easter fun and its someones biiirrrfffday!!

yesterday my mom david and i went to emily's school for her easter lunch.   we had such a great time.  everyone is so sweet and kind.  they all love emily and    

 david...it was a warm fuzzy kind of day!   david even gave all of his eggs from the easter egg hunt to one of emily's school mates.  he melts my heart.

david chose the perfect m&m before he got dressed--he didn't eat it...he just wanted to pick one!!

i can't wait for more easter egg hunting on sunday.  they had a blast!!

in other news:  my twinnie and i are turning 29 today!!!  we will celebrate today with easter egg dying, hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill(its gorgeous out~finally!!), and we'll cap it off with a dairy queen ice cream cake!!  i think we've had this cake for every bday but one!!  

oh, and as my bday gift, david learned how to climb out of his crib this morning--i'm screwed!

enjoy this marvelous spring day, and have a happy easter!!! :o*

easter teacher gifts

i made some bird's nests for emily's teacher and aides.  here's what i did:

1 bag  butterscotch chips
1/3 bag peanut butter chips
1 1/2 cans chow mein noodles(larger size can)
1 big handful of cashews


melt butterscotch chips and PB chips in microwave for 3 mins.  using a glass bowl is helpful because it will stay warmer while you are working with the mixture.

thoroughly mix chips together until creamy.

fold in chow mein noodles and cashews until they are covered-do not stir

place haystacks on aluminum foil quickly in small "haystacks"/nests.  work quickly before the mixture hardens.

do not double...it is too hard to work with

(to make large nests, wrap small bowls with the tin foil-let them completely dry before taking out of the mold) fill with chocolate eggs!

i found the plastic eggs @ the dollar tree, and they worked out great for this!!  i also used the flower pins from yesterdays post as part of the packaging. 

in my easter bonnet

that song always gets stuck in my head during this time of year!!  here is emily's easter bonnet for school!  this year instead of just bonnet/hat day, they've invited parents for an easter lunch!  i can't wait!

this is just a bonnet from the dollar section @ target!  i hot glued some silk flowers that i confiscated from my sister.(she was supposed to use them for her boutonnieres, but didn't.  i'll take them thank.you.very.much!)

next up, fabric flower pins!  (can i just tell you how excited i am that i can actually share some projects with you guys!  after friday i can finally share my sissy's bday gifts with you!!!)

these will be part of emily's teacher/aide gifts.

anyhoo...
start with 5 3x3 squares of fabric.  (this is GREAT for scraps!)  fold into a triangle.  using 2 strands of DMC floss sew a gathering stitch along the open edges.(i suppose you could use your machine to make this go faster).  pull on the floss to form your petal.

continue on the same piece of floss until all of your petals are attached.  sew the first and last petal together;tie off to close.

cut a felt circle and hot glue to the back.

next make a fabric covered button.  (sorry, i didn't take pics of this...i just bought a 4 pack of buttons with the tool @ walmart...they are SUPER EASY to make!) hot glue button to the center.

attach pin back...and that's it!!!

now i'll show you the "shabby flower"

start with a circle of felt.

tear a few strips of fabric...tearing = fraying...we like that.

 

 tie the end of one piece into a knot

 

squeeze a dab of fabric tac in the middle of the felt circle...stick knot to felt.  add more glue; twist and glue fabric a little at a time, until you've finished!  trim excess felt off.  hot glue a button/embellishment to the center.  attach pin back.  done.
   

free river raft rides...BYOT

(bring your own tube)  this rain is nuts!!  we've gotten more rain in the last few months than we ever gotten in the almost 6 years that we've lived here!  i will not get into long winded details, but the short story is this: 

 the previous home owner also owned the house in the back of the property-which he later sold.  there is an easement on our property for the dirt driveway to the house in the back...there was a pipe installed under the dirt driveway coming out in the middle of our front yard(can not figure out his logic for placement of said pipe), for drainage.  the flow from this pipe has gotten worse with each passing year that we have lived here.  its not the town's problem, we already checked.  house in back's owner continues to build up his driveway to prevent flooding to his home--a good idea in theory, however, its making our problem worse.  hubs has spoken to him...HIB's owner thinks that we should rent expensive equipment, dig a drainage pipe under our driveway, install new pipe, and let it flow into the development's property(there are no homes directly next to us)then re pave our driveway.  so basically, he wants us to make it the development's problem...ummm, no--don't feel like gettin' sued, thanks.  

