Happy Easter!

I'm linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}. And since there is a wholelotta {pretty, happy, funny, real} going on around here, I'll let you choose what is which.

So, remember this gem?

a.k.a. my issues with committing to a paint color

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I finally committed to a color. Easter was our goal (which we thought we'd meet easily...ha...haha) because we were hosting family from both sides for the weekend and Easter lunch. We managed to get the trim and two walls painted. At least, the walls that did get painted were the ones that had the paint samples on them. They were starting to make us twitch. Of course, now that they're gone, I'm starting to lose motivation to finish the other two walls.

Ah :) no more paint swatches :)

I think that I've mentioned that we've started milling our own wheat? Well, I tried using our wheat for my Easter cake, which calls for AP flour and I didn't do any research, yadayadayada and....

almost completely hollow but tasted good

I was pretty determined to make the cake since it's a family recipe, and I don't have many of those, and I knew my family would love it (which they did), so I hacked around some forums for about 10 minutes (which I should have done anyway), and after braving a three-and-a-half-our-priest-skimps-on-nothing (including using full-sized drink pitchers for baptisms)-vigil-mass with our two year old and getting to bed around 1 am, I got up early and made cake #2.

Ah, much better. 

We had a blast with all the family, ate our traditional lamb, risotto, homemade bread, salad, etc meal (my husband is a beast in the kitchen; I did the cake), and then enjoyed watching the kiddos hunt for eggs.

hunting for eggs

My niece and her Easter stash

Grandma hid them well in the bushes

Mommy getting in on the action

My nephew and his eggs

hustling to find more eggs

adorable

Cousins 6yrs, 3 1/2 yrs, and 2 1/2 yrs.

Cousins with babies at 37, 22, and 17 weeks gestation

Grandparent and Great Grandparent love

After all of the egg hunting and the food eating we just enjoyed hanging out together. So what do you get when you cross one entertaining cousin with a deliriously silly cousin?

We got to enjoy some low key time with my sister's family after everyone else left. The kids had a blast playing in the yard (watched by us through the window). Before we realized what they were doing, the cousins had discovered a fun way to go down a small hill in our yard.

We hope your Easter was as wonderful and joyful as ours! Happy Easter from my family to yours!

Family Day of Hiking and Sushi

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for their {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} link-up today. Stop by and tell them hello :)

The Hubs surprised us by taking a day off from work last week just to have fun! And fun for us usually involves a hiking trail. We have a North Georgia trail guide book that we sometimes use and we never quite know what we're getting ourselves into. This trail was at the end of a long drive (approx 1.5 hrs), a very short hike (0.2 miles), and had a beautiful waterfall. It's called Minihaha Falls. The entrance to the trail is on the side of the road after driving through several miles of a community of lake houses (a windy road that almost did me in), and if you blinked you might have missed it. See Exhibit A.

{real}

Exhibit A - this was it for trail markings

The stairs are across the road from a "parking area", or a spot to pull off the road. The path was narrow with a pretty steep drop off, but Little Man handled it well. If you have a child who has no sense of boundaries/edges and does not stay with you well, this is not the trail for you. There were several tree roots sticking out of the ground which Little Man was timid about stepping over so he pretty much held my hand the whole time, which made me less nervous. The hike was pretty steep but of course short, and I was kind of bummed when it was over, until I saw the waterfall.

Mommy and Matthan at Minihaha Falls

I could have stayed there all day long. We stayed there for a long while. Little Man sat on the rock with me for a bit, ate some snacks, and then explored the area while Daddy stayed glued to his side (you know, rushing water and all that). He had been timid about walking around but as soon as I gave him my walking sticks he had no problem exploring the small area around the falls. See the video below for Little Man in action.

{funny}

Little Man with hiking sticks

{happy}

Family selfie in front of the falls

We have been to a couple waterfalls where Little Man could play in the water, but not only was this water very cold, it was moving really fast. He so desperately wanted to go in, so Daddy kept a good grip on him. It was a colder day than Tim had anticipated, so you'll have to excuse what he called the "unabomber look".

Splashing Daddy

{pretty}

Minihaha Falls

After eating lunch in Clayton, we stopped at a farm that I had seen advertised on billboards during our drive. It's still clearly the off season for them because there was only a couple people around. It ended up being a total tourist trap, but we enjoyed seeing the animals nonetheless. 

After a quick nap, we ended the day with sushi and ice-cream. It was a wonderful family day, hopefully to be repeated sooner rather than later.

Big Announcement and The Gory Details

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real and This Ain't The Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.

All you wanted to know, and some you didn't, with a few gratuitous pictures thrown in for good measure. 

~ 1 ~

Happy

In case you missed it, we announced our big news on social media earlier this week!

He only has 6 more months to practice reading for baby brother or sister. He's gonna be a great big brother. ‪#‎beingpromoted‬ 

~ 2 ~ 

But if you did miss the announcement or just saw the video and were confused, you were not alone. Apparently the power outage and my serious lack of social media skills prevented several people from hearing our great news. The Hubs posted the above announcement right before the power outage and then when I shared it so it would be on my Facebook wall, I didn't realize it would not share his comment as well so the people that did see the video had no idea it was a pregnancy announcement. My bad.

