Easter Egg-travaganza and More!

Let me just start by saying, this was probably one of the MOST crazy weekends we've had in a long time!  Every minute was spent meeting up with family and taking the kids for some Easter Weekend fun!  We did three separate Easter Egg Hunts, that right, THREE!!  We must be crazy!!  They were all fun though and the kids are still chattering about their found eggs and candy.  This year, we unintentionally spent Easter with my Parent's.  I say unintentionally because we planned the trip not realizing that it was going to be the weekend of Easter.  I'm glad we did it though, because the kids just had smiles on their faces and enjoyed their time with Grandma and Grandpa so much, that they protested leaving!  Especially BLL, she just kept saying, "NO, I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's House!!"  She is definitely one strong headed little girl!

Now to share what all we did this past weekend, in pictures of course!  You know how much I LOVE my pictures and I couldn't imagine sharing in any other way(heheheheh)!!  Also, I just want to make it known that we had SO MANY pictures that I had to put them in a collage form and all the pictures still did not make it, but I have spent enough hours putting them together.  So without further ado..............................................

Honestly, I don't think we could have crammed more into one weekend if we tried!  It's all worth it in the end though, because these little cuties will only be little for so long.  Hope everyone had a wonderful and fun filled Easter Weekend!!

P.S. The Easter Bunny told me that BLL's gift also counts for her Birthday Gift ;)  Sometimes that is just how the Easter Bunny rolls.  I'm still in disbelief that her third birthday is just six days away.  No matter how old she is, she will always be my baby.

Dethroning, Debacles and Repairs

Last week was one of the roughest we've had in a while and I hope to be one of the last for a long time to come, please??  It all started with facing the fact that it had finally come down to either finding our cat Pumpkin a new home or getting him declawed.  Despite his destructive ways, he is a very good cat.  Especially when it comes to the kids.  We've had our ups and downs with him and he has tore up many a rug and curtains around the house. We thought his scratching ways had come to an end because he hadn't appeared to be doing so anymore.  We had also started putting claw caps on him, which he had become quite proficient in getting them off about a quick as we would put them on.  When you consider one package of claw caps runs about $30/package and buying one/month and at times more often, it just becomes too expensive!  Finally, the last straw had been pulled.  I came out one morning because my Son told me he heard two pops come from the living room.  In my mind I could not imagine what would make such a sound, until it hit me, suddenly!  Sure enough I came into the room to find that our cat Pumpkin had done this.........................

 To our chair and this............

To the arm of the sofa..............

Just think, he did all that damage with only one claw cap off.  Imagine if he had, had more.  And thus it was decided that it was time for declawing.

Here he is, looking miserable.  Perhaps feeling a bit dethroned from his rule of the house.

Honestly though, he doesn't seem to be hurting so bad and he also has been on pain management medications.  The decision though, weighed heavily on my heart.  I stressed and have had feelings of guilt since.  On a more positive note though, we have been actually enjoying one another's company most recently because there is no more worrying about what he will destroy next.

Thankfully, Ashley Furniture is working with us to do repairs.  They ordered the materials and are doing repairs, for FREE!!  All we have to do is pay for the materials.  How awesome are they?!  A HUGE thank you to Ashley Furniture!!

The night before Pumpkin was brought home from the Vet, our Water Heater went out!  I had asked Daddy to take a look at it because I had taken one very hot shower earlier in the day.  No matter how much I turned up the cold, it would not cool down.  Needless to say it was a very short shower.  I knew something was wrong because hot showers were something that just didn't happen with our lousy old Water Heater.  We knew it eventually would need replacing, but we had hoped we could make do for months, possibly years, to come.  Unfortunately, it had other plans.  Daddy went to check only to find 6" of water throughout the entire basement.  Our Sump Pump had also quit working, so Daddy had to kick it on(on a side note, it too will have to be replaced sooner than we would like).  Once it started working, all the water had drained out of the basement, but it is still currently working on drying out.  Ever hear of a "Money Pit"?  Yea, we are living in it!  After purchasing a new Water Heater(and deferring a couple payments), we finally have hot water again.  Now it's time to figure out how we can start to pay off some debt, which we were working on before the fall out, hahah!  So much for that.  We are back at square one.

