Lionel

I like Lionel Ritchie just fine. I especially like this song:

 I'd never seen the music video before now. It's kind of strange. But it was the 80's, afterall.

Lately I feel like I'm seeing Lionel all over the place. Is he having a revival?

We were at the park the other day and there was this:

Sorry it's fuzzy. Let's take a closer look at that doctor on the right.



Lionel.

Then today I was out when I noticed a face staring at me from the sidewalk.

I'm being haunted by the face of Lionel Richie. And I like it.

Happy birthday to me

Monday was my birthday. If I wasn't officially in the late-20s before, I sure am now! The festivities actually began on Sunday because we thought it would be easier to have Kirk, Gretchen, Carter and Wendy over on that day. So we had them (as well as Megan - a friend from church - and her two kids) over for dinner, cake, and to open a few presents.

I must mention that I had a church meeting for an hour Sunday afternoon and when I came home, I discovered Dan decorating. He did an awesome job! I don't want to take the streamers down.

Dan's cake, as usual, did NOT disappoint! "Hoppy birthday, Love Bunny!"

We had a "2" and then he added 8 candles.

I was spoiled. Gretchen and Kirk got me a paper towel holder (they hate our current one). Mom and Dad got me a polarizing filter, two recipe books, and new pots and pans!

 (In a rare act of kindness, I am sharing some of my spoils. Skittles.)

The party continued on my actual birthday. The first thing Sam said to me was "Happy birthday." I was so happy he remembered! (Dan had already left for work.) Gretchen watched the kids while I did a little shopping and then she fed me and my kids lunch. I did 6 loads of laundry, sewed a little during nap time, went to the gym, had dinner w/ the fam (red beans and rice), ate cake and opened the rest of my thoughtful gifts. It was a great day!

(Pardon my post-gym appearance.)

My handyman

As you know, Dan is a handy man. He's not really a handyman, but he's a handy man. See? So lately he thought it would be nice to finish a little crawlspace area that's off of one of our bedrooms. He's got big plans for it, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. We'll talk about that when it's all done.

For now, here are some semi-before shots. (The flooring in the middle wasn't even there at first. Pretend like it's not there.)

Well, these aren't really good at capturing the room. Sorry. You'll just have to wait and see how it looks after!

The last Easter post

Dying eggs

 Sam wouldn't touch 'em.

 Carter would.

 Little chocolate egg hunt Easter morning. (Pre-8:30 church)

Sam playing while I try to setup the tripod for a family shot. He sure is cute.

 Not very flattering of me, but I had to snuggle my little man. Then after seeing how unflattering this option was, we switched.

 What's that? You want to see a picture of me and Dan kissing? Oh. Okay. I happen to have one right here. What a coincidence!

Later, Kirk, Gretchen, Wendy, and Carter came over for dinner. We had ham, cheesy potatoes, salad, rolls, fruit salad, and cake. It was delicious. But I only got a picture of the cake. It's supposed to look like an egg in grass.

To cap off the evening, we had an egg hunt in the backyard for the kiddos. Good thing. I don't think they'd gotten enough sugar at the other 20 egg hunts we'd had!

Easter

Our Easter celebrations began the week before Easter at our community festival. They had an egg hunt.

 Once the whistle sounded, Sam was all over that piece. (This was his last year in the 0-3 crowd. Next year he's going to have some stiff competition.)

Afton was a little more hesitant.

 

 Then Sam jumped on the moonbounce for a while.

I hate blogger. This post took me 45 minutes. I hope you enjoyed it. There are more pictures to share from our Easter, but I'll have to do those later.