Easter 2012

Easter was great this year. Mark didn't have to work. The sun was shining. New life sprouting in my belly. Ham dinner with the in laws. And the spirit of Lord.
We kicked things off the day before at an easter egg hunt in Arlington.
Prior to the egg hunt, the easter bunny made an appearance. Waiting in line to see him, Gracie whispered in my ear, "Mom, I know this isn't the REAL easter bunny." Trying to hold back the tears I said, "Why do you think that?" Gracie put her hand on her hip and replied, "cause the REAL easter bunny is only this tall." Whew!! She's not all grown up yet.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day and Gracie had a blast hanging with her friends Dylan, Landon, and Connor. Below is a pic of her with Landon on a fire truck.

Just us girls...

Better get one with daddy...

Now Pop feels left out. Better get one with him too!

See what I got! I'm getting good at this!!

Here's a pic of the two "mamas". So glad we are pregnant together!

Big 5

Better late than never. This is our family motto. So it makes sense that I am just now blogging in March about Gracie's birthday in January.

5 years old and 5 celebrations.

The first one was at Chuck E Cheese...

No one sports an inflatable crown like my princess!



Daddy making small talk with Chuck E

 The 'before' pic of Gracie standing in the "ticket blaster"... there is no 'after' pic since I was consoling her as tears poured out of her eyes - it was a traumatic experience for Gracie :(

 Shooting hoops with her cousin remedy - look at that concentration!

 Gracie's reaction to everyone singing "happy birthday" to her.

 This is what a real guitar hero looks like!

 Gracie was pretty excited to open her presents!

The second celebration was at home with family.

 Gracie's newest cousin (on the eylander side) was born a month before and this was Gracie's first meeting with him. I think she is going to be a wonderful big sister!

 The third celebration was at Gracie's preschool where she shared cupcakes with all of her friends.

The fourth celebration was at Red Robin where we treated Gracie to a birthday dinner. We got a thumbs up when the sundae arrived.

And the final celebration was a little dance we all did when we told Gracie that she was going to be a big sister!!! Yep, you read that right.

Tis the season...

For HOT COCOA :)

HORSE DRAWN CARRIAGE RIDES

(with good friends)

HAY RIDES

(with my favorite uncle Andrew & his girlfriend Emily)

SANTA!!!

(Gracie said "This is the REAL one!!!")

(Gracie said, "This isn't the real Santa cause he has a big nose.")

To be CRAFTY...

I was invited to set up a booth at Arlington's Handmade Holiday craft show to sell some of the crafts I have made. I am so glad I went! Here was my table at the event...

Here's a closer look at the things I sold...

These are children's activities that I have created to help children learn shapes, colors, numbers, letters and foreign languages. I make them on pizza tins and magnetize all of the pieces.

These are Rebus Rhyme hand puppets.

These are snowmen made out of a fallen cedar branch that my dad quickly cut into small rounds for me. (Thanks Dad! :)

These are festive ribbon trees.

These are one of many different types of wooden coasters I sold. Made of cedar and hand burned.

Candles I made. Two people fought over them - that was nice... and awkward.

This Santa was made from an old peice of burly wood that my dad had given to me nearly a year ago. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew that someday a bright idea would pop into my head and I was glad when the Santa idea emerged. I wanted to keep him for myself so when it sold I was happy that my Dad was the one to buy him :)

Again, my dad had recently given me a nice branch from a Medrona tree. This is what I created - "Birdie Branch". It is much prettier when the lights are dimmed and you just see the soft glow of the white lights illuminating the white bird in her nest :)

Once again, another peice of wood that my Dad had given to me. (Are you seeing a theme here?:)  I hand burned pinceones and needles along the top, then lightly painted over them. Also, I hand burned the words 'Hat', 'Mittens', and 'scarf'. Then I put 3 hooks on it. It sold within minutes :)

These were little scraps of wood that... you guessed it - my dad found interesting and gave to me. :)

These angel ornaments sold like hot cakes :)

Happy Halloweek... end

That's right, you read it, a whole week  and weekend of dressing up and partying! And now, we're exhausted! Here's why: Wednesday we traveled down south to Marysville to party with my in-laws at their church halloween function. Here's Gracie doing the cake walk. She was so determined to win! Despite nearly winning at least a dozen times (we're talking very close EVERYTIME) she didn't quit or even get discouraged (which surprised Mommy & Daddy) - kuddos to you Gracie girl! :)

Bobbing for donuts... the things we make our children do! :)

Even our Jeep showed some Halloween spirit!

It was unofficially deemed the most decorated car at the trunk or treat - woo hoo! :)

Then on Thursday Gracie put her 'Butterfly Princess' costume back on

and partied with her classmates till the break of noon.

On Friday night we carved our pumpkins...

We TREATed Gracie by promoting her to "big girl status" and allowing her to carve her pumpkin all by herself this year. She gave us quite the scare when she screamed "I cut myself!" However, we searched both her hands and we couldn't even find a knick - we were TRICKed! 

On Saturday we traveled down south again to go trick or treating down the main street of Arlington with our good friends,  The Houstons. It was their son's 3rd birthday and what a great way to celebrate!

Butterfly princess & Sock Hop queen

Gracie with her boys; The hot nerd and The bad dog

On Sunday we went to my grandma's to watch the worst team in football, The SeaCraps, and celebrate my birthday... it was a  great afternoon spent with my loved ones. They made me feel very special... I could get used to this! :)

And finally, on Monday Gracie went trick or treating in our neighborhood!

She was excited to use the Bat Basket that her Grandma Marlene sent her from California.

When she came home it was definitely full!!!

Party animals

We are lucky enough to have a core group of friends that get along well and love to party!! So, for every stinken occasion that I can think of, we do just that! :) Halloween is one of my favorite parties and as usual this year's bash was fun!!

Gargamel & his kitty Azrael

GAMES!!!

Smurfette with her skeleton pal Connor

Smurfette with her wizard pal Camille

All the kiddos: Gracie, Camille, Gabe, Caden, Connor, Ryder,

& the cutest chicken you will ever see, Kylan.

The Francis'

The Kinnears

The Knotts

The Skiles

The Houstons

And last but not least a glimpse at Mark working towards an Oscar in his role, "Gargamel, the pedophile".