wordless Wednesday...that's my girl!

xoxo,
sharon

Easter weekend recap...a picture marathon...

i worked from home on Friday...the kiddos were out of school on spring break, & the daycare was closed for Good Friday...thankfully, my punks did a great job keeping themselves entertained most of the day...it was a gorgeous day outside (in the 80s!), so they spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather...& as soon as quittin' time rolled around, i joined them!

we'd planned to dye our Easter Eggs...we'd gotten 2 different kits this year - a tie dye set & a set to make the eggs all shiny & glittery

the tie dye kit worked the best...u used droppers to add tiny drops of color to ur egg, while u held it in a baggie...then add another color (or 2) & roll the egg around to swirl the colors together

they came out brighter & the process was quicker than old fashioned dipping

we went ahead & colored all our eggs, then left the shiny kit for the next day since the eggs needed to be dry to add the shine

Rocket joined us outside...he kept watch, making sure that evil cat didn't come around to bother us ;0)

here are our finished eggs after we added the shine effect on Saturday...we were super proud of how they turned out!

another critter that caught Rocket's attention while we were outside dying eggs was this little mama kill deer bird...

she would sit out in the grass with her hubby, just squawking away - trying to keep our attention on her, & not her nest...but finally, i found the eggs...& it was a good thing too - she'd literally laid her eggs under where my brother's hauling trailer had been parked...she was lucky he didn't run over her eggs when he pulled it out...or that he hadn't returned it yet & backed over them

& check this...when i went back out to peek at her eggs on Sunday, there was one more!

i went ahead & surrounded her nest with markers so it wouldn't get run over...i'm just hoping that once the babies hatch, their parents are good at keeping Night away...i'll probably cry if that killer cat gets a hold of them!

Jaden went to bed that evening with a migraine...bless his heart - we knew he didn't feel well when he was only able to take one bite of his pizza, then asked for medicine & decided he was going to bed...thankfully, he woke up just fine on Saturday! that day was pretty chill...i had a wedding cake consultation that morning, but mostly we just hung out & soaked up all the sunshine!

of course Sunday was Easter...& the Easter Bunny sure enough found his way to our new home (Jaden was worried about that)

this was the first year that the kiddos picked out their own Easter outfits...the girls, completely on their own! Jaden only cared that his clothes were blue...i helped him with finding something appropriate ;0)

Easter Sunday service was the children's Easter performance of a story called 'Good News from the Grave'...

Jaden had a solo & the girls sang a song with 2 other little boys...they all had speaking parts as well & everyone did great! once again, they made us super proud!!!



Jaden's solo:
24 hours was all Jesus had
with His disciples, He met to break bread
showing His love, He washed their dirty feet
"I have to go now, but you cannot come"
that's what He said when the end had begun
as they left singing, their music was bittersweet

after church, we ran home to change, then went over to Nana & Grandpa's for a cook-out & outside fun!

& of course, we had to have Easter egg hunts! this year, we skipped the candy altogether (since all the kiddos got plenty from Mr. Bunny already!) and loaded the eggs with one dollar bills & quarters...the kiddos loved it!

the men had the job of hiding eggs...

Scooby says "what egg?!" ~lol~

no Joe, no one will ever find that one! ;0)

let the hunting begin!

& u know we couldn't hang out at the grandparent's without riding 4-wheelers & riding the flyers...we had a great time & left with full bellies...it was definitely a fun, blessed day!

& that's not all!

we'd also promised the kiddos a campfire that night...Curtis was off (very rare on a weekend evening) & the weather was perfect!

while we got the fire going, the rugrats tried out their new bubble guns that the Easter Bunny had brought them...

& daddy got some sticks ready for marshmallow roasting ;0)

we made lots of s'mores & relaxed by the fire...

swinging as the sun fell behind the mountains...

the perfect way to end such a fun weekend...

