Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday to All and hope you had a wonderful weekend!!  It was a nice and mellow one here. We were productive around the house (cleaning and errands and groceries) and rented some on demand movies. Sometimes it's so nice not having a big agenda. Plus, I got my office/craft room spring cleaned and organized and it makes me so HAPPY!! Will share a post with pics soon.  

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

It's still only been in the 30's or 40's lately and next expected to be much warmer today or the whole of this week.  Cloudy today but sun supposed to maybe peek out and might hit 40. As I've said before, compared to last March/Spring this is wonderful for us - so I'm very grateful!!

 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Some blueberry hazelnut oatmeal and hot cup of coffee with hazelnut creamer.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

The squirrels, chipmunks and birds have been feeling the Spring and are quite busy and making a lot of noise.  I LOVE IT!! 

 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Watching some news. Deciding what I'm going to do with my mom-in-law today. It's kind of nice to have the groceries done already from the weekend, but she's so happy when we keep busy too. I think I may have her help me make some banana bread (I have some over ripe bananas that need using up). May run a few quick errands, and then make dinner to bring my in-laws when I take my MIL home. Thinking quick and easy: sloppy joes (homemade not from a can), a big green veggie salad, some chips and of course bring them 1/2 of the banana bread.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Laundry (ALWAYS - ugh!), a few dishes - but overall pretty tidy. Early AM is nice when the first daylight comes in (sunny or not) and everything feels so quiet and calm before the bustle of the day begins. 

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Everything I mentioned above: bake banana bread, run errands and make dinner to bring in-laws for later.  If it's not too cold later maybe we can bundle up and take a little walk too.

CURRENTLY READING:

I've still been a magazine junkie lately and haven't been reading anything substantial and i miss it. I really need to just pick one of my many books laying in wait & get reading!! I can't tear myself away from some new gardening magazines and dreaming on what i want to do this season!

ON THE TV TODAY:

I still need to catch up on the Good Wife, also I had kind of been watching the Voice and have several of those taped to catch up on if I'm going to keep up with it.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

I'm thinking sloppy joes tonight as mentioned above.  Also, we may grill brats one night and have with baked beans and cooked veggie side dish. I also want to make my MIL's old time recipe for lemon bars this week. And another meal for us and in-laws I have planned is crunchy honey mustard chicken tenders and twice baked potatoes with mixed veggie side dish. Keeping it nice and easy this week as we have lots of after school events (something every night but Friday!)

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

I have a few little project ideas in the works, but haven't started them yet.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing really new - too busy this week. However, I have made chicken tenders many times before but not the way I'm planning to this week with a honey mustard mixture and panko bread crumbs coating the tenders. Thought I'd shake it up for different flavors and my son and dad-in-law both really like honey mustard.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Unfortunately one of the best ways I get my hubby to drink water is by having bottled water around. He likes to take a bottle with him on his way out the door in the AM on the way to work. I try to wash and re-use the bottles a reasonable amount to help the environment at least a little, and I like to use one to water all of my plants each week. I just fill the empty bottle with tap water and it has such a nice narrow top that it's easy to get in under the plants leaves to water into the dirt. Also works nice then for my self-watering pots that have a little lip I need to pour the water in to - as the narrow bottle top fits just right. (Also, I always put my used water bottles into the recycle bin when I'm done with them.)

FROM THE CAMERA:

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra at Diary of a SAHM for HHM

Five on Friday:Getting Ready for Spring!

Happy 1st day of Spring! Yay, it's officially here!! 

So I thought for my 5 on Friday I would share the ways I'm preparing for Spring. It's so nice to have it really showing up this year too. The past couple of years have been cold and snowy around here this time of year (I feel your pain out East friends!). But this year we seem to be right on track. As I type this I can hear some geese flying over. They're BACK!! And they're starting to look for an open spot on our bay. The ends have opened up a little, but not quite fully open yet. Hopefully soon. Anyway, here's my 5:

I've been getting out the Spring furniture and accessories! I know I talked about the fact that we have our deck furniture and grill out now in the back. In the front of our house, though, I have this old bench (need to get a new one or swing this year!), and I recently got some nice springy bright cushions for it. I've left out my lanterns from the holidays as I like that they're on a timer and still light up at night.

