Resurrection Eggs

I’ve seen this floating all over Pinterest and thought it was an outstanding way to help intertwine the Easter story into the day’s festivities.  Simply number twelve plastic eggs and fill each with the corresponding piece of the story and item.  I followed this guide.


#1: When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the people waved branches because that’s what people used to do when a king walked by. Mark 11:8-9 (a leaf)
#2: Later, Jesus had a special dinner with his friends. A woman came and poured perfume on his head. This showed that she knew that he was the Christ and she knew that he would die soon. Mark 14:3 (a piece of cloth with perfume on it)
#3: The next day, Jesus had another special meal with his friends. We call this The Last Supper.  Jesus said that people who followed Him should have bread and wine or water to help them remember Him. Luke 22:19 (cracker)
#4: Jesus went to a garden to pray. (a flower)
#5: Judas was supposed to be one of Jesus’ special helpers, but instead he helped other men arrest Jesus. He did this because those men paid him money. Mark 14:10-11 (3 pennies)
#6: After Jesus was arrested, the soldiers were really mean to Him and made fun of Him. One thing that they did was to put a purple robe on Him. Only kings wore purple robes. They didn’t realize that He really was a King, they were just teasing Him because people thought He was a king! Mark 15:16-18(piece of purple cloth)
#7: Jesus was crucified. Mark 15:25 (crucifix or paper cross)
#8: When the soldiers put Jesus on the cross, they pounded nails into His hands and feet.  (nail)
#9: Another thing the soldiers did to make fun of Jesus was to put a sign on the cross that said “THE KING OF THE JEWS” Again, they thought they were making fun of Him, they didn’t realize that He really was the King of the Jews! Mark 15:26 (paper sign that says “THE KING OF THE JEWS”)
#10: After Jesus died, His friends put his body in a tomb. Later, some of the women who followed Him came to the tomb to put spices on His body and wrapped Him in white cloth. That was something they did back then when someone died. Mark 16:1 (whole cloves and/or white cloth)
#11: The tomb had a rock that could roll over the opening to seal it. While the women were walking to the tomb, they wondered how they would get the stone out of the way. Mark 16:3-4 (smooth, round rock)
#12: When they got to the tomb, they were amazed to find that the stone had been rolled out of the way – and Jesus’ body was gone! Then an angel came and told them, “He is risen; he is not here” This egg is empty because Jesus’ tomb was empty. Jesus’ tomb was empty because He was resurrected!Mark 16:6

After our hunt, we took turns opening and reading the story to the littles in what was the sweetest part of my afternoon!
xoxo

A Dixie Delights Easter:

Spring Décor

Egg-cellent Lunch

Peeps Party - Cake, Cocktail and Favor

Treat for Our Peeps Free Printable

Lent for the Littles

Easter 2011

Peep Pops

Easter 2012

Bunny-tini Cocktail

Easter Tablescape
Bunny Bottom Breakfast
Resurrection Eggs

Out of the Mouth of Babes

First things first, I'm as pleased as punch to have my mudroom featured over at Remodelaholic today.  Thanks Cassity for the press!!  Y'all hop on over and check it out.

Now, since I spent my day at the Master's tournament (*squeals with delight*) and haven't had a split second to write about it, I thought I'd share some random musings from the mouths of my babes gathered up over the last few months.  Those two keep me in stitches with their terribly hysterical antics.

On wild behavior:
John: Let's drive Mommy crazy. 
Cookie: Yeah. Crazy.  Lamby fight you.  Lamby is my henchmint.  (read: henchmen)
John: Mooooommmmmyyyyyyy, you can run but you can't hide.

On cleaning up:
Me: John, pick up the rocket and carry it to the play room.
John: I'm carrying something already. (And then under his breath...) Do I look like an octopus?

On the weather:
John: Is there going to be a torpedo tonight?
Me: Hmmm... not sure how to answer that.  I don't think so??
(After racking my brain for a good two hours I turn on the tv to find a TORNADO warning.)

(It's hailing outside...)
John: Oh hell.
Me: What did you say son?
John: Oh ha-il.
*try to control myself. try to control myself.*

On education:
John: Do I look like George Washington?

John: Did you know five plus five is ten and fifty plus fifty is one hundred?  You just add on the zeros. 

Me: That's great!

John: I know.  Every time I flirt (I've yet to enlighten the PCP that it's actually called a "fart") I get smarter.

Me: Cookie, how old are you?

Whit: I twenty.

Me: No, you're three.

Whit: NO!!  I ADULT.

*lawd help me*

On my old senior memory book:  

John: Mommy, are those people from another world?

Me: Um, yes.  It was called the nineteen-nineties.

