I know I promised you, mom, pictures of all of us dressed in our very best for Easter, but, yeterday every camera in the house had dead batteries - not kidding.  We did use my camera phone - which is terrible - and Chris' work camera, so we did get some pictures.  Only I do not know how to get the photos off of Chris' work camera, so I will post them another day.  In the mean time, I am going to post some pictures I have taken of the birds here.  Ever since moving to Ohio, I have became amazed by the birds...every kind.  Their colors, size, fragility, boldness, quirks....they entertain me.  I have taken lots of pictures and Chris just said to me this morning "are you going to post these pictures or what?".  So....

One of the little Sparrows that visits us regularly....

Our friendly neighborhood Woodpecker.  This guy loves to do his thing on the gutters right above Chris' and my bedroom...it is CRAZY loud!!!  Isn't he beautiful?

This is a Tufted Titmouse.  We have lots of these little guys too.  These birds are one of my favorites.  I love how soft and delicate they look. 

Here we have a Common Grackle (left) and a Cowbird (right).  The Grackles are bullies and chase all the other birds away and then devour everything...the kids will run out the back door and scare the Grackles away when they come.  The Cowbirds travel in herds - funny enough.  It is amazing to see how large these groups can get!!

This is Fitz...our "pet" cardinal.  You have all met him before.  This is the bird that fights with his reflection in our car windows and sideview mirrors.  He is a nutjob, but we LOVE him!!! 

This is Fitz' wife.  She hangs out with him all the time.  She is sweet to watch, as she follows him everywhere. 

See....

This is a couple of my cute children ;)

 

 This is a Nuthatch.  We see lots of these little guys too.  They are funny because they walk up and down the trunk of the trees looking for bugs - they even walk upside down.

This is a Blue Jay.  We don't see a lot of these, but there are a few that manage to come around when there is food out.  Their colors just amaze me...so incredible!! 

The little guy on the right is a Chickadee.  We don't see as many of these little guys here as we did in Ohio.  The Chickadee's song is one of my favorites! 

I have lots more pics, but I am sure you are all thinking I have completely lost it by now ;)  Hopefully tomorrow I will have gotten Chris to download the Easter pics ;)

Happy Spring Break/ Happy Easter!!

While most of our friends and family around the United States have already enjoyed their Spring Break, ours officially began on Good Friday.  It feels so good to finally have some vacation time!!!  Friday morning, we all slept in and lounged all day.  It was an incredibly beautiful Spring day, so the kiddos decided they wanted to eat outside....

Friday night was spent decorating Easter eggs.  Brandon loves to do the egg wraps... 

The twins were VERY excited this year as they are now old enough to dip their own eggs into the color ;) 

 Jason did awesome waiting for the color to take...he did some great two-tone eggs!!!

 Reagan did awesome too...he loved the red dye (yes this year we had red, blue, spring green, teal, orange, and purple - woohoo for new colors ;))

I think they turned out great!! 

Today was baking day.  Gotta love the aprons....

We prepared our Blueberry/Maple French Toast Bake for tomorrow morning and then got started on the Carrot Cake with Lemon/Cream Cheese Frosting and Toasted Walnuts.

We had to grate 2 1/2 cups of carrots to begin...that was hard work.... 

 

...but I had some very hard workers helping me so it was lots of fun!!! 

Elli let the boys grate the carrots while she enjoyed the Scooby-Doo Easter card that Gramma Pauline sent us... 

Then, of course, we had to take a carrot break.... 

Everyone took turns measuring out all the ingredients... 

 

Reagan and Jason took turns mixing in all the carrots they grated... 

Then we made the frosting....the best frosting on the planet I might add!!  Lemon/Cream Cheese frosting...everyone LLOOOVED the frosting... 

 

 

 

Voila!!  Carrot Cake with Lemon/Cream Cheese Frosting and Toasted Walnuts....  

All in all it was a very productive morning, and no one wants to wait until tomorrow to eat the French Toast Bake or the Carrot Cake ;)  Tomorrow I will take pictures of all the beautiful kiddos in their Church clothes and I will post them ASAP...Hope you all have a Wonderful Easter!!

Spring Online Scentsy Party!!!

I can't think of a better time to have another Online Scentsy Party than right now!!  IT'S SPRING!!!

I don't know about you, but Spring for me is all about throwing open the windows...

...heading out to the garden to enjoy the sunshine while you weed, prune, plant and mulch....

...bringing the outdoors in....

....and turning on my Scentsy and filling my home with the fragrances of Spring!!

Only, yesterday, when I went looking for a Spring smelling Scentsy Bar, I was sad that I didn't have any.  I only have my leftover Autumn scents...like Baked Apple Pie, and Pumpkin Marshmallow...and my leftover Christmas scents...like Festival of Trees and Christmas Cottage.  So, I headed over to Lily's Scentsy Store - the only place I shop for Scentsy ;) - and began looking at some scents.  Of course, I managed to look through the New 2012 Catalog ;) , and man was I blown away by all the New Scents, Warmers, Body Products, and even Laundry Products!!! 

There are soooo many New warmers, like...

...this sweet Mother's Day Warmer...

...this beautiful Bride warmer...

...this very gardeny English Ivy warmer...

...this very Springy Flutterby warmer...

...this classy looking Toscana Collection...

....and I ABSOLUTELY LOOOVE the new Silhouette Collection...

There really are soooo many other warmers that are sooo beautiful.  Truly there is a warmer for any decor!!!

There were also lots of New scents.  Some of the ones that I really want to try are Cerise, Sunlit Morning, Lonicera, Jumpin' Jelly Beans, Two Harbors, Honey-Do, Tingelo, Pink Pepper, Pixie, Lilacs and Violets, Mums and Marigolds, RU N2 ME....too many to list. 

There is also a section in the New 2012 Catalog where they suggest mixing scents...like Pink Pepper and Pixie.

Other products in the New 2012 Catalog include Scentsy Layers - Shower Gels and Creams, Body Lotions and Body Butters, Hand Creams, and Body Sprays and Body Perfumes.

There are even Laundry Scents....Washer Whiffs and Dryer Disks, all in lovely Scentsy scents....

And, of course, there are still the Room Sprays, Scent Circles, Travel Tins, Fragrance Foams, and the cute little Scentsy Buddys and Scent paks...

 I am pretty sure Scentsy has a product for EVERYONE!!!

So, if you want to check out my Online Scentsy Party, simply click on any of the links throughout this post (you will know it is a link by the colorful words), or you can go to my sidebar and click on the Lily's Scentsy Store Button.  Once you get to the Lily's Scentsy Store Home page, find where it says "My Open Parties", find "Lori's Basket Party", click on the "Buy from Party" button next to "Lori's Basket Party" and shop away!!!  Pretty simple ;)

Hope you all find something you like and have a Happy Spring, Happy Easter, and Happy Mother's Day!!!