Happy Easter!

I figured that it was about time I posted some family photos, even if they leave something to be desired...

Hope that everyone had a delightful Easter Sunday!

Lizzy's Birthweekend

Let it be known, that I actually sat down to post this on Sunday night, but then I got sick. Literally. It was really weird. I spent the weekend making all of Lizzy's birthday dreams come true and on Sunday night, I tucked the kids in bed, Brent and I cleaned the kitchen, I sighed and big sigh and then... I sat. Within about 30 minutes, I got all shaky and feverish, my head started to ache, I got congested and achy. I believe I was in tears by the time I snuggled in under my 50 blankets. It was a lot to process all at once. My family has been really good taking care of me, and I'm finally feeling like I can re-enter the living world, but that is my excuse for not posting.

Anyway... It was Lizzy's 4th birthday over the weekend. See?

FOUR!

And in all of the 4 years that my darling has been alive, I don't feel like she's ever had a legitimate birthday celebration. She's my forgotten child. When she was blessed, we had no celebration because we were remodeling our kitchen. On her first birthday, we were moving. For her second and third birthdays, I don't remember what we did, so it wasn't much. In the grand scheme of things, I know it doesn't really matter, but the perceived neglect has been weighing heavily on my mind and my heart and I was determined to rectify the situation this year. So celebrate, we did!

We had a princess party on Friday, because, when your 4, is there any other kind of party? We did have a couple princes come too, which was really cute.

Miss Biz chose this outfit, which looks kinda more like a flapper to me than a princess, but it was her party.

We decorated with my favorite paper chains...

We made crowns, which turned out to be a little more complicated than I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was obviously unreasonable.

And there were lots of hugs. We made it through the the party with relatively few tears, lots of smiling little kids and one extra happy Lizzy.

But we were just getting going because her birthday wasn't actually until Sunday. We had Brent's parents and Leslie and her family for dinner, where Lizzy got round two of cake and presents.

See? She's 4 again. And she got a new bike because she left her old one under the rear wheel of Jaime's van last fall and, well, it's no longer with us. Even Jaime couldn't fix it.

But her favorite thing was actually her new swim suit. And the "paper money" her Grammy gave her.

So those two celebrations, plus her special day at preschool and her special day at church left her feeling very much the star of the weekend. And apparently I gave myself the flu over it. I hope she doesn't expect me to do this again for her next year.

Creating Life... and then eating it. Part One

Let's face it. I've been married for 9 years in May. I've owned a home with a sizable back yard for 8. I have 3 children, a cat, a dog and a minivan. I make crafts and sell them at local markets for some extra pocket cash. I cook all our meals gluten free and from scratch.

It's about time I figured out how to grow a successful garden.

Funny how overwhelming it can be. But I'm trying. I've got all the goods ready to go, waiting for the snow to stop snowing and in the meantime, I've got all my seeds a-growing in my sunny, warm laundry room. Sow far, sow good. HA! (it's getting late. sorry)

I spent all morning transferring my 72 seedlings and half of Leslie's seedlings into larger pots. Leslie foolishly left her precious sprouts with me for the week while she went gallivanting around Disneyland. She told me to treat her plants like my plants, so when I started replanting mine, I started on hers too. Unfortunately, I realized about half way through that she labeled her tray differently than I did and therefore, her pots are marked wrong. Oops. Instead of a victory garden this year, she'll have a mystery garden. HA! (again, did i mention how tired i am?)

Come on, sweet basil, you can do it! Eat well and get lots of sun so that you can grow big and plump... so that I can eat you.