Easter 2013

I hope everyone had a wonderful & blessed Easter holiday! We sure did (:

Friday night, we covered our dining room table with newspaper, rolled up our sleeves and got our egg dying done. Most the eggs this year were made into monsters & bunnies, with an occasional tie-dyed one popping up. They all came out super cute. We attempted to add vinegar to the dye to make the colors more vibrant but other than the lingering stench, we really didn't see any difference. Last year, we used Kool-Aid and were really happy with the way they turned out... & they smelled way better (;

On Saturday, we went to the Charleroi Annual Easter Hunt. It was a bit emotional for me since this is the first year that my two girlies decided they were too cool to participate. Ben had a great time though & even shared his eggs with a little girl who wasn't able to get any. Always a gentleman...
Later that night, I filled up about 50 eggs with pieces of candy and hid them around the house. Then we turned off all the lights and let the kids loose with their flashlights to find them all (: Definitely a fun, giggle filled time.

We woke up Sunday to about 200 plastic eggs hidden around the downstairs of our house, including 12 golden eggs that held some cash prizes. Their baskets were hidden as well. The Bunny left clues to help find the them in the letter he wrote.

They all got a Project Life mini album from Becky Higgins with some pictures of our family to get started. This was a HUGE hit! All three kids worked on them for about an hour & a half while the food was cooking. I also have a PLBH scrapbook so I didn't miss a chance to sit down & craft with my munchkins. Josh is our designated chef in the house anyways so he didn't need me (;

Carmen got the gymnast doll she asked for. She named her Gabby Douglas which I thought was the most adorable thing ever!

Yaya got the most awesome journal I have ever seen. I would have LOVED to have this when I was her age!

It came with the coolest post its, envelopes, dividers & so many other accessories to bedazzle it with! It also came with a stamper that I totally want to thieve for work purposes! Miss Caroline read the text really fast & got a bit confused. She thought that the Bunny brought her a stamper that read

"I <3 $h!%". It actually says "I <3 THIS".

So of course her mistake caused a few giggle fits that morning.

Benjamin got an Angry Birds video game for his Xbox 360 and a volcano making kit. We set the plaster that night, waited the 24 hours to for that to set, painted it, waited another 24 hours to let the paint dry, and then we were FINALLY able to watch her erupt. Needless to say, I think all of the anticipation led to unrealistic expectations of the pending explosion.

Vinegar & Baking soda fizzles.

It does NOT splatter 10 feet in the air.

... Try explaining that to a six year old boy.

And the natural disaster that took place in our dining room is below... it was much too calm for Ben's liking. I think he had the commercial for magic eraser in his head where the father & daughter make a volcano erupt all over the nice clean kitchen and then the mom walks in and hands them the cleaning supplies. Oh well, he got the point.

After all the visiting with Grandparents, Aunts, Mothers, In-Laws, Fathers, Sisters and Uncles, we came home & went to bed. All that running & ham made the entire family fall fast asleep.

It was another wonderful holiday with my favorite four people. I am blessed.

-A

She's Got The Whole World In Her Hands

My sweet Carmen Girl had to present her class with a diagram, poster, or report on the Solar System this week. Of course we chose to make a diagram because that option is always the most fun (:

Materials Needed:

• Shipping Tape
• Duct Tape
• Long Piece of Styrofoam Board
• Glue
• Scissors
• Fabric (to cover the styrofoam board)
• Toothpicks
• White Paper
• One Piece of Construction Paper (we used brown)
• 9 Styrofoam Balls (different sizes based on planets & sun)
• Paint
• Glitter (to keep things glamorous)
• Paint Brushes
• Sharpie (she chose blue for her text)

We painted the planets & sun the first night to give it time to dry. We added more paint details the next evening so that the paint wouldn't mix. Before we attached the planets to the board, we covered it with our star filled fabric and kept it on using duct tape on the backside (keeping it hidden). By placing a toothpick in each planet, we were able to put the other end into the board to hold them in place. We used more than one toothpick on the larger objects (Sun & Jupiter). We made Saturn's ring using brown construction paper and glued it to the three toothpicks we placed around it. It held nicely. Next, Carmen wrote the title of her project and the names of all the objects on white computer paper. We cut them to size and shape and laminated them onto toothpicks using shipping tape on either side and cutting off the excess tap. The signs were placed on top of each planet & the sun. Her title was simply put in the front of the diagram. The finished diagram...