On growing up:

Me: John, what do you want to be when you grow up?

John: A coach and a daddy.

Whit: I gonna be bigger.  Big like daddy.

*awwwwwwwwww*

On coolness:

John: I'm the coolest kid.

Me: Yes, because I'm the coolest mommy.

John: No.  You're not.  You're the prettiest mommy.

* double awwwwwwwwwwww*

On playing hard to get (already):

(It's important to know that Ella is the cutest, smartest, sassiest gal in John's class.  You know the kind...teacher's pet, ballet dancer, violin player, best manners and a teensy bit-ish know-it-all...and I mean that in the kindest possible manner.  I'm only slightly green with envy over this girl.)  

Me: I talked to Ella's mommy today. She wants to have us come swim in their pool when it warms up a bit!

John: (eyes as wide as saucers and a full on grin)  Oh maaaaan!

Me: Sounds fun, huh?

John: (collecting himself) Weeeell, I've got to work like 500 hours a day.  I've got to work on my Pokemon's and I've got to work on my catching.  Oh, and I've got to Level Up so aliens don't invade the world.  So, I don't know if we'll have time.

It's quite likely y'all didn't find these as humorous as I did.  But bear with me, this little blog is also a journal of my life.  And these are the kind of moments I don't want to forget :-)

xoxo

Baseball

It’s spring time in the South and y’all know what that means…baseball season is upon us!  Yes folks, on the days when I’m not at the ball field watching the PCP and his daddy practice and play, I’m at home trying to keep the littles from crashing a ball through my kitchen window or scrubbing red clay out of every article of clothing we own (your tips and tricks for this would be much appreciated.)  We’re a few games into our season and it’s shaping up to be another good one!

The PCP spends most of his time at third base, but I couldn’t resist sharing him at catcher.  Y’all know, that’s the position his daddy played for the Yellow Jackets in college!  (Is that hiney presh or what?!?)


John’s biggest hit of the night was not only a home run, but it also earned him the game ball!



There is nothing that makes me prouder than watching my boy try so hard at something he loves!

Honey's got the car packed up and we're hitting the road home.  Watch out Savannah...we should be there by lunch!!!
xoxo

Science Fair Wrap Up

In case you missed my initial post on John's science fair project, let me take a sec to catch you up...

At John's school, participation in science fair is completely optional and family involvement is welcomed (obviously a Kindergartener can't go about this on his own.)  John wanted to investigate if bird's like their food to be colored and that we did!

First we made a hypothesis that “Birds will prefer blue bird seed.”  We backed that up with a couple of nuggets of info from the internet and the made some assumptions that birds can see color, birds must be attracted to certain colors and that birds will probably like blue food the best because it will be the most camouflaged.  (This last one came directly from the PCP.)

We purchased three identical bird feeders and filled them each up with bird seed – one regular (our control group), one dyed red and one dyed blue.  We used food safe coloring and set to work shaking and scraping the seeds around in gallon sized zip lock bags.  The littles adored this phase of the project.

We hung the three feeders in the same tree and each day we measured how much food was left in each one.  (Look closely in the second picture – there are two birds dining!)



 At the end of a nine day period, the blue feeder was empty and our hypothesis was confirmed...birds do in fact prefer blue bird seed!  (I know that there are loads of other considerations that go into play here.)

When we returned from our Savannah trip, we had to get right to work on the display.  As much as I wanted to have John write everything out, I knew it would be a battle, take twice as much time as we had and then be barely legible.  So he sat with me on the computer and, while we talked through the project, I typed out the steps, assumptions and learnings.  He handled presenting the data in chart form (with a little guidance, of course.)

He was so very proud when we went to the school to set up the display.  We had a lot of fun checking out some of the other projects as well.  I tell you what, by fifth grade I'll be out of my league :-)

Every student gets a ribbon for participation.  They wore them to school the next day so that when all the classes toured the cafeteria they could easily identify participants.

And guess what!?!?  John won SeCoNd PlAcE for Kindergarten!!!  We really had the best time working together on this and I'm so thankful that his first time in science fair was a rewarding and fun experience!

Spring Break 2012 commences in approximately five hours.  You'll find me sipping a margarita on a patio somewhere before heading South with the littles, Sister and Bird tomorrow for fun in the sun!!!!  But before I go, I have to invite you to pop over and see me at 6th Street Design School today!!  Many thanks to Kirsten for the lovely feature!!!

xoxo

Mad Slime Scientist

The PCP got a slime scientist kit for his birthday and we finally got around to pulling it out.  After months of staring at it on the playroom shelf, we had the best time concocting all sorts of different slimes over the cold, wet weekend!

