Our Easter {2012}

We had a great Easter weekend with friends and family! The weather could not have been any prettier and everything went smoothly. Let me back up first though and talk about my birthday, which was last Thursday. It's always right around Easter and sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.

I turned 29 (and holding) on April 5th. I worked that day but took off on Friday. We went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant that night. The next day was my shopping day! I have been planning for over a month to go shopping in our nearest big town ALL BY MYSELF! I was so pumped and I had some other stops to make while in town. The weather was great and the crowds were not too bad and I hit up some awesome sales at a department store at the mall. I have not taken a day all to myself in a long time and it was much needed. I enjoy it so much more now and appreciate it more. :) I also had to get Jonah an Easter outfit and shoes so I had a mission as well. It was a SUCCESSFUL trip!

Later that evening my friend Amanda and her daughter Neely met up with us at the preschool playground behind the elementary school so the kids could play. She is a teacher there so she got us in. It was the neatest little playground and all the stuff was low to the ground and the play set was made completely out of plastic so the kids could get up in it and play and not get hurt. We had a good time playing there and I hope we can take advantage of it some more this summer.

We had our church egg hunt earlier in the week (Wed.) and the story hour class at the library had one last week too. Below are some pictures from those of our little egg hunter. Jonah really caught on this year and it was so fun to watch him go after the eggs. He didn't really "get" that you needed to pick up the eggs quickly and find more. He just kind of wandered around and took his sweet time picking them up and shaking them. LOL I guess the competitive spirit has not developed in him yet.....but oh when it does....

Here are some pics from our Easter happenings.




Got his game face on





This was at the library egg hunt


Dada helped him at the church egg hunt











I found one!!





The tree and the apple


Tired boy


Oh what is this??





Our church bunch! I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!!

Confessions, Volume 1 LOL

So I see several other blogger Moms that do little confessions posts. I enjoy reading their honest confessions of things they are going through in their lives so I thought I would jot some of mine down. Sometimes you just need to get it all out so you can move on...ya know? Most are just things I'm going through right now and thoughts I have.

1. I am tanning again. In a tanning bed. Yes I know it is not good for me. Maybe I am vain but I did not enjoy being the pasty white one last year all summer. The sad thing is I have a nice pool and pool deck but I never go out there an sun bathe. So since we are going to the beach this year I have started tanning already. We don't even go until June. It takes me that long to get a good base tan because I am so fair-skinned. So it's out there now for whoever should judge me. LOL. I am enjoying it too because I know it's not something I will do again for a couple of years. That's the plan at least. I just feel better about myself in shorts and skirts when I have a tan. Maybe it's worth it???

2. I am so forgetful here lately....well since Jonah was born I think. It's like I just cannot seem to remember things that people tell me or dates that I need to remember to do something. I really hope it's just Mommy-brain because I get worried sometimes that maybe I am having early-stages of some kind of dementia. LOL I am considering getting a smart-phone next time so that I can get stuff set up to remind myself of things.

3. Michael and I were really struggling the last couple of months on deciding when was a good time to add to our family. I was just so concerned about whether we should wait longer or go ahead and jump on it. We really want to try to plan to have our next one during a time that is NOT mid-summer. My body just does not do well with pregnancy and heat....like any one's really does. So all that to say we finally sat down and really discussed it and decided to wait one more year before trying again. I can't explain the peace that has come over me just knowing we are on the same page about this. Of course God knows all the plans he has for us and maybe he has plans before next year or even later than that but for us....our plans are to wait a bit longer.

4. I miss time to myself to just do stuff I enjoy. Like making crafts and running to the store whenever I want. I know one day I will miss having a little buddy to go with me and do all these things. But some days I just like my quiet time to myself. I hope that doesn't sound too selfish because I would not trade my little man for anything in this world.

That is all for today.....

Basement Laundry {A Reveal Of Sorts}

Well this is real life and the laundry is as done as it's going to get for the moment. I am very proud of it but it definitely is not "magazine-worthy". LOL It never will be but it has come a very long way. We have a few more things we want to do but they will take a little more time, money and shopping.

