little bunny foo foo & fabulous 50.

i had every intention to take my kids easter pictures, but that hasn't happened. instead i took a picture of emily's dirty chucks... i will get them done before easter. maybe. we have been very busy this past week.

 we drove to dawsonville for a visit with the 'padad' friday night. dawsonville has a set of premium outlets. since we literally drive right by them, we had to stop. we made a quick visit to coach, kirklands, the play area, the children's place, and pottery barn. nothing purchased is conversation material . but the drive home, it's worth talking about. it was raining so. hard.  it was pretty scary. emily sang "the itsy bitsy spider" all the way to help comfort me, i assume. she is such a helper. 

saturday was way different than i planned. that happens a lot around here. steven was stranded in virginia. apparently that too happens. anyway i am more than thankful for katie.[check her out] she met us in town so our kids could enjoy some eggstravgansa parade action together. she also brought buckets for the candy. :)

the wind was horrible.

sorry for the poor picture quality. i forgot my camera at home so the iphone had to do.

after the parade we:

 ate at the kingdom [burger king] with our buddies, the pruitts.

we hit a yard sale.

aunt caroline cut my hair.

we visited the local antique mall. [can i just say i wanted 80% of their inventory?]

then we headed home to get ready for a birthday party to honor one of our favorite family members.

little did i know that the decals i had ordered to finish emily & coleman's easter buckets would be waiting for me [in the mail] when i arrived home. so i quickly assembled those...

and after a quick wash and clothes changing we headed to tammy's 50th birthday!

the party was awesome. the food. the cake. the presents. the company. everything. awesome. heather did a wonderful job.

 you couldn't tell by the way she acts but "tam" is actually emily and coleman's great aunt. she treats them more like grand kids. she loves them with her whole heart. and my kids love her with their whole heart. if i could be as:

faithful

loyal

beautiful

tasteful

loving

caring

kind

accepting &

obedient to god

as tam  is i would be on the right track. [and that's just to name a few qualities i love about this woman]

to say the least she has lead a beautiful 50 years and we look forward to spending another 50 with her!

okay maybe i'll see you soon with some easter pictures. maybe not. who knows.

kitchens...i love 'em

it may be that i spend 90% of my awake life in here, but i love kitchens.

my kitchen is open.

the cabinets are solid oak.

i constantly reoraginzing.

i love cooking in my kitchen.

it's easy to clean up.

we eat breakfast in our kitchen.

we eat lunch in our kitchen.

we eat supper in our kitchen. 

i'm going to reorganize it very. soon.

we have too much, that we actually use, in it.

i like my microwave but it's constantly blowing light bulbs.

the window is my favorite place to stand.

i want a chalk board in my kitchen.

i like my "locker room d"

i love these kitchens, colors, live plants, organization, back splashes, plates on the walls, chalk boards, porcelain bowls & pitchers, chandeliers, baskets, hanging pots, the couter tops, and well just about everything else. ok, i'm going to call steven to see if i can just remodel.....ha!

*pictures from: http://mysweetsavannah.blogspot.com/2009/04/get-crazy-with-chalkboard-paint.html, http://beprettythinkpretty.blogspot.com/2010/09/there-are-so-many-things-i-could-blog.html, http://www.decorpad.com/search.htm?searchType=photos&q=Pottery%20Barn%20Rustic%20Glass%20Pendant, http://www.decorpad.com/search.htm?searchType=photos&q=Pottery%20Barn%20Rustic%20Glass%20Pendant, http://02eb09c.netsolhost.com/WordPress/?tag=white-kitchens, http://www.countertops101.com/, http://contentinacottage.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html, http://modern-decors.com/category/furniture-design/page/5/

a little.

 what we have been doing?

a little planting. a little painting. a little sweating. a little shopping. a little birthday partying. a little happy bathing. a little growing up. and a little walking. a little talking. a little napping. a little p.j. wearing. a little eating. a little cleaning. a little lawn mowing. a little reading. a little bubble blowing. a little sharing. a little organizing. a lot of playing. and a lot of loving.

we've been very busy as you can see. we love this time of year. the weather is just right for all of the above!

in big news: coleman is walking. he only takes about 4 -5 steps but progress is progress.we also moved him to a big boy seat, he l.o.v.e.s. it! emily and i also started reading the book above, so far we love it! we read one story a night and then pray together. that's about all......  i should be back soon with some beautiful easter pictures. i can't wait.

here comes petter cotton tail.

just wait.. every post about easter will have an easter song as the title! :)

easter is one of my favorite holidays for several reasons:

 1. my sweet jesus arose from the dead. how awesome. can you imagine being there. going to the grave. the stone rolled away. i bet it was amazing. i love that my savior is a promise keeper. that he has mighty powers. that he above all is the beginning and end. it's overwhelming the love he has for us. for me.