Next, in relation to the accessories I'm getting ready for some gardening!! I've been pulling out my watering cans, tools, and pots from our little shed in the back of our house. I can't wait to be able to pick up some annuals to plant in my pots! I'm also narrowing down which garden table I think I'm going to get this Spring. I'm so excited that I'm actually going to  have a little veggie garden this year!!! I can't wait!

Third on my list is some new Spring bedding.  Our winter one is too heavy and I needed a new Spring bedspread this year. I recently found this one and haven't put it on the bed yet, but soon! Our room is a warm neutral kind of slate gray color with cream woodwork. Our furniture is all warm brown tones(the bedspread is leaning against the headboard of our sleigh style bed). So I love that this bedspread is a pretty cream color (still has that warmth) but with beautiful flowers embroidered all over it. I also have extra pillows when I make up the bed that have some embroidery, but in pretty colors. To me it's the best of masculine and feminine feel together for a master bedroom.

Next, I've been researching Spring recipes! Not only on my pinterest, but also in my cookbooks. This is a gooseberry patch one a dear friend gave me as a gift. Hi and shout out to Ker! It's a hardcover one with beautiful photos and wonderful seasonal recipes. I have several other softcover gooseberry patch ones too. I have a collection of all kinds of cookbooks  and I read them over each season like a great novel! Lol  Look at that pineapple upside down cake. Mmmmm.  And a recipe for deviled eggs. I always make some of those at Easter and I have pretty flower shaped trays where the egg halves sit in the petals. 

And finally, I'm getting my organization mojo in high gear! My little office/craft room has become a cluttered nightmare. I've been kind of throwing everything in there lately and it's getting more difficult to find anything. So I recently went and found some cute storage options: baskets, boxes, and caddies to get things better organized and functional! It's one of my favorite places to hang out, but when it becomes too cluttered it's hard to focus!! It will take some work but will be well worth it to have my fun space back.

So that's how I'm getting ready...how are you getting ready for Spring? 

I'm linking with Amy at Love Made my Home for Five on Friday. 

 

Spring Veggie Pasta Salad

Whenever we start heading into Spring and Summer I start craving lighter fare - all kinds of crispy green salads and light pasta salads.  My hubby and son especially love pasta salads too.

Last week when it was so beautiful I made a yummy veggie pasta salad as a side dish with our meal. I think the pasta was the biggest hit, though, and only hung around as leftovers for one day as it was gobbled all up. I have a basic "recipe" for how I do pasta salad and then I just change up the ingredients depending what I have on hand or what sounds good that day.

To begin I chop up some veggies. That day I threw in some carrots and some broccoli as it's what I had in the fridge. But you could definitely throw in other crunchy vegetables that sound good to you. 

I also threw in some frozen peas. An easy tip for adding peas (you don't even need to thaw them) is to throw them in the water with the pasta right after it's done boiling. That 30 seconds the peas are in that just done boiling water is enough to thaw them. Then drain and rinse them all together in cold water.  I almost always use the tri-color "veggie" rotini pasta for my pasta salads (the green noodles are a spinach pasta and the red tomato). I just like that it's a good firm pasta to hold up to the other crunchy veggies and I like the pretty colors. How lovely for Spring!

I then make the basic dressing my Grandma always made which is to use real mayonnaise (I use light version for lighter calories), and for every cup of mayo you need you add 2 Tbsp of sugar and 2 tsp of white vinegar and mix all together and then toss the pasta in it. For a smaller pasta salad I probably only need about a cup of dressing. For a full box of pasta and larger salad I may use closer to 2 cups.  To this pasta salad I also cubed some cheddar cheese and threw that in too. Then chill the salad in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

We often even like pasta salad as our meal in the summer and I'll use grilled chicken I chop up with the veggies in the pasta. What's fun is you can play with different flavors and ingredients to make it how you want. I've made another yummy version using some chopped turkey, veggies and craisins (dried sweet cranberry) to have almost thanksgiving flavors. It's a great basic salad that allows you to be creative.  

Fun Birthday Scrapbook Page

I continue to work on catching up on some scrapbooking (the usual). I guess for you that are crafty with knitting, crochet, quilting (I envy you all by the way!) it compares to working on a blanket you haven't finished and going back and reacquainting yourself with where you left off and working to get it done.

