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Easter Eggs

One day while perusing Facebook I found a link to a fun, different way to dye Easter Eggs.  I wasn't sure if it was a hoax but figured we didn't have anything to lose and if they didn't turn out we'd dye them the old fashioned way.  

First up, the boys were told to take off their shirts.  If the sight of nakey boy tummies bothers you stop reading right now.  I wasn't about to let them ruin their shirts with food coloring - that stuff stains and doesn't come out!

So, the recipe was to use either shave cream or whipped cream in the bottom of a dish or cookie sheet then to drip drops of food coloring over the top.  Then you use a straw to swirl that around - don't mix it because you want to see all the different colors.  I used whipped cream because it's edible.  Take your hard boiled eggs, set them down in the fluff and carefully roll it over so all sides have been covered.  Let them sit for 10 minutes then rinse them off.  That's it! Easy peasy!




This was a tiny bit messy on the fingers but what kid doesn't love a little mess making?


I like that this was something Tate could do.  I think those typical dyes are too liquidy for a rambunctious 3 year old. :)


Here are ours sitting in the goop 'resting'.  The more you do the more the coloring gets mixed together but it worked pretty well for a dozen eggs.


And here they are all rinsed off.  This picture doesn't do them justice - they were much brighter and more brilliant than this.


You can see one clearer here and this is more true to how they looked.  We waited 15 minutes for our second batch and they didn't seem any brighter than the 10 minute batch.


This was a fun, easy way to decorate eggs this year and the boys had fun doing it. Win win!

What's Up Wednesday

I'm linking of with Shay today!



What we're eating this week
Monday I made what is probably our last batch of chili for the Winter.  Tuesday we had leftovers because of Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Tonight will be sandwiches since both boys have soccer practice at different times in different towns.  Thursday possibly beef and noodles. Friday, who knows!

What I'm reminiscing about
My cousin had a baby boy yesterday so I'm doing a ton of reminiscing about when our four were newborns.  I miss those days so much.





What I'm loving
The warmer temps we've been having.  We are in the 50's, which isn't much to write home about, but we have had some 60's and even a day in the 70's and it's been so nice!  I can handle a week of the 50's since I know we are on the verge of having consistent 60's!

What we've been up to 
If you look at my calendar it looks like we've been up to a LOT!  But really, it's not been anything too major or note worthy.  Soccer practices, parent/teacher conferences, meetings here and there, birthdays... in a nutshell, we've been up to LIFE.  It feels good.

What I'm dreading
Hmm, I can't think of anything I'm dreading right now.  

What I'm working on
I'm trying to find a dress for Easter and Brennan's First Communion.  Does anyone else have a really hard time finding dresses?  I finally ordered two from JC Penney.  I looked online at Target, WalMart, Maurices, Express, Old Navy... I was getting so frustrated!  I ordered two,  hopefully one will fit and look nice or I have no idea what I'll be wearing!

What I'm excited about
I'm excited about going down to St Louis next month for my hair show!  Girl time, check!  Lots of hair and makeup, check!  Dancing, check!  More girl time, check check!  It's going to be so fun, I'm really excited for it!

What I'm watching/reading
I'm reading an Elin Hilderbrand book called 'The Matchmaker'.  I'm just barely into it but I do enjoy her books so anticipate liking this one.  Last month I read two books by Liane Moriarty - 'Truly Madly Guilty' and 'The Hypnotists Love Story'.  I enjoyed them both but they aren't my favorite LM books.  This month's Book Club book is 'A Man Called Ove' by Fredrik Backman, I will start that once I finish 'The Matchmaker'.  

I'm watching 'Dancing With The Stars'.  Sort of.  I haven't watched this show for years but I really like Erica Jayne from RHOBH so thought I'd give it a chance.  One of my favorite junk shows, 'Southern Charm', starts either this week or next so I'll be watching that every week this Spring.  And basketball - I can't believe the tournament is almost over!!  My bracket is totally busted, by the way.

What I'm listening to
I can't get enough of Ed Sheeran's 'Shape of You'.  So good!  On Pandora I've been listening to Children's Lullaby Radio, it is so pretty and calming and just good.  Try it regardless of needing children to fall asleep or not!

What I'm wearing
Same old same. 

What I'm doing this weekend
This weekend soccer games start!  We have two games Saturday mid-day plus pictures before each game.  Sunday we are having my family over to celebrate my mom's birthday that is next week.  After dinner we are going to trim trees and bushes - my dad has an extendable chain saw thing so we can reach up into the tree easier.  Not a terribly busy weekend but hopefully a productive one.

