haircut, savannah (again), and palm sunday

This past weekend we were back in Savannah. But let me back up. Before that, Hannah Banana got a haircut (in case you missed the picture on Instagram).

Actually, Joseph was the one with the haircut appointment. But she wanted one, too, and begged Mrs. Tina to cut hers. See the rollers? That's our hair salon entertainment. I love this picture, but they do look so grown up:

That night, she helped me make dinner. That's right, you read that correctly. I made dinner.

I love the sass. We made chicken tortellini. And I appreciated the help from my little cutie pie.

Friday we went to Savannah, this time for about 30 hours. We had a great time out to dinner with my mom's side of the family, and then Saturday afternoon, enjoyed beautiful weather at Joe's parents' house on Moon River. While Joseph napped, we played on the dock.

We went to a cousin's wedding at Wormsloe Plantation. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful places and so home to me, so Savannah. The oak-covered drive is just gorgeous with the Spanish moss hanging from the trees. I had to take a picture through the windshield.

Unfortunately, because of that thick canopy, gnats can get pretty bad. But we had bug spray. And the kids were happy enough.

We got back home to Sandersville about midnight. Sunday, I dressed the kids in the same clothes, and we celebrated Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem by waving our palms at church.

spring break

We spent a few days in Savannah over spring break. As always, it was nice to be there for more than 36 hours. There was even a little downtime. We went to the beach, played in the park, jumped on the trampoline, ate yummy food, and enjoyed beautiful weather. It was great seeing family and friends.

Some of these pictures are from my phone, but I actually took my real camera, so I was a little trigger happy at times…

{In front of Meme's Easter tree.}

{Pit stop at Krispy Kreme before heading to the beach.}

{Hannah and our friend, Graci.}

{On the Tybee Pier.}

{Trampoline jumping with Uncle Will Will!}

{Fun in Forsyth Park. Joseph spent most of his time climbing up the slide 

and sliding down on his belly.}

{They both preferred the "big kid" playground.}

{"I wanna take your picture!"}

{My Monkey's first time across the monkey bars.}

{Meme showing the kids the bricks with the names of my brothers and me.}

{The amphitheater.}

{No question that this girl loves to perform.}

{Fiddlers for seafood! And all I can think about is how a glass of ice water got spilled 

down my back. Otherwise, an enjoyable meal.}

{Heading to a cousin's baby shower…in her new booster seat!}

noah...

Joe and I went on a date last weekend. We went to dinner and saw the much-talked about "Noah", despite the bad reviews it got on Facebook. I didn't think it was great, but I thought it was ok. The special effects were impressive and seeing what it must have been like for those animals to board the arc was pretty neat. Neither of us liked the fundamentals that were changed to make it more dramatic.

Like it needed to be more dramatic… The real story is quite dramatic enough.

The Bible says Noah was a righteous man and did what the Lord asked of him. The fact that the movie made that unclear was disappointing. Otherwise, as Joe said, the gaps in the Biblical text leave much to be imagined. The rock people didn't upset us that much.

Why don't I just insert what Joe said in this week's bulletin piece right here? Afterall, his opinion is worth more than mine when it comes to this theology stuff…

People are laughing at Noah…again. On a Wednesday night back in the fall, we laughed a little at Noah as portrayed in “The Bible” because he was more Scottish than we remembered. The heavy accent distracted some of us from the important message as he retold the story of creation and the fall of humanity from God’s side.  

Oddly enough, the new movie “Noah” also uses Noah to explain the fall from grace. Certainly there are some moments where the moviemakers got carried away with poetic license and started telling a completely different story. However, for much of the movie, they took full advantage of the space between the words in the telling of the account in Genesis 6-9. That didn’t bother me, even though some movie reviewers laughed at some of their choices, I know the story from Genesis and there is some amazing stuff going on in the text already. What bothered me was the lack of respect for Noah that happens when they leave God’s script and create their own.  

People made the mistake of laughing at Noah thousands of years ago as well. They ridiculed him and his family and probably his understanding of God, someone they no longer cared about or knew. Noah knew what God asked him to do, and there was no confusion about the task. Noah did what God wanted, and it must have been one of the grandest acts of faith anyone has ever heard about (then and now). He proved God’s faithfulness, and he shows us still that salvation is possible through God’s plan.

