Eggs, hunts and crafts, oh my!

Easter was so much fun this year. I think 5 is a magical age... especially for boys. They still love their mamas and give kisses and hugs anytime one is requested, and they still believe in all the magic of the Easter bunny, Santa Claus and the tooth fairy (more on that later).

Of course we did some Easter crafts to kick-off the fun. Payton made a colored rice egg, and I made a "Countdown to Easter" calendar out of an egg carton. Each day, Payton got to poke through the tissue paper to reveal a new Easter treat. You can only imagine that he wanted to do this every morning around 7 a.m.


We had a great time at my friend Rachel's annual Easter Egg Hunt and Spring party. She made delicious food as usual and the kids had a ball hunting for eggs in her spacious yard. Here are some pics of the hunt in action...


On Saturday before Easter we went to the beach with our good friends, the Tosons. It was the perfect Florida day... breezy, warm, and sunny. Brian and Payton built a huge sandcastle mountain with a tunnel through it. And the kids had a ball playing on the beach together.

Sunday morning (bright & early) we did our family egg hunt at home. Payton had so much fun this year hunting for all the eggs. The Easter bunny even left him a note and some carrot remnants on a plate! After that, we enjoyed a wonderful morning of celebrating Christ's resurrection at church and then went to our friend's house for an egg hunt and delicious dinner (thanks April - I'm still thinking about those 4-cheese potatos au gratin... mmmmm!).

Even though we missed being with our immediate familes on both sides this year, we had a very nice Easter with all of our friends. Thanks everyone for making us feel so loved!

Crafts

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love to craft. Aside from shopping and organizing, it's probably my favorite thing to do. Several of my mom friends have asked me for craft ideas recently, so I thought I'd share some of our most recent ones from St. Patrick's Day and the one we did this week for Easter.

The St. Patty's sign was made my mixing plain white rice with food coloring in a bowl. Payton had so much fun mixing the rice and changing its color. I think we'll be doing this again for an Easter-egg shape this month.

The candles are just wrapped with scrapbook paper. I did some more for Easter with pastel colors and they look so cute.

The sock bunnies were an idea out of the Disney "Family Fun" magazine. Payton had so much fun making these and now he plays with them as a little bunny family. I highly recommend this magazine for fun ideas.

If you want any further ideas or craft web site/blog recommendations, just shoot me an email. Happy crafting!

Cousins visit

Payton was more than thrilled when his cousins recently came to Florida for a visit. They had so much fun together going to the Science Center, a bounce house place, the park and played at the house a lot. Here are some pictures of their fun times together...

This & That...

I've been slacking a bit on updating our blog and now I have a lot of random stuff to post. Bare with me if it doesn't flow that well... we've been busy!

First, we celebrated Valentines Day, which is always fun. Payton decorated homemade sugar cookies with a friend, we made lots of crafts and handmade Valentines for classmates (much cheaper and more fun than store bought). And of course Payton got lots of goodies from his grandparents (thank you!).

We also discovered a great little place up in Pasco County that has a miniature ride-on train. It was really cold (by Florida standards) the day we went, but it was still a lot of fun.

Last weekend, the weather finally warmed up and it was absolutely beautiful out. We went to a great Seafood Festival in Safety Harbor where they had tons of seafood vendors, live music, bounce house, a real LIVE mermaid, and a kite-flying area. We had a great time!
More to come in the next post about Payton's exciting bike news!!!

No more...

TRAINING WHEELS!!!

Our big 5-year old decided last weekend that he was "done with my training wheels." On the second attempt down the sidewalk, he was on his own! The starting and stopping aren't that pretty, but we were very impressed that he got the balance aspect of it right away. In this clip, you'll also notice Brian running along side him and his friend Dylan riding behind him...

Monsters, Parties & Turning 5

"I can't believe he's 5."
I've heard myself say these words so many times in the past couple weeks. But it truly does amaze me that my "baby" is now on the brink of kindergarten, first crushes, and shopping in the "boys" section of stores instead of infant/toddlers. Okay... let the tears begin...
But more so... I can't believe I have a 5-year old! How is that possible? Didn't I just graduate college?? Oh yeah... that was 12 years ago. Didn't I just get married?? Oh yeah... that was 9 years ago. Where is the time going?!?! Can I please press the "pause" button for just a few short moments?
I guess this is where I get sentimental and realize all of the amazing blessings in my life. I love what I do everyday, I love my husband, I love my son, and maybe just slowing down and realizing that once in a while will make these fleeting moments feel like they're passing just a little slower.
In celebration of Payton turning five, we had many fun and exciting events planned. But of course, in true Payton style, he got some horrible cold virus and was stuck home inside for 5 days prior to his birthday party. Fortunately, he rebounded just in time for his party at the park and then the "Monster Jam truck show" that evening with Brian. Here are a couple of slide shows from the party and then from Monster Jam. Enjoy... I know I will!

What do your parents do?

Last week, Payton's class was studying "community workers" and talked about the importance of various jobs. Then the teachers asked each child "What do your parents do?" and wrote down their exact words (see photo at left).

Here is what Payton said (see picture at right).

In case you can't read it, it says, "My Dad works for money. My Mom cleans our house."

Glad that degree from the University of Florida is really paying off!

Gotta love the honesty of children.