What I'm looking forward to next month
I am most looking forward to Brennan's First Communion!  I'm so excited for him to take this step in the Catholic Church.  I'm also looking forward to warmer weather and heading south to St Louis for the hair show and weekend away with my friends.  It's going to be great to be just Erin for three days (but I'll be ready to get back and be Mommy when it's over!).

That's What's Up this month!


Spring Break Fun

While the world was off going to warm, exotic locations for their Spring Break, we headed over to our local farm store and checked out the baby chicks.  :)


Tenley was curious about the chicks from the get-go.  She had no fear and was ready to get out of the cart almost immediately.


Tate loved watching the chicks running around their cages.  He wasn't afraid to get nose to beak with them.




The big boys loved showing the little two the chicks and baby ducks.  They were so helpful lifting them up to see the higher cages.








 

These lower cages were perfect for Tate and Tenley.  They had no problem squatting down to look inside.




No, it wasn't any place tropical or with amazing sights for seeing but my kiddos sure did love their trip to the farm store!

 Linking up with Justine and her co-hosts for Tuesday Talk.



Tenley Louise || 16 Months

It's happened again, Loulie Girl - you're another month older!  Every month you grow and change and add things to your personality that we never saw before, it's so fun!

This picture is what I see multiple times a day - two middle fingers in your mouth, same corner of your snuggle up by your nose (you like the tag and embroidered flower I guess).  Every time you get upset or mad or scared or tired you grab your snuggle, pop your fingers in your mouth and come find me.


You love to eat and snack!  You have recently become a picky eater, though.   No more veggies for you and some main dishes totally turn you off as well.  But, give you all the meat, fruit and pasta and you are totally happy.  And milk, don't forget the milk!  I've been trying to get you to drink more water but you just don't want it so I flavor it with a little apple juice to get you to drink it.  We'll get there.  You figured out how to use your fork this month!  It's adorable, you patiently work at stabbing your food and then slowly bring it to your mouth.  Way to go, Big Girl!  Your favorite snacks are raisins, goldfish crackers and blueberries.  You love a good banana anytime of the day and for breakfast oatmeal goes down pretty quickly.


Your speech is really taking off!  You voluntarily say words now, not just when prompted.  Milk, snuggle (your blanket), Daddy, Tate and Mommy are your current go-to words.  You also moo at the calendar right now because the picture for March is cows.  The other day you were quacking at your stuffed penguin (close!), you answer with yes or no depending on your mood, and you say 'hop hop hop' when you see an Easter Bunny, which comes out more like 'pop pop pop'.  :)  I can ask you if you've pooped and you will tell me yes.  And I can tell you to lay down so we can change your diaper and you always find the perfect spot and then lay down and wait for me.


You repeat almost anything I ask you to say.  You sing Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and your ABC's through the letter G fairly clearly, which totally surprises me!  You love to sing and hum and you are quite the little dancer!  We are working on counting to 3 - 1, 2, 3!!!


You know where your nose is (see the picture below: I asked you where your nose was and there that sweet little finger went to show me!).  You can blink your eyes when asked or point to them.  You open and shut your mouth when I ask where that is.  You know where your bow goes (in your hair) and can run your fingers through your little bit of hair when I ask where that goes.  And you sometimes says 'pretty' after I put your bow in like I always do.


Speaking of your hair, it is finally starting to fill in!  I was cleaning out a drawer where I was putting past pictures and found your 6month baby pictures - you were bald as a cue ball!  So I guess after seeing that I can now see that yes, your hair is growing and filling in ... FINALLY!  Just look at that little curl at the very bottom - adorable!  And you can see it has a couple of inches of length on top, it's just still very thin and patchy so still no piggy tails. They'll come, though, you can bet on that!





You are such a girly girl (Daddy calls you Pinky Pink) but you can wrestle with those brothers of yours no problem!  You love it when Aiden grabs you and falls backwards and then tickles you while you lay on top of him.  The giggles!  You love chasing Brennan and Tate all over the house, too.  You like to find Tate's trucks and drive them around the living room, complete with a motor noise sometimes.  And if you time it just right you like waving bye-bye to Daddy out the front window in the mornings and watching him turn his flashing lights on that are on the top of his work truck.


But then you go and grab your baby dolls and feed them a bottle or something with a fork.  You play with your princess castle and run your 'lipstick' over your lips.

You love watching the opening to Daniel Tiger because of the song - you come running when you hear it and stand there with a big smile on your sweet face and sway and bounce and dance to the music.


