What's Up?

So, I don't know about you, but when my plate is full to overflowing and I have too much to do, I decide to take a vacation! Since I have been posting more regularly, I didn't want you to worry about my M.I.A. status from earlier this week. Joel has some changes coming up at work, and this was his last four day "weekend" for a while, so we decided, *completely* spur-of-the-moment, to take a trip south to Mesa Verde National Park and visit some family in New Mexico!

We planned the entire trip in about an hour, and were packed and ready to go in about three (including doing all the dishes from having company over on Sunday night!). It was a great experience, the kids loved it, and I am so glad that we decided to "seize the day". We left Monday and came home Wednesday, and cell reception was horrible so I was mainly off the grid!

But right now I am up to my eyeballs in the kids' winter clothes from last year, ironing, steaming, hanging and tagging them for the consignment sale that I do twice a year (Just Between Friends) and we still have a few more things to do this weekend, so I will have to save all my fun reminiscing for another day! Hopefully I can get back to "normal"-whatever that is, next week.:)

Easy Easter 2012

 First, let me apologize for the poor photo quality. I have been having problems with my camera, and I am not quite sure how to fix them. If I stage the photo just right, and make sure I have tons of natural light, then I can usually get a decent photo. However, the nature of children is to be ever moving and never quite where you want them to be, so many of my pics lately have been less than perfect. One day, a DSLR. Today, problematic point and shoot....

Anyway, Easter fell right in the middle of some insane business in our house. It seems like I am always saying how busy we are, but truly this was out of the ordinary. I spent Friday finishing up JBF stuff (consignment sale) and then we babysit for some friends so they could go out for a birthday. Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt at church, which I got zero pictures of because I was manning the VBS registration table. Which, I also had to make clipboards for, did that on Friday too. Also on Saturday, Sarah and I were decorating for a baby shower. I spent Thursday, Friday and some of Saturday afternoon working on that. I am hoping to post photos soon, because I forgot my camera, but *thankfully* I had my snazzy new IPhone. I hope I got some decent shots! Anyone know how to do that?

So, all that said, (and by the way, Tuesday of that next week was Carson's birthday AND JBF drop-off, so still the craziness was not over) so I really wanted a low-key day. And I got one. It was wonderful. Joel picked up donut holes for the kids, and we surprised them with the basket above while they were still in bed.

 I filled large eggs with two donut holes each. I call those preschool eggs because they are just perfect for toddlers. I like to keep them on hand, in case I have something bigger that I want to put in an egg. In this case, it was breakfast!

 They loved it! They both love donuts, but they had never had donut holes before. Besides, having breakfast in bed is always a treat.

 I may have snuck a couple of chocolate rabbits in there, too. Jocelyn always loves candy, but especially at breakfast time!

 Of course, church was on the agenda. I was running the VBS table again, so we had to be there early. This photo so reminded me of "American Gothic". Jocelyn is definitely not an early bird, and the sun shining in her eyes wasn't helping!

 I did get this adorable photo of my two best guys. Carson has black dress shoes, but I couldn't resist pairing his Converse with his outfit. He is such a little hipster!

 After church we skipped the traditional ham dinner in favor of Qdoba. I was pretty much tapped out from all the busyness so I couldn't even think to plan something in advance. I am so blessed to have such a great family that doesn't care about those things. It also gave us time to just relax together. And stock Easter baskets.

 The baskets are always a hit, but "Baby Chewie" was Carson's favorite. When I saw the tiny stuffed Chewbacca at Target I couldn't pass it up. And I am glad I didn't!

 I won't lie. It pained me to let them hunt eggs looking like this. The perfectionist in me wanted to send them to change clothes-preferable something spring colored with a collared shirt for Carson and something not so short for Josie. But I am trying to battle that OCD so I let them hunt eggs looking like homeless children. In mini skirts and pajamas. Ugh. Jocelyn is checking to see how many eggs Carson has found.

 They were as adorable as ever. We mixed all their eggs together (Usually I separate them into sections, so they each get their own dozen eggs) and it actually made it really fun. They didn't even fight over who got the most eggs. I love those kids.

 The surprise hit of the whole day was the glow in the dark egg hunt. I had briefly glimpsed a photo on Pinterest of a glowing egg. I assumed (correctly, I found out later) that it was activated glow sticks in eggs. I took glow bracelets from the Dollar Store and shoved them in light colored eggs.