On to more happy things, here are a few photos of the new hair clippies I made!  I know everyone LOVES seeing these.  I also added a bonus, BLL modeling her pretties and just a cute random photo of LBF(just because you can never take enough photos of a couple of cuties).

We were in Michaels the other day, when I came across a couple of pretty flowers and BLL being the little diva she is, says to me, "Make hair pretty for me Mommy?"  Absolutely!

 She of course couldn't wait to put them in her hair, once I put them on a couple of clippies.  I may too have to wear these.  Maybe we could match!  LOL!

Look at that precious face :)

She Made Me Eat It

Yesterday, I was watching "Cake Boss".  The problem with this show is that I then crave cake and cupcakes after watching it.  Most of the time, it's not a big problem because the stuff needed to make such goodies is not in my house and I'm too lazy to get it, hahah.  Well last night we were watching and they kept talking about red velvet cake, I had to have red velvet cake.  I made Daddy take a run to the store to get a mix, because again, I'm too lazy to make from scratch.  Much less I wouldn't even know what all that entails.  Back to the story, I baked the cake in a bundt cake pan and it turned out beautiful!  It was a proud moment for me.  We let it cool overnight with the intention that I would ice it this morning and we would have it for dessert tonight.  

Little did I know, the kids had other plans.  They were so quiet and sneaky this morning, I didn't even hear them get up!  Finally LBF came into the my room to whine about something BLL did, have I mentioned he is a little tattle tell.  That was when I noticed that he had crumbs on his face, little RED crumbs.  I asked him what was on his face and he replied, "She made me eat it."  Yea, I'm sure that is exactly what happened.  Curious are you to the extent of the damage they did to my most beautiful cake?  Well here are a few photos of what I found when I made my way to the kitchen.

Needless to say, they will not be having dessert tonight!

Consumed Creativity

When I have one of my creative brainstorms, it can be all consuming.  Every thought of my waking moments are spent putting it all together in my mind before I do any actual putting together.  This last week/weekend was spent thinking about and visualizing some fresh ideas that I had stumbled upon from seeing all the little girl's hair do's of our SAHM's group.  Thanks to Hobby Lobby and Michael's, there has been an endless amount of creativity storming my brain!  Despite my bout of Spring Cleaning that also consumed my weekend, during such time, I was still in my mind thinking about all the things I could do.  Here are a few results of my creative brainstorm.............

These are my absolute favorite so far!!  They can be worn by themselves or.............

On a headband!!  These headbands can be found at Hobby Lobby in a variety of colors and the best part, they are two for .99 cents!  I love that you can attach any clippie to them, so you are not limited, as you will see in the following photos.

 Also, with Easter soon approaching, I had to make something fabulous for BLL to match her dress, of course.  These turned out so adorable, if I do say so myself.

And now, for us ladies who also like to have pretty things in our hair, a couple of pretties!  These also look nice alone or on a headband.  I absolutely LOVE these and will find any reason to wear them!  

My daughter has also expressed interest in wearing these, but then again left up to her, she would wear all of them at the same time!  Let me tell, that is quite a funny site!!

Short Story

We are alive, we survived the weekend and unsure if we are ready for the week.  So far it's had a rough start.  Unfortunately we haven't taken any photos of some of the fun we've had, but I assure you that we have been enjoying the beautiful weather.  Until next time!

Waking Fire Alarm

Very early this morning, so early it was still dark out, we were awoken by a fire alarm!  I threw the blankets back and sprung up to see Daddy looking at his phone.  I said to him "(His name here), it's the fire alarm!  Not your phone!"  He says, "No, it's my phone."  "No (his name here), we need to get the kids and get out!"  "No, it's my phone.  I set the alarm so we would get LBF's medicine on time."  "What?!"  "It's my alarm."  "OMG, you almost gave me a heart attack!!  Never use that _______ alarm sound again!"

To my defense, it really did sound just like our fire alarms and it was LOUD!  Lesson learned, if you want to get me out of bed quickly, make me think there is a fire.

Side note, parts of this post may be censored because this is a family blog and some words may not have been appropriate for young viewers. ;)