Easter 2012

Am Easter recap if you will starting from the top rolling to the bottom:
- Syd actually wore a tie to church, without fuss.  He took it off almost immediately after getting home, but never mind, he wore a tie to church.  He looked adorable (Daniel & Andrew, my nephews, wore matching neon coral polo shirts and looked pretty fantastic too).
- Speaking of church, thank you for your comments on my last post.  I have some things to say to those that responded and am thinking of writing a follow up post later in the week.  This has been a big subject for me lately...
- I tried the Katniss braid on Taylor and for the most part it worked!  It looked even better the first time I tried it for Easter pictures.  We were in a hurry Easter morning so it came out a little pokey, but the effect was still achieved. 
- Taylor and Syd's outfits were from the Gap.  Her dress was $14 and his pants were $16.  Sweet!
- 9 grand kids will soon be 10!  And baby #3 is mystery baby - we decided not to find out the sex!
- Isn't my nephew dapper in his fedora and bow tie?
- Syd changed shirts half way thru Easter and we ended up matching.  Just as well.
- I love her toothless smile.  Syd and her were playing on the ground the morning we left for Park City and he accidentally kicked out her 2nd top tooth.  Now we'll always have a story about her brother kicking out her tooth.
- The majority of our Easter decorations got eaten up in the great mouse disaster of 2012.  One lone twig bunny survived that sat on the front porch.  I relied this year on some fresh floral arrangements in pastel spring colors to set an Easter tone.  I'll go to Home Goods today and snatch up whatever Easter decor remains at half off.  I already checked and Target is cleared out.
- I made those birds nest things using this recipe, and they were all right.  Looked cute enough, but way too sweet for my taste.  Photo op achieved, now to try something different next year.
- The day was gorgeous and in the high 70's, and the pool has naturally heated up to the high 60's.  The kids (and Art) swam most of the day, leaving my house relatively clean and mess free.  Hooray!  It was a lot of work to put together this week, but there really is nothing better than hosting a family gathering and seeing everyone enjoy themselves.  It was a blessed Easter.  I truly hope yours was too friends. 

You can hop on over to my other blog to see some other pretty pastel pictures of desserts!

When Holidays Leave You Feeling Lost

You know those people that only show up to church at holidays?  Well, I used to be one of them.  I go much more often now, although in all honesty we haven't been in 2 weeks because of vacation, but our track record is decent.  We even made it to church when the clocks sprung forward a few weeks back.

But even though our track record is better in attendance, on days like today I'm reminded of how weak my faith really is.  I'm reminded how much I'm failing myself and my kids.  I'm reminded how much more I should really be doing.  Before we had kids I used to think that if we just took our family to church on a regular basis that would be enough.  It would be much more than I ever had growing up.  But as they get older and the questions start coming in, like "why is God called the destroyer and creator mommy?", I realize how foolish I am to think every thing they'll need to know to come to love God and lead a life worthy of Him can't simply be infused by going to Sunday school once a week and saying some prayers.

In all this though I'm reminded of God's grace and how if I was the perfect parent, there would be no need for my children to find Him or even need Him at all.  A wise friend told me that I just have to be patient and accept where I am in my journey right now, and the rest will come, but I'm losing patience and growing frustrated.  Mainly because I know in many ways I am in control of my journey and I can't just sit idly by and wait.  I'm not growing and haven't felt like I've been growing for the past several months.  I'm not sure what that means, but I'm praying about it so that an answer can become clear soon enough.  Because bottom line, if I'm not growing, my kids are going to have a hard time growing too.

I didn't mean this to be a downer post for Good Friday.  More so, I guess I just want to encourage any of you out there that may be feeling like me on this day, as we enter one of the most holy of holidays.  A little lost, a little confused, a little left out.  You're not alone.  There's Christians out there, like me, like you, that have the best intentions but fail miserably most of the time.  That want to be able to cite all the Bible verses that relate to this day but don't have a clue.  We'll get there friends.  We'll get there.  And to those of you out there that have walked in faith for years, and know all those verses and feel their faith feet firmly planted in the ground, have a little understanding, and perhaps offer some encouragement to those of us trudging along trying to figure it all out.     

Happy Easter my friends.  Thank you for reading...

Exciting News

I hadn't said anything for fear of jinxing it, but since my first post is finally up and has been positively accepted, I wanted to let you know that I have signed on to be a regular contributor for Nicole at Making It Lovely. I couldn't be more excited and honored. My first post went up today and it's an Easter table setting with a neon twist (of course ;)) I'd love it if you went over to check it out and said hi. Here's a sneak peek...

DIY Neon Bow T-Shirts For Girls

I couldn't leave out my daughter while thinking of projects for neon week, especially after making neon dinos for my son.  A couple of months back I was in the Kate Spade store buying the neon gumdrop earrings when I was hit with inspiration.  All I could see for a brief moment were bows and neon.  Sort of like being hit over the head and seeing stars.  I went home and googled bow paper punches and of course Martha Stewart made a cute one that wasn't the least bit cheesy.  Oh Martha what would we do without you?

