easter eggs hunts!

normally we just do an easter egg hunt on our own. since we live in an apartment and have no yard, this generally means going to a local park and hiding eggs while the kids are playing and not paying attention. this year we were invited to hunt for easter eggs at 2 different friends' houses, and since they were on different days, we went to both. the kids had a BLAST and loved being able to play w/ other kids while doing their "egg hunt" (as trevor called it).

friday we got together w/ some other families from church and had an easter egg hunt for the toddlers and preschoolers:

 

on sunday, we went to visit another friend and had an easter egg hunt w/ their kids as well:

then, since it was SO HOT (forecast said it would be around 70. it was actually 85!), they broke out the slip'n slide and the hose:

 

overall, it was a great weekend, filled w/ fun and friends. i love getting to spend time outside w/ my family - i feel like it just brings us closer together while helping w/ the inevitable cabin fever we all get this time of year! :)

easter: resurrection rolls

so yesterday was easter, as you all know. we had a GREAT weekend here, filled w/ fun and friends! :)

on thursday, jon took the day off work for my birthday. we went to ihop for breakfast - free meals for jon and i, wahoo! so we only paid $14 for all 4 of us to have breakfast (the kids split a meal, plus we all got drinks). then we got things for scott's birthday party that's coming up, and took trevor to swimming.

that afternoon, we made resurrection rolls. these are seriously my new favorite thing! it's a great object lesson on the real meaning of easter for kids, plus the end result is INCREDIBLY delicious! here's directions:

preheat the oven to 350 F. read st. john 19 (we paraphrased, since there was NO WAY our kids would sit through listening to it all any other way).

reading st. john 19

unroll a can of cresent rolls - the rolls represent the cloth used to wrap jesus' body.

hold up a large marshmallow (you'll need 8 per can of crescent rolls). explain that it represents jesus - white, clean, and pure.

dip the marshmallow in melted butter. the melted butter represents the oils used to annoint the body in preparation for burial.

dipping marshmallows in melted butter

roll the marshmallow in cinnamon-sugar. the cinnamon-sugar represents the spices used to preserve the body prior to burial.

rolling in cinnamon-sugar

scott wanted a do all the marshmallows himself!

trevor got to do a few too

wrap the marshmallow in the crescent roll dough, making sure to pinch together all the edges so the marshmallow is completely covered. the dough represents the cloth used to shroud the body.

wrapping the marshmallows

place dough-wrapped marshmallows on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. place the cookie sheet in the oven. the oven represents the tomb where jesus was buried. bake for 12 minutes.

while the rolls are baking, read st. john 20:1-18. open the "tomb" and remove the rolls. when the rolls are cool enough to handle, break one open and see what happened:

HE IS RISEN! HAPPY EASTER!

snack buckets, party invitations, and projects to come

this has been a really hard pregnancy for me. until this go-round, i've always been one of those women who loved every second of pregnancy. i don't get morning sickness, and i feel great. feeling my baby move is the highlight of my days - WATCHING my belly move w/ the baby inside is even better. :) it all makes me so happy and just confirms to me that, as a woman, this is what i'm MADE to do. i am so blessed for this opportunity to grow and birth my babies. this pregnancy has tried my faith though. i still didn't get morning sickness, but i've had just about every other pregnancy discomfort a person can think of. i have gestational diabetes, which isn't a big deal, but makes me sad when i can't just eat whatever i'm craving. most women experience round ligament pain during pregnancy, and i'm no exception to that. however, the rlp i'm having this time around leaves me curled up in the fetal position for hours at a time some days. standing up is NOT an option when they strike. i've had migraines again this time too - not as bad as they were w/ scott, but bad enough. my doctor prescribed me tylenol w/ codeine, but of course, it makes me loopy enough that i can't take it unless i have someone here to help me w/ the kids, so 9 times out of 10, i just suffer through the pain and hope regular tylenol will be enough to get me through the day.

