It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!

Name that movie.

This is the tree in my front yard.  It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!  I had a tree like this at my old house, but more years than not, the wind would blow the flowers off the minute they bloomed.  I am LOVING spring here! 

We've eaten out on the patio twice this week, and we've been getting our planter boxes ready for seeds.  I'm told we can plant tomatoes by the end of next week!

We have a fun yard for an easter egg hunt, so I'm trying to come up with a really cool one this year.  If you have any idea's for prizes let me know.  I've walked up and down the easter aisles at the store and I do not want to waste my money on all those dumb "party favors" that are just going to clutter up the house and end up in the garbage.  I also don't want a huge amount of candy around.  So far all I've come up with is homemade bookmarks.  If you have any other idea's I'd love to hear them.

We're planning to celebrate Easter on Saturday (at least the "fluffy" stuff), so that Sunday will be more spiritual.  I've never done it that way before, but it's making me more excited for Easter than I've ever been.

 (I think my green grass and fluffy tree helps, too).  

Puffs

 Best. Game. Ever.

Justin loves playing with "puffs" in nursery so much, that we had to make our own set at home.  I used toenail scissors to cut a quarter sized hole in a cheap plastic container, and bought a pack of "puffs" at the dollar store.  To play, you put the puffs in the hole.  He's been playing this game for over 20 minutes now.  And giggling.

Tomorrow I think I'll add another hole to change things up.

It's the little things...

*make sure your child is past the stage where they put things in their mouth as these puffballs are a choking hazard.

Glow stick fun

 Today is Todd's birthday and, unfortunately, he had to work from 7AM-9PM.  The kids and I sneaked outside as soon as it got dark, and taped a glow-stick message on the garage door. It's the most fun we've had in a long time.  I wish I knew how to get a better picture of it.  Here it is without the flash:

 And here it is with the night setting on my camera:

 Ever since I discovered you could get a package of 12 glow bracelets at Walmart for $1, we've been a little glow crazy at our house.  These are the valentines Caleb gave out this year:

I took Caleb's picture in his Darth Vader costume in the morning before school.  I edited it in picnik, had them printed at Costco, and by the time he got home he added the glow sticks.

Irony

My first daffodil bloomed.

And it hailed.

Isn't that just typical.

Family Home Evening idea

If you need an easy activity for tonight, here it is:

My kids don't know the names/faces of the apostles.  With conference coming up, I decided now would be a good time to teach them.  We're using these free Conference Bingo printables that I saw on pinterest.

Since my kids are older, I'm going to put the names with the faces on the card that gets drawn out, so they can see the name and the face together. They will still have to search by the face on their bingo card.

Hopefully this will help them to learn the names of the apostles.  I think it will help them listen during conference if they feel some kind of connection to the speaker. Maybe in the coming weeks (after we've learned the names) we will start to learn facts about them.

Happy Monday!

Seven

Seven years ago I met my Dilly Rob.

My Dilly-Willy-Doodle-all-the-Day.

Oh, how I love my Dillon.

Here he is with his new Ninjago Earth Dragon and Ninjago shirt.

I took a few minutes today to browse through his pictures (at least the ones on this computer).  

What a cutie :o)  Sunshine comes out of his eyes, you know.

Happy Birthday, Dillon.

Pirates of the Caribbean Party

 Dillon chose a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme for his birthday this year.  It was perfect timing, because last week I walked into Walmart and found a Jack Sparrow costume, and two action figures on clearance.

I usually don't like making birthday cakes, but I have to admit that this one was kind of fun.

 I used one cake mix and made a 9" round, 6 cupcakes, and 1 mini-loaf.  I cut the round cake in half, stacked it (with frosting between) and stuck it in the freezer while I worked on the skeleton cupcakes.  The ribs are white chocolate covered pretzels, and I used a black sharpie to make the faces on the marshmallows (the kids have strict instructions not to eat the heads). The mini-loaf became a treasure chest with mini M&M's for the gold.

I knew these sword picks would come in handy someday :o).  Dillon wanted either pizza or Ramen noodles for dinner. I had Brayden and Caleb make these kabobs to go with our pizza.  We also ate apples and had "rum" (cream soda) for our drink.

I bought a skein of brown flecked yarn, dug my sewing machine out of the garage and used this tutorial to make Jack Sparrow hair to go with Dillon's costume.  I left the chocolate on his chin for this picture since it looked like a goatee :o).  The hat is super cheap and chintzy, so I will be making another one for sure.  His costume also came with the sword, a map, some pirate gold, and several rings.