In Our Easter Bonnets

Well nobody had a bonnet on.
I am always amazed at my ability to post about an event 5 days after it actually happened. Some of you have already decorated for the 4th of July by now.

All my family was with us this past weekend, and it was loads of fun. We celebrated the boy's birthday... for the last time.
Then we watched my nephew and my son run around like wild hooligans. It's what they do.









There's a very good reason most of those pictures are blurry; they never stop moving.

On Saturday night, we dyed Easter eggs. I think it's an unspoken Southern rule:
"Easter ain't Easter unless you go to church with stained blue and green fingers."



After church, we kept everybody still long enough for the required photo session. The boy AND my nephew complained. It's what they do.









I would be more irritable with their wiggly-ness if they weren't so darn cute...




After sitting impossibly still, we set them free to hunt eggs.
My nephew wanted to keep his "Easter clothes on all day," he said...
"Because it is Easter."
Love that boy.
My son, however, peeled off the church clothes as fast as he could. He had to get down to the serious business of candy-filled eggs.





We have enough chocolate to last until NEXT Easter.
Have a great weekend, friends.

A Global 10 on Tuesday

Today's questions are over at Roots and Rings, but they come from a gal who's from Australia and living in London. (Sue at Simon’s Sista Saw) Cool.


1. Do you prefer fabric or plastic plasters? (or Band-Aids if American)
I had no idea they were called "plasters" by other people.
I prefer the fabric, because I prefer my son to be hive-free. The boy is HIGHLY allergic to the adhesives in Band-Aids, so the fabric ones are a tiny bit better.

2. Do you prefer gel pens, biro or fine liners for everyday writing?
Gel pens all the way. What is a biro?

3. Do you have a fear of needles/dentists/blood (if all three, which is the worst) and is there a story behind it?
Needles? Yes. I hate them.
Dentists? Yes. I despise having to go to the dentist.
Blood? Not really. It doesn't bother me... in small amounts.
Sorry, no good stories.

4. Do you like jelly? Do you eat it at any time other than when poorly?
Huh? Poorly?
I do like jelly... on toast, biscuits, and in PB & J's. I do not like grape jelly, though.

5. What are your Easter traditions? (if not Christian, insert your own meaningful festival here and tell us about that instead)
We love Easter, and we love celebrating it. Because we're Christians, it is the entire focus of what we believe. Christ is risen!
We also believe in chocolate rabbits, egg hunts, big dinners, and new clothes.

6. What’s your favourite book that you have read so far this year?
"The Help." I know, I know... You all read it 25 years ago when it came out. I am a little behind the times.

7. Do you have any magazine subscriptions or recommendations that we should know about?
I have a lifelong subscription to Southern Living and People.
Of course I recommend them.

8. Favourite etsy store (if you know the owner IRL, also include your favourite that you didn’t originally know IRL)?
I don't have a favorite. Or a favourite.
I jump all over the etsy land.

9. If you had play money (£100/$150) that could only be used on shoes, what shoes would you buy?
I am a frugal gal, so I could make that $150 go pretty far! Some Spring wedges, some flip flops... nothing too fancy or too pricey.

10. If you were going pet shopping tomorrow, what would you choose?
Oh my. That question made my stomach lurch a little. I already have a sweet cat and a spasmo dog. I have NO desire for another pet.

Love and Dessert

We're coming down from a birthday party high. Birthday partieS.
Plural. As in multiple celebrations.
It's what we do around here. We live like Nomads, and we have family scattered all around, so we like to S-T-R-E-T-C-H a birthday to it's fullest.

Last weekend, Dan/Daddy's parents and Nonie came to visit, and we celebrated the boy's birthday with them. We went out for Hibachi and had a giant cookie cake...







Taking Dan/Daddy's Nonie to a Japanese steakhouse is enough entertainment to last all year.


The night before his REAL birth DAY, we celebrated with just the 3 of us, and the boy had his first lobster... all to himself. He wouldn't even share a bite with the woman who brought him into this world. That's gratitude for you.




This weekend, all my family came to spend the Easter weekend with us. We celebrated the boys' birthday AGAIN... this time with cake.
I love that little blond head of my nephew popping into the picture to help with the candles.



In putting this post together, I was thinking about 2 things...

1. We are truly blessed. We have close relationships with our families. I know so many people who have strained relationships with family members, and I should never take mine for granted. We actually want to spend time together, and the boy is surrounded by people who love him. Blessed.

2. We like dessert. I just did a fast mental checklist of the sugar we've consumed in one week's time, and it is embarrassing. I didn't even count the mountain of Easter candy sitting in the kitchen. I keep saying to myself,
"How many times do you turn 13?"
I can justify almost anything.


Love and dessert. I will take seconds of either one.

Thirteen Spankings

Thirteen years ago today I was attempting to birth a ginormous baby boy.
He finally made his grand fat entrance, and we've spent the last 13 years loving him to pieces...



Happy Happy Happy Birthday to the sweetest, funniest, cutest, smartest, kindest, and coolest kid (I mean TEENAGER ) we know!

We love you, E!!

