Many Hoppy Easters...

My grandmother passed away a year ago. Some of my favorite memories of my grandparents were meeting them somewhere between our house and theirs to celebrate Easter. I remember more Easter mornings waking up in a hotel room than at my own home. Meeting in National Parks led to some very scenic Easter egg hunts though. Thanks to my grandparents' RV, our Easter dinner didn't suffer too much from being on the road. I find it an odd coincidence that both of my grandparents passed away just as the stores began setting out the Easter decorations and candy. I think Easter will forever remind me of my grandparents.

Last year at my grandmother's funeral, I inherited some really random items stuffed in a trash bag -thanks to my mom and her twin. A phone, pink towels (which my daughter loves), a red scarf, etc. Among those items that I got was a pair of pink striped socks. I don't wear pink and the socks are way to big for my daughter who loves pink. So they sat in my drawer for a year, until I found a cute pattern on familyfun.go.com. My kids and I made sock bunnies and I got to turn my grandmother's sock into a cute little Easter bunny.

His ears are a little wild, but he's cute. My daughter turned the match into a mommy bunny who has been taking care of my baby bunny. She's also named him "Crashina."

Decorating for a little girl

Since moving last summer, I've wanted to decorate and make this house feel more like home. We've been in apartments since we got married (8 1/2 years) and we love being in a house now. We're renting, so we can't do a lot to it, but that doesn't mean we can't make it feel like our own place. My son's room is really the only one that felt done to me. I realized it was because his walls were decorated and he had curtains up. It's amazing how much those two things can make a difference.

Since my daughter's room doubles as the guest bedroom, I decided to do her room next. First, I rearranged her wall stickers. My daughter had helped put them up, and they needed some help. Wall stickers are great. You can find them at the dollar store. They stay up really well and won't leave a mark or peel off paint when you remove them. Perfect for renters. We have butterfly and flower stickers in her room. Her dresser is also decorated with wall stickers and we added a pot of flowers on top.

My son picked out a poster to help cover her blank walls. You can also see some of her artwork that she posted herself.

I decided that she needed curtains. She has blinds on her window, but curtains can add so much to a room. I had some fabric that I got for free a year ago. The butterflies and flowers matched perfectly, but the colors did not. They're a little too retro for the bright pink and purple floral room my daughter wants.

So I painted the fabric. I painted most of the butterflies and used fabric markers to add color to some of the flowers. We also added pink sequins -not something I'd normal choose, but they suit my daughter's room and personality. The sequins didn't make it into this picture.

We also have the brick wall problem. We can't exactly nail or drill into it easily. Luckily this wall has a portion at the top that isn't brick. So my son (with some help from me) made letters to hang from above. We painted them and added flower and butterfly gem stickers. We used strips of the fabric from the curtains to hang the letters. The letters were his present to his sister for her birthday.

It may not be the best decorated room, but it's tons better than what it was and we did it all for under $20. Most importantly, my daughter is thrilled with it. I'm hoping to add a few more things when all the spring and Easter stuff goes on sale. It's a good time to buy flower and butterfly decorations. And then on to the living room...

Let it snow!

When you live in Arizona and have winter days with highs in the 60s and 70s, you don't have to worry about snow. Well, that's not true of the entire state. Flagstaff averages 70-80 inches of snow each year. After living in Flagstaff for two years, I've had enough snow to make up for the last three years without it. Still, it is really pretty -when it first falls and if you don't have to be out in it. So, I've found a way to have the best of both worlds (thanks to Family Fun magazine). I get the pretty snowflakes and my warm winter temperatures.

The snowflake directions are on familyfun.go.com. I tried using wax paper, but the wax paper stuck to the snowflakes leaving them less clingy. My daughter got frustrated that her snowflake kept falling off, so we tried again using a Corelle dinner plate. The snowflakes peeled off easily and retained their clinginess. The downside of using a plate is that you have to free-hand the design instead of tracing the downloadable template. It's a fun project and since no two snowflakes are alike, it lets you be creative.

An Elf Trap

My mom came across this idea by Kayla Lamoreaux and I thought I'd share it. It's an elf trap. Apparently elves are quite curious about the gifts under the tree. So mischievous little elves with extra time on their hands are busy peeking into the presents under our Christmas trees. With an elf trap, the elves get stuck inside of the box and the only way to get out is for them to leave candy.

To make your very own elf trap you'll need a box that can be opened and closed, some candy, and the cute poem about the elves by Kayla Lamoreaux found on her blog. Then find yourself a gullible young child or two and you're ready mess with some innocent young minds.


A note from my daughter who wants to help too:

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What I Learned Today

Two year olds are too young for paper mache.

My son (5 years old) declared today Bug Day. Tomorrow is Water/Ocean Day. It seems that special days such as these require crafts. I thought about doing a pom pom/pipe cleaner something to make some bugs, but I wanted to do something different. Remembering the water balloons, I thought we could do paper mache. It's been years since I've done paper mache and I remember it as a really cool way to make stuff. I made a pinata in my Spanish class in high school. It was a blue VW Bug. I had a neighbor that used a shopping cart and chicken wire to make a dinosaur mini-float so that the neighborhood kids could be cavemen in a parade. Plus the other school projects like small models of the Earth, etc. So you can see why I think of paper mache as being a great craft. What I failed to remember was that I was quite a bit older than my kids when I did my first paper mache projects.

