Easter decorating projects

The girls were really excited to have "Easter week" this week for their home school. For an art project, they made some Easter decorations to put up in the apartment.

We also made these envelope bunnies to put snacks in. Kiersten made an extra one for Whitney, so Kara made one for Tommy. They are very excited to show their cousins the bunnies when they arrive later this week. Tommy's bunny is to the far right, and has a yellow tooth, because Kara said, "he hates to brush his teeth". so I have no idea where she got that from.

I was getting tired of my boring, unpainted nails, so we bought some Easter colored nail polish at the store today, after we left the zoo. After lunch we all painted our nails. Kiersten is so pleased with her alternating purple and green fingers.

Evie got pink fingers, but it is impossible to get a picture of them, I guess. I took 8 different shots, and in every single one, she curled her fingers in at the last moment. this is the only picture that you can actually see one finger.

Kara used pink as well on her fingers, and copied Kiersten's purple/green combo for her toes, which made Kiersten kinda mad at first, til I explained it was cool that Kara thought her idea was good enough to copy.

All of our Easter toes. You wouldn't believe how hard this picture was to take! Notice Evie's cute little green piggies.

During Evie's nap, the girls made this Easter centerpiece. It was so easy for them. They didn't need any help, so I was free to straighten up while they made it. All I had to do was tie a bow around the flower pot once they had all their peeps skewered and placed.

We hung their suncatchers that they painted a few days ago in the window. Kiersten was sad that she couldn't reach as high as Kara.

We finally got scotch tape, so they were able to hang the decorations they made all over the apartment.

They wanted more decorations to tape up, so I had them trace their hand prints to make butterflies.

I had some peeps left over from their centerpiece, and also this green pot that a leprechaun left here on St. Patricks day full of candy. So I made some royal icing and "glued" the peeps around the edge of the pot. I tied a cute piece of ribbon around the edge with a bow. Kara thought it was hilarious to keep saying, "they're peeping over the edge at us". I didn't want to buy more flowers, and after searching through all the girls' stuff we have here, I decided to crochet a few large flowers. Then I just hot glued them onto skewers and decorated them with beads and easter embellishments, and stuck them down in the pot. It still looked a little bare, so I stuffed in a bit of yellow tulle left over from Kiersten's tutu, and ended up with this cute little easter decoration.

now we are decorated for Easter, and didn't have to spend more than a few dollars to get our sad little apartment looking cheery and fun. Tomorrow I think I'll check out pinterest for some fun easter treat ideas!

birthday cake sneak peek

Yesterday Evie picked out a halloween shirt. I didn't want her to war it, so I put it back and put something else on her. She cried and kept getting it back out of the drawer, so I just let her wear it. guess she already has an oppinion about her style.The big girls hanging out.Ben is not here to hepl me with Kiersten's birthday cake. But luckily my mom is, and she helped out a ton. Kiersten wanted a Princess Celestia (from my little pony) cake. she also wanted a tiered cake. I took a few pictures so Ben could see before her party tomorrow. Spike the dragon took a dive as I was taking this picture. I'm still not the best with fondant, but it goes a little better each time. And I'm not super worried about impressing a bunch of 3-5 year olds.Here's the finished cake. I couldn't fit on all the ponies she picked out, so some ended up on the board.I put the worst fondant part in the back, but then I ended up writing happy birthday on the side because that big bow was on the front. So my awful fondanting will be seen, but owell.Kiersten is really excited for her party tomorrow, and her special surprise Daddy has been telling her she is going to learn about on monday!

