Easter 2010

The past couple of days have been full of lots of easter-ish activities.  Thursday Noah had an easter egg hunt at his pre-school and then that night he and I dyed easter eggs.  I cannot remember the last time that I dyed eggs!  It was so much fun and Noah really liked it.  

On Saturday we met up with some of the other young families at church for a party/picnic.  The weather was perfect and it was so fun to get to meet a few more people from church.  We have been searching for a new church for some time now and have recently found a new church home.  

They had lots of fun activities for the little ones including "donkey races" {ie. piggy back races}.  Hubs managed to capture an in action shot of Noah and I during the middle of the race. 

There was also an easter egg hunt for the kiddos and then we all sat down for a picnic lunch.  Noah was really excited about this because he loves picnics!! {We occasionally eat our lunch in the yard and have our own little "picnics" at home}  

We had such a nice time and it was fun to meet some new friends!

On Sunday morning we gave Noah his Easter basket.  When I gave it to him he exclaimed, " Happy Birthday to me!!".  Yeah, not exactly kid.

This was the first year that I filled an easter basket for Noah.  In lieu of very much candy I put little toys and other fun things in his basket.  Most everything came from the $1 section at Target or Michael's.  He got a big bucket of sidewalk chalk, a Toy Story night light, bubbles, a hungry, hungry alligator game, and some army men.  Nothing says Easter like army men huh? ha! 

 Hubs has been wanting to get him some army men for a while now so I finally caved in and got him some for his easter basket.  Noah calls them "armies" instead of army men and has been lining them up all day.  He even snuck one to church with him yesterday!

My dad always sends the boys an easter basket/package every year.  Graham got some yummy yogurt puffs, which he loves! 

Once he realized Noah had toys in his Easter basket he ditched the snacks. He stole a bouncy ball out of Noah's loot and began throwing it around the dining room.  Then he would crawl real fast to retrieve it.  Maybe we should have let our golden retriever inside so she could play with fetch with Graham. ha!! 

For the past week or so Noah has been asking us for a bow-tie.  We searched and searched and finally fount a tie that was just his size.  {And it was half off too.  Apparently it pays to wait and get Easter clothing the day before Easter! ha!!}  He wore it to church yesterday for Easter and was so proud of it.  If someone stopped to talk to him he would say, "Look! My bow tie!!"  There are little cars on it if you can't tell. {He calls all ties "bow ties" by the way}

{I think this is possibly the best smile I have gotten from Noah in months.  Lately when I go to take his picture he says, "cheese" but doesn't smile.  Or better yet he runs from the camera!  I was so glad to get a decent pic of him in his little tie.}

I feel like I am never in any picture{because I am always taking them} so I made hubby snap this one really quick as we were heading out the door to church.  I wish you could see more of my dress.  It is the cutest!  It's very Audrey Hepburn.  I got it at H&M a few weeks ago to wear for Easter and a few baby showers I am attending or hosting soon.  It has a cute little belt/sash that ties to one side with a little bow and it has POCKETS!!  I love the fact that it has pockets.  Unfortunately H&M doesn't have it on it's website or I would totally link up to it. 

We ended our Easter Sunday with a egg hunt of our own in the backyard.  We hid about 30+ eggs in the yard and Noah had a blast trying to find them. 

 Grammy found his egg with in seconds and then called it quits.  He thought it was more fun to work on his driving skillz!

I know this post was mostly about secular Easter activities but we also made it a priority to focus on the reason we celebrate Easter. 

He is Risen!! Alleluia!!

I hear the Savior say
Thy strength indeed is small 
Child of weakness....watch and pray
Find in me....thine all in all
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe 
Sin hath left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
Lord, now indeed I find 
Thy power and Thine alone
Can change the leper's spots
And melt the heart of stone 
For nothing good have I 
Whereby Thy grace to claim
I'll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary's Lamb 
And when before thy throne 
I stand in Him complete Jesus died my soul to save
          My lips shall still repeat

               {Excerpt from Jesus Paid it All}

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{christmas wrap-up}

well hello there.  it's been a while.  i know christmas was ages ago but i thought i would still post about it since part of the reason i blog is to capture our memories.

the in-laws drove over from oklahoma to spend christmas with us.  the hubs and i have spent a few holidays just the two of us and let me tell you i would much rather spend the holidays in the company of our family.  living out of state from our whole family has really made me appreciate the time we do get to spend with our family.  i am truly blessed with such wonderful in-laws and always enjoy their company so much.

