{Thirty Days of Thanks~Day 25}

Oh my! I'm so late today---so sorry about that! I did this today:

This is actually a picture of last year's Christmas stuff---I didn't take a picture of it this year---even though this room is now a beautiful APPLE GREEN and it looks so pretty---I figured you could figure out what I was doing with any picture! Actually, most of what I did today was put lights on my garland for my deck---I had NO idea it would take me so long---THAT is why people buy garland with lights ALREADY ON-----AHHHHHH! GOT IT!

Anyway, it's done now, so that's good. I hope to get a lot done this weekend. Next week will be crazy for me, so if I don't get a lot done this weekend, it just won't happen. I'm so grateful to have a day to get started on this.

I am looking forward to this season. Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year. I love how festive everything looks, I love my home at Christmas---I'm no Martha Stewart, but I do enjoy adding extra color and fun to my home at Christmas. I love wrapping up pretty packages (and tying them with string---had to say it). I AM using brown paper packages this Christmas---just so you know! Lots of brown paper, red ribbon and newsprint/music print. It ought to be fun!

Anyway, today I'm grateful for a few things---for the start of the Christmas season---White Christmas was officially viewed today---we didn't finish it, but we started it and that is a big deal around here! Christmas music was turned on. Garland was put up....I'm grateful.

I'm also grateful I survived yesterday---that sounds quite dramatic, I know. I don't mean for it to---but it was a hard day for me and I'm just glad to have made it through that "first" major holiday. We took pictures for my Christmas card---here's a peek---yet another thing to be thankful for. In spite of the circumstances I find myself in---I have a beautiful life---here are a few reasons why! I hope your "black friday" was a great one---I didn't go to ONE store---I usually do---but the internet called! Let me know how YOUR Thanksgiving was!

{Thirty Days of Thanks~Day 20}

I had a relaxing Saturday----YEA! I did a little work when I first got up, but I got a little crafty today. This is my therapy, I've decided, and I have very little time to do it---SO, when I have an opportunity, I take advantage of it! I can't get into details about what I made today---but I will do a post about this in a couple weeks. I'm working on Advent gifts---and I'm packaging them at this point....what a lovely day of therapy. ;D I think it's healthy to just do something you want to do every now and then. I'm so thankful for some time to think, relax and play with paper! Enjoy your Sunday!

{Dying Easter Eggs}

One of my favorite things to do with my kids is dye Easter eggs---I didn't know if Joshua would still be willing to indulge me this year since he's "so grown up"--but he did....just don't tell any of his friends! The beautiful thing about this is that my son  may be too old to indulge me in the next few years, but I DO have a beautiful grandbaby who will LOVE playing with dye and making sugar cookies and eating peeps and participating in all that makes up the crafty fun of Easter!

Yeah, we had a few eggs to dye.....

On some of the eggs Joshua just poured dye over the eggs--they looked really cool. 

~love this boy!

Thanks for stopping by to visit....it makes me smile to know you've come by!

{Easter 2011}

Easter 2011 was a sweet one! Praise the Lord for sweet days~

Easter came at the end of my spring break. I had spent the first weekend in DC with my sister and her family and had gotten to see Hannah, too. I'll post about that later this week, but I had to put my Easter pictures up first! I had anxiously awaited Easter so I could hang out with Caitlin and Carson, and of course sweet Eve. They had gone to Rocky Mount to visit Daisy (Carson's mom's grandmother name...........oh and the rest of the family) most of my spring break, so I was SO excited to get to see them. [And, can I just say "YEA! for loving in-laws"? I don't know how many people you know who have issues with inlaws, but I KNOW, personally how great it is to wonderful in-laws. AND I'm SO grateful to the Lord for the gift he gave Caitlin when she married into the Guy clan. What a blessing to have a sweet family on "the other side"!]
OK---back to the post at hand! A post in pictures, I think!

TABLE!!!

I went a little casual this year---I found this tablecloth at Target in the Easter section, but it was out of place and I just happened upon it---I LOVE a nice tablecloth for $12.99!

And, of course, everyone needs a placecard at a party table....and EVERYONE needs a chocolate bunny on Easter. I didn't have time to make much for this celebration, so I went to Lindt and picked up a tasty "placecard" and then made a quick tag---

I had a combination of flowers from Caitlin and Carson for my birthday and then a fresh bouquet of roses from Fresh Market. I just wanted the table to be happy and bright and it was!

FOOD!!!

Appetizers---healthy---well, the fruit and veggies were healthy....not necessarily the dips! BUT THERE WAS HUMMUS---a healthy alternative!

Here is a close up of the appetizers---that fruit dip up above---DIVINE! Recipe will follow in another post! I didn't get a picture of all the food, so I'm just not going to post the rest---but, it was yummy----capped off with a Key Lime Pie from Winston's Grille---one of my favorite restaurants in Raleigh. You can read more about it in this post.

A few things were left at my house for Eve---I have NO idea how this happened...

Joshua got a few different things in his Easter basket--one of them was this basketball hoop and NUMEROUS games of horse have already been played....a fun indoor activity! He's having so much fun with this! (Of course it helps that he's generally playing with me and I'm REALLY AWFUL!)

PEOPLE!!!

Carson has one of Eve's gifts in his pocket---this little bunny was from Hannah. She picked it up on her trip---maybe in India? I'm not sure---it's a quirky little bunny!

I thought this picture was so sweet of them! Eve was getting pretty hungry at this point, so she was getting fussy.

My mom---"Grandy" with Eve---how sweet is this?

The Guy family!

I love this picture! I was just able to catch them trying to settle Eve down--sweet!

Taylor joined us for lunch---YEA!!! She's holding Eve here---her namesake!

I have several posts to type up---we'll see how much I get done in the next few days---tomorrow is yard day---SO. MUCH. TO. DO! We'll see if I get it all done! I hope your weekend is a great one~