by far the worst though, is that i've been diagnosed w/ symphysis pubis dysfunction. basically, the joint at the front of my pelvis is loosening up too soon (it's supposed to loosen up to allow baby to come out during delivery, but i'm only 27 weeks, and i've been suffering w/ this for the last 6 weeks already), and it causes instability in the entire pelvis. my joints crack and pop painfully every time i move, and the muscles around those joints are incredibly sore. i spend most of my time sitting on my bed b/c it's the least uncomfortable place in my house. the only treatments are to take narcotics, which isn't an option b/c i have other kids to take care of, or seeing a chiropractor, which we don't really have the money for. i'm hoping that i can see a chiro once or twice toward the end, just to make labor and delivery a little easier, but i hold no delusions of seeing one sooner than that. the only cure is giving birth.

i feel worst for my kids b/c they're used to a mommy who can get up and run and play w/ them whenever they want. they're used to going to the park and the library and all kinds of fun places on a regular basis, and i just can't do it now. they watch a LOT of dvd's (we don't have tv service at all) and trevor's been playing a lot of video games on the wii. i hate that i can't do more w/ them. we do school every day, and i try to get them to turn off the tv for a couple hours every day and use their imaginations or play board games w/ me, but it doesn't always happen. on the days where i feel ok and can get up and move around some, i get tired really fast. last week, the weather was GORGEOUS - it felt more like may than march, so i wanted to take advantage. we went to the park 4 times in 5 days and had a picnic 3 of those times. it was fun, and the kids had a blast, but it took a severe toll on me - i spent all of sunday in bed feeling like i got hit by a truck.

so, all of this leads me to my first item from the title of this post: snack buckets.

we went to the dollar store and the kids each got to pick a plastic bin to keep in the fridge. trevor chose green; scott wanted pink. then we went home, labeled them w/ their names, and filled them w/ snacks for the day. it's great for me b/c i don't have to get up and make them food every 20 minutes all day long (seriously, these kids are HUNGRY! i'm sure part of it is boredom, but they also have both been going through a major growth spurt lately). even better though, is that it encourages independence for them. i put 4-6 snacks in each day, and that's all they get. if they choose to eat everything in there before lunch, that's their problem. they know i won't fill their buckets more than once a day, and i also won't get them things that aren't in their buckets for snacks. the ONLY exception to this is if i tell them to get something from their buckets for lunch. it teaches them to manage their snacks - budget them, if you will - so that they have enough for the day.

some day it works better than others. we're experimenting w/ a couple new snack things w/ which we've had varying degrees of success. we've learned that trevor HATES nutrigrain bars (he gagged when we tried to get him to eat 1 bite), while scott will tolerate them. same goes for granola bars. of course, they love the classics like animal crackers, goldfish, juice boxes, cookies, and fruit snacks. scott loves apples, but trevor is less inclined to eat them. same goes for cheese. i thought they'd love babybel cheeses, mostly b/c they're kid-sized. i was wrong. scott nibbled one and said he didn't like it. trevor wouldn't even try it. so jon and i ended up eating them all ourselves (we were happy about that though, we LOVE them).

scott's snack bucket

todays' snacks: cinnamon graham crackers, black grapes, fruit loops, cheese, and oreo cookies

item #2 today is scott's birthday party. in a month, he'll turn 3, so i've been working on planning his party. he kept changing his mind as to what he wanted to do, so i decided to go w/ a theme i saw on pinterest: drive in movies. i'm SUPER excited about this party. basically, we'll get a bunch of boxes and decorate them to look like cars. then, the kids will sit in them while we watch a movie that scott will choose. in the last week, he's changed him mind about 10 times, so i'm not committing to a specific title till the week of the party. we'll have hot dogs, chips, fruit, veggies, and drinks, along w/ the obligatory cake. i'm debating whether it's worth it to make the cake myself, or if i should just order one from the grocery store. normally i'd do it myself, but w/ all my issues with this pregnancy (see above), i'm leaning toward having someone else do it this year.

anyway, since we haven't decided on a movie to watch at our "drive in," i couldn't go w/ movie-themed invites, and i didn't see any generic ones at the store that i liked or was willing to pay for, so i decided to make them myself. i think they turned out super cute! check them out:

all the details of when, where, etc. are on the back. for obvious reasons, i'm not going to post a picture of that. i don't need random internet creepers stalking us and showing up uninvited.

