Easter Saturday

We had a very busy (but fun) Easter weekend. T.A., Ann, Brenna and Tommy came by on Saturday and we did an (indoor because it was POURING outside) Easter Egg hunt, followed by a barbecue (because the sun had come out a little and besides, we'd already bought the chicken...)

Here are some pictures from that day ... I'll post the Easter Sunday photos in another entry.

Things on the egg hunt get started as Tommy and Hannah race around the living room looking for eggs:

Have you seen any Easter Eggs?:Lizzie counts all her Easter Eggs (each kid got to find 12 eggs before moving on to help Brenna find eggs):Brenna didn't need much help, as she managed to find her OWN eggs:Hannah does a quick count to see if she's collected enough eggs (so she can start eating the candy inside!):Excuse me Hannah, but do YOU have an extra eggs?:Okay, it's not an Easter Egg, but gosh could this picture be any cuter? I think we got the sombrero from Aunt Anonymous and I have no idea where Brenna found the shaker of cake sprinkles:Here's everyone after the hunt ... getting ready to start running around on a sugar high:

Day Book entry

A new feature! My friend Kristina over at http://www.sweetpeawanderings.blogspot.com/ does this every once in a while and I just think it's a sweet glimpse into her life, so I'm stealing the idea for my blog, in hopes of doing it once a week, on Fridays as we get ready for our weekend. There are lots of other Day Books posted at http://www.thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ via links. I do not post my link there because I'm trying to keep this blog just for family and friends, but please do go take a look at what other people are doing ... it's really kind of interesting (if you're nosy, like me!)

FOR TODAY, April 10

Outside my window... it looks cloudy and cool, but not raining as was predicted.

I am thinking... that it will be so much fun to have kids here tomorrow for an egg hunt

I am thankful for... daughters who thoroughly cleaned their playroom this morning

From the kitchen... eggs are boiling, coffee is brewing

I am wearing... yellow shirt, black pants and sneakers

I am creating... the new outline for my memoir that makes everything flow together much better

I am going... to call Kara soon and catch up on her life

I am reading... Paul Coelho's "The Witch of Portobello"

I am hoping... for good weather tomorrow, but it's not looking so good

I am hearing... "Tom and Jerry" on the television, Hannah talking to her dolls

Around the house... Hannah's playing with the dollhouse downstairs, Lizzie is watching the end of "Tom and Jerry" and I'm getting ready to vacuum

One of my favorite things... Penzey's spice catalog and the spices I get from it. Just had an awesome dinner made with a Turkish blend of spices

A few plans for the rest of the weekend... Brownie meeting Saturday morning, T.A. and family arriving in the afternoon, egg hunt frivolity, church on Sunday followed by dinner at Terry's house with more family, followed by taming children on sugar highs

Here is picture I am sharing...

Hannah and Liz at the beginning of their spring break.

Ballet update

So, we're heading into the home stretch of the girls' first year of ballet and, as you can see from the clip below, they are actually improving. Sort of. Maybe. Or maybe it's just their mother talking.

Their demonstration (basically a recital without the foofy, expensive costumes, but I heard the girls WILL get to wear tutus from the Schuylkill Valley Dance Theater!) is planned for May 31. Let me know if you'd like to attend ... or you can just wait for the full video of their 1 minute and 45 second performance. You'll get a taste of their dance at the end of the clip below, too.

Painter Girls

A couple of months ago I decided to update the girls' room. They decided it needed updating too -- although that was probably because basically all they've had in the room for the past year or so we've lived here is a bed, a dresser and whatever artwork they pin onto the walls. Oh, and clothes all over the floor.

So they decided that the theme of their room should be the Disney Princesses. Why? Because most kindergartners are enamored of the princesses. But I am not. And perhaps neither will the 8-year-old version of Hannah and Liz or the 9-year-old version. And since I'm not the kind of person to redecorated more than every 5 years ago, we all compromised on a mod-70s, flower power theme.

I let them pick the bedding and paint colors (well, okay, I narrowed it down to two or three acceptable colors and THEN let them pick, otherwise the room would have been pink on pink...)

