Everyday Occasions Scrapbook~ Easter Egg Hunt

The Bubs had a blast...even though, technically, he was the only one hunting for eggs.

E-man was unsure and, at first, unimpressed with the colorful orbs.

My cousin, K., who has always been so wonderful with the boys was more than happy to take E-man around Nana's yard at his own pace. She even hid the eggs for us so that we could finish eating and chat for a while. You, Miss K., are awesome!

E-man hung out on the porch enjoying his small stash of goodies while his big brother continued to hunt down more eggs....one of which had a $5 bill in it!

From our hearts to yours...

May you and yours have a happy and blessed Easter holiday!

Holiday Decorating...The Essentials

Holiday decorating fever is upon most of us...and why not? Break out those pretties and deck those halls!

I love decorating around our house and, over the years, I've come to rely on a few essentials when I get ready to trim the tree....and anything else I can get away with trimming.

Green craft wire or floral wire is one of my top essentials. Yes it's a must for those wreaths and garlands, but it also comes in handy for attaching ornaments to the tree...to keep little hands and feet safe from broken ornaments. Instead of just using a hook to hang my glass ornaments, I loop a piece of floral wire through the ornament's hoop and wrap the ends around a branch. When it's time to take everything down, I leave the wire on the ornament for the next year.

Ribbon and lots of it! It's reusable year after year and can be used in so many ways. Wreath hanger, gift wrap, tree garland, the usual bows........I've even hung a length of ribbon and paper clipped my Christmas cards to it for a card display on the cheap.

I looove these things! I use them to hang stockings, wreaths, seasonal art, garland, etc. I grab a few throughout the year whenever they're on sale and stock up for the holiday season. They're especially great when you're trying to keep your decor up and out of the way of little hands.

Then there's the less practical, but no less neccessary, item to add to my list of decorating essentials. Fireside coffee. Yum!

Mom found this part coffee, part hot cocoa recipe a few years ago and shared it with me. It's become a winter time staple in our house and it goes wonderfully with holiday bedecking.

There you have it, a few of my must haves for decking our halls. Do you have any?

Happy Independence Day~

We hope that you all have a safe and fun-filled weekend as you celebrate our country's independence!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm really hoping that y'all are able to see my Happy Thanksgiving do-dad up above! I had fun making it and I wanted to share the love...it is my first Scrapblog publish to my blog, though, so be forgiving (like y'all usually are!).

Now for the really big news...*drum roll*

It's A Boy!

I know, I know! I kept saying that this pregnancy must be a little girl because everything felt so different from when we were prego with the Bubs but, Honey, were we wrong! The sono lady knew almost instantly that it was a boy and the child was not shy about showing that bit of himself off. We did have some trouble seeing other parts, though. She really wasn't able to get a good, clear shot of the heart and its four chambers so we might have to go back later. Developmentally, she said that it looked to be almost a week and a half further along than the due date indicated, but she wasn't going to change the due date at this stage in the game.

We had fun watching the kid jump all over the place and even, at one point, put his hands over his little face to avoid all the pokin' and proddin'. We were a little in shock over the "boy news", but extremely happy nonetheless! Now if we could just agree on a boy's name......

I hate to be so cliche, but...

It's okay to be cliche! Today is Cliche Day, after all. I found a website that's all about cliches and I took a few minutes to pick out a few phrases that I've actually used and some that just caught my eye.

"As welcome as a skunk at a lawn party."

"bass ackwards"

"Darned if you do, darned if you don't."

"Busy as a one-legged man in a butt kickin' contest."

"You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip."

"His left hand doesn't know what his right hand is doing."

"Madder than a wet hen"

"Take it with a grain of salt"

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

"It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice."

So there you have 'em! I wonder just how many cliches we all use in a day......

Nature's splendor inspires a spiff-up...

This past Friday Dad posed the idea of all of us -he, Mom, Aunt D, me, and the Bubs (Hubby is away)- heading to the mountains for an overnight stay. I was all for it and delighted at the prospect of sharing some laughs and seeing some beautiful fall foliage. I wasn't disappointed on either count! We drove up after church, stayed overnight in a small motel, ate at some "mom and pop" joints, and took pictures galore along the Blue Ridge Parkway.....with Dad dilligently trying to ignore his vertigo at almost every overlook.

At almost every turn, fall's splendor abounded. Whether it was on the trees or on the doorsteps of the local homes, I was delighted with the warm colors and overall sense of homey-ness (homey as in a welcoming residence, not as in a dude). There were even pumpkin people on the downtown corners, left over from the weekend's Autumn Leaf Festival. I would have given money to know how those things were constructed, by the way! I don't think the locals would have taken kindly to a strange woman peeking under their pumpkin peoples' skirts...so to speak.

Looking around at all of that, it hit me that other than a couple pretty mums that Dad bought me, I haven't spread the cheer at our house.....or much of a cleaning rag, either, but that's coming, too. The Bubs has been asking about getting pumpkins for a couple weeks now and I kept forgetting about it or putting it off. He helped me pick out a couple today after school along with a couple of small, yellow mums to add to our porch. As soon as we got home, I quickly arranged our fall goodies and got the seal of approval from Bubs - "That looks good, Mom. I like the pumpkins we picked out." Trust me, for him to even notice anything like that near the end of the day is huge. If you're wondering what the pumpkins are sitting on, it's a couple of pots of gerber daisies that are a bit past their prime. I think the greenery underneath kinda makes the pumpkins look like they're still out in the pumpkin patch. Hmmm...now all I need is a little fall flag. I might be able to pick one up cheap at-- Oops, sorry! I went off on a tangent there for a moment.

I also wanted to spread the cheer in the house. I know that the Hubby particularly likes some of the pumpkin scented candles from Target so I grabbed a couple while I was running around today and set them out on some plates that I grabbed on the cheap from Ross's along with the tablecloth and runner on the right. What is it about getting pretties on the cheap that just puts an extra pep in my step? I'm not on a support group level or anything, I just get a little excited, okay?

I'm not an FTD florist, but.......

Happy Mother's Day!


"My mother is a poem

I'll never be able to write,

though everything I write

is a poem to my mother."

~Sharon Doubagio

*Photo is of roses from my parent's yard.

Good Friday

I'd never really been involved, or even been to, a Good Friday service before last year. In the course of my life I've been exposed to different Christian denominations. My parents are both talented vocalists and my Dad is a pianist/organist which often meant visits to different churches when they were asked to minister. When we moved back into this area just under twenty years ago, Dad was blessed enough to get a job as an accompanyist with a local Methodist church. The congregation there have continually supported and loved our family through the years and have been notably present during Mom's recent battles with cancer.

I'd often heard Dad describe the Good Friday services when he would come home from them garbed in his all black attire. The crosses draped in black, candles being snuffed out after each scripture reading of the events leading to the death of Christ, the dramatic organ pieces he'd play, the sanctuary being completely dark by the end of the service...not only from lack of light but from the somber mood that would descend on those gathered. I never really appreciated what he was describing until I'd attended one for myself and, ultimately, never appreciated Easter Sunday in quite the same way. I couldn't fully appreciate the magnitude and hope of Easter until I had contemplated the ultimate sacrifice and love of Good Friday.

Ms. Cheryl, wife of our minister of music, makes the service even more memorable by doing a large drawing while the service is going on. She starts out with a large black background and a roughly sketched outline of the portrait she wants to draw for this year's service. You would think that doing this would totally distract from the service, but it doesn't - it adds to it. A very literal reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus.