Happy Memorial Day!

{No, I haven't gone crazy and spray painted my house in numbers.  This is an interesting form of "art" in the Detroit area.  I will elaborate on a future post!}

 

PS - If you haven't subscribed to get my blog posts by email or a blog reader by clikcing here, this is your last warning.  I'm making the jump to Wordpress today and don't want to lose any of you!

Easter Recap in Photos {lots of photos}

Easter might be one of my favorite holidays.  I love the real meaning behind it.  I love the days leading up to it when I can really focus on Jesus and what he must have been going through on the days before his death.  And the fact that He was going through all of this so that He could be with ME is always overwhelming when I take time to actually think about it.

But, I also love the cheesy and secular traditions of Easter.

The Egg Hunt 

Every year {for the past 30 years} my extended family puts on a city-wide Easter Egg Hunt in the town that my Grandparent's lived in.  A small town, but it's fun to feel famous and important for one day.  The Murphy's really know how to throw a cool egg hunt!

This was Jonah's second year at the hunt.  And while Clara was there last year, she didn't do much hunting.  It was fun to have them both at it this time.  They were both pros at finding the candy.

And both were really good at examining each piece of treasure.

 But there was one major difference in their hunting skills...

I guess Little Love was a tiny bit too excited to stop and eat each piece she found.  Brother knew to just gather as much as you can before it's all gone!

Next year, Peanut, next year...  She did have the sign down for "please" just like Jonah did last year - which warms my heart each time she does the sign accompanied by an almost spitted "peassss".

The Bunny

I don't force my kids to sit on the Easter bunny's lap in the mall.  Honestly?  He looks a little scary to me, too.  But this year, Jonah found a piece of candy with the words, "You won a prize!" slapped to the back {something I NEVER found in my 30 years of attending this family hunt}.  Not only does that mean he got a $5 bill, but he also gets his picture with the Bunny.  Great.  We'll see how this goes.

Hey! Not too bad!

She on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with him.

Easter Clothes

Maybe it's just me, but I like buying Easter clothes MUCH MORE than I like picking out Christmas outfits.  I think I just love the pastels and Spring colors better.  Nothing against Christmas.

This one makes my heart skip a beat each time I look at it.  There is nothing sweeter than a brother-sister kiss.  See?  Heart just jumped.

Never did get Jonah any Easter shoes... oh well.

Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter, too.

Linking to:

Interchangeable Wreath {Tutorial}

I just love the craze of yarn wrapped wreaths.  And I love the idea of creating holiday themed ones.  But, I HATE the idea of making a different wreath for each holiday.

So, I decided to make a yarn wreath in a neutral color and cover a Styrofoam wreath instead.  This way, I can easily make decorations that are not hot glued to the wreath and change them out as often as I feel like it!

Each of my decorations will have a straight pin attached to the bottom.  These eggs were foam, so it was easy to push a straight pin up into it.  I bundled up the yarn in three different groups and just stuck a pin in the middle to hold it all in place.

After inserting the pin into the bottom of my egg, I simply pushed it down into the styrafoam and made a little cluster of eggs - perfect for Spring.  {Which I'm desperately asking for to come and STAY.}

Finding the perfect spot for my wreath proved to be a challenge.  Since it's white and fairly fragile, the front door wasn't a good option.  {We all know what happens when I put fake decorations out front.}

So I opted for leaning against my Craft Hutch for now.  I'm sure it will get moved eventually.

Already looking forward to the next holiday to redecorate my wreath!  This is like those fake geese my Grandma has on her porch {you know, the kind that you dress up for each holiday...}, but more my style.  {no offense, Grandma.}

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I'm currently wading through the 1,000+ pictures I took over Easter weekend.  Yes, that is excessive.  So... you can expect a Easter recap tomorrow right here - full of dyed eggs (and hands), hunts, and stories of the Easter bunny.

I'll leave you with a preview, though.  This little lady was ready for an egg hunt... don't you think?

Happy Easter

From the Archives:
Easter 2010
Easter 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Previous St. Patrick's Day posts:

• Last year's photo shoot.  My how they've grown!
• A fun bow tie tutorial... maybe for your Easter photos?

Happy Valentine's Day!

It is my pleasure to wish you a ...

My how they have grown since last year!

merry christmas

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

dollar king christmas

Today you can find me over at Honeybear Lane.  Sharing a little something I like to call:

See you there!

5 minute christmas tree skirt {diy}

For the last few years, my Christmas Tree has been naked.  While it has been adorned with lights and ornaments, it's been missing a SKIRT!  I've gone looking a few times hoping to purchase one, but they are so darn expensive!  And the ones I fall in love with aren't there at the after Christmas sales.

So, I had to do it myself.  But, isn't that so much more fun?!

I took an oval table cloth that I found at the local thrift store and turned it into a tree skirt in less than 5 minutes!

Remember this picture post from the BLB Facebook wall?  Here is what I used from my awesome thrift store finds last week!

Find an oval or circle table cloth so the edges are already hemmed for you!  Fold it in half.

Then in half again.

Take a CD or something circular you can trace and make a small circle to cut out on the corner.

Open it up and hem the raw edges (if you want to - it's fine to leave it open since most tree skirt openings are not seen).

Wrap it around your tree and admire it.  I love that it is white and that it bunches around the tree.  It reminds me of snow!

But, I also happened to find a sweet lace tree skirt during my adventures at the thrift store (see picture up top).  While I LOVE that it looks like a ginormous doily, it was a little too small for my big tree.  But it sure does look lovely layered on top of my homemade one!

A little embellishment from a sweater I found while searching for one of those "ugly Christmas sweaters", and I was done!

Not bad, right?  And much cheaper than the ones Target sells!

 

BLB of the day:

The Maggie

Save 10% with BAGOFTHEDAY {good only on this bag until midnight on date of blog post}

24 books

The winners of the "gift-away" are The Holdaway's and Marcia!  Neither one of you cared which gender set you got (one because you won't find out until Spring and the other because you plan on using them to gift to new mothers in your church).  SO, whoever emails me first will get their pick!  {betterlifebags@gmail.com}

Thanks for entering!  I plan on gifting things away a lot more - that was fun!

Don't forget to enter Amber's giveaway over at Click. Pray. Love.  You could win one of FIVE Pregnancy Prayer Card Packs!

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I know today is already December 1st. And Advent technically started on Sunday, but I wanted to share a fun "Countdown to Christmas" idea I discovered last year.

We have 24 books all wrapped up and ready to be opened - one a day until Christmas Eve.  I got most of the books last year at after Christmas sales.  And found the wrapping paper in the dollar section at Target.  40 square feet of it for $1!  Most of the books talk about the meaning of Christmas - the REAL meaning - but being able to open one gift a day is so fun!

How are you counting down the days?

BLB of the day: 

Changing Pads

Save 10% with BAGOFTHEDAY {good only on this bag until midnight on date of blog post}