Chicken Soup For The Soul

So I got such a pleasant surprise today. My dear friend Bonnie called this morning stating that she was on her way to my house. Of course I immediately freaked out because, as usual, my house was completely a mess!! Bonnie said not to clean up, she was just stopping for a minute to drop off some homemade chicken noodle soup!! How sweet was that!! Just what my snot-nosed household needs is some soothing soup!! Also, I am down to nothing in the pantry and was starting to wonder if PB&J's were on the menu for supper. How wonderful to have a friend that not only excuses the messy house, but so thoughtfully brings you supper when you are under the weather! So, thank you my dear friend. I will be sure to return the favor : )

Proverbs 17:17. "Your friendship is a precious gift. You have touched my life and my heart."

The Wildflowers' Easter

Was your Easter morning as crazy as ours? First you have to explore the easter baskets that the bunny has left.....then have to find the eggs that were hidden....then get everyone dressed in their Easter best.....then off to Uncle Scotts next door to eat delicious cinnamon rolls prepared by my mother-in-love.....then off to church for the easter egg hunt.....then to the Easter Service.....then home to get the dinner ready for the 12 people that will be attending....whew!!! No wonder we are all sick this week!!! It was a nice day to be with the fam, just a little on the crazy side. Hope you all enjoyed time with your family!!

Coloring Easter hands, I mean eggs!

The loot that the bunny left and hunting for eggs at our house on Easter morning.....

Madison and Grammy Karen.....

Madison in her flowergirl/Easter Dress.....notice the snow.....it was a blizzard that morning!

The easter egg hunt at church.......Parker was actually more impressed by the balloons than the eggs....Madison with Papo Larry and Grammy Patty at church.....The tables at Easter Dinner...Aunt Christel and Aunt Amy....

Mine, No, Stop It, MOMMY!!

We heard those words a lot this past weekend. You see we had two little girls together that are three or almost three and it was the clash of the titans!!! Neely, Carson and Baby Carly were here and we new that it was going to be interesting to say the least. Carson and Madison was buds, and Madison and Karly were buds, but Madison and Neely were opponents in the sharing game!!! If one had something, the other one wanted it....no matter what!! We just had to laugh, because there wasn't to much that we could do that would change them!!

Playing nicely in the yard...

A little confrontation a brewin....

Dress up time.....that's when the sharing became a problem!!Princess Neely....My aunt Judy and Christel baby sat all 5 children while we were at the funeral.....what brave girls.....

Madison's 3rd Birthday Party

So we celebrated Madison's 3rd birthday on Saturday. It was your basic, run of the mill, 3rd birthday party with all of the trimmings. We crammed 25 family members into our tiny house, 7 of them being children under the age of 6, and had a wonderful time!! Don't get me wrong, it was udder chaos, but fun.

Our theme was "Kitty Kat". I made a kitty kat cake that I found here, we had kitty kat paper products, she got a new kitty kat beanie baby......but no real kitty cat as I am not a real fan of cleaning litter boxes! For lunch we had Little Ceaser pizza, complete with a delicious salad topped with Belvidere dressing.

Presents followed, which was a whirlwind!! All the children were circled around Madison and it seemed everyone had a hand in the unwrapping!! Tissue paper and wrapping paper was flying around, and I barely had a chance to see the gift before the next one was being torn into!! She received several darling new dresses, a swim suit, an Aerial doll, and babydoll with stroller, both sets of grandparents went in on a darling picnic table complete with an umbrella, a couple of new videos...one being her favorite Max and Ruby, several new short sets, playdoe galore, a princess backpack and nigtgown, gift card to Old Navy......which might be used to get momma somthing : ).....I think that about covers it! She made out pretty good I think. We were so thankful to have so many family memers in our home to celebrate such a special birthday!! It was a fun time to be together!! Hard to believe that Madison is three! I am so thankful that I have her. I look forward to seeing her grow and learn this year....should be interesing!!

Before the chaos....Clockwise...Madison, cousins Madaline, Neely, Spencer, Carson and of course ParkerThe children resting watching Max and Ruby on my bed.....Some of the gang in the dining room.....The rest of the gang in the living room.....

