Easter Re-Cap. Mini Pizzas.

I haven't posted any pictures from Easter and here's why. . . Elizabeth's eyes closed:

Andrew's eyes closed:

They were all like that. Seriously. We took pictures after church when the kids were ready to throw off their Easter duds and get into some play clothes for playing at Nana's. This is the pictures Andrew got of Wade and me.

Oh well! We will try to do better next year. I didn't even take any pictures at my mom's. I was supposed to be doing better this year at that, wasn't I?

We tried dyeing our eggs the way described in Martha Stewart's Living magazine as we did last year. Using punches, die cuts, or scissors you cut pieces from vinyl and put the sticky pieces on your eggs (make sure they are room temperature or warm and not cold as we learned last year!). We used some small shape punches (flowers, hearts, circles) and my old Quickutz letter die-cutter.

We only had the kids do five eggs each (two cracked in our dozen while boiling despite my attempts to keep this from happening) and it still took an hour. They were so particular as to what design they wanted and peeling the backing off the punched pieces took a little time. Our finished product:

I was going through pictures on my computer I had taken the last couple of months and found one I had wanted to share. I had bought a new make-up brush and the package it came in was quite funny. I'm not sure they meant it to be as funny as I found it though.

"Cruelty-free?" I guess that means they didn't go out in the bush and pluck any hairs or bristles from some poor, unsuspecting boar or badger. I'm glad. Really the thing I'm the gladdest about is that while I do own a "full, flawless face brush" by Bare Escentuals that sells for $28, I bought this one for about 1/4 of that!

Mini Pizzas.

We love making these at our house. My favorite way is to use the Rhodes freezer rolls for the crust. I let them thaw and rise, then flatten them out and for the BEST taste, I grill them. I made some up ahead of time because when we planned on having pizza night I knew we would be getting home later than usual and needed a no-fuss, quick meal.

Andrew had wanted to make pizzas for all of us. He took our "orders" and went to work. They were so good. I prefer feta on mine and used some chicken I had left over from the deli. Mmmm! The kids opted for just cheese or mini pepperonis and cheese. We used our oven to baked them until the cheese was melted and bubbly. Andrew used the rest of the crusts later that weekend and used the toaster oven to bake one or two at a time. (We love our toaster oven!)

I have no pictures of the finished product because we were hungry and chowed down. ;)

God's Lessons and God's Beauty.

I was listening to the audio Bible application on my phone this morning while getting ready. (My listening comprehension is much better than my reading comprehension. I find I get more out of my Bible reading if I listen to it. The free app I use is by Bible.is.) I am currently in Mark and got tickled over these verses:

Mark 9:5-6 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. [And here's the kicker:] For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

For some reason that just cracked me up. If you know anything about the deity of Christ then you know to put earthly, carnal men up there with Jesus was a big no-no. But poor old Peter just didn't have anything better to say and he obviously felt the need to say something. I was thinking how many times we do the same thing. How many times do we not know what we're talking about but want to hear our sweet little voices yap so we say something we shouldn't. That was my chuckle and my lesson for the day. Maybe the Lord was trying to tell me something. Hopefully, He was telling me ahead of time, and it wasn't something I've already done.

Fun stuff today . . .

* I saw a baby turtle when I was pulling into our neighborhood this morning. He was about three inches in diameter. I almost had a moment of weakness to pull over and pick him up and take him home for the kids. I'm glad the fact that I have a frog (and crickets!) already living in my home quickly flitted through my mind. I kept driving.

* I bought this to possibly be my phone caddy. The natural wicker color doesn't go with my kitchen or decor so I bought a can of black spray paint. I may also try out some ideas floating in my head of putting some type of scrapbook paper or fabric inside to hide the cords that will go in it. That was my original intention. Since we bought a new phone recently. You can't find wall phones that are cordless and have answering machines. Now this one is wall mountable but could you imagine it sticking out of the wall as it is? LOL The wicker basket is a CD case I found on clearance this morning at Office Depot for under $3. I can't decide if it sits too high or not. I wanted low profile so we'll see. I'll get Wade's opinion.

* Some of the beautiful flowers around the house I planted last weekend.

When I visited my parents last week my dad wanted to take me to a greenhouse a few minutes down the road. I was needing to buy some flowers and the ones they had already bought from the Mennonite family that owns the greenhouse were beautiful. So we went and I bought. They had such beautiful flowers that I wish I could have bought more. Standing in the greenhouses full of lantanas, phlox, scarlet sage, petunias, nasturtiums, pentas, impatiens, alyssum, vinca, oh the list goes on but standing there among all that beauty I felt SO HAPPY. My mom probably thought I was losing it because I said several times, "All these flowers make me so happy." They made me smile. (I have to add that the prices made me smile too! Their prices are at least half of what you would find any any of the home and garden stores.)

Here are some pretty blooms already in my yard.

Elizabeth has never been interested in doing much yard work but I asked if she wanted to help plant flowers with me. Surprisingly, she was anxious and excited. I had bought some snap dragons because Daddy and Mom have always had them. My dad use to make the dragon mouth open and close by gently mashing the bloom with his thumb and forefinger. :) I let Elizabeth decide where to plant them. This is how my girl likes to normally pass her time.

