Fun Touches of Spring + Easter Decor

Recently, someone asked me if I had our home all decorated & finished.
 A year later, my answer is (in my best Clark G. voice) "Heck NO! 
But that's OK.
E V E N for an OCD "do it all at one time" person like me, I'm not going to put something somewhere just to fill the space.  I want to do it right & the way I want it, & if it's something we can't swing at the time- we will wait.
I've learned to chill :)

  Instagram & Pinterest (okay, & even though we love them-Chip & Jo) will sometimes lead us to believe that everything has to be done at once.  That's SO not true or realistic for some people (like me!).  I want my blog to be representative of that when I talk "House & Home."  It's about practicality, not perfection.

That being said, I didn't buy one new decoration this year except for some sweet birthday love given to me.  (And the wreath & floral arrangement you can find here). 
No matter how much I love winter & fall, I have been made a believer in the fact that Spring & Easter décor just seem to breathe life back into the home after the long winter months.  I feel like our home is lighter, airier, & more crisp & clean with all the floral accents & light pastel colors. 

Entry
I just can't part with my letterboard in this space.
Best "holiday décor" purchase ever.

Front Porch

Can we be equally as excited about dragging out all our less bulkier warm weather friendly shoes???

Hey there, handsome!

My home church had a cleaning where they were tossing out things that weren't being used.  My Nana saved this beautiful white cross for me!  I was determined to make one at Christmas to wrap up in garland & lights for our porch, so when I heard they had an excess of crosses...cue excitement.  I would love to hang a tulip basket on it now for Easter & cover the bottom of it in pretty fresh flowers & moss gathered at the bottom.  Ahhhhh.  Again, all in time!  I love it plain and simple as well.

And then there is Conley's BFF...the rabbit that I sat in my boxwood wreath that my sweet MIL got for my birthday last year.  My mom gifted me with a Home Goods gift card for my birthday & that little guy made his way into my cart.  I love him.  And love to see he & Conley chatting away on pretty evenings on the front porch.  That just made him special with a sweet memory to boot for as long as he sits on our porch in the years to come.😍

Dining room.
Tulips+Spring=necessity.

Breakfast Nook
aka "Stairway to Heaven Café"😂

Kitchen
And I have a slight hatred for trying to photograph this counter space.  It's so awkward, but fun to decorate.
Living Room
"It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," on repeat.  What's with ABC not playing this, this year?  Sad day.

After pizza night last night, we watched "Risen." 
Have any of you ever seen it? 
It is w o n d e r f u l. 
Even our five year old Cam enjoyed it.  He was very interested in the story of Jesus raising from the dead & the stone rolling away:)  If you haven't had the opportunity to see it, it is the perfect family movie for Easter weekend. 

In a failed attempt to find the boys easter outfits yesterday, (that's what last minute shopping does for ya, huh?) we planned an awesome menu for this weekend.  I'll shamelessly leave you with the supper plans for Stairway to Heaven Café tonight:  Creamy Tortellini Sausage Soup with Bunny Bread Bowls from Panera Bread (I couldn't find bread bowls a n y w h e r e else...)  

I have this problem where holidays always make me want to bake, but I am trying to eat healthy & can't have that stuff laying around-SO, we are being creative with our "real food."😝  Cade & I may kill each other making it (it's a knock down drag out to stop him from Paula Deen-ing everything with all the butter) but I'm excited to see how it turns out!

And maybe by some Easter miracle, we'll find a sweet Easter outfit for the boys before tomorrow morning...I know my days of them tolerating matching outfits are a ticking time bomb & I will figure something out.   Mark my words:)

Goodness, I jabber a lot.

H54F || Good Friday 2018

Happy Good Friday, everyone!

I was well into my second cup of l a r g e coffee this morning before I remembered that today is Good Friday.  Really, today stands for the most important day in all of history.  The day that Jesus took our place on the cross.  Can you imagine the love he has for us?  That he would suffer for all the bad things we did, do, and will do?  I can't even BEGIN to.  Not a day has more significance, except his birth & Resurrection Day...Easter Morning!  He is ALIVE, sweet friends.  What an occasion to celebrate & rejoice in!  May we all take this weekend to be mindful & search our hearts to remember our Lord's sacrifice & the most important gift we could ever receive-salvation! 

 

Now for a little High Five for Friday fun...Good Friday Style:)  LInking up, as usual, with the girls from H54F this morning.

 

one.  baskets full of easter joy
Every time I hear the lyrics, "bringing every girl and boy, baskets full of Easter joy," it just makes me super excited to put the boys baskets together!  I'm nerdy like that.  But baskets are just fun, aren't they?  All those springy colors & textures.  All the heart eyes.   I've almost got it together !  Planning on stuffing eggs during naptime today! 🐰

 I'm also excited to dress them for Easter Sunday...they were so handsome last year in their easter best.  Though, I'm not sure if we'll buy something or just try to pull something sweet together from what they already have.  That's definitely the approach I'm taking for me & the Mr...but hoping we can swing a little something special for our sweets.

