Random Tidbits: Post-Easter

No new pictures to post. I've misplaced my camera and can't remember where I put it. I have 4 children that like to take pictures too, and if I don't keep it hidden, they'll run the battery down and I end up with 232 pictures of blurry close-ups of various toys, faces, and walls. Maybe 10 of those 232 pictures are absolutely priceless!

So Easter has come and gone.  We made the bunny teeth picture on the recent post into cards and sent them out to close family. They were a hit! It's fun to send out traditional stuff with a quirky twist.

Drowning in Easter candy. Oh my! I usually make a stop at the stores after Easter for clearance sales on candy, but I am passing on that this year.  We have lots and lots of candy and one very sneaky boy that loves candy! I'll find wrappers hidden behind dressers, under the couch, beneath the cabinets and on the floor in the pantry. tsk tsk! When I find Peter, he has a ring of chocolate around his mouth.  I'm not surprised-- when I was pregnant with him, I had a mad craving for chocolate and even dark chocolate made it's way past my lips!

Any chocolate that survives into the Fall will be transformed into Fudge.  I buy the clearance chocolate bunnies and total up the ounces and turn what was so-so chocolate into delicious fudge or bark candies. It's a good way to save money when it comes to buying ingredients needed for holiday baking. Just remember to keep the chocolate in a cool dark place and not in a room that becomes hot during the summers.

I need to re-locate the candy-- Stat! I think today alone, he snuck 8 lollipops! And of course, when the sisters see him with a lollipop, they want another, too!

Would you believe we had snow flurries on and off all day today?  It's not unusual to see snow in April where we are, but after several weeks of warm-almost-feels-like-summer weather, 50 degrees is COLD! Coming out of winter, 50 degrees is downright balmy! But we've gotten spoiled and it's just miserable around here!  The wood stove is roaring with a fire, sweaters and flannel sheets have come back out and thank goodness I didn't plant the garden yet! We had a freeze a while ago and a lot of the orchards around here lost a big majority of their apple crops. I sure feel bad for them. Calling for another freeze this week. Oh boy!

Local schools are letting out May 25th because they used zero snow days this year! Some other counties are choosing to close every Friday to keep the last day of school the same date, but this county is choosing to let out early instead.  May 25th! Wow!

Gretchen is working hard to earn money. She doesn't know what she is saving for, but she wants money! She's been helping me with the laundry and the dishes and general cleaning up.  They all have chores, but she's doing more than usual. It's been really nice to have an assistant helping to fold laundry and it sure made the work go faster!  I hope I can talk her into putting some of it into savings instead of spending it on toys. We were at Goodwill the other day and she offered to buy a toy for Peter, which was really sweet of her.

Evelyn wants to cook dinners with me more often.  She says she needs to learn how to make more dishes or else her husband will have to do all the cooking. I don't know where that came from, but we shared cooking duties and she was proud to have made the whole main dish all by herself and set the table and served up the dishes. They can all cook minor side dishes and simple meals like eggs and toast, but I've never let them do a main dish all by themselves. Peter is showing an interest in cooking and it's nearly impossible to keep him out of the kitchen! He drags a dining chair in and parks it right next to me so he can help, too! Sure makes me wish I had a bigger kitchen because it gets crowded in there with a kid on either side of me.

I have errands to run in the morning, so off to bed with me. Hope your Easter was filled with love and fun and Blessings!