Easter

Our Easter party was a big success, as always. You can't go wrong with a house full of excited kids. The pancakes were yellow (bananas foster), blue (blueberry) and my favorite, pink (chocolate raspberry). This year we didn't have a single pancake left by the time we were ready to find those eggs. Lot's of happy full bellies after Mike's pancakes and all the yummy breakfast foods family brought. The Easter bunny had four dozen hard boiled and 173 plastic eggs to hide so it's a good thing Roo left him a snack. I let the kids out into the yard in 3 waves: babies/toddlers, preschoolers and then big kids. In years past I had big kids wait on the patio, but this time I kept them inside the house until Mike signaled me to send the next group. We get a little bit better at this party every year.

Happy Easter!!

Hippity Hoppity Easter on it's Way

Spring has sprung and Easter preparations are underway. I'm always excited for our annual gathering which has grown from four kiddos to somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen. This party was one of the reasons we chose our house with its amazing backyard. I live for excuses to fill my house and yard with happy children. Every year we invite friends and family over for Easter egg pancakes and egg hunting.

Miss Roo filling eggs for her classmates.

The eggs we dyed and decorated

Treats and favors

Easter

My lovely little egg hunters! It was a wonderful occasion as always, but extra special because of all the friends and family that came out this year.

Here's the Easter attire for 2013. Smashing, no?

With bellies full of festive breakfast they hunted eggs. There were four dozen hard boiled eggs and over 100 plastic ones. We filled the plastic ones with small toys, fruit snacks or yogurt covered raisins. I was proud of my candy alternatives, but upon reflection it may have been a bit too hot for the raisins.

Here's my stolen moment to eat (in my awesome Cinderella apron!)

Not to worry, I did not host a party and then cook an Easter dinner. I got an email that kids eat free on Easter at Outback and we walked over to take advantage. It was so novel for the kids trotting along in their Easter clothes. Dinner was wonderful too.

My dinner.

It was a lovely day start to finish. Happy Easter Everyone!

An Egg of a Different Color

It's egg dying time again! I ended up hard boiling 4 dozen eggs yesterday (most of which were free or just over a dollar). I sent half a dozen to school with Roo this morning to color there. Here's her artsy eggs:

They used an egg dying kit with stickers and glitter. They even marbled some with shaving cream. Pretty, aren't they?

Preparations

Last year we decided there HAD to be a better way to dry eggs. I think we always punched the the discs out of the back of the egg dye kits for egg drying when I was a kid. Mike and I always use food coloring and never buy egg dying kits. I did some Googling and found this: egg drying rack. Now in my example picture the pins are a little too far apart. Push them down as far into your foam as you can for stability.

Other than the drying rack we switched my pretty fabric table cloth with a vinyl one. Make sure to put a dark towel under your drying rack as well. Each kid put on an apron, picked a whisk (for egg dipping) and was given some eggs. We mixed color in mugs. We put a roll of paper towels on the table, a wet wash cloth, paint brushes, 2-3 sandwich bags, glitter, food markers, and plastic cups.

Another clever thing Mike did for Roo was to put a bit of foam into a color as floater. That way she could leave an egg in one color and then flip it over and color the other half the same way in a different color without having to holding her egg half suspended in color. It worked wonderfully.

Make Art!

Soap bubbles make cool dinosaur egg looking patterns, but it's best left to grown-ups as my tables been flooded with colored soapy water in the past. Painting the eggs with a glue and water mixture and rolling them in a baggie of glitter was fun, but those shed glitter (they'll probably be tricky to peel). Rubber bands worked well, easy and effective. I used rubber bands to make a Ninja Turtle egg. I tried marbling with olive oil and a few drops of red and blue. It came out like a jaw breaker! Those stay oily to the touch though. Foam floaters and food markers where a big hit with the kids.

Finished Product

Easter Bunny Visit 2013

I told the kids we didn't have to go this year. My big motivation for Easter Bunny pictures is to make sure we (the grandparents and I) get a picture of the kids every spring. This year we'd gone to a theme park in February and purchased pictures of the kids with Big Bird. They gave me wallet sized copies and gave them to the grandparents. I just wasn't sure if it was worth it to the kids and I could have easily passed. I was stunned when they both insisted we go. It is tradition, after all.

We donned our spring-y attire (bunny ears and bunny purse included) and invited Grandma. Last year, Riley flat out refused to sit next to the bunny without Mommy. I really wasn't sure what to expect. It wasn't an issue of fear this time. Riley's going through this unpleasant phase where she'll smile and say cheese all you want, but she will NOT look at the camera! Grrr...Remarkably the people the mall hired (two awkward teenage boys) got the best shot. I got two packages worth of pictures for the price of one and a digital copy! I was pleased.

It has also become tradition to get a pretzel when we visit the Easter Bunny. I had a coupon for buy two pretzels get one free and my stamp card. The kids split a cinnamon pretzel and a lemonade. It was very special stuff, a mall picnic.

Last stop, those stupid 50 cents a ride rides. I forgot my change purse (I know I'm 80yrs old) so we let her sit on them and made sound effects. The kids were very pleased with the trip.

Happy Easter!!

Spring Wreath!

Last night I ran out to the craft store armed with some decent coupons and a gift card I got for my birthday. I had two projects in mind, but ended up only finding the supplies for one. Not to worry though it came out beautifully! Here's my Pinterest inspiration:Spring Baby Grass Wreath from Capture the Details. Adorable, isn't it? Generally, I like to pick projects that I already have most of the supplies for, but when the stars align for a guilt free trip to the craft store I don't pass it up. I came home and got cozy in bed for this one. A little less than an hour later, it was done!

Materials

• Foam Wreath Circle (floral aisle)
• Bright Green Fun Fir (yarn aisle)
• Simplicity daisy trim (ribbon aisle)
• Pealized Pins (that match your flower middles)
• Spring Embellishments
• Ribbon

A quick word about the supplies, I chose the medium sized foam ring and it took the whole skein of fuzzy yarn to fill. I recommend two skeins of yarn if you go bigger. Joann's only had white flowers with pink centers, white flowers with yellow center, yellow with brown centers (sunflowers) or hot pink and neon green alternating petals and centers. I bet there is a vast selection online though. Also, the butterfly I used for mine literally fell apart in my hands coming out of the package. I bet you could make a sturdier one than they sell.

Tie a knot around the foam and then start wrapping. I would pull a length of yarn loose and then double it and wrap that way. It makes the grass thicker. When I got to the end I wrapped a single piece so there would be a slightly flatter area for my butterfly. I HATE repetitive tasks in my day to day life, but I love crafty repetitiveness. I didn't have think about anything, but wrapping yarn for a while and when I was done the cuteness was overwhelming.

Next, you unroll your flower trim and cut them apart. I used the whole roll for my wreath. Just arrange them and pin through the centers. I pulled any loose bits of yarn up and pinned flowers over them to keep it tidy. Watch out for the seam in the foam, it'll bent your pins. Other than that go nuts!

The blogger from Capture the Details embellished her wreath with a tiny "barefeet welcome" sign. I wasn't a fan for two reasons: One, I didn't actually want kids running barefoot in the yard looking for eggs. Two, little pieces of paper sticking off wreaths don't stand up to my 10yr olds' door slams very well. I bought a butterfly made out of feathers from the craft store instead. I removed the alligator clip on the back and put 3 pins through it to secure it on. I absolutely love it!

Here's my finished wreath. Just tie a thick spring colored ribbon to hang it or use it as a table centerpiece. Happy Easter!