Pretty!

~ 3 ~

We had been putting off announcing it because we wanted to do something adorable and fun like last time to announce the news, but it took a while for us to come up with an idea. We had recorded the heartbeat at our appointment and was going to share on Valentine's Day a picture of us all with paper hearts on our chests and one on my belly, along with the recording, and the caption "Growing our family by one heartbeat", but capturing a good family picture by ourselves with a squirmy two-year-old is quite a challenge these days. So alas, our announcement ended up as above and got trumped by the power outage. The second kid always gets the shaft.

~ 4 ~ 

So now that you know, some of you have been asking all the questions. So to the answers. Matthan is going to have to share quickly because Baby is due in August. Matthan says he is very excited to be a big brother. He is strongly voting for a brother. You all with have to wait along with him to see if he gets what he wants because we are not finding out the gender until Baby decides to make an appearance. Same with names. Some are in the running from last time, some are new, but nothing has been decided on for sure. We're taking name suggestions.

Funny - Little rascal isn't allowed on the coffee table but tried anyway

~ 5 ~

I'm now into my second trimester, the using-office-supplies-to-hold-my-pants-closed phase. The first trimester was similar to last time with some debilitating nausea. I finally googled "pregnancy nausea" came up B6 deficiency, popped a multivitamin and drank some Vitamin Water, and was playing soccer with my nephew that evening. I'm keeping that one in the tool box for any future pregnancies.

I'm pretty much past any nausea but now I've entered the weird-smells-send-me-to-make-sacrifices-to-the-porcelain-gods and food issues stage. On the list of no-no smells include poop, brussel sprouts, sour cream/Greek yogurt type smells, bad breath, and anything that strikes the nose as weird in the moment. I have a hard time eating anything I've cooked, but can eat the same foods if someone else cooks them for me. The first couple months, cold foods were awesome.

Lent began this week

Real

I eat about 4-5 peanut butter and honey sandwiches a week, not because I particularly like them, but because it's one of the only things I can get down that will help me sleep through the night, otherwise I wake up in the middle of the night dizzy, shaking, with elevated blood pressure which I assume is due to low blood sugar. This kid better not be allergic to peanut butter.

The only major food craving I've had was for Doc Chey's, an Asian fusion restaurant we use to go to in college. The craving went unsatisfied for a couple months until at last week's doctor appointment where I discovered there was a Doc Chey's a mile from the office. I might have teared up a little with excitement...I'm blaming it on the hormones.

~ 6 ~

There have been a lot of similarities to my pregnancy with Matthan, including people's oh so encouraging (eye roll) statements of "You're due in August, you're going to miserable in the heat!"...Thanks...you can go away now. I don't think there is ever a time of the year when being nine months pregnant is comfortable, and I prefer my nauseated stage to be in the cold months, thank you very much.

I've had a touch of heartburn already like last time. I don't remember being quite as tired last time though. Symptoms have hit around the same times as last time, but in varying degrees.

He wants snow, me too.

Matthan has been sweet and helpful. I had my head in the sink the other day, and he asked if I was ok. I asked him to bring me my water bottle and when he couldn't find mine, he brought me his. He has helped me keep from wallowing in pregnancy symptoms :)

~ 7 ~

And since the other takes weren't quite so quick, here's the first belly pic.

Half the bump is baby, the other half is peanut butter sandwiches.

The Cuteness is Back! (7 Quick Takes Style)

I think it's safe to say that the best word to describe this here blog for the last several months as of late would be "silence". And as some of you have been lovingly nagging reminding me, you do need your dose of cuteness (and I'm sure my mundane ramblings) on a more regular basis...well, I aim to please. So without further ado...

~ 1 ~

He's back! One big dose of two-and-a-half-year-old cuteness right here. Weighing in at "starting to wear my back out" pounds and standing at "on the floor with his feet on my coffee table" feet high, it's the Little Man you've all missed. His current catchphrases are "Oh my gracious!" and "Oh bothuh" (Oh bother), both of which he got from Winnie the Pooh. 

Although, my favorite recent Matthan quote would have to be as he hopped over his nativity set on his way to running to the bathroom, "EXCUSE ME BABY JESUS!! I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!"

And yes, the sheep always goes on top of the tree. I don't know why.

~ 2 ~

I do have many excuses as to why it's been so quiet around here (on the blog that is, obviously, there is a two year old in the house, so it's not quiet around here, you know what I mean). I have two big announcements! But I can only share one of them with you today. I know, I'm terrible. I launched another blog! Because clearly, I'm so great at keeping up with blogs. 

No but seriously, as promised by myself last year via social media, www.spoonlickinnutrition.com was launched in January! It is my musings on the world of food and nutrition and my attempts to merge that world with my "I've got to get food on the table for my husband and son" world. It's gonna be great. Please go check it out! 