I basically used the same concept here as I did for my heart punch canvas bags that have since become a hit.  Cut strips of freezer paper, punch out your bows, iron on and paint in.  That's how I achieved the neat symmetrical rows in the shirt seen on the little blonde cutie above.  For Taylor's shirt I just cut out bows in a random pattern and ironed them on in a waterfall effect.  I did the same gradating colors, landing on beige, as I did for my T-shirt seen on For the Love Of.  It really can't get more simple than that.  My main tip is to place a rag between your layers of T so that the paint doesn't bleed through.

Taylor loves her neon shirt so much and I'm going to make some for gifts.  I just used the standard T-shirts from Target that are $5.  A great little shirt for any girl in your life.   

P.S. Thanks so much Shelly for letting Ellie model for me and I hope she's enjoying her bow t-shirt as much as Taylor is!

DIY - Neon Dinos For Kids

 I mentioned before that some neon love would be coming your way here on Four Flights of Fancy, in addition to at my other style site.  Well here you go, this one is a child-centric DIY that will jazz up any toys you may have lying around.  Since my son has an affinity for dinosaurs, the choice here was obvious.  In all honesty I had to spray paint these when he was not looking in order to avoid a freak out, but once they were complete, he did freak out, but in a good way.  He loved them so much he took them with us to Park City.  And while I thought my son would be the only one attracted to the fluorescent dinos, turns out my daughter has an affinity for them too.  Like mother, like daughter eh?

 Begin with some plastic toys of any kind really.  Cows, dogs, horses, or in this case, dinosaurs. 

Add a coat or two of spray paint primer.  You will have to do some shifting around in between coats to ensure full coverage, and may have to add a coat or two. 

Then add a couple of coats of your selected color choice of neon spray paint and let dry completely.  I wouldn't let little toddlers prone to still biting on their toys play with these, but since we're nearing 5, my son has completely outgrown that stage.  Instead he sucks and chews on his blankie, because that's not babyish or anything.  Note to self: must work on the blankie addiction. 

Put on display or encourage play.  Either way, these cool creatures from the Jurassic age will fit in perfectly with today's trend conscious, hip parents ;)

Note to you, my fine readers: There's lots of other neon goodness going on over at my other blog, For the Love Of.  The type of neon goodness meant for you grown up, hipster ladies interested in adding a bit of neon fun to your life.  See them all here.

To Reveal or Not To Reveal

Friends, a very unscientific and impromptu poll for you all...

After putting off making my 18-20 week ultrasound appointment, I finally confirmed an appointment for tomorrow morning.  Of course the main purpose of this important ultrasound is to check on baby bean and see if it's happy and healthy, but we all know once health has been confirmed, the fun part is finding out the SEX of baby bean.

For the first time I am contemplating NOT finding out the gender of this baby.  I found out with the first two and up until a few days ago was sure I'd find out with this one too.  But now I'm not too sure.  The thing is, once I find out what the sex is, I feel like I'll have to start planning.  A nursery, clothes, names, etc.  And I'm not ready to do that.  It's not that I'm not excited, I just don't want the "pressure" I'll put on myself of having to figure it all out.

If I don't find out, we'll just go forth with setting up a bassinet in our room and go from there after the baby is born.

So I'd love your feedback/advice/suggestions.  Did you find out the sex with all your babies, or did you let it be a surprise?  Was it MORE stressful not knowing than you anticipated it would be?  For ease of planning would you wish you would have known?  Was it as exciting being surprised as everyone told you it would be?

Inquiring minds want to know!  Please share and tell me, should I find our or not find out?

Easter Inspiration

Good Morning friends and welcome back to me!  We arrived home from Park City early yesterday afternoon, and instead of unpacking we took advantage of our day by continuing with that vacation feeling by enjoying the weather, washing our cars and picnicking outside.  It's time to settle back into routine though and plan our remaining 2 weeks of spring break, and unpack.  What are some of your spring break plans?  I am starting to get a nesting feeling so will be doing some spring cleaning and also visiting our local museums and the Huntington Gardens & Library.

I have some fun neon posts lined up for the week, but first I wanted to share some of my favorite Easter posts from the last couple of years in case you still needed some ideas.

Easter Bunny Paw Prints is a fun tradition we started about 5 years ago and will continue it until the kids no longer believe in the Easter Bunny I guess ;)

A simple and easy craft for this week, especially for preschoolers through 1st graders are to make these Contact Paper Easter Eggs.

If you grew your own grass eggs this year (I was too lazy and tired to do the project this time around), you can put them to good use and make Grass Egg Place Settings for your Easter feast. 

I've been out of the loop this past week, so please share if you've made or have seen any great Easter inspired crafts or recipes out there.  I'd love to do something with the kids this week!

Oh, and the winner of the Ike & Co. giveaway is Anne of Modern Mrs. Darcy!  Congratulations Anne!