Easter 2013

Well the past two weeks have been a blur to me.  First we had family visiting for a week and then Spring Break last week.  Big Sis took her first solo airplane ride to stay with family for her break.  That left Middle, Little Sis and I to play last week.  I feel like I didn't blog very much, but with good reason. I enjoyed my week with the girls.  

We had a very Blessed Easter weekend as well.  We went to an egg hunt at our church on Saturday followed by a fun neighborhood egg hunt, needless to say we were egged out before Sunday!  We woke up Sunday to find the Easter Bunny had left the girls baskets full of goodies.  Church was AMAZING, like usual.  We had a small brunch afterwards with another family from church.  We are so blessed with the friends God has brought us.  

 Little Sis at our neighborhood Egg Hunt

 She loved racing to find the eggs, she wanted to stop and open most of them before going for the next one.  

 Easter morning before church I was able to take a couple of precious pictures of my girls!

 Our three beauties

 The Easter Bunny hides the girls baskets each year.  He left chocolate crosses, peanut butter mini eggs, mini cadburry eggs, hair bands, pens, chalk, movies, flip flops, body wash, tooth flossers and The Jesus Calling Storybook Bible Book.  {He tries to leave practical goodies instead of toys and tons of candy}

 We enjoyed a simple brunch with friends.  We had ham sandwiches, pasta salad, deviled eggs, fruit salad and made yummy brownie sundae's.  Aren't these Easter Bunny chair covers from The Dollar Store adorable?!

This was the decoration I made for the Easter table.  I bought the vase, flowers and burlap strip at Walmart.  The eggs were found at Home Goods.  We also used My Computer is my Canvas's printable Egg Baskets as name tags with Easter candy inside.  

My husband says that the Easter Bunny never hid baskets at his house, so tell me did he hide yours or were they out in plain sight??  I would love to hear!

A Quiet Evening

I would love to share the following pictures from a church event that I helped with the other night.  It was A Quiet Evening for the ladies of the church and their guests.  The ladies brought in appetizers and desserts for a time of fellowship, followed by a message from a FABOLOUS Pastor Wife that we are so blessed to have!  She is so real and such an example to have in my life, I'm so grateful for her and her family.  We wrapped up the night with communion.  The whole evening was about getting our hearts right for the Christmas season. 

Welcome to A Quiet Evening.

This is the room that we had fun decorating with lots of burlap, Christmas tree branches, bird cages and candles. The theme of the event was "Freedom" based upon the following verse:

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;



Dessert Table

Drink Table

 The Hot Cocoa Bar, I just loved the burlap bows!



Marshmallows, candy canes and Pirouettes for the cocoa

 The appetizer table was the focal point of the room.

A beautiful branch was hung with lights over a table

 of Christmas branches, burlap and bird cages.

Everything was so beautiful, I don't think

 these pictures even begin to do it justice.

 We had a great turn out, 125 women were in attendance.

One of my absolute favorite things about our church is the AWESOME Praise Band!

These ladies sang their hearts our for us, such a blessing!

This is Sarah and Ashley, two wonderful ladies that I had the pleasure of working with to plan this event.  It was so much fun, I loved every minute of it. 

I made these burlap birds as favors for the ladies attending the event. 

TUTORIAL COMING SOON :)

I feel so blessed to be part of this church family!!!

Deck the Halls

Our Thanksgiving decor has been packed away until next year and we started to decorate the inside of the house this past weekend for Christmas.  Christmas is one of my absolute favorite holidays to decorate for. 

My newest collection of Christmas decorations is this Willow Tree Nativity Set that my Mom and Step-Dad got me for Christmas last year.  I had been drooling over it for a few years!

My Dad started buying a Santa Claus for me back when I was 16 years old. He has also bought me a few different things here and there but I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.  The past few years he has bought me a Santa from the Jim Shore Collection.  I have to admit they are my favorite....hint hint Dad ;)

These three are some of my oldest, I think the

 Santa Doctor on the left is my very first Santa.

This guy is from Germany. 

A fishing Santa, because Dad loves to fish.

My Grandmother bought this for me one year, it's a Christmas Advent Tree.

Inside the box are drawers filled with ornaments that you hook onto the tree, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas.  The girls love taking turns to hang an ornament. 

One of my Mother In Law's, all of our parents are remarried so we are both blessed with two Mother In Law's, gave us these great Stockings, hangers and a matching tree skirt several years ago.  We don't have a mantel or fireplace in this home so they will hang off of the entertainment center. 

 

 Another favorite Santa of mine, he's sitting on top of my fridge with Rudolph.  I found him at Home Goods several years ago.

I swapped out my DIY Chalk Canisters for these cute Santa canisters.

Looking forward to making lots of yummy Christmas cookies with my girls soon.

The cookies we make can go in our Santa Cookie Jar.

And here's a little peek of our Christmas tree.  Little Sis has been checking out all of our pretty ornaments the past few days.  Last year we didn't decorate the bottom half because she couldn't keep her little fingers off of it but she is doing pretty decent so far this year.  We have so many ornaments, I'm starting to think the girls need their own tree to decorate and Mommy and Daddy another one for our ornaments.  We are to the point that we have to pick and choose our favorites to go up because there are so many! 

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our Christmas Decor!  I love Christmas and that we get to celebrate the birth of Jesus with our family and friends. 

I'm linking up with Women Living Well's Making Your Home a Haven Challenge.

See my "Blog Love" page to see where else I party! 



I'm also linking up to Kelly's Korner Blog, love her!

Fall Decor

It may be fall in other areas but its still

in the 80's and 90's here in South Florida.

I'm on protest, I'm starting to wear my jeans

and decorate my house like we actually have a change of seasons.

 

 

Yesterday I shared my Fall Banner with you, here's a quick

view at more of my fall/Halloween decor. 

 

My DIY Fall Banner Tutorial can be found here

 

 

 

 

Remember my Fall wreath?

I added some fall Mums to our front porch for some more color.

Love my old school house desk and water pitcher.

 

Happy Fall Ya'll,

from South Florida!

 

I link up here:

Tuesday's Time-Warp Wife, A Bowl Full of Lemons

Wednesday'sWomen Living Well, Good Morning Girls

Thursday'sDelightful Order

Friday'sComfy in the Kitchen, Tidy Mom