Nests Fit for Some Peeps!

Did everyone have a great Easter???

Ours was nice! The kids were bouncing on our bed by 6 am and found all their eggs about 10 minutes later! The Easter Bunny hides eggs around the house with change in them at our place. It's funny...if I would hand Louie $1.62 he'd probably think, "Okay. Weird amount." But if he finds that much in random eggs...he's ELATED!

Then we went to an early mass and sat by some great friends. I love watching the kids during service. The sun was coming in the stained glass windows and John and Kat were pointing at the beautiful colors on the wall. Our pastor was full of energy and the Joy of Risen Christ! Then we spent the rest of the day with our families...first mine and then my husband's.

Here is a cute and FUN treat my mother-in-law came up with. She got one last year from a friend and wondered if it would be easy to make some for the family this year. I, of course, said, "SURE!" So Sat. her and my brother-in-law's girlfriend (really. that's a mouth-full. can't wait till I can call her my sis-in-law! no pressure, though, guys!!!) came over armed with choco chips, butterscotch & chow mein noodles. And PEEPS! I bet you're dying to see what we concocted...right???

And Army of Peeps setting on their eggs! What came first, the Egg or the Peep? These cracked me up...but here's a fun and interesting twist...Rita Jean over at Country Maverickess posted these same treats on Sat.!  Great minds think alike!

So if you like my blog...head over to her's and I guarantee you'll like it, too!

Anywho...here's what we did. We melted a giant bag of chocolate chips and a regular sized bag of butterscotch chips. I added some oil so it wouldn't be too thick. Then in a fit of genius...I started throwing some peanut butter in. My MIL looked kind of worried, but chocolate + peanut butter = YUMMY in my book. When it wasn't lumpy any more we added the chow mein noodles. A whole bag. And mixed it up carefully trying to not break up the noodles. Your basic Haystack No Bake Cookie recipe would work wonderfully. I was just winging this.

Then I spooned little blobs of our gooey mixture onto waxed paper. Lindsey (my b-in-law's g-friend. seriously. no pressure!!!) followed me by pushing in three malted candy eggs and then my MIL followed her by dipping each Peeps bottom into the chocolate and setting it on top.

Proud Mama Peep.

It's as if she's saying, "What you lookin' at?"

Then...we ran out of Peeps. So some of the nests had to go Peep-less.

Which is okay by me...I'm not a Peep Fan. Please no hating.

Palm Braiding

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday.

It's a pretty big deal in our church, as we celebrate Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. According to the Gospels, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey and the people celebrated his entrance by laying down their cloaks and branches (palms) in front of him as they sang the Psalms.

At our church, the palms are blessed outside of the church before service. This year a procession started at the back of the parking lot and wound its way inside. After mass, the palms are given to everyone to take home. A lot of people can do some pretty fancy stuff with their palms...make crosses and what not. We braid ours. Pretty plain, but easy enough for my three year old to do! Then we display them...usually behind the cross that each person has in their room.

Here are the palms we brought home.

And here they are after we braided them!

It's a very simple thing to do, but it brings back so many great memories of doing this with my Mom. It makes me smile to be doing the same things with my kids!

I've dropped the...Egg?

So I realize that I've dropped the egg ... ball with keeping you up to date on our Easter Countdown Tree! Sorry about that!

No excuses.

I'm just LAZY!!!

But I'm going to remedy that and get you up to speed!

Day #4 was a slice of soap. #5 was a piece of red cloth. Then a nail and finally dice.

And, since I totally own up to being lazy...I'm went ahead and opened up the remaining eggs after the kids fell asleep and here are the remaining eggs!

Day #8 is three small stones, Day #9 is a piece of white cloth, Day #10 is a large stone and Day #11 are sweet spices. I put cloves and cinnamon in a snack zip lock baggie.

We'll read #11 on Saturday night. Easter Sunday morning we'll read #12 and...

The twelfth egg is left empty, just like they found Jesus' tomb!

EGG-Stravaganza

I'd like to dedicate this post to our little oval friend, The Egg.

I'm going to start with these little beauties we bought on vacation last weekend.

Aren't the colors amazing??? It's an old German process they use with furniture glue and dye. The glue preserves the eggs. As long as the shells don't crack, the inside dries up and you can use them year after year. Here is a little more about them.

On to another type of Egg. Friday night it was just the Kidlets and me. Everyone was a little restless because the weather here has turned cold...again. If you don't like the weather in Nebraska, just wait five minutes! Anyway, I declared, "Craft Time!" Before I really had a plan in mind. Here's what we came up with...I know I've seen this idea floating around...and we specialized to for Easter.

Our marker tub went in the middle of the table. Everyone got a coffee filter and full marker access...much to Kat's happiness! I just told the kids to decorate their filters.

Then I grabbed the water spritzer and told them to shoot!

