Easter Fun

Just about every Easter of my childhood was spent at my grandmother's house. We would dye a dozen eggs each and hunt for them and then we would have additional hunts. Every year there was a different theme and she would hide candy and toys that went along with the theme. It didn't matter how old we got, her Easter parties were the best.

Well, this year we were on our own, so to keep tradition alive, we had another family over yesterday (Saturday before Easter) and had an egg hunt, with a couple extra hunts and an adult hunt too. I love you grandma!!!

 This "carrot" was for one of the extra hunts. I also filled a cute paper Easter bag with some goodies that are in the photo above. For the adult hunt I skewered Peeps and wrapped them up (you can buy them in the store that way but they are more fun to make on your own). I forgot to take a picture of those.

For dessert I found a recipe for a giant Sno Ball. Hubby is a big fan and since Hostess bit the dust I thought I would try to make it for him. It's a chocolate cake with a marshmallow butter cream filling and frosting. It's supposed to be a light pink coconut on top, but that's as close as I could get it with the food coloring. Little Bird is always first in line to lick the batter.

Another tradition is lining up the kids by age. The Chief can't stand and that left Little Bird and Lizard. Lizard made some bunny ears for her head band and I think she did a great job.

 Look!! We're outside. The weather warmed up just in time for our hunt. It rained during the night, but the sun came up and "dried up all the rain and the insie winsie" Little Bird had lots of fun searching for eggs.

 

We tried to make sure Little Bird's items weren't too hard to find...in the middle of the grass.

These are my friend's three boys.

The kid's got to hide the adult's treat and they hid them really well. It took us a while to find them. One of the kids had placed rocks and leaves and bark over the peeps and it resembled some kind of ancient burial ground.

Jessica and Me

My favorite game on the Price is Right is Plinko and I thought it would be fun to make my own. I used a some boxes, toilet paper rolls and cans. I placed labels on the cans representing points, and used and egg for a ball. Each player had 5 tries and we totaled their points. I like the game because it doesn't matter how old you are...for example, I got last place and Little Bird came in second.

I found a cute idea online for turning rolls into bunnies. You clip ears using scissors and a toothpick to make the eyes. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. They were cute.

BINGO

The other tradition we had at grandma's was playing Bingo. We used Jelly Beans for the markers and played for quarters. One round was worth $1.50. And for those of you worried that I am exposing innocent children to gambling, no cards were purchased. They played for free. :)

Treats

 

Animal Cookies

I guess these aren't very Eastery, but I had been wanting to use these cutters my mom got me a while ago and they were so fun.

 

 Easter Bark

Coconut Macaroon nests with white chocolate and mini Cadbury eggs 

 

Late Nights

I made a dress. A real dress...that's lined...with sleeves...and ric rac. 

I am so grateful to the talented seamstresses out there who make wonderful tutorials so I can sew fun things.

http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/03/ric-rac-dress-tutorial.html

 If you don't want your ric rac to move then you have to pin every bump (not sure if the part that sticks out is ric or rac). The photo above is the hem pinned with 1/2" ric rac, and below is a close up so you see how many pins that is. I had to do the same thing on the bodice of the dress too.

 I was so excited to have Little Bird wear this dress for Easter, but it turns out my attempts at making a 2T dress that wasn't too small resulted in a 3T instead. She will have to wait until next Easter to wear it.

 

 This is a skirt I made using an old t-shirt of Lizard's and some cute fabric from the Walmart clearance section.

   

A skirt made from pants I bought at Goodwill.

I don't know what it is about grey skirts, but I love them. The day I met my hubby I was wearing a grey skirt. I haven't had one in a while, so I looking forward to wearing this one. It might not be the fashion, but it's what I like.

I needed a birthday present for my friend's one year old and found this great tutorial online for felt covered hair clips. Her name is printed on a piece of card stock and placed in a bag I usually use for treats. The font is one I found online for free. I am a free font junky and am always on the look out for a new one.

I liked them so much I decided I needed to make some for Little Bird too. I don't think I'm done yet though. They really are fun to make. 

Set The Table

Little Bird didn't want Lizard to have all the fun setting the table. 

She has helped with the place mats before, but this time wanted to put on the silverware...all of it.

There's a song we used to sing at church when I was little and maybe they still do. It goes "When we're helping we're happy..." That really is true for Little Bird. She likes to have a purpose and when she can be helpful she is happy. The only problem we run into is a differing of opinion as to what is helpful and what is not. :)