What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today I'm Loving...

...that Easter is coming soon!

...that dying Easter eggs is still so fun for me! :) This year I got some great ideas from Pinterest.com about it too (like, using a whisk to dip your eggs).

...that we finally tried "Five Guys." My sister and a few Facebook friends have been raving about it. I gave it an A...not quite a plus, but it was good! :) My dad would love it. They have homemade burgers and fries. The burgers are huge too! I couldn't finish mine...or the fries for the matter. Presentation? They got a D. It is totally a "guy's" restaurant...to be expected with the name.

...that the weather is so wonderful, we are opening the windows in the evening!

...that the weather is so wonderful that Lucy and I played outside last week. Then, we got yelled at for making roads in the yard with her cars...sorry Dad, I mean Heath. I joke about this because I got yelled at as a kid for "tearing up" the yard by my dad. Heath "yelled" at me for the same thing. It was the back yard, inside the privacy fence! Gee whiz...by the way, the roads were kind of already there, we just pushed the grass aside.

(The ghostly orb that you are seeing to the bottom, right is a Squirty tail. The chihuahuas served as modern-day Godzillas for our little town.)

...that I am having more energy these days! I cleaned the house on Sunday! Spring cleaning is beginning! Or, nesting...one of the two.


...that my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are coming over this weekend! I love spending time with family.

...that I can find humor in my impending labor pain (from a BabyCenter.com newsletter):

Labor pain is funny until you actually feel it, again.

...of course my baby Lucy and wonderful husband.

..and my friends, family, readers, and followers.

Happy Wednesday! And, Happy Birthday to one of my bestest friends! :)

Easter 2011

Is it too late to share Easter pictures with everyone? Whoops! I am really bad at getting pictures gathered on time. Sorry! But, at least now you aren't burnt out on Easter posts. Perhaps you will welcome the Easter reminder. :)

Our weekend started with dying eggs - 36 of them. I know; we didn't need that many. But, I wanted to use several decorating kits that I bought. We had the regular kits (which I always double the color tablets, to make the color darker). And, we also had two fun kits:

Glitter kit? Difficult. Cute. Messy. Gets glitter everywhere! Continues to shed glitter days later.

Tie dye? Advanced. Messy. Cute. For older "children."

Here are the results!

Let me mention the following things:

1) Heath did Lucy's egg (top, middle).

2) The vibrant purple egg in the middle, on the far left, was the result of mixing all of the dyes together! :)

3) The pink one, on the bottom, second from the right is a pig...

Finally, I had to show you an up-close view of one of my prides:



What is it?

Anyway, enough showing off

We woke up to our baskets the Easter Bunny brought.

Lucy's, Dad's, Chico and Squirt's, and Mom......wait. Mom's? Apparently we had a biased Easter Bunny this year. He didn't bring Mom anything...

Perhaps next year he'll take it upon himself to bring her something very expensive, like diamonds. :)

Then, we got dressed and visited a lot of family.

finding the basket...

and throwing it in!

 I think she is finally getting the hang of it!



"No - that is a dandelion, honey."

Well, kind of. :)

I hope you had a wonderful Easter too. :)

Lucy's First Egg Hunt

Last Saturday, Lucy had her first Easter Egg Hunt! :)  It was one of the community egg hunts and as I mentioned before, there were some pretty fun prizes.

I didn't get the chance to practice with Lucy at all. In fact, we just play with the plastic eggs at home; so, she didn't quite understand the hiding/looking for them. And, when she got to one and picked it up, she had no desire to look for more. She was happy playing with the first egg.

Oh well...I think she had lots of fun.

When we first got there, we all gathered in the building. All the children were running around,  playing like crazy.  A sweet little girl came up and gave Lucy a ball.

Lucy was in awe of all the children running around. She loves to watch children play. So, she just sat there, like that, until the hunt started.  They separated kids into two groups: 5 years and up and four years and under. Heath and I knew right away that Lucy would be lucky to get any eggs.

She did get some candy. The 'bigger' kids didn't seem to want that; they were too busy looking for eggs.


And, she found TWO eggs! :) 

I know what you all are thinking...I helped her out a lot. Just so you know that I didn't, here are some photos.

I did have to make her put it in the basket, to look for more.

All in all, she found two green eggs! :) Now, she just needs some ham.....haha....lame joke, I know. I sometimes just can't contain the corniness.

The eggs only had jelly beans inside, no big prizes. But, it didn't matter; we enjoyed watching Lucy. It was a great practice run for when the Easter Bunny comes this Sunday. :) I can't wait! We are dying eggs tonight!

