Acting Like Animals on a Rainy Morning

This morning was dreary, overcast, and rainy. I didn't have any plans for the kids and me, so after breakfast I asked Oliver what he wanted to do. First thing he said was, "I want to read the stand up books!" (It's these two books -- From Head to Toe by Eric Carle, and Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder. He calls them the "stand up books" because the first time I read them, I asked him to stand on the rug so he could move around and imitate the animals' movements.)















I was glad he chose to read those books, because it gave me a good idea of how to spend our morning!

First, he and Buttercup thumped their chests like a gorilla . . .



















. . . raised their shoulders like a buffalo . . .



















. . . clapped their hands like a seal . . .



















. . . arched their backs like a cat . . .















. . . and galloped like a horse!



















Around this point, Buttercup got bored and started reading by herself. :-)















Then it was time for the next thing. Last year for their birthdays, Grandma gave the kids several kinds of foam animal stickers, and I had a bunch of ribbon left over from the last time we made activity bags, so we put the two together and made . . . well, a ribbon-sticker thing. Maybe it could be a really long bookmark. Hey, I'm not exactly the craftiest person in the world! The kids had fun and that's all that matters. :-)





























































Next, Oliver and I put together the floor farm puzzle while Buttercup played with her ponies.

































































After snacktime (animal crackers, what else?), Oliver played with his new sea animals while Buttercup helped me clean up in the kitchen.















Then it was time for Play Doh!









































































For lunch, I tried to get creative and used cookie cutters to make their food into animal shapes.

Buttercup had rabbit- and giraffe- shaped grilled cheese sandwich, mouse-shaped avocado, and duck-shaped beet. Oliver had lion- and elephant-shaped peanut butter and honey sandwich, giraffe-shaped avocado, and duck-shaped beet.

They both cleaned their plates and had seconds and thirds of everything -- except the beets. :-)

































What a fun morning!!

Bluebonnet Pictures

Taking pictures of your offspring sitting amidst the bluebonnets seems to be the thing to do in Texas. When Oliver was a toddler, some friends and I drove 40 miles out of town to take our kids' pictures in the flowers. But this year, we were fortunate to get some very good pictures not too far from our house! And both Oliver and Buttercup were in really good moods (helped by M&Ms I guess, ha ha!) and they were just so good for our 10 minute photo session.

Here are a few of my favorites.






































































I even got a couple of good pictures of Grammy with the kids! Too bad that Grammy lost her glasses in the flowers, though. :-(

Dyeing Eggs and Easter Swords

We had a really nice Easter weekend! Grammy came to visit on Friday, and we had a really good time playing softball, catch, badminton, having races, running around with swords (more on the swords in a minute!), and doing fun Easter things.

The kids dyed eggs after their naps on Friday.































































Buttercup was very excited about the eggs and squished one to pieces (I should have taken a picture before I threw it away!). You can see the other two eggs she smashed in the picture below.














On Saturday, we gave the kids their Easter baskets! We didn't buy much candy at all -- we bought Oliver a small, hollow chocolate bunny and that was it! The rest of their baskets were filled with toys and books. And they each got a foam sword. I had no idea the swords would be such a huge hit! Every day since then, Oliver has asked to go outside as soon as breakfast is over, so he can play with his sword. The kids even brought their swords in the running stroller yesterday!

















































































The weather was just so beautiful all weekend, and our shady backyard was the perfect place to be. I hope you all had a great Easter, too! :-)

Resurrection Rolls

Today's Easter craft was Resurrection Rolls! I learned about it from this website. It's a really fun way to learn about the resurrection story. Oliver and Buttercup both really liked this activity -- they love cooking and eating!

To make these yourself, you'll need 1 package of crescent rolls, marshmallows, melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Each ingredient represents one part of the resurrection story.















First we dipped marshmallows into butter, sugar, and cinnamon, then rolled them up in the crescent roll dough. Oliver really liked dipping the marshmallows! (In case you're wondering what he's wearing, it's a Bumblebee costume.)





































Buttercup mainly liked sneaking pieces of dough into her mouth.















Caught her in the act!



















Ready to go into the oven!
































And they were done! Oliver peered into his and said, "The marshmallow is gone! Because Jesus went back into heaven!" Well, close. What a cutie! :-)

Easter Chick and Bunny

Today's Easter craft didn't exactly (or eggzactly, ha ha ha!) go as planned. I wanted to make a really cute bunny rabbit out of cotton balls, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners, but neither of the kiddos were super interested in it . . . not to mention that a certain little person took it upon herself to destroy all of the cotton balls. Then Oliver only wanted to hide eggs again -- which we did -- and then when we sat at the table, he only wanted to cut paper. So he cut paper, Buttercup tried to shovel crayons in her mouth, and I quickly came up with these two scary looking crafts.















Actually, the bunny doesn't look that bad. But the chick! Very alarming. I do have to give Oliver props for setting his (her?) eyes in place and dotting the pupils in with a marker. Pretty good looking job for a 3 year old, am I right? Too bad his mama can't cut out an even circle.



















The kids did end up having fun. Buttercup got to use scissors for the first time (eek!) and Oliver happily glued everything together for me.

Resurrection Eggs

Today's Easter activity? Resurrection eggs! I found out about this from the Christian Preschool website. It's such a cute idea and Oliver loved hiding and hunting for the eggs, as well as opening them and learning about what was inside.

To do this yourself, start with 12 empty plastic eggs and number each egg from 1 to 12. Then put a piece of paper representing one part of the resurrection story into each egg (I printed and cut out the drawings on this page). Then hide the eggs, let your children find them and open them, and explain what the pictures mean in order.















I hid the eggs in the living room and Oliver and Buttercup had a lot of fun looking for them! Oliver was a lot better at finding hidden eggs than last year. :-)

































Then the kids and I sat at the table to open the eggs and talk about the resurrection story again. Well, let me correct myself -- Oliver and I opened the eggs . . .















. . . while Buttercup ate her second breakfast and smeared peanut butter all over her face.

































Oliver had so much fun this morning that he asked if we could do it again this afternoon! I think we'll have to include Resurrection Eggs in our annual Easter celebration. :-)