Procrastination, or how I decided to make Easter outfits on Friday night

In the back of my head I wanted to make Easter outfits for the kids.  It wasn't really something my family did on a regular basis growing up, but I have a TON of fabric left over from Devynee's bedding set, so I figured it would be a free project and use up some fabric.

Of course I wasn't able to pull anything together until Friday night.  I started drawing pattern pieces at 9:00 p.m. and nearly finished Kendree's dress by midnight.  The next day I finished up her dress, drew, cut out and sewed Devynee's dress and did Easton's tie.

I used this tutorial for both of the girls dresses and this one for Easton's tie.  I only had heavy interfacing (and I was NOT going to the store) so it is very stiff.  :)

Getting three kids to look at the camera, and smile is nearly impossible, but they are pretty cute nonetheless.

 Mr. Poser himself.

 Man she looks so big in this picture!

 And cute Aunt Sarah holding Miss Devynee.  Unfortunately with the late finish to this project, mama made this one a bit too small, so this will probably be the only time she will wear it!

I have great intentions for when I will be starting Easter clothes next year...

Easter Carnival Fun

Grandma Cali moonlights as the Easter Bunny in the spring (she works for an entertainment company--you know, face painting, balloons, characters, etc.).  She was the Easter Bunny at this park the weekend before we came and scored some free tickets for the entire group.   We had a great time at Irvine Park.

We were baby chicks with Aunt Katie:

 Then we were chicks with cousin Norah

 We did an Easter egg hunt...Norah just loved holding onto those eggs!

 Devynee once again hung out in the car seat for the majority of the time.

 After a little face painting, we had Spiderman join our group:

 Two of them in fact:

 Then we got a pretty princess.  (doesn't that look on her face just slay you?)

 We rode the train:

 And decorated cookies (Kendree was obviously instructing Easton on how to do it).

 We also enjoyed a hayride...

 And waited patiently to ride...

 PONIES!

 Kendree's pony was named Corky and she kept on reaching down to pet the mane and saying "good girl, Corky!"  Too cute.

 We were all a little worn out by the early afternoon, but it was fun!

The Beach!

We took a little two hour excursion to the beach while we were in Cali.   That's the beauty of being so close to the beach.  One 15 minute drive and there you are!  You can stay for just as long as your kids are enjoying it and not feel bad about it. So, the only thing to feel a little bad about was the fact that this is the first time any of the kids had been to the beach. :)

Just as expected, Kendree loved every minute.  The sandbox is her favorite place to be in our yard and she asks to play in it daily.  A sandbox as far as the eye could see was perfect for her. 

 Easton and I accidentally got a little wet [read: mama didn't know that big of a wave was coming] so he was cold and needed a little towel wrap.

This sweet babe spent the entire trip in her car seat.  It was quite windy which equals chilly at the beach and it wasn't worth getting her out.

 Cheesers!

 Obligatory half smile.

Shortly after this, we packed up and headed home.  We'll definitely be going back each time we go to Cali!
Added benefit: Mama forgot to apply sunscreen to anyone and due to the fact we were at sea level instead of 6500 feet, no one got burned!

Why hello there!

Whew!

That was a nice little break, wasn't it?

What? You didn't even notice I was gone?

HMMPH.

Anyway, our little family just got back from a "family trip."*

Let's just say we won't be subjecting ourselves or our kids to any 20-hour road trips anytime soon. (Not that we didn't LOVE sunny California).

Before we get into those picture heavy trip re-caps, let's remember a few of our favorite quotes from the trip.

Quote #1
Scene: We are all in the car leaving our neighborhood to begin our journey.  Ronnie and I are prepping the kids on how this is a LONG trip, but we will get to see lots of family and it will be really fun.  Easton nods his head in understanding, we say a prayer and are on our way. When we reach Harriman Road (literally a 15 minute drive from our house on the interstate) Easton says with a heavy sigh, "This sure is a long trip!"

If only he knew what he was in for.  Actually scratch that, it is a good thing he didn't know. :)

Quote #2
Scene: We tried to do some of the driving after the kids were asleep for the night to minimize the time they felt like they were in the car. This plan worked like a dream for Easton and Devynee, who are great and heavy sleepers.  Kendree?  Well, she is a lighter sleeper by nature, and a primarily stomach sleeper, so the car seat was not her favorite.  The kids would fall asleep around 8:30 p.m. and then around 11:30 p.m. Kendree would wake up crying.  We would try to soothe her with her blankie, our voices, and rubbing her legs, but the bottom line was that she just didn't want to be strapped into that darn car seat anymore.  She would cry for 2-3 minutes, settle down for 45 minutes and then repeat. We didn't have much choice both times, since we didn't arrive at either destination until 2:00 a.m. so there were 3 hours of soothing from the front seat.  Luckily, the other two kids slept through all of it.

So anyway.

On the return trip, we really were only 40 minutes from our destination for the evening (Grandma-Great and Grand Dad's house), Kendree woke up crying again and Ronnie reached back to rub her leg and tell her "We're almost there. Just a little while longer."  Apparently, she felt like she had heard that too many times, because she responded very forcefully with, "NO SAY THAT!" And so we stopped with the soothing and just willed the miles to go faster.

