Wordless Wednesday : Music Edition

After yesterday's stress session, I figured I should update everyone. In short, we are fine. No damage to our house or our loved ones, so we are blessed. As we are saying "There was nothing lost but sleep". Other people in our area, however, were not so lucky, so keep them in your thoughts and prayers and they will begin to rebuild their lives after the devastation of this storm system.

In keeping with the craziness of these storms {and the fact that it is supposed to rain again tonight - ugh!}, I thought I would pay tribute to some weather-related tunes. Enjoy.






Can you tell I am tired of the rain?! Here's hoping it ends soon!

In need...

Most days on this blog I tend to keep things lighthearted. Why not? That is how I see life most of the time anyway. Today though, I would like to ask for prayers. The last couple of days have been really disastrous for a lot of people, and the coming days may prove to be pretty rough as well. These storms that wreaked havoc on Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama have been so devastating for so many and my heart breaks for them.

Last night was rough for us in the Florida Panhandle too, and I didn't sleep a wink. You see, I have an almost paralyzing fear of tornadoes. My heart pounds uncontrollably; I can't sleep; I can't even think of anything other than what the weather may be doing outside. Every single noise I hear, I analyze. Case in point, when the coffee maker started this morning it was a new sound from those I had been hearing all night and I was so in tuned with each noise that it made me tense up until I figured out what it was. I have been so nervous all day today with the thought of Round 2 of these storms that I haven't been able to relax and enjoy my time with the little man. My stomach has just been in knots.

However, I am constantly being reminded that we are being taken care of, and I am so thankful to know the One that made the world has wrapped his arms around us and is taking care of us even now.

So please keep me in your prayers that my nerves will settle, and much more importantly, pray for safety for all those affected by this storm system. Pray for comfort for those who have already lost their homes and loved ones. I can't even image what they are going through right now.

Playing in Pensacola

Our neighbor, Sonia, whom you have "met" on several occasions here, here, and here, has a gorgeous garden filling her front yard. She purposefully plants flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies so that Canon can enjoy them and so that I can take pictures of them. Sweet, right? Yeah, she's the best.

She called me one day last week to tell me her bottle brush plant was in full bloom and that I should high tail it over with my camera. Since I always do as I am told, Canon and I put on our shoes and went out to play.

I took my time getting to know this handsome fellow...

...while Canon spent some quality time with his favorite lady and dog. Boy, he loves these two. So do I.

I hope you all have a lovely Monday.

Friday Funnies : Animal Edition

These all made me giggle today.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Easter Sunday

As I stated in Tuesday's blog post, we celebrate Easter as the day Jesus rose from the grave, but we also love to encourage magic in our child's life by way of the Easter Bunny {much like Santa Claus at Christmas}. So Easter morning, Canon woke up to a few treats from E.B. which both amazed and excited him. I guess he doesn't remember every other Easter that he has been alive because this was a completely new experience for him. Definitely made for a fun time for us.

E.B. brought him a few fun things like nun-chucks, Frozen, throwing stars, stickers, a "grabber", and a dinosaur puzzle, among some other toys and treats. For the record, yes I realize that he is spoiled, but we enjoy making these times special, so I won't apologize for that.

After basket-opening and church, we had Easter lunch with my mom and my brother's family at our house. Then, of course, it was egg hunting time. Craig and my brother Wread hid the eggs in the backyard and then the kids had a blast finding them all.

Anderson, who is two years old, used this basket for her eggs. She would pick up a couple of "founts" {as in "I found it!"}, as she called them, and walk them back to her basket. Once all eggs were found, the kids wanted to find more so Wread took the eggs from her basket to hide again. Anderson, of course, didn't see this happening but realized that her eggs were missing after a while, and her face upon this discovery was priceless. She subsequently refused to put any more eggs into it and carried tons of them around the rest of the day in her arms. Even as her daddy tried to coax her to use her basket, she vehemently refused.

The boys thought they would be very clever and hide some eggs on their person, which the kiddos found immediately. Can you spot Craig's?

I would like to note that the hidden egg that Canon found here is actually located in a light switch, not an outlet.

And there is Wread's "hidden" egg on his person.

Of course, I also insisted on family pictures that day. Or at least, the family that was present.

