easter recap.

sunday was easter. which means, in the south, a large gathering of your closest family members where everyone brings a covered dish and a bunch of plastic colored eggs filled with candy that will surely melt everywhere... then, you stay there for several hours stuffing your face full of all sorts of deliciousness you would never find at home, and watch your children run around the property on the hunt for the mysterious prize egg that might have a $100 bill inside. indeed.

it means dressing your children up in their sunday bestest best (which is a much nicer version of "sunday best" complete with white patent shoes) and arranging them, along with their twenty or so other restless cousins, and taking the yearly cousin photo. because we mommies like to think of them always like that, in their sunday bestest best, not in the shorts, bare feet and mismatched tank top they will eventually put on. taking this picture takes many a nerve, and usually causes all parents involved to quickly retreat into quieter, shadier areas. quickly. especially the males. what? who?

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the prize egg turned out to be a silly ole urban legend. it was only $10, not $100. not that it mattered.

dalton was happy to find one egg, and why couldn't he just sit down after he did? summer was chattering on the whole time she was hunting, though i am not sure quite about what. destiny was just in a hurry, as no one was allowed to gather more eggs than she. imagine her complete frustration when i asked her what color each one was... then the dilemna... show off how smart she was with her colors, or keep up with her mad dash to fill her basket? jackson wasn't quite sure what we were doing and why, but it seemed fun enough... running around a yard collecting plastic things that have candy inside? OKAY!

kaley and allie were sweet and charming, as always, offering to help me carry in landon and gathering my diaper bag for me. oh, and their dad made a ham. they were quite proud. a ham! did i mention that?

and landon. white and sparkly and clean. and without a nap. and still as charming as ever. i love that boy.

i made a paula deen recipe. with a whole stick of melted butter poured over the top.

bliss.

Christmas 2008 - A Review

Here we are on the third day of the New Year - and I am sitting in my living room still contemplating how in the world Christmas managed to explode so heinously in my living room. And why is it that the mess only somehow looks worse when you start to clean it up? When do the elves come and put away my tree? WHEN??

There is, at some point every year, a ridiculous splurge purchase of something so tacky Christmas that it can't be avoided. This year's purchase was a mini - pre-lit flocked PINK tree. It was toootally on clearance... and, well... it spoke to me. It matches nothing in my house - and i have no need for another tree - however, I felt the Farmhouse was really where the little pink guy needed to be. We found a perfect home on the front porch. And then I went really crazy and made a garland out of big puffy pom-poms. Well, mostly I slaved the children into making the garland - because my ADD doesn't really allow for sitting still long enough to complete anything of that nature.

The garland turned out precious, and we hung our "special" ornaments out there.

Every year we spent a vast amount of time arguing over which set of ornaments to use on the tree. Yes. You heard me correctly... which "set." We're nerdy that way about Christmas around here... we have "the blue set" , 'the silver set" and ... the "colorful" set. If we were going with public opinion, every year we'd do the "colorful" set - as this tree is commonly referred to by all who vist... "Rachael's Big Colorful Tree." However, in lieu of seemingly our last year as the Girly Girl House - we vamped out this year's tree with as much silver and glitz and glamour possible. Of course, in honor of Landon, we threw in the token blue.

We spent our holiday surrounded by the people that matter the most... it was full of cookies (ok, maybe a few too many cookies) and love and ... well, complete chaos. What would a holiday be without complete chaos? Every year that passes is another reminder of how fleeting precious moments are... this year, for the first time, we had to reconfigure Mimi's Christmas Village to accommodate the girls growing... can't really fit it into the floor anymore... so we upgraded the real estate and gave The Village the dining room table. Since the configuration of The Village requires an entire day or two spent in pajamas in the dining , it will probably stay up through January. OR until the train starts to drive us to drink.

The girls are finally home from a week long visit with their dad and his family... complete with lots of good food and time spent playing the ever-popular Wii. Such luxuries do not exist at The Farm - however - blissfully, since they've been back - they are spending time together peacefully. What more can the New Year bring?

A Christmas Review Preview

Hi there.

Wondering how things went at The Farm for Christmas, aren't you? Full of surprises. Full. Good and ... not so good.

I have lots of pictures ... lots of thoughts (what?!?!) and plenty to share. However, currently, I am playing "Beat the Wake Up Clock" with my son ... which requires dry hair and makeup for me to win.

Off to Charleston for the weekend with my sweet little sister. And her dogs. And her hubby.

I will think about all of you when I dig my toes into the sand.

xoxo