Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Easter Tree

Three years ago we started the tradition of our Easter tree ~

I painted clay pots white, added flowers and butterflies along with the family monogram for each of your family's trees (I never got mine painted so I just used one from my upstairs stash). The branches I gathered from the acre and spray painted white. When ya'll arrived for Easter weekend, I had the blown eggs, paint and ribbons waiting for our night of fun.
Our first eggs were just different colored fingerprints ~ the next 2 years Mimi got a little more creative . . .

A baby chick whose mouth had thumb and forefinger prints

Last year we made baby bunnies again with thumb and forefinger prints for her nose and mouth.

We were making carrots this year that would be covered with white polka dot fingerprints ~ the eggs were blown, I painted them orange, and the paint and decorating accessories were waiting in a box for our Saturday night "creative hour" but . . . (well, that's another story for another day).

Mimi printed these little booklets for each family, too, so you would have the history of the Easter Egg, a decription of the Easter Tree, and the 14-day scripture guide.

Amid school, work, dance classes, sports activities and whatever else takes up our days, it's always nice to have a visual reminder of God's amazing love for us . . . a reminder that no matter how long the winter, spring comes . . . a reminder of how much Jesus suffered for us . . . and . . . a reminder of The Beauty of the Cross.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Easter 2011

A beautiful weekend of . . . family

egg hunts . . .

food . . .

and celebration!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Down the Bunny Trail

When Peter Cottontail comes hopping down the Bunny Trail to Mimi's this is what he'll see . . .
. . . all the beautiful decorations God has provided to remind us just how much He loves us.

With this beauty on the outside, nothing else is really needed inside. But, I did do a little more decorating than what I had shown you the other day . . .I put up the "Hoppy Easter" banner my own little Monogram Monkey sent to me last year.Remember these funny looking carrots from last year? I was going to throw them out and start over but decided they would work just fine for one more year.Very simple decorations on the breakfast table this year while the dining room table looks like it always does.And a little note waiting to greet you in your nest!Hope ya'll are having a great week even though you're in testing ~ only 3 more days!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Christmas for Easter

Things are always a little strange around the acre and this Easter season is no exception . . .
Just take a look . . .
Remember how beautiful Granny's Christmas Cactus bloomed at Christmas this year? Well . . . when Granddaddy and I got home from our "Dream" vacation, I found Granny's Christmas cactus almost wilted out of the pot. Obviously I had forgotten to water it before we left. Immediately I sat it in the tub and begin soaking it in water. Later that night I added a little Miracle Grow to the water and . . .when we came home from our marathon ballgame weekend on Sunday night, look what I found when I walked into our bathroom . . .Y.E.S. Half of that Christmas cactus was blooming just in time for EASTER!! Have you ever?? Do you guess we've now seen everything as the saying goes? I don't know but it sure was a sweet surprise ~ another of Mimi's Miracle Moments to share with my Fabulous Five!

Another little spring miracle I wanted to show you is this little tin bird house . . . it has a blackcap chickadee's nest in it this year! It has been so much fun to watch them build the nest ~ they've worked so hard only stopping to feed on the feeders for a second. I guess they took my Welcome message to heart! Can't wait to hear little peeps coming from inside.Mimi's got to scoot for tonight ~ you know, Easter is this weekend and there's eggs to fill, beds to make and food to think about!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

April Showers . . .

stopped for a while here on the acre. Mimi finally had a chance to get out in the yard and guess what I found . . . sure signs that SPRING is here!
Sign # 1 ~ The Spring Flowers are Blooming!
Sign # 2 ~ The Birds are Back!The goldfinch cover both feeders during most of the day.While I was outside, a humingbird was eating from one of the flowers. When I went upstairs, he came to the feeder and visited all 4 stations but couldn't find any food. Then he flew to the window as if to say, "Hey, lady, I'm back so fix my food!"

Sign # 3 ~ Granddaddy's garden plowed and ready to plant!After I saw all the beauty outside, I decided to add a few spring touches to the house . . .My standby Spring wreath on the front door

A little Easter with our Egg Hunt sign and Easter eggs in my Granny's egg basket, the Happy Easter pillow I made last spring and . . . what's spring without nests and bird eggs? The nest on the right is a robin's nest that fell from the curve in the guttering last year.Winter greenery that will have to stay for a little while longer ~ a little wren has built a nest right in the middle of it. Mimi doesn't want to disturb her so I'll just plant the flowers I got for it somewhere else for now.

The first house guests of spring ~ Big A, Middle A, and Baby A ~ made time for Mimi and Granddaddy on Saturday night right before their spring break ended. That meant the first marshmellow roast of the season.After all the marshmellows were eatten, it was time for a little checkers on Mimi's homemade checkerboard. And as always, we have to play with Miss Gigi.Don't you just wonder what these two are saying to each other? Yes, as my homemade sign says, "Spring is Here!"