I have several albums I keep working on, but one thing I enjoy is going back and looking at some of my previous work as it often sparks ideas for new pages.  When I was looking back at one of my family albums the other day I came across this birthday layout I had done for my son's 6th birthday (he's a teenager now - eek!), and I really liked certain things about it.

On this first page I love how I cut my son out of a photo on the bottom and put him right on the grass and it looks like he's going to putt the ball into the hole. (We had gone mini golfing for that birthday).

And in the 2nd page of the layout I loved the use of all of the #6 stickers out of all of my different alphabet packs at the time. You can't miss which birthday it was, right? Lol   Look at my sweet young boy at the bottom, and the top photo is my little Annie (she was about 3 months old at the time). And my really short hair! 

I remember that birthday being so fun for Aaron as we took a bunch of his buddies with, and all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles came too, and we had a grown up contest & young kids contest for best score. We gave away medals and prizes after the golf game. He really loved it all.

I also thought it'd be fun to share this photo I took of the bay the other day. Some of the ice had melted last week and when it re-froze it became this beautiful blue color:

can't wait until that grass is green & that bay is open

And while I'm sharing random things I also thought I'd share this little video of Ruby I took the other day. She loves bubbles and is obsessed with trying to "eat" them all when I blow them. She's a weird doggie - what can I say? Lol  Enjoy!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to All!

From what I understand of my family background I think I only have a tiny bit of Irish in my heritage. However, my hubby (the redhead) and my kiddos have a bit more. Unfortunately, this is about the extent of my St. Patty's decorating:

And I think it's kind of sad that we don't have any real Irish traditions or something special we do each year to celebrate it. I've been reading of the March 17th traditions of several of my other blogland friends - and it's been giving me some good ideas for next year.  Would love to hear any other traditions anyone wants to share, as it stirs my creative process and would love to make it more fun for my family too!!

Since it is a holiday of sorts I will share my special breakfast I had this AM. It was store bought, but so yummy and beautiful in a Spring way - as that's what this holiday usually symbolizes to me....that I am that much closer to Spring! 

I know it's not green, but it's definitely special and not the usual breakfast. My daughter & I shared a piece of poppyseed cake with lemon topping (again store bought) and some fresh raspberries. So Springy and yummy!

Since I'm full of holiday spirit (Irish and Spring) I thought I'd share a few more bunnies for fun too. There's a lot of green in the photos if that counts?

Tonight I go to play wallyball with my group of Gal friends, but we're going to go out for a green drink and some appetizers first. Should make for some interesting games. Lol I hope however you celebrate tonight you have a lot of fun and I wish you happy green shamrock thoughts!! 

 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday! 

I hope you're starting to feel nice and Spring-like wherever you are in the world. It was a lovely weekend here and the Spring bug keeps biting. I was out enjoying beautiful weather the past few days.  I also went with family and friends to a local Celtic concert on Friday which put me in the mood for St. Patty's Day on Tuesday. I had a wonderful lunch out with a bunch of my girlfriends on Saturday (so fun and love them!!).  And my hubby and I  did some more good cleaning and even got out our deck furniture out (now I'm sure I'll have "jinxed" everything and we'll get a blizzard soon).  I also finally changed my blog to a lighter look. So I guess that means I'm ready to dive into a new week!

 THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

For the lovely weekend we had it's a bit cooler today & gray and rainy. It's supposed to only be in the 40's most of the week. However, for March and where I live that's wonderful - so I'll take it!

 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Nice hot coffee with hazelnut creamer and 1/2 of a sourdough english muffin with peanut butter and honey.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Only the tiniest traces of snow in the front of our house. The back hill is completely free of it now and some if the grass is even turning a little green - yay! The rain should help get rid of the last little bits of snow anyway.  And I think I may have spotted my first robin too. Now that makes me smile on a Monday.

 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Making out the usual grocery list in between typing this up. Not sure what I want to add this week yet for meals.  Also, waiting for dryer to finish and throw in next load and need to get my daughter to school soon, so getting her ready. Then need to go grab my mom-in-law.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Everything is still pretty neat and tidy from the weekend. Need to accomplish a few more tasks, but that's the life and jobs of this Mom and they're never really done! Lol 

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Run to the grocery store as I mentioned and maybe run a few more errands with my MIL. Might bake up a treat later this afternoon too & make dinner to bring with my MIL when I bring her home later.

CURRENTLY READING:

I was kind of bad about reading this past weekend.  Not sure what book I want to dive into next.