She was very nervous about having to describe her project in front of her classroom, so we did some rehearsals the night before the big day. Here is one outtake of her practicing in which she wasn't quite sure how to end her speech, so she did what any sweet-hearted girl who was scared to death would do... she made it into a prayer and ended with an "Amen." (: Fingers crossed that today went smoothly for her!

-A

Hall of Fame

Sports do not build character. They reveal it.

-A

Spring Portraits 2013

I haven't had the chance to upload the kids' new Easter pictures they had done but now that I'm free of the Facebook, I have more than ample opportunity to make new blog posts (: Enjoy! I know I did... one lucky momma right here to have three of the best looking kiddos around!

-A

Facebook Free... for now.

I feel liberated. And free. I deleted my Facebook account. For those of you who use the social media network, you know how hard this can be. Panic sets in. How will I keep track of my friends & family, how will I share all the great stuff my family does, how will I know the latest gossip, who will I rant to when something is on my mind, who will give me my sense of approval in this world?

Overreacting? Of course. But your mind starts to go a bit crazy once you remove that lifeline from your world. I have been a user of Facebook since 2008. Every single moment of my life has been documented on that network. No lie. But truth be told, I'm sick of it. It makes me sad that my only communication to my dearest friends, some that I have known my entire life, only happen through status likes, photo comments & wall posts. I miss them. I miss meeting up for lunch just to catch up. I miss talking on the phone until it goes dead just to hear in detail how their date went. Why bother when you can see what everyone has been up to with just a few clicks of a mouse? I miss being a dedicated employee, who doesn't have to sneak onto the internet every 10 minutes to make sure nothing major has been missed. I miss being an attentive mother that doesn't feel the pressure to take constant pictures and upload them immediately. I miss enjoying those moments with my children instead of becoming their personal paparazzi.

What I won't miss is the constant comparisons to the lives of everyone on my list. No matter how happy  and content you are with your own life, you cannot help but become a little jealous of the new mommy who doesn't have to worry about ten pages of homework due the next morning, the newly married couple who is so overcome with new love butterflies that they have no idea that in a few years their date nights will consist of a twenty minute grocery run to Giant Eagle, or the friend that just got a promotion and a hefty pay increase while you are doing the work of ten coworkers & count yourself lucky to get a "Thank you". Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy for all of the blessings in my life as well as the blessings of people that I know. I genuinely mean it when I congratulate them and am actually smiling when I put that colon, right parentheses. And 99% of the time, when I write "LOL", I actually giggle to myself. The problem is, I catch myself starting to devalue all that God has given me when I see someone else bragging about their blessing. Why? I'm assuming it's human nature but it doesn't do me any good even if it is. I have no reason to complain or compare in my life. I have everything I need or could want. I feel as though I am doing my family a grave injustice to continue putting these high expectations on them to be cute enough, funny enough, romantic enough to warrant a Facebook status update. I just want to live my life. I want to enjoy and relish in every single second. To make that happen, I must get rid of the distractions. So, see you later Facebook, or not. This is my Facebook free month. I will not, under any circumstances, reactivate that account. The question is, will that be the first thing I do on May 1st? I sincerely hope not. I've been free of Facebook since Saturday and have already got my butt out of the house to visit with one of my best friends, her family & her new little bundle of joy. And I didn't feel one ounce of resentment, just pure joy. You can't smell that new baby smell over the world wide web. That alone is priceless and has only reinforced my decision to steer clear of the site. At this rate, maybe by May, this family of mine will be completely "unplugged". (;

-A