Last week in Instragram & this week in sheer panic

Okay, before we get to an Instagram review of the week and a recap of our wild ride on Easter, let me just tell you about this coming week. 

My momma is coming on Thursday evening. Momma & stepdad, actually. So I have guests coming in 3 1/2 days.

Something you may or may not know about me - I'm a 90%er. I like to do jobs/projects until they are mostly done and then I lose steam and it takes me FOREVER to finish them. This is a problem for me this week because over the last two weekends we have been working on our bedroom re-do. The room itself is done. (Well, mostly. I need to pick up a bench, some storage options like a bookcase, and a couple of small, tall side tables - but it's mostly done. The furniture will wait a bit.) 

The problem is we put all that junk that was cluttering up our bedroom into my office. My office that also doubles as our guest room. Do you see where I am going with this?

I have 3 1/2 days to now make the guest room presentable. But I don't wanna. Because I'm a 90%er and I'm done with my bedroom project. Whine.

So - that's my week. Clean, clean, organize, organize. Then my parents are coming and it will be my son's birthday on Friday. I'm feeling the PRESSURE. I'm feeling a little panicky about it. Maybe that adrenaline will help me get it done. Fingers-crossed.

Okay, now that I've got THAT out of the way we've got some loverly pictures:

The beginning of the week was rough at work. Drastic measures were necessary:

Sangria

Then we did homework. This is my Autistic guy. When I see him doing so-called "normal" things really well I can't tell you how much my heart expands. The hubby's too. See his face? Proud dad.

Speaking of the Autism thing - my little guy has been afraid of dogs for about 3 1/2 years. That's about 1 1/2 years after we got our Labradoodle, Murphy. Murphy was a very active pup. And big. With gigantic paws. Bubba got scared and from then on Murphy had a weird half-life - all day outside and all night inside in his crate. Lately as my little bubba has gotten older we've been seeing improvements. He's not as scared as he was. It probably helps that he's taller than Murphy now. 

We started "Project: Integrate Murphy" last week. Starting with a bath and a haircut:

It's going pretty well. Murphy does have a tendency to eat paper though. He gnawed on the hubby's hard-bound Hitchhiker's Guide though and that was a big, fat no-no. He needs to work on his manners a bit before he's given carte blanche access to the whole house.

Friday the boys went to Hobby Lobby with me. I have started a love affair with that place. Largely because of the bedroom re-do. And partially because all the wall decor was 50% off. Yikes. 

Anyway, to reward them, and me, for their good behavior at the store I took them to U-Swirl for yogurt where I snapped one of the cutest pictures ever of these two boys together:

Brothers

I just died. 

Look how sweet they are? So, so misleading.

Saturday I busted ass to try to get my bedroom done. It's done-ish. Here's a preview of a later, date TBD, blog post about the room re-do:

Hobby Lobby purchase. Yep. Infatuation all the way.

We also dyed eggs on Saturday. I'm not artsy-fartsy with them. More of a traditionalist, I think. They are what they are:

Which brings us to Easter. We went to the in-law's house. They have 4 acres on which sits the old farmhouse, a guest house (currently inhabited by a visiting aunt & uncle), a big barn-like structure (for holding the RV, junk and cars. and more junk), old outhouses, an old pump house, old chicken coops, a playhouse, a wood pile, about 8 old undriveable cars, an olive grove, picnic tables, and, finally, a beaten earth track that will eventually have actual train tracks on it for my father in law's ride-on train. 

It's a fun place for 13 grandkids (11 of them boys) to play.

But before the playing we had the egg hunting:

And egg-inspecting at the playhouse:

And Papa took some of the littlest kids for a ride on the track in the golf cart:

Those are the 2 girlies. Twinsies too.

Then we had some boy cousin playing on the wood pile:

Old fallen trees are really the best places to play.

The hubby and I borrowed the keys to the golf cart and drove out to the back olive grove. We may have smooched a little. I can neither confirm nor deny, but this guy certainly thinks he's pretty clever:

Note: I cannot tell you how fun this was. I just can't. I don't have the words. It was like a ride at Disneyland except without all the safety restraints and perfectly imagined scenery. The hubby drove with swagger. Then he let let me drive and I was a tad more cautious. I want to do it again. 

On our way back we saw this band of pirates getting ready to attack:

That's my baby in the middle. With his stick sword.

And then we were caught:

My baby lost interest at some point during the charge and went the other way.

And during all this crazy driving and pirate attacks what were the little girls doing? 

Contemplating the crazy boys, of course. Just like women have been doing for centuries:

"Hmm, why would they get on the roof just to fall on their heads? Doesn't seem logical."

Happy Easter, Peeps.