I would also like to point out that Easter Sunday also happened to be my dad's birthday, so while he wasn't here to celebrate with us, we were able to video chat with him for a while and had a nice little visit. Happy birthday Dad! I love you and can't wait to see you again soon!

I hope everyone had a happy and blessed Easter!

Wordless Wednesday : Travel

Just a few thoughts today. Craig and I often say that we would rather spend our money on experiences than stuff. Making memories are priceless.

So honey, let's go. I'm ready!

To dye for

Like most everyone else last week, we dyed Easter eggs in preparation for the big day. We celebrate Easter as the day our Savior conquered the grave, but we see no harm in getting a visit from the Easter Bunny and having egg hunts for the kiddos. We decorate the house with spring decor and dye eggs to our hearts content. Or at least we dye as many as we need for the potato salad and evil eggs*.

*Note: "Evil eggs" are so called because my youngest brother, as a wee lad, couldn't remember the name "deviled eggs". He just remembered they were bad, so they became "evil eggs" and have been that ever since.

I decided to try a couple of different ways of dyeing eggs this year, since I had seen a couple of new ways of trying things. Craig, Canon, and I used the usual color-tablet-in-water-with-vinegar method and got some pretty bright results. I didn't take any pictures of us in the process, probably because I was trying to be "in the moment" so...my bad.

However, our dear and favorite neighbor, Sonia, had previously sent me a new way of dyeing eggs (via facebook or pinterest) so I invited her over to help with that method the next day. It involves shaving cream and food coloring swirled together and is supposed to leave a marbled effect on the eggs.

The idea is to cover your pan with shaving cream, at least an inch thick. Then put a couple of drops of food coloring in it and swirl it around with a toothpick. It should look like this when you are done.

Next, you roll your eggs around until they are heavily saturated with shaving cream. Put them aside for 5-10 minutes while the color soaks into the egg.

The blue and green coloring worked great with this method, but the orange coloring wouldn't stick so Sonia decided to try a different way. I should note that she is a nurse and has surgical gloves out the wazoo, but guess what she didn't bring with her.

Note: Both of these egg dyeing methods are rather messy so if you work in the medical field don't plan on seeing any patients the next day unless you want to freak them out. Oh wait, sorry Sonia.

While Sonia was busy taking one for the team getting elbow deep in color, Canon was hard at work supervising. See?

The cracked egg in the back dove off of the table before we started and Canon didn't help it at all. You believe me, right?

Me thinks Canon didn't understand the whole "hold up an egg to show off your artistic skills" thing.

Personally, I think the hand crafting that Sonia did really came out well. The shaving cream method worked too, so I am thinking that we will be dyeing eggs with food coloring instead of those kits from now on.

Many thanks to Sonia for making this day so fun and memorable. We love you!

Bay Day

Man, I missed this blog last week! I apologize for my absence. We actually started the first part of last week taking care of my best friend's baby. They live a little over an hour away so Canon and I got up super early to get there before business hours and spent our time playing superheroes and villains with an extra cute little dude. Of course, that was only the first two days, so what did we do with the rest of the week? Well, all three of us got sick and spent our week resting up and trying to get well. Fun times. In any case, we are back and almost better than ever. If that's possible. #kidding

Back to the task at hand, though. A few weeks ago I asked my mother where she wanted to go eat for her birthday. We decided to take her out to celebrate and I assumed she would say that she wanted mexican food. Fajitas are a staple in her diet and she may as well have her own booth permanently reserved for her at her favorite restaurant. However, she is also a sun lover and the weather was especially beautiful that weekend so she stated that she would rather take a picnic down to the bay and spend some time playing in the sand and water. It turned out to be the perfect idea.

Being spring, we saw some "animalistic behaviors" going on, which left me singing a little Ella Fitzgerald. Birds do it, bees do it... I will spare you the more graphic photographic evidence. You're welcome.

While my mom and Canon played in the sand, Craig took a little nap. Hey, you have to take advantage of the time when you have it.

I think this means "WHO'S THE MAN?! I'M THE MAN!" Of course, I am just speculating.

"And draw!"

In the end, it was a perfect day that celebrated an amazing mother and grandmother. I love you mom! Happy birthday!