Signs of Spring {Easter Decor 2014}

As I’m typing this on Sunday night we’ve just the most glorious spring day here in Connecticut!  I literally had shorts and a t-shirt on and Luke and I drew chalk pictures and played hopscotch outside while Chris worked on our car {Livi was sleeping inside}.  It was soooooo amazing and good for the soul to finally be out enjoying the weather and the sunshine! {Sadly I’m actually finishing this on Wednesday afternoon but it’s been gorgeous again so YAY!}

I’m still working on Part 3 for my Essential Oils series {see Part One and Part Two if you’re interested}, but for today I thought I’d change it up a little and show you my house for the Spring/Easter season.  If you’re new here, pretty much everything I own is thrifted or homemade. :) One thing you’ll see over and over in this post is faux “grass” from Target as filler – I use it everywhere! I always, always shop Target’s holiday clearance section and I picked some bags of this stuff up years ago for like 20 cents – or maybe even less.  I love it!

 

So here’s a peek inside!

My Target banner from two years ago that I’m still in love with!

 

 

    

Bucket, Target…birdie, church rummage sale…faux plant, yard sale

 

 

 
   

Bowl and bunny, Goodwill…Easter ornaments, church rummage sale {Luke loved helping me decorate these branches!}

 

 

 

Bunny, Goodwill…nest, yard sale

 

 

Wreath, homemade {pin made my very talented friend Kathy and ribbon from Hobby Lobby}

 

 

  

 

Wire chicken, Cracker Barrel…green bowl, Goodwill Outlet…Van Gogh print Salvation Army…eggs I honestly can’t remember now!…clearanced ribbon from Michaels for the “egg” garland

 

 

{Little egg designed by Luke last year in 3-year-old preschool.}

 

 

Bunny print, homemade…grass, Target…little caddy, Goodwill

 

 

Bucket and grass, Target

 

{This soap was free with a B&BW coupon and it smells SO GOOD! I haven’t had store-bought soap in forever and coconut is my FAVE! Yum!}

 

Homemade wreath {boxwood from Hobby Lobby around a JoAnn’s grapevine wreath}

I realized after uploading these photos that I missed two spots in the house...but hopefully you get the idea. Haha!

Thanks for popping in! ;)

Spring Decor & Our Easter 2013 {and a link to Olivia’s Page}

My heart was so blessed by the e-mails and Facebook messages and comments I received after my last post about my struggles with Olivia’s heart condition.  Thank you all so very much for being such wonderful readers and friends.  We found out at the doctor on Wednesday that she WILL be having surgery this month!  She gained just the right amount of weight to clear her for operating.  I started a Facebook page for her on Wednesday night so that all of her updates will now be in one place, and so that we have a place where people I’m not personally friends with can have access to her information.  I would be honored and humbled if you would “Like” her page and support our family with your thoughts and prayers during this time!  I don’t have that many Facebook friends (on purpose; I am very uptight about my family’s privacy), but my goal for this page is 1,000 “Likes” before her surgery.  In about 36 hours we are at 270 – I know we can reach our goal!  To find her page, search for “Olivia’s Page” on Facebook or use this direct link:

http://www.facebook.com/oliviasheartpage.

THANK YOU for your support and love!

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Our Easter was very, very low key.  But it was nice. We had big plans to have a nice dinner with my parents and an Easter egg hunt for Luke and Easter baskets and all that.  But then my mom called to say that they’d been around people whose kids had been puking in public and they’d taken them out anyway (!!!) and long story short my parents had exposed themselves accidentally to the stomach bug. 

Well, unfortunately for us, Olivia’s doctors have stressed over and over that she CANNOT get dehydrated (whether through vomiting or diarrhea).  It is super dangerous for a baby with a heart condition and she would need to be brought back to the NICU immediately.  So we had to scrap all of our plans for the holiday to keep her safe.  (And thankfully my parents didn’t end up getting sick, but at least we did what we could.)

