New hire
The EB said he needed some extra cash after working his tail off this past Easter. I put him to work tonight.
Month: April 2012
Ready, set, pack!
I bought boxes this past week. Lots of boxes. In an attempt to get our house ready to put on the market, we need to purge or pack a lot of stuff and store it elsewhere. I won’t even attempt to put it in to a percentage because honestly, that might be a little too depressing for me. Anyway, I’d like to think I’m off to a good start. Jake has been back to the big orange store a couple of times to re-stock my box pile. He has also taken two truckloads of our possessions to his sister’s house for storage. We are so thankful she is letting us pack our house into her basement.
5/30/13: Edited one year and about a month later to say that we (and family & friends) packed A LOT of boxes in order to move us out of our old house and into a new one. I should have counted the trips he took to his sister’s house to store things there. It’s amazing what you collect over the course of living in one place for 9 years…
The Easter Bunny
We’ve had the Easter Bunny living in our attic for several years. The boys have seen him a couple of times, but I always forget to bring him out on Easter. While purging a bunch of stuff from the attic this afternoon, I decided to pull ‘ol Mr. EB out from the corner and place him in the rocker in the boys’ room.
Backing up a bit, my in-laws took the kids for the day so Jake and I could get a few things done around the house. Jake worked in the yard, I went in to the office for a couple of hours and then did some purging of things we don’t use/don’t need any longer. We took advantage of being kid-free and went to get something to eat. When we returned, the kids were back, bathed, and reading with Grandma Patti. Mr. EB was also snugly tucked in on the floor of the boys’ room.
Mr. EB was a gift from Sammy, my adopted grandma. We grew up living away from our other grandparents. Sammy over-flowed the grandparent void that Tony and I had with love, attention, & simple everyday experiences that left a life-long impression on both of us. Knowing I can share some of her with my own kids makes my heart smile. I’m sure she’s smiling down on all of us from Heaven, too.
Easter 2012
We roused the crew at a very unusual time this morning. We had breakfast and were out the door in time to start greeting people at 7am for Easter morning mass. The kids did a great job saying “Happy Easter” and handing out mass leaflets. I was really impressed with the way Nolan took ownership of his “job.” And Lincoln was a super “leaflet restocker” for us.
After mass, we went home and treated the kids to orange rolls for breakfast. After a failed attempt at getting Ingrid to nap earlier than usual, we headed to my parents’ house for an early Easter dinner. We dined on ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole (a favorite of mine), cranberry relish & cabbage slaw (also a fave and recipe of my Great Aunt Frances’.)
Later in the afternoon, Tony & Kristin joined us and were so sweet to our kids, as usual. They have such a knack for entertaining them. They “decorated” the sun room and dining room, which seems to have become somewhat of a tradition when they’re together at my parents’ house. The kids also smothered icing all over enhanced and then ate the rice krispy bunny that Tony made them. Kristin put together the cutest Easter gift bag for them, complete with stickers, fruit strips, and grow your own grass & flower kits.
Thank you Lord, for giving us the opportunity again this year to be together as a family and celebrate the ultimate sacrifice Christ made on the cross. He is risen! Happy Easter!
Coloring eggs
We dyed eggs with Nolan & Lincoln for the first time tonight. I know, I know, why haven’t we done it before?!? To be honest, they’ve never really asked about it and I just didn’t encourage it. Dropping eggs into a staining liquid just sounds like a dangerous activity for two busy boys, but we decided to finally give it a try. Now that we’ve got one year under our belts, I’m sure they will remind me we need to do it again next year.
You may notice the man with the beard in the upper right photo. Jake gave up shaving for Lent. What you’re looking at is 40 days of growth. I’m happy to report that shortly after the photo was taken, he was once again clean shaven 🙂
Jeepin’ around
You know it’s spring when the kids ask if they can get the jeep out of the shed. It didn’t matter that the battery wasn’t charged. Nolan pushed, Lincoln steered, and Ingrid navigated.
