Easter

 So I'm a wee bit late on this but here was our Easter.  Egg Dying.  Pretty dresses, probably the last time they'll get to wear their flower girls dresses.  Dever still has room in hers but Ady and Willa both have had growth spurts making the dress a little too tight and a little too short:)

 Easter day had us hunting for eggs out at the Hilton Spindlers:)

They didn't seem to mind that these were the same eggs they found in the house when they wok up.

 Seriously, if you know how short my Mom is, it makes this photo even funnier.

 Then relaxing after a yummy dinner.

Willa Turns 7

Many hands make light work ergo,

many tongues and fingers make cake batter cleanup a breeze! 

The birthday girl has since lost the other front tooth and now has a most adorable gapped smile!  Pics t come, eventually.

At school her teacher gave her the choice of 7  hugs or 7 spankings.  She chose the hugs!

 Her middle name is Joy and it suits her so wonderfully.

 Always smiling, always happy...

 Always willing to be a good big sister...

Always<3

3 Months Later

And still we are lost among the remodel.

You wouldn't think it would take that long to write a few sentences here and there and throw up a few pictures.  It seems like once I broke the habit, I had a hard time coming back.  The poor excuses I can offer are that my bathroom is not yet back to rights, 3 kids(the 3rd one completely done with diapers), travel volleyball, 2 dogs, 2 cats(one of which I swear is on his last days), and 1 beta fish.  They are consuming me, minute by minute.  Something had to give and so it was the blog, which cannot die, whine, or create any number of disgusting messes requiring me to stop immediately what I was about to do so I can clean it up.  Now I'm wondering when I had time to write here at all.

And I'm not making any promises.

Adalyn is now potty trained(insert Hallelujah chorus), however *ahem* #2 can be very tricky and seems to involve many false alarms and a ridiculous degree of patience.  The bathroom is very nearly completely functional(3 months later) but there is still the painting and trimming to do.  The cat, well, we'll see.  My guess is that we may be mourning his passing sooner rather than later.  The dogs, they seem to continue to poop.   Not surprising I know, but now that the weather is nicer we may actually want to use our back yard and so cleaning up after them will be required.  The fish doesn't complain but I swear he is thinking thoughts about my ineptness while he watches me try to juggle everything.  Not very well I might add.

So maybe this 20 minutes I am surely stealing from something else I should be doing, is an anomaly.

But hopefully not.

While I've been out living blog-free, Adalyn has turned 3 and I made her the coolest rainbow cake ever, per her request.  She is still our "crapshoot."  Just last night, after putting her to bed at 9:30, she spent the next 3 hours jabbering until calling me relentlessly at 12:45.  You just never know with her.

Lost Amid the Remodel

Somewhere around 4 weeks before Christmas, we(Wayne and I) decided it would be genius if we ripped apart our downstairs bathroom and began the remodeling process.  We almost did this over the Summer but  went to Key West instead.  And now being 6 weeks into the project I can easily say that Key West was far more fun;)

The thing about remodeling for me, is that I know going into it that it will be a painful process.  I agonize and dither about the smallest things to a point that is exhausting.  Having done a few rooms now, I have faith that in the end, the room will look great, it will look like us and we will be so glad we did it.  But before all that satisfaction comes the hemming and hawing inevitable with me.  So that is where I've been lost.  In the cyber-world that includes image searches of small bathrooms, faucets, faucets that light up(per Willa's request), shower heads, shower systems, tiles, medicine cabinets, vanities and one unfortunate day filled with only variations on robe hooks.

Anyhow, here are the before pictures, including the crooked window shade, the too many bottles of shampoos, conditioners and the like, and a plant that without reason, refuses to die.

 
 At Christmas we let our family sign the insides of the walls:)

Did I mention Wayne is doing all the work himself?  Luckily over Christmas break we got almost all the demo done.  But now that he's back to working 55 hours a week at work, progress is somewhat slow.  Good thing patience is a strong character trait for me(insert eye roll).  Plus, there is the rest of 'life' that keeps on insisting it should be paid attention to as well.  Happily, I am 99% sure everything has been decided, though it is clear that I may have underestimated how much certain items would cost, I am glad to have all the decision making behind me.  Now all we need is time, and Lord knows, we have an abundance of that(insert another eye roll, bigger this time).

Happy Holidays!

Here's hoping the New Year brings more time and energy for this space.  In the mean time, we're wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:)

More from Kurt and Tia's Wedding

 We stopped at a close by mall and hijacked their carousel for a few minutes.  The girls LOVED this part:)

It was actually close to 40 degrees out while we were taking these pics so we had a person close by taking the coats from everyone at the last moment and Tia has mentioned the possibility of being frozen to the bench by the time this last one was shot:)

And then they were off!  The newlyweds were thrown for a loop when Tia received an email enroute to the ceremony that said their flights to Australia and Fiji were cancelled due to labor strikes.  Not being able to deal with it till Sunday put them behind everyone else who had rebooked flights and although the labor strike lasted less than 48 hours, the airline was unable to get them to Sydney within a reasonable amount of time and could not get them to Fiji at all!   I was so sad for them.  But they had trip insurance and were able to spend a few days in New Orleans and then a week on a cruise to Cozumel.  January will be finding them in Australia and hopefully the 1 yr. anniversary will find them in Fiji.  They return tomorrow, back to the real world, hopefully rested and ready to tackle the Holiday Season as the new Mr& Mrs. Spindler.  Or Mr. & Mrs. Spindler-Schmidt.  Or Mr.& Mrs. Schmidt-Spindler.  Or they could create a whole new last name with the letters of their respective last names; DeMinssprichdt, or Shindlermiscpdt, or....