 They loved hunting eggs in the dark! I didn't even put any candy in them, just the bracelets. We didn't give them flashlights, so the eggs were actually pretty hard to find, but in a good way.

 My camera doesn't like the dark. I have no idea why it looks like it is snowing in these photos. Carson's outfit just keeps getting better doesn't it? Loving the flip flops. Oh well. Anyway, the glow in the dark egg hunt wrapped up our night. It was a really nice day.

One last photo. Jocelyn's egg hunting basket (I don't let them drag their Longabergers around the yard-those are keepsakes!) got broken after the church egg hunt. I was a little frustrated with her. She proceeded to make her own basket! It was so cute. She decorated a shoebox all on her own and tied on some ribbon she found. She was so proud. I loved it. She is such a little artist! Glad to see that creativity isn't necessarily genetic...

Status Update

So, it kind of seems like no one has really been blogging but me lately, but that's okay.This is usually a busy time of year, and it hasn't been any different for us. What have we been up to?

Well:
-We started homeschooling about a month ago. I thought it would just be Josie (according to the school system she should have to wait to go to kindergarten until next year, but the beauty of homeschooling is that we are not on their timetable!) but Carson has really wanted to do "school" too. He sits at the table with us every single day and does his "work". Sometimes that is coloring, or "writing", or sticking stickers, or playing with playdough but he always listens while we do science and Bible. He may be ready for kindergarten next year! It is going really well. We spend about an 1 and 1/2 hours-2 hours working each day. I feel like that is plenty of time, if she were in part day kindergarten she would only go for about 3 hours. And trust me, we don't waste time with busy work!

-Schooling has given me a little bit more of a routine. I have started getting up earlier than the kids and that is working really well. I started trying to do that about 3-4 months ago and it is really getting a lot better. I get up, have my quiet time, eat breakfast, work out and waste time on the internet. It is nice to be able to set up my day before little feet hit the floor. As soon as either of my children are out of bed they are looking for food. It is great to not have to supervise breakfast while trying to do all that other stuff. Then we clean and then school is from about 10 am until lunch time. Jocelyn is a better student in the morning, otherwise I probably would have tried to do it during Carson's nap. However, like I said before, he is actually loving it. So all is well that ends well!

-I have been trying my hand at some new recipes. I made my own chocolate syrup. That was a lot of fun! I will definitely be doing that again. I had used up all my Hershey's and was craving some ice cream when I ran across this recipe. I actually found another one that I am going to try and see if I like it any better. I also made my own strawberry jam! That sort of seems like something everyone tries at one time or another, so I figured I may as well. At first I thought it wouldn't set, but after refrigerating it, it is great. The kids are loving it on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Makes me feel very domestic! I also made this pecan caramel cheesecake. Joel wanted me to try the chocolate version,so I did, but personally I think I would have preferred regular cheesecake on the top. I also made quiche for the first time and it was delicious! We added everything but the kitchen sink: spinach, tomatoes, bacon, onions, cheese and mushrooms. I have been trying different banana recipes, too. My favorite so far is one called "Monkey Squares". But there is one little problem. The first time I made it I mistakenly added too much butter. I added extra flour to try to help and it turned out...delicious! I made it again yesterday and couldn't remember how much flour I added. It wasn't as good. Duplicating a mistake is hard work! I will have to figure it out and then I will post that recipe and the quiche one.

- In other non-food related news, I have been working at setting up the moms' Bible study again at our church. I am in charge of the actual study, so I have been researching books for that. I am really excited. This will be my first attempt at teaching "big" people! I have spent many years working with children and even teenagers, but this will be my first opportunity to teach my peers. It makes me feel nervous, but I really felt like this is where the Lord wanted me. Stay tuned to find out what study we picked-hopefully we will be starting in the next couple of weeks.

-I am prepping for the JBF sale that is next week. This will be the fifth time that I have participated and I get a little more savvy each time. I actually have over 100 items already tagged and I should be totally finished before the end of this week. That is definitely an improvement over the first time when I was still marking things the day of. I thought I would have fewer things this time but I gathered up some more stuff today and I think I will be at my usual 150 items. I am most looking forward to getting my check! It seems easier to get rid of my kids' things the older they get. Although I am still a little teary eyed over parting with some of their costumes...

So, that is a little of what has been going on around here. As the year winds down I am sure our schedule will only continue to get fuller. How about you? Lots of stuff going on?