Easter Excitement

I thought I should fill in the Easter gap here on the old blog so I can remember what happened in years to come...

The Tuesday before Easter was Kids Church at Dragon's kindy.  I try to make sure we go even if it's not his kindy day and because I think it is such an important thing for the kindy to be doing I will pass on our regular activities so that we can support them (and I will hopefully be more involved again with it once Monkey gets a little bigger).  Dragon's class was even presenting this time and he had been very excited about going into the church (attached to the kindy) to practice so I thought he would be very excited about actually being in their re-telling of "The Good Samaritan"... and he was excited, until he was actually up there.

Obviously my son is a bit of a "ladies man" at kindy... he sat down and all these girls came and sat with him!

He didn't join in very much and looked a little freaked out the entire time but he did join in when they did some action songs at the end.

The next day was the Easter bonnet parade at Lion's school.  They made their hats at school but siblings were allowed to join in and you could just make them a hat at home. 

They were so cute.  Lion was taking such good care of Dragon, I was so proud of him for making sure his little brother was okay and  knew what was going to happen and that it was okay if he didn't know the songs they were going to sing, he could still stand there with him.

Making sure Dragon was walking in the right direction... even if there was no chance to head off course.

I was soooo amazed and proud that they BOTH got involved in the actions and the songs.  Usually EVERY SINGLE OTHER CHILD is doing the actions and singing and having a great time and Lion and Dragon will stand there pretending that the world is spinning without them.  They joined in and had a blast.  This shot is "Little Peter Rabbit".

Yes, I made Dragon's hat.  He refused to glue, tape, draw, cut, ANYTHING.  But he HAD to have an Easter bonnet and when Lion suggested a crown like his "because that is what all my friends are wearing" Dragon was adamant he wanted something different "because I'm not your friend, I'm your Dragon".

One thing I try to do with the boys is make Easter baskets on Good Friday.  This year we made bunny heads.  The boys were critical of my design and said that the ears at the back of the basket should be a tail... I just suggested that possibly the top of the bunny's head was missing and we could pretend when they get their eggs that those are his brains.  My design was vindicated and the world returned to it's peaceful happenings.

They glued their whiskers, stuck on their noses, I stapled on the ears then they got to lather the thing in glue and stick on cotton balls.

SOOOO cute these boys!

Their stash from the EB.  BUNNY BRAINS!  Does Dragon look like he should still be sleeping???  That's because HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN!

So that was our Easter.  Things I don't have documented...

• We usually have brunch on our patio after the mega early Good Friday service so this year I figured why not invite the family around since we usually have trouble all getting together over Easter weekend.  Everyone turned up and we had eggs Benedict, fruit salad, apple and cinnamon muffins, coffee, juice... it was so yummy and filling I didn't even realise I had forgotten to put out the hot cross buns!!!
• The meltdowns over not being allowed to sit and eat every piece of chocolate they were given all in one sitting... some things are best not documented in photo form.
• The  Lindt Gold Bunny I always get from my husband... can't document it if I didn't get it!!!!!  (he's lucky I love him, I was almost tempted to buy up every last piece of Lindt Easter chocolate that Target had half price the other day, but I thought that might give him a heart attack when I brought it home)
• Lion being incredibly sweet (again) and letting Monkey use the little paper Easter basket he made at school because Monkey didn't need a big basket.

How do YOU do it?

Ya know, I used to carefully peel the foil off the eggs so it all came off in one piece, scrunch it into a ball and each subsequent piece of foil would be wrapped around that making a bigger and bigger foil ball. You know you've had too many when you can't get one piece of foil to go round the ball. (but then you just switch to bigger eggs with bigger bits of foil)

I'm finding that as the Easter chocolates wear on I'm getting less fussy, or perhaps more sugar fueled. I just tear the foil to shreds getting it off and scrunch all the pieces into one little wad to throw in the bin.

I've never thought about having an egg style (perhaps an egg-centricity, hahahaha, okay, it really wasn't funny, that one was all sugar fueled) but it's apparent that I do... or did. So what's your style?

Mind if I complain a little?

My boys are growing up. Wolf only realised on Sunday night that Lion is full time at school for prep next year. Dragon REALLY wants to go to kindy and I told him he will go next year (because mummy can't let go of him sooner than that) and Wolf asked if I was thinking just one day a week and would it be a day that Lion went and I had to inform him that Lion would in fact be at school EVERY DAY next year. *sniff, sob, hang on while I compose myself again* "Oh", says Wolf. Yep, that's how I feel too. "Oh".

