What's Up Wednesday {on Thursday}

I meant for this to post yesterday but we got really into watching  The People Vs. OJ Simpson on FX.  Gosh it is so good and so crazy.  It's almost hard to believe all those crazy events happened.  

What we're eating this week……

I've been quite lazy this week with my meal planning.  We've been having some pretty simple dinners this week including, Easter leftovers, Paninis, Fajita Pizza & Breakfast for Dinner.  I'm actually about to sit down and meal plan for next week and I hope to incorporate a loose Whole 30 into the week.  I need to get back to cleaner eating.  I did really good on my Whole 30 and felt great during it but I kinda fell off the wagon afterwards and have been enjoying too many indulgences and I feel pretty crappy again.  

What I'm reminiscing about…..

The great Easter weekend we had with my parents in town. 

What I'm loving……

Spring time in East Texas.  Gosh the azaleas are beautiful here.  And of course I'm loving these sweet boys.  I just love their sweet little relationship.

What we've been up to…..

I got two new pairs of glasses this month and love them!

 We've been enjoying the warmer weather this Spring.

And trying to stay safe during the crazy weather.  

 We visited my parents for part of our Spring Break and went to see Zootopia with them.

 We went to the Zoo!!

 We all filled out our March Madness Brackets and have been watching the tournament.

 Eating way too much Chick-fil-A.  We love that our Chick-fil-A is doing free breakfast every other Wednesday like our old Chick-fil-A did.

 Enjoying lots of Easter activities with MOPS, school, church and home.

We enjoyed another quick visit with Lolly & Pops before Easter.

 We did two Build & Grow clinics this month.

 Trying to keep this crazy kid safe.  Just this month he got a black eye, busted lip and a little gash on his forehead.

 And we finally got to enjoy my parents visiting us for the first time since his stroke last May.

What I'm dreading…..

I've been racking my brain and I really can't think of anything I'm dreading.  I guess cleaning my kitchen floors.  I really do dread doing that because it's so pointless. I sweep and mop the floors and then one meal later they are dirty.  

What I'm working on…..

I'm finally working on decorating our bedroom.  When we moved into our new house, we upgraded our bed to a king.  We kept all our bedroom furniture from our old house except for our queen bed and mattress…….that's now in the guest room.  For the last 9 months we have been sleeping without a headboard or bedding.  I finally made two purchase last month……this headboard and this bedding.  I am loving both of them.  I'm hoping to add a few little decorative touches to the room, add some euro shams and curtains and finally have another room finished.  

What I'm excited about…..

I'm excited for this summer.  I've got Pearson signed up for a swim lessons, VBS, soccer camp & science camp.  Nash will be going to Mother's Day Out one day a week and then we will be filling the rest of our time with lots of pool playdates, trips to the zoo, $$ movie shows and lots more fun! 

What I'm watching/reading…..

For the past two months I have been reading The Armor of God.  It's been such a good Bible Study.  I am finishing up the last week of homework this week.  

I watched The Catch season premiere on Monday night after Dancing With The Stars.  I really liked it. It reminded me of Catch Me If You Can with Leonardo DiCaprio.  I loved that movie so I think I will really enjoy this show.  

What I'm listening to……

Lauren Daigle led worship at our old church a few times and she is just amazing.  Lately we have been listening to a "Lauren Daigle Station" on Pandora.  I am about to buy her CD because all of her songs are so good.  Trust in You has really been speaking to me.  Listen to it…..It's a beautiful song. 

What I'm wearing…..

I love spring, but I feel like it's so hard dress for.  I've been in a t-shirt and leggings funk lately.  But at least I have a cute new shirt to wear…...I've been sporting my new East Texas Moms Blog shirt this week.  I love it!! 

What I'm doing this weekend….

Pearson has his first soccer game of the season this Saturday.  It's been so fun to watch Matt coach the kids.  He has so much patience with them and really does so good with him.  I'm so proud of him for stepping up to coach this season.  I can't wait to watch them both on the field this Saturday.  

Pearson and his little buddy Jackson are the only two that have played soccer before so if they are on the field together they will be a force to be reckoned with.  

It's been fun watching them practice together so it's going to be a blast watching them play together.  

What I'm looking forward to next month…..

We've got a few game nights on our horizon.  I love a good game night.  Our next Girl's Bunco Night is next Tuesday.  We had so much fun last month and I have been looking forward to the next one ever since.  

I am also planning a Game Night social for Sunday School class this month.  We will be playing a super fun game called Mexican Scramble.  We played it twice with our old ABF.  It's going to be a fun night.  I am also hoping to have some friends over one night this month for dinner and a game night.  Can you tell that I love game nights??

Question of the Month is…..
What spring cleaning tips do you have?
I'm probably not the best person to take cleaning tips from because it's really one of my least favorite chores of being a housewife/SAHM.  But this week I am working on cleaning out closets.  I'm trying to sell stuff on the garage sale sites here in Tyler.  If your city has FB garage sale sites, take advantage of them! I have made a lot of money selling old stuff we don't need or want anymore.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

easter 2016

It takes our whole morning for us to get ready for church, so Easter baskets and egg hunts have to wait until after church.  Easter isn't about the eggs anyways!!  It's not about new clothes and matching outfits, but one Sunday a year I do like us all to coordinate for a good Easter picture! 

