The Most Shocking Easter Decoration Of All

The past few weeks my kids and I have been busy making Easter decorations and decorating the house in an attempt to make it feel “Springy” inside despite the amount of snow still outside.

I instructed my kids to make me lots of Easter pictures to decorate the walls:

We also made an Easter Egg by gluing string to a balloon and after it dried we popped the balloon (My Mom painted the Easter Bunny next to it several years ago for me!) :

I gave the kids some felt and told them to make me Easter Eggs. In case you can’t tell, my daughter’s is the sweet one with the flower and my son made a “weird guy” Easter Egg.

We also made paper chains of bunnies and Easter Eggs. I had just purchased some really pretty “Springy” paper but my son still opted to use our 4th of July themed paper!?

I really thought we had covered all of our bases with our Easter decorating, especially with our Easter Egg decorating we did here! However, my daughter thought we clearly missed one more important decoration. She really thought we should have some….SNOWFLAKES! I gave her a puzzled looks and said, “Really? Do you really think we need snowflakes?” She was absolutely sure about this. So yesterday, we added the final detail to our Easter decorating decor! It truly is complete now!

Mothers and Fathers

Hi everyone!

Today you can visit me over at MeMyselfandKids where I did a guest blog!

There I am breaking down the key differences between being a Mom and Dad in our house!

Take a minute to go over here and check out Mothers and Fathers!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

Melissa

Who Am I?

I love starting my days off early.

I love books.

I love making noise.

I love asking questions.

I don’t like the word “no.”

I love helping people, whether they want me to or not.

I love opening the refrigerator door and closing it and then opening and closing it over and over and over.

I love pushing buttons (both figuratively and literally).

I love running.

I love practicing my facial expressions and deciding which ones work best to manipulate people. (I have come to the conclusion that a slight cock to the head, a smile and fluttering my eyelashes generally works best).

I have figured out how to use Netflix and don’t need help from anyone to find my favorite shows.

I love watching other people go to the bathroom.

I love everyone with reckless abandon and am not afraid to show it.

Q: Who am I?

A: I am a 2 year old

 

The Year the Easter Eggs Came Alive

The kids had a blast coloring Easter eggs today!

All of the kids coloring eggs

After we were done with the dyeing process I had the kids make “clothes” for their eggs using construction paper. After we had them dressed we set up them up for photo shoots in my daughter’s doll house! Enjoy our Egg Photo Shoots:

 

 

Problems With the Easter Bunny

This weekend we made our yearly visit to the Easter Bunny.

Last year while we were waiting in line at our local grocery store to see the furry fellow, a much older, sophisticated child behind us stated, “I know that is just someone dressed up in a costume.” My then 6 year old daughter, Iris, looked up at me with inquisitive, huge eyes while the Mom of the whistle-blower shushed her child and mouthed, “Sorry” to me.

After the visit, the questions began pouring in from Iris as to whether what the other child said had any truth to it. I hemmed and hawed over this particular matter. I really want my kids to believe in all things wonderful, whimsical and magic. However, I thought this circumstance needed a different approach.

I told Iris, “Well, it is true. That really was someone dressed up in a costume. However, there is indeed an Easter Bunny. But unlike Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny is uncivilized. He lacks in social graces and proper manners. He is an animal after all. If they were to have the “real” Easter Bunny at the grocery store he would be hopping all over the place, peeing and pooping on the floor. He would also be making a mess of the carrot display and eating all of the carrots.” Iris found this a perfectly acceptable explanation.

I had actually forgot about this conversation until my 5 year old son, Bency, said, “I know the Easter Bunny is just someone dressed up in a costume” as we were about to leave yesterday to go visit him. I stood there looking at him and finally said, “And why do you think that?” Iris quickly piped in admitting she had told him and reminded me of our conversation from last year. So, I went through the explanation again for Bency and made both kids promise they wouldn’t tell other kids about their revelation.

So, off we went for our visit with the Easter Bunny. We’ve been going to our local grocery store for the past couple of years. Not only do they have the “costumed fellow” but they have different stations set up throughout the store handing out various treats of candy, bags of carrots, Homemade Rice Krispie bars, Doritos, string cheese, chocolate milk, and a cookie decorating station. The kids love it and I can do a little grocery shopping along the way.

My 2 year old son, Cesar, was particularly enamored with the Easter Bunny this year and didn’t want to leave his side after the photo op. We had to coax him away with the promise of cookies.

As we were traveling through the store, I told my husband to wait a minute as I needed to make a quick dash for a bag of onions. After I retrieved my onions I came back to my waiting family, I noticed Cesar was no longer among them. I asked where Cesar was and my husband looked puzzled and said he thought Cesar had gone with me. He didn’t.