Proto-Plasmic slime that looks alive, Thermo-Chromic slime that changes colors at the touch and Atomic slime that glows in the dark all received rave reviews from our resident mad scientist.

 
And who knew that slime was perishable?!?!  I never ever in a million years could have dreamt I’d have bags of slime next to the greek yogurt.  For that matter, I never dreamt I’d be the mother of boys or that I’d actually look forward to greek yogurt with fresh fruit and honey for breakfast (you know, as opposed to things like Krispy Kremes and day old pizza).



The littles have dentist appointments after lunch and swimming lessons this afternoon.  There's not much I despise more than an hour and a half in that hot, steamy, chlorinated cave...the baby nearly drowned in his lesson last week so here's to hoping things go a tad smoother this go round.

xoxo

Looking Back {March 2010} + Boy Clothes

Every now and then I find myself hunting down pictures of what life was like three years ago. I love to remember exactly what John looked like at Whit’s current age and I can hardly believe the blonde baby that was once a permanent fixture on my hip.  It seems like yesterday and it seems like forever ago.



  
Time doesn’t stand still, but every now and then I try to make it. Those precious years now seem mere moments in time.

Speaking of the boys and time flying by, I am currently selling a bunch of their clothes on ebay - mostly size 3 with a few 2's mixed in.  There are a few darling outfits with "w" monograms and appliques and bids start at .99!  I've had a few people ask if I sell them but have since long lost those emails.  Please contact me if you are interested!

xoxo

ApRiL fOoLs DaY {Reprise}

April Fools Day is just around the corner (how on earth is that possible??) and I have nothing new up my sleeve.  (Though I desperately need to come up with something.)  So, I thought I’d share with y’all our silly mixed up unbirthday dinner party of yore in the event that I’m not the only one out there lacking inspiration at the moment.  It was a rollicking good time…

It's ApRiL fOoLs DaY so what did I do?

Act silly and goofy and mixed up too!

I surprised the littles and Honey as well

With a dinner party that was awfully swell.

We sported goofy glasses and festive party hats

And celebrated our four un-birthdays just like that.

We had dessert for supper and supper for dessert.

Our crazy mixed up meal was totally berserk.

Our funny milk was blue and the mood was gay.

We told stories about the silliest things in our day.

It's certainly no birthday without a candle to blow.

You HAD to make a silly wish on your turn to go.

Finally it was time to eat our cupcakes.

And lo and behold if I didn't make a mistake!

The cake was meatloaf and the icing po-ta-to.

A cockamamy meal like a circus side show!

Everyone was confused when I brought to the table

A more conventional looking supper time staple.

But no un-birthday party would be fun without sweets

And this changed up version was a super big treat!

Ice cream potatoes with caramel gravy were good to the tummy.

And the chocolate rice krispie meatloaf was so fun and yummy.

It was a night of laughs and smiles and tales so tall.

Happy Un-Birthday to many and ApRiL fOoLs DaY to all!

Meatloaf Cupcakes
1 lb ground sirloin
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup grated Monterey jack cheese
3 T. ketchup
1 egg
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 cups prepared mashed potatoes (I used Hungry Jack)
Food coloring
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).
3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Add a couple of drops of food coloring to potatoes and mix well.. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Should make 12 cupcakes - mine made 11.

Rice Krispie Meatloaf
6 cups cocoa flavored rice krispies
2 rolls of red fruit roll up (and green too, if you can find it)
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
10-oz. package marshmallows
1. Coat a bread/meatloaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.  In food processor, briefly pulse the rice krispies. Tear or cut (I used kitchen shears) the fruit roll ups into small pieces.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl, add butter and marshmallows.  Cook until melted (2 minutes).  Stir well to combine and add cocoa powder.  Stir again.
3. Add rice krispies and fruit roll ups.  Stir quickly.  It will be very sticky.  Press mixture evenly into prepared pan. Let the loaf cool, then remove from pan and slice with a serrated knife.

 

Ice Cream Potatoes
Vanilla ice cream
Caramel sauce
1. Scoop ice cream onto plates to look like mashed potatoes.
2. Drizzle with caramel sauce "gravy".

So start collecting your zaniest ideas for the silliest day of the year!!  It's bound to be FUN!!

xoxo

Gather 'Round

When we were at Learning Express a while back, the PCP set his sights on the Gather 'Round Dinner Game and it was too intriguing to pass up.  I mean, what kind of mother would I be if I said no to adding more FUN to our family meals?

The round cards are filled with questions and tasks that range from counting backwards to taking a bite of your veggies.  We pass the game around and take turns pushing the button.  The game lights up and selects an activity.  Even the baby plays...in his own unique way.

