Spring-A-Ling-A-Ding-Dong

With such an early Easter this year, our neighborhood egg hunt was in mid March. It was kind of cold, but not raining, thankfully. 

The kids had a great time hunting. We had sponsors this year, so the kids were able to get more eggs than the usual 12. That was pretty exciting for all of them. 

This one makes me smile. Not sure exactly what I find so humorous about it, but I can't not laugh looking at it. Maybe it reminds me of Kara's surprise when we pulled into the the parking lot, and saw the bunny getting out of a car. She was like, "did the Easter Bunny drive himself here?!" 

Evie drew a picture for the bunny. 

The kids got to decorate some boiled eggs with markers and stickers. Kiersten and I both were sick soon after eating the eggs. Why did we eat eggs that we didn't know where they came from or how long they'd been sitting out? I guess sometimes I make poor choices. 

I finally made wreaths for our new doors. We went to the store to buy wreaths, but didn't find anything we both liked. So Ben picked out all of the stuff, and arranged it all to look nice. Then I glued everything on. So that's what I mean by "I made them". That counts, right? 

I put this picture in to show our new brown shutters. Much better than the faded, spider and hornet filled green ones we've had for the last 6 years. They aren't what I had pictured, but Ben picked them out, and I love them. 

He is pretty talented, actually. I tried to make the wreaths a few times and gave up until he finally showed me where everything should go. The man has an eye. But I picked out the bunny bows. I took them off after Easter, and figured I can change them out for different holidays. So there's my contribution. Though, now I think of it, that might have been his idea too. 

On Good Friday, the girls were off school, so I had them help make the rice krispie eggs. 

Evie wanted to make a rice krispie bunny too, so we used the bunny cake pan. 

She did a cute job of decorating the bunny with left over icing from the eggs. 

After we cleaned up, I took the girls to Six Flags. It was our first visit of the season, and a nice day for it.

Kara and Kiersten were in the ice cream line for a long time, but Evie kept busy by eating almost an entire funnel cake by herself. 

We went to the store on the way home, and ran into the Easter Bunny on his way up to the front of the store to do pictures. The girls tried to avoid him, and he kind of chased them a bit, so I made them stand for a picture. He was just trying to be nice! Weirdly, we have also run into Santa walking down the aisle at this same Wal-Mart. He made us stop for a picture too. 

When Ben came home from work, we colored Easter eggs. 

Ben helped for the first time in a few years. He was proud of his creative work. He had a secret plan to prank me for April Fool's Day, and snuck a raw egg from the fridge to color. He worked really hard on it, and it was quite fancy. He was excited for me to crack it open on Easter to make the deviled eggs, and be surprised by the raw yolk. Unfortunately, he dropped it onto the table while he was showing it off. He was devastated, and I didn't realize why. I kept saying, "It's fine. We'll still use it anyway. There is always a cracked egg or two."He just kept staring at me, and then finally came clean about it being a raw egg, and that's when I saw the mess, and we all had a good laugh. Nice try, prankster Ben!

We had some other paint and glitter mishaps, but got the job done. I tried to glue sequins all over one of the eggs, but they just ended up stuck to my fingers, so I gave up, and threw glitter all over the rest of the eggs. I sure regretted that when I was trying to peel the eggs. It was everywhere. I guess that's what I get. 

Kiersten Joy Party-Panda

Kiersten decided to have a sleepover with just a couple of friends for her birthday party this year. She wanted a panda birthday cake, as that is her favorite animal, and she has never gotten over the fact that Kara had panda cupcakes at her birthday party a few years back. So I struggled through making this panda cake that seemed so easy in my head. I hated the way it turned out and was actually texting Ben the day of the party to see if he would get something from a bakery instead, but that was unrealistic, so I resisted the urge to throw the whole thing in the trash. When Keirsten saw it, she didn't notice the crooked ears, or off-center eye placement. She was just excited that it looked like a panda. Her friends didn't seem to mind either, so I was glad I didn't throw it away. 10 year olds don't care about a few crumbs on the white frosting, it seems. 

I picked up the girls and took them to see A Wrinkle In Time. I remember loving that book as a kid, but the movie was not my cup of tea. The girls loved it though, and I supposed they're the target audience. In the car there were some candy in nose shenanigans, but I just let them do their thing. 

After the movie, we met Ben, Kara, and Evie at outback for dinner. I don't think they get a lot of kid's birthday parties there. Our group was so great. They all behaved even though we exiled them to a separate table from us.

I decided to confiscate all of the knives, as there was some excited table stabbing and mindless gesticulating-with-knives-in-hand when they first sat down. The server probably thought I was a little crazy. 

After dinner, we headed over to the bowling alley for a few games. They are pretty good bowlers, I have to say. 

Back at home, we lit up the panda cake. 

I love this picture, so much happy!

Everyone changed into pjs and excitedly gave Kiersten their gifts. 

I let them play in the hot tub for 20-25 minutes, and they played the most innocent game of truth or dare while they were out there. I sat a bit away and read a book, but could hear them daring each other to stand out of the hot tub for 10 seconds, put their face in the water for 5 seconds, and share secrets about having bratty little brothers, or having told a boy they liked him. It was super cute.

Before bed, Kiersten handed out her party favor for her friends, which was a stuffed panda that giggles. The girls seemed pretty happy with them. Kiersten made the gift bags herself out of scrapbook paper and ribbon. 

It was quite the surprise for all when Ben casually popped around the corner wearing Kiersten's panda head from Halloween. I had forgotten, and got a bit of a shock when I was loading the pictures onto my computer. He's a Mr. Funny-bear!

I think they all had a good time, and I know Kiersten had a fun birthday!

Super Girls

For trivia night at school, the theme was movies. Our group went with a super hero general theme. Evie did not want to attend, and Kara decided to go to her TKD class instead, so I just had Kiersten that night. We cut out a quick felt mask, and she wore a super girl cape. 

Even though she didn't attend, Kara drew some artwork for us to put on our table. She has really gotten into drawing lately, and is a good artist. I loved her version of Wonder Woman. 

She spent so much time on these, so I just couldn't throw them away at the end of the night. I brought them all home and she has displayed them in her room. 

We had such a fun night, but of course I didn't really think to take many pictures once the fun got started. Kiersten did ask for a picture after her tooth fell out. 

Kara always finds the hidden bear at Schnucks. You'd think at age 12, she'd be less excited about finding it than she is. Haha. She always asks if I'm going to send a picture to Ben when she finds it. 

Evie has begun softball season. At the first practice the girls brought a soccer ball, and we showed up a little early so they could play for a bit. 

It was a little chilly, but they didn't mind as much as I did. I was tempted to sit in the car, but I toughed it out. 

She has really enjoyed softball. 

We took Jingles outside, but Evie was so freaked out, that the poor thing got scared and wanted to go straight back in the house.