The Do Nothing Spring Break

So we are halfway into this beautiful thing called Spring Break.
Ahhhhhhhhh.

We chose not to go anywhere or do anything this week, and we couldn't be happier.
I finished a book.
The boy and Dan/Daddy did a little fishing.
We're headed to the movies (Hunger Games, yeah!) in just a little while.

I thought I'd take some pictures this week to document our "do nothing" Spring Break, but so far I only have one photo from Monday.
The boy and his dog.
I told myself to look at this sweet picture every time I want to curse at my misbehaving dog...



I have no photos of me reading a book... That's boring, and I think I was in my pj's.

I have no photos of the fishing expedition... The fish were too small, and I was at the mall.

Happy Wednesday, bloggity people. I'm off to the movies. Thank you, Lord, for Spring Break.

Home Decor On Tuesday

Link up at Roots and Rings if you want to join in. Today's 10 is all about furniture and decor... Yippee!
When I grow up, I'd love to be a decorator or designer. Or a marine biologist, but these questions are not about sea life.
So today, I want to be a designer...

1. Ikea: over-hyped and confusing or genius furniture company?
"Amazingly awesome" isn't a choice?
I love IKEA.

2. Your favorite interior-decorator-type person wants to makeover one room in your house. Which room do you choose and why?
Our downstairs basement den area. It is a "finished" space, but it needs help. Actually it needs money. I'd love it to be a hangout spot... with cozy leather chairs, a TV, and all the video game equipment relocated there.

3. Describe the furniture in your childhood bedroom. Did you like it? Where is that furniture now?
The furniture was classic 1970's White French Provincial. The color scheme started out all red and white gingham... including the floor! Then it morphed into the baby blue teen thing. I did like it, and I have no earthly idea where it all is now. I need to ask my mom.

4. When you’re done with furniture, what do you do with it? Donate it to Goodwill OR Sell it on Craigslist OR Put it by the curb and hope the trash guys take it?
I am very seldom "done" with furniture. I paint things until they die. We use the heck out of furniture. If it has any life left in it, we donate it.

5. My Pinterest furniture style could best be described as
funky/eclectic
antique/shabby chic
modern/minimalist
so random and varied it’s undefinable
My Pinterest style is all over the place. So I'll say undefinable. Mostly classic. Some shabby chic.

6. Name the most important furniture/toy in a toddler’s playroom. And why?
Some type of tidy organizational system for toys. Why? Because I think kids need to be taught and encouraged to clean up after themselves.
Most importantly, because toys reproduce in the middle of the night and will take over your house if you let them.

7. Your parents (or grandparents or other relative) are giving away all their furniture. Which piece do you really want?
If I had to pick only one thing... my mom has this cool antique Louis Philippe round folding table. I love it. I need to ask my mom why she's giving away all the furniture.

8. Your biggest furniture buying or home decorating regret?
This may be an odd way to answer, but I regret all the bar stools we've had to buy. Because we move all the time, we've lived in houses with every bar height imaginable. So, we have a collection of bar stools. Come to think of it, we have a collection of curtain rods in every size, too.
If I get rid of them, the next house we live in will require the size bar stool or curtain rod I gave away.

9. $1000 gift card! Do you want it to Ethan Allen, ikea, Pottery Barn Kids?
Pottery Barn Teen.

10. Bunk beds, loft beds, trundle beds, or canopy beds?
Trundle. You don't have as far to fall.

Go Get My Gun, Ma

I am way too happy on a Monday.

The early-summer 87 degree nonsense has passed.
Our temps have cooled off into the sorta normal range for this time of year. I can put my complaining on hold again until July. Maybe.

It is also the first day of the boy's Spring Break. For me, that translates into not setting an alarm and not having to make a turkey sandwich at 6:30 in the morning. Can you hear me smiling?

And last, but oh so not least... our confused bird wasn't singing this morning. I didn't have to shoot him. Don't call PETA on me yet. Let me clarify.

Every single stinking morning for the past week, a bird has perched himself on top of our basketball goal - right outside the boy's window - and held a concert. Normally, I love to hear the birds singing. But, this guy was confused or just evil, because he started his serenade at around 4:30 AM.
(As in, the weeeeeeee hours of the morning. Before any living thing should be awake.) Not only was he singing, but he was singing LOUDLY. He sang so loud I could hear it from my bedroom, and he was waking us all up every morning. Well, not all of us. One of the 3 of us could sleep if the bird was on his head, but I'm not naming names.
Mama is not pleasant at 6:00 am when she has to get up. Mama was definitely not pleasant at 4:30 am.

The boy and I tried to devise a plan to shoosh it away, but we couldn't get the screen up, and we realized the airsoft pellet wasn't going to reach far enough. Call us haters, but we didn't want the bird to die. We just wanted him to shut up.

So on this first day of Spring Break, he did. The bird shut up. The boy and I met sleepy-eyed in the living room this morning and both asked the same question,
"Did you hear him?" "Was he singing?"
We hugged and high-fived and celebrated not waking up at 4:30 am.

Oh may the good times continue.