We started our Easter celebration early in the week last week, dying our Easter eggs and immediately going outside to hide/find them.  The spring-like temps made for a fun Easter week, but alas Easter day was cold and rainy.  It's a good thing we spent so much time outside the week prior.

Katherine loved hunting eggs almost as much as she loves our dog, Sammie.  Sammie is such a good sport about it though.




 My parents' yard is in full spring bloom, making for a perfect egg hunting backdrop.

We made Easter Bunny Bars using this recipe.



On Saturday we headed to the city for the annual Easter egg hunt at my brother's church, where Katherine hunted even more eggs and met the Easter Bunny.




It's a good thing I opted for the cardigan for Katherine's Easter dress.  Easter morning was a bit on the chilly side.  I might add that Katherine picked out her entire outfit, including shoes and purse.  She was the hit of her Sunday school class.



We're now recovering from way too much Easter candy.  And hoping for the spring temperatures to return.

If you've ever been in the market for a new house, then you know about the emotional ups and downs that go along with the hunt.  Every morning there's the hope that the house will pop up, and every evening there's the disappointment that it didn't.

Sometimes you get your hopes way up because you think you've found the house, only to be let down again when the deal falls through.

The number of houses that we've actually viewed in person is now well into the double digits, with no luck in finding the one, and really, no hope in sight.

We've looked at house after house after house.

We've gone to Open Houses where 60 other people are trying to finagle their way through the same small space we're trying to look at.

We've had houses that we were interested in sell before we even got a chance to look it them.

We've had houses we were trying to make an offer on sell before our agent could finish the paper work on our offer.

We've had a house sell while we were inside it, viewing it.

This weekend, we fell in love with a house and decided to put an offer in on it.  After going over the comps (HGTV word!) in the surrounding areas with our agent, and weighing all of our options, we put in a solid offer.  I was confident that this time, it would work out.  I even started browsing online for floor rugs.  I totally saw us living their.  The next day, the sellers countered our offer with a less than stellar one.  After our agent spoke with the sellers' agent, it became clear that their disappointing counteroffer was as good as they could do.  Unfortunately, we couldn't budge much from our offer.  So, the deal was off.  Another house gone.

Losing this last house stung.  A lot.  After months of looking, I have little hope of ever finding the right one, nor do I see the light at the end of this depressing tunnel.

I'm ready to have our own space again.  I miss our stuff.  I miss our furniture.  I miss our old house.

I know this season of life we are in will eventually pass but right now, I'm sad.  And I feel hopeless.

Sorry, this post got real.

In keeping with the topic of this post, some may have seen this Facebook post I posted a couple of weeks ago on my personal page.  This pretty much sums up our life right now:


And because I want to leave you on a positive note, I give you:  literally just a bunch of funny tweets about HGTV shows.  

Enjoy.

Our girl turned three on Saturday.  I know every parent in the history of the world has said they can't believe how time flies, but it's true.  It still feels like yesterday that she was born, and was this fragile little thing.  And now.....she seems so grown up. 

Katherine had a great birthday and an even better birthday party, despite a series of unfortunate events. 

I was super excited when Katherine's birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  It became obvious that we would be hosting her party at my parents' house this year, so we ordered invitations and officially planned the party for March 12. 

Not long after setting the date, we learned that the small community that my parents' live in hosts an annual St. Patrick's Day parade that draws in about 60,000 people each year.  Guess what day the parade was scheduled for?  If you guessed March 12, then you are right.  We soon learned that all major roads leading to and around my parents' house would be closed or blocked for the better part of the day.  It seemed like it would make for a rough day, but we persevered. 

After a slight issue with some of our dessert orders for the party were cleared up two days before the party, I figured we had seen the last of our party problems and we were all in the clear.  Then Friday morning I was awakened at 6:45 a.m. by the sounds of jackhammering.  I looked out the window and saw a street crew "fixing" the street in front of my parents' driveway.

No! No! No no no no no no no no no!

Yep.  They were in fact breaking up the concrete in front of my parents' house and driveway to pour brand new concrete that would need to set over the weekend. 

#$@%%$#$^*!!!

It's ok.  We would overcome.

Party day brought lots and lots of people to the neighborhood, parking their cars up and down the street to attend this God forsaken parade, leaving little room for our party guests to maneuver between the cones blocking the fresh concrete. 

But alas, our party guests were led in the back way through the neighborhood and we still had an amazing turnout. 

It really was a great day and we're so grateful to everyone who came to celebrate our sweet girl at her Inside Out birthday party. 

We had our traditional donut birthday breakfast and before we knew it, it was party time. 

Katherine's t-shirt, bow

"Joy" cardboard cutout

Food tents

Cookies

Cake

Cupcake (Walmart) toppers: DIY

Katherine received her very own karaoke machine for her birthday (thank you North County Angels), so she was happy to entertain the crowd after cake. 

Speaking of cake, I cannot say enough about how delicious the cake and cookies were!  Because we were at the mercy of my parents, I outsourced all baked goods this year to local bakeries, while my mom and I made the food for the party.  (Thank you Pioneer Woman for your awesome party food ideas!)

The house was full of love and laughter and we couldn't have asked for a better time. 

Thank you to my parents for opening up your home to our crazy friends and family and to my mom for all the help in the kitchen!  We literally couldn't have done it without you! 

Yesterday was Leap Day and we took a huge "leap" into spring, only to immediately leap back into winter today.  It is March after all.  The month of unpredictability.  I remember the year Katherine was born, it snowed a week after her birth and was still warm enough to wear spring dresses a week later on Easter.

Anyway.

We took advantage of the warm weather yesterday and played outside.  All.  Day.  First we went to the park, then after nap time we went out to the yard.  I haven't taken many pictures lately, so I decided to dust off the ol' camera for some photo time with the family.








Today it's freezing and rainy and the wind is howling.  Hello, March.

Birthday prep is in full swing, and we are so ready.  Well, Katherine is ready.  I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be three yet.  Time please slow down.