Our Easter Weekend

I am finally getting around to doing our Easter recap!
This week has gotten away from me, so I am just now uploading our Easter pictures!
Our Easter weekend started off with Kate getting a fever on Friday afternoon.
Luckily, she was fine by Saturday morning & it didn't turn into anything more.
(Her fever did come back Saturday night, but then went away again!)
On Saturday morning, the girls & I headed to the Easter Eggstravaganza at our church.
It was so fun & there were so many fun crafts & activities.
Claire's favorite craft was putting together Resurrection Eggs.

Each child could bring a flower & add it to the flowery Easter Cross.

There was a petting zoo & but the girls didn't want to pet the animals or go near them, they just wanted to watch them from outside the fence. (They are definitely my girls)

There was also an Egg Hunt, egg dyeing, a bounce house & tons of other crafts, but I didn't take pictures! Saturday we celebrated Easter at my parents house (since it is our year to celebrate with Kevin's family) but, I didn't take ANY pictures! oops!

Late Saturday night when the girls were in bed, I put out some Bunny Tracks with flour.
Imagine my surprise when we woke up on Sunday morning & it was raining!
There was NO rain in the forecast!
Needless to say, my flour "bunny tracks" that were not covered by our porch turned into a flour-y sludge and it won't scrape off.
Kevin needs to powerwash our front walkway now. Oops!

The girls didn't discover the Bunny tracks until AFTER we got home from church.
Our Easter Bunny comes after we get home from church (while Kevin loads the girls into the car to go to church, I run back inside & put out their Easter Baskets. Sneaky, sneaky)

The girls were thrilled that the Easter Bunny left bunny prints.
But, Kate wanted to know why the Easter Bunny has flour paw prints.
She is smarter than I give her credit for... (and she helps me bake a lot, so I guess she recognized the flour...who knows!)

I loved their reaction when they saw their Baskets filled up:

Here is their loot:

Every year, in their basket, I give them things that I would normally buy them anyways:
(a book, stickers, chalk, a new swimsuit, a new sun dress & a pair of sandals)
And, of course....the best Easter candy ever: Reeces Peanut Butter Eggs!
This year they also got a new swim towel & a personalized placemat.
Kate checking out her new sundress:

Claire "reading" her new book:

Then it was time for a little indoor Egg hunt.

Kate has an interesting way of carrying her basket:
Claire counting her eggs:

Hooray! A picture of both of them smiling! It's an Easter Miracle!

Oh yeah, and notice how my girls are wearing short sleeved sun dresses.
It was NOT a warm day. I had no idea it was going to rain & didn't have sweaters for them.
I figured since Easter was so late this year that the weather would be warm. WRONG!

Right after our mini indoor egg hunt, we loaded up the car & headed out to Kevin's sister and brother in law's house. They host a huge Easter party every year, but we only go every other year (we rotate with my family)
They have a winery & live on 10 acres of grapes...this is part of their backyard:
Lots of grapes = wine! We got to sample my brother in law's 2011 releases:

Jeff, Mike & Kevin:

An attempt at a family photo (minus Claire...she wouldn't sit still. Shocker!)

There was also a big Egg Hunt there. Claire is ready to go...Kate was cold (it was really windy!)

Seriously, this girl cracks me up:
Ready to find the Golden Egg:

Kate may or may not have shed some tears when her cousin found the Golden Egg & she didn't:

But, I just gave her some jelly beans to make her feel better. It worked :)

They have this really awesome bench in their backyard & I always love getting pictures of girls on it whenever we go to their house.

This year the picture was a FAIL.
The girls were NOT having it....they would rather play with all their cousins than pose for a picture. Oh well, maybe next time!

It was a great weekend spending time with family celebrating Easter & all that Christ has done for us!

And, just a reminder....the Cupcake Carnival starts this Sunday, May 1st!

Let's talk Cupcakes.

I have always loved cupcakes.

I am not a fan of cake, but love cupcakes!
The past few weeks, I have had cupcakes on my brain.
Maybe it is the fact that because of Lent & I gave up dessert for 40 days.
But, now Lent is over & I can indulge in all the cupcakes I want!

But, here is the problem. I am in a cupcake rut.
I make the same ones every time, my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.
{recipe here}

For the past 3 years, I have made these for almost every family birthday, every party I have hosted, Rebecca's bridal shower & Bacherlorette party.
Trust me, these are amazing cupcakes, but it is time to branch out.

Here is where you guys come in!
In December, I hosted the Cookie Recipe Exchange.
It was so fun to have everyone link up their favorite cookie recipes!
There were some awesome recipes that I make all the time now!

