Easter with my Fam (Egg Hunt #3)

We went to my parents church for an Easter Service on Saturday (it was a VERY intense reenactment play-I got spit on by a man playing a centurion-that's how intense). Afterwards we met up with the rest of the fam for Chinese food-SO tasty. Ella ate a shocking amount of food and actually likes wonton soup and egg rolls which is VERY out of the box for her!

My grandmother hid eggs all over her apartment and Ella had fun being the only kid so she could get all the spoils! (and did she ever-in addition to the eggs filled with candy, my grandmother ALWAYS has ice cream and Hershey kisses on hand any day of the week to dole out to everyone)

The Easter baskets I made for Ella and Chris (Chris specifically requested one last year and this year when I asked if he really wanted one again he said "of course!")

Egg Dyeing! I was very impressed with the colors this year-we followed the directions for the brightest colors and it really worked. I'm not a pale pastel sort of girl so I was excited to get some vibrant colors. The trick seem to be lots of vinegar and less water :-)

Finished product :-) Nothing fancy but lots of fun.

Some new favorite pics

We took a bunch of pictures on Easter and some of them are my new favorites!

Photo Shoot with Abuela

As we're getting in the car to go to my parents house after hours of Ella driving me crazy:
Me: (imagine smoke coming out of my ears) Ella get in your seat now. I am so frustrated with you right now.
Ella: (pouting and stomping) Ahhhhhh! I am SO FWUSTWATED with you too. (pause) Mom? We're fwustwated with each other! Ahhhhh!

So here's what happened. My mom wanted to get some pictures taken for her business' website and wanted Ella in them (Ella's name is part of her business' name) so we went over there last week for a photo shoot with the photographer my mom hired. Ella was having a WRETCHED day (which means I was having an even more WRETCHED day) and she was HORRENDOUS during most of the photo shoot (are you sensing an attitude theme here?). The photo shoot was complete with a full on tantrum about changing her clothes and refusing to smile or stay still or sit or stand or whatever she was asked to do. Ella stayed and had dinner with my parents afterwards (I left to regain my sanity for about an hour-thanks Erin!). During dinner Ella apparently told my parents about the conversation she and I had earlier that day after hours of fighting/crying/timeouts etc. about staying in rest time/not changing her clothes/wearing a sleeveless dress in 40 degrees etc. They were so amused that she knows the word "frustrated." Meanwhile, I can't imagine her not knowing it because it's come up so often lately. Ella's behavior seems to go in spurts-she has bad weeks every few months. And boy are we in the midst of it. Anyway, here are some pics. She's told me she really can be a nice girl when I don't "fwustwate" her :-)

Preschool Easter Party! (Egg Hunt #2)

I got to go volunteer at Ella's school last week for her Easter Party and I literally cried when I had to leave to go to work. It was the cutest thing EVER to see her and all her little friends interact and go about their normal classroom activities. She's SO grown! When we got there Ella went straight to her cubby and put her backpack and coat away and then picked the seat pad with her name on it from the stack and placed in the circle and then sat and waited for circle time to start. It was fun to see her do so many things in a row with no instruction or help!

In circle time her teacher, Ms. Tiffany, tells everyone to "Sit criss-cross applesauce" (indian style back in my day-guess that's not PC anymore), then "Put your spoons in a bowl" (put their hands in their lap), then "Put a bubble in your mouth" (fill your cheeks with air and no talking). It was adorable to watch them all (it was harder for some than others).

Here's a video of the pledge of allegiance :-)

Here's a longer video if you're really interested in my kid :-) She was the calendar helper for the day-oh the CUTENESS!!!

Later we went outside to the playground for an Easter Egg Hunt. The kids knew a little song about lining up and to hold the rope with their "LEFT HAND" and when they got to the street they went through this little routine which cracked me up. Imagine a friendly drill sergeant :-)

Ms.Tiffany: We're at the street. What do we do?
Kids (yelling): STOP!
Ms.T: Are there cars on the right?
Kids (looking in various directions): NO!
Ms.T: Are there cars on the left?
Kids (looking): NO!
Ms.T: Are you with an adult?
Kids: YES!
Ms.T: Are you holding the rope?
Kids: Yes!
Ms.T and Kids: LET'S GO!


The kids were told to find 6 eggs but they had to be all 6 different colors. I thought this sounded a little complicated for 2 and 3 year olds but they did great! I was impressed a lot that day with things the school does that are more advanced than I would have expected! (Aren't their little tissue box duck baskets cute? They made them the day before to use in the hunt!)

Ella's buddy Savannah giggling after they found all of their eggs.

During art/craft time they had 4 tables set up with different activities-seemed rather ambitious to me considering they were all messy crafts but it worked out fine :-) I was in charge of the dot painting/coloring table. Ella just used the dot markers to color but it turned out nice.

Ms.Debbie (an assistant) helped the kids one at a time ice cupcakes, put jelly beans on top and then put a twizzler over the top like a handle so it looked like an Easter basket with eggs inside-super cute!


Another table dyed eggs and the last one made these cards for the kids to bring home!

I LOVED getting to see Ella in this setting and hope to be able to do it more and more.

Rylan Rocks

A few weeks ago Ella's friend Rylan had a birthday party and gave bubble bath and glowsticks as the party favor (AWESOME idea Michelle!). We had tried this before when my SIL suggested it but this time Ella is OBSESSED with glow stick baths! I've tried to take pictures but they're either completely bright or too dark. Here's a taste of both :-) I highly recommend this fun activity! Ella begs for glow-baths all the time now! (thank goodness I found somewhere to buy glowsticks for a dollar!)