HAPPY EASTER

EVERYONE!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Again, I'm linking up with Jamie from this kind of love for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

I'm Loving...

...that American Idol is on tonight. I think I'm borderline obsessed at this point. I love Casey and James!

...the way Lucy puts her sunglasses on. This is how she wears them:

and, at night...no doubt! :)
"I wear my sunglasses at night..."

...that my dad is getting married in Texas soon and we are traveling down for the wedding! :) Vacation! Yay!

...our new playroom! Go here to check out all the pics!

...that this weekend is Easter! I get to see family! And, it is a long weekend! Yippee!

...that we are dying eggs this Friday night! I got the glitter pack - hope it works! I'll let you know.

...my new lunches! I was getting sick of the same old thing (SmartOnes pastas); so, I found some new favorites!



This is really good. I love the asparagus! But, it makes you have garlic breath; so, have the gum or toothbrush on standby.



Can you tell I like garlic?  Beware: as good as these are, they are very strong smelling!! Thank goodness my co-workers don't mind!



These Mini Cheeseburgers were surprisingly good, to me.

...my new 'Lose It' app for my iPhone. You can set a goal of how many pounds you want to lose a week. Then it tells you how many calories to eat per day. It has a search-able food center to log calories. And, it has an awesome log for exercising and how many calories I've burned (and get back! :)).

Check the application out!

...our new red mulch! It has changed the look of our entire yard. Plus, I price matched it at Walmart for only $2.25 a bag! Heck yes! It looks awesome, was a good deal, and I burnt a ton of calories working in the yard.

...MyPartyShirt.com! I heard about this site from Randi at S Club 4. She is even having a give-a-way too! The site has a lot of great items; but, I think I want the one below most.

If you don't understand this, shame on you. It's off of 'Saved by the Bell.'

My sister already got me this shirt below for my birthday, two years ago:

My sister and I LOVED the 'Mighty Ducks!'

Please excuse the big mouth! haha.

Adam Banks was my favorite. I had a crush on him! :)

...my family, friends, readers, commenters, subscribers, and visitors.

...as always, my baby Lucy. :)

What are you loving this Wednesday? Anything that I'm loving too?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am loving...

...that the playroom is almost finished! Heath finished painting everything, hung the ceiling fan, and even put all the vents and outlet covers back! It was pretty impressive.

...Kirstie Alley. She is a wreck on DWTS; but, she is hilarious!

Photo from ABC.com

...my new book frame. My dad had these little five cent books, from when he was little. They were sitting in the bottom of a tote. I asked if I could frame them for Lucy's playroom. He said sure, since they were too fragile to actually let Lucy read or play with. They are 50 years old! I took them to our local framers and this is what they did:

I chose the matte to match the red playroom carpet.
This was the last view before they ordered the frame.

This is a bad picture of the final product, with a hairy, ghostly orb in the left-hand corner. Okay, okay - that's our chihuahua, Squirt, standing in the sun. I'll be sure to show you the frame in the finished playroom.

...that our community is having an Easter Egg Hunt this weekend. And, they have an age group for Lucy! :) I may have to practice picking up eggs with her. haha.

...Lucy is sleeping through the night again. We had a rough patch with her being sick and teething more.

...that I will be getting a new blog design soon! We've been working on something and I just can't wait to have a new, fun, cleaner, crisper, wider look! So, don't be completely shocked if it changes, randomly, one day. (No, the new turquoise header is NOT what I am talking about.)

...thunderstorms! There is a thunderstorm coming through in the next couple of days and I'm excited!

...Easter is almost here! The E.B. got some very special gifts for Lucy; I just know it. I have a feeling that includes green jeggings. :)

...we are watching Hop this weekend. Look for a review on Foo Foo Review next week. I really like James Marsden too. He's pretty easy on the eyes.

...that it's Hump Day! Only two and a half more work days! Is it inappropriate to bring up Hump Day after discussing how cute James Marsden is? I'm just asking...

...my readers, followers, commenters, and email subscribers! I love hearing that people are interested in our stories.

...my family and most of all, my Lucy!

Cabin Fever

I am not one to complain about the cold. I would much rather be cold than hot. It is so much easier to wrap up in a blanket, than it is to shake a heat headache and be all sweaty, without exercising.

I am not one to complain about the snow. I still get snow days, as an adult! It is so beautiful (until it gets all dirty along the side of the roads). And, for the holiday season, it is a must!

