Ofiicially Excited for Easter!

Of course I was excited, but now I'm realllllly excited! My stepdaughter and her sister are coming out for the weekend! Which makes me sooo grateful we didn't color Easter eggs yet! We have had the stuff for it for over a month, but I kept hoping if I held out, it would workout so Lex (my stepdaughter) could do them with us! I hate doing anything like that without her! Thank you God for my patience! lol.







We have so much planned for this weekend! We are going to color Easter egss, finally! And we're going to make Jelly Bean bark! Found the recipe, and it's so cute and easy enough the kids can help! We are going to Hubby's hometown on Saturday, and instead of staying at my FIL's, as planned, with 4 kids, we decided to stay in a hotel with a pool. We stayed in a hotel a month ago, but Lex wasn't able to come, so we have been wanting to do that with her. And swimming is great because it completely closes the age gap when they are in the pool. They all just swim and splash and laugh and it's great. :)




Sunday we are going to my Hubby's Grandparents! They live on a river, so it's a fun place to do an Easter egg hunt! I've got for 40 eggs, and there will be more too! My FIL plays guitar at his church, the one we will be going to for Easter, so that will be nice to watch! I'm just really, really excited!








The kids and I decorated big, foam eggs a few days ago. I hung those up, and added an Easter table cloth and a few other things, and we are now decked out for Easter! I put together all of the Easter baskets last night. I am usually anti-toy in baskets, unless it's Easterish, but Olivia has recenetly gotten into Barbies, so I thought it would be cute to throw one into hers. Plus it takes up enough room where it still looks full with a LOT less candy. I got Chase a Spiderman watch because he has been wanting a watch like Dad's, and then I got the girls bubbles and some egg shaped chalk. The chalk wouldn't fit in the baskets, so I am just going to set it around, decorative looking. I LOVE making Easter baskets. We always got the store bought kind, which were of course really cool, and way overpriced. Now they're not even that expensive, but I can't bring myself to do it. I love picking out every item that goes into it, and then arranging it all. It's FUN! And they have so many cute Easter candies! They even had bunny shaped ring pops! Too cute!

I love how these baskets turned out! But I will say, this is my last year using little baskets! There is just too much stuff to fit into it! I think the little ones are a lot cuter, and I think it is a lot better for kids. I think kids become ungrateful when they are over spoiled. Not just with Easter baskets, with everything! It just seems when you give kids a lot of something, they start expecting it. It's a fine line! I'll figure it out. That's what being a parent is... figuring it out as you go... learning what to do, by learning what not to do. :)



We made the Grandparents little Easter bags too! Hope they like! Only a few days till Easter! Hope you're all as excited as I am! I'm a Holidays Junkie! I can't help it! lol.


:)

French Toast, Sprinkles & Frosting too!

This was the breakfast I made for the kids on my Birthday! They're not big on eggs, but love french toast. I put pink sprinkles on Olivia's, and green sprinkles on Chase's, then topped it with a little frosting, in the Birthday spirit!My Birthday was a few weeks ago, but I love these pictures, love this memory, and wanted to share. :)

Where did you go Spring?

Just last week it was all Sunshine and flipflops, and this week it's... grey. Just grey. And gloomy! Booooo! I want to take my little ones to the park, and take pictures with the sun in their eyes. Ok, I don't really want that, but I'd take it over this! I have spent the last umpteen months finding indoor activities for my kids to do... I'm over it! Completely! On top of that, I've had to push three photo shoots back because of this gloom! THREE! There is no way I am doing portraits in this gloom! Who would even want pictures in this? Grey skys and dead trees. Yuck. Oh man, and they're talking snow.... nooooooo. Set me back even more! Sigh.

