Tulips!

I love this girl

Today at Fred Meyer, Catie told the Playland attendant, "My mommy is the best. I love my mommy more than a lot of stuff." Just what I needed to hear today.

Eggs!

We went to church yesterday for an egg hunt. Here are the kids watching the telling of the Easter story very attentively. I was so proud. :)
Later, when Catie was telling us about the day, she made sure to include the part where she had to wait on the sidewalk.

Holding Nicky back!

Time to hunt some eggs. Catie immediately started grabbing as many as she could. Nick was a little more reflective. He soon got into the swing of things.

Look at all the eggs!

We headed back into the fellowship hall where they got to keep 10 eggs each. The rest of the eggs were donated to a local women's shelter.

We came home and played Easter Egg hunt in the backyard for the rest of the morning.

yard work

This is our backyard (part of it anyway), and this weekend we spent our time beautifying that corner.
This is what it looked like before:

And this is what it looks like now. We hadn't looked at the plants very closely this winter, and were pleasantly surprised to see that the one on the left is a rose bush. I can't wait to see it in bloom.

The only issue: now that we've cleaned up the leaves and weeds, the irrigation pipe sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm thinking hostas would be a good choice for this corner and would eventually cover it up. In the meantime, maybe a little black spray paint?

We extended this bed around the corner along the fence a little ways to make room for some berry bushes. We planted 3 blueberry bushes and one raspberry. We've also ordered a blackberry bush. Yum.

One section at a time and pretty soon we'll have this yard whipped into shape. :)

A nice morning to go to the park

The weather has been so beautiful lately (sunny, with highs in the 60's) we decided to go to the park this morning. First, we fed some geese, ducks, and gulls.
Nicky loved it. Zoom in on this picture and get a load of that face. :)

Catie liked the geese until they came toward us. Daddy kept them at bay while he was feeding them, but once the bag was empty they came begging again, and she was quickly in my arms.

"How can you resist this face?" he says.

"The ducks are in the bathtub!" Nicky exclaimed.

Then, we headed over to the playground.

Nicky chose the tire swing.

Sharing the tire and wearing Daddy's hats. These pictures are cute, but I was kind of wishing we hadn't let them wear hats and sunglasses. I wanted to see their eyes.

So much fun. Now I'm really looking forward to summer weather!

Murphy's Law

Brad bought a battery charger for me this afternoon. Less than an hour later, we found ours, along with an extra battery, in with his junk under his side of the bed. When I expressed my delight in not being the one who lost it, he claimed that he told me to look there. I'll let you decide who was right.

I promptly took my camera outside to snap some photos of the red bud tree in full bloom in our backyard.

The yard is a mess right now, but it's also full of promise. I wonder what kind of bulbs these are?

I'm excited to see what this mystery shrub looks like with leaves. :)

We have our work cut out for us, but I'm so happy it's spring!

Just do it already *Edited to add visual aids*

That's what I told myself this morning while changing a load of laundry. Maybe I'm not ready to paint the whole house yet, but I can at least clean out the laundry room.

You see, I love the layout of our house except for one thing: I hate the laundry room. Because it's not even a room. It's a hallway from the garage to the rest of the house. The most used hallway in our house. And a dumping ground.

Here's what I found in there: 563 hangers (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating), an iron, an ironing board, three empty boxes pretending to be important, lightbulbs, a box of gallon sized ziploc bags, an extra roll of glad wrap, two of Brad's extra thermoses, a huge framed map of Colorado Springs, my breadmaker, two folding chairs, a step stool, books from the Bible study we finished a month ago, a Sunday School coloring sheet, my purse and Bible study bag, our books and folders from the membership class we finished 2 weeks ago, a trashcan, assorted laundry supplies and cleaning supplies, suction cup bathroom organizers, a black crayola marker, the twins' art easel, a post-it pad, paint brushes, a carpenter's pencil, dirty dish rags, need I go on?

I'm sure you can see why that "room" stressed me out. Now, admittedly, I just threw whatever didn't belong there into the garage or on the stairs to be taken up next time I go, but I figure if I do one space at a time it will be much more manageable.

I even dragged our bench, languishing in the garage getting dusty, up the garage steps all by myself. It's one of those mudroom benches that has a tall back with hooks.

Here's the plan: Only the most used jackets get to hang on the bench. Mom and Dad can only have one pair of shoes downstairs at a time. The kids' shoes go in a basket next to the bench. Mom's purse and Bible study bag have a home on a hook. Most laundry (dishcloths excepted) stays out of the laundry room except on Wednesdays (laundry day).

If you have a mudroom/laundry room, how do you keep it organized?

PS No pictures because I haven't found my charger yet. That's my next project, I promise, Dad. :)

Ha! Found the charger! Here are some pictures. Wish I had some befores, but you'll have to believe me when I say it was a cluttered mess.

Good enough is not good enough

I can't find my camera battery charger. After 3 months of living in this house (Has it really only been 3 months?) I'm ready for some organization. So much of what I did when we were unpacking was "good enough" and "we'll figure out what we really want to do later." Later has come. All of a sudden I can't stand the way things are around here.

The laundry room/hallway to the garage is driving me crazy. It's a dumping ground. The same goes for the ledge between the hallway and the living room. And, oh, my computer desk! Junk all the time. Let's not even talk about the playroom. And the craft room? I can't wait to get my hands on that room and really make it functional. Our bedroom is haphazard. The guest room walls have holes in them. The kids' room is unfinished and their curtain rods are bent from pulling on them.

I'm tired of feeling like the house is half finished. I have the sudden urge to start painting immediately. And we have so many more surfaces here for decorating. I'm getting a little overwhelmed.

The problem is, I know exactly what I would do if I had infinite amounts of money, but I don't. So, we'll take it one step at a time. It's going to take longer than I want for sure. And, it will never be completely done. And I need to learn how to be okay with that.

In the playroom

This post was going to be really fun, with lots of pictures of the kids playing and a couple pictures of Catie's newest hat (even more adorable than the last), but, alas, my camera battery died after this one picture.
Nicky informed me that this potato looks like Grandma. I didn't ask him which one.

Making things (Edited to add more pictures)

I've started a craft night. Twice a month, I invite a bunch of ladies to come and bring whatever they're working on. Last month was a hit. Last night, not so much. Just me and one friend. There was a scheduling conflict. I'm not taking it personally. :)

Anyway, the thing I love about craft night besides hanging out with like-minded ladies is the accountability. I'm terrible about buying everything I need for a craft and then losing steam somewhere in the beginning. But, I feel like someone else knows what I'm doing now, so I have to get it done. :)

Last night, after a failed attempt at reading another pattern, I started this hat for Catie. Today when she saw it almost finished she asked who it was for. When I told her it was for her, she got really excited. I'm not quite done--I want to crochet a big flower and attach it to the hat--but it's wearable at this point. Here she is:
She wanted to show you her bracelet.

I suppose creativity runs in the family. Here's what Nicky does almost all day, everyday:

Hopefully I'll have a finished hat to show you later tonight or tomorrow. :)


Ta-da! I finished it already. The flower was faster and easier than I expected. Here are some more pictures of my little model:

A view of the flower. Yes, she insisted on wearing two "hats"--her hood and the beanie.

Work it, work it!

And for a bit of reality. Nicky wanted in on the photo shoot. He's standing on a little chair.