Quick, Simple Craft

The boys enjoy doing crafts.  I love thinking crafts up, getting them ready and participating in them.....the only thing is sometimes, I just don’t have the time to prep it all.  This weekend we did a quick easy craft that the boys really enjoyed so I thought I would share.  I let them each choose one wooden thing from the dollar store.  They both chose a treasure chest that is just like Jakes from the Show Jake and the Neverland pirates (their favorite right now). 

This craft was really so quick and simple for me!  I pulled out our craft tablecloth and their craft aprons and that was almost all the prep that I needed.  Having a craft tablecloth is one of the only ways that we are able to do so many crafts.  It’s just a plastic tablecloth that is used only for crafts.  The secret is....I don’t scrub it or wash it in between craft activities.  This saves me sooo much time.  It used to take me forever to get everything set up before we could even start the craft.  If there are brush strokes from the paint on the table cloth I just let it dry with the craft and put it away.  If there happens to be a big spill I clean it of course but by having it on hand I find that I say yes to a lot more crafts then I would have before. 

The aprons are the same type of idea.  I made them for the boys well over a year ago now.   I made them extra big at the time so they could just grow into them.  I just pull them out and put them over their clothes every time we do crafts.  Now I have minimal (if any) table clean up and minimal (if any) clothes clean up....and that means Mommy says yes to way more crafts!! 

The boys decided that they wanted to paint each side of their treasure chests a different color.  They chose their colors and which side got painted which color.  Really all I did was talk to them while they painted....I cleaned the dishes actually!  I decided to incorporate a little reading into the craft by writing the names of each of the colour on each side.  The boys are continually asking me how to spell things so they particularly loved this part.  The treasure chests dried and the boys now use them to store their coveted bey blades.

Quick, simple and they enjoyed it!

Easter Prep

This year Easter seemed to sneak up on us!  Usually I spend weeks preparing decorations but this year I pulled it all together the week before.  We did our standard patio door sticker decorations and hung some Easter signs outside.  I absolutely loved our Easter tree last year but didn't want to do the same thing again so I switched it up a little.  I just bought decorations from Walmart and the dollar store and glued them on to some branches that Jason cut for me.  I placed them in the foam for artificial flower arrangements to hold it firm.  It was quick and simple and I loved how it turned out again!

We decorated our eggs again.  People keep asking me about our egg decorating.  To be honest the boys do 99% of it.  I prepare the colours and I let them do the rest.  I supervise and make sure they take turns and don't go silly around the dye but this is the third year it has worked out great.  I don't blow out the egg yolks and I don't hard boil the eggs.  We just take them right out of the carton and die them and use them only as decorations.  They have lasted 1-2 weeks out in our house without smelling at all.  I don't want to jinx myself but we haven't even brocken any while decorating.  This year we added some animal themed stickers from a egg decorating package to them.

We hosted Easter breakfast at our house this year and it turned out great!  We prepared a special "Easter breakfast" ( a casserole type thing with the eggs, onions, peppers, bacon hash browns, cheese etc) all together.  I also made Maple Cinnamon roles.  We had Easter cookies, carrot muffins and of course devilled eggs to serve as well.  I don't use pinterest often but when I do I always find neat things that I try right away.  This year was the chick shaped devilled eggs.  The turned out great and tasted delicious!

I love setting the table for a special gathering.  This year I found a youtube video on how to make napkins look like bunnies.  I have no idea who has time to make youtube video's of this stuff but to the person who made that one.... I am thankful!

 
Hmm after writing this post I'm a little excited to host another gathering......off I go to research some more neat ideas!!

Easter

This year we actually had fantastic weather for the entire Easter weekend.  It was great to be able to enjoy the nice outdoor weather, especially since the boys got new bikes for Easter.  Our boys love everything outdoors and bikes may be very close to the top of their favorite list.  The photos below show just how much they enjoy their new bikes.

