Little Mister Bowties

My brother was married in March.  All of the nephews and my brother wore bow ties for the wedding.  They looked adorable.  Since then, my boys only want to wear bow ties to church.  For Easter, I wanted to make them coordinating ties in spring colors.

I found this great tutorial on Delia Creates.  I followed her directions, except for one major step.  I didn't measure their necks with their collared shirt on, instead I just estimated.  This resulted in much too small bow ties.  As in, this wouldn't even fit Mr. Three's baby neck, too small.

This ended up being a good mistake because I had to modify the pattern to make them fit and I think it actually made them better.  Instead of attaching the swimsuit hook to the ends of the fabric, I added approximately 3 inches of elastic to one end of the tie.  I sandwiched the elastic between the layers of fabric and zig zag stitched it several times to secure the elastic and minimize fabric fraying.  I folded the exposed end of the elastic into a loop and zig zag stitched it in place.  I attached the swimsuit hook to the other end of the bowtie fabric and zig zag stitched it in place.  This made the tie easily removable (without having to re-tie the bow each time), and gave it the extra length and stretch to fit all three of my boys' necks.

 

I love these dapper boys!

 

Check in later in the week (hopefully) for a quick tutorial for turning the tie scraps into a cute flower pin for the girls (or in my case, for me, since I don't have any daughters :)).

Easter 2011

We had a lovely Easter weekend.  The weather could not have been more perfect:  sunny with a light cool breeze.  We had my sister-in-law in town to celebrate with us, to play with the boys and read them stories, and to stay up and visit with Mike and I until the wee morning hours.  The kids got to participate in three Easter egg hunts.

We spent time with family, had a picnic and enjoyed some delicious food.

We dyed eggs.

Our Sunday service was a perfect reminder of the importance of the Savior and his atonement and resurrection in each of our lives.  Mike had shortened church meetings so he could be with us the majority of Easter day.

I finished all the Easter basket projects early.  Bunny pattern here.

My boys looked adorable in their new bowties.  (More on these later.) There were Cadbury eggs and Sees chocolates aplenty.  My kids were well behaved... for the most part.

Like I said, it was lovely.   We are truly blessed.

Easter FHE

Have you seen the Resurrection Eggs that are all over the web right now?  Here's just one example.  Do you have your own?  I have two sets that were given to my by friends in years past, and they make a perfect Family Home Evening lesson for Easter.  We take turns opening one egg at a time, examining the object inside, reading the scripture and discussing the events of Christ's death and resurrection. 

I am amazed at how much my children already know about these events.  Mr. One knew almost all of the details as we opened each egg.  Even Mr. Two remembered the basic story.  After going through the eggs and singing a few Easter songs, we had our treat.  We made these sweet rolls, but used them as an object lesson for the empty tomb.  The marshmallow melts and leaves an empty center to the roll, to remind us that Jesus's tomb was empty after three days, that He lives.  They loved this!

We're heading to the Easter Pageant later this week with our family.  I can't wait!

Easter Basket Sorting

I found these cute rainbow colored mini baskets at the 99 Cent Store and the bunny confetti at Hobby Lobby.  They made the perfect materials for a little color sorting and fine motor grasping activity this morning.

Easter Ideas Collection

I have Easter on the brain big time lately.

I have even found myself feeding Mr. Three baby bird style, just because it's cute.  (Well, minus the regurgitation, just the open-wide-and-plop-food-in-your-cute-baby-mouth-while-you're-standing feeding.)

In the last few days, I have found a collection of great Eastery ideas for my kiddos.  I am excited to use some of them.

Here are two wonderful printable Easter units.  Musings of Me has another great Easter unit.  Oopsey Daisey has a Mommy School Easter unit.  I especially love the Magic Egg story.  I am pulling out my felt stash right after I post this to put it together.

I just want to borrow a dozen chicks and snuggle them, like they did here.
But I know what they turn into when they grow up.  And what they smell like.  And what they do to floors.  I think we'll stick to our chenille chicks for now.

I want this book!  I think I may have to get a copy and paint some shoes.  I'm a sucker for a good book.

My Montessori Journey has two more wonderful egg activities that I am going to try and put together this weekend.  Go here and here.

I think this snack idea is genius.  I'm not sure how much of the veggies my boys will eat, but one can hope...

Here are some of my past Easter related posts, here and here, just for fun.

What Easter-themed fun are you participating in with your families?

Happy Easter

Our Easter gift came a few days early (on April 1st, and that's no joke).  We are glad to all be home together, healthy and happy.  Little Mr. Three was born April 1st, at 10:42 pm, with chubby cheeks, dark hair, weighing 8 pounds 9 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long.  Big brothers are doing well and loving their new little brother.

Producing Bunnies, Not a Baby Yet...

Dear Mr. Three seems to be taking his time and is still not here yet.  Fortunately, that means that I was able to be with my kiddos and husband Saturday for our church Easter breakfast (yes, we're a bit early) and to spend some quality time outdoors in the beautiful spring weather.  We played in the park and flew a kite.  We took an evening walk and fed the ducks.  I loved every minute of it.

After bedtime, I had some time to finish another little last minute project for the Easter baskets (shh... don't tell my boys...)

I saw this tutorial for these adorable felt bunny finger puppets at The Purl Bee and knew I had to make some.  They really were simple and quick.  If you have a bunch of felt and embroidery floss laying around, try this project out.  ( The only thing I changed was that I used pre-made pom poms for the tails, which I already had on hand and were simpler for me.)  You'll fall in love, too!

I can't wait to see my boys' faces when they see these bunnies peeking out of their baskets...

Participating in:

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones...

