Party Weekend

We have a weekend full of parties again and I haven't had any time to sew or be creative (house selling and hunting have been main priority). Here's the best I could do...still turned out cute, I think! My friend Kim's son Henry is turning 4 and I bought this bucket when I purchased the green one for his big brother's bean bag gift. What to fill it with, though? Well I found these great children's gardening items in the Dollar Spot at Target. The shovel and hoe are made of painted metal and I added a cute striped ribbon on the handle. I also purchased a pair of gloves, a mini sunflower greenhouse kit, a spray bottle (from the beauty travel section) and my most favorite...a "paint your own gnome" kit. All for a dollar a piece!!! I topped it all off with a bag of gummy worms. I packed the worms and gnome up in cellophane bags and made tags on the computer for them along with a tag for the bucket. Total price: $9.50 (not including ribbon and gift wrapping). How can you beat that?!

Wrapped up and ready to go. Hope he likes it.

Happy 4th Birthday Henry!!!

A Blessed Easter

We were blessed with a fabulous Easter. We're so lucky every year to spend Easter with so many people we love. This year, we added some more names to our list...the Perry family! Chadwick was welcomed into the family by being invited to hide eggs with the men, while Jennifer hung out in the kitchen with the ladies and little ones. We had a delicious meal, good company, a fabulous egg hunt, and a phone call from our realtor with an accepted offer on our house. A pretty eventful Easter!!!

On your mark, get set, go... Jenna and Toby on the run.

Tyler and Toby searching for the last few eggs.

Gabe lost in thought.

Baby William's first egg hunt!!!

"Look what I got Mom."

Tearing open that package.

Is it Easter or Christmas?

William enjoying his first Easter's goodies.

Our Little Easter Bunnies

Bunny Shirts

I've had carrot print fabric for about 3 years now and I've been meaning to make Jenna a dress with it. Well, last night I decided to make the kids matching shirts for their preschool Easter party. Only my second attempt at applique. I'm no JTP, but hopefully I'll get there someday! Jenna thought it was fabulous that they were all dressed alike. I added another applique down by the ankle of her pants, too.

Jenna's new haircut and a carrot bobby pin...to match her shirt!

(Thanks Aunt Joy for the carrot buttons. They came in handy last night!)

Easter Trail Mix

Need a cute idea for a little one's goody bag? Try making some Easter trail mix. I came up with this idea the other night in bed (too much caffeine maybe) and with the help of JuJu (my Aunt Joy) tweaked the name...Peter CottonTrail Mix! Cute, huh?! Here's the not-so-recipe recipe:

2 Parts:

• pretzel sticks
• Annie's organic crackers (shaped like bunnies, of course) in any flavor, I used whole wheat
• Target brand chickadee crackers (look like chicks and their version of Goldfish)

1 Part:

• Easter m&m's
• raisins

Of course you could add or subtract anything you'd like...my aunt is putting Easter marshmallows in hers. Get creative and enjoy!

Yummy and Cute!

Some labels I made on the computer.

I love the look of lots of little bags in a row...possibly OCD!

Who's Been the Good Influence?

Wish I could say that it was me! This was Jenna's display yesterday of her Barbies exercising. Sadly enough, I can't say that she learned this from her mother. Maybe I should take the hint!

Tip Tuesday (by the skin of my teeth)

Messy Time

My kids have always hated bibs (rip 'em right off), but the only real alternative was to strip them down to a diaper (then they needed MAJOR scrubbing or I was afraid they were cold). So when Jenna was little (wasn't she a cutie pie?!), we got in the habit of using one of my old T-shirts for messy meals and art time. The shirt really came in handy...just pull it off after a spaghetti dinner or a Picasso moment and throw it in the wash. Plus, it covers a lot more area than one of those little bibs!

P.S. Double Tip Tuesday...see the Press & Seal wrap on the high chair tray? Easy cleanup #2!

Sunday was a Funday!

We had our church Easter egg hunt yesterday.

It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a blast!

Joel just chillin' out.

Gabriel and Jenna visiting with the Easter bunny.

A Little Cat Nap

I turned around to find Joel like this in his exersaucer...playing must have wore him out!

He slept for about ten minutes and woke up happy as can be. What a silly baby!

Terrific Tip Wednesday?

No, this is not an April Fool's joke, I'm just a knuckle head and forgot to post yesterday's tip! So, today's post is a little bit tip and a little bit creative holiday thinking. Enjoy!!!

Easter Stuffers

I was talking with the ladies at preschool the other day and they thought it was hysterical (and pretty clever) that I put band-aids in the kids eggs last year. It started me thinking, what other non-candy goodies would fit in those little (and big) plastic eggs?

• hair stuff (purchased from Bitty Bird Bows, of course :-))
• stickers, stamps, & temporary tattoos
• bouncy balls
• Matchbox cars (may have to put in the bigger plastic eggs)
• plastic animals
• army men and parachute men
• play jewelry
• nail polish & nail stickers
• money
• lip balm
• mini boxes of raisins
• alphabet fridge magnets
• barbie outfit (taken out of package, of course!)
• Thomas trains
• mini rubber ducks
• pacifiers & paci clips (for the baby egg hunters)
• travel toothpaste (they make kiddie versions...my kids got them in their xmas stocking)
• bracelet sets (beads and a piece of elastic for the older ones, yarn or elastic and fruity cheerios for the little ones)
• crafty items...little baggies of pom-poms, googly eyes, sequins, adhesive foam shapes & letters

How about putting a slip of numbered paper in some of the eggs and the number would correspond to a wrapped gift after the egg hunt was done. This is a good way to give treats that are too big to fit in an egg...puzzles, books, jump ropes, boxes of sidewalk chalk, bubbles. The list is endless. Let me know if you have any other good ideas for egg stuffers and happy egg hunting to you!