Three of my favorite girls....Cousin Kirsten and my sisters-in-love Amy Catherine and Amy Rene
The children playing with the new playdoe....Parker got a new bat and ball and Diego sippy cup.....didn't want the little guy to feel left out!!The present opening chaos....even baby Karly was getting into it!!Madison and Carson were big pals this week....Madison and her new doll...Trying out her new crown, dress, backpack and sippy cup

We Will Miss You Grandma In Town

Matthew's Grandma Mary Lou passed away last Saturday and the funeral is Friday. Matthew used to spend nearly every weekend at her house when he was little while his mom ran errands on Saturday and then after church on Sunday. Matthew lived on a ranch 12 miles south of town and on that ranch Matthew's other Grandmother lived. So whenever they spoke of Grandma Mary Lou, she was always "Grandma In Town" and also sometimes called "Nice Grandma"!! She always kept her fridge stocked with soda for them and always had donuts waiting for them when they came on Saturday morning. She developed Alzheimer's and so the last few years have been kind of hard. He has some great memories of her though and I am thankful for that. She really enjoyed singing and at the center where she lived, they had special nights when they all sang hymns. Matthew's mom took this little clip of her just a couple of weeks ago.

Happy 3rd Birthday Madison Rene

Today Madison Rene' turns 3 years old!! Madison was 2 weeks early and she weighted 5 lbs 9 oz. She was so little and cute!! We hadn't found out the sex so it was such a fun suprise to get a little girl....that is what I hadn't wanted for the first one anyway!! She has grown up so much. Her latest thing is that she is remembering stuff. Every day it's "Mom, member when we......."it is soo cute!! She is developing a terrible 3 attitude, but hopefully we can work thru it somehow!! This morning we went to the store for a "birthday donut" and then we opened just a couple of presents. Saturday we are having a big birthday party with our family and some cousins from Gunnison, CO and Oklahoma. Matthew's grandmother passed away last Saturday and the funeral is Friday so all our relatives will be out for that.

Madison on her 1st birthday....
10 months old.....Today modeling her new dress that she got for her party on Saturday. What a big girl.....

A Tea Party

A few weeks ago we had a Bridal Tea Party for my cousin Stacey's fiance Amy. We held it at my Aunt Judy's house and it was really fun.We used a lot of tea pots and tea cups as decoration and had them sitting all over the house. I got some of my idea's from from Homemade By Jill. She had really cute things!! I made the tissue paper pom poms flowers from Martha Stewart that hung from the ceiling.

I had my mom make the tea pot sugar cookies and we individually wrapped them and had them, along with an antique coaster wrapped around a dried flower, set at each place setting.

My mom and I attended a tea party the previous week to get some ideas for the food for our tea party. We served chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, chocolate covered strawberries, eclairs, cream puffs, crackers and dip, veggie tray, chocolates, passels, cherry tarts and of course coffee and tea. It was a very girly lunch!

She received a lot of great gifts including some very cute nighties to the practical kitchen stuff. My mom and sister and I went in on a gift and we wrapped it in burlap and tied it with ribbons in her wedding colors of celery and chocolate. Turned out very cute! It was my sister's idea.

We played a game where she was blind folded. The scenario was that it was the honeymoon night and we gave her a suitcase filled a bunch of crazy things that she needed to wear on that special night,....turned out very funny!!! You can tell from Madison's face that she didn't know what was going on!!

We set an individual table for Madison and her cousin Haley....soo sweet!!

The shower really turned out great and we had a lot of compliments. Most of all I think Amy and her family really felt welcomed into our family with open arms!!

Here are some more pics.

Madison, me, sister Christel, mom Aunt Judy, cousin Shawndra, cousin Bobbi and her little girl Haley....

Amy with her mom and aunt.....

My mom, Aunt Donna and Aunt Judy.....call you tell that they are sisters ?!

Bride tank top I got Amy...



Madison working on a shower game....crossing her legs is her new thing

Stacey came up from the sawmill to check out the party before Amy got there....he was real impressed : )