Happy Easter

I love Easter!  We begin with mass on Holy Thursday, do much reflecting at the Good Friday service and enjoy a three hour Easter vigil on Saturday evening.
Our family has spent Easter sharing in special time together.  We've spent time discussing how very much Christ loves us.  We have spent time praying together and discussing our faith.  
We are loved and forgiven even when we least deserve it.  We are so very blessed.  Thanks be to God!  

Happy Easter! 

Christ our Lord has risen today!  Alleluia!! 

Easter Vigil

Each year Lily Grace's Aunt Vel sends her jelly beans.  When Aunt Vel found out that Matt was sneaking into them, she started sending him a bag as well.  Last year both Matt and Lily Grace wrote their names on their bags with a Sharpie to keep the other out.  Well, neither of them would share with me and I only like one color.  So this year, Aunt Vel sent all three of us a a bag and put our names on them.  HA!  After the Easter Vigil on Saturday night (about 11:15 pm) we came home and sat around the island, had a snack and bargained and traded jelly beans to get the ones we like.  HA! HA!  Sweet memories made!  Thanks Aunt Vel!

Grace made a basket for Molly and they both woke to goodies

Spring Break

This past week, Lily Grace was out for Spring Break.  The week started out quite cool but later in the week, we actually saw a couple of nice days.
Matt took a day off and we all went bowling.  Gracie brought along her friend Emma who spent the day with us.  Between bowling and fun back at our house, those two girls played the day away.
She also had her friend Lily over for a play date.  Molly couldn't have been more excited.  She loves when LG has friends over.
We also enjoyed some baking, shopping and just hanging out.  
As always Grace, nothing beats having you at home and spending time with you.  

LG took Spring break to heart.  Indiana weather often has no idea that it's Spring.  On the first day of her break, LG and I set out to do some fun shopping.  She was dead set on wearing this spring outfit made up of leggings and a short sleeve shirt.  I tried to warn her but sometimes you just have to see for yourself.  After about three stops we get out at Michael's Craft store and I see her bundled up.  What an outfit she ended up with.  We got the biggest laugh and had to get a pic too.  

Out with the Old (mostly) and in with the New: A Big Girl Room

Gracie Cakes came to me a couple of months ago and said that she liked her room but with turning 9, she would really like to change it to more of her big girl (dream) room. Honestly, very little about her room has changed since she first started sleeping in a big girl bed and many existing things were a part of her nursery.  So, I got it.   Some catalogs came and I told her to sit down and give me some ideas about what it is she was wanting.  Matt was out of town on business during this time so I told her that I understood, but she would need to talk this over with her daddy.  She asked if I would print out some things for her to share with Matt.  I did and when Matt returned home she asked him about a good time to meet and talk with him.  She invited me to the meeting as her "back up."  HA!   She proceeded to give her daddy a presentation on why she needed a new big girl room and exactly what her vision was for this new room.  It was too cute and funny!
Matt also let her know that he understood and discussed budget with her.  Let me just say, she was all smiles at the end of their "meeting."  
First on her list was saying goodbye to the pink walls.  She knew she wanted a blue turquoise type color.  While Matt was away on another trip, she and I tried out a few samples.  (We tried out about 13 samples to be exact and we tried them out on 5 different walls including two in the bathroom.  Matt was beside himself when he came home and realized he had to sand this off five walls.  Oh mercy!  Light bulb moment, might have been better to put it on poster board.  However, I felt the need to see it ON the wall so..... We just stayed very clear and quiet until the walls were sanded. )  After she decided on Benjamin Moore's Jamaican Aqua, we got busy painting.  Matt and I actually love the color.  (We were really skeptical and the pics don't really do the deepness and brightness of the  color justice.) 
It has taken us several weeks to finish her room, but I must say, it is really adorable and should grow with her a while.  Gracie, well, she is as happy as can be and so very proud.  According to her, it meets all her expectations.  She swears it makes her sleep better. HA!
Enjoy sweet Gracie!  And just remember, you are never too big to snuggle.  

The contenders- see the sample patches on the wall

Our first day of work and our first order of business was hanging her new chandelier

One last pic of the old (and yes, Girl Scout Tin Mints made that whole ordeal much more enjoyable!)

This Tiffany Blue jewelry box she received for her first communion was her inspiration for the color

Why not drag a few things out while everything is piled high and strewn about?

Ta- da!

Another big item on her wish list was a new vanity.  When it arrived, she couldn't wait to see it put together.  I love how she and Molly helped out. Her new bean bag also arrived so you can see how far the help extended.  HA!

Painting day and yes, this child has changed outfits about three or four times.  Please Grace add some dirty clothes to the dirty mess everywhere.  I love how she thought a diamond bracelet was the perfect painting accessory.  

She even added some paint to the walls.
(in a new outfit- of course!)

