Easter Wrap Up

Easter weekend was pretty busy and thankfully, incredibly beautiful. There is nothing like getting the kids outside to just play.

We dyed a few eggs, had a big egg hunt, played some baseball and blew some bubbles and by the end of the weekend had three very tired kids. I'd like to tell you that this morning was an easy transition back to our routine, but I am pretty sure you know my kids better than that.

Some pics. . . 

Because, why wouldn't you do this?

Modeling.

Cheese face

QT

Getting the eggs ready. . .

The Muttz

The Little Lady

Not sure how much worse we could get for a group shot. . .

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere. . .

The joy of being 3 (and almost 3!)

Pinterest Project 4-6 = Epic Fail?

Um. . . the final Pinterest Projects didn't quite turn out the way I wanted to.

First of all, I am surprised I even completed three (and let's not forget the small side projects I did in addition to the larger ones--they have to count for something right?), I mean I was deprived of chocolate and full of hope and inspiration and pretty, pretty pins.

Pinterest Project 4: Glitter Eggs = Fail

The Lady did make one glitter egg. We squeezed a little glue on it and rolled it around in a plastic baggy. Pretty creative huh? Also, half the bag ended up on the Little Lady's lap and the rest on the floor.

Pinterest Project 5: I got nothing here. Would you settle for a photo of goldfish crackers poured into a carrot shaped baggie and placed gently in an Easter basket? No? No worries, I didn't even take a pic of it. Ugh. Big Fail.

Pinterest Project 6: Easter Egg Cake Pops
This was to be the pinnacle of the Pinterest Project. I have seen a lot of cake pop pins out there. The only time I ever had them were at a birthday party of a friend's daughter last summer. They were super cute and very yummy, but they seemed kind of complicated and I had yet to be bit by the Pinterest bug. Little did I know that all you had to do was bake a cake, let it cool, mix in some frosting, shape into little balls or in this case eggs, dip in candy coating and voila. . .

Original Pin

Source: modernfoodie.blogspot.ca via Aileen on Pinterest

So, I bought three bags of pastel colored candy disks, some lollipop sticks and entirely too much yellow cake.

I should have known that I might be in over my head when the spoon I was using to mix in the frosting broke off in the bowl.

The Lady and I decided to take things into our own hands. Don't worry, I made sure she didn't put her hands back in the bowl after she started to lick her fingers.

We rolled the cake/frosting mixture out into egg shapes and placed on parchment. In hindsight these were probably too big.

Also, not long after this photo was taken, the Lady fell asleep on the couch. She joined her already sleeping siblings. Usually, this would be a wonderful time of the day for me, but not only was it 4:30 in the afternoon--so bedtime was going to be a huge ordeal, but I was stuck microwaving candy disks on the defrost setting at 30 seconds a clip.

Close up of the cake pop pre-dip

So the first couple of cake pops actually turned out ok. I made special care to pre-dip the lollipop sticks so that they would stay in the cake.

I got through the yellow candy coating pretty well and a few of my eggs even came out looking like the original pin.

Things started falling apart after that. I am not sure if the cake balls were too big or I didn't put enough candy on the stick, or if I didn't dip them deep enough into the coating. (Does this sentence seem like it is drifting into "mommy porn" territory or am I not understanding the full definition of that? I haven't yet read "Fifty Shades of Grey")

Anyway, things literally started to fall apart. . .

By the time I got to the pink candy coating, things seemed a bit desperate. It seems that even though the lollipop stick wasn't able to stay in the pop, anything else that came in contact with it was affixed with super glue like strength. I am pretty sure I could have scooped this stuff on top of a construction helmet and hung myself from the closest I-beam.

Also, it wasn't easy to clean.

Well, I had come this far. I had a few salvageable cake pops, a sink full of caked on candy and enough nonpareil sprinkles under foot to give me the confidence to finish this Pinterest Project

So, I grabbed the flower pot I found at Michael's for about $4. Stuffed it with the foamy thing (yes, it's technical name is Foam Mousse--but foamy thing works for me) and proceeded to make the best damn cake pop Easter Egg flower arrangement ever!

The final product!

I bypassed the fake grass and shoved in the only available thing I could find that was green. I guess I should be more upset that only two people actually ate the cake pops, but I am pretty proud of some of my Pinterest Projects and am feeling much better now that I have ripped through a bag and a half of peanut M&Ms.

The Pinterest Project

I am addicted people, addicted.

I see you out there. I am following you. You are following me. We are part of a big, beautiful, glossy world of ideas and inspiration.

The Ladies are pinterested. We have looked at every single pin that has anything to do with nail polish or fancy manicures.

We have planned the Lady's Angry Birds birthday party (yes, this is a departure for her, I thought we would be doing a fairy themed party this year, but alas, I was mistaken). Yesterday, she flipped through a few pins and decided what goody bags, what party hats and what cake she would like. Good thing I have until September to figure out how to make it all.

And that my friends, is what I am here to talk about. I love to pin. I love to look at all those things, like them, repin them and put them on my boards, but what I haven't actually done is make anything. I haven't taken those ideas off my virtual bulletin board and tried any of them.

That ends today.

I am starting my own Pinterest Project.

potterybarnkids.com

I am giving up chocolate for Lent and putting all my emotional eating efforts towards making  something that I find on Pinterest. I even have a few ideas of my own that I am going to try to create and pin.

For the next six weeks, I will post one Pinterest project per week.

In my mind this ends up with me doing one out of sight Easter celebration with glitter eggs and live baby chicks, but I am nothing if not a realist and can see this easily turn into me trying to get QT to stop eating fake, plastic Easter basket grass, while I dye eggs with kit I bought at the gas station and the Ladies get sugared-up on pastel colored M&Ms.

Either way, you will be able to read about it all here.

Wish me luck.

Hippity, Hop, Hop

Here are a few pictures from our Easter weekend. It was a whirlwind as usual but I think the Ladies really enjoyed themselves and we got to spend a lot of time with family.

 This is a pic of the Ladies with their new umbrellas, courtesy of the Easter Bunny. Yes, they are wearing nothing but a raincoat and boots in this photo. And yes, the Little Lady is wearing a size 5T raincoat because she wanted to and we don't have any in her size.

 The Lady. I mean she poses for every shot. It is hard to catch her in a candid moment. We will be having a personal photo shoot this weekend because she needs to bring in a photo of the two of us for "share" on Tuesday at school. Is it totally pathetic that I have like zero photos of me and my kids together? Probably, but I also have a double chin, occasional bouts of adult acne and am in dire need of a brow wax.

The Little Lady running. Note the band aid on her arm. It is a Lightning McQueen band aid. She had it on for like four or five days. It made it through a few baths and finally had to be removed last night at my parents house, only when it was replaced by a Dora and Boots band aid. Please be aware there is no injury to cover and she is, in old-school rapper style, wearing it only as a fashion statement.

I don't know why I am constantly surprised after these Holidays when we come home with literally bagfuls of stuff. I am grateful for the generosity of our family, but we now have 8 new Easter baskets, like 75 plastic eggs and one giant Ziploc gallon-size bag full of candy that is slowly losing all of its delicious mini Snickers.