I've been BUSY as a BEE!

What a great weekend! The weather was beautiful:) Saturday, the boys and I were pretty lazy all day then headed over to a friend's rummage sale at her church where I got some really CUTE things that I'll be showing off tomorrow. I let Gavin pick where we had dinner and he chose McDonald's, OF COURSE- cause it had a play area! After that I stopped at little market that had flats of flowers for sale: I got the one above with Dahlia's, Vanilla Marigolds and Pansies.

So yesterday I began to plant my new flowers in the pots I have on my front porch. See this little polka dot pot, isn't it cute?? I found it at Dollar General for $2.50!! Aren't those Dahlia's lovely?

I also picked up this cute outdoor porch mat at DG too; I love the topiaries on it.

Here are some more pots on the front porch! I love this wooden blue watering can; I got it at a craft show a couple years ago!

In the center of this pink pot, is one of the Vanilla Marigolds!
I can't wait to see them when it blooms:)

Here are some of the pansies; I bought white, yellow, orange and a pretty blue this year.

***********************************************************************************

On Friday, I got my "Favorite Things" swap package from my good friend Stacy!! For this swap we were supposed to create a package for our partner with our favorite things! It cracks me up that I didn't know Stacy prior to this swap, but we have SO much in common!! She has 2 boys and a fat cat, so do I! She scrapbooks, used to be a Pampered Chef consultant, and so on!!

She did SO good on this swap! I got a new pair of flip-flops, lip gloss, note cards, Fiber One bars, chocolate chip cookie mix, some Barbie post-it notes, a $10 Target gift card and a $5 Starbucks gift card... and she made these yummy "candies" with pretzels, melted Roll-O candies then pecans on top- YUMMMMMM!!

She also sent me one of her fave books Cocktails for Three and a cute basket, which Gage has claimed for his Hot Wheels cars!! LOL
Thanks again, Stacy!!

Here is a SNEAK PEEK of Stacey's package that she should get in a day or so!!

I also am participating the the White and Green, Crisp and Clean swap; with my partner Heidi who is the host too! Here is a sneak peek of how pretty one of her "surprises" is wrapped up!

Let's see... what else did I accomplish this past weekend:
I made grape jello for Gavin, pasta salad, ate my first turkey burger (YUM!!), washed/dried/folded/put away probably 6 loads of laundry, swept the floors, dusted, did the dishes, played outside with the boys... and maybe more!

It is amazing how lovely Spring weather gives you LIFE back again after a long, cold and dreary winter! I feel so refreshed and energized! I haven't had much pain at all this past weekend, except in my back. The pains I was having in my pelvic area from the cyst have almost completely gone away; I also got my period last week with the help of Provera, of course but I feel so much better now that that is DONE! (Sorry to get so personal there!!) My bloating has gone down a LOT and I have lost 2 lbs.

My plan today is to try my new work out video, The 30 day Shred by Jillian Michaels from the show, The Biggest Loser. I heard this workout kicks your BUTT big time; but I need lots of kickin' in mine!! LOL

Have a great day girls!
Don't forget to scroll down and enter my Mother's Day give-away!!
Winner will be announced Wednesday morning!!

♥ Noelle ♥

Hop on Over!

Thanks for hopping by this morning! I got the rest of my Easter decor out this past weekend and thought I'd show it all to you today:) This little wooden table was a GW find from back in the winter; I think it was $8.00- not too bad, tables like this go for around $20-25 around here by wood-workers at local craft shows/flea markets. It also holds one of many collections of kids books and a basket of hats and gloves! The boys are really good about putting their stuff in their too:) The cute wooden bunny on this table came from GW too.

This little Easter tree is one of my faves; it was my grandma's ♥

The next set of photos are the shelves of our entertainment center that I loaded up with Easter knick-knacks...

Here is my Shutterpane Window mirror I always talk about. Click on to enlarge to see the bunny bride and groom that is on the lower shelf of this mirror.

Here is the old record player that I had to have when we cleaned out and sold my grandma's house. She always decorated the top of it for holidays; I follow on with the tradition in my home:) I love this Easter basket which I also found at GW:)

Here is my Wall Shelf in the living room with more Easter cuties on it and some of the tea cups that I collect too.

The tiger lilies outside have grown probably 3 more inches since last week...

And the only set of daffodils have fully opened up too! Spring is here!! This Fall I want to try to plant more bulbs for next Spring; in hopes that the EVIL squirrels don't eat them before they are able to bloom!

Well, I was very irritated by my future hubby who called me LAZY yesterday because I didn't take the trash out right away or have the dishes (the few of them) washed the night before!! That really TICKS ME OFF! I had the kids outside for 2 hours the night before, playing with them and NOT just sitting on my butt!
So, I put off doing those things till the next day! Ugh, MEN!

This week is going to be CRAZY BUSY for me! Here are some of the things I have scheduled:

Today: not too much, just NOT BEING LAZY! I am also have a Wildtree food tasting party tonite at the house.

Tomorrow: Classes, working on a paper thats due, making site contacts for work

Wednesday: Meeting with the lady who is custom-making our wedding invites.

Thursday: Classes, playing catch up on homework, making more site contacts to get these places schedule so I can go and test the kids.

Friday: Traveling over and hour to spend a whole day testing at a child care ministry in Amish country; did I add that on my lunch break, I might hit up some FUN amish stores!! (Thats my reward for being SO good at BEING LAZY! Hear the sarcasm in my writing?)

Saturday: We have to go to a Young Author's Conference that Gavin was invited to; he wrote and illustrated his own little book about Rockets to show off!! Then after that I have a bridal shower to attend for a friend.

Sunday: I am having a CROP; so maybe this will be a nice way to unwind after this week!

Soooo... I think I will put off the Easter Egg Blog Hunt for ONE more week! I will announce the details next week:)

Have a nice day gals!
♥ Noelle ♥

Busy as a Bee!

Hello girls! I've been busy as a bee buzzing around here the past 2 days!! I will be back later tonite with a much better post, I promise!! I have 2 exciting tid-bits of news to share with you all:) But... you'll have to wait till a bit later to hear! I have a BIG Crop at my house tomorrow that I must clean house and cook for right now. So if I get all this achieved like I want to, I will reward myself with computer time later when the boys go to bed!

Chat later,
Noelle ♥