throwback to Easter 1990

I want to share three of my very favorite pictures.

This first photo is my dad, Bruce, with my sister, Hannah (age 6) and me (age 2.5). We’re in our backyard in Chicago on a beautiful Easter morning. We lost my dad about a year later, and Hannah passed away at 17, making these Daddy & daughter photos very rare, and extremely special.


We headed over to my grandparents’ house in Portage, Indiana for dinner and the annual Easter egg hunt. My grandparents would hide numbered eggs—you could only find one egg of each number—so that all of us would get the same amount of eggs, with similar prizes inside.
My grandma liked to line up the six cousins into age order for a photo—we are all about a year apart!
Kara (8), Zac (turning 7), Hannah (6), Lindsay (5), Dayna (turning 4), and me (almost 3).

We had a studio photo taken as well!

Kara owns a clothing shop in Brooklyn, New York.
Zac is married and lives in Indianapolis.
His sister Dayna is married with two little kids in Houston.
And Lindsay (bottom right) is married, lives in Illinois, and just had her first baby in January. Her Tristan is five days older than my Ephraim! :)

I can’t wait for the next time we can be together, since it’s very few and far-between.
 
Linking up with Jessica for Throwback Thursday!

what i wore wednesday

 
Well, the grass looks much greener than it did last week, and pretty yellow daffodils are sprouting around the perimeters of the house. However, you can’t tell in these photos that it was actually snowing. And it was a balmy 31 degrees in the afternoon sun. :)  We were at least blessed with some 70 degree weather on Sunday and Monday! I had our screen doors open, and I let the warm air breeze through and wake up this old house. I even wore my first skirt of the year, but I’ll have to spread on some self-tanner before I start posting bare legs for “what I wore” haha.


I won the little jade rosette at a Thirty-One party two weeks ago. I knew I had the perfect skinnies to wear with it!

Cardigan: Mossimo Boyfriend Cardigan at Target
Gray tee: Merona Vintage V-Neck at Target
Rosette: Thirty-One Gifts
Jeans: a.n.a.
Flats: Kohl’s

   

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Linking up with Lindsey for WIWW, Alison, and Shanna.

our family room & easter decor

Welcome to our family room, decorated for Easter!

To start, I want to share that we are renters. Steve is in his fifth year of post-college studies (working hard now on his doctoral dissertation), so we aren’t in our forever-home yet. We moved in last summer, and we are in the unique position that we’re allowed to make changes and updates to the house while we are here to increase the house’s value :) Oh, and it was built in 1920, so it has a TON of character.

I’m linking up with Andrea for the “Come On In” series. I can’t wait to share more of our house over the next several months!

We love these bay windows. They are beautiful when the morning light comes streaming in!

We haven’t done much to this room since we moved in. Steve sanded and refinished the hardwood floors, as he did for the whole house. Last week, he did a little bit of electrical work by the TV. The house still has some knob and tube wiring, so replacing that will be a big job. Someday we will have to give these walls a fresh coat of paint. :)


I cut this fabric bunting from a large piece of white eyelet cotton. I left the strips unfinished to give them a frayed look, and then I tied them onto a piece of jute twine. The white fabric reminds me so much of the Easter story and the linens that Jesus’ body was wrapped in. Peter and another disciple went into the tomb on Easter morning and found the strips of linen lying there, and they then believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.
 

Pastel Easter candy makes for an easy, colorful display :)
My Christ is Risen free printable 

The paper straws are from Target.


My favorite Easter candy—(extra delicious when baked as Cadbury mini egg blondies!)

I’ve started collecting these white glass pieces from Goodwill. The vases I just picked up on Saturday. :)
 
Spring has Sprung free print


We have Ephraim’s dresser in the room (and a changing table not pictured). It is SO helpful to be able to change him on first floor. Also, I love how many windows this room has!

We have our DIY Resurrection Eggs displayed on the dresser, as well as a table runner I sewed last year.

  I made some Easter gift bags with these adorable Shabby Chic Bunnies.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour :)

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resurrection eggs

I pulled these Resurrection eggs out of a box in my mom’s garage a few weeks ago. My sister, Hannah, put this set together—making it extra meaningful to me.  It also means the saltine cracker below is at least 14 years old. Still looking good, no? ;)

Feel free to use this idea for your children, grandchildren, Sunday School class—as a teaching tool for the stories of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

All you need is an empty egg carton, a dozen plastic eggs, and 11 little items to put in them (most of which you can find around the house).

