Easter 2009

We had a great Easter weekend here, celebrating our Savior's gift of eternal life through his death on the cross and his resurrection to new life. Hope you did too!! It was especially sweet this year, since Anthony had just prayed to ask Jesus into his heart a few days before Easter!

Saturday morning, our church held a Resurrection Breakfast for the 4 year olds through 6th graders. Anthony just made the cut, having recently had a birthday. He was so excited about the live worship time - he didn't stop talking about the "special music" all day! And it was great - at the end, when the children's ministry leader talked to the kids about asking Jesus into their hearts, Anthony turned to me and said, "I already HAVE Jesus in my heart!!"

Anthony was thrilled to have some of his friends from the moms group there at the breakfast with him! This is Chris, one of my friend Allison's boys. He and Anthony held hands almost the entire 3 hours they were together!! It was so cute!

Sunday morning we went to church. It had been really chilly the day before, so I was worried the girls wouldn't be able to wear the pretty dresses my mom had sent for them...but it warmed up and was beautiful on Easter day. I couldn't get any pics of both girls actually looking AT the camera, though!

Darrell and Anthony spent the afternoon working out front, planting some flowers and ground cover, so the girls spent a lot of time at the front window, watching. Makayla, as you can see, is teaching Mackenzie the art of climbing. Last week, one day, Anthony called to me, "Mama, come quick!" I ran into the play room, but it was too late, and Makayla was on the floor crying. Apparently, she had climbed up on a stool, then got on a little white Ikea side table, and was standing on it!! And then she fell...at least she didn't get hurt, though!

Mackenzie spent a lot of time riding the girls' little pony that my mom got them for their birthday. When I asked her if she was sleepy, she laid her head down on the pony!

Easter baskets this year were very un-sugary!! We've decided not to do the "Easter bunny," but will still give the kids baskets and hide eggs as a fun game. I did my shopping last minute, and there were virtually NO baskets left at Target when I went on Saturday, so I decided to go with practical baskets that I could use anyway - who doesn't need more storage baskets? The kids couldn't care less about the actual basket anyway!

Mackenzie's basket - a very cute skirt and tank top, a little dollar book, and a Melissa & Doug wooden doll with magnetic clothes - I love it!

Makayla's basket - another cute skirt and tank, another dollar book, and a Melissa & Dough wooden cube puzzle - with a different farm animal picture on each side, so 6 puzzles in all.

Anthony's basket - socks (much needed - and he was so excited!), pajamas, Lightening McQueen swim trunks and a swim shirt, a Lightening McQueen water bottle, a flashlight (so he can stop taking mine!), sidewalk chalk, one egg with candy, and a Melissa & Doug (sensing a theme here?) wooden clock puzzle. He's learning how to tell time, so he loves the clock (and the girls love the shape pieces and are pretty good at getting them in the slots, actually!).

Anthony enjoyed hunting for eggs in the backyard. He didn't even mind that most of the eggs weren't filled with candy! I filled a few with a couple Starbursts each (knowing that he doesn't really care for chewy candy, so wouldn't eat many of them), three were filled with a dollar bill, and the rest were filled with animal crackers.

Anthony enjoyed "assisting" daddy with some front yard landscaping in the afternoon. As you can see - he mostly supervised, and he's got the hand-on-the-hips down pat!

Flower washcloth

I recently got the book, Weekend Knitting, by Melanie Falick. It has LOTS of great projects in it that I want to try, but the very first project in the book grabbed me and I had to do it. This knitted flower-shaped washcloth just looked SO luxurious and soft and wonderful - I just knew that every time I used it, it would be a little gift to myself!

I used the yarn she used in the book - Cotton Chenille, by Crystal Palace Yarns. I must say, it makes a wonderfully soft-textured washcloth...but I did NOT enjoy knitting with this yarn. At all. I started off by breaking the yarn 3 times within the first 10 minutes, which was a whole new experience for me, as I'd never had a yarn break before. Then I had a terrible time getting the stitches to move well on the needles, and I ended up switching to a needle one size larger hoping that would help a bit, and it did. But this yarn, I guess because it is cotton (which I did not know, having never knitted with cotton before) has NO give to it, and it was very hard on my hands and wrists. My hands got tired quickly while knitting with it, and it took me a lot longer to finish the project than I think it would have with a different yarn. But what other yarn would you want to use for a washcloth?!