We began searching frantically for our 2 year old and screaming his name. After looking in all nearby areas and having no luck, we branched out our search. My husband went back to the Easter Bunny and lo and behold there was Cesar. He had managed to find his way back and was standing next to the gray rabbit, looking up adoringly. I have a feeling; Cesar is now in quite a few other families’ Easter Bunny photos.

I may have two children now that know that there was a person underneath the layers of fur but I still have one little boy that could only see the magic of the Easter Bunny.

Iris with the Easter Bunny in 2006

Iris with the Easter Bunny in 2007

Iris with the Easter Bunny in 2008-Bency wouldn’t go by the Easter Bunny!

Iris with the Easter Bunny in 2009-Bency still didn’t want anything to do with the Easter Bunny

Bency finally went by the Easter Bunny in 2010..as you can see he still was a little leery!

Iris with the Easter Bunny 2010

Cesar’s first visit with the Easter Bunny in 2011

Bency and Iris with the Easter Bunny in 2011

The kids with the Easter Bunny 2012

The kids with the Easter Bunny this year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Party Picture

This week I was busy working on a painting that I can use for making invitations for the kid’s birthdays this year. The birthdays aren’t until May and June but we tend to get started early in our planning process over here! Mainly due to my children’s urging!

Painting I did this week

 

New Olympic Events

My blogging friend Jane, over at Nothing By The Book, recently wrote a hilarious post about how she was capable of tuning out her three children while they all simultaneously burst out in different songs, melodies and their own made up lyrics while riding in the car as she drove. The picture she painted clearly made me visualize this situation that I could very well relate to and I could mentally feel myself shushing them. I told Jane that Coping Mechanisms should be an Olympic sport and she definitely deserved a gold medal.

I have not been able to shake this idea from my head and that is why I am compiling a few ideas to send to Olympic headquarters.

As parents many of the things we do take a lot of courage, strength and stamina. Therefore I would like to see the following considered for future Olympic events:

• Getting A Child To Eat Lima Beans– You will be disqualified if you sneak these into the middle of an ice cream sandwich. You will get bonus points for getting them to eat a side of rutabagas with this.
• Diapering And Clothing A Toddler– You will be disqualified if you duct tape the child down. You get bonus points if you get them to keep their socks on for more than 2 minutes.
• Opening Up Brand New Toy Packages– This idea is thanks to my blogging friend Courtney at EmbracingtheInsanity who recently did this post about it. I don’t care how you get these open…nothing can disqualify you.
• Showering Every Day During Your Child’s First Year– You will be disqualified if you just shake baby powder in your hair to get out the grease and spray yourself down with perfume. You get bonus points for keeping your clothes from getting messed up with puke and poop.
• Going 4 Consecutive Days Without Sleep And Still Performing Basic Household Duties With A Sunny Disposition– This is another one that there is no way you can get disqualified, no matter how you accomplish this. If your performance-enhancing drug of choice is an obscene amount of coffee; more power to you!

Okay, there is about a million more event ideas I can send to Olympic Headquarters but I don’t want to overwhelm them. I really think they should take these seriously….I mean they did add cup stacking to the Junior Olympics after all!

I know this looks amazingly similar to my body but it is actually 2012 Olympian Lolo Jones with my head pasted on it!

I Have Omphalophobia

Hi! My name is Melissa and I have Omphalophobia.

That is the fear of belly buttons in case you weren’t familiar with this particular phobia. Yes, that’s correct. I do not like belly buttons. I do not like to look at them, touch them, have mine touched or talk about them. In fact, just writing the word makes me shudder so I will now refer to them as “bb’s” throughout the remainder of this story.

I cannot pinpoint the exact time that my phobia started but it was sometime when I was child.

This was not really a debilitating phobia for me. I could pretty much go about my daily life without this causing too much harm. The early 90’s were a little bit rough when the crop tops or “belly shirts” were in style but I could usually just avert my eyes.

Entering motherhood proved to be tougher on me though and dealing with this particular phobia.

When I became pregnant with my first child I was full of anxiety. I went to one of my check-ups and my doctor asked if I had any concerns as she took a sip from her water bottle. I hesitated for a minute and then I shyly asked, “When is my belly button going to pop out and is there anything I can do to stop this from happening?” The doc’s water bottle was up to her mouth and I could see her eyebrows raise and her eyes widen. The next thing you know she was laughing hysterically and spitting water all over the place. Okay, I admit, the “bb” question is pretty hilarious, especially when you’re anticipating questions about weight gain, mood swings and safe exercises. Anyway, when we both stopped laughing I explained to her that I was very serious. I would not be able to deal with a protruding “bb”. I would need to be put into a medically induced coma if that should happen. Thankfully, I didn’t get the popped out “bb” with any of my pregnancies.