* I finally got these pictures hung yesterday. This is what you call "cheap elegance". They had different colored frames that I sprayed black to match the rest of the decor in my dining room. Total project including spray paint = $15!

Happy Thursday!

Twins Photo Shoot.

This is something Annie and I have bee trying to plan for quite a while now. The weather wouldn't cooperate in the fall (nor would her boys' health) so we waited out the winter and finally got a day to get together at a park and then eat lunch afterwards. I was SO HUNGRY afterwards. LOL

It is hard to get two three-year-olds to smile at the same time! Plus, I prefer photographing in the evening because of the optimal lighting, but I think we got some good photos - ones that captured their personalities which are as different as they are in looks. And as I always feel I have to do as my disclaimer, I do not claim to be a professional photographer and do this for free for friends. I enjoy doing it, they like the outcome, we're all happy. :) (Click on each one to see if larger if needed.)

J was trying to tell me something. Cute!

C started having me follow him around so I could take his picture. He'd go down the slide and tell me take his picture. Here he had asked me take his picture while steering.

Aren't they precious? And can you believe twins and look so different? C - brown hair, brown eyes and J - blonde hair and blue eyes but both equally as precious and loved by their daddy and mama.

Performing. Oliver. Teacher Gifts.

I made an executive decision not to do chore charts this week. The kids backed me 100%. They like earning the money but we need a break. The funny thing is they still have to do 1/3 of what's on their list to do each day (practice piano and brush teeth) but they're up for bypassing the cleaning of the bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. With all the drama practices, voice group lesson meetings (six in two weeks), football practice and games, etc, we are needing some rest.

Last night was Elizabeth's drama performance, Once on This Island, Jr., a Broadway musical junior version. Last Friday was her voice recital. She sang "All I Do Is Dream of You" from "Singing in the Rain" and did a fabulous job.

Yes, I know I'm partial to her but she was in tune, enunciated well, sang with feeling, and didn't mess up. To think she's been taking voice lessons for three months! All the voice students sang a group song too ("Good Morning" also from "Singing in the Rain). She still has a piano recital this month, a talent show at school, and she's going to play a song in the fifth grade Sunday school department for all the kids.

Our airfare is bought, hotel rooms are reserved and a rental car is secured for my and Wade's trip in less than a month! Unfortunately, we are not going to Ireland (we won't even go into my feelings about that but I am resigned to the fact and am excited about this trip) but going to Santa Fe, New Mexico instead. I'm not a beach destination vacation kinda girl with my history. I wasn't really interested in a cruise this time. I wanted something romantic but adventurous and historical too. I did some research and Santa Fe seemed to fit the bill. I can not wait!

Meet Oliver, our newest family member. He's a Pacman frog, aka Ornate horned frog.

Yep, I did something I never thought I would - get a frog. Annnnnnd, I'm considering letting Elizabeth get a gecko in the coming months. She has to prove she will hold one first. LOL She's always been fascinated with lizards and snakes (we ain't doing snakes people!) so we'll see if she can meet that first requirement.

Andrew's third grade teacher has taught the class so much about frogs, lizards, worms, crickets, etc this year as they have all of them in their class as pets. Andrew started off wanting a bearded dragon and has been saving his money but after we did some research and I learned they grow to be around two feet long, I said no. I have said yes to many things I never thought I would, but I have to put my foot down sometimes. I'm already dreading the day our little Oliver grows big enough to eat, *gulp*, pinky mice. I know, ewwww! We are already having to have small crickets in our house for his twice daily meal. Yes, I currently have around 20 crickets in my house. My Nice. Clean. Home. (Add to that the frog itself all the fish in Elizabeth's room and I may just pass out if I dwell on it too much.)

Other things we've been up to . . . I helped last Friday with a local Habitat for Humanity House. I manned the chop saw (miter or circular saw) to cut all the boards for the men. All that stuff my daddy taught me came in handy. I was quite proud, I have to say! I am going back two more days to help and I hope I get to do it again. (In all honesty, it beats hammering for several hours which I am not good at and I know will make muscles I never use hurt! So yeah, call it laziness.)

Teacher Appreciation Week was last week so being a member of the PTO and a parent who tries to show appreciation for the teachers, I helped plan some things for the teachers and also made some treats from the kids. I got these ideas from others' blogs. The cupcake in a jar was my favorite! Apple Caramel - yummm!

Treat Jar (for Andrew's teacher)

Tea-rrific Teacher Tea Bags (kinda cheesey I know but it was a simple, cheap gift for the teachers the kids don't have every day - Library, Art, Music, Spanish and P.E.)

Skip to My Lou has LOTS of great ideas and tutorials on things like Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas. Go take a look!

I was a "good girl" yesterday and got a lot of house cleaning done so today I let myself do some blog-hopping which I have not done in ages. Weeks at least. Here are some fun things I found and wanted to share.

Popcorn in a Bag (Do-it-yourself microwave popcorn!)

No-Sew Fabric Flowers (This are seriously cute and easy too. I want to make one or two this afternoon!)

After the storm that moved through our area last night, I'm going to enjoy this beautiful day!