Hippity Hop

Another holiday has come and gone. There’s always so much build-up and sometimes the day ends up being a disappointment if it doesn’t live up to the hype.

But not this one!

Our Easter weekend was just lovely. A lot of people were predicting the baby might make an appearance during the holiday but I was hoping it wouldn’t. I wanted this one last holiday with just our little threesome.

I had Friday off of work so Isabella and I had a Girl’s Day. She reminded CJ and Samson of that over and over too!

First we colored eggs.

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Yes, she’s wearing Christmas jammies to color Easter eggs. Hey, why not!

I told her that we were going to “dye eggs for Easter” and her response was, “Mommy! I don’t want to kill any eggs!”

Die vs. dye…good time for a lesson in homophones!

She did 10 of the eggs the traditional way, with a dye kit bought from the store.

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And I taught her how to marbleize them.

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She resisted at first but eventually got really in to it.

The last 2 eggs she colored with finger paints!

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I forgot to take a pic of the final painted eggs but let’s just say they were both brown all over. Another good lesson – mixing all the colors together makes brown!

A few of the eggs then got stickers added to them, once dry.

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Once all the “real egg” stuff was done, we got dressed and headed outside to hang plastic eggs in the tree! This was her idea, though I had seen it done by someone in our old neighborhood and thought it would make a fun project. Plus, it was gorgeous out so might as well enjoy some sunshine!

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Isabella ended up not being much help. She thought it was too windy and darted back inside while I finished hanging all the eggs. Figures.

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But I was able to coax her back out when I suggested we go for a walk and pick up “treasures” (aka trash) along the way. She thought that was a great idea!

The plan was to only walk by a couple houses and then turn around and come back. I wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to go. Well, we ended up at the park, which is about 2 long blocks up the hill. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as tired as I thought I would be and Munchkin had a ton of fun playing on the swings and such, after having not visited the playground in months.

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We ended the day by going out for ice cream cones and getting the car washed.

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She wasn’t thrilled at the idea of a car wash (she hates the loud noise) but the ice cream made it better.

Then came Easter Sunday!

We let her do the Easter egg hunt right away and sort through the eggs while I made breakfast.

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Jackpot!

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After a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and cinnamon rolls, we had her hunt for her Easter basket.

It was hidden in the laundry room so I thought I was being all clever and vague by saying “a room with soap.” Could be any number of rooms with soap in the house! 1 of 3 bathrooms, kitchen, nursery….but oh no, she went right to the laundry room! So much for trying to outsmart her!

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We then got dressed and ready and headed to my parent’s house for the family event! Again, we did the egg hunt first so that we wouldn’t have the kids asking about it over and over during lunch.

It was nice enough to be outside and Isabella loved her “princess dress”.

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The kids played and played outside most of the day and only came in to chill in front of the TV long enough to eat some snacks.

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It was a fun-filled weekend and a nice holiday all around.

Now that we’re through it, the baby can come anytime! Let’s get this show on the road!

Other holiday pages!

Our Christmas Story | NYE | Easter 2012 |

Happy Holidays from the Traders!

xmas card 2012

A Trader Silent Night

Silent night, quiet night,

All is calm, until April alights.

We’ve been blessed as Sarah’s with child,

Soon our lives will be even more wild.

Sleep while there is still peace…

Sleep while there is still peace.

 

Silent night, growing night,

Isabella, our shining light.

Putting joy in our heart and a smile on our face

(By the way, she loves outer space)!

Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas to you!

Greetings from seasons past:

Merry Christmas 2011 | 2010

A Day of Love: In Pictures

I know I’m several days late on getting Valentine’s pictures posted. It’s been a busy week.

We had a great Valentine’s week in this house. It started last Friday when CJ surprised me with flowers in the morning.

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They were there, sitting right on the leftover Chinese takeout, when I reached in the ‘fridge to get my water bottle for a workout.

Seeing and smelling roses is way better than fried rice.

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Friday night was spent decorating and stuffing Isabella’s valentines for her friends.

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I bought these cute little mailboxes at Target and then Isabella decorated them with stickers. I made a little postcard with a love note that we tucked inside, along with some fruit snacks and a granola bar. She LOVED making them and she kept calling me the Mail Carrier because I would “deliver” the goodies and she’d stuff them in. So much fun!

Saturday Ceige told us that he had a surprise waiting downstairs. Isabella and I hurried to see and found these waiting on the counter.

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He didn’t make the donuts but he did write the little love phrases on them.

And we ate them with passion!

Later that day, Isabella’s boyfriend and his parents came over to celebrate the holiday with us. This has become a tradition ever since the 2 kiddos were born. Here is our first Valentine’s together.

