Garden Caterpillar Kid Kit

How can you not love this little guy? He's so colorful and cute! My new Garden Caterpillar Kid Kit makes two caterpillars, so you can let one roam free-range style in your home AND stick one straight up in an indoor plant or in your garden. 

And cutting out the craft foam circles is great scissor practice for kids. Uneven circles just add extra charm! And of course we know kids love to paint, too! If you are working with a really young child and want to skip a few steps, I can easily paint the caterpillar heads and tails and/or cut out the body circles for you. Because I am super nice like that.

 

I always make my own kids be my craft guinea pigs. For the most part, they love doing crafts. The problem is that the craft that I end up producing is not always the first draft. And by the time I'm saying, "C'mon kids! Let's take pictures of your 15th caterpillar for my blog!" they are past the point of trying to impress me with their modeling abilities. So today when it was THAT TIME AGAIN, Peyton pulled out the ottoman, struck a pose, and declared, "Take my picture like this, Mommy!" And then he made me wait a moment so that he could compose himself and stop smiling to make this face:

 

I know, right? Watch out, Zoolander. I think your Blue Steel may have just been replaced.

And then Peyton cracked up and Ella jumped into the frame with her caterpillar and all hell broke loose. There was really no point in trying to take the standard "Show the people how proud you are of your cute craft" picture. They didn't seem to care about that. I think they feel that making 15 bazillion caterpillar crafts should be enough. Whatever.

 

Ummm.... Yeah. So buy my kit!

Our Easter Bunny Brings Paint

I freely admit that I use Easter as an excuse to buy my kids presents. Their Easter baskets are like Christmas stockings - as in, "Really? My truckload of love is supposed to fit in those? HA!" But I do have a reason. I rarely buy my kids random presents throughout the year, and both of their birthdays are within three weeks of Christmas. I want to buy them presents in the middle of the year, and Easter helps with that.

So, Easter morning represents a small present-palooza in our house. Seriously, Ella was still mid-flight as she grabbed at her first pink present.

I will say, though, that the presents the Easter Bunny brings are useful. He rarely brings toys. He brings crafts supplies, gardening supplies, sports equipment, that sort of thing. I mean, how can I feel guilty for giving my kids a bug catcher and a new pink watering can when those things help them enjoy the outdoors more?

And an orange baseball bat and blue jump rope for Peyton. And a pink baseball bat and pink jump rope for Ella. I can't feel guilty. It's awesome. The jump rope was Peyton's favorite gift of the day - definitely $1 well spent.

And Hello Kitty socks that make Ella's eyes light up like this:

And how could I not get Ella her first Big Girl scissors when Peyton got his first scissors on Easter 2 years ago? And they really needed some new shirts and bubble bath.... There was more, but you get the idea.

The only actual toys - foam swords. We tried forever to keep toy weapons out of our house. When Peyton was really little we didn't talk about guns or shooting or watch anything on TV that involved weapons. You know what? It doesn't matter. Before I knew it, Peyton was shooting his pretend finger gun. He would find a stick and turn it into a sword. Now I've just given in. I don't care. Go ahead and judge.

After all the presents were opened and the Easter eggs were found we sent Peyton and Ella into their rooms to open their curtains. And guess what they found - cans of paint! The exact color that they had each picked out just a few days ago when they went to Lowe's with James. See what I mean? Useful presents! And they were SO EXCITED!

We moved into this house a little over a year ago and we had yet to paint over the existing colors of their rooms. Ella's room was a light yellow and Peyton's was a light blue. They weren't bad colors, by any means, but we are big fans of big color and we had been wanting to paint for a while. So what did I do with my Easter Sunday? I painted Peyton's room bright green. And what will I be doing tomorrow? Yep, I'll be painting Ella's room bright lavender.

Paint might seem like a boring present. But let me tell you, all day long Peyton kept saying, "Thank you so much for painting my room, Mommy! I love it!"

And check this out! You might think that with all these gifts the whole meaning of Easter is lost on my children. Ha ha sucker! Last night I asked Peyton what we do on Easter. I thought he would say, "Look for Easter eggs, open presents, eat candy, bask in the commercial glory of Easter..." because that's exactly what I was thinking. You know what he said? "We celebrate Jesus." And I swear, today he actually set those foam swords in the shape of a cross and told me all about how Jesus was crucified and then he disappeared and then came back - "Like magic!" And THAT is why we send Peyton to Catholic preschool - so that I can focus on the fun stuff and they can teach the stuff I neglect to mention. It seems to work out well.

Happy Easter!

Cranberry Nut Granola - Are You Serious About Deliciousness?

This granola is so good! It's the perfect mixture of crunchy, chewy, salty and sweet. And the aromas that waft through the house when you heat the cranberry, maple, brown sugar, cinnamon mixture on the the stove are amazing. James declared this granola "Perfect!" and then  tried to claim the entire batch for himself. Both of my kids love it. BOTH of them! I know - it's amazing. And it tastes really good on yogurt, too!

