Easter Day

I know most of my posts are photos.  I need to be better at random thought posts.  But I have never been a writer and Dave rarely blogs.  Plus you would rather see the cute kids anyway, right?

The Eggs….

     

Easter Dinner.  We had our fabulous “Utah/Modesto” friends, the Stices and the Tibbs, over for Ham and other yummy goods.  I was so excited and wanted to make it special I pulled out the china, made ice out of eggs and made delicious place tags.  All the food was DELICIOUS.  I wish I would have gotten a photo of us at the table.  

I also made an Easter Bunny Cake (Anna asked me ALL day when we got to eat it.)  It was a Funfetti cake with lemon frosting. SO delicious.  I also make homemade chocolate covered caramels….divine!!

We opened Easter Baskets from Mom and Dad in the morning.  Then the Easter Bunny came in the afternoon after he had visited Utah. (:

Maddie Gave it a thumbs up!

The hunt….

I could be British

Okay, except for maybe the monarchy thing, but still the whole enchantment behind having a Queen, Prince,Princesses, Duke, Duchess, etc. seems sort of intriguing. Though that is me saying that without a lot of knowledge of the ins and outs of royalty AND let's not forget the fact that I play princesses all day with Anna.

With that said, Didn't you LOVE the wedding. I spent too much time watching things this weekend, but it was such a joy. Kate looked absolutely stunning, and I loved the red that William wore.

I have to say though that my favorite was the hats. I could be British if only to have an accent, though I realize if I had it I wouldn't really know it, but mostly to wear those hats! Some I admit are a little much and a little silly, but seriously to dress up like that and have a unique hat to wear would be the epitome of fun! I love the class of it all much more than the skanky Hollywood trends.

In my hurry tonight to post a little something, I will not try to figure out how to get photos of the hats on my blog. Check the wedding hats out here ( my favorites are #5,7,12):
http://royalwedding.yahoo.com/photos/sets/1087/Best-hats-of-the-royal-wedding-guests.html

I also could wear any of these Kate Middleton, opps now Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, hats as well. So stunning!

http://www.google.com/search?q=kate+middleton+hats&hl=en&rlz=1T4SKPT_enUS413US413&prmd=ivnsuo&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Kv-8TZXhGoPGsAPevuzRBQ&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1345&bih=532

Easter–the decor

 

I was excited to decorate for Easter/ Spring this year.  I told Anna we would get the decorations out and when we did I realized I had a few baskets, eggs, a stuffed bunny, and some chicks.  I needed to invest, but didn’t want to put too much money into it.

These are from my ward’s Primary Easter party.  Thank you to Ashleigh for all your work.  I was excited! This is wheat grass grown from actual wheat.  Check it out Here!

Other fun things.  I made a Easter Tree by taking old branches from a dead tree in our yard, spray painted them white and found some eggs at all a dollar.   I had the chicks from a boutique in Utah, they were originally on a wreath. I like them in the tree. I bought us the new yellow egg, Anna’s favorite color and decided this is a new tradition!

 

We had some old baskets that were bright colors and different sizes.  I saw these at our local thrift store.  They are BRAND NEW and were marked down the day I went from $12.00 to $0.99 then they were 25% off… steal! I bought four.

I wanted to focus on Christ and help Anna learn the real reason for Easter.  Though I was a little behind on filling some of the eggs and we didn’t remember some days, Anna still loved it and I think it helped bring in the right spirit this year.  Each egg was filled with a scripture and something to represent an event which lead up to Christ’s resurrection.  Then on Easter the egg was empty to represent the tomb. 

We had towel bunnies in our Easter basket when I was growing up.  I wanted to have them for the girls.  So I bought some white towels, looked up a tutorial and had Anna help me make them.  I made them incorrectly at first, putting the elastic on the wrong side, but figured the ears were long and floppy.  Anna picked out BIG eyes for her bunny.  I glued them.  Then I realized they were wrong, but Anna was happy so I didn’t change them.  So Maddie’s is the real cute version and we (Dave and I without Anna’s knowledge) like to call Anna’s the “dork bunny.”

    

Lovin’ Modesto Plants

Moving to California has created a lesson in Gardening.  I still don’t know what some of these flowers around the yard are called, but I have enjoyed them this spring as well as the other beautiful plants and trees. It is fun to have “exotic” plants!

 

Monday Miner Moments (MMM)

I have been trying to figure out something random, but consistent to do on the blog.  I decided since I found these random photos that this will become my new tradition.  I know it is Wednesday, but so I can be caught up on this week I will start tonight.

My goal is to pick some random photos from the week and put them here.  I will try to type a brief explanation and call it good.  So here is week #1 of MMM! or M3!

I was catching a photo of Anna and decided to snap one of Dave. He is giving his biggest Cheese face.  I love this guy and his humor!

Anna is fascinated by Maddie, here I was trying to show Dave how she rolled over and Anna got involved; much to Maddie’s dismay I am sure.  Thank goodness kids are resilient and there is sisterly love.

 

Anna found a page of stickers and asked for a piece of paper.  Without any help, this was her creation. ( The sleeping bag and flashlight are in the tent, “just like when we went camping,”  she said.)  We went camping last JUNE! I am always amazed by her talents and abilities, but also her memory! Not too bad for a 3 year old!

I have to be cautious now of how and where I start a project because if I do it there once, Anna seems to think that is the only place to do it. A little while ago it was raining outside, but Anna wanted to do chalk.  So we got out this big paper so she could draw.  It kept rolling so we got some books to hold it.  This week went went to do it again.  This time she set it up with her puzzle pieces.  It is a “trail, a wong (long) trail.” Then she proceeded to make more trails with chalk.  Mia didn’t appreciate one of her favorite spots to be taken over.

Anna has decided this is her new favorite corner.  She has sat here for literally hours playing.  Her princesses and other characters have gone to the doctor, had a birthday party and many other things in this corner.  I love seeing (and hearing her imagination!)

I tried to snap Maddie working hard to get her toys.  She is getting so strong and “grabby” okay just curious and learning. This was the final stage before her actually rolling over!