Resurrection Eggs

 Easter is here.  I love it. 

The Easter Bunny.  Eggs hunts.  Those sugary bunnies that taste like circus peanuts that I may or may not have already sampled while hiding in the pantry where my kids couldn't see. 

However, Easter is so much more than a holiday.  It is a holy day.  I want my kids to experience all of the fun things listed above (even the sugar). But more than anything, I want to teach them about the true meaning of Easter. 

Jesus died for us.  He rose again on the third day.  He is our Hope.

I want their hearts to be filled with truth more than I want their baskets to be filled with eggs. 

So, I decided to start a special tradition with Resurrection Eggs.  This is not my original idea, by any means.  I have seen these at Christian book stores.  I really wanted some, but didn't want to pay $20 for an egg carton and some plastic eggs. 

I made my own!  It was easy, FREE (I already had everything I needed), and even more special to know that each year, between Palm Sunday and Easter, we will use the eggs made by my own hands. 

Here's what I did, in case you feel inspired to do your own:

1.  I googled "Resurrection Eggs".  There are lots of different versions.  I went through several and picked the 12 symbols/verses that I thought would work best.

2.  I typed the verses (one for each egg) and printed them on cardstock. 

3.  I went through our Easter eggs and picked 12.  Then I sharpied them up. 

4.  Next I got my egg carton.  I didn't like all the print on it, so I decided to spray paint it.  DO NOT DO THIS.  I learned a valuable crafting lesson-spray paint doesn't stick to egg carton foam.  It kinda melts it. 

Well, when paint wouldn't do, I decided to cover that thing up with paper and stickers. 

5.  I gathered/made the symbols to go inside each egg.  I did bread, coins, purple cloth, thorns, rope, a cross, a sign, sponge, spear, rock, spices, and the last egg is empty.  I had everything at home and only had to work on a couple-the sign, the cross, and the spices.

I made the cross with a wooden bbq skewer, twine, and hot glue.  I put the spices in a baggie, cut off the baggie to make it smaller, and tied it up. 

6.  Finally, I stuffed each egg with the symbol and verse. 

We have been doing two a night with Bella during her story time before bed.  She looks forward to it and is learning about the true meaning of Easter.

Happy Easter!

He is not here, he has risen!  Matthew 28:6

The "highlight" of my day...

This is my son

 throwing a highlighter

in the toilet.

**Hands were thoroughly scrubbed after this bathroom adventure. 

Funkiness and Fun

I have been in a funk recently.  We recently received some frustrating/ridiculous/overwhelming news, and my funk began.  Now, before I go further, don't be too concerned...no one is sick or anything like that.  I just don't feel like sharing details on my blog.

And to be honest...I have been kinda sick.  My sinuses totally betrayed me as spring sprung.  That really has nothing to do with this post.  I just wanted to publicly betray my sinuses and get them back.  So there. 

Anyway, my "funk" basically consists of me worrying.  And worrying.  And worrying some more.  It's very healthy.  It totally solves the problem too.  Works every time.  Um, yeah.

Fortunately, during this time, I have had lots of fun stuff going on to distract me and remind me how wonderful life can be.  So enough funkiness, here's some fun...

Two weekends ago I went on my getaway weekend (It was my 30th birthday gift from my lovely husband.) with my dear friend Richelle.  We went to Austin and Fredericksburg ALONE.  That's right.  No kids.  No husbands.  No responsibilities.  We did what we wanted, when we wanted.  Glorious.

 On a wine tour in Fredericksburg.

See...glorious fun. 

Then that very next Monday, Andy won tickets to the Men's Final Four Game.  I don't care about basketball, but I do like new experiences and concession stand food.  Seriously.  Hot dogs and cotton candy are delicious.  I also like free, and these tickets were just that.

 I asked the guy in front of us to take this picture.  Andy was embarrassed.  I was not.  If the guy said anything I was just going to explain that I have a blog.  I owe it to my public.

Connecticut won.  This is not who we were cheering for.  I had to ask Andy who to cheer for, and I then cheered, in between bites of my hot dog, of course. 

Then the next weekend, we took the kids to Chappell Hill for the Bluebonnet Festival.  I know...more fun and more concession stand food. Fantastic!

 Bella enjoyed a delicious blue snocone.  I am passing on my love of fine cuisine.

 We rode the train and Bella was very excited about blowing the train whistle she received.  I totally love how I'm pointing at the camera to get Hayes to look.  That really worked well.

The bluebonnets were disappointing.  It is not a good year for them, apparently.  But these two beautiful babies steal the show from the bluebonnets anyway!

Overall, the festival was great. It had that small town feel, complete with live music, yummy (appropriately priced even) food, and sweaty people out celebrating Texas. 

It was only lacking worry (and bluebonnets).  Ahhh.

Hayes is ONE!

My baby boy turned one on March 12.  I can't believe it.  I mean, look at this sweet boy...

 And here he is now...

 

I can barely handle his cuteness.  Sigh.


I love that he was born on a Friday, because we had his party on his real birthday!  We had a cowboy theme, y'all, and had a rootin' tootin' good time.  Ok, cheesy words I know, but I love a good theme. 

Here is the birthday boy before the party began.  He was not too happy about having his picture taken, but I wanted to snap a pic of his cute shirt!  The boots were precious too, and he wore them for about three minutes.  Money well spent.

I went cowboy with the decor, of course.  I was so fortunate to borrow many decorations from my mom.  Vacation Bible School was a western theme last year, so she had lots of good stuff.

