They Can Be Cute

We had an eventful Easter, to say the least. Who knew that the combination of sugar, church, and overly exciting activities would lead to such drama?! The story behind that will be the subject of another post.

For now, feast your eyes on my cute offspring in their matching (of course!) outfits:

Sisters! I am so excited to be able to say that now that we have added Little Sprout to the family. The Drama Queen was pirouetting in her turquoise and black dress all day, and Little Sprout was irresistible in her bubble dress, even more delicious than any old chocolate bunny.

Brothers! I caught the boys relaxing together on the recliner in their matching outfits. I wonder how many more years I can pull off the whole matchy clothing thing before the kids start protesting?

My new blog header is my favorite picture of the day, but this one is a close second. No question that these kiddos are related, eh?

Grandma and Papa came over for a heart-attack-inducing Easter dinner. Can you tell the grandkids love them lots?!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Ornament Exchange

on Friday night, in spite of foul weather threats, I picked up my friend Rachel and drove to the Blueberry House for a Christmas ornament exchange.

There was of course delicious food enticing, cozy candles glowing, hot coffee brewing, and ladies chatting. (and chatting and chatting and chatting!)

Somehow we managed to fit an ornament exchange amidst all the eating and talking.

Our ornament exchange always tends to get a little. . . shall we say, crazy??! We organize it like a Yankee gift exchange, in which we all draw numbers to find out the order of choosing. When each person gets her turn, she can either pick a wrapped ornament or "steal" an already-unwrapped ornament from someone else. An ornament can only be stolen three times before it is "frozen" for the rest of the game.

Naturally, there are always a few coveted ornaments. This year's top ornaments were a Christmas spider (unusual but totally beautiful), an entire nativity set of ornaments, a snowman ornament accompanied by a Starbucks card, and a coffee cup ornament reading "Don't Talk to Me Until I've Had My Coffee. And then, I'll Do the Talking." Unfortunately there are also those ornaments that nobody really wants either. If you happen to be the unlucky one choosing that ornament, you're stuck; because no one is going to steal that ornament from you!

Yeah, so I was one of those people that got a coveted ornament (the Christmas spider) which was immediately stolen from me. My next ornament was one of those "nobody really wants it" ones, and so I was stuck. :(

This is the story of my life, and this year I was not going to settle for the ornament that no one else wanted. I put my negotiating skills to work and managed to make a trade for a much better ornament - a gorgeous and very unique glass chocolate-dipped strawberry! (which I will have to take a picture of and show you all in another post!)

The picture I do have in this post definitely shows how I have learned to exercise my maturity and general "thirtyness" when at a public function. :)

Happy Monday!