Even though we didn't think the movie was the best, the reminder of Noah's faith and God's faithfulness is always relevant, especially during Lent.

Yesterday we returned from a few days in Savannah. It is rainy here in Sandersville (as it is in much of the South) and I am glad. I'd rather have the green all over the radar than the green all over my car, porch furniture, in the air, and everywhere else!

Monkey is sitting behind me in the desk chair eagerly waiting for me to close the laptop. Her quiet time is over and a movie snuggle-session is in order. Happy Sunday!

hippity hoppity

I love getting ready for Easter. Lent is all about preparing your heart and mind for the Lord and something about that has the power to change your whole mindset. That feeling of love, forgiveness and grace extends to my daily interactions with people as well as the happiness in my household.

On top of that, for me anyway, there's spring cleaning and the urge to check things off the to-do list. You know, the ones that have been sitting there for a while (in my case, months), staring at you in the face, begging for a checkmark. Again…I am speaking for myself. I know some of you are happily not doing any spring cleaning or have time for any home projects. But that urge to cross things off the procrastination list - little home projects, fixing broken things, look into this, file that, call them… has enabled me to get some things accomplished. And being a stay-at-home mom with little ones definitely makes you crave that sense of accomplishment once in a while!

So back to Easter.

Easter decorations might be my favorite of all decorations. We don't have a lot, but every year I look forward to putting the stuff out around the house. Obviously Hannah loves to help, my little decorator, and Joseph…well, Joseph likes to find whatever toy (meant to be played with or not) and get into trouble.

I used our crystal monogrammed pitcher on the breakfast room table to hold egg picks I bought from the Dollar Tree. The pitcher was a wedding gift but is so fragile (this is actually the second one we've had and has a small crack at the handle) that it's not really functional to be used for the purpose it was designed. But I hate to part with it, so I use it for other things. The bunny votive holders are from Meme. The carrots hang on the chest. They are from Pier One.

We bought Hannah and Joseph their baskets (from PB Kids) for their first Easters. I ordered Joseph's before he was born as he was only a few days old his first Easter Sunday. The Peter Rabbit design is my favorite. And Hannah's could not be more appropriate… A couple years ago I found the rabbit and lamb for their dressers.

A long time ago when I was living in Atlanta, my mom gave me a set of three little nesting Easter bunnies. {My mom loves decorations even more than I do.} They have made it through many moves but not through the curious and playful hands of children. The littlest bunny was the first to lose an ear. Then another… And then only a few days after putting them out this year, the big bunny broke an ear. I tried to fix it with two types of glue, but the best I got was this:

No idea where that missing piece went. I could keep him and call him Evander Holyfield, but the inevitable… The little one's ears were gone for good. At this point the middle bunny was still intact. I picked him up to hand to Hannah, and I dropped him. Not even joking. Apparently my hands are just as capable of breaking them as Hannah's or Joseph's.

So three little bunnies hopped off to the trashcan. Sad, but they were enjoyed for many years.

My mom also gave us the little bunnies perched on top of the china cabinet. Notice, they still have ears. The secret to bunnies with ears is to put them up high. We have three of those egg wreaths, which I found at CVS (score!). The other two hang on the hall and laundry room doors in the breakfast room. They are my favorite decorations. 

I wanted something to go over the baskets on the dining room buffet, but didn't want to spend any money. We had lots of plastic eggs so I strung some up and hung across the mirror.

If you're interested, it's very easy to do. You need plastic eggs, string (I used jute) and scissors.

The eggs already have holes in them, generally. Depending on the thickness of your string, you may need to use the scissors to make them bigger, as I did:

Thread the string though the eggs.

And adjust spacing as needed. On a few of mine I had to tie knots in the string to get the eggs with holes too big to stay put.

Very simple. Not a formal decoration, but fun.

And we are all about fun. Speaking of the dining room, I filled my dough bowl with natural raffia but have nothing for inside of it. 

Maybe this year, I'll go au naturel.