We don't bring it out at every meal, but when we do it's a sure fire way to get our littles fired up about supper time!

xoxo

Musings

Have you seen this floating around?  I laugh every time I think about it. 
The PCP was super proud of this castle tower.  Somewhere between ages four and seven I guess they flip the switch from building to destroy to building to build.  I spend a ridiculous amount of my day protecting his Lego creations from the bull in the china shop that is his little brother.



While on the topic of the PCP (which is short for Precious Cutie Pie…somebody recently asked me that and I’m pretty sure I failed to reply), I’m going to go ahead and call his 2013 resolution in dire need of course correction seeing as I practically have to wrestle the i-phone from him on a daily basis and he can sniff out a piece of candy or marshmallow a mile away.



Baby girl is still just as sweet as can be.  I seriously cannot wait for warmer weather so that we can get her out of these sleepers and into a proper monogrammed bubble!



I finally received my standard four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.  The littles were so rotten one night last week that Honey actually found me hiding in the living room with a sleeve of do-si-dos when he arrived home from work.



More often than not I am seen around my neck of the woods with this little one sporting some form or fashion of superhero garb.  I’m going to miss this phase.



Speaking of the little superhero, here is ready for bed.  What you can’t see is his diaper.  Yes, I said diaper.  After three weeks accident free over night, he wet the bed once (and sometimes twice) a night for a week and I couldn’t take it any more.  He didn’t want to wear the diapers again but it wasn’t anything a new pack of lego star wars undies for day time couldn’t solve.  I’m also going to miss the days when a package of undies solves any crisis.  I seriously hope that blonde AW delivers another batch of those divine cookies when he “masters” it the next time.



Neighbor friend H is one of the most thoughtful gals in the world.  She treated me to this divine S’mores cupcake from Miss Mamie’s in Marietta to thank me for being designated driver for our girls night out.  I’m currently trying to figure out what reason I have to go to that part of town so that I can try some more!  I mean, Mamie is a Cupcake Wars champion, for cryin out loud!!!



If you’re not already drooling over that cupcake, consider this…  sea salt caramel gelato, oh my!  Did I mention the mini chocolate caramel truffles tucked inside?!?!



Remember the darling twins from The Change Up?  Well, it’s nearly inconceivable that we celebrated their THIRD birthday last weekend at a Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed soiree.  Cookie was beyond excited to sport his new Captain Hook garb.





We are headed to Savannah for a spell and I cannot WAIT!!  This pretty much sums up our visit from my parent’s perspective…



I’ve got TWO birthday girlfriend dates today so I’d best be getting myself ready!
xoxo

(Another) Best Day Ever

One of the things I love most about the PCP is his unrivaled zest for life.  I had a pretty charmed childhood but I don’t know that even I could have boasted so many “best day evers” at the ripe age of six.

This last one occurred at the PCP’s bestie O’s football themed birthday fete at Chuck E. Cheese.  Much to his delight, the baby was also invited to attend as the guest of O’s little sister M.

And while every trip to Chuck E. Cheese makes for a great day, it was when the birthday boy invited John to join him in the much exalted and completely coveted Ticket Blaster that the great day became his lastest “best day ever.”


They each scored over 1,200 tickets in their thirty second stunt.  I suppose that is pretty remarkable for a six year old. 

Thanks for such a grand time L family!
xoxo

Teacher Appreciation Week

We just had Teacher Appreciation Week at the PCP’s school.  The PTA does most of the leg work and coordinates something special each day.  Thursday was “supply day” and each class presented their teacher with a basket of supplies and other items from the teacher’s wish list.  A sweet mom in the PCP’s class went above and beyond and also organized a collection to have this sweet “I’m Special Today” chair painted for birthdays and other occasions.  Another mom provided the 31 Gifts tote, monogrammed with Mrs. B’s name, for the rest of the collected supplies.



I expect she’ll have the sweet chair in her classroom for many years to come.  The students signed their names on the bottom with a paint pen and were thrilled to give it to Mrs. B!

 
If you’re in charge of planning Teacher Appreciation activities or are just curious, here’s what the rest of the week held…

• Snack day – parent volunteers pushed snack carts through the hallways and had teachers pick a few special treats throughout the day.
• Lunch day – the room mom for each class delivered lunch to the teacher from her favorite restaurant
• Luncheon day – teachers were invited to a special luncheon in their honor

On another note, the baby woke up with this unique do this morning.  It exemplifies exactly what Sister was talking about when she penned the book “The Rats in My Hair” in second grade or so…



Have a good one, y’all!
xoxo