I am a strange breed of woman....the breed that actually likes doing laundry. I know some people just cringe at doing laundry but I actually don't mind it at all. I don't even mind the folding and putting away part. But if you ask me to dust my whole house...that's when I cringe. I hate dusting.

Any who, my hubby and I agreed it was time to make the most out of our little basement laundry situation. It was dark and dank and just not a fun place to be. We set out to make a more function space with what we had to work with and to make it it's own space. So here are list of things we did (well Michael did most of it).

• Bought our new Samsung washer & dryer for a steal on Black Friday weekend. They came from Lowe's. We had to wait 2 months for them to come in. :(
• Bought the material and Michael built washer & dryer stands from some plans found here.
• I painted the stands in Misty Aqua from Glidden (Wal-Mart)
• Painted two concrete walls in our basement white. We did not paint around all our plumbing. We are going to put up a curtain to cover that.
• Brought in an old bathroom vanity that was in my craft room. It was give to us by my in-laws. It's my new folding table.
• Made some curtains out of fabric I had on hand.
• Made some wall art using stuff I had or bought at flea markets. I spray painted all of the frames and used scrapbook paper and stuff to decorate them.
• Laid down a carpet/rug that was left from when we redid our living room carpet.

Here is the before again.

Here is the final product....so far.












The pole on the right is hopefully going to be removed soon too.

We are planning to put up a curtain above where all the plumbing is. That is the old wall color.



There is one window in this area but the window is actually under our porch. So not a ton of light comes in. I dressed it up a little bit though.


Another shot of the whole area. We are also planning to put up a metal bar from the ceiling on the left side of the star. For hanging up clothes out of the dryer. Sorry about the bad lighting in the pics.





I love these stands and I'm so proud of my hubby for making them! He did such a good job!




My new folding area. It's already seen lots of action!





I found this free printable on pinterest and I kind of based all the colors off of it.


The two round frames are just scrapbook paper and I can write on the glass with dry erase markers to make myself lists of things we need to pick up at the store.



I am so thrilled with the results so far! It is now a happy place to go to when I do laundry. I also am totally in love with my new washer and dryer. I can do all my laundry in one day if I want to now. Also a special thanks to my Dad for coming over and helping Michael get the washer & dryer moved and installed. And he helped run the electrical to the outlets in our new wall. It's nice when you Dad is an electrician.  Linking up here 

March 2012

March has been a great month of time spent outside and with friends and family! I took Jonah to our local city park one morning. He was still way to little to really play on anything there. But he did have a ball playing in the wet sand that day. Here are some pics I got of that.





































Also, last weekend we had a fun time! On Saturday Jonah and I had to run to town and get groceries. He did so good and we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and he ate really good. It's fun to take him places now and he can actually eat what I am eating for a change. :) On Sunday we went to a small local church where Michael filled in for their preacher. It was his first time ever preaching!! He did such a wonderful job and everybody bragged on him afterwards. I was very proud of him! Turns out I am actually distantly related to several of the congregations members too.

Later on Sunday we went to my grandmother's (Roro's) house for a little birthday celebration for my Aunt. My cousin's boys were there too and Jonah played so good with them. Here are some shots from that day too.

























We have a busy month of April coming up too with lots of plans in the works. I am throwing a baby shower and having a birthday (my 29th) the early part of the month. And then later on we are going to be going to visit some family that live a little ways away from us and hopefully (fingers crossed) we will get a start on some work outside in our flower beds. We will see what all we can get done and still just try to enjoy each day as it comes. Of course as soon as you tell God your plans.....

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Joining in on WILW again.

I am loving that my Mom hosted a Thirty-One Purse party last night and I ordered lots of goodies. I love that company and the wonderful totes and bags they make. I have several that I use all the time. This season the special was this organizing tote for $8.

I am also loving this beautiful Spring weather we've been enjoying this week. The high will be 80 something today!

I love Mexican food and we do not have a good place close by. Sooo.....I am so loving my new quesadilla maker that was FREE. I had a bunch of points from using my debit card as a credit card and got to redeem them for this Quesadilla maker. It is great!

Also I have found the best flour tortilla's to get are the "ready-to-cook" ones for using with this.

I am also loving my new wash and dryer in my soon-to-be finished laundry room! I think they may be smarter than me. I think they will be a real energy saver too.