it was fun to experience christmas through the eyes of a child.  noah really enjoyed tearing into each of his presents.  i know christmas isn't about the presents but it was fun to see him get so excited.  he had fun helping everyone else open their packages too.

noah's favorite present by far was his mr. potato head.  it came with several "outfit" changes so he has had funny mix-n and matching different faces and accessories.

grammy could have cared less if he had gotten any presents {and thus the reason we didn't get him that much}.  he mostly crawled around looking for loose snippets of wrapping paper.  and when noah wasn't looking he would drive away with his brothers presents!

for christmas grammy got his two front teeth.  sorry, i just had to say that!  he actually got four of his top teeth just in time for christmas.  i am still trying to get a picture with his new teethies.

i hope you all had a wonderful CHRISTmas and that you have a blessed NEW YEAR!!

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{merry christmas!!}

earlier in the month we attented a progressive dinner for our MOPS group.   i thought i would share this picture since it is a decent picture of us and we hardly ever have any pictures of ourselves.  {is that normal once you have kids?}  don't you love how i coordinated my pants with my friend geogia's tree and wall color?   ya, i'm cool like that!

i hope that you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

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{stocking stuffers}

the hubs and i usually don't get each other much for christmas but we do go all out with each others stocking.  i was going to post what i got the hubs but in the off chance that he decides to read my blog this year month i figured i better not!  so you are stuck with my wishlist instead.

if i was stuffing my own stocking this year these would be my go to items: 

01} chapstick

02} chic stationary {for post holiday thank you notes}

03} a fun accessory {scarf, jewelry, etc.}

04} current issue of my favorite magazine

05} sharpie pens {love, love, love these!}

06} i-tunes gift card

07} nail polish

08} candy {i have a major sweet tooth}   

09} cute socks 
10} hand cream

so i'm curious, if you were filling your own stocking what would you put it it?  or what are you planning to put in your hubby's or kiddo's stocking?

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{our} home for the holidays

i thought i would share a little bit of our holiday decor with you today.  i keep thinking i am done decorating for christmas but every few days i find myself back at it again.  does anyone else do that too?

i guess i am kind of going all out this year because this is the most i have ever decorated for christmas before.  last year i was ten months pregnant around this time and didn't want to move from the couch. ha!     and something tells we may not get to decorate for christmas next year because we will be moving around december or shortly thereafter.  so humor me with this decorating post.

let's start with wreaths shall we!  above is the wreath i made for our front door.  here is what it looked like in it's original state. yikes!

i picked up this artificial wreath at a consignment sale earlier this fall for $2.00.  i didn't really like anything about it except for the greenery part and the red berries so i gave it a bit of a make-over for christmas.

see that burlap "ribbon" that my wreath is hanging from?  LOVE IT.  no seriously.  I AM IN LOVE WITH IT!!!  i spotted it at hobby lobby over the summer and knew i wanted to use it for a future project.

the second wreath i made was inspired by erin's how-to: evergreen wreath post.  i decided to use some of our extra christmas tree branches and make them into a little wreath.  mine is kind of scrawny but i like it none the less.

after i made my wreath i still had a few tree branches left so i added them to our little "mantle".  we have never had a fireplace during our six and half years of marriage so we have to get creative about where we hang our stockings.  this shelf does the job but it just seemd a little bare.  i think the greenery helps give it more a "chistmas-y" feel.

i also decided to spread a little christmas cheer into the kicthen this year.  i already have lots of red in there so it is easy to to coordinate a few chrismas decorations into the mix.   i switched out my "everyday" plant for a poinsettia and added a white glittery snowflake to a red plate i always have on display.

my mil has given me a few jim shore santa's over the years and i put two of them on display in my little kitchen hutch.   i love this one with the scene painted on the front.  it is also a music box and plays "oh come all ye faithful" which is one of my favorite christmas songs.  you might remember the wicker tray and framed chalkboard i got a while back.  i added a jar full of candy canes and some red ornaments to make a little christmas vignette.  below is the santa at the other end of our hutch.

i have had these white snowflakes since college but decided to hang them in my kitchen window instead of putting them on our tree this year.  i'm thinking these will probably be the only snowflakes we see this christmas.

our nativity is my most favorite part of our christmas decor.  i asked for a natvity for christmas soon after we were married and my mil really came through.  and i am also still loving my burlap "peace" banner above our nativity.  

noah is really loving everything about christmas this year and he especially likes the tree.  every morning he walks over to the tree and says, "plug lights in?"

we don't have a theme for our tree but just have white lights and ornaments we have collected over the years.  i love that each ornament has a special memory attached to it.

