Christmas Fun Begins

Our season began a little early this year, which suits me just fine.

We always take the grands to a Christmas play.  This year The Grinch was playing the weekend before Thanksgiving and so Bob and I bravely took the oldest 4 to the theatre.

The weather was very dicey that day, and we kept checking the radar to see if the dreaded ice was coming.  Our temperature hovered a few degrees above freezing so their moms let us take them.

{No way we would make that decision!  We always let the parents decide:-) }

And we were happy that it did not get icey and we were able to get there and back easily.  Or as easily as you can with 4 little ones.

The cold did prevent me from getting a good shot of the kids outside the theatre.  By the time we walked there we were all just a bit frozen so we just went into our seats.

You are not allowed to photograph during the show so I was only able to get this shot.

The show was adorable and the sets and costumes were so Dr. Seussish ~ we all loved it.

While we waited for the show to start I tried to get a few shots of the kids. 

This is what you get ~ 3 wiggly boys and 1 quiet girl:-)

Before we went to the show we had a few grinchy treats.

Ben and Elizabeth helped me make green chocolate chip cookies.  YUM

No one quite knew what our fruit was supposed to be ~ can't you tell it's the Grinch with a Santa hat?!

I served their little grinchy snack on these little snack sets I got at GW.  You see them every where at antique malls for about 4 or 5 dollars each, so when I saw a set of 7 for only $7 I had to buy them.

The cups were rimmed in green sugar.

Then for our grinch punch I used this green pop and ice cream.

It doesn't sound very appetizing to me but my gang thought it was delicious!

It's perfect isn't it?

So now with our Thanksgiving feast over, and our first holiday event under our belt we are ready to celebrate in earnest.

Tomorrow the goal is to finish decorating the trees.  Wish me luck!

Easter Blessings

To kick off the Easter weekend, Bob and I took the 4 grands to see the stage production of Peter Pan.  The kids dressed up in their Easter finery and were very well behaved during the show.

On the 9th floor of the parking garage ~ this view was a big hit.

We met their moms and had dinner out at a favorite hamburger place.  Just 2 doors down is a cute little cupcake place where we finished off our fun day out.

The Easter baskets are ready to hide.

Jackson found Claire's.  I was so happy that the place I got the other 4 kids baskets still has the same style and my friend in Kansas was able to order one for me.

The pictures are a little out of order ~

after church at our house.

After church ~

at church.

Whoops ~ back at our house:-)

Jessica's family

Laura's family

One thing that is always in the baskets is silly string.  We have a friendly war after lunch ~

There were also a dozen confetti filled eggs for each person ~

the aftermath...

It was a beautiful day celebrating with my family.

We were so thankful that the day was beautiful and that everyone was healthy.

I hope that you had a wonderful Easter too!

My Pots of Gold

I have been gone from home quite a bit lately, attending to details of my parents move.

I have missed my grands!

So after flying home yesterday, a few quick texts later we had arranged lunch at Grandma's today.

We celebrated the green a little early.

The table could not be simpler.

{I notice the tag on the beanie ~ cut it off already!}

Our menu was the yummy shamrock cheese ravioli from Costco.  Sorry no pic, but it is cute and yummy.  We also had green grapes and some Lucky Charms as a starter:-)

These rainbow drinks were so fun ~ the kids loved them.

All I did was cut up popsicles and layer them in the glass.

They are frosty as I had done them in advance but if you look at the pics of the kids toasting, you will see how bright and colorful the drinks were.

The layers stayed together and the colors didn't get all muddy.

After lunch they followed the clues left by Lucky the Leprechaun to find the Pot O' Gold.

Oh boy, look at the loot:-)

After all of that excitement the kids headed outside.

It was nearly 90 today and they had fun in the yard.  Elizabeth took down the Christmas decor in the playhouse and gave it a little spring makeover.

Just in time too, as next week is Palm Sunday.  I absolutely can not believe it is here so quickly.

I have so much I want to do before then.

But I was delighted today to spend some time with these sweet faces.

They are growing up so fast!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sharing with Richella's Grace at Home Party.

Sweets for the Sweet

Happy Valentine's Day

I found this cute little heart shaped dish while out thrifting the other day.  I love the little heart border.

and I love the dark chocolates that it holds:-)

We had the family over for pizza after church on Sunday to celebrate Valentines' Day.  Since we just returned from WDW we are a little Mickey crazy so I thought this trio of boxes from Target was cute for a simple centerpiece.

Grandchildren's places.

The grandchildren have a heart on their plate because we always read this book at Valentine time and always have a chocolate heart in our hand.  Lily looks and looks for a place to hide her chocolate and at the end unwraps it and pops it in her mouth.  We wait to unwrap ours till that part in the story.  The 3 older kids remember doing this every year and it was fun to watch Jackson this year.  He is only 3 so he probably wasn't allowed to pop a whole chocolate in his mouth last year ~ but he loved it this year.

You know, that's just a little silly thing to do, but I am convinced that little moments like these become memories, and I hope that when my grands are big, those little red hearts will hold a sweet memory.

Sweet treats.

{we do use silverware and glasses, this was obviously a table in progress:-) }

I hope your day is full of love and sweet treats!

Sharing at Richella's Grace at Home party.