Easter Week Wrap-Up

Springtime is pretty busy around here. Here's just some of what we've done in the last week or so. Since it was Easter we had to have the traditional egg hunt. In fact, we had to have a couple of them. Here are some of the characters involved in one of the hunts. Lizzie and Hannah you probably recognize. The other kids are Zoe, Anna, Nina, Izabella and Adam. Or  you can j ust call them Adam's harem. Lizzie and Hannah don't know Adam that well, but Lizzie did confide in me that she thinks he's very handsome. I know it's a little early to start worrying about prom, but, you know ... I'm just putting that out there! ;)

Here are some of the kids running around my front yard looking for filled eggs.

Hannah found eggs for other people, too. She's helpful that way.

Oh, and the kids actually missed an egg, which Lizzie found TODAY (a whole week later) when she was out running around in the woods.

 Nina and Adam teamed up to find some eggs, too:

Oh, and one of the reasons Hannah was so generous helping other people to find eggs was because this was not her first egg hunt. Here she is a couple days earlier hunting eggs in the front yard. I think in total she collected about five dozen eggs.

Thi was also the week of the Fun Fair. Here's a (bad, sorry!) photo of Lizzie just after she got a little too close to the dunk tank. She got sopping wet, but was still able to enjoy the extraordinarily greasy (read: yummy) french fries. Also at the Fun Fair they got to do a cake walk, golf, fish and eat pierogies (also way way way greasy!) I got to spend $30 so they could win tiny little unicorn erasers. So, you know, a good time was had by all:

 

And speaking of getting wet, it rained a lot this week. A lot. Not that it bothered Hannah, though.

And, last, but not least Mr. Cash got a haircut and is finally starting to look like the handsome canine that is his birthright! Also, you can see that the Easter Bunny brought him a brand new collar. He also brought him a large bag of peanut butter flavored biscuits, but he found them early, so the EB had to go with plan B.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Cash and the girls....

Tracy and the girls...

And Rob and the girls...

Simple Woman's Daybook

For April 22, 2011

Outside my window... It may quite possibly be spring this weekend. It was sunny and cold for most of the day, but the predicted thunderstorms are supposed to usher in some warmer air for the weekend. I hope so. These 400 days of winter have tried my patience. Today is Earth Day, by the way. I celebrated by putting three water bottles in the recycle. ;)

I am thinking... that I love having friends over to my house because they rock AND because now my house is nice and clean for the Easter holiday.

I am thankful ... for my friends and family for helping me to navigate the past two months since my mom died. It's easier to be gracious and brave when so many dear people have your back.

From the kitchen... It's Good Friday so not much is going on in there. Tuna salad is cooling in the refrigerator and I'm going to be making some cupcakes for dessert for Easter, but I probably won't be doing that until tomorrow.

I am wearing... black leggings, white shirt -- very conservative!

I am creating... a story about Johnny Mathis. I interviewed him a couple of weeks ago. Read about it in the Reading Eagle next Thursday. He was really a cool guy!

I am going ... to Kolb's Dairy to get some of their most delicious organic (and fresh since the cows are right there!) milk and some quinoa. The dairy has all sorts of cool flours and grains and so even though it's about twice as far away since we moved (three years ago!) I still go there. Oh, and they make outstanding milkshakes, too.

I am reading... "A Discovery of Witches." Actually I finished it on Monday and it was one of the most fun books I've read in a loooooooong time. So happy my friend Amy E. suggested it for book club and I can't wait to talk about it. It's a witchy/vampire mystery love story so it sort of encapsulates several of my favorite genres.

I am hoping... to continue to eat healthy, exercise and pay attention to my stress level so that I can lose weight.

I am hearing... MarioKart on the Wii and Lizzie on the piano. Lizzie's gotten quite good. I'll post a video of her playing, soon.

Around the house... things are looking pretty good! We had friends over this morning so I cleaned AND vacuumed. I love it when my house is pulled together and I wonder why I don't clean more often and then I remember that I DON'T LIKE TO CLEAN. 

One of my favorite things...Lindt truffles. Each one has 2 Weight Watchers Points, but they are OH. SO. WORTH. IT.

A few plans for the week ahead... Tomorrow the girls are going back to the Lowe's Build and Grow workshop to make window birdhouses (where you can see the bird build the nest through your window) and then it's Easter so I'm pretty sure there will be some church-going and maybe some visiting. Next week is the usual busyness of school volunteering, class projects, coffee with friends and math homework.

A picture I am sharing... It poured here this weekend but that didn't stop Hannah and Liz from playing outside. We had spent the afternoon traipsing around a Girl Scout camp, so they were already pretty wet before this. I call this "Walking in the Rain with the One You Love."

Dress Rehearsal

Hannah and Lizzie make their First Holy Communion in a few weeks, so I thought it was a good idea to try and get some photos of them and let them practice walking in their dresses. First Communion dresses have changed A LOT since I was 8. Now they are really like little bride dresses. They also COST as much as a bridal gown. I was able to do my usual online magic and did not have to pay the $100-plus for each dress, and Hannah and Lizzie were thrilled with their choices. Here are some of the OUTTAKES from our photo session.

First up is Hannah. Hannah LOVES to model and takes direction really, really well (when she's not laughing hysterically). So we started with this one:

But then she settled right down and we got this one:

Lizzie had a bit more trouble. Here's our first shot:

Then I asked her to look a little more serious:

Then I told her to lighten it up a little because that first picture made it look like something smelled bad in the room. And I got this picture (which I love, but is NOT First Communion acceptable...) In fact, we really didn't get a great single shot of Lizzie (yet -- I haven't given up hope):

This is what happens after about 4,000 photos, NONE of which satisfy your mother. In the back, Hannah is trying to show Lizzie (badly) what it's like to look serious:

Then they both just started laughing:

And laughing...

And LAUGHING!!

Finally, we got a nice one. YIPPEE: