Happy Easter!

Easter in Wisconsin is always tricky weather wise. We may have snow and 30 degree temps or we may have sunshine and 50 degree temps. Grandma Sweeney bought these adorable dresses for the girls and luckily the weather was nice enough for them to wear them.

We celebrated at Grandma & Grandpa Sweeney's house with the whole troop. 12 adults and 10 grandkids. Oh- and Mark & Sara's 2 new kitties. Scout had so much fun chasing them around the house. She actually crawled under tables to get to them.

Bennet and Meghan. The weather was nice enough to have the Annual Easter Egg Hunt outside this year. Bennet opened one of her eggs to find a $1 bill. Her response, "Mom- I have a million dollar bill in my egg" Oh how I wish :)

All 10 kids. Even Duncan, who is close to 20, humored us and hunted for his eggs. Can you tell that Scout is not a happy camper when she doesn't nap?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We're beat.

Gingerbread Bunny Cookies

On Saturday we made Gingerbread Bunny cookie. I saw the recipe for these bunny cookies on Stacy Jullian's blog and knew I wanted to make them with the girls. The recipe was quick and easy. I hope we turn it into an annual tradition.

Can you tell which bunny is Nick's? Yep- the one with ALL the icing. Bennet wanted to put red hots on her bunnies tail but was quick to warn me "Be careful Mom- they're spicy"

I love the movie 'The Sound of Music'. I remember watching it as a kid during the Easter season. I can't help singing along to every song. It was on last night and I fell in love with it all over again. I made the comment to Nick that they only two big name actors in the movie were Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Everyone else was not a big name star. I think that makes it all the easier to love. You aren't focusing on the STARS you're focusing on the story. If they made the film today the 7 VonTrapp children would be played by NickeloDisney kids.

The same thing goes for 'Slumdog Millionaire' which we watched this weekend. It was AMAZING. I loved it. The story was original, refreshing and inspiring. The fact that the actors in the movie were not tabloid/People regulars made it all the easier to get sucked into the film. I'm not making alot of sense here but I hope you know what I mean.

Anyways- before I went on my ramble I was talking about The Sound of Music. Scout wanted to dance with Dad to 'My Favorite Things' and he happily obliged.

Eggstravagant Eggs

I love 2 1/2 day weekends. I think the entire world would benefit from an afternoon off each week. I had Friday afternoon off so I took advantage of some extra time with the girls. Nick was able to get some work meetings in too which was nice.

After a trip to the park we came home to dye Easter Eggs. By the way- I love our double stroller (thanks again to the Gasall's for the awesome find) but pushing nearly 50lbs. of kid weight and the stroller is too much of a workout for this couch potato.

On to the eggs-

Here is the finished product. Of course Nick had to make a fancy striped egg. You know, he does have a Fine Arts degree. :) Thanks to Mom for the cute spring towel.

Friday Fill Ins

1. Anonymous... is for wussies. Own your words. Own your actions.
2.Goonies is a classic. Man I love that movie!
3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, be banished!!
4. Being able to play outside right when I get home from work with Nick and the girls is what I look forward to most about Spring.
5. Who needs therapy when you have laughter and scrapbooking?
6. Black jelly beans MUST go into the Easter Basket!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dyeing eggs with the girls, tomorrow my plans include organizing the kids clothes so I can pass some onto Molly and Sunday, I want to celebrate Easter without having to wear snow boots. Please keep the weather nice!!!

Happy Easter all!!

Basic Grey at Scrap4Life

This month I had the chance to design with the Basic Grey Sugared line at Scrap4Life.


I'll be honest. I am not really a Basic Grey kind of gal (shock and awe!!) I've probably made 5 layouts using BG. But to be honest, I like how these turned out. I may be converted.


This is my mom and me in 1976. The flowers are a combination of chipboard and patterned paper. I handstitched the stems/leaves and around the journaling spot.


JOURNALING: I love this photo of my mom & me. I love how my mom looks. I love her hip flare leg jeans. I love that she has bare feet. I love her feathered hair. I love her scarf around her neck. I love how she loves me. Then & now. April 1976.

Starting this year 3 of my friends and I get together one night/day a month to scrapbook. I don't know why it took us so long to do this but I'm loving it. In Feburary I hosted it at my house. My friend Casie took these photos of Scout. Isn't she cute?

JOURNALING: I was hosting a crop. You woke up and had to be part of the action. Drawing and using stickers- yawning the whole time. Scrap till you drop- or sleep. Feb 2009

Scout at 19 months

Scout is keeping us on our toes. At 19 months she is into everything. She is about 2 inches shorter and 2 lbs lighther than Bennet was at the same age. But when I took this photo last Sunday I realized that she isn't a baby anymore. She's closer to being a 2 year old than a 1 year old.

She has an infectious laugh. It usually resembles a hearty chuckle more than a dainty giggle.

She has started to love books. She'll grab a book and crawl into your lap. She likes to sleep with them too.

She prefers to wear her food in her hair instead of eating it.

She cries every morning when Bennet and I leave for the day. She wants to go too! At 4:30 p.m. she'll go into Nick's office and tug on his leg. She'll lead him to the front closet for her shoes and coat. It's time to get BeBen (Bennet)

She loves her babies. She has 2 little dollies that have become her bestest friends (besides Bennet).

She LOVES to dance. It's hilarious. She has this Joe Cocker thing going on lately. She'll squat down towards the floor and shake her little tush. If you're sitting down she'll come grab your hand and pull you up. Her favorites are American Idol and the MoveItMoveIt song from Madagascar.

And for my mom- she has 7 teeth.

Siblings

I love my sisters and brother. I love that we all get along so well.

They have really been on my mind a lot lately. My sister Katie and brother-in-law Matt just welcomed their first child, Molly Jo, to the family last Wednesday. My sister Megan and brother-in-law Matt just moved from MN to Albuquerque last week. My brother Gregg is, well- I need to call him because I'm not sure what he's doing :)

Anyways- here are a couple of layouts I made for my Book of Me. Both were based off of sketches from Sketchapoolza 3 at Feeling Scrappy. (Sketchapoolza 4 is coming this summer!! Don't miss it!! )

One is a photo from 1983. The other is from 2009.

Journaling: Looking at this photo nearly 26 years later just makes me smile. The clothes, the hairstyled, the memories. It was a good time.

Journaling: Us four are siblings and friends. I that makes us pretty lucky. I love that we're able to see each other often. Elk River, Feb 2009