wedding tea party

Yes, I got up at 2am this morning to watch. Abi got up too and the two of us giggled and oooo and aaahhhed over everything. Watching a royal wedding with my little girl was ultimate bliss. I cried when the bride came down the aisle as I thought about the final days and THE wedding in Heaven. The church will be adorned in white. And here was this gorgeous bride this morning coming to meet her groom in royal colors with regal pagentry. So beautiful! They played "Jerusalem", my favorite hymn of all time and of course I cried again. All of England sang together, yet another image of things to come. Of course we had to celebrate, and what better than to have an English tea breakfast party: Bangers, sausages, lemon curd, strawberry shortcakes, some crackers and cheese, and Earl Grey tea.

Genn loved the printables where she could decorate the royal cake

and here is Abi making special hats for the occasion.

Here is the lemon curd recipe, it's the one I always use. Never fails. Unbelievably addicting.

the first stages of the lemon curd

and a yummy jar freshly made.

Hope your day is delightful and full of love.

who needs a gym?

Before you read this: please do not mind the lack of fashionable workout gear, the lack of a pedicure, or the lack of pants on my two year (potty training in high gear around here)

So THIS is my gym. "Hmmm" you say "where are the weights, where are the fancy treadmills, t.v's and gym freaks?" Well, I have kids: much better!

Dragging children along the floor, clasped to your ankles is a great workout for the back of the thighs!

Here I am working on my arms...

I've now increased the weights and am working on my hamstrings.

Some squats...

Working the bycepts.

Plank pose...

push-ups with a little extra (55 lb) challenge

More squats, increasing the weights this time.

Working out with kids. The laughter goes right to those abs, the workout is intense and the fun never-ending!

coming down off the sugar

Here are my five sweet kiddos in their Easter Sunday best. Easter was fantastic, good church service, good ham, mashed potatoes, good Asparagus/hollandaise casserole (an invention of mine), good rolls, and LOTS of candy. So much candy!!!! The kids were a little twitchy this morning... right back into homeschool? nope! Let's start slow.

I have a lot of packages of photo paper I snagged in a cleaning out of a school supply stash. What to do with all that paper. I was inspired by this San Diego artist's work and I thought it would be fun to mimic her art. So here are a few snaps from our ink and watercolor project.

I did this one for demonstration, not very good, but you get the idea.

I love the abstractness of my two year old's artwork. The kids loved this project. Great way to warm up slowly into the schooling work-week. Happy Easter to all of you. and remember... He is Risen... He is Risen Indeed!!!!