Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

Easter was two weeks ago and I’m just now getting to post some pics! We have been very busy, but also someone in our home (not me), who shall remain nameless (not Conner) accidentally dropped my laptop (not Max) and now it’s moving at a snails pace, quite literally. Good news is I get a computer upgrade (woot! woot!); bad news is posting or general surfing on the interweb has become very annoying and virtually impossible. But that’s okay, focus on the positive: New computer! And it wasn’t me who dropped it! (but I still love the person who did)

Okay, Easter. My family gets together for the major holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Every now and then other holidays will be sprinkled into the mix but those are the constant and while that means a lot of people that also means it’s pretty fun. And because our family is big and because our family is southern, that means if you have no where to be or no where to go on said holiday then you are invited! This is a good thing, makes everyone behave since we have “visitors”. Here are some of my favorites of the day (warning : lots of pictures!)

Max practicing his skillz

When they get older I’m totally going to make them hold hands just like this when they fight

Easter Egg Hunting Time

This boys cheeks kill me!

Handsome big brother

Me and Max

Checkin’ out the goods - his expressions are priceless

Conner’s a hand-talker like his mama

Melting - love these guys

My dad

My brother and his new baby girl, Addison

Time for the four-wheelers - it wouldn’t be a holiday without them

My dad and Max, who wasn’t so sure about the four-wheeler at first but loved just sitting on it

Aunt Gwen’s turn - this is completely hysterical if you know her. She’s a cross between Truvy and Ouiser in Steel Magnolias. Love her!

Nana and Papa on the four-wheeler

Melting, again

It was definitely a long day, so Papa had the right idea!

Hope your Easter was sweet and filled with fun!

So my husband has been on this year-long quest to live as healthy as possible. A major aspect of this endeavor is a very strict diet that eliminates all refined sugar and limits the intake of natural sugar except for fruit. Watching my husband, who before could polish off a whole cheesecake in one sitting, limit his sugar and continue strong made me realize how much sugar I eat every single day. I mean…I am surprised I am not pre-diabetic. Seriously. So I challenged myself to go 30 days without eating any refined sugar. Can I say how much it sucks? Cuz it sucks. Even tho I am eating fruit and a few organic treats with natural sugar, I still crave some pretty unhealthy things. But hubby says the things in life that are worth it are usually the hardest to do. He’s my Confucius, what can I say. So in an ode to all that I’ve sworn off for the next month, I present you with my Top Ten Tuesday list:

Top Ten Sugary Snacks I Dream About

1) Animal crackers & cream cheese frosting If you’ve never had this snack you must try it today. And don’t over-think it - get the basic 2lb Stauffer’s animal crackers from Walmart (for like $1.98), get a can of cream cheese frosting, and let your taste-buds do the talking. So good. And good is quite the understatement. This snack helped me through many all-nighters in college…and all-nighters with the babies.

2) Graham Crackers & cream cheese frosting Another good alternative, especially when you make a cream cheese frosting and graham cracker sandwich. yum. o.

3) A big spoon with cream cheese frosting Sometimes there is no time for scrambling. Grab can. Grab spoon. Go for it.

4) Golden Oreos I would love to say I can stop myself at just a few…or even a row. But sadly I can not. These are one of my favorite and every time I think about cutting out sugar I will say “but what about my golden oreos??” And then when they came out with Double-Stuffed? Forget about it.

5) Fruity Pebbles A throw-back to my childhood. This was before all the studies and reports linked excessive sugar to child-hood obesity. Back then our parents knew it probably wasn’t good for us and we knew it too but we wanted it so we nagged and we begged and we pleaded until that colorful box made it’s way into mom’s shopping cart. One of my favorite after school snacks and still one of my favorite cereals (and ice-cream toppings as well) still.

6) White Chocolate Covered Pretzels Flipz or homemade, this mixes salty and sweet beautifully. When Sam’s started carrying the big box of them, I’m pretty sure I skipped up to checkout with that bad boy and made sure our club membership stayed current. Love these.