Quote #3
Scene: Ronnie's family lives 20 minutes from Disneyland. We have never gone in the time I have been a member of the family. I am aware this is a crime in the eyes of many. We decided that we would go for the first time this trip. It helped that a relative works there and was going to sign three of us in for free.  Fast forward to the night before this was supposed to happen. We get a text telling us that the signing in isn't going to happen.  We pat ourselves on the back for not actually telling the kids what we are doing (no disappointment that we decided not to shell out the money) and take them to Chuck E. Cheese instead.  They are thrilled.  Or so we think. Not a word about Disneyland is uttered for the rest of the trip.

We get back to Wyoming and Grandma Wyo asks the kids what they did in California. Easton responds, "We did NOT go to Disneyland and we did NOT go to Legoland." That was pretty much all he had to say about the trip. Sigh. [Thus far he seems unscathed.  He knows we will indeed take him to Disneyland when he is older].

*We called this little adventure a "vacation" when we were relaying some of it to my parents, after which Ronnie stated that he didn't know if you could call it a vacation.  My parents then informed us that trips with kids are rightfully classified as "family trips" and it is the kid-free ones that you can call "vacation." :)

Sometimes it's too much work to open your eyes while you eat

It was Sunday, the day she doesn't get a nap due to church.

It was also the first day of daylight savings time.

She was just. so. tired.

I know I have one other child, but I didn't have any random pictures of her

This little girl is the silliest.  She loves to put her hands in pockets.  This day, she put on a shirt that has a front pocket, then a jacket with pockets and finally a vest with pockets to finish it off.  Too bad she only has two hands!

About every two weeks, I bring up the basketball hoop for a day or two to the front room.  Easton literally shoots hoops for hours.  Especially if we are watching basketball on TV (note the Lakers on the TV in the background).  He loved this picture because you could see the ball after it had gone through the hoop.

 Cutie.  Obviously a day that I didn't want to fight to do her hair.

 Easton occasionally needs to strike a silly pose.

 And then lets mama have a handsome picture.

For your viewing pleasure

A little video catch up:

I wanted Kendree to count.  As it turns out, she is much better at counting backwards than she is forwards.  That couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that I count backwards from five when the kids are not behaving and have a limited amount of time to make a good decision, could it?

Now that I've watched this again, she says 3, 2, 1, 0 and then blast off.  Cute little girl.

You really have to listen, but she is singing "Happy Birthday" to herself.

The new Dora kitchen plays some songs. The kids decided that dancing to them was the best thing ever.

Classic birthday cake scene:

The post where I document Kendree's 2nd birthday

You should have known it was coming.  The birthday wrap-up, just a bit shy of a month late.

A good friend located this Dora kitchen on Freecycle for me.  You can't beat free.  Someday I hope to have one of those super cute wooden kitchens, but based on how much my kids love any kitchen, maybe I'll never bite the bullet to buy one. I guess we'll have to see.

We set it up unwrapped in the living room.  When Kendree woke up (she is ALWAYS the first kid up and at 'em) she walked right over, asked if it was for her and then proceeded to wash her hands. She obviously knows what you do prior to food preparation.

 Once Easton was up, they went right to work putting all of our play food and dishes away.  Also, my kids have no idea who Dora is, so Kendree pointed to the giant head and asked, "Me?"  I guess Dora does look similar to her.  So now, she thinks the kitchen is all about her. Gotta love it.

 Enjoying her favorite lunch, mac n' cheese.

 And later that night, unwrapping presents.  I love all things Melissa and Doug, and a new kitchen was begging for some new food.

 Kendree with her loot.

 Right after blowing out the candles.

 And a close up of the cake.  I made cake in soup cans (idea from Oh Happy Day) and then frosted in "rosettes" of a sort. It was the perfect amount of cake for our little family.

 The next day, we celebrated AGAIN at grandma's house. Kendree got her very own wallet (in hopes that she will stop emptying mama's all of the time).

Then she and Easton unwrapped her big present from Grandma and Grandpa Wyo...a new shopping cart!

They immediately got to work filling it up with friends.  This cart is awesome.  It won't roll when there is two much weight (say if a kid gets in it) and looks super cute to boot.

Now we play "chef" all of the time!

I have some videos to upload as well, but it looks like that might be a post for another day.

Leap Day

February 29th was quite possibly the 3rd greatest day ever, at least in Easton's mind.

His favorite would be his birthday, with Christmas taking a close second.

But on February 29th, Mama told him that we were going to have dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert.

He could not believe it. (His exact words were "What the heck?!?!?")

And so, we all got a heaping bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles for dinner.

Mama even let Easton and Kendree have small second helpings before dessert was served (burritos, rice and beans).

The easiest tradition ever, since I only have to do it every four years. I can't take any credit for the idea though.  That goes to this cute girl.

Photographic Evidence:
Seriously, the word "cheese" leads to some pretty funny faces on Kendree.

 Can't even take the time to smile.  That ice cream might disappear any second.

 Even this one loved Leap Day, just look at that dimple!