I’m not going to lie – I cried.  Holidays are a huge deal to me and the memories and the photos and especially with this being Livi’s first Easter and in the back of my mind I just kept thinking, “What if this is the only one she ever gets?” But there was really nothing I could do, so I just accepted it.  We decided to have Luke’s Easter egg hunt next Sunday instead (thankfully we hadn’t told him about it yet).

We did get dressed and went to church.  I told Chris that having a girl is so fun for me – it’s like having a little dolly to play with and dress up!  I LOVE putting her in little outfits and big bows (although 9 times out of 10 she’s spit-up all over the outfit 10 seconds after it’s on her!). 

 

We came home and relaxed and then my parents did a “Meals on Wheels” thing and brought us Easter dinner all wrapped up!  My poor mom had already made all the food on Saturday night and she said she didn’t want to waste it.  Plus she had gotten Luke a helium balloon that wouldn’t last.  So they ate their Easter dinner, then drove over and delivered a hot meal to us, along with Luke’s basket (Livi got a first Easter bib from my mom) and his balloon. 

{best I could get with Luke – ohhhh the difference in my children right now! lol}

But to keep us from getting sick, they stayed on the front step while Luke opened his presents inside the front door.  OHHHH I wish I would have taken a picture!  haha I’m sure our neighbors were thinking, “Wow, tight family bond, huh guys?”  LOL

So next week we will do “part 2” of our Easter and go have a little Easter egg hunt for Luke at my parents’ house.  I’m going to dress up Livi in her Easter outfit again since my parents didn’t get to see her in it.  Her beautiful dress was made by a wonderful etsy seller named Shelby whose shop is called Plain Jane & Co. 

There’s a very special story behind that dress, but I will save it for its own post. 

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Here are a few shots of my “Springtime” decorating. 

 

 

I love documenting my house decor on the blog because each time the season changes, I can check the link on my blog to see how I decorated for it the year before! :)

 

  

 

I am very much looking forward to fresh flowers in mason jars and bringing in big long branches of forsythia for the kitchen island.  Spring really doesn’t come to Connecticut until May (or end of April if we’re really lucky!) 

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and a lovely weekend coming up! 

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P.S. It’s 7:50 am and I wrote this WHOLE post this morning while my kids were both sleeping!  And they’re STILL sleeping!  It’s a Christmas miracle!  I love cloudy mornings!! Quiet house and coffee?!  BLISSFUL.  :)

P.P.S. I had to google how to spell “diarrhea.”  What a weird, weird, word. 

P.P.S.  This post is actually getting finished and published at 9:37.  It was fun while it lasted. ;)

What I’m Loving Wednesday {Home Edition}

I’m joining up with Jamie for the first time for her What I’m Loving Wednesday blog party. 

Here’s what I’m loving today:

1.  Easter Clearance 50% off at Target.  I had my eye on this banner for weeks  (yes, at full price it was only $6.99 but I just knew I’d be able to get it cheaper!).  Loving that I can still use it for a few more weeks and loving the person who decided to add the pop of hot pink to it.  :)

 

2.  Method hand soap in “Watermelon Patch.”  Ahhhhhh.  First of all, it’s PINK, and second of all, it smells JUST like Watermelon Bubbalicious gum from when I was a kid.  Anyone else remember that gum?!  It got me through a LOT of boring nights watching my brother play Little League.  haha  Loving the flashbacks it brings me!

{Frugal tip: You can get Method soap for only $.69 a bottle this week at Target!  Go to the Target website and print the coupon for $1/1 Method product (print twice), then go to Method’s site on Facebook and “Like” them for another $1/1 coupon (print twice).  You can stack the two – and since the soap is on sale for $2.69, it makes for an awesome deal!  I also got the coconut flavor, which smells great, too. }

 

3.  Loving my favorite Starbucks blend (Decaf Caffe Verona) in my favorite Anthro mug (from my sweet sister for Christmas).  I tried to cheat on Starbucks a little by trying other brands of coffee that I could get cheaper with coupons – all I have to say is, NEVER AGAIN, Starbucks!  I’m back to you being my one and only.  I’m so over the bitter, burnt, twiggy taste of other brands.   

