Easter Weekend...Part 1

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!  We sure did!  Just for the sake of documenting things in order, I am going to post tonight about the first part of our Easter weekend.  We had planned to just stay home this year, and go to my grandma's on Sunday.  She lives close to us so it is nice to not have to travel too far.

However, plans changed when my best childhood friend called to tell me she would be in town over the weekend.  She and her husband live in Florida so I rarely get to see her.  She just had a precious new baby boy in January, and this would be my first chance to meet him!

I have to give a little background on Carrie's and my friendship because it is pretty unique.  Many of you who read this blog know that my childhood summers were spent in Clear Lake.  In fact, I spent the first 30 summers of my life growing up at the lake.  I could write a whole book on how this impacted my life and what a special place it is to me (I even had my wedding there!)  A huge part of the reason the lake is/was so special to me is because of Carrie. 

(Please forgive these pictures, they are ancient!  Ha!)

Carrie and I met when we were 8 years old.  We were in the summer parks and rec program at the lake, and she is from Clear Lake.  My parents often enrolled me in summer activities there, so I could meet other kids and make friends.  I was a relatively social kid (imagine that!) and one day I just picked Carrie out of the crowd, ran up to her and asked her to come over to my house to play.  She said "sure!" and her mom now says she realized later that she had just sent her daughter off with a complete stranger!  

And so began a beautiful friendship...

Ok, check out those 80's hairstyles!!!  Man, we were so cool back then!  Hahaha!

Carrie and I literally grew up together.  She is my oldest and dearest friend.  I could also write a whole book about all of our experiences and memories over the years.  We are going on 27 years of being friends.  That is almost 3 decades!  We were joined at the hip every single summer since that fateful day I ran up to her in the park and asked her to play.  Over the years we kept in touch after the summer by writing many letters to each other.  Sometimes, when we got a little older, our parents would arrange to meet halfway and let us see each other during the school year.  Once we were old enough to drive, we made many road trips- to each other's colleges and beyond (not to mention our senior road trip to the Wisconsin Dells!)  Carrie even flew to visit me in New Zealand when I was student teaching there.

Then of course there was our weddings...

... hers in 2002

...mine in 2003

This was when Carrie met Andrew for the first time when she and her husband, Eric, came back to Iowa from Florida for a visit.

Which brings us to my first meeting with her precious little Eric Jon ("EJ.")

I just could not pass up this rare opportunity for our boys to meet for the first time!

This is such a special picture.  It holds so many memories, past, present and future.  Back when we were kids, when we dreamed of meeting the men of our dreams (and there were some doozies along the way!), we always dreamed of having babies together and them growing up to be good friends too.  Unfortunately, distance now separates us physically, but our hearts are always connected and always will be.  Ours is one of those friendships that will never end.

Since we were at the lake, we got to stay the night with my aunt, uncle and cousins.  We got there pretty late, but Kolton had stayed awake to greet Andrew and read him a bedtime story!

 Andrew sat for the entire book listening with a smile to Kolton.  He absolutely adores his cousins.

Then in the morning, Kelsie woke up the earliest and came down to cuddle with Andrew!

He just loves being with his big cousins (they are actually my cousins, so they are his 2nd cousins, but who's counting!?)

Watching Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel before heading out to our Easter egg hunt!

We visited the animals outside (they live on a farm and Andrew loves it!)

 He got to ride Daisy the pony!

He just had a ball!

Then we headed to the Easter egg hunt in town.  Andrew and Kelsie are in the front towards the right.  He would not let go of her hand!  He kept saying "Kelsie hand, Kelsie hand!"  All of his cousins are just so sweet to him and they love to play with him, even when all their friends are around.

Andrew got the hang of the Easter egg hunt.

But once he found this sucker...

He was done!  He wanted it "out" and wanted to eat it and the hunt was off!

Plus he spotted this really fun park, and it was all over from there!

After the egg hunt, we headed back home so we could get ready for Easter at my grandma's.  Andrew was very excited he would get to see Kolton, Kelsie and Kendra again the next day!

Andrew and I made Easter cookies to take to my grandma's.  Did you know you can make delicious cookies out of Funfetti cake mix??

Me with my little helper

You just follow the directions on the box- it is just like the cake but you don't add water and use one less egg.

You just stir it up like this...

And sneak a bite to make sure it tastes okay!

Then I just use my awesome scooper from Pampered Chef (the small one).  Oh, and if you cover the cookie sheet with parchment paper, there's no clean up!  I'm all about that!

Then you just take a glass and flatten the cookies a little bit.

Then you wait!  Which is hard for Andrew!

But he tried really hard to be patient...

After they cool, frost with Funfetti frosting and sprinkles, and they are so soft and delicious!  They were a hit!  And don't they look pretty and Easter-y? 

Almost as much as this adorably handsome little guy on Easter Sunday!  I couldn't help but show you a sneak peek!  More to come about our Easter weekend part 2!

John 11:25 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die...'"

Happy Easter!

Organization 101

Kelly's Korner is hosting "Show us your life" with organization ideas today! 

I thought I'd participate since organization is my middle name!  Ha!  I just had spring break so I had some time to go through and do some spring cleaning/organizing!  I needed to go through Andrew's clothes and see what he had for summer, plus put away some things he had outgrown.