Family Christmas Eve

We aren't always able to be with family on Christmas, so this year, it was a special treat to have Kerry and Lana with us for the holiday. Ben took them to a few stores early saturday morning, so the girls and I had lots of time for projects and games. The girls asked to have their picture taken together in their dresses. I am not usually a fan of siblings in matching clothing, so this year I decided to challenge myself and match the girls. They all looked so adorable. And they even sorta liked having the same dress.They got to decorate their cookie we made the previous day. It got interesting.This is how it turned out. I was secretly relieved they ran out of sprinkles. I don't think it would get eaten, if it were all covered in that much frosting and sprinkles.I decided to let the girls help make a centerpiece for dinner. I pulled out all these items, and just started letting them pick things out and tell me where to glue it. I was surprised Kara really had an eye for balance, and kept it looking just about how I'd have done it myself.They love making place cards for everyone when we have holiday dinners. In this picture Kiersten started crying because she had accidentally written, "bad" instead of dad. We were able to fix it though.Kiersten got to make cards for mom, dad, and herself, since those are the names she knows how to spell.Kara did the rest of the cards.Once Ben got home with Evie, I got a picture of my three lovelies. He said Evie got many compliments at the store.One moment everyone was smiling and posing, and the next Evie was screaming her head off. I guess it was an effective way to put an end to the picture taking.Kara was distracted with something, so Kiersten took the initiative to set the table herself this year. She just started asking me for plates, glasses, etc, and she did a great job. She was so proud. She thought very hard about her seating arrangement.Ready to eat.We always open a gift on Christmas Eve. Since Evie is the littlest, she got to go first. She ripped off a bit of paper, and ran to the kitchen to throw it away. Then she came back and did the same thing again. So I brought in a trash bag so she could open it without leaving a mess. She is just so funny.We ordered their jammies from the online disney store. Our order arrived, and Evie's jammies didn't have her name embroidered on them. So Ben called to complain. They said they were out of those jammies, but would send her an embroidered bathrobe. A few days later, we got a package with 3 more sets of jammies, this time all with names. then a few days later, we got another package with the robe. So they all ended up with 2 sets of identical jammies, (except one of Evie's doesn't have her name). Plus Evie had the robe. the girls thought it was pretty funny to get 2 nightgowns that were just the same.Papa and Grams both got new robes.Ben loved his ninja turtle pants. He only wears his christmas pajamas once, so I got him the cheapest ones I could find. But just look how happy they made him.bundled up baby. The robe is her favorite part.gorgeous little girl.Bed time beauty.Leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus. Kara even wrote him a sweet little note.We always go for a drive to see the neighborhood Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. Evie and Kiersten fell asleep rather quickly, but Karalee was awake for over an hour of driving. So we went home and put her to bed. She only came out once to go to the bathroom. When we were going to bed around 11:30, I checked in on her and she was still awake. I have no idea how late she stayed up.

the week before Christmas

The girls have been having so much fun this week, being out of school. Here they are jumping on some bubble wrap that came in a package from my parents. Notice they each put on one shoe to help them pop it.Ben got these littel masks for them to color. Kara is a reindeer.Kiersten is a snowman. Evie had an elf one, but I didn't get a picture.We also made little tiny gingerbread houses. That was a huge hit.Ben also got them these ornaments. They colored in the area meant to put a picture, but I'll probably add pictures in later. This is the one Kiersten made.There's usually quite a difference in Kara's coloring, and Kiersten's. Kiersten is getting better lately, though. This is obviously Kara's.On another day we decorated stockings for Papa and Grams. The girls have just been thrilled about them coming to spend Christmas with us this year.Kiersten tried so hard, but her decorations all turned into blobs. Papa and Grams loved the stockings when they arrived yesterday morning. The girls were very eager to show them.Here is some of the candy the girls helped me make. I didn't remember to take a picture til it was already mostly gone.making chocolate suckers. Kara did a very good job on some of hers. Good enough that I put some of them on the plate I sent to work with Ben.Here are some cute foam ornaments the girls made. Kiersten actually wrote "Anna" on her snowman, because that was what the picture on the packaging said. Kara kept making fun of her for it. I just had her write her own name on the back, and we decided her snowman is named Anna.Kara's santa and snowman.Yesterday they got to help me bake a giant snowman cookie. We did chocolate chip. They haven't decorated it yet, so I don't have a picture of the finished product. They were great at helping me clean off the spatula and beater. Who needs a dishwasher?Since Kerry and Lana are here, we decided to go to zoo lights last night. It wasn't nearly as cold as the last 2 years. It was crazy busy though. Here's our little group, sans Ben.Notice Papa is smiling while being smacked in the face by a light wand. He's a great sport!Evie really enjoyed the lights. She was so cute running around and pointing and jabbering excitedly.Our annual picture in front of the purple and green tree.The girls are so excited for Santa to come tonight. Kara keeps pestering me about the gifts under the tree that say, "Christmas Eve". You really can't sneak anything past her. We have 3-4 more projects to do today, and I also need to get the girls running around a lot so they'll be extra tired tonight. Kara is on a kick of trying to stay up all night. She tries it at least once a week, and resists going to bed almost every night. I think she'll be willing to go to bed tonight, but I do suspect she may try to stay awake in her room. So I especially want to get her super tired.