You can just see the water action going on! We let them dry over night. Then I traced an egg pattern on them and cut them out. Here is our result:

I really like how the colors bled after being squirted! This is something we'll do again for different holidays. The kids LOVED the squirting process.

Finally...yesterday my hubby's family had our Annual Egg Coloring party! This is something we do every year...even before we had kids! SO much fun! My mother-in-law uses the Paas Colors. We roll old-school!

John checking out his first egg about a second after putting it in the dye.

Kat was pretty patient! She sat there munching on Grandma Linda's Chocolate Krispies while her eggs dyed!

Louie showing off...and smiling as only a seven-year-old boy can smile! I tell him, "Show me happy!" and this is what I get!!!

Finally...a family of Eggs! You can't beat writing your name in white crayon before dunking your egg and then seeing your name magically appear! Never gets old!!!

Egg #3 From the Egg Tree

I was all excited last night about receiving the Versatile Blogger Award...

...and I forgot to post a shot of Day #3 of our Easter Countdown!

Sorry, bout that! Here it is...



Mini-Vay Cay to Amana Colonies, Iowa

Before I tell you about our Weekend Getaway...I wanted to share Day 2 of our Easter Tree:

SO!

This weekend, my Handsome Hubs thought we could all use a fun weekend away and booked us a room at the Clarion Hotel in Williamsburg, Iowa!

We're BIG fans of the Amana Colonies and it's a quick three-ish hour drive East of our home. I've been going there with family since I was little, and it was the first vacation James and I took together. It's an old German settlement made up of small villages. Now it's a great place to do some shopping, wine tasting and meat & cheese sampling! The Clarion is just off I-80 and they have a small indoor water park called Wasserbahn. Our boys love playing in the water, but aren't big-time swimmers, so the smaller size of the water park is perfect for our family! Here are some shots of our trip:

Toy Shop in Main Amana

James, Kat & Louie enjoying the Awesome Weather!

Kat couldn't get enough of the Kiddie Slide with Daddy!

Louie working his way across the logs.

Giant Playground at the Hotel

Amana Woolen Mill

Old Warping Wheel

LOVED these Stars!

Amana General Store



Easter Tree

Easter Tree...or Easter Countdown...or whatever you want to call it!

I made one!

I first saw this fantastic idea here at Secrets of a Super Mommy (love her blog name, by the way!)

AND here at How Does She.

So I used a bit of each to make our own!

I really love the cute pink tree that Secrets of a Super Mommy has...I'll be checking out the Christmas displays this year with Easter on my Mind! But, until then, I grabbed a branch from our yard. I swear, our trees SHED twigs. Anyway, I stuck it in a vase with some rocks to support it.

It is kind of WILD looking. Maybe I need to do some pruning!

But the idea is to attach a number and a few verses from the Bible to each egg. In each egg is a surprise that goes along with the Bible verse. It a great way to build anticipation for the Resurrection of Jesus by telling bit by bit what happened leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and on to His tomb being found empty!

I didn't take a photo of what goes into each egg, because John & Kat were watching me put this together and I wanted the hole surprise element to be in it! So, if this is something you're interested in, please check out here or here...these ladies each have great photos & directions!

I printed out each verse and the numbers on regular computer paper. Then I embellished the edges of the numbers and glue sticked it to a heavier scrapbook paper and glue sticked that to the verse. Finally I ran some string through the holes that were already in the top of the eggs (SCORE!) and through the paper to attach everything together and to make the hanger.

Here my adorable hubby is reading Day 1 to the kids. Kat is ready to go! Poor girl with her crazy allergy/sinus problems...ignore the runny nose!

Christ is Risen!

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. John 3: 16-17

May you all have a Blessed & Happy Easter!

Easter Bunnies

***Edited to Add More Pictures!!!***

Yesterday we made these cute wash cloth bunnies...but I zonked out early and didn't get a chance to post last night! So here they are with some instruction on how to make them. I want thank my MIL, she taught me how to make them EONS ago when James & I were first married.

Here are the supplies I used. Cheap Wal-Mart wash cloths, ribbon, rubber bands, pink pompoms, googly eyes, cotton balls & plastic eggs. First, take a wash cloth and lay it flat. Pick two opposite corners and roll them tightly into the center.

Then fold your newly rolled wash cloth in half.

Fold the ends back about half way. I bring the tips back to the main fold. This creates the bunnies ears and face.

Side Shot

Shot of the Top

Then I grab around the folded up wash cloth...about in the middle. This is where you're going to put your rubber band.

Put your rubber band in place. This makes the bunnies head and it should look something like this.

Then you just need to glue your eyes, pink pompom & tail in place. Use a piece of colorful ribbon to tie around the bunnies neck to hide the rubber band.

Taa Daa!! Cute little bunnies that hold an Easter Egg. Louie gave these to his teachers this year and we filled the eggs with jelly beans.