He was a big help!  Ha!  He found some of his old things and wanted to put them on, silly boy!  He is holding one of his preemie diapers I saved- it is so tiny it could probably fit on a small baby doll!

It was funny he could still wear his baby hats!  They just had to stretch out a little more, but not much!  We had fun reminiscing.

I came across his old pair of monkey shoes.  These were my favorite baby shoes he had.  He wore them all the time.  So sweet!

In our basement I have tub after tub of his clothes, so I organized them into gender (for future reference!) and specific sizes so I'd know where everything is.

I also made a tub with his crib bedding, sheets, etc and old Halloween costumes.  The funny thing is, Andrew can still wear some of his seasonal clothing an extra year (he's a shrimp!  Ha!) so it is nice having them labeled like this so I can go back to them next year and dig out his old summer shorts, etc that I know will still fit him.  That way I don't have to go out and buy new clothes for him every season (although I still buy him a few things!  Ha!)

I love Andrew's closet.  Craig put in these shelves and I like it because they are removable.  As he grows (and his clothes get longer) I can just take out a shelf when I need to!

I  love these bins (I got them at Walmart for cheap in packs of 2, and different sizes).  I just change out the labels when I need to.  For example, when he was a baby I had a bin for burp cloths, his baby shoes and hats, but now I moved those things to the closet downstairs so I have room for other things in his room.

I love this new addition to his big boy room.  Just an example of something old that you can fix up and personalize for storage.  This was an old trunk we had at the lake that was full of our bedding and blankets.  I took it for Andrew's pirate room, painted it white and painted his name on it.  Right now there are toys inside, but I figure eventually there could be other stuff, like clothes or school sports equipment, etc!  Ha!

I love unique storage items, like this boat shelf.  I just use it for his books, special toys, etc.  I love to use buckets and baskets for extra storage, too.

These storage shelves are great (the shelves and bins are from Target).  The front is chalkboard so you can write and change out what is in them.

 Probably my favorite organization idea of all times is my holiday decoration tubs.  Craig built me shelves in the basement several years back, and over the years I accumulated tons of holiday decorations.  I couldn't keep track of what was where very well, and every year I would try to remember what I did with the decorations for that season.  So I started getting colored tubs to match the seasons.  Then I took pictures of the different rooms in my house during that season (mainly Christmas, but some Halloween/Fall and V-Day too) and then I put the picture of that room on the front of the tub.  Every item that goes in the room is stored in that tub.  I love it!  It makes decorating for things so easy!  It is a process to put up my Christmas decorations.  This way, I can do a room or two at a time and not be overwhelmed.

Just some other fun ideas I had trouble coming up with (I'm not sure why!) but thought I'd share for anyone else who doesn't know what to do with the little pieces that go with certain toys.  For example, his play kitchen that I repainted (remember, it was mine when I was a little girl?)  I couldn't figure out what to do with the millions of play food items and pots & pans, etc we had to go with it.

Problem solved!  These are laundry tubs from Walmart (cheap!) and I just store all the food and accessories right inside the kitchen itself!  I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could buy to store the food, etc in, like shelves to sit beside it, etc.  But this is one less piece of furniture I need to buy and takes up less space!

Another idea I love is how I solved problems with my recipe books/boxes.  If you are like me, I had a million different recipe books and boxes.  They were written on all different notecards, random things I had torn out of magazines, etc.  It was a mess!  And I never knew what to make for dinner and I was not motivated to dig through and find things.  I fixed the same things over and over, mainly things I could remember the recipe and wouldn't have to look it up!  Ha!  Often times we would get take out or go out to eat because the last thing I wanted to do when I got home from work was try to figure out what we were having for dinner.  And I never had meat thawed out when I needed it!

This is my solution!  I just went out and bought a pretty binder, some folders I liked and tab dividers (this all cost under $15).

Then I made a "quick menu" right in the front.  These are all the recipes I like to make, many I had forgotten about!  I just went through all my books and notecards and sorted out things I knew I'd make often and were easy to fix.

The best part of the quick menu is, you write the dish on one side, and next to it you list the ingredients you need to make it.  Not specifics (like 1 C. sugar, you just put "sugar").  This makes grocery lists a cinch!  You just get out the quick menu, pick out what you want to make and check to see what ingredients you have and what you need to buy.  I usually make a 2 week menu for us, so when I shop I get everything I need for 2 weeks of meals without having to run back to the store because I forgot something!  My 2 week menu also helps with knowing what I am making in advance so I know if I need to thaw something out.

 Then behind the tab for "main dishes" I typed up all the recipes, in alphabetical order and listed the actual recipe here.  All in the same book.

I also made a quick menu for desserts, and am working on one for side dishes also.  Then you just use the tab dividers to separate main dishes, desserts, sides, breakfasts, etc.

After each divider, I have a pocket folder that I can stick new recipes in that I eventually want to add to my quick menu and recipe list.  I just saved everything on my computer so when I get several new ones to add, I'll just add them and print out a new list!

I just love this new method.  I find that I cook more often, and it is so easy to figure out what we are having and make a variety of things.  I also only have to go to one place for all the information I need to write out a grocery list, shop, and make the meal!

I hope you got some ideas that will work for you!  I am excited to read other blogs and get other ideas today, too!  Happy organizing!