Gold Stars for Steve

My hubby is amazing and definitely goes above and beyond. I will use this post to just point out a couple of examples so the next time one of his habits seems a wee-bit irritating, I can put it in perspective and remember his many outstanding traits.
Steve is very thoughtful. He brought home this gorgeous hydrangea last week. It is so perfect that it looks fake! I love, love, love me some flowers. Especially ones that last and last.

Flowers make my heart sing!

Steve is romantic. About a week before we went on our second honeymoon in Vegas, Steve gave me a customized silver pendent necklace. What a surprise! It says, "Live Laugh Love Lindgren Style" on the outside and "Steve*Abbigail*Angelique" around the inside. It has a mother-of-pearl charm in the center. I added the heart charm that Abby gave me for Christmas to it which says "A mother... holds her child's heart forever." I love it & wear it all the time. It keeps my family close to my heart.

Steve is generous. After 4 days of me prancing around in the robe provided at the Trump hotel in Vegas saying how much I loved it and randomly shouting "Your fired!", Steve ordered me my very own Trump robe.
It is completely floor length on me and irresistibly soft and cozy in the inside. OMGosh - it is the best memento from a vacation I think I have ever gotten. My hubby has been earning some major gold stars! Steve, YOU.ARE.THE.BEST!!! and the earlier comment about irritating habits.... ummm... I was just kidding. ;-)

The signs are everywhere!!

In just a few short weeks, these branches will change from this...

to this.

And these little bulbs will go from this...

to this!

And these tender sprouts will transform from this...

to this!!

And these green shoots will morph from this...

to THIS!!!

From out of the bleak, cold soil, breathtaking beauty is emerging.
I absolutely love my perennials and the rebirth of Spring!

A little Easter egg-citement.

I resorted to using my super-powers to get the family to cooperate for some outdoor Easter pictures on Sunday after church.

Are you wondering what my super-power is?

Lean in closer and I'll whisper into your ear how to get your children to cooperate and allow you to take many, many pictures in order to get a couple nice shots....

..... it's called bribery.... It is magical and it is highly effective!

It went something like this.... "No one gets to hunt up any Easter eggs until I get some NICE family pictures taken."

And what do you know? Perfect obedience! I changed venue 3 different times. I took over 30 pictures with my camera on a tripod. I previewed and putzed and not one complaint. I love my super powers.

And then the hunt began.

The competition was fierce.

There were lots of smiles.

And a lot of dashing around the yard.

and then the loot was divided and they sunk into a blissful sugar coma.

Hope your Easter was wonderful!

Not my best idea.

We tried something new for coloring our Easter eggs this year. The package promised vibrant beautiful "Candy Apple" eggs. The results? Bright, sticky, gooey Easter eggs.
The concept was cool. And it came with a custom pallet to mix the colors in along with two brushes.

The brushes included in the kit were junk, so we used some brushes of our own.

The eggs were slippery and more than one accidentally got dropped and got just a little bit chipped.

The paint/dye mixture was gloppy and sticky, but eventually we got the hang of it and were able to make some cool looking eggs.

The shiny finish and bright colors were great. The colors also blended well.

There was plenty of concentration and creativity invested in these eggs.

Smiley, happy egg!

The girls and I waited and waited for the eggs to dry. We even tried drying them with a paper towel. Finally we put them back in the fridge still tacky.

The next morning those darn eggs were still sticky! Abby said, "Mom, next year let's just use the kind with tablets that you dip in the color."

Sounds like a plan.

Eggs-traordinary cookies

What do you get when you take a couple of tubes of refrigerator sugar cookie dough, a tub of frosting, a package of $1 dollar Easter cookie cutters and mix in some 6 creative girls? You get eggs-traordinarily beautiful cookies and a ton of laughter!
The three older girls took one tub of plain yellow frosting and added some food coloring to create 4 vibrant colors. Eggs-tremely Spring-y colors, too: teal, lime-green, dusty rose, tangerine.
Add a mixture of different sprinkles, jelly beans and frosting writers and you have options galore.

From the dump 'em all together option....

To the change-a-bunny-cookie into "Inky" the ghost option....
To more traditional Easter egg inspired options...

The girls worked hard on their egg-celent cookies. Kamiryn is debating her next sprinkle color.

Abby is squeezing hard on her frosting writer.

Kippy is egg-cited about her bunny.

Dani is crafting a beautiful egg cookie.

The end result of all their creativity is a rainbow of color.

And a tummy full of sugar!! Great job girls!

A quick Easter crafty

This craft is super easy and the idea is compliments of my bestie, Lori, who made these cute Christmas coasters!
The supplies: a couple sheets of Easter themed scrapbook paper cut down to 4.25" squares, white ceramic tile (got these for 10 cents each at Ben Franklin Crafts), felt circles (self adhesive), and good old Mod Podge.
I Mod-Podged the paper to the tile and smoothed out the bubbles with a credit card; coated with three coats of Mod Podge (letting dry in between, of course), added the felt pads in the corners and spray painted a couple light coats of clear varnish to make sure water proof. Tie 4 of them up with cute pastel ribbon and put in an Easter basket. Or just use them around your house as a cute pop of Easter to rest your favorite beverage on.

Birthday boy in the house!!

Just like fine wine... Steve just keeps getting better and better every year!!

The girls wish you a very happy birthday and thank you for being such a fantastic father!

Couldn't ask for more of a hands on dad!

Happy birthday to my honey! So grateful I have been able to celebrate YOU on your birthday for the past well... ummm... 23 years!! Just did the math... yup, that is right. Been celebrating Steve's birthday since 1987.

Definitely just getting better and better! Love you much!!