Cranberry Nut Granola

Nonstick cooking spray
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup roasted and salted pumpkin seeds

1 cup chopped roasted and salted almonds
1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the maple syrup, brown sugar, cranberry juice, and cinnamon over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved.

In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, pumpkin seeds, and almonds.

Pour the maple mixture over the oat mixture and stir until combined. Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Stir in the cranberries and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture begins to brown. Cool completely. Store airtight in a plastic container for up to 1 week.

To give credit where credit is due, I adapted this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. Her recipe uses unsweetened cranberry juice (which I never have on hand) and sunflower seeds. I also made a few other minor changes in my version.

Spring Fling at Reiman Gardens

Reiman Gardens always puts on great activities for holidays, so of course we've been counting down the days until their "Spring Fling" Easter Egg Hunt. And of course it was 40 degrees and very, very windy, but still very fun! Here are some highlights from our day.

First stop: Scary Easter Bunny. See that look of Ella's? "I only just stopped crying when Mommy picked me up. What the hell is that thing? It's ridiculous. And stupid. And poop!"

I threw that "poop" part in to make her pretend thoughts more authentic, since that is still her favorite word of all time.

Proof: Here's a new joke she told us tonight after I told her to eat her potatoes.

"Knock knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Potatoes!"

"Potatoes who?"

"Potatoes, potatoes! I don't like poop potatoes!" (That last line was presented in song.)

Let the Easter Egg Hunting begin! Gazillions of kids, gazillions of empty plastic eggs, it was pretty cool. The Gardens had it set up so that the younger kids (Ella's age group) and bigger kids (Peyton's age group) went a'hunting for eggs in two separate areas at two different times. It really worked out perfectly. Then all the kids traded the empty eggs for cute little goodie bags at the Egg Exchange Station.

We rarely eat candy in our house, but I'm not against letting my kids have their perfect day, so they each had 2 suckers and 1 piece of chocolate while we were there. And then we we got home they each had 2 more pieces of chocolate.

And then Ella snuck an extra Hershey's Kiss into her room during nap time and then whispered loud enough for the entire house to hear: "Peyton! I just ate some candy!"

I go into her room: "Ella what did you eat?"

Ella (sitting on the edge of her bed, swinging her legs, smiling the biggest smile I've ever seen): "Chocolate! I LOVE CHOCOLATE!"

I tried to be stern, but it came out as laughter and a big hug. I mean, really, I just couldn't fault her for it.

And check it out - Nature! At it's best! This Canadian Goose was sitting on her (or his? I don't know who takes care of babies in Geese Land) eggs. Don't worry, I didn't get this close, I cropped the picture. Some other little kids got too close and Mama Goose really gave them an earful!

Then we headed inside to pet some real bunnies. There were 4 bunnies on volunteer's laps and Ella had to pet each one. Except she wouldn't do it by herself: "Peyton! Peyton! Come here and pet bunny!" After her big brother touched a bunny, she assumed it was safe, and then she would pet it. I could tell Peyton really didn't care about the bunnies, but he loves taking care of Ella, so he went around petting all of them with her.

There were a lot of craft stations set up inside, and Ella chose to make a basket. The volunteer craft helper person let her choose a basket color and she got to decorate it with stamps and stickers. Peyton watched and waited patiently. Sometimes he's just anti-craft.

When Ella was done decorating her pink paper, the volunteer folded it up and stapled it together into a basket shape and Ella was thrilled! She made us sit down as soon as we left the craft table so that she could transfer all of her Easter treats into it.

There's a big open walk-through area to the right of this turnstile, but Peyton and Ella always have to go through this way. I don't blame them, I still think turnstiles are fun, too! Peyton has a sucker in his hand. Check out what Ella is doing. Busted!

Okay, honestly, he had just told her that she could have a lick, but I still think this picture is hilarious!

And in the car, on the way home, Peyton said to me: "Mommy, I bet tonight, when we do the best part and worst part of my day, this is going to be my best part! This is the best day of my WHOLE LIFE!" He says this a lot, but I still think it's one of the best sounds in the world.

A Warning To Parents

My warning to you: Don't buy your kids kazoos unless you have already made yourself an appointment at a Kazoo Relief Spa, or at the very least, invested in some excellent ear-plugs.

This is undoubtedly the MOST STUPID purchase I have ever made in my entire life. Oh my dear Lord, what was I thinking?

When I saw the kazoos in the dollar-bin section at Target I thought, "Hey! These will be fun! Peyton and Ella don't even know what a kazoo is! What kind of parent am I that my own kids haven't yet experienced the joy of a kazoo?" I'll tell you what kind of parent I was - a smart parent. And I'll tell you what kind of parent I became when I decided to invest two dollars for two kazoos for my kids - an idiot parent.

This is what I remember from childhood - kazoos make a funny noise and they are super fun. I remember marching all around the house blowing my kazoo like the leader of my very own invisible parade. I remember making impromptu kazoo bands with anyone else who happened to have a kazoo at the ready. Oh the joy!

