...some easter magic...

at christmastime, we started this tradition. zac & emerson loved it so much that we've now adapted the same idea to work for easter. we were at tai pan about a month ago and zac found this little bunny somewhere & insisted that i ask the workers if it was a magic bunny. i had to give the worker a little wink of the eye so she wouldn't think i was some crazy woman who was out of my mind, but she must have been a grandma because she quickly caught on and let zac know that yes, this was one of the easter bunny's magic little helpers. sooo, for $7 we got ourselves some easter magic!!

meet jumpers. starting april 1st, each morning he starts bringing the kids a little surprise and is hiding in a different spot around the house. the kids love this! and i love it, because it's something that even emerson gets excited about. and, another perk about these magic little helpers is that they're always watching to make sure the kids behave...funny how that always seems to help!

...loving a visit from aunt brooke...

the kids love when their aunts and uncles come to visit. we were lucky enough to have brooke come stay the night the weekend before last...and the kids loved every second of it...and so did i...she's such a great helper!

we had to get some sort of treat making in...so we gave suckers a try...which turned out cute & yummy, BUT, it was not the most kid friendly treat to make...seeing as how you have candy cooking in a pot at 300 degrees...yeah, not so much 'kids helping mom' going on.

sooo, to solve that dilemma, we made some chocolates. i bought these molds at orson gygi's for $2 each. and let's just say that it's a good thing that i didn't spend a lot of money because being the smart person i am...i decided to put them in the dishwasher. so...lesson learned. plastic molds are NOT dishwasher safe.

miss emerson had a little too much fun taste testing...

and here's what we ended up with...yummmmmm!

...loving the hearts...

so the kids and i are staying busy getting ready for valentine's day and having so much fun in the process! i decided that valentines is so easy for me to enjoy because there is literally nothing else going on right now. i love christmas, but it almost seems like i'm so busy running around shopping and wrapping and planning that it just flies right by...so i'm loving the fact that we have nearly a month until valentine's day...and can just enjoy baking and doing some fun little crafts here and there.

emerson loves these little window stick-ons and drives her brother crazy because she messes up his designs by pulling them off over and over again. he's finally given up trying to convince her to leave them alone...

we made some cute little waxy window hearts...thanks to martha, of course! they're so easy...you just want to peel off the wrappers of some pink, red, and purple crayons. we used about 10 crayons total...and had PLENTY. so you really don't need to use many. then get a little pencil sharpener & sharpen away.

then we sprinkled the shavings on to some wax paper and covered it with another sheet of wax paper, just like so...

and then iron over it until the crayon shavings are melted. (and just make sure the iron is on the lowest setting.) after that, we made some different sized heart templates and traced them onto the wax paper & cut them out...punched a little hole in them, attached some clear fishing line...

and they were ready to hang! they were fun...and they especially look cute during the day when the sun is shining through...

*and i have to admit that i have a case of ocd...i know these pictures aren't the best quality and it drives me crazy. i know my aperture was set too low...and that's why not everything is in focus...but i seriously get frustrated that i am still taking BLURRY pictures. so to my dear photography friends...please feel free to lend some words of encouragement or insight...because it really drives me crazy. i feel like i sit and make adjustments to my settings and i'm just not getting the quality of pictures that i want. practice makes perfect...but i'm practicing and am still having problems...aaaahhhhh!!!*

...simply simple...

zac came home from preschool the other day wearing this...i thought it was pretty cute & super easy to make...so i thought i'd pass the idea along!!

and then we had some friends over last week & made some of these little trees out of sugar cones. another fun & simple activity for christmas...i love the idea of S I M P L E projects during this crazy holiday season!!

...bat craze...

i'm really liking bats this halloween...even though i haven't made any yet. i've had the paper sitting on my dresser for like two weeks now, so i think it's about time i get my act together and actually DO it. i'm hoping that here in the next day or two, zac & i can copy one or two of these cute ideas from martha!! you can click here or here for some fun downloadable bat templates.

...some festive touches...

some cute ideas i found to spice up the fourth of july...thanks to good old martha! i'm really hoping i can get around to making a few this week...