Ok, moving along, lol. Chase is turning 4 this Summer and he is FINALLY going to be old enough to be in Sports. So we are putting him in Soccer and Swimming. Swimming is crazy expensive, and I am so grateful because my parents have both said they want to help us. And we are putting Olivia in dance as soon as she is old enough... which depending on the place is generally around 2 years old... give or take. I'm a little frustrated because Chase's Soccer Season is 2 months away, so the schedule is not posted, and I have to sign up for Summer classes. I am planning to revolve my school schedule around it as much as possible. I don't want to miss a single game or even practice! I am not even kidding... I would rather have to retake a class than miss out on these momentous events in my kids' lives! Deciding to go back to school was a very hard decision, but I swore to myself, the second it came between me and the kids, I would stop. I already feel guilty enough. I feel like it is not my kids fault I didn't finish college before they were born, it's mine, and they shouldn't be the ones sacrificing for it. BUT, I can't change my past, only my future, so as long as I can juggle both, I will.

I love that I'm going back to school, and doing something for myself. It's a nice change, as any Mom knows! And even though I don't plan on working until Olivia is in kindergarden, I can't wait to graduate, and start my career. I can't wait to be working with kids, something I truly love, and actually getting paid for it! I started working with kids when I was 14 years old, in my Church's nursery. I volunteered at Elementary Schools, at a battered women's shelter, at a few Churches, and worked in a couple daycares. I have worked with some of the cutest, sweetest kids, and some kids who are so lost in this world it would break your heart. But I know without a doubt working with kids is what I was meant to do. When I was younger I wanted to work with special needs kids, and in the last couple years I've been considering that more and more. I just want to help, I want to make a difference, I want to show kids love and understanding that they may not always get elsewhere.

I just really can't wait for it. But for now, I have to think about my little ones. And naptime is already an hour in, so I better get some things done while I still can! Happy Friday, and Happy kinda-sorta Spring!?! :)

Wordless Wednesday-Hollywood

Always late, but worth the Wait

At least that's what I like to tell myself. I am so behind on blogging. Whenever I feel like there is something I realllllly want to blog about, i kinda clam up, get intimidated, flake out... whatever. So I am way behind! So I will play a little teeny bit of catch up! Except for the Cali trip. Some day, hopefully sooner than later, I will write a LONNNG blog about how freaking AMAZING California was! If I'm being honest, I'd like to write a blog for every day we were there; for every city we went to. Because it was that good. Anywho, short and sweet is it!

We are still debating on the moving away thing. Everyday I feel different about it. There are so, so, so many reasons to go. And only one reason to stay. But that one reason is the biggest reason. People. Our family and our friends. The thought of living without them, missing Birthdays and Holidays and everything in between... I hate that thought. Like HATE it. And I don't use the word "hate". We talked to my Mom about it and she just had this disgusted look on her face. Like she couldn't even believe we were telling her this. My dad was very supportive and said we needed to do what was best for us, but then I talked to my step mom about it and she said he was pretty upset about it. We talked to my stepdaughter about it, and she was ridiculously mature about it. She said she feels like she doesn't get to see us enough as it is. But then she said if we moved she would be happier because she could stay for a lot longer than just the weekend, which is obviously more ideal for her. I understand completely! I hated the whole back and forth, seeing my dad for a weekend crap. There is no structure in a weekend. I can cram in activities, projects and a million pictures, but it's still just a weekend. As for my friends, we're not even talking about it. They don't like the idea, end of story. Tony and I honestly feel like we could give the kids a better life somewhere else. I just hate the thought of hurting people, and I know leaving would hurt people. If only life were SIMPLE! Why can't it be??

Okay, last topic, I swear! Bestie's Wedding... dun dun dun! I got my Bridesmaid dress... or should I call it my Maid Of Honor dress? Hehe. ;) So happy to have that done with! And we are a week away from the Bridal Shower! It is going to ROCK! My first official shower as a Hostess! Hooray! I rock at hosting parties, and I have had a ton of showers of my own (7!) so I got this! :) We are doing everything in the wedding colors, pink and black, so it's going to be very elegant! We are going to have fresh flowers and lit candles all over. On top of black frames full of pictures of them, as well a slide show going throughout the whole shower. Not to mention a bunch of fun games, with a million prizes (about 50) and great food! Please let it go smoothly, and if it does it will be a shower to go down in the books! Make me a Maid of Honor, and you will not regret it! lol!

And I'm spent.