7) Pumpkin Pie Blizzard This is a seasonal item at Dairy Queen, which I understand but I also think is a travesty since this blizzard is a.maz.ing. Dairy Queen softserve flavored with pumpkin pie spice blended with chunks of shortbread “crusts”…I’m salivating. Truly. So if you haven’t tried it you must!! So get your calendar. Flip to the month of October. Write in really big letter “GET PUMPKIN PIE BLIZZARD!!” & then stamp “URGENT!” underneath. *nodding* you’ll thank me later.

8) Rice Krispie Treats Who doesn’t love them, really??

9) PopTarts Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Night Cap - there is always a good time for a poptart. Lumme some poptarts - I even made a pie showcasing it. Frosted strawberry is my favorite, apple cinnamon a close second.

10) Vanilla cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting Easy-peasy. I have yet to be faced with these while I’ve started my journey but I know if I do I will walk away either sobbing silently to myself or shaking from the desire to pound a few dozen. oh. mama.

My mother in law was in town this weekend to help out with the monkies while hubby was away. This meant a little more free time to myself and I got to tackle not only my inbox but also my feed reader (which I knocked out completely on Sunday, went back to check on it today and am yet again waaaaaaay behind. Blergh.) But while sifting through literally hundreds of updated feeds I found some little gems along the way that made my back straighten and my eyes perk up just a little bit more. So here ya go: Top Ten Pretty-To-Me Links.

1) Vintage Paper Parade I just love this etsy shop. Super simple but super cute stationery - I can not narrow down which is my favorite, love it all! (and Pepper Design Blog is doing a giveaway so head on over to score some adorable and f-r-e-e goods)

2) Red & Teal Wedding While perusing the archives of one of my favorite photography blogs, I found this little gem and it blew me away. I would love to say I have the cahoonah’s to do such a bright color scheme for my wedding but isn’t it gorgeous?! And the cake, did you see the cake? OhMyGoshIJustLoveIt. LOVE. IT. *swoon* *drool* *sigh*

3) Best Easter Baskets Easter is one of my favorite holidays but sometimes the “cutesyness” of it overwhelms me. However, I am always a sucker for a beautifully designed and executed Easter basket. My favorite? The dyed Easter basket. So incredibly simple but so lovely.

4) Beautiful Cherry Blossom Cookies Aren’t these cookies amazing?? I don’t think I could bring myself to eat one! Wait, who are we kidding - of course I could. But I would take tons of pictures first.

5) DIY Ruffles and Lace Tank Top Sewing can be such a fussy process, one that irritates and bores me but I think I will blow the dust off of my sewing machine to make one of these - pink puffy *heart* this.

6) Only the best cake ever Today. (cuz we all know I will change my mind when I find another one tomorrow) but still, so stunning (Brandi, I think you should have this cake for Bug’s 2nd birthday party. Just a thought *wink*).

7) Macaron pops Love me some macarons. Love me some lolli’s. Love me some Bakerella.

8) Shauna Younge I am a huge Amy Atlas fan and love seeing what her genius-mind comes up with but I found another pro in the dessert bar field and I can’t get enough of her stuff either! Her “LOVE” dessert table knocked my socks off - so sweet and I am totally digging the silhouette’s.

9) Pentunia Pickle Bottom Cosmopolitan Carryall I mean, the name is just fabulous on it’s own (Petunia…so lovely). But then the description makes my eyelids flutter “Sapphire blue and Ocean Mist vintage inspired floral European cut velvet with coordinating sapphire blue wool tweed and sapphire blue water resistant lining” What does it all mean? I don’t care. All I know is she takes my breath away.

10) Simple yet Adorable Cuppie Today kicked my butt, especially between the hours of 3pm to 7pm, so to stumble upon this little gem really brought a sense of peace and tranquility to my mind. Is it weird that food does that? No? Good. A little yummy topped with sweetness on a backdrop of happiness. I know it’s weird but I’m 10% auditory, 90% visual so it just happens that way. But man, isn’t it a beauty.

Thanks so much for taking the time to fill out the questions - each one made me laugh or nod my head in agreement at least once. So crazy how we can all be so different & still have much in common! Okay I guess I should take the time to answer my own questions, which was way harder for some of them than coming up with them. So here we go. Top Ten: Getting to know ME!

