A few days before Easter the kids and I went for a visit at my mom's house and made Rice Krispie nests for our friends and family.
Scarlett loved helping and sneaking little bites.
We started out by making the original Rice Krispies recipe but instead of smashing them in a pan, we sprayed our hands with cooking oil and smashed them into little nest shapes with our hands. Once we had all our nests made we placed them in cupcake liners. We then mixed a few drops of green food coloring with about a half cup of coconut shreds to make the nesting grass. Once it was all mixed we sprinkled a little in each nest.
Then we topped them off with robins eggs.
We didn't want to leave our eggs unguarded so we made momma birds for each. I just picked out a clip art bird and printed out a sheet of them facing one direction, then printed out a sheet of them in the reverse direction (according to the cake shows, it always has to look good from both sides). Then we cut them out glued the two together onto a toothpick and stuck them in our nests.
They made such a happy addition to our Easter table and were a tasty little treat.
Last week we jumped in the car and headed to De Jong's Cash & Carry Dairy in Wildomar. We met a few other moms from Moms club and did the dairy tour together. It was $3 each and worth every cent.
The kids were shaking with excitement when we pulled up, Scarlett was mooing and they couldn't wait to get out of the car and see the cows.
Before our tour started we got a chance to see some of the other animals they had there which included a pot belly pig, peacocks, goats, guinea pigs, bunnies and I'm sure I'm forgetting some critters.
My kids especially loved the guinea pigs, I had to pull them away to get to our tour.
It's a very small, family owned dairy and we got to see where they milk the cows and store the milk but the part the kids loved the most was feeding the cows.
Scarlett fed the big cows and Taylor fell in love with the calves. He was squirming to get out of my arms and run over to feed the little guys.
He picked up hands full of the feed and let them lick it right out of his hand.
He would have loved to crawl right in there with them. They were licking his face and gnawing on his little hand, he was laughing and smiling the whole time. Here is some video of him bonding with his new favorite animal, it is one of my all time favorite videos ever. There is no better sound then hearing my kids laugh, I love it!
When the tour was over they took us all to a some picnic tables and served everyone chocolate chip cookies along with the most delicious chocolate milk I have ever tasted. I am going to crave this stuff it's so yummy. The kids were on cloud 9 sucking down their milk and eating their cookies and then slipped into a milk coma for the ride back home.
I would highly recommend paying them a visit, it's a fun experience and the chocolate milk is worth it, mmmmm, I could go for some right now!
On the weekends I like to make us "fancy" breakfast, something we wouldn't have during the week. A few weeks ago James was gone for the weekend so I made the kids and I stuffed french toast.
I followed the recipe here and it was a hit. We filled ours with diced strawberries and bananas and used cream cheese in place of the ricotta cheese because that's what I had on hand.
The bananas made them extra sweet and needed nothing extra added for sweetness.
The kids loved it and they were really easy to make.
I would love to experiment with different fruits and breads to find the tastiest combo.
If you give it a try tell me what you put in yours.
My Grandpa Hauser was a talented craftsman, always working on a new project. We always had plenty to talk about when we would get together, sharing ideas and stories. I inherited many of my creative genes from him and some of my quirky habits. After he passed away last year my uncle gave me this very cute little wooden chair that my grandpa had made, thinking I would like it for my kids. It was unfinished wood and the second I saw it I knew what I wanted to do with it. Although we live in suburbia, my kids think they are farmers and love animals, so I made it a farm chair. I don't get to paint as often as I would like, so it took me a few months to paint it but I'm finally finished and my kids just love it. They love that it's their size and they love the pictures on it, it's a hit. I think my grandpa would love that the chair he made has become a treasured piece of furniture here.
There are cows, chickens, a horse, birds, sheep, a dog and two little kitties just like our Sid and Bella.
I originally saw the idea for a yarn egg wreathhere, and while I just love the way hers turned out, I wanted to make one with only spiral wrapped eggs and a little extra sparkle. This isn't a super fast project to make but wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Pop in a fun movie one night (or maybe two) when the kids are down and by the end you should have yourself a beautiful wreath. If you would like to make one too, here's how I went about making mine.
I used a 14 inch rounded edge foam wreath, 3 colors of yarn (one with shimmer in it), 2 big bags of plastic Easter eggs (I used about 45 eggs) and several sticks of hot glue.
I found it easiest to wrap the eggs by starting at one end, adding a little glue at a time, wrapping it to the middle, cutting the yarn, then starting at the other end and wrapping it to the middle, meeting up with the other side.
I made all my eggs before adding them to my wreath, finding it easier to add a few at a time to get them to fit as tight as possible. I then hung it with a piece of ribbon to hang from the door. I don't love the ribbon, I wish it were thicker but I already had it on hand, I'm sure I will eventually replace it.
But what I love best about my wreath is the golden egg. I wanted it to share the reason we celebrate Easter and that is because of Jesus, it's says He is risen! and is a reminder of what He did for us.
Last weekend we headed down to Carlsbad for a weekend of racing. This was Taylor's 1st race and Scarlett's 2nd and I thought the kids would feel a lot faster if they had superhero capes to run in.
I made the capes out of light weight cotton and did coordinating bias tape around the edges and used the bias tape for the ties around their necks. I cut their superhero racing names and the circle burst thing out of felt. I just used hot glue to stick the letters and burst onto the cape, it held up great for the race but I don't know how well it would hold up in the wash.
They were so fun because people were cheering for them since they could read their names on the capes and they looked so cute running down the street in them.
They definitely had a little extra power that day.
Look at that girl go!!
My awesome little superhero's getting their medals, way to go guys!!
While I was at the store the other day I ran across some shaving cream. It made me remember a friend saying her kids loved playing with it in the bath so I picked up a cheap can. At the next bath time I squirted it all over the walls and all over the kids.
Taylor thought it was the coolest thing but Scarlett was totally weirded out by it, it was kind of funny. I think she will eventually warm up to it but for now she will just sit back and watch the fun.
With the hairy genes my poor kids have passed onto them from both mommy and daddy they better get used to this stuff cause they are going to be shaving early on, sorry guys.
We will definitely be keeping a can in our tub, I like any activity that only requires a splash of water and it's all cleaned up.