ON THE TV TODAY:

I'm missing all of my PBS shows - Grantchester and Downton Abbey both done now. I have some Greys Anatomy to catch up on and of course my Good Wife!

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

Figuring that out yet - especially the in-laws meals, but we got out the grill this weekend so I'm thinking I may grill something (maybe even just good 'ol burgers) and potato bundles (or called hobo packets sometimes around here). Just throw some sliced potatoes (& I usually throw in some carrot too) in a big folded over piece of aluminum foil and add a few pats of butter and lots of seasonings or even fresh herbs. Roll up the foil tightly and place on the grill to cook with the burgers.  I'm also thinking some kind of chicken dish (maybe browse my pinterest recipes) and I want to make Mari's cream mint brownies for St. Patty's day and maybe a chocolate raspberry pie recipe I love!

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

I actually don't have a specific craft at the moment - just doing some scrapbooking catch up here and there.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Mari's cream mint brownies look so good! Here's her post about them.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Whenever I brown ground beef I line a bowl with aluminum foil and drain the grease into it. Then I either leave it out on kitchen counter in colder spot in the winter, or in the fridge in the summer, until it hardens. Then fold up the foil and toss it the garbage. No mess. 

FROM THE CAMERA:

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra at Diary of a SAHM for HHM

Scraptastic Saturday:Spring Picture Decoration

Spring is in the air! It's in our weather, in our melting of any snow that is left, and it's in a song in my heart!! It makes me SO happy that Spring showed up early this year in the northwoods (& after last winter we earned it)! 

So to link with Scraptastic Saturday today I have made a decoration that sings a song of Spring!!

Isn't she sweet? Singing away over her nest.

I used an old frame I had among my goodies. I always seem to have a lot of these empty and lying around waiting for me to use them for something. I then used some cardstock for the back drop - which is the branch looking design. I adhered that to the back of the cardboard part of the frame. I then took a pretty soft green colored paper to be the background for our the sweet dimensional mommy robin stickers with nest and eggs. I then printed the "sing a song of spring" off of what I typed on my computer and cut it out with my victorian style scissors.  I also drew a few musical notes next to my song bird. Lastly, I glued a little lace below the title for another textural element. 

She seems to be getting along with my "faith bird" (I think I got this at hobby lobby?)

I liked it on the mantle next to my other sweet birdie, so I think I'll keep it there for now. 

Happy weekend to you and I hope you're singing a song of Spring!

Five on Friday:Flowers

Happy Friday to All! Three cheers for the weekend!! It's supposed to be beautiful weather here this weekend (60* on Sunday!) so I'm beyond thrilled. My hubby and I were already talking plans about getting out the deck furniture - a true sign of Spring.

I thought for Five on Friday today I would share my 5 favorite flowers and why.  I don't know that I've ever met a flower I don't like - but I do have a few that are my very favorite, each for different reasons.  So here they are:

My number 1 favorite flower would have to be the rose.

And specifically the red rose. It's such a romantic flower to me. So beautiful, fragrant and timeless. My hubby has always sent me red roses for special occasions in the years we've been together. And as you can see my wedding bouquet was red velvet roses, white lilies and holly. (We were married right after Christmas). So red roses to me = LOVE.

As you can see, all of my bridesmaids had smaller versions of my bouquet too and wore dark green velvet. I guess velvet was the Christmas time thing to wear back in the 90's. Lol  So yes, red roses are #1 to me.

I also love lilacs! I don't know if there's a more beautiful smell in the world than the fragrance of lilacs. They're definitely my favorite for that.

These are from a lilac bush at my in-law's house. I don't have my own lilac bush, but need to change that sometime soon! So I grab bouquets from them every year.

Here's that new back hallway again - but I put out my silk lilacs for Spring. Will replace with real ones once they bloom!

Next I would have to say I love hydrangeas. I love a lot of these old fashioned, or I like to say, timeless flowers. I use hydrangeas a lot in my decorating with dried or silk flowers.

I love them in every color! I have a hydrangea shrub, but it's never bloomed since the first year I planted it - no matter how I try to make the soil acidic or other ways of taking care of it. The leaves come in, but the flowers won't bloom. May need to think about transplanting it to a better spot this Spring. 

I would say next that I love peonies!! I think they are such a gorgeous big puffball of a flower. Just love their big cream puff shape. They are also timeless to me and just gorgeous in general. 