Next, having a newborn and dealing with the umbilical cord stump. Back when my Mom was having babies they used to have to clean that area with rubbing alcohol. Thank goodness this is no longer required. Now you just keep the area clean by regular bathing and in 1-2 weeks the stump falls off on its own. Of course, with my luck, this can’t go off without a hitch. One morning I changed my daughter’s diaper. With squinty eyes, I noticed her umbilical cord was still there. A few hours later, I changed her diaper again. Lo and behold….no umbilical cord! I searched everywhere and could not find it. I frantically called my husband at work and said, “The umbilical cord is gone! It fell off and I can’t find it!” He just sat on the other end of the phone quietly and then finally in an uninterested voice said, “Isn’t it supposed to fall off? What’s the big deal?”

What’s the big deal? What’s the big deal? The big deal is we have a part of a belly button floating around this house somewhere. To this day, we still have never found that umbilical cord stump. Ugh!

Now we enter into toddlerhood. I would sit down every day and teach the kids their body parts (except for one). As I’m sure you guessed I did not teach them where their “bb” was. I gladly taught them belly but we didn’t go any further than that. Luckily for them, my husband was happy to oblige them with this knowledge. Of course he likes to tease me about this weird quirk of mine so not only did he teach the kids this, he also taught them to touch it and say, “Ding-Dong.” Then he would tell the kids to show me their “new trick”. I became accustom to the telltale signs of this and whenever I saw a 1 year old walking my way with their shirt in their hands I would quickly look away as they raised their shirt and began their “ding-donging.”

This is a book we own. My kids think the title is: Where is Baby’s Belly?

I think my days of direct contact with “bbs” are almost done. I don’t have to worry about mine ever popping out with pregnancy again, losing any more umbilical cords stumps and all of the kids are pretty much over “ding-donging.”

I just have to keep my fingers crossed that those crop tops or “belly shirts” never come back into style and really, I think that is best for everyone!

 

A Good Ol’ Scolding

Parenthood is full of scolding….

“Why on earth would you stick a crayon up your nose?”

“What would make you think it was okay to draw all over your body with black marker?”

I am a master of finger wagging and dramatic, guilt-ridden tones.

The other day was no different. A good scolding was handed out. However, this time I was on the receiving end. My 5 year old son, Bency, proved he has what it takes to dish out a good ol’ what for?

It started when I got a call from Bency’s teacher. She said Bency was complaining he had a stomach ache, was tired and just wanted to lay down at 10 o’clock in the morning. I told her I would be right there to pick him up from school.

I retrieved Bency from school, gave him a big hug and said, “Hey little Buddy, what’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

Instead of melting in my arms and seeking the comfort that motherhood has to offer he stepped back and began his little tirade:

“This is your fault. I am so tired. You kept me up all night with your slurping.” Can you picture the finger wagging at me with the scrunched up eyes and pursed mouth that went along with this?

I stood there dumbfounded with my mouth agape trying to figure out what he was talking about.

He went to explain further:

“I heard you last night. I heard the blender going. I know you and Daddy had smoothies after you tucked me in. Then you kept me up all night slurping away.”

Can you hear my exasperated sigh? Can you picture me standing there at a complete loss for words wondering if he truly just said that?

The truth of the matter is; after we had the kids all tucked in bed, my husband did in fact bust out the blender. They were actually milkshakes that he made using vanilla ice cream and crumbled up Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. They were so good. Trust me they were so delicious that I think I had it gone in 5 minutes. As for the slurping….well of course there was slurping. Something that good you want to make sure you have every last drop.

I think the real culprit was Daylight Savings Time. Bency had a hard time with the adjustment. Instead of pointing this out to him, I just hung my head and promised I would not keep him up all night with my slurping ever again. I added an eye roll and dramatic sigh that every good scolding needs at the end.

Matchbox Car Art

I have wanted to do a project utilizing me and my brother’s old Matchbox cars from the 1960’s and 70’s for a few years now. As a kid, I spent hours playing with these. I kept trying to think of a way to display them properly. I always have a few hundred projects going through my head at all times. Time and how I will go about executing things is always a major factor in how soon I get them done though. I thought I might have a few extra minutes today and I finally figured out how I was going to do this so I set to work.

First I started with a plain wooden board that I got at the ReStore shop. It’s a place that sells used building materials so you can pick up stuff here for pretty cheap.

Next, I painted the board black and created a square template using masking tape. As you can see, painting is a family affair around here!

I painted around the edges of the masking tape so the board would have a simple design on it.

After letting the paint dry, I glued my Matchbox cars on. I applied Gorilla glue on the wheels and placed the cars where I wanted them on the board. The cars are firmly attached and I can now hang this on the wall! Of course the kids think I am completely nuts for gluing cars to a board. They really think I should have just gave the cars to them to play with. I know better though, these would have ended up with the 48 other Matchbox cars under the stove right now!

Matchbox Car Art