here is our fix:  two bags of cement to fill the pipe. 

he can worry about his drainage, we'll worry about ours. 

this is the geyser coming out of the pipe--sometimes there are two geysers(the other one forms @ the base of the tree, we think the roots may have grown through the pipe--so now we get two rivers)

rain, rain, go AWAY!

mommy moment monday

theis one is actually not all about david--although, there are plenty i could choose from since last week's post!

my aunt invited the kids, hubs and i to head over to her shop rite to do a little cake decorating.  how cool?!  right up my alley, and we'd be able to get the kids out of the house for a bit.   however, getting two small children out the door takes a bit of planning, luck and praying that there are no melt downs.(as i'm sure you all know!)  extra clothes, check.  juice, check. diapers, check and double check.  we've got snacks, extra wipes and the camera.

part of the plan included putting david up in his crib for about 10-15 minutes so that we could finish getting emily ready, and get her moving towards the car.  this way, emily would be less likely to throw a fit when she realizes that david is coming with us.  (we are still having issues with her dealing with david...while she is much better, we're still taking precautions so that everyone is happy!)  here is where the first part of the plan starts to fall apart.  after putting david in his crib(which does not make him a happy boy), hubs decides he needs to go to the bathroom--and i'm not talking about the quick trip.  :o/  by the time he is done, and emily is ready, david is fast asleep.  crap.  i wanted him to fall asleep in the car.  that is now out of the question.  mission one: FAIL.

moving on to the car scene of our story...neither of them wanted to be in their car seats.  so i got to listen to crying on and off between the two of them for the almost 40 minute drive to my aunt's house.  did i mention that i woke up with a headache?  yep, that didn't help.  so what happens when we get to my aunt's house?  they're not ready to go.  that means, taking them out of the car, and having to put.them.back.in.  more screaming ensued. 

once we got there it was actually a great time.  david had a ball talking to the easter bunny, and emily was hooked on watching the shoppers push their carts by our table.  its the little things, people. 

can you tell which cake the boys did?!  lol  

i'm not sure if all the shop rites are doing these cake clinics.  for $4/cake you get as much frosting, sprinkles and decorations as you want!  we're going to go back in april when they have it again.  hopefully with a little less drama to get there!

boys neck tie shirt

so i'm sure that you've seen these everywhere!!  i just had to make one for david!!  it will be part of his easter attire.  i found some great instructions at saltwater kids.  the tutorial is complete with a printable template!  i love that you can use old scraps of fabric or clothes for this! 

mommy moment monday

*i have this feeling that most of these mommy moments will involve david...

ok, so when did my little cherub learn how to hit?!  over the last couple of weeks, he's been hitting everything that makes him mad...including ME!  umm, yeah, that doens't fly around here, bub.  he hits the frige when i won't let him open the door.  he hits the cat when he wants her off of the couch.  he hits his toys.  what the EFF?!  he's been getting quite a few time outs for this(he's up for one as i write this--for hitting me!)...i will not tolerate it. 

my gut tells me that he saw his cousins hitting each other.  they are bad kids.  they don't listen--at all.  should i really keep sending him for sleepovers if this is the type of behavior that he is going to be exposed to?!  my aunt takes such great care of him.  so where did she go wrong with her kids?! (they are 10 and 12 btw)  i think my aunt wants to take him again next weekend, but i'm not sure if i should let him go.  i mean, in all honesty, i do need the break...but he's terrible for at least a day after he comes home.  and now the HITTING!  i'm not sure what to do about it.

i also think we're going through a power struggle.  he thinks he's the boss.  wrong again, pal.   any time i tell him no, he screams like his head is about to spin...he gets a time out for that too.  ahh, so this is what the terrible two's are like, i guess?!  i never had to go through this with emily.  

hopefully i can nip this in the bud before it gets any worse.