Spring is in the air, and the Easter decorations are in full bloom around us.  We especially love all the colorful eggs.  My boys know that chickens and ducks hatch from eggs, but what else does?

Here's a fun way to teach children about oviparous animals (or animals that hatch from eggs).

First, start with a good book (or four...).

The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown

This book is a sweet little story about a lonely bunny who finds an egg and wonders what is inside.  There is a great page where the bunny imagines other animals inside, such as an elephant, or a little boy.  Find out what does hatch from the egg and discover a new friendship in the process.

The Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni

Jessica the frog loves exploring.  One day she finds a wonderful round pebble.  Her friends inform her it is an egg, and so there must be a chicken inside.  What hatches is a very strange "chicken" indeed.  Besides the simple humor of the story, I love using it as a teaching tool for helping kids think about what different animals hatch from eggs, besides chickens.

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller

I love to follow up the first two stories with this non-fiction classic.  This is a beautifully illustrated book that explains all the different animals that hatch from eggs, from alligators to dinosaurs to insects.  It also shows the various types of eggs, from the typical chicken egg to the exotic mermaid's purse in the ocean.  My boys love pointing out all of the animals they know in the pages, and looking for their eggs.

Animals Born Alive and Well by Ruth Heller

I finish up with this companion book that talks about mammals.  More beautiful illustrations and simple explanations for children to understand what a mammal is.  It is fun to ask children to then classify themselves.  Are they mammals or not?

After our books, here's the simple classification activity that we did together.

I simply dumped out our container of plastic animals on the floor and gave the boys a basket of empty Easter eggs of various sizes and colors.  I then told them to fill the eggs with animals that hatch from eggs.  It was fun to see how many animals they remembered from the stories.  If they were unsure, we examined the animal to see if it had fur or hair.  Chances are, if it did, then it was a mammal. They even deducted that lobsters and crabs must hatch from eggs (they weren't in the book) because they didn't have fur or hair!

They loved filling the eggs with different creatures and were excited to show Daddy their unusual eggs when he got home from work.

*Book images from barnesandnoble.com*

Easter

This post is a little late, but I figured, better late than never.

Better late than never. That seems to be an unofficial motto of sorts at our house. hmm......

We had a lovely Easter. The boys loved their baskets. (They mostly loved the candy.) We had an awesome dinner at my parents' house. We ate ham and potato salad and asparagus and rolls with some of the homemade jam Mom and I made earlier. Dessert was cheesecake. Wonderful, homemade cheesecake with fresh strawberries. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to spend the day with all of our family. (We love you California and Ohio family!)


The boys had fun hunting for eggs outside. They only had coins inside, not candy, and Ben wasn't very happy about that. Andrew is excited to buy "cool stuff" with his... approximately 50 cents!




















Most of all, I loved being with my family, sharing in good traditions and remembering the gift of the Savior's life and atonement and resurrection. Through Him, we can be with our families forever, and that is the best Easter present of all.

Easter Eve

Easter Eve was quite a dramatic day in the usually sunny Mesa. Instead of a slight breeze and sunny skies, we had rain and cold. 50 degree cold and freezing rain. This is not the April I remember. We huddled around the covered ramadas at the Countryside Park, clinging together while eating our pancake breakfast with the ward. No need for the picnic blankets and sunglasses today. I could see my breath, it was that cold.

Because traditions must carry on, even if the weather refuses to cooperate, we sent the little ones out into the rain to gather their candy-filled eggs. It was the fastest Easter egg hunt ever.

Andrew studied out which ones were the most worthy of going into his basket. Ben enjoyed picking the eggs up and throwing them in his basket. Until he discovered the candy inside. Then, he just wanted to get them open.

The other kids around my boys were swooping around, stuffing as many eggs as they could into their containers. A race. Who could gather the most? That is what I would be doing. I looked into Andrew's basket with dismay and said to Mike,"Why didn't you encourage him to grab more?" My wise husband just looked at me and said, "He was happy doing what he was doing."

My boys were happy with the ones they had. They didn't care that they went home with only 6 eggs, instead of dozens. They were enjoying the experience and choosing only what they wanted. They were happy with what they had and they didn't care if anyone else had more than they did. Maybe this is a lesson I need to learn from them. Why is it that my boys are always teaching me? I guess I'm not the only teacher in my family.

The Quiet Book

This is the big project I have been working on for several months now. I have been so close to finishing, and so I set a deadline: Easter. I gave it to Ben for Easter because I couldn't bear to keep it from him a minute longer. I started surfing the 'net, looking in Etsy shops and online for ideas/inspiration/tutorials to make a toddler quiet book of my own. Although there were some cute ideas out there, there wasn't one that I really loved. Then I thought, hey, I can just make my own. Being the nerdy teacher I am, I wanted it to have some educational value. Being poor, I needed to make it with cheap or on-hand materials. Being a girl, I needed it to be a little cute, even if it was for a boy. I have to say, this is the project I am most proud of to date. I hope you enjoy it. Ben seems to love it, too, so I couldn't be happier.
The cover. I used some cute patterned flannel for the cover and back. I sandwiched a piece of felt between the flannel to give it a little heft. I bound it with o-rings and tied some coordinating ribbon on the rings.
The dino has taggie spikes along his back.The foam wheels are attached with brads, so the wheels turn.A sweater to button up.Vinyl fish bowl has four felt fish to put inside.Pond is a zippered pocket to pull the ducks out of.Plane flies up and down on page.Each egg has a different animal that hatches from an egg inside.Eight ric rac legs that wiggle.Each barn door has a button farm animal behind it.The scoops snap onto the page, so you can sort them by flavor or make a pattern.