1) What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name?

I always wanted to be a Megan or Jennifer or Amanda since that’s what all the girls were name & Candace was so different (during a civics discussion of the roots of our names I was the only one who got to stand up & proudly say “Candace was an Ethiopian queen in the book of Acts). True, my mom found it during a bible study & thought it was so pretty. I never really liked it until I got a little older & realized it wasn’t so bad. Besides it’s one the best names for little kids to pronounce: “Kennis! Kennis!” - so cute.

2) What was your worst date?

My first date as a freshman in college with one of the nicest & sweetest guys I’ve ever known, but totally clueless. Started off the date on the wrong foot when I met the girl of the other couple we were double-dating with and before she told me her name she asks smiling & bright-eyed “Do you prefer to be called Candy?” & I choked out “No way, sounds like a hooker.” Hooker was my exact term because I remember the look on her face as I said it since her name was….wait for it….Candace. But she prefers to go by….yeeeaaah. *gulp* Then we went to Applebees & our dates proceeded to tell us the plan for dinner: we order the free-refills chips & dip appetizer to split four-ways. After our incredibly stuffing dinner we headed to a party out in the boonies & drove around for two hours because we were lost. Just me & the hooker, sitting in the backseat, waiting for this night to be over. *Sigh* My boys will hear this story many times of what NOT to do.

3) If you had to teach one subject in high school or college what would it be?

Government or Civics

4) When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?

This happens quite often because I laugh a lot but the last I remember was last week with the boys. Conner has a way of getting Max so wound up & Max has a way of being a total ham. One crazy antic led to another, bodda-bing, bodda-boom mama was in tears. In a good way.

5) What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Not done but said. A friend, whom I don’t get to visit with often & doesn’t know how many times I struggle to keep my head above water as a wife & mother, told me how blessed my children were to have me. That when the time would come they would rise & call me blessed, like the Proverbs 31 woman. It meant so much to be since I really felt in my heart it was God whispering his hope & promise to me.

6) If money or skill-set was no issue, what would you love to do for a living?

My knee-jerk would be caterer or event planner - shocker, right? - but the truth is I would love to teach high school. But only at a school where I could smack the kids around when they get on my nerves. (What? That’s never allowed? Really? Hmmm…ok, then definitely a caterer.)

7) What is one thing as an adult/parent/spouse you do that you swore you would never do?

I swore I would never get married or have kids. Kind of crapped on that one pretty good!

8) If you could go back to one particular time in your life (not to live, not to change anything, just to visit) when would it be?

Freshman year of college. Loved every minute, every day of it.

9) If your walls could talk, what would they say about you (good & bad)?

That she has good intentions & should probably be medicated

10) If you could fix or put an end to one problem in the world what would it be?

Poverty

If you haven’t done yours yet go here & do it! Now!

So I’m easing back into blogging & so far feeling really good about it! I do feel like I crack my knuckles more at my keyboard than I ever have, not because I’m typing that much but because it helps kill time as I’m debating what to type. Anyways, many of you I know, and obviously you know me but even those that I know I could always know more. And I if you’re like me, when it comes to blogging sometimes you draw a complete blank as to what to blog about. So in honor of Top Ten Tuesday I decided to throw some questions at you to get to know you since you take time out of your day to get to know me. Use this as a springboard to a post of your own, or just answer them here for my own amusement. And if you’re new to my blog & we have never met, please do it anyways - I love meeting new people! You can use the comment section of this post or answer them on your blog & link the post in the comment section so we can all get a little closer. C’mon friends, let’s get a little socially awkward!

Top Ten: Getting to know YOU!

1) What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name?

2) What was your worst date (as in going out on a date, not an actual calendar date…unless you have a really bad one to share)?

3) If you had to teach one subject in high school or college, what would it be?

4) When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?

5) What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

6) If money or skill-set was no issue, what would you love to do for a living?

7) What is one thing as an adult/parent/spouse you do that you swore you would never do?

8) If you could go back to one particular time in your life (not to live, not to change anything, just to visit) when would it be?

9) If your walls could talk, what would they say about you (good & bad)?

10) If you could fix or put an end to one problem in the world what would it be?