 

two.  easter themed therapy

I love holidays & the fun it brings to my job.  I hope to add more therapy/family oriented posts to Peaches & Pearls soon!  It just takes a lot of work & I can never find the time!  But soon, hopefully!  I will say...eggs are EGG-cellent for language.  

J'ya catch that?😏

You can have so much fun hunting them all while targeting descriptive words, colors, prepositions, vocab (if you hide fun things inside).  The possibilities are infinite! 

So, go hide eggs all spring long!

 

three.  first picked spring flowers from my boys

My nana's tulips are in full bloom, & she doesn't bat an eye when the boys pick one for me.  Tulips a r r r r e e e my favorite...not gonna lie.  There's also the frequent dandelion.  And if it comes from my boys (or my sweet speech students), it might as well be a rare rose! 

four.  Cam's big day

Cam's big day has come & gone, but he had the best time!  More pictures to come & for you to endure (😋 ) later of his mini Ghostbuster party.  #sorrynotsorry

Bear with the blurry, dark pictures.  Most of the party was late in the evening!

 I still can't believe we have a five year old!  And to think it all started here.

 

five.  walking in to this

God's been working in our lives answering so many prayers lately.  I'd like to share a post about it soon.  It really is amazing to see his hand working in so many ways-& I don't know why I would expect any less sometimes.

And let me say, it makes my heart happier to walk in & see that picture below on our breakfast nook table than it would to find a dozen roses or a diamond ring.  I'm so thankful for my best friend & hubs! 

So thankful he is at home with us now!

 

 ---

P.S.  Have to add a TOTALLY RANDOM soapbox. 
Every Spring I find my coffee loving self in the same predicament...

Dear McDonalds,
I'd really just like to order a regular iced coffee with cream only.
(Ever done it?  Maybe you know my pain.)
I'm very sorry for my snobby difficult order.  However, I would really like to just get a simple pour of coffee over ice with a couple of creams.  No sugar, no syrup.  Just coffee.  And a little cream.  And I'd like to pay a dollar (instead of $4) for it, as it is listed on your menu.  Is that so much to ask?  Instead, everytime I send all your kind employees in a panic and back up the line attempting to help the employee behind your speaker know how to code the order(iced coffee with syrup *but not really*) or else I get the wrong order.  And do anyway most of the time-which I totally get.  Maybe we could do a button for that “special” complicated request?
 It's enough to make a girl give up on an afternoon treat...
Kind Regards,
A Spring time Iced Coffee Lover (apparant) Coffee Snob

Soapbox over!😋☕️#firstworldproblems

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter celebrating our risen Savior!🙌🏻

 

 

 

Photo Every Hour || 3.22.18

aka Cam's fifth birthday!

There is just something about setting my alarm & catching a 
photo of what's going on every hour of a special day.  
I love looking back at these special moments!

5 am

just jesus + coffee

& waiting for my 5 year old sweetie to wake up for his big day.

6 am

our elf, Spider, got special permission to come all the way from the North Pole, 
to celebrate Cam's birthday.  
he decorated the breakfast nook & made birthday pancakes
 for breakfast-that sly guy.😏

7 am

the troops awaken-he was so surprised!

also, fun fact.  Cam wears these pj's EVERY night unless they are in laundry.

for some reason, they are his favorite:)

Spider planned an egg scavenger hunt in the living room 
& I'm pretty sure both boys were more excited to see their elf than anything else.

8 am

pancakes are ready🥞

9am

if there is one reason as to why I know I was made to be a boy mom, 
it's because I love building legos.

10-11 am

Cade had the boys watching a predator documentary.

what a way with children, right?

I had to keep my nose in my to do list for Cam's mini party.🦁

12 pm

tickle fight thirty

1 pm

where's the birthday boy?  

oh, you know.  changing clothes for the 32nd time.

do your kids destroy as quickly as ours do??🚧

2 pm

more lego building:)  

3 pm

special outing for Cam's birthday "lupper!"

4 pm

can you guess where he picked?🦀

*another fun fact, Cade & I ate here after every single doctor's appointment-

so I guess naturally, he has not choice but to be a fan.

5 pm

picking up the party goods before everyone arrives tomorrow

6 pm

7 pm

we got locked out of our house with all our groceries d/t
 the boys draining our cell phone batteries while we were 
in the store (entertainment).  
as luck would have it, Cade had put my charger in his car.  
SO...very thankful for neighbor friends who let us use 
their phones to phone for help!