 

like this washington ferry ornament.  some very special friends gave this to us our last christmas that we lived in washtington.  everytime i see this ornament i not only think of our dear sweet friends but i think of all the fun times we had riding the ferrie to different adventures while we lived in wa.

well there you have it.  the bulk of our holiday decor.  thanks for stopping by friends!

 now click on over to the nester to join in on the tour of homes.

merry christmas!!

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{oh christmas tree + christmas parade}

on black friday we loaded up the kiddies in the car and headed out to pick out a christmas tree at a local tree farm.  i was super excited about this little adventure because it was our very first time to cut down our own tree.

{graham with my brother aaron}

 too be honest since we have been married we have always gotten our christmas tree at our local home improvement store.  and growing up we always had an artificial tree. so you can see why i was excited! i love, love, love real christmas trees.

noah was pumped about cutting our own tree down too.  probably due to the fact that i had been telling him for weeks we were going to go to a tree farm and get our own tree.  he wore his new carharts {thanks uncle A} for the christmas tree adventure.  he was pretty darn fascinated with the cart we used to haul our tree around in.

someone had stuffed their tree in the trunk of their car.  love it!!

if you are local i highly recommend 7g's farm.  the owners were really nice and everyone at the tree farm was super helpful.  they participate in "trees for troops" so we were able to get our christmas tree for free.

and i think it might be the prettiest tree we have ever had!

not to switch topics on you or anything but.......

at the beginning of december we went to our city's annual christmas parade downtown.  noah absololutely loved it!  i only wish i had taken our other camera.  i took our point and shoot and didn't end up with any great pics.  thankfully my friend sent me a few of hers.

 in the above picture noah is trying to take his blanket that i stole off of his bed to keep grammy warm during the parade.  dang!  nothing gets past that kid.

we went with our friends jake and michelle.  jake and hubs went through supply school together a few years back and we were all stationed in wa together as well. {sometimes the navy is a small world all it's own} i am thankful to have some familar military friends close by.

it was really cold that night and silly me didn't wear socks!  i wore flats and my feet were freezing. i should have taken my scarf off and wrapped it around me toes.

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{burlap peace banner}

over the last several months i have been so inspired by all of the fun and festive holiday banners/garlands that people have been making{out there in the blogsphere}.  this weekend i decided to try my hand at making my own banner.

i wanted something to hang above our nativity that would compliment it but not detract from it at all.  i finally settled on a simple "peace" banner.

i would have loved to spell out "peace on earth" or  "glory to God in the highest" but...............

i didn't think i had quite enough room on my mirror for more than one word let alone a whole sentence. ha!

on to the making of the banner.

i had some burlap let over from another project so i started with that. i took my trusty old black sharpie and my ruler and measured/traced out 4inx4in squares.  i then cut my squares out very carefully by cutting just inside my black lines.

next i printed out some letters using word so i could make my own stencil of sorts.  i ended up using american typewriter for my font and the font size was 200.  once i had my letters i took one of my burlap squares and laid it directly over my first letter.  fortunately, burlap is pretty see through so i was able to see my black letter underneatch enough to trace the oustide of the letter onto the top of the burlap.  i used my black sharpie for all of my tracing.  once i was satisfied with each letter i filled in the inside of the letter with my sharpie.

i was by no means going for a polished and perfect look.  think more along the lines of simple and rustic.   remember i didn't want my banner to compete with my nativity.  some of the squares frayed a little around the edges as i was working on the letters but i think it just adds a little more charm to my banner!

the two things i did have to purchase for this project were some jute and some miniature clothespins.  {fyi: michael's has just the right size of clothespins.  i tried hob lob first but their pin options were way to big} i think total i spent about $2.50 on my supplies.

to hang my banner i fastened the end of my jute to the back of my mirror with a thumbtack on each side. i then clipped my letters to my jute string starting with my middle letter working my way outwards.

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