Lost

I have lost my camera we are 10 days without and I myself am lost!  What do I do?  I want a fancy new Canon or Nikon and yet can'treally spend $800 on one...we purchased a Canon Sure Shot last Summer, it was $300 and has been a great camera.  Each day goes bay and I "grieve" all the pictures I am missing...all 3 kiddos snuggling in bed yesterday, the kids breaking in the new sandbox, a reunion with lots of old friends on Saturday, a birthday party with a HUGE loader - Christian was mesmerizied!....my LizzyAnne trunk show today - adorable dresses, friends and cupckaes...so many happy memories and events and nothing to record them with...what do I do?  help!!!

Amanda meets Amanda

One of the highlights of our trip to North Carolina was getting to meet a "bloggy" friend...(side note - why do we call it bloggy?)  anyhoo, we have struck -up an online friendship and I found out she was from Indy (a few hours from me) but calls Charlotte (where we were headed) home now...a small world!) anyway, we thought it would be fun to get together!  We met at a cute bakery for cupcakes and to chat...Amanda (we even have the same name!)  was so sweet and she looks like Gwyenth Paltrow!  Her little guy Ryan and her baby girl Peyton were adorable too!  Charlotte and Ryan had fun  running round through the bakery looking at the AMAZING cakes (above)! and Charlotte struck-up her own little friendship with Peyton, oh how she adores babies!  I so enjoyed getting to meet Amanda in person and we had so much to talk about... - the Internet is a crazy thing and has brought so many people together - I love it!  Amanda, can't wait to see you again in Indy this Summer!

BBQ...

North Carolina is known for their BBQ and their seafood  - two of my faves!

(and for any pork haters - sorry for the pic!!!)  And I am pretty sure I ate my weight in both while visiting...I had a couple good sandwhiches but we ended-up eating at this kind of hole-in-the wall place called Kyle Fletcher's (3 times in 6 days)...it was fantatstic!  Your choice of sauce (in squeeze bottles) and homeade onion rings and the best sweet tea!  Their ice is scopped out of a big Igloo cooler!  And considering you can get out of there for under $6.00 pp makes it taste even better!

 Christian was not a fan and much preferred sitting outside on the bench watching the planes, trains and automobiles...(zoom by!) - Stinker in resturants lately, ugh!

Making the pilgrimage inside Fletcher's

It was so fun to look around inside...I think every square inch (ceiling included) was covered in sports memoribilia...mostly Tarheels (or Tarholes as Brayn calls them, ha!)...the kids loved to see it all!

So, I am having some BBQ withdrawl now...until next time!

"Sale" Boat

So excited!  I just scored this PBK sandbox for $60 from a friend (anything to keep my kids off ALL the neighbor's trampolines!  ha, ha!) ...she just re-stained it and takes immaculate care of her twins' things...this will be a great addition to our yard this Summer...the kids will be so excited, I plan to get it tonight after bedtime and have it filled with sand ...they will wake-up tomorrow to a great day of play!

Project Life

I interupt my now 1 week old recap of our Springbreak trip to share my excitement over this:  http://www.beckyhiggins.com/projectlife/...I LOVE to scrapbook...I have been doing "taditional" scrapbooking over more than 10 years!  But traditional scrapbooking has become harder and harder for me simply because I do not have the time I would like to devote to it with 3 kids...and when I do, I can find a million things that I should be doing instead.  So, how happy was I to learn about Project Life.  Bad news is that it is sold out for now but more should be avilable soon...and I cannot believe how many materials you get for the $$$, a great value.  I like too how it is fresh and modern looking.  I plan to get the kit as soon as I can and use it for my kids/family books rather than for a "picture a day".  This seems very doable and manageable to me but still more exciting that plain old pics in albums with no "bling"!  I also plan this year to have my blog printed into a book, I am excited about that !  Do you scrapbook?  How do you store your pics and tell your story?

Schiele Museum (Day4)

After the Easter excitement had worn off we headed to the Schiele Museum - (like my nephew's wrestling garb...he is very into wrestling - too funny!)

The kids enjoyed lots of stuffed (and live) animals, fish, fossils, bones, etc...we hiked the nature trail, played by the creek, visited with some chickens, a sheep and pig in their pioneer-like farm.  The highlight was the Indian tepee they could play inside.

Then it was home for lunch and an afternoon of water fun...sprinklers, water guns, popsicles and bubbles!

Easter Sunday (day 3)

Easter morning...my beautiful babies...proof of an almighty Lord who blessed me beyond measure with motherhood!

We awoke to birdies outside the window and bulging Easter baskets (Christian could not scoot down the stairs fast enough!)...filled with bubbles and chocolate bunnies, special books, boys' toys and lots of girlie, frilly goodies (even a raincoat and boots for Grace Elizabeth ((her AG dollie))...

After baskets and homeade waffles (yummy!) we were off to Nana and Poppy's church - the church Bryan grew-up in!  It was fun to see old friends and meet their kids ... After church we were off to brunch with the Easter bunny, delicious food and an egg hunt across the golf course.  We had a wonderful day! 

Springbreak...Day #2

After arriving in NC on Good Friday (and sleeping the better part of the day!) , we started the Easter weekend festivities with a Saturday Easter Egg hunt on the beautiful lawn of a historic home in the small town that my brother and sister in law live in...after the hunt, bounce house fun and cookies, we went to lunch - where I had one of the best BBQ sandwhiches in a loooongggg time - yum!  For me, travel is alot about the food and I could not wait to get to BBQ country!  (thats a post in and of itself)

Then it was back home for a big family dinner and some time with our new nephew Cooper...he is precious and just the best baby!  I spent lots of time snuggling him, and I came to the conclusion that I think I will always want a newborn baby!  If money and age were no issue I would have 10 more!  Ha...I just love babies, love being a Mom and love being pregnant!

Baby Cooper

Ready to hunt...my sweet nephew Jackson

A little basket I made for Cooper's 1st Easter...

It was a great way to start our Springbreak...can't wait to share some other highlights from the very busy week!

Home...

We are back!  North Carolina was warm and sunny and beautifully in bloom - I have some real fun things to share and blog about...right now we are enjoying our last lazy day together as a family...will post again soon.  Hope you all had a wonderful week and beautiful Easter!

(Photo from a little loveliness...)

Easy Easter!

I wanted to leave you with a few quick and easy Easter goodies you can do this weekend...

This is a favorite...I made a bunch of these last night...I cut pink squares from felt and then glued (although they are sticky on the back) bunnies, birds and flowers to the felt.  I then glued the felt to an alligator clip (found at Michaels).  The little felt animals are from the Martha Stewart line of scrapbooking supplies at Michael's...perfect for Easter baskets!

Class treats!  These would be great for the kids Easter table Sunday...Rice Krispie treat "nests" (made with the Pampered Chef mini tart pan) resting on a bed of green coconut "grass" , filled with small jelly beans and lots of blue "birds" (Peeps!) - the kids loved these and they are so simple and bite-sized which is always good!

More class treats....theseare just embellished cupcakes that I made...frosted in white with a bed of green "grass" (coconut - but you could do green sprinkles too!) and then topped with a small dallop of froating and a big blue bird! ...adorable and very easy, the kids loved helping with these!

So, again, have a Happy Easter!