 

 

I can actually say I wouldn't have changed a thing about our Easter weekend.  We hosted Easter breakfast this year at our home.  The boys got up nice and early so it worked out perfect.

 The Easter bunny was so organized this year!!  He even color co-ordinated the eggs for each child. 

He left a note for each of them telling them what color of eggs were designated for them.  This worked out better then the Easter bunny could have ever thought!  They weren't fighting and racing each other to each egg, they were actually working as a team and would yell to the other if they found one of their eggs!

The boys were super excited with their Easter bunny loot this year.  School books, sticker, chocolate and of course more outdoor toys! 

 Mathew finding his "jackpot" egg.  Each of the boys had one giant egg.  Inside was a playmobil person with accessories ie. canon, boat etc

 Running like crazy searching for their eggs.

 Scoping out their loot. It was fun to watch them get so excited over every little thing. "Look Zackie I got a super de dooper super ball"

Spring is in the air

This year the weather has been crazy.  From +22 C to -10 C from day to day.  How do you tell spring has officially begun?  The calendar date? The return of the birds?  The snow is gone?  At our house you can tell spring has officially started for us when our trampoline is set up!

Basketball

Sometimes I can't believe how big the boys are getting.  It seems like yesterday that they were playing with the baby basketball game that we sat on the floor.  Now they are out in the yard and are in love with all sports.  They play sports together, apart, side by side...just about any way you can think of.  Mathew enjoys sports but after awhile he looses interest and usually ends up in the playhouse or playing with his cars or in the sand box.  Not Zachary, that boy lives and breaths sports.  You name the sport he will be there to play for as long as we allow.  This year he has started to excel at more sports, particularly basketball.  He keeps wanting us to raise the net higher and higher so he can play "just like my daddy".  Ahh cute little buddy!

This picture reminds me of the quote "Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them!"

Silly

Sometimes the silliness is a welcome break from the normal routine!  I love how kids can just make us laugh when we least expect it.  On the day below I was alone with the twins getting them ready to go somewhere.  I was going through the checklist, everyone has a coat, rubber boots, snacks etc.  I turned to find little Zachy staring at me like this and couldn't help but bursting out in laughter.  Sometimes you just need to embrace the silliness and laugh until it hurts!

Base Easter Egg Hunt

Being a military family we like to try and participate in activities that are run at the bases we are posted to.  A week before Easter the base hosted their annual Easter egg hunt.  We used to participate in this yearly when we live in Germany but have only been to it one other time here in North Bay.  Last year it was sooo cold and windy that we could barely last the 5 minutes outside.  This year it was still cold but the sun was out so we were actually able to enjoy the beautiful weather a bit. 

The outing started out with the opportunity to meet the Easter bunny.  The boys thought that was so much fun especially since this Easter bunny liked to give high fives and act silly.

They bring all the kids to the back yard of the building and explain the rules.  Every child is to pick three eggs.  The boys made their plans on which eggs they were going to pick.  They discussed which colours they would pick.  Zach concocted the plan that he would run to the eggs right beside the furthest tree.

Then they announce on your marks, get set, go!  All the kids are off and all their plans that they had decided on were down the tubes.  It was so funny, neither one got the colours or locations they had though about.  Mathew said here really wanted to get the far egg but there was this pink one that kept shinning in his eye so he took that one instead hahaha!

This year was a different experience for Jason and I because we didn't have to help the boys get their eggs at all.  They waited in line, listened to the directions and ran and got their eggs all on their own and then ran back to show us their loot.

After you collect your eggs you go inside and they open them up and give you three prizes.  Zachary ended up with all chocolate and Mathew received three tiny toys.  It was really cute to see the boys in the car with their loot.  Zachary volunteered to share his chocolate and Mathew said the bunny must have made a mistake so he opened up his pack of 4 wooden coloring eggs and gave 2 to Zach.  He claimed that it would not be fun to do if Zach didn't have any!  Ahhh sweet boys!