easter goodies

I've been busy this week putting together little treats for Grace's Easter party at school on thursday. I'm so excited about it! Not only for another opportunity to see another set of little ones excited about finding eggs, but also because after the egg hunt, the 2/3 year old class puts on a little recital for the parents and grandparents. Mandatory egg stop after school :)

There's just nothing sweeter than little ones singing their hearts out for Jesus! We're so blessed that Grace goes to a Christian school where Jesus is kept at the center of every lesson. I can't wait to hear her sing "This Little Light of Mine", my favorite. She's been practicing so much and has all the hand motions memorized. I love when she sings "...hide it under a bushel? NO! I'm gonna let it shine..." complete with finger shaking and voice inflection :) Today's craft: easter baskets and dyed egg - her first one ever!

Here are a few of the goodies...

This first one is not related to her school party but it's just too stinkin' cute not to share!These sweet little clippies by Studio of Whimsy are going in Grace's easter basket. I love, love, love 'em! They remind me of the days of the week snap clippies I used to wear when I was a little girl. I was a stickler too - always wanting to make sure I had the right day on :)

Tins full of treats for Grace's sweet teachers. I love polka dots and I'm loving all the pastel polka dots that seem to be popping everywhere this time of the year. The cute tins are from Michael's. And a close up of the yummy vanilla sugar cookies. Aren't these baby chicks sooooooo cute??!! My cookie decorating skills are seriously lacking. I have yet to perfect the flooding technique to make cute cookies like these so I totally cheated and ordered these sweet (+ delicious!) cookies from Andrea of Pastry Girls in Iowa. Her cookies are delicious and I love that she uses only organic ingredients.

Bunny shaped treat bags for Grace's classmates...PINK bunnies of course ;) A view from the back. It's hard to tell but my favorite thing in there is the silly egg-stack straw - love it! I can't remember if I got them at the dollar store or in the dollar section of Target, but they came 4 to a pack and are so cute!

And of course the sweet sticker labels from Autumn Leah on etsy. I love Autumn's designs and she's great to work with. Last Fall I took advantage of a sale she had and ordered Christmas/Valentine's/Easter sets. It's been great having these ready to go and they do make the treats look so very cute!

These two little easter baskets are for my goddaughters, Madeline & Ella Kate. I love those two sweet girls with all my heart!! Easter baskets are my one time of the year to spoil them a bit and I so enjoy putting their baskets together! Kids get so much candy at Easter that I really try to find non-candy goodies to stuff in their baskets.

Madeline is 6 and will still let her mama put sweet bows on her head so I found this big pink bow with a bunny - so cute! Grace has a smaller version of it and I love it! For Ella Kate who is 19 months, I got the sweetest crochet beanie with a removable bunny bow and a super soft birdie lovey blankie. I hope she'll wear the hat!!

I'm really loving lambs for Easter this year for the symbolism and because they are just so sweet. I was super excited when I found the cute felt baskets at Target!

And this last one is something I've gotten for the past three years. In all honesty I bought it for the packaging - so cute tucked into an easter basket! But it really does make the little pumpkin excited when I pull out this sweet little milk mixer (chocolate milk) and declare her glass of milk "magical". You can find these at Michael's and they have other seasons too. The halloween one made her milk orange - she thought that was hilarious!

And speaking of funnies...I can't wait to see Hudson wearing these: I love that the colors are more boyish than the traditional bunny ears. I just ordered these from Pottery Barn Kids on sale monday (free shipping) and I'm just hoping that they'll get here on time for Hudson to wear them and be my sweet funny bunny this Sunday.

Making the everyday special...isn't that what it's all about?

bunny love

And a few more pics...

Bunny pics are a tradition for our family. I love to see how Grace & Hudson react to the little fuzz ball. Grace's first year (2008, she was almost 1) she didn't want to touch the bunny AT ALL. Her second bunny visit (2009), she couldn't wait to take off with the bunny, basket & all! Typical two year old! This year, the anticipation was so great. She looooooved on that bunny and just kept squealing with delight over how cute he was :)
This being Hudson's first year, I wasn't sure what to expect. My 9 month old little guy LOVED the bunny...almost a little too much. He squeeeeezed that little bunny until I was scared for the little bunny's life! Boys! I'm glad we got this sweet picture before he realized there was a bunny next to him because after that it was all about the bunny! I love this sweet picture of them together. You can tell Grace is checking out her little brother out of the corner of her eye to see his reaction. Love those two!

easter egg hunt pics...FINALLY!

The long awaited pics!!!!!!!!!! Who needs to hunt for eggs when you can just do this? Got it! What is that? How did it get there? Notice anything about egg selection??? Here, get a closer look. Enjoying the fruits of her labor. Here we go again...where are these things coming from? Why do the work when you can just do this! Okay, I'll share with you but hands off the pink ones! Group Shot Take 1 (by the way I have so many sweet pics of all the gorgeous little ones but I don't feel comfortable posting their pics here since I didn't ask the parents' permission to do so for this blog, just the League's website) Group Shot Take 523!!! Yup, not any better :) Time to take a break and count some eggs! 1...2...3...4...5... Now what? Whatcha got over there??? Egg Head :) Sweet brother and sister Okay, I think I finally figured out this whole egg hunt business. Everyone better watch out! I'm ready for Thursday's egg hunt!! Wishing you...

LOST...

