Spencer's minion

Spencer: There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Whitney: Yes there is, you get them at work all the time.

Ezra (piping up from the other room): The only free lunch is at home...well, you still have to pay for that stuff, but not when you eat it.

I dare say Spencer is officially raising a minion.

sex in the city

That title has absolutely nothing to do with this post.  But you looked, didn't ya?

(you can thank my brother-in-law, Phil, for this)

Hey y'all!  Welcome to my last ditch effort to post Easter pictures during the month they happened in.  I figured better late then never, right?  Moving on...

We started off the festivities with traditional egg dying.  Spencer said 4 dozen eggs were too many.  I said, "Neeeeveeer!" (cue Braveheart-worthy passion)

Our girl Melissa loves us so darn much that she stuck around at our house after a Young Womens activity and helped the kids dye eggs.  It was loads of fun to have her there :)

Scarlett is toootally posing for this picture.  She reminds me of Kate from Titanic here. anyone else? Posing is her new (semi-obnoxious) thing.  It makes taking pictures oh-so-hilariously difficult.

I was proud of the Easter clothes this year.  I took what the kids already had and just mixed and matched until I found a color combo I liked.  I only ended up buying Oak a white shirt and Georgia's dress, so it wasn't too pricey overall.  Now I just need to convince my husband he's a lucky man to have such a thrifty wife.  Pretty sure he just noticed Georgia's $14 dress :P c'est la vie.

The Boys

 The Girls

 The closest thing we got to a successful 4-kid picture

 I had a cute matching tie for Ezra, but about 5 minutes before church, it broke.  It was a bummer.

 How beautiful is she?  I mean, really?

 Ahhh, happy boy.

Remember how I said Scarlett has had a really rough time taking pictures lately?  It's like she's so busy trying to pose that she's forgotten how to look normal.  The proof is in the pudding...

 

case. in. point.

Sad to say this is the only...sorta...decent...one I got (and even that's a stretch)

And...the only half-way ok pictures from the egg hunt.  Every year we try to get good ones and every year we fail.  They just move too darn fast.  Oh well.

 I took many pictures of the 3 oldest and not a single one turned out. This is the closest one I got.  boo!

 

Oak kept up with the action too.  I was surprised at how many eggs and pieces of candy he managed to find all on his very own.

 The End.

yay! yay! if you made it all the way to the end.  Gold star for you!

I {heart} old people

I was gonna post long-overdue Easter pictures, but I changed my mind and decided to post about old people instead.

You know what? I think old people get a bad rap.  Sure, there are the inpatient, crotchety ones who shoot daggers over their shoulders at my screeching hoodlums in the back of the chapel, but for the most part...they're actually surprisingly kind.  More times then not, they're the nice ones who tell me I have a beautiful family, remind me, with a smile, how quickly it all goes by, and offer pocket peppermints to my antsy mowglis in the grocery store aisle.  I love how they never seem shocked at the number and ages of my children.  In today's world of 1.5 kids per family, it's nice to talk to people who grew up with a different school of thought.

When we bought our house, I was more then a little nervous about our next door neighbors.  They're an older couple, Ivan and Dorothy, who've lived in the neighborhood for 50+ years.   I just wasn't sure how they'd respond to my (extremely) rowdy children, consistently overgrown lawn, and piles of sun-bleached sand pails.  My mom warned me if I didn't keep things under control, I'd have neighbors who hated me :P

I'm happy to report that my fears were unfounded and, instead, we adore Ivan and Dorothy and they pretty much seem to adore us too.  I think my kids fill a little bit of a hole for them since they don't have family close.  I'm constantly finding the girls chattering and performing at them while they do yard work (which is saying something since Georgia doesn't like many people).  When I make cookies, Ezra loves to take a plate over.  Instead of being annoyed at the interruptions and the occasional flower-picking, they're delighted and doting.  They truly love my children.

Today they brought over some fresh-grown lettuce from their garden.  We attempted to start a garden of our own this spring, but Spencer's 60 hour work weeks have gotten in the way (he's had deadlines looming).  Instead of being bothered by our unplanted dirt patch, they offered understanding and the promise of more fresh produce to come.  It's been a rough week and their kindness nearly brought me to tears.  I'm just so grateful for them and all the other nice old people my life brushes by daily.  In my world of raised eyebrows and public tantrums, a little kindness goes a long, long way.

The Great Strawberry Fight of 2012

I know I should probably be posting Easter festivities...but I'm not feelin' it tonight.  Instead, you get to watch The Great Strawberry Fight of 2012.

So I picked up a box of strawberries at the first good sale of the season (yay! for .99c/lb strawberries but boo! for a 1 pound limit!) and these things are hard-core giiinormous. I mean, there's seriously like 7 in the whole box.  That ought to tell ya something.  Anyway, I'm usually a (somewhat) good mom and cut my 10 month old's food into teeny-tiny pieces...however...I just couldn't resist the siren call of feeding him something amusing.  Hence today's post.  Behold:

Oakie sizin' up the competition...

...jumpin' into the fray...

...and the strawberry bites back!

(poor boy.  He's teething on the top and eating is a painful process for him.)

And he's back in the fight!

The crowd goes wild!!!

...and, as he eats the last nibble, turns out he got the last punch in after all.

Anyway, for those who don't believe me when I insist that my very small Oak is actually an enormous eater, I'm happy to report he ate the entire thing in less then 10 minutes.

I'm going to assume that most of y'all are like, "seriously, you just posted a 5-picture post of your kid eating a strawberry?  and he's your FOURTH?" but whatevs.  It's for my posterity not yours anyway :P

Oh, Mr. Sun!

Just in case you need a little extra sunshine this weekend...

 

Happy Easter, y'all!

The Ghost of Easters Past

So, I was looking up this recipe for resurrection rolls that I make for an annual Easter activity (every year I forget...and every year Ezra reminds me :).  As I was looking back through Easter post after post, I couldn't help but smile at the mere sight of Georgia's chubby cheeks and curls, Scarlett's ginormous mouth, and Ezra...well...Ezra's pretty much always looked the same. Anyway, I figured I might as well spread the smiles around and share.  Take a look if you want, don't if you don't.  Mostly I'm posting this for those who love my children most of all (you know who you are ;)

Enjoy!

2010-I

2010- II

2009

2008

In other news...

I went in to Target the other day to buy 2 items.  I walked out $50 poorer.  What can I say? I just can't resist the siren call of fabulous patterns.  

Back! Back ye Temptresses of Modern Consumerism!