We did great with the paper strips and blowing up balloons (except that water balloons are difficult to blow up). We did fine attaching balloons to each other to form buggy shapes. I made the paste myself since it involved cooking (see recipe below). So we were all set up and ready to begin. I did a quick demonstration and then prepared the paper strips for the kids. My little girl (two years old) had some problems sticking her paper on the balloons and quickly lost interest. She wandered off and entertained herself by popping the remaining balloons. My son tried but couldn't quite get the hang of it. He got a little overwhelmed with trying to cover all of the balloon and he hated having the goo all over his hands. So I finished his for him while he made more paper strips for me. The plus side of me having to do all of the work is that their wasn't a huge mess to clean up.

The future bugs are drying now. The original plan was to let the kids decorate them with markers, but they may need a coat of paint once they're dry. My son plans on making a cricket, a bee, and a dragonfly. I'm not sure what my daughter's will end up being. So far it's two balloons stuck together. I'm not sure I'm ready to for painting after doing paper mache this morning. How long does it take to dry anyway?

Tomorrow is Water/Ocean Day and I've already decided that there will be no crafts. Water balloons will be much easier.

Paper Mache

Mix 1/2 cup of flour with 2 cups cold water. Boil two cups of water. Add the flour mixture to the boiling water and bring it back to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar. Let it cool. While it cools it will thicken and be ready to use.

Glow Bugs and Camping

Tomorrow is the Father and Sons Camp Out, which means the guys will be off doing manly things like cooking outdoors and here at home we'll be having frozen pizza and watching a chick flick. Although I do like to camp, I'm more than happy to send the guys off so that I can do girly things and sleep peacefully in the middle of my soft queen-sized bed.

My daughter thinks that she's going with them. When I tried to explain it was just for the boys she responded, "please?" She's even packed her bag to go with them. She put in her pink bear, shoes, and socks. She wasn't the only one getting ready. I've been pulling out the camping things, creating big pile for hubby to organize when he gets home. I like doing this because then I know that the sunblock, bug spray, and extra batteries got packed. It also means that I get to send along some fun stuff for my son. Aside from snacks and stuff to keep him entertained on the drive, I made him a glow bug. I got the idea from About.com, but I didn't have the same kind of glow stick that they used. I already had glow bracelets at home so I changed the pattern a bit.

With one end of a pipe cleaner I made 3-leaf clover shape. The middle leaf (the head) is smaller than the other two, which will be the wings.

I used hot glue to stick the eyes on.

Wrap the long tail around the glow bracelet. If you leave some space between the coils, the light will show through the bug more. Loose coils will let the bug slide along the bracelet, but with my son I want something that won't slide off too easily.

And be careful not to bend the bracelet in the process or you'll start the glowing before you're ready for it. Luckily I had an extra.

Not only will my son have a little something to remind him that I love him, but he'll also be glowing brightly and be easy to find in the dark.

My family has a tradition that started when I was a little girl. My dad would travel for conferences and meetings, but not too often thankfully. Each time he went, we would sneak a stuffed animal into his suitcase. It was our way of saying that we loved and missed him while he was gone. My husband and I have continued the tradition. Once again, I am grateful that hubby doesn't travel very often either. The fun part is having my kids pick the stuffed animal and try to sneak it into Dad's suitcase while he's not watching. It's a little tricky since it has to be done after the suitcase is packed, which doesn't always leave much time to be sneaky. Maybe we should make another bug to hide in hubby's bag.

Arrg!

Recently I was talking to my five year old about jobs and how when we grow up we get to decide what kind of job we want. Before I had finished, he had already decided what he wanted to be -a pirate. He wants to be a pirate because pirates find treasure. He then proceeded to tell me about all the things he needed so that he could be a pirate. My favorite was that he needed a "talking bird." So like any good crafty parent, I enabled his current obsession.

Here's Squawky, our piratey version of Chaco the Parrot Puppet. It's not the best picture. He's really cuter than that. I had to alter the pattern so that I could fit my hand inside and because my son wanted green on the end of the parrot's tail. I also added a row of sc to the parrot's beak to even out the edge.

We also made a pirate hat and eye patch out of two sheets of black foam. The stencil is one that I got on clearance from Michaels.

I guess the next step is a treasure hunt. A year ago, I made a treasure hunt using laminated cards so that I could reuse it later. I drew pictures of each room on a card and colored a big red 'X' on the back. He starts with one card that shows him which room to look in for his next clue. The cards send him from room to room until he finds the last card which only has a red 'X' to show that he's found the treasure -candy or chocolate chips inside a shiny gold box. He's getting pretty good at it. I have to hide them really well or he can run through it in less time than it took me to set it up. Any parent can tell you the value of a happy child spending a long time in search of a carefully hidden item (and more importantly leaving Mom/Dad alone) -priceless.

Fluffy Bunny

My son loves crafts. He's definitely my son. All you have to do is mention pompoms or pipe cleaners and his little eyes brighten and he starts jumping for joy. A couple years ago I bought a bag of 750 pompoms. We haven't even made a dent in the bag. So we let my daughter (two years old) play in the pompoms while my son and I got everything ready.

So today we made little bunnies for Easter. It's based on a Family Fun magazine pattern, but we exchanged the beads for pompoms. He got to make two bunnies (named Hoppy and Fuzzy Wuzzy) and I made one for my daughter. Before we had the mess cleaned up, my son was already asking to make a bed for his bunnies.