Decorating Easter Eggs

With all of the party prep I've been doing, I haven't had a chance to post our Easter festivities. Last Monday for FHE we had a lesson on the last day of Christ's life, the Crucifixion & Resurrection. . Jeff used several pictures to tell Aubrey about it. She did great and listened intently the whole time. We told her that that is the reason we celebrate Easter.

For the Activity we decorated Easter Eggs. Aubrey had a blast of course. I found these really awesome "color snaps" by Paas that she used. They are like q-tips with dye inside. She just painted to her hearts content!

Brookie was fascinated by the process and colors. She watched daddy decorate his eggs.

Me and my girls.

Here's Aubrey still painting.

Then she added some glitter paints to her eggs.

And then stickers.

So proud of her finished eggs!

I Loved the color snaps and hope I can find them again next year. They were a hit with Aubrey. I think her eggs turned out so pretty too. Kind of a tie-dyed look to them.



Then for desert we had Jello jiggler Easter eggs. My mom gave me a cute mold for them.

Brooke LOVED the jello!

Aubrey liked them OK. (She actually liked the jello powder better that she kept sneaking tastes of when she helped me make them.)



I loved Brooke's wide open mouth every time the jello came close.

We had a real fun time decorating Easter eggs.

Minnie Mouse Pinata

I couldn't find a Minnie Mouse pinata, for Aubrey's party, anywhere - so I decided to try my hand at making one. I found a tutorial for the basics of pinata making and then figured out on my own how to turn it into Minnie Mouse. I am super thrilled with how it turned out. I wonder how I'll feel about it when the kids start beating it!

I sure am having fun planning her party! Now I hope that the little girls we're inviting can come!

T-shirt Layered Dress

Weeks ago I decided that if I had the time I wanted to make matching dresses for Brooke & Aubrey to wear at Brookie's bday party. Well, I didn't really have the time, but I really wanted to make them, so I squeezed them into this weekend.

Some cousins of a friend of mine made really cute halloween dresses from a halloween t-shirt they purchased. They then layered coordinating fabric and sewed them to the bottom.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to find fabric that matched how I was going to decorated Brooke's bday cake and make "sister" shirts for my girls.

Since the t-shirt's are loose fitting, they turned out baggier than I had wanted. (Well at least they'll be able to wear them longer.) I ended up adding the top layer with the bow after trying them on them, because I didn't like how low the waist was. I'm glad that it turned out that way because I really like the top layer. And I had to make matching hair bows and bracelets as well! I didn't photograph the bracelets but they are just pink, brown & white beads.

So I am mostly pleased with how they turned out. Of course trying to take a picture with the girls in them sitting still and forward proved problematic.

Anyway, I am glad that I fit them in, so now I can stop loosing sleep over them. (Whenever I want to make something I will lay in bed thinking about them over and over again until I finally make them. Yeah, I'm crazy, I know!)

That girl

Aubrey seriously LOVES to do artwork. She will literally spend hours a day coloring or painting. The other day I found her coloring like this:

I guess if you're gonna spend hours coloring, you gotta be comfy.

It totally reminded me of a teenager and how they lounge out while doing their thing.

That girl just keeps me smiling with her antics. (Maybe someday I'll write a series of children's books called "Aubrey's Antics.")

Way to go Aubrey

Gross motor skills have never been Aubrey's strong suit. So whenever she achieves a physical accomplishment I am so proud of her, because I know it doesn't come easy. We were all so excited for her when she learned to ride her tricycle yesterday!

My Darling Girls

Brookie just LOVES to clap these days. She claps all of the time and it's just so cute. I got a little video of her clapping and signing "milk". It's so much fun seeing her so excited to be able to communicate with us.

Brooke just loves to see other babies. Whenever Clayson is over, she just can't get enough of him. We can't leave them both on the ground or she'd be all over him. I got a little video of Brooke trying to play with Clayson. I think she was trying to get him out of the car seat so she could play with him.

Brooke also started pointing this week. It's cute to see her pointing out all of the things that interest her. She also is so cute when she wants me to pick her up. She'll hop over to me and then raise her hands straight in the air. How can I not pick her up when she looks so stinkin' cute?!

A few mornings ago we ran off to the park without making my bed. When we got home I went to put Brooke down for a nap. I hear Aubrey in my room saying, "Mommy we forgot to make your bed. I'll make it for you." When I finished with Brooke, I went in my room to see this,

And this. (She had to get on top of the bed to pull the comforter up all of the way.)



The next day she wanted to make my bed again. I'm all too thrilled to let her do it.





This is how the bed looked after she was done. I did not help her at all. She did a pretty great job I must say! I think making the beds will be her special chore now.

One rainy day last week I bundled Aubrey up and let her go out and play. She loved playing with her umbrella, especially because it has a whistle on the handle.

Walking the garden wall is one of her favorite backyard games.

As she was walking the garden wall she got to a certain spot where we saw a spider last year. She stopped and said, "Oh, this is where the spider lives." It was an entire year ago and she remembered. That girls memory just surprises me every day.

I mentioned before that Aubrey likes to tell stories. The other day this is the story she told, "Once upon a time there was a Mommy and a Daddy. They had to wait a long time for their sweetie pies to come. And they lived happily ever after. The end." Too sweet.

This past week every time Aubrey enters a room where we are she yells, "Ta Da." What a funny little thing she is. What darling girls I've been blessed with. I tell them every day that I'm the luckiest mom in the world to have such sweet girls. Whenever Aubrey does something naughty and I let Aubrey know I am upset, she responds with, "But you're happy that you have your girls?" She sure knows how to butter me up!

Movie Night

When I found out that the Disney Channel was going to show "Snow White" tonight, I decided that we'd have a little family Movie Night. We made homemade pizza and cookies for our little party.

Aubrey of course wanted to help make the pizza. She spread the sauce and put on the pepperoni all by herself. She is getting to be so capable of doing so many things.

She also kept sneaking off some of the cheese to sample.

When I was teaching her how to do the sauce I started singing a little song. Why you might ask? Well why would you merely speak directions when you could sing them. (That must be my motto, since I break out into song quite frequently.)

Anyway, the rest of the time we were making pizza, Aubrey sang the song the whole time. It was so darling - I had to take a little video.

When the pizza timer beeped Aubrey got so excited and exclaimed, "Mom the pizza's done, the pizza's done, it's time to put on the movie!"

Havin' fun watching the show and hangin' with our girls.

Aubrey really enjoyed Snow White. After all it has lots of animals, music, a witch and a "monster mirror." All of Aubrey's favorite things. While I was getting her ready for bed she was singing, "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go . . ." and she was talking about our next "Movie Night". She said, "I hope that the Disney Channel will put on this show (The Lion King) for our next Movie Night." It was fun just hanging out as a family. It's really nice when we have some down time to spend time together.