It only took us like 547 tries to get a few good pictures. 

Most of them were like this!!

My parents were able to join us at our church, Green Acres.  Pastor David preached a great sermon.  Because HE lives…..I don't have to be afraid.  Because HE lives…..I can live forever.  Because HE lives, I know He is in control.  Every year, Easter becomes more and more meaningful to me.  Every year, I am more and more thankful for the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross and that death was not the end.  I am incredibly thankful for the hope we have in Jesus Christ. 

I did all the cooking for our Easter lunch on Saturday and then just cooked it all when we got home from church.  It was a pretty delicious meal if I do say so myself even if there isn't a picture to prove it!

After lunch, I let the boys open their little Easter baskets from me and Matt.  Our Easter baskets are from us because I actually don't even know the story of the Easter Bunny.  They each got a new Bible Story book, a toothbrush, a monster truck and a plate. Nothing big, but they were thrilled over it all.  

Since it was just us and my parents, I made the boys rest before we did our egg hunt.  I knew there was no chance of a nap for Nash if he had all his eggs! He wasn't even walking last Easter so this year was really his first egg hunt.

He was off to a slow start because he wanted to show me every single egg.  "Hey wook, hey wook, Mommy.  It's a egg!"

Every time he saw an egg, he would yell with excitement, "Ohhhh" "I see one" or "Wow!" He was SO excited about every single egg.  It was adorable.

We gave Pearson a map with some clues of where some of the eggs were.  He was on a mission to find all the hard ones.  

He loved a good treasure hunt!

We've alway gone to our family's houses for Easter, but it was really nice to be home this year!  

I really enjoyed the slower pace of this year and the fact that we were home all day (except for church).

They boys couldn't wait to go inside and dig into the baskets and see what all they got!

Nash was so cute opening his eggs, no matter what was inside, he would yell, "Oh wow!" after each egg was opened.  

There were a few that were really hard to opened and his whole body would literally shake as he tried to open them.  It was hilarious.  I wish I would have gotten on video.  

Pearson's favorite eggs were the ones with money in them.  The funny this is that I only put pennies in them.  He was still thrilled to be able to add money to his piggy bank!

I really couldn't have asked for a better weekend with my parents in town.  This was the first time my parents were able to visit us since my Dad's stroke back in May.  Both my Mom and I were pretty nervous at how the weekend would go, but everything went really smooth.

And I'm still finding eggs 3 days later…..

easter traditions

We've had such a great weekend celebrating Easter with my family.  We started some new Easter traditions and continued some old ones!! 

We made resurrection rolls on Saturday morning.  I made them last year but Pearson didn't like them.  I let the boys help me make them this year.  They really enjoyed it.   After I explained that the marshmallows represent Jesus because he was sinless and pure, Pearson said, "Can we eat Jesus now?" Ha!!  

 They ate about 3 Jesus' before we buried him in the tomb.  

 Nash was in charge of rubbing the oils (butter) on Jesus' body and Pearson was in charge of putting the spices on his body (cinnamon & sugar).  We made a mess, but it was to totally worth it!

 I had to help a little bit with the tombs to make sure Jesus' body was nice and secure in them!!

 When we open up our tombs we exclaim, "He's not here, He has RISEN!!!

**I technically should have cooked mine a little bit longer and the marshmallow would have completely disappeared, but the bottoms were getting done so I pulled them out of the oven.   We got the point though.  The big marshmallow was gone, just like Jesus was.  

 The boys both loved the resurrection rolls this year.  We gobbled them all up!!!

 After our crazy morning getting Nash's forehead glued back together, we came home and dyed eggs.  Nash is such a mess these days that we decided to do this while he was napping.  Maybe Nash can join in on this tradition next year.

 This was actually our first year dying eggs.  We had never done it with Pearson, but I needed the eggs for deviled eggs since I was in charge of our big Easter lunch.  

 Pearson loved it and would have died another dozen if I would have let him.  

After the boys rested for a little while, I pulled out our homemade resurrection eggs. My mom has a store-bought set and I have always loved them.  I finally put together my own set after seeing my friends cute homemade set.  You see hers here.  

 We've done these eggs now no less than 10 times and Pearson can tell us all about the Easter story.  

 Easter Sunday always seems so busy so we decided to give their little "Easter Baskets" from Lolly & Pops on Saturday.  Last year Lolly had a fun scavenger hunt for all the cousins so we decided to carry on the tradition and do a fun little hunt instead of just giving them an Easter basket.  Pearson loves maps so we created this little map to give him clues as to wear each gift was.  

 Pearson knew just where to go after looking over his map and Nash just followed along.  

They both thought it was so cool that they had presents in the mailbox.   

 They had four presents outside on the treasure hunt, then we headed inside for a different kind of hunt. 

 Lolly wrote clues telling Pearson where to look for his gifts.  

 We found one in the fridge and another in our cup drawer.  

 Then we found on in our dryer and another in our train table.  

 Finally, after all of our hunting they boys finally got to open all their little gifts.  

 Lolly & Pops gave the boys so many fun little trinkets and toys and some new summer swimsuits.   We are so incredibly thankful that they are here this weekend celebrating Easter with us!!

What fun Easter traditions do you do with your family??