Happy Good Friday!

Happy Good Friday everyone!  It is sure to be a great one here. I have all sorts of things lined up for the kids to enjoy today. I stayed up late last night getting everything ready for the busy day.I started by decorating the door and window in the playroom to be festive for Easter and and the letter E celebration! Bells and her mommy loved seeing the decorations when they came up the sidewalk!

 

It just sets the mood for the day! Here are the girls sitting in the playroom talking about the pictures on the window! 

Of Course we will do an Easter egg hunt because E is for Easter and egg! 

And I am all set to dye some Easter eggs. I asked the parents to dress the kids in something that could get dye on it. We'll be careful but with 2 year old children it is better to be safe then sorry!

 Everyone is soooo excited to be here for this E is for Easter celebration! There is singing and playing and it's only breakfast time! Check out K's rendition of Peter Cotton Tail. I would love to say that I taught it to him, but I think he learned it at home or from a video. Either way it's still cute. I wonder if it will still be cute when I hear it for the 20 billionth time.



 I hope you all have a Fabulous Good Friday and an Excellent Easter!

Don't forget to celebrate the true reason for this Easter Celebration. 

Jesus Died and Rose for YOU! What a GIFT! So, find your own special way to celebrate the Lord and the Blessings of life He has given you! This is the day the LORD HAS MADE! We will REJOICE and be GLAD in it! AMEN!

Changing the subject a bit to give you an update on the clutter front. My friend BJNR left me a comment on my post telling about this website called flylady.net. She said it had helped her, so I'm giving it a go. The first assignment was to shine my sink. There were very specific instructions to follow. I did them all and I have to say, I do feel better. Fly Lady said it would be like her hug to me. It would make me smile when I woke up in the morning and saw my shiny sink. She was right! I'll keep you all posted on my Flylady experience and my progress to DE-CLUTTER!

Happy Friday Follow!

CLUTTER! UGH!

Clutter! Clutter! Clutter! It's everywhere I look. It's on top and on the front of the fridge, on most flat surfaces and in many many drawers. I live in clutter. Despite my best intentions and relentless cleaning, it just keeps coming back and each time it seems to grow bigger. The higher surfaces really gather the mess the best. What was clean 15 minutes earlier becomes the place to keep things safe from little hands or banish toys that have been taken away. UGH!

This beautiful island above becomes a drop spot for everything the moment I walk in the door. I really can't blame anyone but myself for most of it. There's the camera bag...mine. There's a coffee mug...mine. There's the phone... I forgot to put it away. Fold up potty seat... I took it out of my purse and it landed there. I think I see poster paper in there... also mine. There are some Ben things too! There are some sunglasses, a home depot bag ( you know that's not mine for sure!), our dog's collar, and Ben's work stuff. So, while I am outing my clutter issues, I do have a little help from those around me.

Clutter and messiness has been a problem my whole life. I remember when I was in the third grade begging my best friend Natoya, to help me organize the inside of my desk. Hers was always perfect. Everything was just where it was supposed to be. Her folders looked brand new even though I knew she had them all year long just like me. She would always help me, but it seemed that within just one day, it was right back the way it started.I would like to blame my messy nature on my creative brain or a genetic disposition to being sloppy, but the fact is I am old enough to know how to do better. You would think so anyway!

I was recently painfully reminded of just how messy I am. I went into a friends house and saw how the other side, the non-clutter side, live. When I walked though the door I was instantly aware of my house keeping short comings. My friends house looked like something out of a Southern Living Magazine. Everything was perfectly decorated. There was no dirt or clutter in site. Even the base boards were immaculate. COME ON!!!! I looked and looked for clutter or mess somewhere, but I swear, there was not a thing out of place. She is living my dream! The clutter-less goal I have been striving to achieve my whole life is in her house!  How does she do it??? I have no idea! All I know is, I don't do it and I want it!

I want to live like that. I want to live in a house where everything has a place and I remember to put it in it's place. I want someone to come in and tell me how to decorate.I want them to tell me what to pitch and what to keep. I want to buy containers and shelves to make things nice and neat and pretty. I want to start from scratch and do it better this time. I dream of the show Clean house coming here and giving me a little boost. My house isn't as bad as the ones on that show, but I could definitely use some organization help.I want Trish to give me all of the containers and help me to sort , Matt to handle putting in all the shelving, and Mark to redesign my house from top to bottom. It would feel like a breath of fresh air to have a clean slate.