You are a champion at blowing kisses and when you so choose you give the sweetest little kisses on the lips.  Your baby dolly always gets a kiss when I ask you to but about 50% of the time when I ask for a kiss for myself you sass at me and turn your head.  But I ALWAYS get one before I lay you down for naps or bedtime.  And we are working on hugs - you quickly lean in but there is no arms around the neck or squeeze ... yet!


You are so sensitive and sassy!  Tate really gives you a run for your money, constantly taking toys from you. We are working on this but I don't see it stopping anytime soon. I balance between letting you tough it out and getting the toy back for you.  But man does it make you cry!  Or if you fall over you cry.  Or if you are hungry you cry.  Or if I'm not quick enough to get you your milk you cry.  I make it sound like you cry all the time but you don't, and when you do it's short lived especially if I get you your snuggle. Boy can you be sassy!  And then you turn on the charm and are so sweet.  Your daddy always says your personality reminds him of someone else, then turns to look at me.  I hope you don't mind being like me, Lou, because I really love being similar to you. :)
 

You have the prettiest, brightest eyes and I love how your smile reaches all the way to them! They are the most unusual color, I haven't been able to label it yet!  They are green around the edges then they zig zag into a hazel color.  The zig zags are almost a blue gray color.  So beautiful!


You have finally decided that sitting on my lap to hang out is an acceptable way to spend some of your time - hallelujah!  The deal is, though, that I can't play with you or your hair or really touch you in any way.  Ha!  I'll take what I can get (and try to sneak quick smooches on top of your pretty little head).

I didn't weigh or measure you this month and your clothes and diaper sizes are all the same as last month.  We did switch to Target brand diapers and so far they seem to be working well for you.

I love you more than words can say, Tenley Louise!  You are my sweet little precious pink princess and I am so so grateful that God blessed me with you.  I love being your mommy!

*Disclosure: Some of the pictures I took while you were having a snack, thus the chipmunk cheek look. :)

Life Lately || Tuesday Talk

Hello!  Here's a little of what's been going on around here lately...

Last week we had a weather system come through that had extremely high winds, gusts topping 70mph.  The tornado sirens went off in town, not because of a tornado just because of the high winds and the danger that brings.  The kids were all in bed when the alarms went off so Andy and I each grabbed a baby and headed to the basement where the big boys were sleeping.  Tate stayed asleep the whole time but Tenley thought it was party time and ran amuck in the basement.  Finally the winds died down, we got the all clear signal and got everyone back in the bed.  The next morning I was doing my usual routine of getting the babe's their sippy cups of milk and happened to glance out the kitchen window. What did I see? A part of our fence laying over on the neighbors fence! Oh no!  After checking it out we determined there was no damage to the neighbors fence (phew!) but ours would have to come down and a new one built.  Ugh.



Since then we have torn that fence down and started pricing out how much a new fence will cost us.  What a bummer!

Aiden has been working hard on perfecting a solo for the 5th/6th grade band solo contest.  He did so well, we were so proud of him!  He received a I rating, only one rating lower than the best which is a I+ - can't complain about that on his first go round!


While he was warming up for his solo we let the little three run the halls of the high school. We found some pretty neat murals painted on the walls from what I believe were past students.  I enjoyed them more than the kids did but they were nice enough to stop for quick pictures.



Two cuties reading books together on the couch.  I love seeing this (and the 2 minutes of quiet it brings to the house)!


With Andy's parent's recent move to a retirement cottage and all of the downsizing and purging they did we were the recipients of a few treasures.  Did any of you have these melty beads back in the day? I was forever designing and ironing 'drink holders' and what not's.  It was fun showing these two the ropes.  And it kept them busy for 15 minutes while I was cooking supper!


Meanwhile, Tenley was picking out what she wants to plant in the garden this Spring.  She loves looking at my seed catalogs, it cracks me up!


I went stamping over the weekend and these are the cards I made.  It's always fun being creative but making the mess at someone else's house.


We met up with some friends for supper Saturday night.  I grabbed my camera to get a picture of the two little girls but I think I said "I want a picture of these two cuties" so these two guys cozied up for a picture of 'the two cuties'. Ha, yea right guys!


Here are the real two cuties!  Ainsley and Tenley.  Tenley was fascinated with Ainsley's head - I think she got that from Tate because he couldn't stop petting Ainsley's head!


I guess this is the only way to watch Daniel Tiger these days. :)  And check out that sweet little girl in the background taking care of her dollies!


That's life lately around here!  Busy busy busy.

I'm linking up with Justine for Tuesday Talk