Those Eggs Have Already Hatched!

Jayke had a busy Easter.  First he went to his Dad's (AKA his grandparent's) and had Easter with his aunt, cousins, and dad.  They went to an Easter egg hunt and got to see the Easter bunny.  They also got to pet some baby chicks and he got a bunch of candy.

Once Jayke got home, on Easter morning, we went and had breakfast with Jeff.  He had an Easter basket for The Boy and I had given his kids their baskets from me on Friday.  

After that, we went to Dad's house and he met Kim's new puppy.  The puppy loved Jayke, of course and we had to go through the whole, no you aren't getting another dog thing.  We had the annual Easter Egg hunt there as well.  I lost my title as champion egg hunter.  I think they had a plan to dethrone me after years of winning.  I ended up giving all of my eggs to Jayke because he is not a very stellar egg hunter.  We got the usual haul plus some from Dad.  Lots of candy and this year I asked for some healthy snacks too.  Probably shocked the Easter Bunny greatly, I'm surprised he even knew where to look for the healthy stuff!

Finally, we finished up at Oma's and dinner with Uncle Mark.  Jayke had to try out his new soccer ball with Jackson and Uncle Mark before we finally headed home after a jam packed day.  

Still Champ!

Once again, I reign as champion egg hunter.  I called the victory for myself before we began, as usual, and made sure I didn't make myself a liar.  I even had to give The Boy some of my eggs because he feels it is unfair that I always win.  Life is not fair, Boy, get used to it!  I'm waiting for the day when he can beat his old mom!

We got an over abundance of treats in our Easter baskets as usual.  Once he saw his Easter basket he wasn't as upset about his defeat in the egg hunting contest.  

Monsters and Animals

Jayke and I have been busy coloring Easter eggs. After they were colored we decided to get a little creative. Above is my piggy egg I made. Jayke had a hard time helping with this part of the decorating since he is not allowed to use the hot glue gun. He was more like my assistant but he did manage to make a couple of Monster eggs...



All of this crafting was made very difficult by the fact the cat was trying to lay right in the middle of all our supplies and also periodically would take off with a pile of pipe cleaners or ribbons. She was also particularly found of the "Monster hair". I'm surprised those monsters weren't swiped bald!



I think Jayke is a lil confused about the Easter eggs. He thinks they are FOR the Easter Bunny. Kinda like the cookies you put out for Santa. He keeps wanting to make a special basket and a card for the bunny to go with them. I keep trying to explain that they are just Easter decorations. He acts like this is the first time we have colored eggs or the first Easter we have celebrated. Maybe its because we did a lot more with the eggs this year. I usually don't get into the coloring of the eggs too much. Seems pointless when you can just go out and buy the plastic ones and actually get something inside of those. I'm glad we did it this year though, who knows if this will be the last year he believes in the bunny or not and he enjoyed creating our little critters...

What We've been Up to...

I have a ton of pictures I've been meaning to put on here so I'm trying to get most of them up here tonight. I will try to give brief descriptions when necessary but mostly this will just be pictures.

First is our trip to the Farm Festival. A field trip with Jaykeb's class. I went with them. Isabelle was our partner. I particularly like the one of him milking the cow. He and Isabelle had a big discussion on the bus about what kind of potatos they each dislike. Turns out neither of them like mashed potatos...I think it is a match made in heaven!







Next is coloring Easter eggs at Meemaw's and P'pa's. Look at the green fingers... We called him Shrek for a couple of days.





The next few are of Opa and Jayke fishing the other day. Jayke caught his first fish although he isn't counting it because Opa had to help him. I'm counting it though. It was small and they threw it back of course. They fished a couple of times that day but only caught two. I guess it needs to warm up more. Opa was explaining all the stuff in the tackle box to Jaykeb and carefully going through everything with him. After that Jayke walked into the bedroom and told my mom, "I know how to fish, I don't need all that talk!" Anyone who knows Jim would see why I think this is so funny...lots of talk!





The last group of pictures are of my super soccer star! We started outdoor soccer tonight. I was really pleased that the indoor soccer really helped and Jayke was one of the better ones on his team. He is a little directionally challenged when he gets the ball though and sometimes runs the wrong way. That is when having a loud mom on the sidelines comes in handy. I had to help the coaches out too because they are new at this. The field was a swamp and we were trying to determine who got the most muddy...Jayke or Mommy. I think I was dirtier. I will be glad when the fields dry up a little.

I love how cute he looks in his soccer gear. We are still trying to get into t-ball but it isn't looking like it is going to happen. I waited too long and it may conflict with soccer. If we don't get in I will try earlier next year. I think I can teach him baseball anyway since I played softball in school.










I may have more but I have a sleepy boy who needs to go to bed so I'm off to the other room. I'm trying to get better about blogging again. I still need to get my laptop hooked up. I also have another new obsession...the Wii. I LOVE Smashbrothers Brawl! So much to do and so little time.

Ninety Day review tomorrow...hopefully that means more money. Keep your fingers crossed!

