Easter Egg Hunt #1

When my own children were

young, we moved to Lawton.

We had lived in the country before

and had a HUGE yard.

Our little city yard just didn't offer

much of an egg hunting challenge

and I had adventurous kids!

So, we began hunting our

Easter Eggs

in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

This year, Heather wanted

to resurrect that

old family tradition.

Brandy was waiting for a little

girl she baby sits to be dropped off

so Brilyn rode with us because

we didn't want her to be late!

However, Brandy was still the

first to arrive.



Brilyn and I had lots of fun throwing

rocks into the water and playing

on the bridge while Grandpa

hid the eggs. Brilyn loves

the outdoors!

Once all the children had arrived

we sat down and had a story.

I shared The Easter Story

with them using a set of

Resurrection Eggs!

Even though the little ones are

small, I want them to understand

the REAL meaning of Easter!

After the story, we hunted eggs.



 Olivia found the GOLDEN Prize Egg!

 Brilyn found the most eggs!

 And although it was cold, I think

all the girls enjoyed themselves.

 I've always enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt.

And I think the girls enjoy it, too!

There was money in all of

the eggs and each girl found

between $20 and $23.

I think it was a pretty good

Egg Hunt!

 

More on Easter Egg Hunts:

I can still remember going to an

egg hunt as a child and being knocked down

by a big kid who snatched the prize egg

right out of my basket.

When my own kids were little I

did my own egg hunts, complete with

money and prizes, so there was really

no need to go to commercial or city wide

hunts to get more candy.

The kids are each told how many

eggs and how many prize eggs they

can find and when everyone has filled their

baskets we have a free for all,

and any eggs left are fair game. But,

EVERYONE gets a lot of eggs,

money and candy.

This year there were 30 eggs

and 5 prize eggs per child.

At city wide hunts a child is lucky

to find 4 or 5 candy filled eggs.

If you stop and think about it,

your child is much better off if you

just do your own hunt. Plus, you can

do it at your own convenience.

The backyard would be fine for our

little ones right now, but bigger kids

like to hunt in a park or other

fun location.

 

 

Fairies In A Jar

I found a recipe for

Fairies in a Jar

so we had to try it while

the girls were here.

You take a jar with a tight

sealing lid.

Then you break open a

chem-light glow stick

pour it into the jar,

add some glitter,

seal the jar and shake it up!

It creates a colorful

lantern type glow, perfect

for a night light.

And it lasts all night long!

Easter Bunny Tea Party

Grace and Olivia waited for Brilyn

to come over to have a Tea Party

with their Easter Bunny

Cupcakes!

Once Brilyn got here,

Grace served the tea!

They all had cupcakes!

Brilyn loved the cupcakes!

I think she had at least two!

And Olivia hid from the camera!

It was a cute, sweet little tea party

on the front porch of the

new pink playhouse!

And Oh, so much fun!

Easter Bunny Cupcakes

 

 Grace and Olivia like to

work in the kitchen.

They prefer to do things they

can do all by themselves.

So, I created an Easter Bunny

Cupcake kit and had it ready

for them when they got here.

 They can spread frosting on

a cupcake all by themselves.

And they can sprinkle it

with green coconut!

Then they can add "Peeps" Bunnies

and jelly bean eggs!

I printed cupcake wraps

and added those and we put them

on a cute little stand!

Now aren't those cute?

And the girls were able to do

most of it, all by themselves!

Grace is really getting good at

frosting cupcakes!

Playhouse!

Once we were done painting,

we had a picnic in the playhouse!

 Aren't these two girls cute peeking

out those windows?

We've had lots of fun with this

big box!

And soon, I'll tell you what

came in it!

Painting!

 I ordered a large item and it came in

a large box - and knowing how much

fun a large box can be, I saved

it for the girls.

 We cut out holes for windows and a

door and I let the girls paint it.

 They painted and painted.

 They had rollers and brushes and their

own little paint trays!

 They got paint on themselves, and in their hair

and on their clothes and shoes!

BUT - they did a wonderful job

and they made a cool little

playhouse.

AND - they had a great time

doing it!

The Frank Buck Zoo

When Grace and Olivia come to stay

at my house, I often head south and

meet Heather somewhere between

our house and theirs to

pick them up!

Since it was Frank Buck's Birthday

and Zoo admission was discounted,

we decided the Frank Buck Zoo would

be a good meeting place.

Brandy and Brilyn even went with

me so we all got to enjoy a day at the zoo!

 Olivia showed Brilyn how to

be brave and feed the goats.

 And we saw lots of the more

common zoo animals.

Grace got to pet a snake.

It was a ball python and she'd love

to have on for a pet!

But, we'll stick to visiting one

at the zoo for now!

 

And there were common Texas animals

like this coyote. A man walking just ahead of

us had a coyote call on his phone and

called it right up to the fence.

Now, I'm wondering what animal calls

I might be able to download before

our next zoo trip!

Technology might just make a

simple trip to the zoo

a little more interesting!

And here is Brandy and Brilyn

with the big Giraffe.

Olivia didn't care for him

and Grace was more interested in

the snake.

The Frank Buck Zoo is a

nice little zoo, but it really doesn't

compare to the larger zoos

like the OKC Zoo or the Dallas Zoo.

But it's cheap and the gift shop

prices are even reasonable.

Make A Wish Pageant



Brilyn was invited to be in a

Make A Wish Pageant

to help raise

money to grant a little

boy's wish!

So, she walked on stage and

smiled like a princess!

 Isn't she adorable?

She had a good time

and all of the contestants

won little star

trophies because they are

all very beautiful!

Brilyn's picture also appeared in

the paper.

And I am proud that Brilyn

is following in her Daddy's footsteps

and using her talents to help others.

Her Daddy once used his artistic talents

to paint a Make A Wish Truck

for a local boy

who chose to restore and paint

an old truck rather than

take a vacation.

Andrew did all of the custom

airbrushing and pin stripping

to make his wish come true!

He was just a young boy at the time.

He started painting an pin stripping

before he entered his teens.

I remember being excited when he

got his driver's license because that

meant he could run to the paint

store all by himself,

but although he had his own business,

I still had to pick up an occasional

product for him.

Because in some stores you have to

show an ID and you have to be

eighteen to buy paint!



Make A Wish Truck

Painted by Andrew

www.kickgraphics.com

 

 

A Picnic Turned Tea Party

Grace wanted to have a picnic

on her balcony. It's her

favorite balcony.

It's right outside her bedroom window

and it's so, so nice!

Except, it was windy and cold so we came in

and had a picnic in Olivia's room, instead.

 We stopped on the way home from church to

pick up lunch at Sonic!

Grace wanted a Daddy Cheeseburger

and a soda!

We ordered Olivia Chicken and

Chocolate Milk.

 Grace poured her soda in a tea pitcher she

found in Olivia's kitchen.

That's when our picnic turned into

a tea party. Picnics are for

outside and tea parties are for

inside or outside!

Sooooo.... a tea party it is! 

ANYTIME is a good time

for a tea party!

 

What's That?

While playing outside Grace saw

something strange looking

in her John Deere Truck!



It looked like glass!

Hmmmmm.... what is it?

 It's ICE!

It feels really cold and slick.

 And - it taste like ICE!

Oops! She dropped it!

And then she had a great time throwing

it and watching it break.

 

 

Queen of the Carousel

 Olivia spotted the carousel

and wanted to ride it!

 So Dustin got tickets and strapped

both girls onto the

animal they wanted to ride.

 And around and around they went.

Gracie smiling and waving the

entire time!

I think she's learned the pageant

girl wave! Just look at her.

She looks like she's the

Queen of the Carousel!