When I originally saw the pattern in the book, I totally thought I would make knitted washcloths and handmade soaps for Christmas gifts this year. After knitting this one, I'm thinking...not so much. At least on the washcloths, anyway!! Nonetheless, I do love my one washcloth, and who knows...I may end up knitting another one or two for myself...I did order 6 skeins of the yarn, after all!!

A birthday party

A couple weeks ago, we went to a 1st birthday party for my friend Kristi's sweet baby girl. Her 3 kiddos and my 3 kiddos spend a LOT of time together, and I had so much fun making this picture frame with a cute photo of our babies together. That particular day, the babies were all looking out the slider because the 3 older kids were playing outside...I think they were sure they were missing out on something!

This picture frame started as a brick-red wooden frame. Using acrylic craft paint, I painted the frame white. I then decoupaged patterned paper onto the frame using Mod Podge. I covered a the chipboard vine in glittered cardstock, and used Mod Podge to attach it to the frame. The "sweet" and the flourish in the lower left corner were chipboard stickers. The stickers and paper/cardstock are all by DCWV.

I used Adope Photoshop CS2 to make the photo black and white, add the brushes to the corners, and add the text.

Abby wasn't quite sure what to think of the cake!

I love this pic of daddy and Mackenzie.

Makayla cracked me up trying to go up and down off the patio onto the grass. The dress she's wearing was one of my recent consignment sale finds - brand new for $3!!

Anthony didn't really care about the party - he just wanted to play!!

Flight school

The weekend before last, we went on a tour of a local flight school, with my moms group. Anthony thoroughly enjoyed himself!!

I think Anthony has a bit of a crush on this little girl - he hasn't stopped talking about her since that day!! We've seen her at one other playdate since then, and he keeps asking me when she's going to come to our house!!

Bits and pieces...crafty me

I had been eye-ing this green damask bucket at Target (AKA The Motherland, according to my friend!) for a while, but wasn't willing to spend $20 on it, especially when I had no specific purpose in mind for it. But when I found it sitting on a random shelf in the garden section, with a beautiful red clearance sticker on it for less than $5, I didn't hesitate - I snatched it up, still not having a plan for it, but knowing it needed to come home with me!! I had pondered on toys, shoes, magazines...but when I got it home, it immediately told me that it MUST be used for fabric!! And I must say - it's a smart little bucket, because this is SO much cuter than the ugly clear plastic bin the fabric was in before!

I haven't been doing much crafting lately, for a variety of reasons, but primarily because I'm just tired and don't have the energy. Which is sad...because crafting refreshes me and helps me stay sane. At any rate, I've always wanted to try making cold process soap, and for whatever reason, I got a bug under my skin a few weeks ago to order some supplies to give it a try. I used this tutorial, with the only change being that I added a tablespoon of french green clay and some rosemary and peppermint essential oils. YUM!

The process was quick and simple, the soap smells heavenly, and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!! The only drawback is that you have to be patient afterwards - while you theoretically CAN use the soap the next day, it will dissolve quickly if you do - you are supposed to let it dry/cure for 3-4 weeks before using it. That's a LONG time to be patient! I will admit I have one of my scraps (from trimming) on the kitchen sink, and I've been using it, to get my fix.

Anthony's birthday

As you can see, Anthony received a bicycle for his 4th birthday in March. (Yes, I know, these pictures are long overdue!)

Mackenzie wasn't quite sure what to think of the grass. But we were all loving the warm, sunny weather!! Our friends Dan and Gloria had come down a couple days before his actual birthday and taken him out to lunch and to the park, then we spent some time enjoying the weather in the backyard.

We went to Disneyland on his actual birthday. I love the fireworks setting on my new camera!!

Cheerio heaven and stranger anxiety

These were taken several weeks ago at a friend's house. For a while, we were going to weekly "preschool at home" playdates every week. We're not still going, because, well...as you can see, it's a bit difficult for me to pay attention to Anthony's school-work and keep the girls out of trouble at the same time, in a house other than my own!!

Actually - that's not the main reason we're not going anymore. The main reason is that Mackenzie has SUCH bad stranger anxiety ever since her last surgery that we can't go anywhere without her having a complete meltdown the second I put her down. It's hard for me to wear her while bending over the table helping Anthony, and then there is still the issue of Makayla running around getting into things.

But really...it's all about Mackenzie's meltdowns. I keep taking the kids to playdates, and I keep hoping she's going to get past this...but today, it took exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes before she calmed down enough to get off my lap and go play. And this was at a friend's house where she's been MANY times before - so it wasn't an unfamiliar place or unfamiliar faces. Poor traumatized kiddo.