Birthday with friends

Look: We had a little playground birthday party in the park! I can't believe its been two years since Chelsea came into our lives. All the kids had a nice time running all over the playgrounds. Chelsea especially liked following Kyle around (he's Sydney's big brother). Gavin, as usual, loved the swings. When it was time to sing all the parents and kids came under the pavilion. Chelsea belted out (almost) every word of Happy Birthday. We ate some mini wacky cake cupcakes. It was definitely the perfect little party for my 2 year old!
Learn: I knew this before but the simpler the better when it comes to kids. I was hoping to host at my home, but C had teeth coming in and was a mess. Moving it to the playground made it easier!
Love: I may have already said this but I love this playgroup. It is a really nice group of kids and Moms. I feel blessed to have met them all.

Playing with Shane

Look: We went to a new playground with friends today. There were two playground sets, swings, see-saws and a neat little table. Shane and Chelsea spent most of the time running back and forth on the slide. It was a bit nerve wracking because it was high and the sides weren't well covered. But they had a blast. They stopped for a little snack in the booth and looked so cute I had to take a picture!

Learn: Finding new playgrounds is fun. It breaks up the boredom of always going to the same playground. Also, it seemed to challenge Chelsea to try new things. And of course as I said above, it can give me the stress of wondering what she can and can't do on her own.

Love: I love going to playgrounds. This day was even more fun because we went with Heather and Shane!

Decorating Eggs

Look: Today we used some stickers to decorate the plastic eggs we bought for Easter. C was really into it at first. She loves stickers and she loves eggs, so how could we go wrong. After about 5 minutes, she was more interesting in tossing eggs, stealing them from G and playing with Daddy. G loved pulling them in and out of the container. He also thought they made great teething toys.

Learn: I got this idea from a FAAN newsletter. Someone else I know suggested using wooden eggs and letting the kids paint those or do really special crafts with them. We will remember this for next year!

Love: After the kids went to bed I sat down to fill them with mini marshmellows and fruity cheerios.. I love that my wonderful husband jumped right in and helped. I'm hoping it will be a very Happy Easter.

Indoor Egg Hunt

Look: We were stuck inside for the most of the week with runny noses and colds. So we used our plastic eggs to hide snacks. At first C wasn't too into this game, she wanted her food and didn't feel like looking for the eggs to get it! But the second time we played and every time after, she really enjoyed them. G was able to find a few along the way too!

Learn: I didn't learn much, just that I would like to make this a tradition in the spring and time before Easter. Whoever invented the plastic egg is a hero in my eyes!

Love: The best part of hiding and finding snacks was the sheer excitement in my kids eyes. When G would catch a glimpse of one from across the room you could see it on his face. He'd crawl as fast as he can in hopes that his sister didn't see it first. When he'd lay his fat little hands on the plastic egg it was complete joy that shone on his face. His mouth would open in shock and he eyes grew wide. He'd give the little egg a shake, shake and yell "ahhh". C. was just as excited, especially when I changed up the goods in the eggs. Her favorite was finding stickers in them!

Flower

Look: Saw a great idea on a blog. I told Chelsea that we'd be making a flower. We make a big puddle of glue in the middle of the page and arrange qtips all around to make a flower. I started placing each q tip and to my surprise my little darling caught on rather quickly. When we finished placing twenty or so q tips I drew the stem and grass. It was at this point that she recognized our craft and said "flower".

Learn: Never thought to use a q tip for a craft. With all these great ideas I've been getting from blogs, I won't need to go to the craft store for a while!

Love: We hung this craft up and we love looking at it every morning. We'll be bringing this flower as a gift to Grandma's house for Easter.