item #3: projects to come

my next project is going to be making a couple of maxi dresses for myself. i saw a really easy tutorial on pinterest that i decided to try out. click here to see it. i like it for 2 reasons:

1) they're modest
2) i can wear them during AND after pregnancy

i'm super excited about these dresses. i'm doing a pink one and a caribbean blue one. if i could find the dye, i'd also do lime green. :)

i'm also planning for birthdays for myself and my husband. in a 2 week span, we have 3 birthdays in our family. my husband's is next week on friday, mine is the week after on thursday, and our son scott's is a week later. last year, we got totally CAKED OUT by the time we were done w/ all of them, so this year, we've been trying to think of alternatives. my husband wants to go out for frozen yogurt instead of having cake, which i'm totally ok w/. we've also hired a babysitter so he and i can go see the hunger games together. :) i'm planning to make a special dinner at home b/c he doesn't really want to go out. not 100% sure what we'll be having, but he mentioned steak. for my birthday, i don't really care what we do, but i decided i want this for my cake, mostly b/c i'll be able to eat it. sugar-free jello + cool whip = almost NO carbs for my dessert. happy evelyn. :) it'd also be nice to either go out for dinner or have no responsibility to make it or clean up afterward.

lastly, i recently got the things i need to make homemade fruit snacks for the kids. i can't wait to see how they turn out! i'll be sure to post updates on all these projects when i finish them. :)

rock candy results

i'm a couple days late on this, but on friday, we checked out what was going on w/ the rock candy we started the week before. it went better than expected - the whole stick was fused to the sides and bottom of the jar b/c there were SO MANY sugar crystals! even hacking away at it w/ a knife, i was only able to get a small portion of the stuff out for the kids to look at and taste. nonetheless, here are the pictures of our results:

the jar, after draining the remaining syrup. there's about an inch worth of sugar crystals on the bottom of the jar!

this was all i could get out w/out risking breaking the jar

scott, enjoying his "lollipop." both the boys loved eating the results of our experiment. trevor lost interest in the candy long before scott did though. go figure. :)

rock candy

i remember doing this for a science project when i was a kid, and thought it would be fun for my kids as well. trevor decided he wanted to make yellow rock candy, but since it hardens much lighter in color than the liquid, i made our syrup orange. worst case is we have orange candy instead of yellow, but i have a feeling we'll end up w/a golden yellow. here's our starting point:

 

to make your own rock candy, boil 1 c water. add sugar a little at a time till it won't dissolve any more (ours took about 2 1/2 cups). add food coloring if you want - make it darker than you want your candy; i'm expecting ours will harden as a very light orange or deep, golden yellow. let the syrup cool for about 20 minutes. put a clothespin on a skewer or other stick so that when rested across the top of your glass or jar, the end of the skewer is about 1 inch from the bottom. dip the skewer in the syrup, then roll in sugar (this is your "seed"). let it dry completely. pour syrup into your glass or jar till it's almost to the top, then place your skewer in the solution. make sure the skewer is completely vertical and doesn't touch the bottom or sides. leave the glass or jar undisturbed for a few days, and soon you'll see crystals starting to form!

hooded towel tutorial

ok, so i've never done a tutorial before, but i hope i do a good job and it's easy to follow. please let me know if there's anything i need to change/improve/clarify.

you know those flimsy, non-absorbent hooded towels you find in the baby section of stores like target and walmart? or the ones at babies r us? why pay $20 for something that won't really do anything when you can make a nice one for less than half the cost in any color combo you like? i say: DON'T! here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own hooded towel at home:

1) you will need a sewing machine, a serger if you've got one (though the serger isn't necessary, it IS nice), 1 bath towel, 1 hand towel, 1 to 1 1/2 inch wide ribbon (optional; if you get by the yard ribbon, get 18-24 inches), and a pair of scissors.

2) fold the hand towel in half and cut along the fold.

3) cut a length of ribbon about 2-3 inches longer than the WIDTH of the half-hand towel.

4) fold the ends of the ribbon under and pin them in place (these will be removed after the next step, so it doesn't need to look pretty).