These pics of peonies are from my mom-in-law's house. When she was still able to garden, she transplanted these from another house to her current house, and they've been growing beautifully ever since along their fence. I steal a few each year to put in my kitchen window.  I just love the color of her peonies. SOOOO pretty. 

Lastly, I would say I love the fuschia and begonia equally. They both remind me of my Grandma - who always had both of these flowers out by her feeders for the hummingbirds. They will forever remind me of her so I have some of these around my home every summer.

fuschia in our well in the backyard

begonia in my kitchen window right now

I have to share a few "honorable mentions" though, as it was hard to come up with just a top 5. I also love wildflowers so much and pick little bouquets from my back yard every summer. I especially love daisies because my Mom has always loved them. But I have wild buttercups, Indian paintbrush and Queen Anne's lace as well.

one of my wildflower bouquets from last year

Of course I need to mention tulips and daffodils for being the first to greet the Spring and make me so happy! And I love hanging baskets of flowers and putting them around my house:

Hanging flowers on the deck. Also our firepit on our deck last summer (can't wait to be sitting by this again soon!!)

Sending you all flowery wishes for the weekend and linking with Amy for Five on Friday.

Easy Meatloaf

I know everyone probably has a pretty standard meatloaf recipe they use and I think most meatloaf recipes are similar in that they're made from ground meat, bread or bread crumbs, egg, onion, some sort of ketchup type sauce - basic stuff. But I thought I'd share mine anyway as I also made another recipe card for Annie's cookbook too.  It's a favorite - especially with my hubby and dad-in-law.

My book for Annie keeps clicking along! I keep compiling more recipes and not sure when I'll stop thought! Lol Seems we have many family favorite recipes.

So here is how I make our meatloaf:

Take the ingredients and blend together in a large bowl (with your hands of course - it's truly the only good way to do it - plus it's fun!) I like Italian bread crumbs as they add a lot of flavor so then I just add a bit of salt and pepper and that's it for seasoning. Easy! I also add milk in my recipe for extra moisture.

Now here's where I may differ from others. I don't like putting mine in a loaf pan. Even with lean ground beef I think it gets too greasy. I like to put it in a 9x13 and let the grease "well" to the bottom. I also take my large loaf and split it into 2 loaves. It cooks faster - plus then I have one for us and 1 for my in-laws.

Put the 2 loaves in a greased 9x13 and top with sauce.

Bake for an hour (sometimes it's done a little sooner due to 2 smaller loaves so check it at least 10 minutes before depending on your oven).

Here's a closer look at the recipe. Enjoy!

Get to know your blogland neighbor

Ok Folks - wondering if you'll humor me on something today. I remember doing these little questionnaires in the past (either on facebook or through emails from friends) where questions were asked about yourself and you answered them and then passed them on to your friends for them to answer. It was a way to get to know one another better. 

Well I thought it might be fun to do something like that through blogland. I know Amy from love made my home was very brave in a post in the recent past and shared a photo of herself and some information about herself...and I've been thinking about something like this ever since. So if you'll humor me I will start things off with a more current photo of myself and a little list of fun questions and my answers that may help you get to know me a bit better. If you'd like to play along,  then please copy my questions and post them on your blog with your answers and info about yourself.  Or feel free to just answer only the questions you want to, or even put some of your answers and info in my comments section. I just love my blogland buddies and would love to get to know you all a little better in a fun and even goofy way.  So here goes:

Okay, this photo is sort of hilarious to me. I had taken it in the more recent past to update my facebook profile picture. But it is probably the most recent photo I have at the moment. I think it's funny as I look like I'm posing like a person on a bad soap opera show or something? "No doctor, I can't be having his baby!"  Lol!!

On to some questions:

1.What part of the world do you live? As many of you know already I hail from northern Wisconsin close to Lake Superior. Yes, I'll proudly say I'm a cheesehead. 

2.How long have you been blogging? Since around the end of last November so only about 3 to 3&1/2 months.