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And last year:

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Ah, they grow so fast. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of them this year. Oops. I did however remember to get a shot of the AWESOME cupcakes they made and brought over!

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That was a cherry filling. So good.

Isabella dived in face first. Literally.

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On Sunday I made blueberry heart pancakes for breakfast. Sort of.

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Admittedly, it’s not my best work, but it’s the thought that counts right? Isabella enjoyed them anyway!

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I also made a heart brownie that Isabella helped me decorate.

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And by “help”, I mean she pointed to a spot on the brownie and told me what to put there.

The Big V Day itself was fairly uneventful given that it was a Tuesday and I was at work for most of it. There were lots of cards exchanged from all parties, we had dinner at grandma/grandpa’s with the larger family and then came home to open one last present.

reading card

 

candy

new book

me and munch

Sending love from our family to yours!

If you liked this, you might also like:

V-Day part 1

V-Weekend part 2

Accomplished

I love me a good to do list. This is for 2 reasons.

  1. It outlines my tasks and helps clear my head
  2. It feels so amazing to cross things off and see what you’re getting done

Yesterday was one of those days.

First of all, let me just say how nice it was to have the day AFTER Christmas off. That extra day really helped get things reset and back to normal before starting work again.

Boy did we take advantage! Originally we considered using the day to catch a movie or something but that would involve a baby-sitter (we feel Isabella is too young yet for movies, even the kids ones). Plus, that would take valuables hours away from the many tasks that have been piling up. Owning a house – and particularly having just moved – means no end to chores, fixes, repairs, remodels, etc. So we opted to stay home and get stuff done.

I didn’t actually write out a list, which is unusual for me, but I was checking one off in my head. Here’s everything I got done:

  • 2 loads of laundry folded and put away
  • First floor vacuumed
  • Dishes washed and put away (by hand and dishwasher)
  • Pictures hung in the master bedroom
  • 2 pictures hung in the living room
  • After Christmas shopping done at Lowe’s
  • Isabella’s kitchen set put together*
  • Christmas presents put away
  • Goodwill items donated*
  • Basement cleaned up and some organization started**

CJ got a whole bunch of other stuff done too, from his own list.

Boy did it feel good! I went to bed last night exhausted yet satisfied.

Switching gears a bit. I’m not going to write a whole Christmas re-cap post this year because frankly, I’m ready to move on. I love the holidays and we had an awesome weekend, but I’d rather leave it be and quietly go forth with my week. It’s one of those things that you build up for a whole month and then when it’s over, it’s time to just let it go and stop retelling it.

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One thing I will share is that this year we got Isabella involved in culling through her toys. Before we even brought one gift from Grandma’s into the house or opened many of her Santa gifts, we had her sit with us in the play room and decide which toys she would keep, which ones would be put away for a while (i.e. take out of the rotation and bring back in 6 months from now when we needed something “new”) and which would be given away to “other kids and babies and ladies and guys” (as she says it).

I thought it would be hard for her to understand and that we’d have to grab toys out of her clutched little hands but it didn’t go that way at all. She was cool with giving some of them away. She even went with us to Goodwill yesterday and watched daddy take the bags of stuff in. She asked where daddy was taking her toys and I reminded her about other kids who needed them. She said, “And babies and ladies and guys.” Yes, them too.

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With a herd of toys either gone or relegated to the basement, her playroom had much more room for her new toys, like the kitchen set. It looked so nice and neat and open last night I almost wept. I know it won’t last – especially with my tornado Father-in-law coming over today – but it sure looked good for a day!

Another project that was started today was the basement. That one wasn’t even on my to do list – it was a total accident. See, last week I started working out again. Some of my gear is still packed away, and we don’t have the TV set up in the basement yet, so I’ve been forced to do either the elliptical while reading a magazine or free weight moves (using fitness cards from magazines). Well I finished my magazine this morning before my time was up on the elliptical and I CANNOT use a machine without either reading material or TV to watch. So I had to find other cardio. I looked around the basement – which has basically been the dumping grounds for everything else in the house that we don’t know what to do with – and decided I might as well work on organizing it.

So I moved furniture (including the elliptical which before was tucked back in a dark corner and now is near another wall, under some light), went through boxes, picked up toys, and basically started figuring out where things should go and how to keep it somewhat tidy while still being in limbo.

I got so much done and was moving and using muscles the whole time. Not too exciting but I felt great about it! Plan to do that again tomorrow and every day thereafter until we have a gym membership (which could be sooner rather than later)!

I have a whole slew of other projects to get done but those will have to wait for another day and another post.

If you liked this, you might also like:

Master Bedroom

Christmas Hangover

Samson’s Room