Friday Favorites

We spent last weekend freezing our little butts off in the wind and rain and doing a bunch of spring stuff with the kiddos. We hit up a few parks, soccer of course, and made our own watering cans out of milk jugs which have now become a bath toy. The boys have been living in rain boots. The red Spiderman ones were hand me downs from a cousin but the blue ones pictured above we got at Walmart and I've been really happy with them. 

I realized this week that Mothers Day is only two weeks away and our Mom is extremely hard to shop for so I've started looking around for ideas for her so I'm not empty handed on Mothers Day. Started a Spring/Mothers Day board on Pinterest with ideas for the littles to make for Mom or Grandmas. Check it out if you need ideas. Also, I have been noticing that Shutterfly, Persnickety Prints, and a few other photo sites have some great photo ideas for Mothers Day. If you can't think of a good gift. Photos or photo gifts are always nice to give.

My baby currently won't sleep unless he is being held so we are also living in my Moby Baby Wrap from Target and my Eddie Bauer baby carrier. I love them both for different reasons but they have saved me when little gets fussy and wants to be close but my arms and back need some support. I put my coat on over the wrap or carrier and it helps us both stay toasty. 

We went to the Zoo last weekend and baby slept most of the time and kept me warm to boot. So win win. The only picture I managed to get myself in was with this little otter thing that my kids like to call Mr. Otterton. (Zootopia) So, note to self. Next time a picture with something a bit more majestic maybe.

Also, in a last ditch effort to lost my baby weight before summer I started the Tone It Up challenge this weeks. 8 weeks of workouts until summer. I am so sore I can barely move but that means its working right. Its not to late to jump on in should you feel so inclined. :) 

Happy Weekending!-Jordyn

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Kid Tested and Approved Earth Day Activities

Small hands can change the world... if we teach them how. Its been a rainy wet and cold week so we have been trapped inside. Since we had time and energy on our hands we did a few things that you could use for Earth Day or just for fun. Remember Earth Day is all about re using and recycling so get creative and use what you have. Here is a glimpse at some things we did and a few extra ideas at the bottom. Happy scrolling.

Earth Day Cookies

Sugar cookies with the dough dyed green and blue. Put the blue dough on the cookie sheet and then add little pieces of green to the cookie. Bake as normal.

Green Grass Crowns

 Add bug and flower stickers. Cut the top to look like grass.

Egg Carton Catapillars

Cut an egg carton flip it over and let the kids color as they like. Then add google eyes and antennas.

 DIY Watering Can

Poke holes in the lid of a milk jug. The kids loved using this.... I'm thinking I might keep it for baths for a few days. It would be fun in the tub as a tub toy too.

Make Earth Day Play Dough

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
food coloring
1 cup flour
saucepan
Directions:
Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar and food coloring and heat until warm.
Remove from heat and add flour.
Stir and knead until smooth
Store in the fridge in an airtight bag.

 Make a Fairy or Troll Village

Pinterest has a million ideas for fairy villages but since I have boys we decided on a Troll village. We used small upside down flower pots to make little houses. Markers let you design them as you like, if you get small ones they are relatively inexpensive.

Other Earth Day Ideas

• Plant a flower. The dollar store has seeds and all kinds and sizes of plant containers, including hanging baskets. 
• Take the kids on an Earth Day walk with a garbage bag and pick up trash while talking to them about taking care of the Earth. 
• Use a pop bottle or container to plant seed and add a picture of the kids to the outside of it so when the plant grows it will look like their hair. (Try it with eggs as well. Click here to see our how to.)
• Go on an Earth Day scavenger hunt. Based on their age give them a list of things to find from leaves to sticks, to lady bugs and potato bugs. Visit the backyard, local park or trail, or head for the hills to see how many you can find. 
• Make Nature Prints using leaves and grass and your kids favorite play dough. You can also make your own dough. See our recipe above.
• Visit a local green house. 
• Use a paper plate to make an earth. 
• Visit the library for books on Earth Day.

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Friday Favorites

Friday again and Easter weekend. We are just getting ready for Easter. Two sets of family to see and some excited kiddos who now that we have been decorating eggs they want to decorate ALL the eggs ALL the time.

We planted seeds in some hollowed out eggs a week or so ago and have been watering them several times a day (as per instructions) nothing happened for days and I was getting worried but we finally got grass to grow out of them and be the hair to the little faces we drew on them. So that has been our fun project for the week. You can see our how to here. It would be fun to do with kids as a Spring project not just Easter. 

