Happy Easter!

 So different from last year! Sophie is starting to talk a lot, even if we don't understand everything. She and Austin had a great time this week, doing practice Easter egg hunts with glow in the dark eggs. We dyed eggs on Tuesday and made egg salad Saturday. Some very lucky chickens got the leftovers and shells. On the night before Easter, it is a tradition for Austin to set out the baskets. Sophie's basket was new this year and I didn't realize it when I bought it, but it's much larger than the basket that has been Austin's. I let him choose which basket he wanted and he gave the big one to his sister! As usual, the bunny moved Austin's basket to a more secret spot and left lots of goodies, surrounded by eggs. Sophie's basket was moved to her car seat, so she would know it was hers. Both kids had just a great week and a fabulous morning, I think :)

great idea from http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2012/03/illuminated-easter-egg-hunt/

 Sophie's first Easter egg!

Here's some video I shot of Sophie opening her basket and holding court over breakfast :)





 And here are Sophie and baby Austin with their first Easter eggs. They make the same face when they taste them :)

The Bunny Cometh

Or I guess I should say "the Bunny cameth," since Easter was two days ago. At any rate, it was great and I've got an egg salad sandwich to prove it!

These eggs are done with ziplock bags and a dye added with a dropper, no dipping. They also dry superfast, which is why Mom got this particular kit, thinking it would be perfect for a two year old. But Austin only wanted to watch Daddy and Mommy dye eggs under his direction. And then lick the dye off.

This was our Easter basket this year! We got jelly beans, a chocolate bunny, M&Ms, magnetic letters, a glitter globe with a truck full of carrots, and that tall tube thing is a kaleidoscope. The winner? That smiling carrot that launches a spinning disk in the air, of course. Sophie got a beautiful book, with an illustration of the Easter Bunny's chariot, which is evidently drawn by a team of chickens. I'll try to add the Easter Morning movie later on.

Here we are posing for a picture with our snazzy Easter clothes.

It is very hard to pose Sophie for pictures. She can't quite sit up yet, but she's not as boneless and tractable as a newborn either. So I tried to put her on the couch so I could get a shot of the two of them. Austin briefly looked away from the iPad.

While Sophie slowly wilts.

Fortunately, lots of people like to pose for pictures with Sophie.

And they like to set up Easter egg hunts for the boy too, who just happens to be a master egg finder.

And they're even nice enough to help us take some family photos.

Which came out pretty great, even though I forgot to put Sophie's ears back on. So here they are again...

Easter 2: The Revenge

Oh yes, there's more. Remember that Mom really really likes coloring eggs...

Lots and lots of eggs!

 And we even gave one to the babyman...

I'd say we had a pretty good day...

We like our Austins over easy

Easter Weekend

Easter is one of Mom's favorite holidays... mostly because she really likes coloring eggs and setting up fun environments for Mr. Austin. We got all dressed up on Saturday to go see Kaki, who brought us this fabulous bunny ball.

And check out this Easter basket, lovingly stuffed with toys by Mom and Dad... PLUS a handmade felt board with felt Easter basket and felt eggs! We're so fancy!

Most mombloggers would probably just post those beautiful pictures and call it a day. But Mommy is not most mombloggers. She thinks there is a lack of honest toddler experiences online, which leads to crazy expectations and disappointments (um, mostly her own). So, in the interest of full disclosure, here is the actual video of Austin's Easter morning...

A Festival of Colors...

...Mostly on our pants. We celebrated Holi this week. Holi is a Hindu festival, celebrated by flinging lots of brightly colored powders all over your friends. Mom has always loved the pictures of the celebrants and decided this was right up our alley. And because she is an equal opportunity partier, she shoe-horned some early Easter fun too...






Awesome idea, Mom.













First things first, we liberated the eggs.


















We're all about dumping.















The aftermath...

















This was so much fun that we did it again the next day. We obviously couldn't get any authentic Holi powders and the recipes I found for making them at home were pretty time intensive. We might do that next time, but as usual, this time Mom had to be resourceful. The first day, we used some materials we happened to have. Turmeric worked brilliantly for gold. The unsatisfyingly grayish blue was made mixing food coloring and flour. Green and red were powdered jello, which were too pale, although they did smell interesting. On day two, we hit a winner: grated sidewalk chalk.



Sometimes, Mom is brilliant. Special thanks to GM Kaki for the grater:


 

We borrowed an idea from another blog Mom's been following, called, Play Create Explore. Jessie has some really amazing ideas for toddler crafts! We took some regular old contact paper and taped it sticky side up to our tarp.










DUMP!


















As usual, the feet must be involved.



















A lot.













As you might notice in the video, he was having a hard time opening the smaller eggs. He started handing them to Mom to open, who would carefully hand them back for inspection.















Whereupon he dumped it in his face...

this is why Mom prefers non-toxic chalk

 

 

Update!
Yes, the contact paper footprints stick to glass! Here are instructions if anyone wants to try it: http://aiitx.blogspot.com/2012/03/contact-paper-prints.html