before i sit down and get all serious, this-is-my-life-this-week on you, i need help. my eye will NOT. STOP. TWITCHING. if anyone has any remedies for that, leave a comment. please! it will be much appreciated . . . by me and my eye that may not make it through the weekend if it doesn’t knock it off sometime in the very near future.

*  *  *  *  *

that being said, life. how we live it. right now . . .

Easter was awesome. lover’s parents were in town, the boys were surrounded with lots of love and aunties and candy, and life was good. i always love having company, don’t you? by no means do i consider myself a great hostess . . . half the time my last-minute trip to the grocery store gets delayed and my fridge stands empty when company arrives, and towels always seem scant once more people fill the house, but i do love me some company! i love the energy extra people in the house creates. the promise of schedules thrown off and doing things differently and changing the rhythm that usually fills our home. i love that the boys get spoiled, stay up late, eat more junk food, get more love.

and that last sentence there, could very well sum up our Easter weekend. junk food in the form of candy was consumed even before breakfast and in some cases FOR breakfast. nights were late and filled with playing, visiting and laughter, and love was a-plenty as we celebrated God’s greatest Gift.

*  *  *  *  *

the other hot topic of Easter weekend was baby bumps. my cute sister-in-law is due in june with her FIRST baby. first MUST be emphasized here because everyone wanted belly comparison shots, and YES, i am bigger than her and due two months LATER (it takes a big woman to admit that . . . pun intended, you can laugh . . .hahaha!)

*  *  *  *  *

sunshine and turbojet ask for pancakes for breakfast every. single. morning. i started out just using bisquick to whip them up quick, but i am SO not a creature of habit and tend to get bored with the same thing day after day. to outwit the ho-hum-ness of boring bisquick pancakes, we’ve been testing out a BUNCH of different pancake recipes and have finally found one we’re all happy with. the boys are happy because A) they’re pancakes, and B) they’re orange! and this mama is happy because A) i adore/love/obsess about anything pumpkin flavored (yes, even when it’s not in season) and B) they’re fairly healthy. so, i can’t believe i’m sharing another recipe (because i am really, truly not very skilled at anything that involves a kitchen!) but here you go! healthy pumpkin pancakes for you!

(*ps: if you’re brave enough to try any of my off-the-wall recipes, i would LOVE to hear if you enjoyed them!)

*  *  *  *  *

my usually happy-go-lucky sunshine has been keeping us on our toes lately, and fluctuates between his normally sunny personality to his alter ego, ‘angry elf,’ at the drop of a hat.

for instance, yesterday while shopping at sam’s club, i put a LARGE (we ARE at sam’s club, so think bigger) container of strawberries into the cart, which didn’t sit well with sunshine angry elf because before i could blink, the strawberries went flying from the cart and smashing to the ground. strawberries EVERYWHERE! apparently, he wanted grapes. not strawberries. i couldn’t help but laugh as a lady walked by consoling sunshine angry elf with ‘it’s ok, sweetheart. it was an accident.’ riiiiiiiight. and the sky is green. the funny thing about angry elf sunshine is that he’s instantly back to his happy self, so it’s SUPER hard to be mad at him because he’s instantly batting his baby blues at you like, ‘what? you love me right?’ oh sunshine, of course we love you!

i HAVE decided i prefer food hurling to the all-out-screaming fits most kids dish out. i can handle a little mess every now and then!

*  *  *  *  *

with baby due date sloooooowly creeping closer, i’ve started the hunt for the perfect diaper bag. when the boys and i were in montana, i spotted a fellow mama with the CUTEST bag, asked where she got it, and immediately hopped on the computer when we got home to check out the etsy store. i was happy to discover they are made right there in livingston, montana. in my mind, that’s worth purchasing right there! i can buy local without actually BEING local. 🙂 and i LOVE the name: hot mama handbags!

what do you think? aren’t the patterns adorable?

*  *  *  *  *

and i’ll send you off into your weekend with one final thought to make your weekend amazing . . .

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a priviledge it is to be alive: to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” -Marcus Aurelius

happy weekend, friends!