However, this year I am kind of getting sick of it - for the first time.....I think ever. I am not even sure why. I thought originally that it must be because we keep getting tastes of good weather and then it's cold again.  No....that isn't right....this is the Midwest; I should be used to that by now! Perhaps it is because I never leave the house. No...that isn't it either; I leave the house every single day and am hardly there sometimes! Hmmm, what is it?

It must be Lucy. I just keep thinking of all the fun things that I want to do with Lucy and you know what? Most of that is not inside the house.  There is only so much you can do in the house before you just want to bust out.

So, I decided to indulge my yearnings for spring, believe the groundhog, and wish for spring to be right around the corner.  Here are ten things that I can't wait to do this spring, in no particular order:

1) Plant flowers
The snow piled up so high on my mums that they died. :( So, I'm going to give winter a glare and a fist shake, tell him that he can't keep me down, and plant some more.  How do you like me now?  Side note: I thought long and hard, way harder than I should have, about if winter was a he or she just now. Mother nature? Jack Frost? Hmmmm....as you can see I settled on Jack. Anyway...

2) Hang up Lucy's Swing

She got a swing for her birthday (thanks Grandma!) and I can't wait to push her in it. She loves the one at daycare; so, I'm excited to spend evenings in the backyard pushing her.

3) Cook-Out

Heath and I enjoy cooking out, even sometimes the healthy stuff!  Yes - there is such thing, like grilled chicken. I'm sure Lucy will enjoy it too.

4) Open-Up the House

I know I just mentioned getting out of the house.  But, sometimes you just have chores to do! So, if I have to be in the house, at least I can open up the window, enjoy the fresh air, and watch the curtains blowing in the breeze.

5) Go for Walks/Runs

As I mentioned yesterday, I am starting to really enjoy running. I am looking forward to running outside several times a week and not depending on mother nature to set my warm or cold schedule.  Also, Lucy got a wagon for her birthday (thanks Abuelo!). We were able to take her out once this year already and she loved it. I can't wait to take her out again. I think we will be making lots of trips around town in it.

6) Spring Clean

I know what you are thinking, "Who wants to clean?" Alright, so it's less about the cleaning and more about the organizing. I thoroughly enjoy organizing things. I'm a freak. I envy those people on HGTV that come into people's homes and organize all of their stuff!  I do not envy, however, the organizers on Hoarders. Yuck.  I am looking forward to 'remodeling' our basement into a playroom, organizing everything, and putting it all back! Yay!  That includes cleaning out the closets and medicine cabinets. :)

7) Go Fly a Kite
No, not get out of town; but, actually fly a kite. Lucy got a kite for her birthday. I used to fly a kite every Easter with my family, when I was little. I am excited to do it again, and especially with Lucy. I imagine she'll be mesmerized.

8) Introduce Lucy to New Animals

Now that Lucy is older, she can appreciate things more. She will enjoy going to my mom's house to see the animals (cows, horses, chickens, cats). My grandparents even have a rabbit on their farm for her to meet. And, of course, she can see that not all dogs (or 'Chicos' as she calls them, because of our chihuahua named Chico) are chihuahuas and rat terriers. There are such things as big 'Chicos' too. Also, before it gets too hot, I want to take her to the zoo. She would just love that.

9) Get Jazzed up about Rain & Tornadoes
I, like many others, am petrified of the horrific capabilities of a tornado. I can't imagine the destruction. And, the only real tornado I've seen was like an EF1, or something pathetic.  So, I really am incapable of imagining it. However, I love a good storm. I've loved thunder, lightning, and rain for as long as I can remember. I think it's calming and I love sleeping while it rains. I also love the adrenaline rush of a good tornadic storm. And, you are right; "tornadic" doesn't sound like a word; but, it is one because the weather people drive me nuts with it! That and football announcers saying 'trickeration'. WTH?   

10) Easter!
This is kind of the kick-off to spring, in like a lion! It will be a lot of fun to dye eggs with Lucy and have her be able to somewhat collect them. Perhaps she will have more fun throwing plastic eggs and eating the real ones! Either way, anytime we get together with family is a good time!

By the way...at work today I saw a high schooler visiting, because of a special event. She must be yearning for spring as much as I!  She had shorts on today - not gym shorts like..."I just got done working out or I'm too cool to wear real pants because I'm so athletic."  They were like kahki Daisy Duke's!  Someone needs to calm down their excitment. It is still 32 degrees out and their is still snow on the ground, honey!

Anyway, happy 'winter to spring transition' everyone! What are you excited to do this spring?