1. A cracker to represent bread at the Last Supper.

Matthew 26:26: “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’”

 

2. A dime to represent the 30 pieces of silver that Judas received to betray Jesus.

Matthew 26:14-15: “Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.”



3. A piece of rope to represent the soldiers whipping Jesus.

Mark 15:15: “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”



4.  A piece of purple cloth to represent the purple robe put on Jesus to mock him as “King of the Jews”.

Mark 15:17: “They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.”



5. A cross to represent Jesus carrying his cross, our cross.

John 19:17-18: “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull . . . There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.”

 

6. A nail to represent that Jesus’ hands and feet were nailed to the cross.

John 20:25: “So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’”



7. A dice to represent the soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ clothes.

Matthew 27:35: “When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”



8. A piece of sponge to represent the sponge used to give Jesus a drink of vinegar.

Matthew 27:48: “Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.”



9. A toothpick (with one edge cut off) to represent the spear that pierced Jesus’ side.

John 19:34: “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”



10. A piece of gauze or white fabric to represent the linens that they wrapped Jesus’ body with to bury him.

Matthew 27:59: “Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.”



11. A rock to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb.

Matthew 27:66: “So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”

12. And an empty egg to represent the empty tomb on Easter morning!

Matthew 28:6: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

what i wore wednesday

 
All I’m reaching for these days are button-downs. In the past, I’ve strayed away from button-downs because oftentimes they’re not as feminine as other shirts. But when you’ve got a baby crying to eat every three hours, you want as easy and quick access as possible. So I am wearing cardigans and plaid shirts ALL the time. And obviously this bright pink plaid is completely feminine. It’s on heavy rotation this spring :)
 


Plaid Shirt: Mossimo at Target
Nursing Cami: Gilligan O’Malley at Target
(I was able to score 4 of them for $40 (half price)—watch for their online deals!
Jeans: American Eagle
Sandals: Crocs Sexi Flip
Earrings: One Little Belt
 

Linking up with Lindsey for WIWW, Alison, and Shanna.

Find me on Instagram: I’m @floralandfudge

Easter Peeps S'mores + free printable

 

If you've been reading this blog for long, you know I have a thing for s'mores. I've made these s'mores kits a few times, and I think they are the cutest idea! You can make them to pass out to friends and family this Easter!

To make these s'mores kits: Put a halved graham cracker, a mini Hershey bar, and a bunny Peep inside a plastic bag. Then print the image on cardstock, fold it in half, and staple it to the top of the bag.

 

 To eat the s'more, just pop the Peep in the microwave for 10 seconds until it's warm, and place it in between the graham crackers with the chocolate bar.  :)

Right click image below and save to your computer:
(I printed them as 4" by 4")

 

To print four on a page, right-click and save the image below:

 

Enjoy!!

life lately

  This weekend, we spent a lot of time trying to spruce up this old house for spring. We peeled away some old curtains and plastic window covers to let in warm rays of sunshine. The furniture in our play room was rearranged, making better use of the space we have. I worked on Easter decor for the mantel while Steve did some electrical work. My chores are difficult since I am always holding a baby, but I somehow managed five loads of laundry and some light cleaning and organizing.

Ephraim and I attended a “Thirty-One Gifts”party on Friday. It was my first time being out past ten in forever, and it was a lot of fun to buy new bags and eat delicious tiramisu with friends. :)

Nolan thoroughly enjoyed a game night at church on Saturday. He ran around like a wild man, stuffed his mouth with grapes and strawberries, laughed at the big kids, played Play-Doh, and tossed around a ping-pong ball with his dad. His energy level is something else!

Last Tuesday, I took Ephraim to his 2-month doctor’s appointment. I figured that he was about 10 or 10.5 pounds like Nolan was at this point, but I was taken aback when he weighed in at over 12 pounds! That’s a gain of 5 pounds since birth! I am so happy that he’s getting enough to eat, and that he’s very content.

I am exhausted at the end of every day, but it’s a good tired knowing that I am giving my all to the three guys whom I love so immensely.

Hope your weekend was relaxing!!