...AND FOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They found our pictures!!! Yipee!Finally able to RELAX and enjoy some time in the backyard. Thank you for all your good thoughts! And can I just say how nice it is that there are still kind, helpful people in customer service positions! I know we hear a lot about rude people these days but today I had the pleasure of meeting someone who went above and beyond to help me, who graciously endured silly jokes and pandemonium from my two little munchkins trapped with me in a tiny office for over an hour, who did not give up for another hour after we left, and who only charged me $10, $5 for the cd and $5 for her labor...labor of love, I tell you! THANK YOU MS. TERESA!!! You may never read this, but I can assure you I will certainly Pay It Forward...and refer everyone I know to your store :)

Be back soon to share some of those sweet egg hunt pictures :)

random thoughts... {and a little contest}

Random thoughts...to keep my mind off my CAMERA CARD!!!

You guys this camera card business is driving me bonkers. I've read countless FAQ from the Canon online technical support center, called them (they're closed on Sundays - WHY???? just kidding), pretty much flipped through the entire camera manual, tried loading the pics at least 1000 times...Arrrrrggggh

I know this may seem pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but if you think about it, please say a tiny prayer and send me some positive vibes that the pro shop folks can download my images to a cd tomorrow morning! Thanks!!

Okay, here are my random thoughts for the day...

1. Chicken Salad. I love it! After pancakes, peanut butter, and animal crackers :) it's probably my favorite food. I have a love/hate relationship with chicken salad. I either love it or hate it, no in between. I love to try it out in new places but I'm always so disappointed when it's yucky. So.....do you have a great tried & true favorite chicken salad recipe? I would really love to find a recipe that's delicious.

2. Fairy Dust. Perhaps this sweet fairy can sprinkle some magic dust on my camera card and fix it :) P.S. Thank you Aunt Marilyn for the fun Dora Fairy dress-up. Grace LOVES it!! How did you know Grace wants to be a fairy for halloween this year????? Yes, she's already told me :)

3. Pick Your Battles. Yes, I'm certainly picking my battles these days. Today, Grace insisted on going to church covered in hologram stickers. Hey, at least they were Easter hologram stickers! We finally settled on 3 in the front, 1 on each hand, 1 on Hudson's back, and 2 on mama's arm. Three is turning out to be lots of fun, in case you were wondering ;)

4. Glo Doddle. Perhaps the single best toy invention EVER!!! Love this thing. I love that it's a creative gift and that it's portable. I think it may become my go-to toy for the preschool set. And at just $20 it's very affordable! Shhhh...Don't tell, but all of Grace's little friends with upcoming birthdays will be getting one of these. It has been such a hit with Grace (...and mama...and daddy...and hudson). Thank you Mimsy for the awesome birthday present!!!

5. Gift Stash. Do you have one? I do! And I'm not talking about a pile of re-gifts, in case you're wondering ;) I've slowly been building up my gift stash. Everytime I see something I think someone on my shopping list for the year will like, or a fun toy for a little buddy's birthday, or an adorable baby gift...I've been picking it up, taking advantage of sales along the way.

I like to give themed gifts so the gift stash works especially well for that, and it's easy on the budget. This week I picked up beach buckets with shovels from the Easter clearance sale at Michael's in the cutest color combinations for just $1 each!! I plan on adding flip flops and a monogrammed beach towel for several of Grace's friends with summer birthdays.

Just today I was able to put together two baby gifts and two kids' birthday gifts out of my stash. Yipee! Coincidentally, this is my new favorite gift wrap combo: Isn't it cute?

6. Puppy Love. Grace got invited to her little school "boyfriend's" birthday party week after next. They're so funny around each other I can't wait to see how they act at the party. She's always telling me stories about Miles and Miles' mom told me he does the same about Grace. "Miles pushed my chair...and I told him DON'T DO THAT! (shaking finger)" "Miles shared his lollie with me" (yea, guess I need to go back and explain what's ok/not ok to share). So one day this past week I picked up Grace at school and the teachers were picking up the nap mats. Miles - such a little gentleman - rolled up Grace's mat for her. Grace coyly came up to me and said in the sweetest sing-song voice, "Miles is a VERY strong boy". Oh, my!

7. Siblings. It's always fun and games... ...until someone takes her prized pink egg! Then, not so much. 8. Clothes Swap. Speaking of fun and games...how fun is a clothes swap?! A new friend and I swapped 3 kids outfits and that cute jon jon on Hudson in the pic above is one of them! Thanks Sarah! What a great idea and so much fun to have "new" clothes for $0 dollars!

9. A Riddle. Can you guess what this little picture is all about? I'll give you a hint...think summertime.

10. A Reward. Maybe for just reading this far! HA, HA. Not sure if anyone will guess that one correctly or not, but just to make it fun, first correct answer wins! I'll send you a custom birthday hat in your choice of colors and initial or number. Because I love birthdays :)

So that's it. Ten random thoughts. Thanks for indulging me. At least it kept my mind off my camera woes for a half hour or so!

palm sunday

As we begin this most holy week, I am reminded of the ultimate sacrifice our Savior made for us...the ultimate gift bestowed upon us...so that we may have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

I am thinking of areas of my life that need improvement, cleansing. And when I look at this sweet boy, so pure, so innocent - the contrast just resonates even deeper.

I think of the legacy that I want to leave for him and the little pumpkin... And even when the challenge seems great, I find comfort in knowing that the road has already been paved for us so long as we keep our eyes on the cross.

Thank you God that your promises stand firm...that your forgiveness is new every day...that your love for us is pure. wholesome. never ending.

May your spirit be renewed and your faith strengthened as we journey through this week leading to that glorious day - the Resurrection of our Savior!

P.S.
Dear Hudson,
One day you will read this journal and see these photos in our blog book. Your daddy asked me why you were wearing a dress. It is not a dress...although I, too, did a double take the first time I saw this bunny outfit. It's a hand me down from some of our sweet friends. It is definitely a boy outfit, even if it's just a tad on the feminine side. You, my dear son, were all boy in it, okay?
Love you,
Mama