So, I decided to host a Cupcake Carnival on May 1st
(in honor of my birthday month & Kevin's birthday month!)

(feel free to grab a button on my side bar)
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This Sunday, May 1st, I will put up a blog post with a new cupcake recipe that I am making this week....it involves Oreo's! Can't wait to make them!
I will also have a linky up so you can link up your favorite cupcake recipe!

It can be a cupcake recipe you have already blogged about, or you can post a new recipe.
I can't wait to see what kind of cupcakes you share!

Be sure to comes back next Sunday to link up (or to just check out everyone's recipes!)
I will keep the linky open the whole week!

I hope you will join me....It's time to make some cupcakes!

He is Risen!

He is Risen, indeed!

I am thankful for the cross because it has given us forgiveness.
I am thankful the tomb was empty because it gives us hope.
Thank you, Jesus!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Fear the Bunny

Claire still has Bunny Phobia as you can see:
Kate has gotten over it (unfortunately) haha!
Last year's picture is still my favorite!
But, I am pretty happy with how this one turned out!

I made the girls Bunny shirts again using Julie's tutorial:

Hope this gives you a good laugh to start your morning!
There is nothing more I like than crying kids with Santa & the Easter Bunny!

Tie Dyed Easter Eggs

I saw this idea last year on my college friend Angie's blog and knew I wanted to try it out!
You dye your Easter Eggs using silk ties!
Last week I headed to the Thrift Store to get some men's ties.
(Or, you can raid your Grandpa's, Dad's or Husband's closet if they have ugly ties that you never want to see them wear again)
The uglier the tie, the better!
I tried using one of Kevin's ties but he got all sentimental on me & said he wanted to keep it.
I got all these ties at a thrift store for about $1 - $1.50 each.

The ties have to be 100% silk for this to work, so make sure you check the labels.
Some of the labels were just on the back of the tie:

Other labels were hidden under a flap:

Here is what you need to do to make your Tie Dyed Easter Eggs.
First, turn the tie over & cut the stitching out.

You need to open up the back of the tie.

Then, you have to remove the inner fabric of the tie.
**WARNING** If you get your ties at a Thrift Store/Good Will Store, etc....hold your breath when you remove the inner fabric. Some of the ties STANK like musty old man smell. *shudder*

Once you come to after passing out from the old man tie stench, go ahead and cut off the bottom part of the tie.

Then, very carefully, wrap your egg in the tie with the right part (shiny) part of the tie touching the egg & tie it with some string. You want to tie it tight (but not so tight that you break the egg)

Your fabric will be inside out looking. Make sense?

Here are my eggs almost ready to go!

Next you need to cut up an old pillowcase & use pieces of that to wrap around the eggs.

(I got a King sized pillowcase at the Thrift Store for $1 and I had enough to wrap up 8 eggs and I had some leftover)
Place your eggs (gently) into a pot & fill with water & 1 cup of vinegar.

Cover your pot, bring to a boil and let your eggs boil for about 20 minutes.

While you wait for your eggs to boil, open up some windows in your house because the smell of hard boiled eggs + musty old man smell is NOT good!

After your eggs are done boiling, take the wrapped eggs out with tongs & place on a towel to cool.
I let mine cool for about 20-30 minutes (again...make sure your windows are open!)
After they are cool enough to touch, you can unwrap your eggs to see what your Tie Dyed Eggs Look like!
This is the first one I opened up & I was NOT impressed.
I was thinking I did something wrong, but I think it was just the pattern on the tie that didn't transfer well.

The 2nd one I opened is one of my favorites!

It was so fun opening each one & seeing how it turned out!

I realized that the bigger the pattern = not as good on the egg.

The smaller patterned ties looked much better on the eggs (in my humble opinion)

I originally bought this purple tie so Kate could have a purple egg, but it turned out pink!

This one was a little streaky (I must not have tied the fabric tightly enough around the egg)

Love this one!

So there you have it, Tie Dyed Eggs...a fun twist on dyeing Easter Eggs!
I will definitely be making these again next Easter!

A word of advice:
Don't eat these hard boiled Tie Dyed Easter Eggs. I don't think it is safe to ingest silk dye and you don't know where some of those musty ties have been!
(I don't eat hard boiled eggs anyways, they are in my Top 5 foods that makes me gag)

So instead of eating them, you can just display your Tie Dyed Eggs in a pretty bowl or apothecary jar this Easter!

Linking up with Tatertots and Jello!