Weekend Project

This past weekend, I got it into my head that our front yard needed a makeover.  The problem is though that I don't really like flowers or shrubs...or the outdoors.  Hubs has a degree in Landscape Architecture and creates designs and layouts on a daily basis.  Perfect, right?!  He picks out everything and then we throw them in the ground and it looks like the gardens at Biltmore Estate.  Piece. of. cake.

Wrong-o.  

Our Friday night (we party hard) trip to Lowe's consisted largely of me not being able to make a single decision and hating everything as Hubs stood by and watched.  I am a VERY visual person and kept making Hubs lay out mock-ups for me with the plants in the aisles of Lowe's.  (We were there for quite some time.)  We FINALLY left the store with way less than we needed, because a.) we realized we were in my car and b.) plants are stupid expensive!  I had other ideas on how to spend that money...oh well.  

All in all, it was a gorgeous weekend and the new flower bed looks great!  Even though, it APPARENTLY takes months/years for plants to get big and fill out the space.  Disappointed.

Hubs did a great job doing most of all the work...I mean, we only had ONE shovel and my ankle is still not 100%, so...

BEFORE

AFTER

But, as a souvenir from the weekend, I did get this...

and YES, it is as red as it looks and hurts WORSE than you can imagine.  

This has not happened to me in YEARS and I did not miss it!  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!

And oh how fun it was to get up and put on clothes today...

Painting with Kids

B loves to paint, but doesn't love it for long.  So, it's not my first choice for an afternoon activity...too much prep and cleanup for 7 minutes of fun.  However, right before Easter he found an egg painting activity and insisted on doing it.  I decided to give in, in the spirit of the holiday, and accept the fact that I would be wiping paint off of everything in about 8 minutes. 

And then IT happened.  My BRILLIANT idea.  The IDEA of a lifetime.

I had some tons of contact paper left over from the Easter activity B and I did earlier that day.  So, I cut a large piece and slapped it down on the table in front of B.  I then gave him the egg and paint and said, "Go!".  I told him it was OK to get paint on the table, but to try his hardest to avoid it.  (I didn't want him to think he could paint all over the table whenever he wanted.)

And this is what happened.  After his first stroke of the paintbrush on the contact paper (the table in his eyes), he looked up at me wide-eyed waiting to see if he could do it again.  I just laughed and told him to go for it.

He LOVED this.  He felt like he was painting all over the table and I knew all I had to do was peel it off when he was done. WIN WIN situation.   Bring on the painting projects!

Slap down some contact paper and let the paint fly! 

I'm sure many other awesome moms/teachers have already thought of this, but because I didn't see this on Pinterest (SHOCKER, I know!), I'm claiming it!  Here in my little world, I'm a modern day genius.  Thank you very much!

Summer Loves

It is feeling more and more like summer every day...HALLELUJAH!!  And summer = shopping...at least to me!  But I hate spending tons of money on single items, so I always try to find quality that is less expensive.  So, my favorite go-to places are J. Crew Factory and Target.  Here are 3 items that I have recently purchased that are inexpensive, but I guarantee (with proper care) will last you all summer and most likely through next summer too.  

T-shirt:  I discovered these lightweight v-neck shirts from J. Crew Factory last summer (and they still look great!) and seriously can't get enough of them!  I bought 3 more a couple weeks ago and they are even better than the ones I purchased last year (tagless, more vibrant colors).  They are so lightweight, comfortable, and cute.  I love me a v-neck.  OBSESSED. 

P.s...The J. Crew Factory store FINALLY opened at the Tanger Outlet mall in Gonzales TODAY.  GO!

Sandals:  I bought these from Target a few weeks ago and they are the best!  They are crazy comfortable because they are padded on the bottom.  Which means you can't feel every little rock you step on, like so many other flat sandals.  SCORE.  Plus, they are black AND brown...with a gold toe.  What's not to love there?!

Swimsuit:  I typically only buy one new swimsuit a year.  And I'm not a huge fan of buying super expensive swimsuits, because places like Target have really great ones that last for years...as long as you take care of them!  

Easter Play Date

B had a play date yesterday and I was asked to plan the activities for him and his 2 little friends.  It's the week before Easter, so naturally that means an Easter themed play date full of Easter crafts and cuteness.  

All of these ideas I found on Pinterest...duh.  Here is the adorable website where I got all the printables from: http://BloomDesignsOnline.com/

ALL of these crafts are SUPER easy and quick...great for short attention spans!

