who needs an expensive double stroller?

 

 

Then the awaited morning came, and the Easter bunny found us. 

In our house the Easter bunny went under new management. 

She isn't complaining.

However, due to new management there were 60 eggs for the Easter Egg hunt. 

Pfft. Show off.

 The littles thought it was the greatest. 

But in all honestly they think everything is the greatest.

Then we had our feast.

I made my first ham, and I will toot my own horn, it was good.

I used this recipe.

if you do try this I followed the suggestions. 

i didn't use whole cloves, only did 1/4 tsp  of ground cloves to the honey sauce

only used 1 cup of honey

substituted the corn syrup for brown sugar 

and at the end added brown sugar then set the oven to broil and let it form a crust

And the Easter bunny, under new management, did such a good job we will keep him.

Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies

  

I saw this cute bunny banner on pinterest, 

I pinned it thinking you needed one of those fancy schmancy paper cutters to make it

 so I pinned it thinking "one day", 

but when I finally looked at the tutorial I learned it's just the good ol' fashion trace and cut! 

 You can find the template here at the 504 Main blog

 B sang the song "Little Bunny Foo Foo" the entire week before Easter. 

You just sang it didn't you? 

Good luck getting that one out of your head. 

 Then we colored some Easter eggs with our special guests (Carrie's family).

 Pretty proud of her egg she did all by her big girl self.

Water Color

Brooke, a former college roommate of mine and artist extraordinaire. 

(Seriously, on multiple occasions I would go to bed and Brooke would be in the living room staring at a perfectly blank canvas, when I would come out in the morning she would be passed out of the couch with a work of art sitting on the easel - she said her best work happened during the night). 

You can find her workshop here:

During the month of March she had a special on water color portraits. 

And, well, I couldn't help myself. 

She is one of the sweetest and most gentle human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, so I was happy I could give her my business and support her.

And look at what a marvelous job she did.

I wanted the dogs included in the portraits but they aren't exactly toy-sized dogs, so we thought to make them the girls stuffed animals... and I am in love. 

She included so many details I didn't realize were important until I saw the portraits. 

For example, Sydney's bent ear and the tip of Dixie's tail. 

I am so pleased and thrilled with these, I shall keep these forever. 

#TheGoodLife

Teaching The Littles

I consider myself a spiritual person, and because of that if there is holiday that has a spiritual or religious side to it I try to teach (or attempt to teach) it to my children.

The Happy Home Fairy 

has a great spiritual lesson for toddlers about Easter, she calls it "Resurrection Eggs". 

And it was a hit in this house.  We did this on Monday night. 

I am a strong believer that you don't need to omit the fun just because it's the spiritual lesson. 

Why can't we have both? Well, in the house we can.

There are 6 eggs, and inside each egg are things that symbolize what Christ did. 

Ex: Piece of bread = Last supper ; Cross = He died on the cross;  Rock = a stone was placed in front of the tomb etc. 

I filled the eggs and hid them around the back yard.

 

Then let them loose on the egg hunt.

 They thought it was great.

The spiritual lesson was 2 minutes, and it ended with candy.

The last egg is filled with candy because the sweet surprise is Jesus is alive- pretty awesome yeah? 

They thought so.

Parenting success!

Ok... I was somewhat Wrong

Ok, I did find a recipe on Pinterest, that was a success.

The cookie in a mug.

The recipe is here at No. 2 Pencil Blog

It was good. 

My cookie is yellow, that isn't the lighting it came out that way.

I used a fresh egg, as in laid that morning.

- maybe that has something to do with it?

I wouldn't crave this dessert per se, but if you're in a pinch and need something sweet, 

this hits the spot.

Which means I will be making this again, and again, and again.

Pinterest.... You're Starving Me

 

We had leftover steak. So I found a fried rice recipe using leftover steak on Pinterest. 

Above is a picture of said meal.

It was gross.

The dogs wouldn't even eat it.

THE DOGS. 

Who have been known to eat cat poop.

Pinterest, you are great for crafts and home projects.

How to paint stripes - success

Gift ideas - success

Rag Quilt Tutorial - success

 Holiday Ideas - success

Preschool education - success

Wainscoting - success

But you fail on more than one occasion (and two and three and four occasions) 

That recipes are NOT your thing. 

Oh, and potty training - you fail on that too.

I love you, Pinterest, but it's strictly conditional.

Hee Hee

B came to me the other week and said this to me. FYI, my father-in-law's name is Cody. Because I laughed so hard the first time she did it, she hasn't stopped and I am okay with that. 

Seven Weeks Later

At this time my iphoto is down and Brad's is asleep so this is only photo I can get right now.

Brad's grandfather passed away this week just seven short weeks after his beloved wife. 

He was committed to his family and hard work. 

He loved nature and taught his children to appreciate and respect it.

At the funeral Brad's Uncle Mike shared Grandpa's life; his struggles, his accomplishments and everything in between.

We (at least I do) put Grandparents on pedestals (rightfully so I think). The years between us are so far that we only know them when they are wise and experienced; forgetting what gave them their wisdom. That they too walked in our same shoes, experiencing similar emotions, short comings, heart break, and failures. 

I am so eternally grateful for all of our grandparents, the examples they have been in our lives and the legacy they will be in our children's . All of our Grandparents remained committed in their marriages, and the strong marriages we witnessed growing up were not simply given but earned. 

Grandpa overcame so much. He lost his father at a young age, struggled through the Great Depression, and spent time away from his family to put himself through school.  And despite the odds against him, built himself a beautiful life, one in which he was committed to his family, his God, and his garden.