 The sign-in sheet for his scrapbook

 Presents!

 The photo timeline

 Favor basket

 Craft table for the preschool-age guests

 Our "campfire"

 His scrapbooks were on display for guests to enjoy.

The boot birthday cake, made by Papi and JJ!

We dressed with the theme, and many of our wonderful guests did too!

 Andy and Cory

 Reagan and Richelle

 Mimi, Aunt Allyson, Grammy, and Uncle Brent

 Uncle Glen and PawPaw

Aunt Bitsey

 Presents!  Hayes was interested for a short time.  Then he played in paper and boxes. 

He LOVED his cake!  He did not hesitate at all and ate almost all of it.  I can't blame him.  Chocolate cake is so much more delicious than pureed fruits and veggies.

Hayes Ryan,

           Happy first birthday!  We had such a special day celebrating you.  You are just a wonderful gift and add so much to our family.  You love to be around people and you are so smart and determined, and I can't wait to see you use these qualities to love God and love others.  

                                                                                                       Excited to celebrate many more,

                                                                                                                                        Mommy

Party likes it's your birthday!

 I'm linking up at Kelly's Korner for "Show Us Your Life-Kid's Birthdays"!  (PS-I am publishing this on my blog a day early and will link up tomorrow when Kelly puts it up.  I am a new blogger and am terrified to just save it or set a time for it to post.  I worked for an hour on this and I am not losing it.  Technology scares me.)

I love birthdays!  One of the things I have loved the most about being a mom is getting to plan birthday parties for my kids.  I really start thinking about their parties about 9 months ahead of time.  Yes, seriously.  What can I say, it takes time to plan a good time.

The party theme is very important to me.  We have had all birthdays at our house, so I feel like I can't rely on the atmosphere of a place.  It's up to me to make it fun!  I also want a theme that reflects the child. Once I think of such a theme, I am really inspired.  Then I start to look around for decorations, favors, food ideas, etc.  By thinking about it so far in advance, I don't feel pressured or rushed.  It also helps to spend a little bit of money at a time, instead of all at once. 

I also spend a lot of time getting scrapbooks ready and making a photo cd to play on the tv.  You won't see pictures of those things below, but I just wanted to mention that.  I really want the party to celebrate them. I want them to look back and know how very loved they were/are!

What you will see below are several parties and lots of pictures.  I couldn't just pick one!  So, go to the bathroom and get a snack before you start reading. 

You've been warned...

Bella's First Birthday

I wanted a theme other than the traditional "You're 1" pink, girly theme.  Bella's  birthday is in September, so I decided to do an apple theme! 

I had this apple dress made just for the party. 

Guests wrote special messages for her.  I have these in her baby book now.

Little guests (we had just a few and they were very young) could do apple coloring, stickers, or make Apple Jack necklaces.

Favors

My delicate girl, diving right into her cake!

Bella's 2nd Birthday 

 

This is probably my favorite theme ever!  Since she was turning two, we had a tutu party!

I make sign-in sheets for every party.  Then I put it into her birthday scrapbook.  It's a great way to remember who helped you celebrate the special day!

I also do photo timelines at every party.  I love to see how much she's grown!  I want the party to truly be a celebration of her!  I bought a whole bunch of black 5x7 frames and keep them to use every year.  Very easy, and the cutest decoration, if I do say so myself.

Bella and her guests wore tutus!  They all looked adorable!

 

Reagan was our littlest ballerina.  Sweet baby girl!

Oh my, I feel like this post is getting long and photo heavy.  I told you I love birthdays...I have the photo documentation to prove it.  Keep reading!  We're halfway done.

Bella's 3rd Birthday

At age 3, Mama no longer got to decide on the theme. She wanted an Ariel Little Mermaid party, and that was that.  Now I kinda hate the idea of character stuff at times, but she loved it so much.  I also tried to make it classy and kid-friendly at the same time.

The bonus of a Disney theme, favors are easy to find!  I have always done "pick your own bigger favor" instead of a bag of trinkets that just get broken or thrown way.

Beautiful cake, custom made by JJ!

The food table with the beautiful centerpiece by Papi.  This was the "classy", in my opinion.  We also saved that stuff and decorated Bella's little Christmas tree with it.  

We had to have something for the kids to do-a bouncer!  They loved it, and it matched the theme. 

Here's what the birthday girl wore-an Ariel shirt from Etsy.  Don't mind her sweaty hair.  Bouncing and riding your new tricycle will do that to you. 

Bella's 4th Birthday

Again, Bella chose the theme and stuck with a princess...Snow White.  Snow White (by herself) stuff is hard to find!  Thank goodness for the Internet. 

I have made her invitations every year (except for the Ariel party, I was pregnant, working, and tired.)  I am so proud of these!  We met the Evil Queen at Disneyland this past summer. 

Feeling like I needed to really play up on Snow White, I had the food in-theme.  We had "True Love's Kiss" cookies, "Seven Dwarf" layer dip, and "Poison Apples" and fruit. 

We also had the kids make their own "poison apples".  Here are the supplies.  I took that photo on the Snow White ride at Disneyland and enlarged it.  We also had a bouncer for the kids at this party, but I'll spare you the picture of that. 

And again, a beautiful princess cake made by JJ.

Whew!  Thanks for sticking around!  I hope you enjoyed the long look at our birthday fun!

 

If you just didn't get enough, please come back next week, because Hayes' first birthday is TOMORROW!  Where did my baby boy go?

 

 

His cowboy-themed first birthday might be the best one yet, so y'all come on back!