I made these the night before for all of the kids to take home as a little goody bag.  I couldn't help myself...too cute!

The first activity of the playdate: Easter Bunny Food.  The kids loved this and you probably don't even have to go the store for the supplies.  It's along the same line as the Reindeer food that we had as kids (straw & glitter to sprinkle on your lawn Christmas Eve, so the reindeers have a snack just like Santa).  So the idea here is the same...sprinkle on your lawn the night before Easter so the Easter Bunny will come and leave you treats.  

Ingredients/Supplies that we used: Clear treat bags, ribbon, bowls, spoons, uncooked oatmeal, random variety of sprinkles and candy pearls.  (Printable tags from Bloom Designs.)

Of course, we also had an Easter egg hunt outside after a quick snack.  In order to have the least amount of drama and make it fair, each child hunted for eggs of the same color.  We hid 9 yellow, 9 pink, and 9 green eggs and assigned each child a color.  Everyone had the same amount of eggs and the same treats at the end.  It was perfect!

Good alternative treats to put inside of eggs for an Easter hunt: bubbles, stamps, stickers, tiny toys.  Most kids will be so excited to find something new and different in each one that they won't care about not having candy.

The play date was a huge success and a ton of fun for the kids...and me!

Easter Egg Letter Hunt

I love holidays.  EVERY holiday.  I love doing "normal" everyday things inside of a holiday theme.  Who doesn't love eating their PB&J in the shape of a bunny instead of a square?  Or playing a letter matching game after having to hunt down the letters inside of eggs all around your playroom?  HELLO.  FUN.TIMES.

This week I decided not to introduce a new letter to B, but to review the 7 letters we have already talked about.  He loves hands-on activities (what kid doesn't?!), so I decided I had to think of something that would get and KEEP his attention.  And since Easter is approaching, there is only one answer...an Easter egg letter hunt.

I put this activity together in about 8 minutes, right before B woke up from his nap.  All you need is:  paper, markers, alphabet letters (I used letter magnets from the Dollar Store), plastic Easter eggs, and an Easter basket.

I started by taking out the letters I was going to use, because using all 26 would be too much too handle at once for a 3 year old.  I used the 7 letters that B and I have been working on: B,M,S,A,H,T,C plus E and N (to finish out his name) and P (a letter we will be learning in the near future).  I chose these letters so that when matching them, he would have immediate success naming most of them, and excitement over a few new ones.

I put each letter in an egg and hid them around the playroom.  I also hid a piece of candy (that B had been begging for all day) inside another egg before hiding it.

B was psyched from the second I told him what we were going to do.  He wanted them to ALL be filled with candy and was initially disappointed when I told them they weren't.  However, I told him that once he found all of the letter eggs and matched them up, that we could play again and I would put some yummy treats in a few more eggs and use fewer letters.  He loved that idea and set out on a mission to find all the eggs.

He LOVED opening each egg to find either a letter or a treat (2nd round) and enjoyed naming all of the letters as he matched them on his sheet.

The sheet I made had each letter I hid written on it in the same color as the letter magnet.  That way it is a matching game of colors and letters.  Also, very helpful for the few letters he is not familiar with.

This activity is so much fun and so easy to just throw together any time of the day or year!

B was obsessed and wanted to keep doing it over and over again.  I will probably do it with him again right before Easter with some new letters and a few objects that correspond with the letters.  

I made each letter the same size as the magnet and B loved that the letter "disappeared" when he covered it with the magnet.

Kisses

"Mrs. Megan, I can kiss it for you so it feels better, ok?"

Easter Cupcakes

It's almost Easter, so I thought I would share these cupcakes I made over a year ago for my MIL (Mrs. Bunny)'s birthday party.  They were a huge hit at the party and I am still amazed at how cute they turned out!

I don't remember all the details of what I did since it was so long ago.  It was the first time I ever made sugar cookies and icing from scratch and did the "flooding" technique when icing the cookies.  It was intimidating at first, but really cool and EASY.  I really should start doing it more!

I put two toothpicks in each cookie (pair of ears) before baking them...to help secure them in each cupcake.

Green cupcake wrappers (sitting in grass) and white pom-pom tails for extra detail.

I LOVE how it looks like it has hair!

This was my first attempt (no time for practice), so I'm sure I could have made it look more polished had I had time for practice.  However, I still think they are just adorable!  (Except for the horrible lighting in my kitchen!)

Here is a good tutorial on icing cookies:

http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/07/outlining-and-filling-cookies-with-royal-icing/