Late Easter Post

Jayke finally sat on the bunnie's lap this year. I did have to enlist Angi's kids to go with us to make this happen though. He hopped right up there and got his picture taken without any protesting at all. I think it turned out really cute too! Best one yet. I wish I had had him take his jacket off but he was already up there before I even realized it. Oh well.



We did eggs at my dad's house and got HUGE Easter baskets from the grandpa Easter bunny. We had Easter brunch at my mom's after a big egg hunt at Grammy's house. His eater eggs had little dogs in them which thrilled him to no end. Daddy had left a bag of goodies last time he visited too so he got way too much crap for Easter. He even said so himself, "Boy I got a lot of CRAP!" Yes, watch your mouth boy.

So, that is my way late Easter post which I am cramming in real quick while my mom is waiting on me to go help her haul stuff to and from the barn. I will have to put a post up later about the neighbors butchering our pine trees and the impending law suit that is heading their way. Sick people!

Wacky Easter Theme

I don't really have a "W" theme today so this will be a stretch.

For Easter Jaykeb got one of those blow up punching bag-type things that bounce back up when you knock them down. His is new and improved from the ones when I was little though, as are most things these days. His came with these boxing glove things so you can really Whack Mr. Bop Buddy hard. He loves this thing! Way more than I thought he would. After we finally got it blown up and the water put in the base to make it pop back up, he went to town on that thing. He was punching it saying, "And this, and that!" Mostly he just wanted to run and tackle it though. The crazy thing talks and makes noise effects like it it really taking a beating.



It didn't take very long for Mike and I to put on the blow up gloves and take a turn beating the crap out of Mr. Bop Buddy either. And I know you know what is coming next. Yes, we then turned to each other and started using them on each other. Jaykeb and the dog had to get in on the action so it was a big free-for-all in the middle of the living room with my mom saying over and over that she was in a crazy house. Turns out whacking that thing is a pretty good work-out...punching Mike is a better one though. He fights back! We need to turn it into a nightly routine. Excercise all the way around and a way to blow off some steam. He also got the game Wack-a-Mole from the Easter bunny. We seemed to have a theme going on this year. A violent one too! I didn't even realize. We all had to take our turns whacking moles or smashing gophers as Opa kept calling it. Mike had the high score until my Mom cheated to beat it but didn't tell him she cheated.



Now that I look back over my post I don't think I had to reach as much as I thought I would to get the "w" in there, sitting at desk patting self on back. Didya play? Let me and TKW know if you did!

Thank You Easter Bunny!

Happy Easter! Feels more like Christmas though. Cold! Jayke got up plenty early this morning but didn't remember that it was Easter. I think he was so worn out from all the work we did yesterday that he just forgot about the bunny coming when he went to bed last night. I think every one of us was in bed by 10:15p.m. That has to be a record for me! I have lots of pictures of the work we have been doing but I will save them for later. Today is about Easter!

We won't be hunting eggs until later. Let it warm up a little. We didn't color many but we got a few done. I haven't done this in years. Here is Jaykeb and his Dad coloring the eggs yesterday.



He has a few eggs in there.


I know it looks like a lot for Easter but there is stuff from 3 people in this pile.



Mike had an interesting Easter basket. He called it his, "Wife Beating Kit" I'm not sure I like that.



He got a new George Foreman grill too since ours pooped out a couple of weeks ago.
The Easter Bunny even remembered to bring Oma and Opa a basket!



I'm sure I will have pictures of the big egg hunt later...much later when it warms up. I have to go see about preparing my Easter feast now.

Waskilly Wabbit!

It was 10 degrees hotter than Hades here today so I decided to torture my child this afternoon. I took him to see the Easter Bunny. Normally this would seem like a kid-friendly thing to do but apparently not! Not when your child is first in line after waiting for the freakin bunny to come back from "eating some carrots in the garden" (aka lunch)for a half an hour. First in line means no warm up. No getting to see that the giant rabbit doesn't really eat the kids whose parents lovingly drag them to his lap for their opportunity to get a picture for the scrapbook/blog. Nothing. Just, "Your turn kid, hurry up their are people in line behind you who need to terrorize their children". Jayke was all for seeing the bunny until he actually saw him. Then my otherwise well behaved friendly child turned into a screaming panicked thing permanently attached to my side. Really, I could not pull him off of me for anything. After trying to persuade him with everything I could think of we stepped aside and let the next victim take her turn screaming at the bunny. We sat on the floor and watched as each child cautiously walked up then turned and tried to retreat as fast as they could. Finally some "big" boys took their turn and Jaykeb saw that the bunny did not mistake their limbs for carrots and decided he would go next but he wasn't sitting on his lap. NO WAY! So this is what I got...



The one I paid for that the keeper of the bunny took was a little better. It isn't what I was hoping for but better than nothing. And what a dope I am for not dressing my child in some cute Easter type outfit like all the other parents remembered to do. We were coming from the Easter egg hunt at Mom's Club though and I knew he would be all over that playground so I wasn't going to put him in anything too good and honestly I just didn't think about it. Just like I didn't think about taking a basket or bucket or anything for the poor kid to collect his eggs in. What is the matter with me? Luckily we borrowed a bucket from another mom and even though it was pink it worked just fine. He collected his eggs then asked if we could hide them again for him. I told him not until this weekend and he went off to play on the playground.