3.To visualize even better what you look like - what color is your hair, your eyes... and how tall are you?  I have brown hair naturally but I like blond high lights (blend better with my gray!). I have hazel/dark green eyes. I'm 5 feet 3 inches (a shrimp). Lol

4.What is your favorite color?  I love the color red and always drawn to warm colors. I love neutrals for my home and wardrobe (earth tones - browns, tans, cream etc)

5.What is your favorite kind of music? I like listening to some of the current pop music on the radio that is more folk-like (ex. Ed Sheeran), but I find myself listening to pandora a lot and it's often on christian music or celtic music (Celtic Women)- something like that. But I truly love music in general so I like a little of it all: rock, pop, country, classical 

6.What is your favorite food or kind of food? I love Thanksgiving dinner kind of comfort food for sure....but I think my favorite kind of food is Italian. If I had to pick a final meal it would be some kind of pasta and a wonderful glass of wine. (2nd place would be Mexican & 3rd would be Asian)

7.What is your favorite drink? I have to start my day with a cup of coffee each AM. But if talking alcohol I'd have to say wine (I love moscato, pinot grigio, reisling). But it's almost neck and neck with a good margarita!!

8.What is your favorite place you've ever traveled? And where would you like to go that you haven't yet? I was blessed to travel through parts of Europe and I really loved Italy!! I really related with the people (even though I'm not Italian at all - Lol) and of course see #6 again about favorite food.  I also loved Poland! (part of my heritage). As far as going somewhere new: I'd really love to go to the United Kingdom (I especially want to get to England and Wales -also part of my heritage). I also think it would be really cool to go to New Zealand.  It looks so beautiful to me.

9.Which famous person dead or alive would you like to meet and why? I know I should say someone historical or something but just fun answers come to my mind and the person I'd love to meet that's deceased is Katharine Hepburn as I just love her movies and loved her. I loved her strength, outspokeness and I think she was ahead of her time in many ways. I've read a lot about her life and background and she was truly fascinating to me. An alive person I'd like to meet is Ree Drummond - Pioneer Woman. Just love and admire her and she just seems like she'd be a lot of fun! 

10.What new or unique hobby would you like to try? I would love to be a ghost hunter. Lol No,for real I would. I'm fascinated about the afterlife and I love watching shows where they try to help folks understand and deal with potential spirits in their house using actual scientific equipment. I have also had some personal experiences in my life. I'll just say that I don't think I'd be afraid, I'd be so curious and intrigued about what I might find. 

*Bonus #11.I was only going to have 10 questions,but I'm curious to see what folks will answer to this one: What is something unusual about you that people may not know?
For me it's the fact that I see numbers and letters (even words) as masculine or feminine and I always have since I can ever remember. I've learned through the years that this is kind of unusual and I'm the only in my family and friends that I'm aware sees them this way.  To share an example- to me most odd numbers are "male" and most even numbers are "female", but it goes a step further in that I see each specifically too. So a number like 6 or 8 I see as like a "tomboy" or tough female number. And I see the number 7 as effeminate for a masculine number. Ok, I'm just weird. And now you know that about me. 

Your turn!!

Easter Bunnies

I love decorating for Easter and Spring! Don't get me wrong, Christmas is probably my favorite holiday and I by far have the MOST Christmas decorations! But there is something about coming out of the heavier colors of the Christmas holiday and instead putting out pastels and softness and light. 

Well I've had several furry friends showing up lately for this next Easter season so I thought I would share a few with you. I know I gave  a little sneak peek at the end of yesterdays post, but here's a few more. They love to especially hide in my dining room hutch cubbies  and on the living room mantle. They're really kind of everywhere but here's the ones that I caught to show you.

I think this trio looks ready to break out into song barbershop style

Love the soft colors of this little egg cup

A pretty Spring vignette on my dining room book case. Love hydrangeas!

I never know who's going to pop up among the teacups looking for a tea party.

Here's my big marble "mantle wall" above the fireplace. Always a big one to fill up. Here's a memory of how I had it decorated for Christmas. Here's a closer peek at some visitors on there this season:

Now these 2 kind of look to me like they're up to no good. Don't they look like they're conspiring together in some way? I think the one on the left is telling the other one how they can make away with my Easter eggs!  Don't worry, I'll keep my eye on them.

And this is just a sweet chubby happy little fellow enjoying the flowers. 

**I will soon work on giving my blog a little makeover to match the Spring I'm feeling everywhere else and get those photos of snow off of my header! It keeps melting a little more every day and in a few days I think our back hill will be all clear and just grass. Yay!! I know it can still snow around here - especially in March - but will be nice to be rid of it for a while.