Easter... finally

So I know I am a few weeks behind, but I thought I would finally post about Easter. Easter weekend we had a good time. I had to work on Saturday morning so Mike and the girls went down to Mike's parents and waited for me to get off work. We ran a few errands and then went on a walk. I was proud of Isabel, minus 1/4 of a mile or so she walked all 4 miles of it. I did get to burn some bonus calories when I gave her the piggy back ride for that 1/4 mile. We came home so we could dye eggs, finish dresses and make our bunny cake. Unfortunately I don't have any pics to show for the dyeing party, Mike and Isabel decided coloring should be (just shy of a ) nudist activity. The bunny cake turned out fairly cute. Mike's mom had made a cake and sent us home with it. She used sweet potatoes instead of applesauce and then used Stevia. Now I am not a huge fan of Stevia, I think it tastes really chemically and leaves a numbing sensation on my tongue, but once I made the cream cheese frosting to go with it and added the coconut it was really good. The cake wasn't overly sweet which was really nice and it was moist enough. All in all a successful cake. Especially once Isabel made a crown of toothpicks for bunny.


The only pic I can show of egg dyeing.

Sunday morning we woke up and Isabel found the items that the Easter bunny left for her and Stella. The bunny didn't get a chance to hide the eggs, so we did that after breakfast. And oh, breakfast! We had crepes with nutella, boysenberries and homemade buttermilk syrup. A.MA.ZING. My crepes were finally thin enough too.. usually they are just slightly thinner pancakes, not paper thin like they should be.


 Breakfast was that good.

We headed to church to be filled with the knowledge of Easter and we were not disappointed. I, as usual when I wear my 5 in platform heels, was asked to help out in nursery. Shockingly, the kids were really calm. My friend Becca, who was in there with me, and I decided all the kids were on their crash after the sugar they all ate that morning. When we came home we made dinner and Izzy's favorite, resurrection rolls. I had never made them before and I wanted to do the cookies but there just wasn't enough time in the day on Saturday. So we did crescent rolls with giant marshmallows inside. I have to say.. they were SO YUMMY! Oh and yes we did talk about what the rolls and marshellows, before and after cooking, stood for.


 The bunny cake.. I guess we took off the crown by this point.

All in all it was a successful day. The girls dresses turned out really cute. Isabel's was shredding more than Stella's and in hind sight I should have looked harder for yellow knit (there are no good shades at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby) or a soft pink.. (again no good shades at either store). So I might be remaking her dress. She did really like it. Mike did get a couple of cute pics with the girls, of course they both were not looking at the same time.. but what else is new.



 I love this picture of Isabel trying to turn Stella to face the camera

I hope everyone else had a great Easter also. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of my resurrected Lord and Savior.  Knowing that I too, with my family, will return to see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  We get to be reunited with our Brooklyn because of Jesus, we can live again.  He Lives.   I am so grateful for Kate and Michele for being awesome friends and examples and for sharing the Gospel with me so I could learn the true reason we celebrate Easter. Also I am so grateful for a couple of awesome Sista' missionaries with Sis. Baker (Bullock) and Sis. Spendlove (Lemos) who taught and explained the Gospel to me. Love all of you wonderful ladies!!

The Devil went down to Georgia

Remember me telling you about the awesome furniture that my Grandma was giving to us?? Well we headed down to Georgia this past week and picked it up. We toyed with leaving on Saturday since one of my best friends was in town for work and her husband wasn't able to come up at the last minute and spend the weekend with us, but with tired and sick kiddos and a husband who had a lot of work to do.. we just left on Sunday. Some great friends let us borrow their truck so we wouldn't have to rent a car and a moving truck and we just got a uhaul trailer to tow back. I must say of the drive, I forgot how beautiful Tennessee can be. We got there just after dinner on Sunday and stayed at my Aunt's house. It was great to see her and spend some time with her. Isabel loves her and both the girls had a blast playing in the loft area of the house. There is a huge playroom... We have some pics on the camera, I'll try and post them tomorrow.. I just remembered they are still on the camera. Monday was moving day. We headed over to Grandma's house and moved a couple of things back to my Aunt's house, picked up the uhaul and Chik-fil-a then back to Gma's house to load up. It all went pretty smoothly thank goodness. We got all but the 'gun' cabinet. It was already at my Aunt's so I wondered if she forgot I was taking it or if she decided she wanted it, either way we didn't have room for it. We did come back with the piano, queen sized bed and mattress for Izzy, a night stand, a bombay dresser/vanity, a 6 foot long dresser, and a ton of stuff my mom inherited. It was a successful day and we ended it by eating at Ruby Tuesdays so I could indulge on their salad bar.
We stayed up really late talking with my Aunt which was so great.

Tuesday we got up and headed to Grandma's apartment to help her organize and clean. We did her craft room and got it all prettied. Then Mike and the kids took Grandma for some ice cream while Aunt B. signed the papers selling the house. The girls all went and helped Grandma pick out some flowers for her back yard at the apt then we headed out to this great Mexican restaurant and had truly some of the best mexican food I've had. After dropping Grandma back off at her house and staying to chat and spend a few more minutes with her we headed back to my Aunt's and off to bed.

My big girl!


How can you not love a giant cheesy grin!!


Isbael with Grandma and Aunt Barbie at dinner

We have really missed out on some great opportunities to spend time with Grandma. Being self employed stinks sometimes, it's hard to get away and just having the one car makes it difficult also. BUT we are trying to make it back down there before Isabel starts school and we are spending Thanksgiving there this year. Thanksgiving should be pretty fun, my sister, bro in law and their new baby will be there, my cousin, her husband and their baby who is the same age as Stella, and possibly my other cousin and his wife (depending on her residency schedule). How fun!!


Grandma and Stella with the little piggies


The girls and their (great)Grandma


We drove back.. ok, Mike drove back on Wednesday and we finally made it after a bajillon stops for bathroom (as much by me as by Izzy) and one stop that also included a Giradelli store for important baking goods.




Isabel loved these blocks from front to back is my bus stop, my house and a ramp to my restaurant that serves Mexican food.


Stella LOVED this slide, she was up and down this slide almost the whole time she was in the play loft


This one is for my sister... she might recognize the agony and screaming coming from this girl... Demon's overtook her body once a day for about 5 minutes.