 

4.  Loving the fact that my mom cleared some stuff out of the house since they just moved and gave me these four blue/green bottles.  Aren’t they beautiful?! 

 

 

5.  This beautiful PINK! tree that God gave me in the front yard.  How cool is it that my favorite color is pink (did you catch that?! lol) and I have this beautifully-colored tree to look out my front window every day?  What a gift.  Love it. 

 

 

6.  Last but certainly not least, I have to add this picture.  Luke had his speech therapy this morning and he did really, really well for his teacher.  He added a new three-word phrase this week, all by himself!  That is HUGE for my boy.  I know the picture is crappy (it’s a carbon-copy) but I wanted to document this good feeling.  Under “progress since last visit,” it says, “Luke said ‘I’ll get it’ spontaneously.”  Love my sweet boy. 

Okay, so that’s what I’m loving this week!  :)

 

The Mystery of What I Believe

I just finished a twelve-week online Bible study with friends that took us through the book of Ephesians. Throughout the book, Paul writes about the “mystery” of the Gospel.

I keep thinking about that word.

What I believe makes total sense and then no sense at all, depending on how you look at it.

Christianity is beautiful and miraculous and also weird and peculiar at times…I’ll totally admit that. God loves humans and wants to have a relationship with us. Beautiful. God created the world but also allows pain and suffering. Ugh. Awkward, complicated truth.

God sent Jesus to earth as a baby – fully man and fully human at the same time. Miraculous…and hard to process, mentally.

God sent His Son to die so that we could be at peace with God. Amazing and awe-inspiring…and a little odd, if I’m being totally honest.

We celebrate communion at church once a month to remember the body and blood of Christ that was given for us as a perfect sacrifice. Powerful, beautiful symbolism. Also? Slightly creepy taken out of context.

This faith that I have….it’s beautiful and odd and messy and life-giving all at once.

The awesome thing (to me) is that the Bible totally admits that to a non-spiritual person this won’t make any sense (1 Corinthians 2:14). It’s like, “Sweet, Bible, you get that you’re complicated. What a relief!”

All I know is that I can’t possibly fathom my life in any other framework. I believe…because to do otherwise would be denying everything I know in my heart and soul to be true.

This Easter season, my hope for all of you is that you would embrace the mystery and the wonder of the Gospel. We will not know the mind of God until we get to heaven…but until then we have “[our] hope as an anchor for the soul.” {Hebrews 6:19}

Happy Easter! And if your soul is not at peace and you want to talk to someone about it, please e-mail me (blessedlifeblog{at}gmail{dot}com.)

I’m going to leave you with a song I keep playing over and over lately. It’s “Alive” by Natalie Grant and the lyrics are amazing. Be blessed!

Simple Felt Garland {St. Patrick’s Day Decor}

I feel like I’ve never posted a project on here that’s not quick and easy.  It gets a little redundant to call them all that, but seriously that’s the only kind of project I do!  :)

 

For this project, I was inspired by the adorable heart felt garland found at  Calico Skies and also by my lovely sister’s valentine’s garland (also inspired by Calico Skies).

All you really need is 2 pieces of felt, a pair of scissors, a needle and thread, and some tape.  Although having a piece of thicker paper around is helpful to trace the circle shape with.  

 

 

Oh, and if you’re like me, a trip to the Dollar Tree to get a sewing kit.  Yup, that’s right.  I am SO not a seamstress! haha

 

Decide what sizes you want, and make a template…

   

Cut out as many circles as you want…

 

Then take a needle and thread and sew it through each circle, and hang it up wherever you’d like around the house!

 

Voila!  Easy, fun, cheerful pop of green when I walk inside my door. 

I went with circles because it’s SO much easier to cut them out.  You could totally do four-leaf clovers if you were feeling ambitious, though.  Good luck with that. ;)

 

Psssst…..here’s my living room on any given morning, thanks to one very destructive active 2-year-old little boy.  Feel better about yourself now?! hahaha

 

 

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