So this weekend I packed them off to Grandma's house, with Daddy (and Uncle Dude made an unscheduled visit, too, I heard!) and their bikes.

Here they are getting ready to leave... we've switched from the cat theme to the bunny theme in the house (although Hannah is technically a mouse, but she's an EASTER mouse):

And me getting ready to miss these cute faces:

And this one, too.

Once I sent them on their way, I was free to paint for the next 24 hours. Of course there was NO WAY I was going to paint alone. So I invited my sisters to help out. We painted my sister Tina's apartment a few years ago, and except for the fact that it took about three weeks (okay, three days) to do, it was fun.

Unfortunately Aunt Anonymous was unable to make it this time, and perhaps that explains why THIS paint job took only about four hours, including a long lunch break. I believe it is directly related to the fact that since I was in charge of this job instead of Aunt Anonymous, there was no use of that blue painter's tape. We took care of this job the old fashioned way: we just slapped the paint on and hoped for the best.

So here's Beanie (Tina) working on the purple whisper wall (actually more of a stage whisper -- it was darker than I thought it would be) And yes, for those of you who might think otherwise, Bean's actually PAINTING and it came out looking great:

And Terry very happily doing some cutting in on the green goddess wall. Behind her you can see that the purple whisper and green goddess actually look pretty good together (you know, if you're into the whole 70s flower power scene...)And here they both are. I did do quite a bit of painting myself, by the way, but someone has to take the photos to document the job... After they left I continued on with the trim work and decided to paint Lizzie's dresser that same green goddess color. And then I stuck flower decals all over it. But for those pictures you're just going to have to wait for the Before and After pictures when the project is completed. I also rented "The Duchess" through Tivo and it was okay, but I probably should have rented "Australia" instead.

Hannah and Liz (and Rob) had a great time at Grandmas where they went to the zoo (plug for the Cape May County Zoo -- it's free and in the spring/fall not too crowded!), played catch and cards with Uncle Dude and were introduced to Yodels (thanks a lot Grandma!)

They loved the colors in the room and didn't seem to mind that there wasn't a princess in sight!!

My website

I finally figured out the whole double hosting thing on my website so I've been able to overhaul and update it. It's still very much a work in progress, but if you'd like to take a look at it, click on over to http://www.tracyrasmussen.com/.

It's strictly a work website though. For cute pictures, like these of Hannah and Liz doing their homework outside, you'll need to keep coming back here!

Oh, baby!!

Isn't this just the cutest baby?? She's the daughter of our good friends Kim and Mike (the girls were flower girls in their wedding) and we got to meet her this weekend. Did I mention that she's just the cutest baby?

Here, Vivie practices wrapping her daddy around her little finger with just a glance:

And here's everyone smiling for the camera:

The visit to see the new baby (and, oh yeah, Kim and Mike) was the start of a great weekend where the weather wasn't exactly warm, but it was bearable outside. Hannah even decided that it was sunny enough to wear her shades while she was reading.
Lizzie had fun outside, too, although she wasn't reading, so she didn't need sunglasses. And besides, Hannah wasn't sharing them.

Rob inaugurated the grilling season this past weekend, too, although with cold cold cold (did I mention that this is the longest winter ever in the history of my life?) weather we had all week so far, who knows when we'll grill again.

And finally, although it might be 40 degrees and raining outside as I write this, spring IS blooming indoors at our home:

Please Pray for Stellan

I don't read a lot of blogs with regularity, but I do often check in at My Charming Kids to see how things are going for MckMama's large family with many small children. Jennifer's (MckMama's) son Stellan was supposed to die before he was born because of a heart defect and yet he miraculously was healed and was born full-term and healthy.

Now, four months later, he is having heart trouble again, and I'm asking you to pray for him and his family. If you click on his sweet picture above you'll be taken to the blog and can read updates, but really you don't need to know the details to pray for this baby.

Thanks ... Oh, and I'll be posting a much happier blog a little later today -- took many pictures of our busy weekend.