Easter Eggs & Flowers

Zoe egg #1

Zoe egg #2

Sloanies egg

(can you tell who inspired her little sister?)

A small sneak peek a the newest card. I had some printer issues the other night & because it was out of ink it wouldn't allow me to scan either. Silly right? I don't make this stuff up people. Dean went & bought some ink yesterday & I was able to finish all but the lettering up last night. Hopefully I will be able to share the finished card over the weekend. You can download my other cards for free

::here::

& don't forget to check out the Simply Sweet Marriage website while you are at it. They are offering a 10% discount on your purchase. But hurry! The offer ends today.

Don't forget to check out the other Paint with me entries

::here::

Realization

Her hands look like mine.

I put the girls down for a nap the other day & got a few things finished up before I took a quick snooze. Zoe always takes a nap in our room & Aris has started to also. It's fun for them, like a giant slumber party in our bedroom. As I lay down beside my little Zoe I looked at her sweet sleeping face. I just stared at her for a few moments and watched her breath. I marveled at how quickly she is growing and tried to figure out who she looks like the most. Then I looked at her hand & realized I do the same exact thing with my hand. Her sweet little meaty hands balled into a fist while she sleeps. Oh how I love those little hands. How I love my little girl.

Somebunny Won!

It was me!

How adorable is that bunny? Very! I have been following Swirly Designs Blog for quite awhile now & I adore their innocent & whimsical designs. You can find their blog ::here::

Swirly designs is made up of the husband and wife team Lianne & Paul Stoddard. The couple met while attending art school. Each of their ornaments is sculpted & painted by hand. I love the fact that they are not only talented artists but have two cute little children too. It inspires me to know that not only do they run a successful art business but they are parents as well. It inspires me to keep on working at all the art goals I have.

Thank you so much Lianne & Paul! I can't wait to display your beautiful ornament in our home for many springs to come.

Reading With Grandpa

Is the Best!

Aris just found these board books from Japan that I had bought a while back at a thrift store. Erik made up a story for each of them since none of us can read Japanese. He was so animated and Dean & I just giggled. She never sits and listens to books for very long. I think she just adores her grandpa ;)

We are having a wonderful weekend with family. I am hoping to take a ton of pictures today. Didn't get many yesterday because we looked at houses almost all morning & afternoon. We went out for a yummy lunch at Red Robin & ended the day with a dinner of grilled tri tip, homemade mashed potatoes, oven roasted asparagus, & corn. Finished off the night with a homemade apple pie & some Bryers ice cream. Really and truly it was a yummy day ;)

Why did we look at so many homes? Well, we wanted Cindy & Erik to have a good idea of what there was offered in our area. At the end of the day they felt really good about the home we are hoping to get. We all do. Today we are going to go look at the house one more time. We should know by the end of the week a little more about when & if the home will be ours. I'm still praying that if it's the right home for us all will go through.

Hope you all are having a great & yummy weekend too!

San Diego or A Much Needed Break

Dean worked almost the whole time we were down in San Diego. He still tried to make it home before dinner every night. I love this picture of him & Zoe. She is still such a daddies girl. Can you tell?

Little Miss Merris waiting for the fried chicken to finish cooking. I'm so sad I didn't get more pictures while we were visiting. Cindy & Eric have an amazing group of friends that are more like an extended family. Allen is one of those wonderful friends. He and his sweet wife came over and showed us all how to make fried chicken. I won't be making it very often due to the yummy/unhealthy factor, however it is so nice to finally know how to make it. Boy was it delicious! I adore Allen & his wife. Thanks Allen for sharing your mad kitchen skills!

I had some major food cravings that I needed to pamper (yes we ate a lot of yumminess on this trip) What trip would be complete without a visit to ::here:: Seriously yummy food & a fun atmosphere.

More daddy time

Sloan with Grandma Cindy

These last three photos are of the girls making fruit salad with grandma. Sloan said she wanted to make breakfast for dinner the last night we were there & Cindy gladly went and got all the ingredients from the store. She is so good to my girls. They love there Grandma Cindy sooo much. We all do ;)

Only wish we could have stayed a little longer. We had to cut our trip short so Dean could come home and get back to work here in town. I'm not complaining though. We are grateful he has work & he takes it wherever it presents itself. We have been very blessed. The other thing that made leaving not quite as hard this time is the fact that Deans mom & dad are heading our way tonight for the weekend. I'm so excited! I really miss not having family close by. The girls do too. Cindy & Eric are coming to see the house we put an offer on & to see some of the other properties we have looked at. I'm sure there will be lots of photos taken & yes, more yummy food eaten. What can I say its just that time in my life where I'm allowing my craving to rule ;)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hugs to you all!