She's So Black and White!

The girls and I stopped by my grandmother's to visit this afternoon. She had some old photos of her out to show me and the girls. I showed Merritt one of the photographs of my grandmother when she was barely 20. She was standing outside with two young cousins of hers. As you can imagine, it was a black and white photo. As I showed it to Merritt I said, "Look how beautiful Ms. Jo is in this picture! She's so young and pretty!" As Merritt peered over the photo, her face quickly changed to shock and surprise as she exclaimed, "And she's so black and white!" We laughed and laughed while explaining that Ms. Jo was a grown woman before she got her colors! Later, when we left, Merritt told Ms. Jo, "I'm so glad that you are colorful now!"

If You Can't Decorate the House, Decorate Cookies!

Other than Christmas, I don't decorate our house for other holidays. Too much effort, I guess. I have a feeling Merritt is going to change that! She has been asking for weeks about decorating our house for Easter. I've put her off as long as I could. While visiting my grandmother today, Scott got our Easter decorations out. When we returned home and I saw the sad little pile of eggs and broken baskets, I knew I had to come up with something good!

"If you can't decorate your house, decorate cookies!"

The girls had a great time making the dough and rolling it out!
They especially loved icing and decorating them, though!

They even made 'M' shaped cookies. Purple for Morgan.

And pink for Merritt, of course!

They did a nice job and Momma enjoyed finishing the job when they got tired. We have plenty to share if Daddy doesn't eat them all tonight!

It was a fun diversion to house decorating but I'm sure I'll be hitting the after Easter sales to satisfy next year's decorating adventures!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Morgan's 2nd grade class presented the play "How Does Your Garden Grow?" It was great! All the children did such a great job!

What Are You Giving Up?

Several weeks ago after "letting the good times roll", our family attended a Shrove Tuesday Pancake dinner at church. It was hosted by the Children's Ministry team and was a great way for the girls to learn more about the Lenten Season. One of our ministers answered questions from the children and parents and suggested that in addition to giving up something, we give back as well!

The girls participated in several activities but their favorite was sponsored by the Prayer Ministry. In private they were able to write down, or draw a picture of one of their sins and then nail it to the cross. That night the sins were burned and used the next day in the Ash Wednesday service.

On the way home we discussed what we could all give up and/or give back. Morgan joked about giving up playing with Merritt but settled on giving up Sprite while encouraging her daddy to join her by giving up Coke. He agreed and has probably already lost 10 pounds much to my dismay! Merritt decided to give up being mad and has had a little difficulty sticking to it but only when things don't go her way! I decided to give up using my cell phone in the car thanks to Oprah and her No Phone Zone campaign. I'm giving back by being a safer driver as well as spending more quality time in the car with the girls! They were both quick to let me know that I was always on the phone while driving!

Morgan even made me this sign to keep in the car to remind me while they are at school! So far we have fulfilled our obligations! The girls and Dad are anxious to get back to Sprite, Coke and being mad but Momma's car will forever be a No Phone Zone, at least for the driver (see sign)!