5) flip over and pin the ribbon in place, making sure to pin through the ribbon ends on the bottom side. remove pins from bottom side.

6) sew both edges of the ribbon to the towel, making sure to keep the ribbon ends tucked under.

7) fold the towel in half so the ribbon is on the inside and the raw edge is doubled over itself.

8) serge (or use a zigzag stitch on a regular sewing machine) the raw edges together. i like to round the corner so it'll fit my kids' heads better, though this isn't necessary (if you're using a regular sewing machine for this step, trim the excess towel after you put in the seam, then use frayblock along the edges to keep it from fraying when you wash the towel). then, turn the hood right-side-out.

9) find the middle of a long edge on your bath towel and mark it w/ a pin or fabric pencil.

10) line up your serged/sewn seam on the hood w/ the marking on the bath towel and pin in place.

11) pin down the rest of the hood edge to the towel edge. when it's pinned correctly, you will NOT be able to lay it completely flat.

12) sew the pinned edges together. you will likely have to lift the sewing machine foot over the edges of the hood since it's quite a jump in fabric height.

13) clip your strings - you're done!

intro - welcome to my life!

well, i've been thinking i should jump on the blogging bandwangon for a while now, but i could never seem to find the time. i finally made myself just do it - i'm really excited! so i figured that since this is the first time i'm writing anything, i'd just give anyone reading a general overview of my life. i'll get into actual goings-on next time. i'm gonna try to write here at least once a week, possibly more. but i'm gonna make once a week the minimum. so here we go!

we're a military family and so far, it's been great! granted, jon doesn't get all the respect he'd like, since he's enlisted, but that should change at some point in the not-so-distant future. we're hoping he can become an officer soon, which will afford him alot more opportunity to make the impact he wants in the world. right now he's deployed, so it's just me and trevor, getting through it together! this is our family, right before jon left--

trevor is my whole world! i couldn't be a prouder mama - he's growing so fast, i'm trying so hard just to enjoy each stage as it comes! he's 9 months today and so stinkin' cute! check him out--

see? jon and i do good work, huh? :) that's his brand new carseat too, which i'm immensely proud of. we got it on sale, and it's AWESOME! it'll last him for a while, we're hoping, b/c it goes to 65 pounds - yay! it's a britax boulevard, the cadillac of carseats. . . trevor doesn't like that he has to be buckled in and out of it everytime we go somewhere, he's used to the infant seat that i can just throw in the huge travel system stroller, but he'll get over it soon, i'm sure. . . and it's more that he doesn't like being buckled in. . . he sure doesn't mind getting out!

it hasn't quite been 2 years since we moved here, but there are certain things i took for granted before - like getting to dance. i occasionally still get the chance, but it's usually when i go over to the base gym and dance in between the people working out w/ their personal trainers. it's better than nothing, but i really miss taking classes and being pushed to improve by someone other than myself. pretty soon though, i'll get the opportunity again, for however short a time - i'm heading up to maryland to take part in my old company's production of coppelia in april! yay!

another thing i miss desperately is sleeping in. that's more b/c jon is gone and trevor likes to wake up MUCH earlier than i do. . . but still, i miss it. that and sleeping the whole night. it's only PARTLY trevor's fault too. he sleeps through the night, for the most part, but since he never learned how to nurse, i've been pumping to give him breastmilk. formula just costs to dang much, and breastmilk is better for him and me anyways! and while i've been super blessed w/ a larger supply than i need, it's also become a burden. i haven't slept the whole night through since trevor was born b/c i have to get up to pump at 3 am every single night. i'm looking forward to the day i'll finally be done - it's coming up soon though, happy day! i'm storing everything i get, stockpiling it in my friend's deep freezer, so that i can stop pumping early, but still give trevor breastmilk until his birthday. i am SO excited about it - no one could know how happy i am about this unless they've exclusively pumped for this long as well. . . it really is a huge relief! so here's to counting down the days i have left! ;)

anyways, i can't think of anything else to write for the time being, so i think i'll end here. hopefully i'll think of more interesting things to say next time around and you all will keep on reading!