We were lucky to make it to the egg hunt today since I'm convinced there is some cosmic force trying to keep me from attending Mom's Club events. When I woke up this morning and headed for the shower the power went off as I walked into the bathroom. It was off for an hour but I managed to take the fastest shower ever and make it to church on what I thought was the correct time. Turns out I was a half an hour early after all of that. Crap!



Because he was so good at both the Easter egg hunt and finally with the Eater Bunny I told him I'd get him some ice cream...



Who knew Jack-in-the-Box had such huge milkshakes? He didn't mind that it was so big. He managed to get most of it on his shirt anyway.

When we got home we decided to do some more "Spring Cleaning" so we got Sophie out of the backyard and started giving her her summer do. That dog can't sit still for anything which made it quite hard and covered me with dog hair. After the cut she was heading for the bath where things got interesting. While trying to coral her in the tub we somehow managed to tear the shower curtain down rod and all. The rod of course, landed on my head and as I was trying to remove it Sophie thought it was the perfect time to make a break for it. She jumped out of the tub soaking wet and I caught her right before she made it to the carpet. Needless to say, at this point the entire bathroom was drenched and so was I. When Mike finally walked in he saw the shower curtain laying in the hallway, the rod stretched clear across the bathroom blocking the door, and me sitting on the floor soaking wet scrubbing the filthy dog. He just shook his head and tried to walk away but I insisted that he come in and help me finish her up. Thank God I don't have any pictures of this to show you or you would be convinced I'm nuts for sure. Okay, I know, half of you reading this already know I am but I don't have to give you visual proof.

After dinner we finally dug into the eggs The Boy collected at the hunt. He was very happy with his loot and especially happy that a couple of the eggs had chocolates in them.



Just look at that chocolate ring around the mouth! No, I didn't make him wear the bunny ears, he did it willingly.




The rest of the night, I would like to tell you was uneventful, but it wasn't. There were several time-outs and some arguing about parenting tactics but in the end everyone went to bed (or to the computer) happy. Now, I leave you with one more picture from today's outing. It's Jayke in the mall waiting for the giant bunny to come back.



Someone thought they were something else until that big bunny showed up! And that is all for today. I have to go hang the shower curtain back up now.

So, I really only used the "W" in my title...whatever works! If you played let me and TKW know.

Early Easter Treats

More of what The Boy got in his Easter box from his grandparents...


He also got a stack of sketch pads and some markers. He has been busy drawing pictures for the past few days. I made him promise he would only draw on his paper and he has been really good about it. I was actually kind of shocked. The markers are washable so I wasn't that worried about it but I didn't want him to think it was okay to write on anything else. Today he was in my bedroom working away on his sketch pad so I decided to check my email. When I got finished I went to see what he was up to. Here is his latest work of art...



I have to say he did a pretty good job...his legs are almost evenly covered and at first glance he appeared to have some sort of camouflage on. Then he yanked his shirt up to show me he had also decorated his tummy, sides, and somehow his back. When I went to see what else he had colored I was happy to see that the only thing he colored on was himself. A quick dunk in the bath tub before bed removed his artwork and gave him a clean palette for tomorrow.

Fluffy Sugar-coated Fun!

TKW has inspired me today with her creativity with Peeps so I went looking for what else I could do with them.

Every Easter we end up with tons of peeps. My husband likes them so everyone sends them to him. He doesn't like them THAT much though so we always have lots of them that don't end up getting eaten. I saw this and thought it was a great recipe to try to use up some of those peeps AND it would make a great teacher gift.
Edit: The Peeps Jar can be found Here



Here is the "recipe":
In the jar: 1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed
8 peeps
1/3 C. brown sugar (pressed into the center of the peeps)
1 1/2 cup Easter M&M's

Peep Bars
Empty contents of the jar into a bowl Snip the bunnies into bits with kitchen shears or cut up with a knife. Return the bunny bits to the mixture and mix well. Add 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 tsp. vanilla and mix well. Pat into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.
Option: leave the bunnies whole; combine remaining ingredients and place the bunnies on top. Bake as directed.


And this recipe was also with them:

Peep Ice Cream Topping
Same as above, but omit the vanilla.
Pat into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350 just until peeps melt. Cool. Break up with a knife. Sprinkle over vanilla ice cream.

Then I saw this picture some where and thought it was really cute and a good use of peeps as well...


What child wouldn't love a peep in their hot chocolate?!? The picture makes me want a cup even though it is quite warm here today.

Making a Peep topiary...I didn't get a picture of the finished project but you can use your imagination and get a pretty good idea of what it could look like from the picture of the topiary in the making.

So, bring on the Peeps, peeps! I won't have to throw them all away anymore now that I have some ideas of what to do with the little critters.