The end of the day and a painting job.

At the end of painting, she couldn't wait to get that vanity set up in her room.  While things are still in complete disarray, she sits down to play makeup. Gotta love a girl with priorities.  

Just a reminder of where we started

This cute print was framed for her new room.

Bathroom all finished, right down to the ruffle shower curtain

She really wanted this monogram over her bed.  Matt and I thought it might be a bit much and a more simple design might work better.  Silly us..simple and Gracie just don't mix and when it's all said and done, she was right!  It is too cute!

She likes to read in that large bean bag before going to bed each night.  

Notice that painting hanging over her dresser?  It's the one thing that Grace said she couldn't give up.  I couldn't have been happier.  It means so much to all of us.  It has always hung in Gracie's room, even before she came home.  

This was our DIY in the room.  Lily Grace and I just finished this project over spring break.  It's a 24x36 magnet board.  We covered sheet metal with fabric and framed it.  It's so bright and pretty.

She picked out all the bedding too.

A new Big Girl room- all finished

Sweet Dreams Gracie!  I had so much fun working on your dream room with you!

International Festival: Spain

Lily Grace's school recently held an International Festival in grades K-5.  Each class was a different country.  After receiving a passport, we went to each room to have visit and learn about a different county.  LG's class was Spain.  
The kids worked really hard learning about Spain, creating presentations, decorations and activities for the night.  The kids were even assigned a station to work the night of the festival.  
The kids did a great job!  Lily Grace learned quite a lot about Spain.  She was a little less enthused about her assigned job: matador.  I have to say, she may not have been thrilled about her job but did it with a smile on her face and looked cute as a button doing it. 

LG and the bull- yes, he even ran through her cape during their demonstrations.  It was too cute!

When her shift was over, we toured the other country's (classrooms).  We even me the Pope in Italy.    

Backseat Drivers

Molly loves to ride. She often beats us to the back door if she suspects we are about to go somewhere in an effort to avoid being left behind.  Taking LG to school and picking her up are two of Molly's favorite things to do.  
Often times, I never know what I might see when I look back there.  
These two adore one another and they are absolutely adorable!

This dog will let Lily Grace do anything to her- even wear fashion glasses.

A Family "Mexi-casian" Day: 8 years

Friday, January 30th, marked our 8 year Family Day anniversary.  We don't exchange gifts on this day, but as always spend it just as we did in China.  We spend it together as a family and try to do something new.  China was quite the adventure to live up to but we have fun each year when this special day rolls around.  
This year when we approached Lily Grace about how she would like to spend the day, she requested, "tamales."  Yes, you just read that correctly.  Lily Grace is a little taken with her Spanish class this year and has really immersed herself in it.  Not sure why this year is any different but she can rattle off lots of spanish with a great accent and has even requested a trip to Mexico for this year's summer vacation to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Matt and I love it that she takes such an interest in what she is learning and in her Catholic faith.  (I'm sorry to report however, we will not be vacationing in Mexico but instead MT for a trip to Yellowstone.)  
With that said, they also watched a video in Spanish class about real homemade tamales and you guessed it!  She would like a fiesta celebration complete with tamales.  Have mercy!  Really??? Tamales!!  I love to cook and I think I'm pretty good at it but tamales, that's a whole other league.  
Nonetheless, with Matt laughing and encouraging the whole thing, I agreed.  Oh!  I should mention that a piñata was also requested to end the day.  Why not?
I have to tell you, we had a wonderful Family Day.  The whole fiesta thing has left us with a lot of memories and laughs.  Lily Grace stayed home from school, Matt took off work and I stressed but managed to put out some homemade (Please note I use the word homemade and certainly not authentic.  I think the recipe I found was a little loose and forgiving.) tamales.  
We ate, played games, hung out, read our old blog, shared memories and ended what we deemed "Mexi-casian" ( a combo of Mexican and Asian) Day with a piñata, lots of love and thanks to our Heavenly Father for our family.  
We are so very blessed.  Thanks be to God!

We had a festive and colorful dinner table

We even managed to find and light a candle for  Our Lady of Guadalupe at dinner

Yes, we used real corn husks which have to soak.  The husks are then filled with masa which we made and then topped with pork which I cooked all day for about 7 hours.

Once Gracie and I assembled our tamales we put them in the steamer basket for about 45 minutes.

And there you have them: Tamales

Gracie enjoyed swinging at the piñata after dinner.  Molly found the whole thing very exciting.

In an authentic celebration I'm guessing that Hershey Kisses and pink Tic- Tacs probably aren't among the traditional fillers.  HA!

LG and I also spent Family Day doing a little 80's throwback crafting.  Come on girls!  Who remembers these ribbon barrettes? Lily Grace is obsessed with making them now.

Cutest blessing

Family Day