Happy Easter weekend, everyone!  Do you have big plans? We’ll be spending it with family and attending church to celebrate Easter.  Apologies in advance for the large amount of Easter egg photos. Dyeing Easter eggs is one of my favorite traditions, ever since I was a little kid.  Last year I did the famously fabulous gold-leafed eggs, but this year we kept it simple. I stuck some foam dots onto our eggs to make them all spotty & dotty. They turned out pretty cute. And I still have a pretty selection of blown-out eggs from a few years back that I keep out year round. I love their perfectly imperfect coloring and surfaces.

The past few weeks I’ve been reading the Gospels off and on, wanting to read the words that came straight from Jesus’ mouth, and I simply cannot get over John 12:45 — “I did not come to condemn the world but to save it.”  Wait, what? I kind of had to really think that over. And over. And over again. I’m magnetized by Jesus’s words – it’s irresistible. He is irresistible.  It is irresistible to me to hear that the Man I believe is the Son of God came to earth not to condemn us because of the terrible things we’ve done, but to love us. Because if you’re dying for someone, you’re acting in love. If you’re saving someone, you’re acting in love.  Is it complex? Absolutely. But it’s strangely simple at the same time too.  It’s deep — and it’s terribly exciting to me.

Big thanks to everyone who is entering the Land of Nod giveaway I’m hosting this week (as well as all your sweet comments!).  I’m absolutely thrilled with how everything turned out. And don’t forget — you can continue to enter the giveaway through the weekend. So hop to it! Ha – see what I did there? Hop? Easter?  ….   I’ll be here all week – tip your waitress.

I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger: I’m headed to NYC in May to attend the Stationery Show and Surtex — and I couldn’t be more excited. Pencil Shavings will not be exhibiting, but I do want to dip my toe in the water to see what the show is all about. I’ve had this on my To Do List for, oh, 8 years, so 2013 is the year I’m going to make it happen. Got any good NYC tips for me? We’ve been several times, but I love that there’s always something new to see and do there.

My favorite thing that happened this week was on Wednesday when Jude decided that not only does he have awesome hair (I concur), but that he also wants to fix it himself. So he ended up with something slightly akin to Ace Ventura (evidence here).  His teacher texted me at school saying that she was LOVING the hair. When I picked him up, he was kinda quiet and I asked how his day went.

“Good.  But some of the kids kinda laughed at me,” he replied.

“Oh really? Why?”

“They were laughing at my hair. And I didn’t like them laughing at my hair.”

My heart kinda broke into a million pieces (DON’T MESS WITH MY BABYYYYY!).  I got quiet and then I said, “Well. The only thing that matters is what YOU think about you. So tell me – what do you think about your hair?”

Forcefully he replied, “I think my hair is COOL.”

I nodded. “Well then, you know what? So do I, and I don’t care what anybody else says. End of story.”

The next morning? He requested a mohawk. Watch out world – here comes Jude.

When is this motherhood thing supposed to get easier?? Oh yeah – WHEN YOU’RE DEAD.

Happy Easter, everyone — I hope it’s a marvelous weekend for each & every one of you.