Also loving @hellowonderful_co account on Instagram. They have so many fun ideas to do with you kids that are different than everything else I see.

If you are a Target lover you probably already know that they are having a shoe sale. Buy one get one 50% off. My kids needed flip flops for summer and usually go through two pairs each so that has been our go to place the last few years for cute kids sandals that are priced well.

Do you do an Easter basket for your husband? I try to every year. Sometimes its just treats and his favorite drink, this year I found a Tee Shirt and am headed out today to find a few more things to go in it as well. He likes it I think. Husbands are just big kids at heart right? ;) We did a post on our husbands baskets a few years ago if you need ideas. I need to get busy if I want it to be as good as it was that year. 

Last but certainly not least, I have always loved to read but lately have been trying to collect my favorite books so I have them in my home for both myself and my children to read. Amazon has had some of my favorites but the new site I'm loving is BookDepository.com. Their books are well priced, the quality of the ones I have received has been good, and its free shipping. Have to love that. 

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Our Best Easter Egg Tips

Easter Eggs aren't just plain pastel eggs anymore. If you shop early you can find almost any kind of egg you want. Sports balls, superheroes, glitter, chicks, carrots, cars, all one color, you get the idea. So get out there a little bit early and eggs will be yours for the choosing.

Salad Spinner Eggs

We have yet to Dye eggs this year. But, we did buy some fake paper eggs that are quite sturdy and had some fun with those. You can get them at Walmart for $1.98/per dozen or Target for $3/dozen and most likely any craft store in your area. They are quite sturdy and will hold up to being handled by the littles better than actual eggs. We put a few in the salad spinner with paint and let them spin them. The eggs came out looking marbled and pretty colorful. 

Paint Themed Eggs

The same paper eggs from above we painted into ninja turtles and lions and put a baby footprint on one for babies first Easter. The kids looooooved them because it is what they are loving at the moment. 

Easter Egg Tree

It takes a bit of time to string up the eggs but the end result is pretty cool and the kids really liked decorating a spring tree full of blossoms for Easter. 

Make Egg "People"

By hollowing out an egg and planting a few grass seeds in it you can draw a face on the egg and then wait for the grass/hair to grow in leaving you with small egg people with a dozen different expressions. Click here to see our how to.

Shower Squeegee Eggs

Poster Board Eggs, finger paint, and a shower squeegee kept our little ones entertained and giggling on a rainy afternoon. Once the eggs dried they got to color them again with markers over the paint. Click here to see our how to.

Easter Egg Nest Bundt Cake

Chocolate bundt cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate cadbury eggs dumped in the center to make an egg nest. Whats not to love? The green around the eggs is sprinkles found on the cake aisle in any grocery store.

Easter Bunny Egg Dippers

Anything that makes your life easier with littles is a plus. These do that. .98 cents at Walmart. They are for egg dying to get the eggs in and out of the color cups. But our kids have been carrying them around for a week using them for a little bit of everything.

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How to Make Your Own Easter Egg "People"

Random fact about Megan and I, we worked at a Dinosaur Museum for years and had to blow out the insides of eggs frequently (hundreds of eggs each no joke) for kids to make their own dinosaur eggs. We never thought that skill would come in handy but boy were we wrong. Enter having our own kids and Easter.

So, to get a blown out egg you simply use a push pin to poke a hole in the top and bottom of an egg. Then you put your mouth on one end and blow all the egg out. Rinse, and your egg is ready. 

With this project you could probably get away with using regular eggs that you crack and use and then rinse out but we blew ours out and then took off the tops in order to make little containers to plant seeds in.

Anyhow. Get your eggshells however you like and make sure the openings are big enough to put dirt inside.

Put a few spoonfuls of dirt into each egg. 

Place a few grass seeds in each egg.

Cover the seeds with a spoonful or two more of dirt.

Place in a sunlit area and keep moist. We have been using a spray bottle to water ours.

We are waiting for ours to grow grass before we draw faces on the eggs with marker but in hindsight that might have been a better idea before we planted anything inside of them. 

Wait for your grass to grow and make "hair" on your little egg friends.  

We'll add more photos once we get something to grow. :) Fingers crossed as the kiddos are pretty excited about seeing something come out of those eggs.

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