Peyton has been wanting his own drum set. I've been putting that off because of the inevitable racket. By purchasing kazoos, I have personally invited a louder, more hideous noise into our peaceful home. What I realize now - kazoos are the perfect parent torture devise - even more effective than drums could possibly be.

So within five minutes of Peyton and Ella learning how the kazoos worked we had a new house rule: You can only make loud kazoo "music" in your room with the door closed. Only quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet kazoo sounds are allowed outside the bedroom. But somehow, the rule keeps getting broken and sweet little children are kazooing all over the place.

How did our own parents live through kazoos? What kind of superhuman auditory strength did they possess? As I raise my kids, I keep adding to the list of Why I Love My Mom. That she, too, had to suffer through all this kazoo nonsense definitely ranks up there at the top of the list.

Oh well, at least the kids are happy!

My Future Bumper Sticker

MY KID IS CRAFTIER THAN YOURS

Every time I finish a roll of paper towels or gift wrap I toss the cardboard tube to whichever kid is nearest and say, "Have a blast!" For some reason, Peyton is usually the closest one, and his eyes always light up as that tube comes flying toward him. Fortunately, he's a professional sharer by this point in his 5-year-old life, so if Ella wants to play, he usually offers to cut the tube in half.

That sharing part really has nothing to do with the story. It's just me bragging.

So I throw a gift wrap tube at Peyton. His eyes light up with glee as he catches it. He shouts through it for a few minutes and then peers through the hole, "I see you, Mommy!" Then he gets this serious look on his face.

"Mommy. I have an idea. I think I want to make this into a snake. I want to paint it with stripes. We could make a head with a ball and draw a face. And I want it to have a tail that rattles."

See that? He's crafty! I knew it! More proof that he IS my son! I mean, I know I gave birth to him and all, but this really seals the deal. He's drawn snakes before, but that he wanted to create a snake with sound effects? That is some bad-ass craftiness. He's always liked crafts, but the more involved crafts we've done in the past have always been at my suggestion. The only crafts he does on his own are the paper, scissors, crayon, markers, hole punch, glue, one-dimensional kind. So I was really impressed with this whole 3-D snake idea.

I disrobed another gift wrap tube so that Ella could make her own snake. They chose their paint colors and we got to crafting. We even rigged some popcorn kernels inside to make the rattle sound.

Peyton wanted to bring his other snake, named Wilson, into the picture, too. My mom (hi Mom!) got him that snake and he loves it. The new snake Peyton named Snakey. Peyton decided on a white face (he was tired of letting paint dry) with drawn-on eyes and mouth. Check out Snakey's black stripes! Peyton did that all by himself!

Here's Miss Ella with her snake, also named Snakey. She likes pink paint and wiggly eyes.

And then, *shiver* the fun pretend snake thing got ugly.

Peyton: "We should get a real snake. I love snakes. They're my favorite aminal." (Yes, he said aminal - so cute!)

James: "I don't think Mommy likes this idea. She's scared of snakes."

Me (laying down the freakin' law on this one): "I am not scared of snakes. But we will NEVER have a snake as a pet."

Peyton: "I want a snake that climbs all over me. Like the kind that lady brought to school. I think I'll only get it out on Fridays and Sundays when Mommy's at the store."

And then he wanted me to take a picture of him with a snake "crawling all over" him.

Ummmm, yeah.

Hey, Mom, thanks for buying Peyton his first stuffed "aminal" snake. When he decides to become a Snake Charmer instead of attending college it's on you. And the snake lady that came to his class. Not me, though. No way. I'm just in charge of the crafting.

Easter Egg Banner Kid Kit

Just in time for Easter! I love this Easter Egg Banner Kit. I love it because the whole family can make it together. You just have to pour out all the decorations on the table, divvy up the eggs among family members, and have some quality time with the people you love the most.  

Since the time I began creating this kit, I've spent about 5 gazillion hours in our basement punching out paper decorations. Don't worry, I've already crossed that task off my personal list toward craft martyrdom. Anyway, since I'm a work-at-home mom, I needed to keep Peyton and Ella occupied. So I put out extra eggs and decorations and they had a blast! I was pretty impressed with Peyton's scissor skills. He cut out all his own eggs. Looking at the picture, I bet you can hardly tell the difference between the eggs he cut out and the ones I cut out for Ella. I'm so proud! 

Something else you might not be able to tell from the picture is how Peyton insisted on layering decorations on top of decorations on top of more decorations. Seriously, his eggs have some major depth.  

And, of course, I marked their names and the date on the back of each egg. Not so much for accuracy, but more for the bonus points I will receive in 20-30 years when Peyton and Ella have kids of their own, and they realize the risks I took when I let a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old play willy-nilly with scissors, glue, and sequins on a daily basis. The biggest risk being that once you create a project with sequins, you will find sequins throughout the house until the end of time. 

Happy Crafting!