2. new outfits. need i say more? ha!
3. pedicures

4. egg hunts... last year we took part in about 5.

5. parades

6. it means spring is here!

7. and all the other fun festivities that are a part of this very fun holiday.

we began celebrating this weekend by going to see 'hop'. we only took e and went with another couple and their very cute little boy. [coleman had a very fun, 3 hour visit with his g'parents.]  we went to habersham hills cinema. we love that theatre. the easter bunny was there taking free photos with children. did i mention i love that theatre.

we finished the night with coleman, bubbles, hot dogs, banana pudding, playtime, laughs, and drinking sweet tea. i can't wait for easter egg hunts, easter clothes, and lots more.  

if i had known then, what i know now...

when we built our house in 2005.

 it was a quick decion.

 we were scared.

we were on a very. very. very. tight budget.

we were so young.

did i mention we were scared.

we had no idea what we were doing.

we did a lot of work ourselves. 

we made some mistakes.

okay. we made a ton of mistakes.

but, if i had known then, what i know now...
and had a bigger budget...

i would have white cabinets, with black granite counter tops. a huge undermounted sink. a bigger window. and a backsplash made of rock. that goes. all. the. way. up. the. wall.

i would have this very shower in my bathroom.
minus the fancy body sprayers. i'm a pretty simple girl and that is just too much. but i'm sure that i could handle that very awesome rain shower head, and all that beautiful marble. i love it.

we would have hardy plank siding. green to be exact. or maybe a pretty mustard. need i say more? i just drool looking at this beautiful house.

with all that said...

  

i  do love my living room. especially since we recently added crown molding and chair rail. we also rocked our fireplace. well, todd rocked our fireplace. it's awesome. he's awesome.
 todd also built our house. we couldn't have done it without him.
i know i would have lost more than my mind without his guidance.

i should also mention our incredible laundry room. it's so spacious. it has a pantry and an office area and i love it.

we decided to go with laminate flooring. at the time it was perfet for our extremely tight budget and way better than carpet. i'm so glad we didn't go with carpet. i'm equally glad we did go with the laminate. see, we have 2+ small children running around, dragging things, and dropping things. one day after coleman turns 3 we will get 'real' hardwood floors. but as i look at all the scratches and gaps on our laminate i'm so glad it's 'fake' hardwood.

i don't want to be misunderstood. i love my house. i'm proud that my husband provides for us and has for the past 6 years. i thank god daily that he has allowed us keep all we have. along with all that he has given us. given the current economy i realize many would be more than happy to have laminate floors, plain oak cabinets, or even less than we have. but, i can dream right? and i can defineltly say, "if i had known then, what i know now...."

some pictures from: www.alltexexteriors.com, www.sandiegotiling.com, www.decorpad.com

our favorite meal and other happenings.

we've had an unusually but welcomed busy week. you can read about tuesday here. wednesday after mmo we went to monkey joes. the local jump house palooza. we went with 3 other car loads of friends. we ate a picnic in the car on the way there and it was 1/2 price wednesday. winning. can i just say, we had the best. time. ever. and for good measure, after monkey joes we went by wal-mart for some cotton candy. thursday seemed to be back to normal as was today. i actually cleaned house and washed and folded 2 loads of laundry. so maybe that doesn't seem busy, but we since our weekly schedule includes: mmo, wal-mart, the gas station, the park, papa's pizza [on rainy mmo days], and the post office. it's been an exciting week.ha! anyway...

i wanted to share our favorite meal. since i only get to cook for steve 2 times a week, i thought tonight would be a good night for our favorite. it's very simple and very cheap.

 

okay so this is how i do it:

buy the fajita mix at wal-mart.

in a bowl combine: cut up chicken, shrimp, mix, water, and oil.

cut up an onion add butter and saute.

prepare all the extras.

remove onions from wok.

drain chicken and shrimp then add to wok.

cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until chicken has cooked fully.

add onions and lower heat to low.

serve when ready.

welp. that's it. i usually get all my tomatoes, lettuce, tortilla, ect. ready while the onion cooks. it usually only takes 15 minutes from start to finish. which is my favorite. emily loves shrimp and cheese. coleman just likes cheese. and well steve, he loves it all.

with all this excitement i'm pooped so i'm headed to bed...we have another busy day tomorrow. sleeping late, a movie, and cook out with friends. i'm sure i'll have plenty to share next week.