8 pm

birthday boy snuck into the kitchen & made himself some cereal.

And spilt milk everywhere.

9 pm

no nap for these boys & a late night = way overdue bath & hustle to the bed.

10 pm

yep. the glamorous life.  
get them to sleep & we are rooted out to the guest bedroom.

oh, well!

that night when we said our prayers, Cam's special request was that he wanted to thank God for his birthday. 
I think I'll call that a win! 
 it really was the perfect big day for him

and now, on to the adventure of having a FIVE year old...this mama heart is already preparing for Kindergarten tears (me, not him).  

we register him early next month...💕

Wordless Weekend || St. Paddy's Day 2018

Okay.  Maybe a *few words here & there.

And may I mention the fact that I am actually doing a weekend rundown, again?

I may be back in the blogging game!

You'd think a few pictures with captions wouldn't be such a hard thing to do...

Happy Monday, btw!

*wrote a book about it

Friday p.m.

Sometimes you just gotta risk a flash for a moment.  Even if it has the potential to wake up a sleeping toddler/man child.
Can't he sleep with a fluffy, stuffed animal?  Nope!
A Plastic rapter named "Blue" with a piercing tail & teeth.

Saturday a.m.

Cade got rained out from work Saturday, so I didn't have to make the green lucky charm pancakes myself!  

I'm a stickler for recipes & he cooks everything from scratch.

Yes, a little jelly over here.  👩🏻‍🍳

But whose the creative genius telling him how to do things?
  Me!  😏

<cue sarcasm here>

 Conley sat outside the whole time we were cooking dinner & talked to this rabbit.
If he turns up missing, I probably ate him.
Saturday p.m.

Pizza night.
And Cade totally made fun of me for my excessive use of food coloring in our food this weekend.

If it is in the spirit of a holiday, I'm okay with that.
Anybody else love the ancient holiday cartoons our mom's & dad's watched when they were little?

The boys loved Peter Cottontail.

 (And I confess, I did too...)🤓

Leprechaun trap from Cam's class project.  
Can you spy the ghostbuster party decorations?
  Cam cried several times Sunday b/c he didn't catch a leprechaun...ultimate parent & teacher fail.  

Not totally though, because I heard the words, "I should have listened to you mom & hid it where you told me to."  Ahhhhh, like music to my ears.  Maybe he'll catch on to that before he's a teenager.
Finally pretty enough for some outside time after dinner!
Are yall loving the extra daylight in the evening?
Cam just learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, & naturally, the weather turned cold again.  He was excited to get back on for a spin.

The neighborhood was swarming with kids riding bikes.

Cam watched as one little boy rode by.

He smirked.
Then looked at me & said, "Mom, I just smiled at him.  Like this.

😏

(Insert cutest half smirky smile of all time).

Casually crashes bike soon after.  "Not what I suspected."

(he meant expected)

I couldn't get over this pretty sky...
Skipping rocks in the retention pond. 

 Oh, the fabulous life.  

Now to go snuggle in our bed without a bedframe.  I'm just kidding!  
We are soooo blessed I just like to make sure everyone doesn't just see the highlight reel & knows there are real life shots behind the things I share. 
 God is so so so so SO good to this undeserving ole' girl! 😉

Cam is ready to go in at this point.

"Con, the coyotes are going to come out & eat you."

Con does this number in sarcasm:

Yep, too much Kevin McCallister.
#sorrynotsorry

On our way in.  Decides to sprint down tall sidewalk wall.  
Me: "Con, youre about to it it."
Con: No, I already ate my food mom.
Speechless.  So many times.

Food color coma with a side of iced coffee & second viewing of 1970 Peter Cottontail...
  IDM.
Con cracks us up with his karate hands.  
🥋
And they always go in our room & talk to "Lexa (Alexa)."
Apparently, they believe her to be deaf b/c they yell at her like she lives in England & tell her to play Rock & Roll music, which always somehow ends up channeling,

 "Big Girls Don't Cry."
How's that for macho fighting music?👊🏼

And lastly the battle of where to place the leprechaun trap.  If Cam had it his way, he would have launched it sitting atop his nose.  Aye.

Feeling cornily Irish in my commentary at this point.

The trail.

Not sure about my logic here or
the terrible attempt at leprechaun footprints...aka green melted chocolate from last St. Paddy's...
It was late.
& the only green maybe easy to clean thing I had to dip Hulk's feet in.

And the tired mama.

😂🤷🏻‍♀️

Sunday a.m.

utter disappointment

how does one stage a leprechaun caught in a trap, anyway???
I need help on that one.

Maybe next year.



And btw.

Basically...if you don’t like Jesus, food, babies, or holidays... you won’t like this blog.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! 

I'm hearing snow in the forecast for my big boy's birthday week!