I Pinned This - Easter Eggs

Easter is just around the corner and we had yet to decorate eggs.  Today was the day and instead of using the typical Easter egg dye, I wanted to give this Pinterest find a try

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

Coloring Eggs - Use Shaving Cream and food coloring (dark colors) - roll in shaving cream let sit, wipe off. Very Cool for Easter!

Here's what I did: 

I gathered up all of the materials needed.  

Chloe swirled the food coloring around in the shaving cream.

We rolled the egg around. 

Let it sit, then wiped it off. 

Eh. 

We like bright colored eggs so for us... 

Worst part... my hands will probably look like this until tomorrow night. Sucky.

We resorted to normal Easter egg dye after 3 attempts. 

XO!

A Personal Anxiety Attack

Life is normally predictable.  You know what tomorrow will bring by looking at your schedule. Plans are made for your day and are expected to be met to some degree.

Then there are the days where something happens and everything is thrown into the air, leaving you to wonder when things will feel back in place. Leaving you standing there, awe-stricken at how many things we take for granted.  Sometimes these days are rocked by a unexpected death, an accident, or a broken heart.

I'm close to my parents.  Physically (about 7 miles between our houses) and emotionally (we talk daily).  A year ago, my dad went through a threatening case of diverticulitis (a hole in the colon).  It was a couple weeks in the hospital, intense treatments of antibiotics, and a lot of worry.  When he was first diagnosed, it was extreme enough to push your mind to the dark side of losing a loved one, and it rocked my world for quite a while.

Thursday night, my healthy mom tripped on a kitchen rug and fell.  Big deal, right? We all trip and fall.  There was no one home to see what happened, but the end result of her falling is a crushed eye socket, broken left side of her nose, and a pinched muscle that affects her ability to blink and see.  She hit the sharp corner of the island with her chest leaving a small puncture wound.  She's sore from landing, from the swelling, from her glasses smashing into her face.

As we learn the extent of the damage, and the amount of surgery she will need to correct the breaks, it makes me sick.  Sick with worry, sick with anxiety attacks, sick with "What if"s.

Life is precious. Life is short. A simple trip can send things falling into chaos.

Hug your loved one a little tighter next time and remember to enjoy the little things.  I will every time I see my mom, knowing although this sucks, she will be OK.

XO!

Alphabet Easter Activity for Little Ones

This is a super fun way to practice letters with your toddler or preschooler! There are so many variations that can be done to satisfy your little one's development and what kiddo doesn't love Easter eggs?!

Start with a bag of plastic eggs.  I got this bag from Walmart, about $1.99.  48 eggs total.  We only need 26.

Based on your little one's letter recognition, you can do this a couple of ways.

• The first way is to write the uppercase letter and lowercase letter on the same colored egg.  This will help narrow the choices down for your kiddo, making them feel more successful (which is what this is ALL about).  
• The second way is to mix all of the egg pieces up and write the uppercase and lowercase letters on different colored pieces.  They will have to rely on the letter, rather than the color.  (You will have to cut the pieces apart if you choose this method.)

Using a sharpie, and your best writing, write an uppercase and lowercase for each letter.  Make sure to get the uppercase on the TOP egg and the lowercase on the BOTTOM egg. 

My daughter knows all of her letters so I opted for the mixed colored eggs.  This is will help her become more fluent with recognizing both uppercase and lowercase letters. 

Activities with your eggs:  (remember, your goal is to help your child feel successful so start small)

• Start with a few eggs (the letters in their name is a great start).  As your little one gets better, add a couple of eggs. 
• Hide the eggs and line them in ABC order as you find them.
• Put small objects that begin with that letter and guess what may be in it. 
• Have your little one sort objects by beginning sound and put in correct egg. 

Can you add any fun activities to the list? 

XO!

I Pinned This - Mess Free Painting

Sometimes messy things don't bother me.  Sometimes I would rather stab myself in the hand than deal with the mess.  Today is one of the stabbing kind of days.

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

I got out a plastic freezer Zip-loc bag and cut a piece of card stock to fit inside the bag. I squeezed some big drops of different coloured tempera paint onto the paper and very carefully slid the paper into the bag. I then closed the bag and using duct tape, taped it to one of our craft trays. (Rainy Day Mum)

Here's what I did:
I got a Zip-loc bag, the only paint we had laying around, and some clear packing tape.

I keep my paint in a bottom drawer of my craft dresser, thus the dot of paint on the top of the lid. It helps know what color the bottle is without pulling every container out! 

I squeezed in some paint.  Not too much because I know my kid and the likelihood of the painting squirting out from too much pressure was high.

I taped it up to the sliding glass door instead of the table.  Partly because of what I said about paint squirting out (and the hope that it would be harder to pop the paint up) and letting the light shine through the bag to see whatever she was "painting".

Make sure to squeeze all the air out of the bag before sealing and taping it! 

Play and enjoy! 

And even with my high-energy little one, this was fun and held her attention for enough time to make lunch at least! 

XO!

Monday Favorites

I am a new consultant of Thirty-One Gifts.  I love love love the bags that they offer (ranging from totes, to thermals, and cubes).  They have the cutest patterns and each bag I can think of 20 different ways to use.  If you've never heard of them, check out my personal site and browse around.  See something you like, you can buy it and have it shipped directly to you! Go to my Thirty-One site, chick on My Parties, and pick Shop Now next to an existing show.  (You won't get your order until the show is closed, but parties won't be open for longer than a week usually.)

Justin Timberlake... and everything he does... is awesome.  His music is AHHHHH.  His comedy cracks me up.  His dancing and style is amazing.  His History of Rap with Jimmy Kimmel... PERFECTION!

This is quite pathetic, but sometimes my blonde really comes through.  I just discovered that ear buds have a correct ear to go in (The little R and L).  They fit SO much better! 

What's your favorite thing this week?

XO!