Christmas tree ornaments & the BEST caramel corn on Earth!

ok, so i'm totally late on this...u may (or may not) have wanted to make these for a holiday craft...but hey, better late than never...there's always next year, right?! ;0)

my kiddos made these mainly for teacher/after-school daycare worker gifts...but we also gave them to friends & fam...they're very simple & i've seen em around prob a billion times over the years - but the kiddos enjoy making them & i think it's the personal touches & how they decorate em that make em so special!

first, u start out with different size craft sticks (popsicle sticks)...u can buy assorted sizes, but i also cut some up with a good pair of scissors to get the tiny pieces...lay a full sized, long one down as the tree trunk...then let the kiddos arrange the different sizes to create a tree...good sorting practice too, huh? ;0)

while they're doing that, u can get out ur hot glue gun & get busy...glue, glue, glue until u have as many trees as u need (btw - even with all these trees, we didn't have any left over for our own tree...guess we'll be making more next year!)

also, this is a good time to go ahead & glue a loop of ribbon or string on, so u can hang ur ornaments later...and have the kids write their names/date on the back of the trunk if u'd like

next, get out some green acrylic paint & let the kiddos go to town

after they paint their trees (& while they're still wet), sprinkled some multi-colored glitter on em for a little extra shimmer

let the trees dry...then get out a bunch of goodies for the kiddos to decorate their trees with...i had some craft felt balls, tiny jewels & some star sequins...but the sky is the limit really - b creative! give them each some q-tips & a blob of craft glue (it's easier to glue tiny pieces down this way, rather than having them squirt big globs of glue directly on the trees) & let em go to town decorating!

& viola!

u can give the ornaments away as is...or attach em to a gift or goodie...

we chose to give away tins of caramel corn with our ornaments...

& not just any caramel corn...it's called My Amish Friend's Caramel Corn & it's sooooo stinkin' good! it turns out crunchy & crisp, not ooey gooey & chewy (u know, the kind that sticks in ur teeth)...go check out the link & give it a try!

& i took ours one step further...after trying the Cub Scouts new version of caramel corn this year, i had the idea to add chocolate on ours too...i just melted some semi-sweet chips & added a bit of gulf wax to thin it out (if u're worried about ingesting paraffin wax, read this)...then drizzled it over the corn as it was cooling

once cool, break it up & put it in decorated baggies or tins as gifts...or just save it all for urself & enjoy...but b careful - it's SUPER ADDICTIVE!!! just ask Curt - i've made 4 or 5 batches of this stuff so far...mostly for gifts - but also because i can't keep him out of it! ;0)

weekend recap...

Saturday morning, Curtis did a fabulous job of keeping the kiddos fed, busy & out of my hair...i had a wedding cake to finish up, then deliver/assemble...so he took the rugrats to the park for a good part of the morning...after i was home & my stress level was reduced considerably, it was my turn...Curt rode the sofa for some mindless Saturday TV & i took the kiddos outside...i needed the fresh air!

i started putting up Christmas lights & the girls got out their skates...Jaden hung out for a little while, but quickly complained about the cold & headed inside

after getting up the lights & yard decorations, i figured this weekend was the perfect time to start & finish up some more holiday to-do's

i began addressing our Christmas cards...while the kiddos put the final touches on their Santa letters...
(u can click the pics to enlarge)

at dark, we headed out to admire our hard work...it looked pretty good...

but, my favorite lights are still the ones we put inside...

then we decided to hop in the car & go check out some lights near where we live...oh how i drool when we pass houses like this!

we slow down the car, & oooh & ahhh as we pass by...holy Griswold, i wanna go all out like that one year!

then, we finally started working on our ornament craft for the kiddos' teachers & our fam/friends on Sunday...

haha, Jaden cracks me up when he paints...

ever since he was a baby, he's always hated to get messy...mostly his hands - he'd sit in his high chair & slam food in his mouth, then whine until i'd wipe off his hands...then he'd do it all over again - eat a handful, have mama wipe off his hands...

still to this day, if he drips something on his shirt or gets splashed by puddle & the bottoms of his pants get wet - even the smallest wet spot will be reason enough for him to have to go & change...& forget finger painting - that's just entirely too messy! he loves the sensory input of play-doh or clay - & the plus side is that it doesn't stick to your hands!

u're not gonna believe this, but he painted a total of 15 ornaments on his own...& didn't get one drop of paint on his fingers! ~lol~

even tho we got moving on a lot of our holiday tasks, we still didn't get to putting ornaments on that darn tree! it's up, lights are strung, even candy canes are hung (& quickly being eaten - by both kiddos & daddy ~wink~)...but for whatever reason, we keep forgetting to stop & put our ornaments on! that's definitely getting done this week - & i'll post some pics of the holiday decor going on in our home then :0)

the only other eventful thing that happened to us this weekend, was another lost tooth...yes, another one!

this makes number 5 for Corinn!
that piggy bank of her's is filling up with tooth fairy cash...soon, i'm gonna hit her up for a loan! ;0)

how was your weekend? get into anything exciting? did u finish up ur Christmas shopping?