Alas! That will never happen. I will have to do it myself. BOOOOOO! I will have to buy all of those containers myself which, by the way, are not cheap. I will have to throw away things I might need later. I will have to repaint my whole house and remove the little finger prints and crayon marks from the walls. I will have to find the perfect couch that doesn't attract my dogs hair. I will have to fix it all someday. I did sign up for this home makeover contest. I have been faithfully checking to see if my number has been drawn. Nothing yet!
I'm still hoping though!

For those of you who live in the non-clutter world, please, do not judge us that do. Most of us want to be like you. Most of us are trying our best to keep this little DIRTY secret of clutter hidden from the rest of the world. I, however have just outed myself to the world and I am feeling a bit naked. Who am I kidding? Everyone who has been to my house knows it  anyway. Shouting, " DON"T LOOK IN THERE!" kinda gives me away! ugh! I remember thinking , " When I am home and not working at school anymore the house will always be clean and the laundry will always get done." That didn't happen. It seems to have just gotten worse.

I'm not giving up! I will defeat this mess and clutter. It will happen someday! I have to believe that I can accomplish that simple task before I go before the Lord. I want to rest in peace knowing that I left my little space of the world clean.  Until that happens though... Don't go in any closets, drawers, or rooms with the door shut. It's just better for us all that way!

We WILL have fun at the zoo!

Last week the kids and I took second trip to our local Zoo! It's a very small family owned zoo. I've been to the San Diego Zoo before and this little zoo is a far cry from that glorious place. However, it serves my kids perfectly. It's big enough to wear them out, yet small enough not to wear me out! I had season passes to the zoo last year because Ruby loved it so much. We went all the time. So, I thought nothing about getting them again this year. I figured we would go once every few weeks, just to see what was new and to review the kids favorite spots. It would be the perfect way to get all my darlings to take a long long nap after lunch and give me a break.

My plan was almost foiled when we took our first trip of the season and it was a bit of a disaster. It seems that my little darling Ruby has developed a new emotion since last year. FEAR! This zoo has a peacock and a rooster that they allow to walk around the park. We saw the same peacock and rooster last year and it wasn't a problem, but that wasn't true this year. That darn peacock and rooster pretty much ruined our trip. It started with Ruby flipping out and then trickled to K and Bells.We couldn't get out of there fast enough that day. I was worried that I had just wasted a ton of money getting the season passes and this kids wouldn't ever want to go back.


Sure enough, when I mentioned going to the zoo again, all three children had remembered the rooster and peacock fiasco and were worried about going back. But, I was determined to have a fantastic trip this time. I was not going to have bought those passes in vain! We piled into my mom- mobile, put in Madagascar to set the mood and off we went to change popular opinion about the zoo!



Putting in Madagascar was brilliant, if I do say so myself. By the time we got to the zoo the kids were looking forward to the giraffes and we were making it our mission for the day to look for the lion and perhaps some lemurs. We got out of the car, checked in and got our zoo treats for the giraffes and we were set. We walked into a very noisy zoo that put Ruby back a few steps. It took some coaxing then some firm talking, but I finally got her down the ramp to the first set of animals. Here is the video. You can see how this might be a little intimidating. K and Bells, were into it and I think that helped eventually calm Ruby down.



We were off to a great start! AND I am happy to report things only got better from there. Next we saw the cutest baby monkey. The mommy monkey was playing with the baby. It was just precious!

Then we found our lion!Which of course we decided to name Alex after our favorite Madagascar lion!

Then another fantastic discovery! Ostrich eggs!

Turtles sunning themselves.What a great learning day we are having at the zoo!Until...

THAT STUPID PEACOCK! I had to try and distract Ruby while we passed by it! K and Bells saw it and picked up the pace a bit. I hurried them along as fast as I could. Ruby saw it after we passed and screamed and ran! OHHH NOOO! My perfect zoo trip was about to be ruined by one dumb bird! 

AND THEN ...

there were two birds. UGHHHHH! This one, I'm not sure what it is., BUT  we found out later he wasn't supposed to be out of his little caged area. NOT GOOD PEOPLE! I had to find something to redeem this day and quick!

THANK GOODNESS FOR THE GIRAFFE!!!!!



You can see the kids weren't that interested in feeding him, but it still saved the day!

The Penguins were a big highlight of the day too. We got to watch them eat their lunch.

Then we ate ours too! I've found that it's best to eat lunch before we go home whenever possible. Most of the time one or all of them fall asleep on the way. So, when I get home it's straight to bed for them and rest time for me!

We talked about our favorite parts. Ruby said hers was the giraffe, Bells enjoyed the monkey's and K said his favorite was the lion! Why am I not surprised? We had a fantastic day overall. I think even with the bird issue, I could safely say the kids would agree!

Here are some more great pictures of the day! 

THIS CRAZY CREW HAD A WONDERFUL DAY AT THE ZOO!