Now, to designers of maternity clothes... If I MUST wear a tent to cover my ever expanding girth please can you make it more like one of those cute little tents that the trendy campers use and not something resembling a Drover's swag? PLEASE?

To Ernest Hillier - making chocolate does not a chocolatier make. That name is reserved for companies (is calling them artists taking it too far?) that make stuff that tastes GOOD, tasting like chocolate would be a start. Your bunnies taste yucky and I will no longer be snatching little pieces of my sons bunny each time I open the fridge door. Thankfully we have a fridge full of real chocolate so I will not be forced to stop my consumption all together.

It's not all complaining today... I did mention to Lion this morning that I was going to stop him from growing up and put him back in nappies and in a cot so he would stay little and he looked a little shocked till her found his "out"...

"But Mum, I still give you kisses!"

and he planted a big one on my cheek. I think I'll let him grow up after all.

Of Lipstick and Chocolate

This afternoon I had the thought "No, it's mean to get the video camera out to record your two year old crying his heart out because he cant find your lipstick (chapstick) sobbing "lipdik do-do-done" (lipstick gone)"




I regret that thought.




Pregnant hormones make you forget weird things...

Like forgetting how on earth the dried mixed herbs ended up in the fridge when you are sure you remember getting it out of the cupboard and putting it in the bag you needed to take to your cooking demonstration 2 days earlier. Although not being able to find it when you got to the cooking demo should have given you a hint that something was wrong.

Like forgetting that last night you got the last of a packet of chocolate out of the fridge with the last of the peanut butter balls to help you watch Scrubs and then ate the peanut butter balls and left the chocolate sitting there. Finding your four year old sitting on the couch COVERED in chocolate and holding the empty packet when you woke up this morning should have given you a hint that something was wrong there too.

Yep, happens to everybody.


Thanks to Jonny's Mummy for making me think about peanut butter balls constantly since her post until I figured out how to make them on the weekend.

Sharing the love.

When I have a life altering tip I like to share it. I shared this tip with the girls at playgroup on Tuesday and I know it changed their lives so I wanted to share it with the world... or the few of you who read this little old blog of ours.

Nestle Club chocolate is top stuff. "Why?" you may ask (I mean beyond the obvious that it's beautiful dark chocolate) well here's the low down...

When you get it don't open the packet. I mean it, don't do it. Break it all up while the packet is still closed then carefully open the top of the packet without ripping it. Now if you need to you can reseal the packet ('What? Chocolate on my breath, the packet is still closed'). Genius I know! But here's the best part...

Now when you sit down with the packet in front of NCIS you can eat every last piece, one yummy bite at a time, without getting the crumbly bits everywhere (because they are safe in the bottom of the packet waiting for you to get to them last).

It works with any of the foil type packets with a glue seal (not heat sealed).

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all mummies!

I was confined to bed this morning until breakfast was ready. It didnt matter that i was starting to get in a bit of a panic that we would be VERY late for church and Lion had a speaking part in the childrens talk which is close to the start of the service. It all worked out, we made it before church started Lion did his part (oh so beautifully, so very proud of him) he forgot he was supposed to sing too and stood there just doing the actions for the song even though he sang very loud for the practice at playgroup on wednesday. Doesnt matter, he did a great job. Dragon was just excited to be standing up the front and didnt do any of the actions even though he can when we sing it at home.

Breakfast was porridge, made with lots of love by my boys. I got a CD and a BIG box of chocolates. Wolf thought he was being funny giving me the chocolates. A week or so ago, a happy customer gave him a BIG box of Lindt chocolates (mmm, yummo!) and he bought them home to share with me (he knows I LOVE lindt chocolates). I told him had it been me I would have snuck them home and used them for mothers day that was coming up. I never saw them after that until this morning. I also got a beautiful card with both the boys hand prints and a foot print of Lion's on it. It is a very special card. Wolf asked Lion if he wanted to put a special message inside and he said he wanted to make up a special prayer to say "thank you for mummy so I can do gardening".

At church they were handing out little chocolates at the door for mothers as well as the flowers this year. Lion got to the door of the church, and stood looking at the lady with the big bowl of chocolates and didnt move. The people at the door always give him what they have (usually just the notices) and she wasnt. She explained theat they were just for mummy and he eventually went inside. Mummy picked hers out and realised that Dragon was still standing there watching waiting for one. I had to use mine to lure him inside, he would have stood there all morning otherwise. After church Lion went to sunday school and made a beautiful card and a picture for me, he is getting so much better at actually making the desired craft.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

We love you...
Nanno, Great-Grandma W, Grandma S, Great-Grandma M, Great-Nanna M.