Eggs and Baseball and Baskets

I have slacked on blogging this week when I probably could have written a post every day.

It was sooo nice having Chad home this week. I could run to the store whenever I wanted... even during naptime. It was nice and needed especially before the dreaded month of May hits and Chad is working 65+ hours a week.

We dyed Easter Eggs on Wednesday. Hunter didnt quite understand why the eggs had to dye/ die. haha! The eggs turned out pretty but the boys quickly lost interest in the process. Oh well, I enjoyed it.





Thursday night we finally made it to a high school baseball game. We only stayed 3 innings because of bedtime and rowdy boys but the boys loved it. I forgot my camera but this picture is from my phone (obviously Shep did not want to sit still).


I hate to wait so I let the boys have their Easter baskets on Friday. I did this under the premise that we needed some of the items before Sunday (which was true) ;)

Hunter's

Ashton's (he has been begging for rain boots)


Shepherd's

Enjoying their baskets
Hunter was soooo excited over his DVD's of Wild Kratts. After that excitement, he settled down and began doing the activities in his coloring book.


Shep loved his candy and his ball.

Ashton immediately tried on his boots and started coloring.

Just call us Ralph Lauren

Found some super cheap Ralph Lauren shirts a few weeks ago (Shep's is not new). I so wanted a good picture of them but as Ashton often does... had a meltdown. This series of pictures explains so much about my children. Hunter, always obedient, sweet smile. Shepherd, a total goofball who has his own agenda. Ashton, oh Ashton- need I say more?

Ashton really wants his book back that I asked him to let Shepherd hold so Shep would not run off. Ashton just didnt get it.

Shepherd coughing or making a face ?!?!

Ashton is really about to lose it (as am I), dont have a clue what Shep is looking at

The Winner- this is the best we got.

We also did our church's Easter Egg Hunt yesterday. It got too chaotic to get pictures of the older two but I was able to get pictures of Shep during his first official Easter Egg Hunt. Unfortunately, we had to do it inside because of the rain but he seemed to totally get the objective and quickly discovered the candy inside.




Mom and I also went shopping in G-ville yesterday too. It was nice to have no agenda and just dinker around for a few hours.

Looking forward to a relaxing week with lots of help while we celebrate how amazing our Jesus is.

Eucharisteo Part 10

247- Songs that speak to you

248- Surprise free breakfast samples at Chick fil A

249- Laying the grass on a warm day

250- Hearing the boys sing about Jesus

251- Dog kisses

252- Sour lemonade

253- Midnight storms that shake the ground

254- Yard with lots of work to do

255- Birds chirping while I read my Bible in the still of morning

256- Falling asleep on the couch

257- Road trips with the family

258- Safe travel in less than ideal weather

259- A good cookie split 4 ways

260- a Godly husband

261- Shep laying his head on Ashton's shoulder

262- GrandmaDean's cookie dough right when I need it

263- Fresh hair cuts

264- Watching both the successes and failures of my garden

265- Making a salad with greens that I grew

266- Having overflow that prevents me from running out

267- Dropped china not breaking

268- Easter egg hunts 2 weeks before Easter

269- Ashton's desire to do puzzles when he is pretty bad at doing them

270- Ashton helping me in the yard and kitchen all. the. time.

271- Shepherd imitating his brother's play

272- Folding chairs for sitting on ball fields

273- The way Hunter will stop playing anything for a look at a new Bible story book.

274- All my boys LOVE books

275- Being just what a sad/ hurt little boy needs to feel better.

276- A kiss can truly make everything better

277- Though still too expensive, starting to see watermelon in the store!

Whirlwind Weekend

Say that title ten times fast.

My cousin got married this weekend in VA and my parents, brother, and I decided we would make the 7 hour trip, yes 7 hour trip up to the wedding. I also decided that I would not be taking my children with me making it one of the very few times I have ever spent an evening away from them. Chad assured me he had it all under control since he had an open weekend so off we went.

Wedding started at 5 and we got there a little early (very impressive for my family).

My cousin was gorgeous as always. The ceremony was a bit different as it was not Christ-centered, no Scripture or mention of God.

Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Tammy and Uncle Joe coming down the aisle.

Uncle Joe and his granddaughter (and his mini me). This little girl is an Ashton up one side and down the other.

My other cousin (bride's sister), her husband and their other daughter.

Mom and Dad/ Queenie and Mantis

My date (brother) and me

My family minus my other brother.

not a good picture of the bride but shows her dress.

Father/ Daughter dance

Mom and Nolan shagging.

About 8 o'clock I called Chad to check in. I got to talk to Hunter for a couple minutes and then chad got back on the phone and said, "I guess I should go ahead and tell you that I had to take Ashton to the emergency room."
I replied, "WHAT?"