~ 3 ~

And if that wasn't enough, we have several house projects going on. We decided we're going to paint our living room. But because I have major color commitment issues, our living room looks like this: 

 

The guy at Home Depot made fun of me for my five samples. The sixth sample came from a friend who has a five gallon bucket of paint left over from a  project. But in my defense, our living room has vaulted ceilings and I fear that my husband will never ever do a painting project for me again once he's done with this monumental task so the color has to be the right one on the first try. And it's going in our hallways and probably in our dining room and kitchen too. So like I said.

The Hubs decided that if we were going to paint the living room then this was the time to fix the door casings that the previous owners' cat had mutilated. So he ripped off the door casing, but then realized he couldn't hammer during nap time/bed time so it looked like this for over a week in my house.

~ 4 ~

I really think that we were bitten by a radioactive "desperately needs to do house projects" spider, because if all of the other things weren't enough, we've decided to try to have a garden again this year. This really makes no sense for our season of life right now, but that's not stopping us. I mean, if my lack of gardening skill and my reputation for not watering the garden weren't enough to stop us nothing will. I got this seed catalog in the mail, and we just couldn't help ourselves. If we get one white watermelon (The Hubs' idea) out of this, it'll be a success.

Doesn't this just promise to be awesome

~ 5 ~ 

Matthan helped us pick out the seeds and by that I mean he ate popcorn and M&M's while Mommy and Daddy discussed garden plans until he ran out and then climbed all over the bed modeling my gardening hat. He has been quite the little helper though. He helps make his own oatmeal in the morning (which I'll have to tell you about some time). He makes me "green soup" in the bath tub (see the little green cup of water below), sometimes with a car crouton.

Me: "What are you making?"

Matthan: "Green soup."

Me: "What is in green soup?"

Matthan: "Sugar!"

Me: "What else goes in green soup?"

Matthan (stated matter of fact-ly): "Mmmm...green."

~ 6 ~

We've been enjoying the chaos of weekly toddler time at the library especially since we're stuck inside most days. Matthan loves getting new books and he won't wait until he gets home; he has to have them the moment we get in the car.

When story time is over, the kids play on the steps and the stage that has a ramp. Matthan asks for the ramp every week. He runs the same path - across the stage, down the ramp, and up the steps, back down the steps, up the ramp, and across the stage - over and over and over until I tell him it's time to go. 

He always leans against the same spot on the wall.

~ 7 ~

There was an unfortunate mishap at library time the other day. You should have seen the other kid.

Just kidding. The mishap was with an ink stamp but I was concerned that people at the grocery store might judge it as a black eye. Matthan was clearly unaffected.

Well that's all folks! I'm linking up with Kelly over at her blog: http://thisaintthelyceum.org/sqt-always-friday-dont-dare-forget/http://thisaintthelyceum.org/sqt-always-friday-dont-dare-forget/. Go check her out! 

Fall Festival at the Monastery

Tim and several of our guy friends chaperoned a youth group retreat this weekend.  I convinced my friend Ashley (whose husband was also a chaperone) to accompany Matthan and me to the fall festival at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers.  

Matthan was VERY excited to see his "Ms. Ashley".  The first thing Matthan noticed was a bunch of kiddie pools with rubber duckies in them.  One of those "pick a ducky, get a prize" things.

The boy loves water, so of course he gravitated towards this fountain.  I had to make sure that he didn't fall in while attempting to reach the water.

There were several venders with crafts and handmade items.  Ashley and I share an affinity for used books, and Matthan, well, he just loves books.  While we perused, Matthan promptly found a Matthan-sized book and sat down to "read".

His face made me laugh

The festival included a kids area with face painting, petting zoo, puppet show, etc.  The petting zoo included goats, a llama, a pig, fan-tailed pigeons, an armadillo, and a miniature donkey. 

We've never been this close to an armadillo before

We sat down for the bird show, and two minutes later decided the show was not going to hold our attention, much less Matthan's.  But we turned around, and to Matthan's great excitement, there were HUGE bubbles.  Somebody did a happy dance.

I think he was excited ;)

We grabbed some lunch and plopped down to eat by the "ducky pools".  While we ate, Matthan ran around the pools picking up the ducks and throwing them back in to splash, while occasionally returning for some food.

I had been keeping my eye on Matthan while I ate.  I turned my back for just a minute, and when I turned back around, Matthan had climbed into the ducky pool.  I sprinted across the little lawn to pull my now wet child out of the pool.  

Letting my boy sun dry

I had some spare clothes with us, but I didn't have extra shoes.  I put his socks on the handles of the stroller and his shoes on the top shade of the stroller to dry.  We perused the gift shop and then headed over to the church (see picture at the top of this post).  The church is beautiful.  The inside is white marble (?  I think it's marble) with blue and purple stained glass windows which creates a beautiful "under water" effect.  Matthan was so sweet and quiet while we spent a few peaceful moments in the church.

One hour past nap time

Then we headed down to the lake, at which time I realized that Matthan's shoes were missing.  We had to back track and search our steps before we finally found the shoes scattered along the path we had traveled to the church.  After a quick trip to the lake...because there were geese...taller than Matthan... and they looked hungry... we headed home.  Matthan didn't make it out of the parking lot before his head drooped to sleep.