Easter Fun

I was completely exhausted from St. Patrick's Day and the pesky Leprechauns that visited our house when Easter was upon us.  This year we found a great resource at http://thelatterdaysaintlady.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-easter-lesson.html  

It gives an account of the last week of the Savior's life - cleansing the temple, triumphal entry into Jerusalem, The Last Supper, Gethsemane, the betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection.  It really helped us keep the right perspective on Easter.

Then of course we did all the Bunny related Easter festivities.   This year we decided to dye eggs with Kool-Aid.  Berry blue was our favorite color as it turned the egg vibrant blue.  All you need is one packet of Kool-Aid and 2/3cup water.  You don't need vinegar because the Kool-Aid has citric acid.  The bonus is you don't have that awful vinegar smell.

We tried a couple different mediums with varying results.  First, we wrapped rubber bands around the eggs but the results were not so impressive.  Second, we  put rubber cement on the eggs.  We found this idea at http://www.crapivemade.com/2010/03/rubber-cement-dyed-eggs.html.  I should have been a bit more patient with letting the rubber cement dry but we loved how they turned out.

Rubber cement dyed egg.

 Another fun idea this year came from http://raisinglittledisciples.blogspot.com/2012/03/glowing-easter-egg-hunt.html.  This was an absolute blast.  We didn't even need to use candy because the kids played with the glow sticks after they hunted the eggs.  This will be in the repertoire next year for sure.

Our night hunting group of kids.

I always joke that I am creative as long as I copy someone else.  This next idea came from http://cjaneblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/cutest-easter-tradition.html.  We planted magical jelly beans.  The Easter Bunny came to our house delivering little bags of magical jelly beans and planting instructions.  Isabel ran as fast as she could into the yard to try to catch the bunny but he was too fast for her. 

The kids loved planting and watering the jelly beans.  We then asked them what they thought would happen with the beans...we got a beanstalk, jelly bean trees etc.  The next morning when Bellar woke up she immediately went outside and you could hear her scream, "You've got to see this the beans grew they grew, they grew lollipops!"  Her excitement was well worth planting suckers in the dark with flashlight at 11:30 at night.  Oops I mean it was worth the Easter Bunny delivering those beans :)

Planting our magical jelly bean seeds

Planting instructions from the Easter Bunny.

The magical jelly beans grew lollipops.

We spent Easter weekend at the annual Fielding Easter Egg Hunt.  I tell you for small town living it is a big deal for sure.  We also had an Easter egg hunt with our family.

Fielding town egg hunt

Kids by their Easter nests.  A tradition to make a nest out of your clothes or blankets.

Isabel fell asleep on the bathroom floor at her aunt's house.

Easter Bunny always leaves bunny tracks in our house each year.

Overall, we had a great Easter experience with hopefully a lot of tradition and fun that the kids will remember!

Family Room

I know another house post. Liv wants to do a post to show Grandma and Grandpa her room but a few more projects need to be completed first.  That darn to-do list isn't getting any shorter.  So our family room.  This was the room where I thought we would all congregate together.  In actuality, we rarely use it and hang out in the living room instead.  Not having any television is one of the major factors we don't hang out here. We have a television just not any service - not even "bunny ears."  I know primitive but we were so busy remodeling the house we thought television would distract us.  Now nearly a year later we still have no television - we READ a lot but that is a whole other post.

The Before: First off, I am not a personal fan of gold anything particularly gold accents.  So the decorative glass mirror was moved out into the garage.  I am not sure why it is still there since I have no future plans for it.  We painted the mantle white to match the railings and then decided to remove the white tile and replace it with the same tile in the kitchen to give the fireplace contrast.

Removing all those stubborn staples in the floor.

This was the best $14.00 tool ever bought!

That white changed the whole mantle  - I love !

Tiling around the fireplace.

Taped and ready for painting walls

Finished mantle - someday we convert to a gas fireplace with new insert.

 A pop of color is what the living room needed.  It seemed muted with the browns and white mantle.  Our indecisiveness and much window shopping later we decided we wanted a red leather couch.  I have to say it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture we own.  When the delivery men brought it over they asked where they could plug it in.  I was thinking, "Sir, this is a couch not an appliance."  Well, apparently the recliners on the couch operate on a motor under the couch....super cool!

Our POP of color!

The room thus far - furniture placement needs some help.

A few more random pictures -

My cute mom was a huge help.

Kids loved painting

Picture this gold where the black is - I should have got a before picture but it looked 100% better with just using spray paint.

Dance Competition

Liv started dancing this year on a competitive dance team at Davis Dance Academy.  Today was her first competition in Bountiful (Actually first competition was in March - I am slow once again in posting). She performed a jazz dance to the song Nitty Gritty by Kimberly Cole and a lyrical number Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.  Her team won first place on their jazz number and third place in Lyrical.  We are eagerly awaiting our April and May competitions coming up.

She wanted a picture in her right leg splits.

A little attitude.

Sorry a little blurry here.

Liv's Comp. Team Members