While Chad and the boys were at his parents house, Hunter and Ashton were playing tug of war with Shepherd's blanket. Chad told them to stop and my super obedient Hunter let go of the blanket resulting in Ashton hitting the back of his head against the corner of the wall. I guess it starting bleeding really bad and his platinum blond hair was red with blood. They decided they should take him the ER. Before they got there the bleeding had significantly slowed down. The doctor said he could put a stitch or two in it and it would help with scarring a little bit. Chad decided to forgo the stitches.

I took this picture this morning (36 hours later) of his little gash.

Anyway, we left the wedding at 9 and drove to my aunt's house in Raleigh (another 3 hour drive.) Got some wedding details for my other cousin's wedding in October.

Left Sunday morning and drove to Gastonia to see my grandparents for a few hours and then, finally got home at 6:30 Sunday night.

It was a draining weekend that was full of laughter, sarcasm, and food (which is pretty typical of outings with my family.)

I enjoyed my 36 hour break of being a mommy but was so happy to see my precious kiddos.

Another Zoo Day

Love having annual passes to the zoo. "Our" zoo is the perfect size... we can do it in right at an hour and then let the boys play on the playgrounds. It is the perfect morning activity.

My little stair steps looking at the giraffes... Hunter asked if the giraffe was eating fish. I guess he thought his purpleish ccolored tongue looked like a fish :)

Here are just some pictures of our day yesterday. Gotta love 80+ degree weather.

This thing (forgot its proper name) was right up next to the glass... he normally sits way in the back of his exhibit.

Hunter had many questions about this disturbing sight. Yuk!

We love the lions. One was lounging on the rock and the other was laying right beside the window. You could tell the animals were enjoying the beautiful weather too.... most of them were quite active and social.

On the Playground
Hunter was a little spiderman climbing up to the top of the "spider web."

Ashton stopping to cheese it up for me.

Shepherd would not slow down, much less look at me for a good picture

I love these little boys and I so blessed to be their mom. I am also blessed to be able to stay at home with them... I often forgot how I prayed and prayed that I would one day get to stay at home and raise them and the Lord answered my prayer. I truly would not trade this time with them for anything (even on the days when I am about to pull my hair out.) Love you boys :)

Moss Letters

Ok, Olivia, this is for you.

A couple weeks ago, I showed my moss letter "S" (scroll down past the precious pics of my kids.) My mom asked me to make her one and Olivia asked for a quick tutorial on how I did it, so here we go.

Now, when I saw this in Pottery Barn, I figured it would become quite big in the DIY world. I did not do any research on how other people were making theirs. However, since I made mine, I have stumbled on a couple different methods.

I am going to stick with what I know and what worked for me.

I went to Hobby Lobby in search for a pre-cut letter.... around 16"-20" in height- made of thin wood, or foam, or plastic or even metal.

Unfortunately, my reliable Hobby Lobby failed me and left me thinking of another way.

I decided to use flower/ craft foam stuff.
Here are materials
1- Foam
2- Pencil/ Pen
3- Knife
4- Glue Gun/ Glue Sticks
5- Moss
6- Ribbon


Before I go on, let me show you my new little work space. This is a little room in our garage that most men would jump at the chance to make manly. ... not my awesome husband, he leaves the tools and stuff to me. I gave him 18 months to make this space his and when he didnt claim it, I did. I am going to girly it up a bit more this summer :)


Ok, back to the main point.

Step 1-
Trace out your letter. I did this one 16" high... I did not use a template though that would have been helpful... turns out an "A" is harder to do than a "S". It does not need to be perfect.


Step 2- Using your knife, cut out your letter.

Step 3- Start placing your moss and gluing it on (I used about 15 glue sticks for one letter). You can also buy moss in a sheet where you just lay it and cut it to fit... I decided to use small sections and glue them on individually.

Step 4- Cut your ribbon to hang your letter. Depending on the letter, you will have to get creative. For the "A", I just put a slit in the letter and then used the knife to push the ribbon through.

My mom's "A"

My "S"

This is really and easy project and the result is really nice. I have mine hanging inside right now over a big mirror. Total time is probably about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (depending if you are tending to children :)

And T-ball Begins

*** their hats on not in yet
Hard to believe it is Hunter's 2nd T-ball season already.

This year we decided to go with the church league instead of the "Y" and so far it has been a good move.

Hunter's first game was today. There was mud (which Ashton fell into the middle of a huge sticky puddle), jumping things (which many kids wanted to do that versus play t-ball), popcorn (free), snowcones (free), and of course t-ball.

Here are some pictures.

Hunter made the stop on this one but it bounced out of his glove and a teammate got it.

I like they way they do this. If the child wants, the coach will throw 3 pitches to each kid instead of using the "T" right off the bat (pun intended) If they miss after the 3rd try, they get to use the "T". This was Hunter's first at bat and he had to use the "T" but the 2nd time he made contact on the 3rd pitch.

Going home.

There he goes! :)