Sunday, March 31, 2013

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
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.
 
 

Friday, March 29, 2013

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!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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!

Monday, March 25, 2013

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!

Friday, March 22, 2013

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.

Monday, March 18, 2013

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
 
 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

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!
 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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.

 

 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

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!