Easter

We don't get visited by any woodland creatures on Easter Eve, so we started our Easter morning by corralling the kids in our bedroom and we watched part of Here Comes Peter Cottontail while Eric hid some eggs around the house. The kids didn't quite get it, although Jebby caught on and thought it was funny when he found an egg in a silly place like the toy microwave.

After all the eggs were found, we told the kids to hide the eggs for us while we went in the bedroom. They called us out a minute later, but all of the eggs had just been dumped in a pile on the floor and the kids were giggling. Maybe next year :)

We gave them their special Easter present, chocolate bunnies, and after they ate them for a few minutes, it was time to get dressed for church




After church they had an Easter egg hunt, and a bunny for pictures! After our experience with the Zoo mascot, I didn't think anyone would want to go near him, but Jeb thought he was hilarious and wanted to stand there with him all day! Vivi thought he was cool for a minute, and the only way I got Journey in the picture was by going around behind him, she was afraid of his face!

Valentine's Day!

One thing I remember from my childhood is that my mom always did something to celebrate every holiday. Little things like putting colored food dye in our bread or pancakes (red for Valentine's day, green for St. Patrick's day, etc) and I always loved celebrating all the little holidays, and we want to do that for our kids. In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, I started telling the kids about it, and we made a few valentines. The day before, we decorated the house by coloring on hearts, and I cut out a bunch of little hearts (which was actually my failed attempt at making a paper heart chain) and let them tape them all over the house.

 I did manage to figure out the heart chain, which Jebriel was especially impressed by. I made one just for him to hang in his room. You can also see his art gallery.

The night before, we went to Party City and got each kid (plus Camden) a heart mylar balloon. It gave them hours of fun, and they're still floating tonight, so there's more fun to be had!



After we put the kids to bed, I pureed some strawberries and Eric made some heart shaped pancakes. They didn't turn out very pink though-I think the problem was the whole wheat flour, white flour probably would have taken on the pink color rather than the strawberries taking on the whole wheat brown. But, they were hearts, and they were yummy! We did them the night before because they aren't very good at waiting for breakfast, so in the morning we were able to eat them right away :)


My bff's husband works nights so we invited her and her son over for a mini party! We did make-your-own pizzas



And I made a special Valentine's drink by mixing club soda with cran-raspberry juice. They were a little young to appreciate the special-ness of the bubbles-we don't buy juice so that in itself was a special treat. But I liked it!

The kids played and we had an impromptu dance party, and then dipped fruit and cookies in chocolate for dessert. It was a really fun Valentine's Day with all of my Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'll have more pictures and a story about our actual day, but wanted to share these pictures of my little valentines <3

Christmas, take 2-Christmas morning

We had a great Christmas today! My parents, sister and brother-in-law came over and the kids played with their Santa toys, then we had a yummy brunch of bagels and lox with all the fixings and fruit salad (and pancakes for the kids-their favorite!) and then we went back to exchanging gifts. We sort of forgot to take pictures of the adults but we got good gifts too-I finally got a new waffle maker so I can have waffles again! Our old one broke a few months ago and a waffle maker is pretty low on the list of things to spend money on. Eric got a cast iron pot that we can use on our wood stove. I guess one of the things on top can be used for cooking, maybe if we see winter again this season we can make soup and eat it in front of the fire!

I have tons of good pictures of the kids, so many that instead of posting them here I made a web album. You can see the pictures in the slideshow below, or if you want to look at them at your own pace (and bigger pictures with captions) you can click here.

It was a very merry Christmas, and worth the wait!