I think the Easter bunny over did it this year. LOL!
After church, we hurried back home to hunt the eggs that the Easter bunny hid.
Katie immediately found the golden prize egg; whereas, Colton found the silver egg.
We all met up at Millard and Peggy's house to celebrate the day with family. Approximately 27 people came by. It was such a beautiful day for our party. I think everyone had a good time. A few of the guys and Natalie went fishing in the neighbor's pond, with permission. They ended up catching 7 nice sized large mouth bass.
There was so much food that everyone had to take food home with them at the end of the day.
It's always great to catch up with relatives that live so far away. Nick hasn't been home in four months.
We hope you had a very blessed Easter weekend.
. . . Don't forget about Teacher Appreciation Week coming up in the next few days. Do you have any ideas? I've found some really cute and inexpensive ideas that I'd like to share with you.
Well, our Spring Break is coming to an end. I think Katie and Colton had a fairly nice week filled with lots of fun.
We spent a couple of hours at Katie's favorite store, Walmart, which was one of her requests to do for the day. We came home to rest a little and head outside for the remainder of the evening. The kids are so happy to be outside, playing. I was glad that it didn't rain on us Tuesday, so they could enjoy the afternoon.
Wednesday and Thursday filled most of our day with storms and rain. Yuck! I hated it because Doug took those days off to spend with us on our family days. So, we watched movies and played games. I even got to try out the new Michael Jackson Xbox Kinect game. It was pretty fun, but a challenge.
Friday, we celebrated "Good Friday" by visiting the new exhibit at the Birmingham Zoo "The Trails of Africa". It is a nice expansion and ready to add more animals. They've been moving exhibits around to make room and I did notice that there were a few new animals. It was such a beautiful day for our little excursion. By the end of the day, we reached the playground and watching the children playing in the water area, made me want to just jump right in with them. We were so hot and clammy. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was so worth it. I love the zoo!
Now, our Spring Break is winding down. Tomorrow, we shall stay home and cook. YAY! I'd like to know how you'll be spending your Easter Sunday. I'll have loads of pictures and stories to show and tell Monday, I'm sure.
Yesterday, Katie, Colton and I spent the day with our friends at the "Pumpkin Patch" in Hayden. This was the patches second year to have the Egg Hunt. For $10 a child, we got to go on a hay ride out to the field, for the children to hunt 10 eggs each. Every egg had a small gift in it like a small ball, bracelet, necklace, eraser, etc. We got to go on a train ride or "gator ride", go through the petting zoo and jump on the inflatables for as long as their little hearts desired. Honestly, I thought it was well worth the money and children had a blast as you can see from the photos. We practically had the whole place to ourselves and didn't have to wait in lines like we do during the month of October. These are a few of my favorite pictures:
Because "A" goes to another school, we don't get to see our friends as much as we would like. Katie enjoyed every moment possible with her friend and absolutely hated for the day to end.
~Thank you so much for an enjoyable day. A day that will always be remembered.
Colton and little "A" were just as big as the bigger kids or at least they thought they were just as big. LOL!
The day started out fairly cool, so I left the children's long pants on. As soon as the fireball was out long enough, it warmed up pretty quick. We were all hot and tired by the time we left to back to Allison's house. It was overall a beautiful Southern day.
Colton and Little "A" are 3 months apart. Cuties!!
Allison and I couldn't believe how the little ones would climb up the big slide and slide down by. themselves. Amazed! They are so BIG.
I was surprised at Colton walking right up to each pen and pet the farm animals. He loved it! I had a hard time getting him to leave. I think he's going to be like mama and be an animal person.
My goodness, I am such a slacker. I checked over to see when the last time I've posted and it's been a very long time. I hope you haven't given up on me and decided not to follow me any more. I'm sorry.
I've got lots to post, so hopefully I'll have something new posted every day this week.
It's Spring Break Week - YAY!!!!
I love having my babies home with me and spending time with them. I know Colton's really going to enjoy having his big sister home all day this week. I just hope Katie doesn't loose her patience with him too early in the week and end up staying in her room. LOL! I don't have any definite plans for every day this week, but we'll just plan it as each day comes. It seems as if whenever I plan something, fate takes over and decides differently.
Last week, we took the kids to the Jungle Safari that was advertised in the paper. It was so hot that day, I believe the high was in the 80s. I felt bad for all the animals in their cages. Of course, Doug kept assuring me that they were alright. It just kills me to see wild animals in such small cages and not able to rome around more freely. I think Katie felt the same way. She was glad to see the different animals in person, but she didn't want to do anything more than just look at them. They had some farm animals that the kids could pet, but Katie didn't feel like it. They had their camel and ponies there for rides, but nope she wouldn't have it. I guess this was good for me and her daddy because the rides cost money. Instead, we went to Walmart. Here are a few pictures:
Please note that if you can't see these pictures as any, you can click on the link below the slideshow and it will take you to one of my photo links to view the photos.
Last Friday was Easter Egg Hunt/Party at Katie's school. Unfortunately, the bad storms rolled in much earlier than first thought. Because of all the rain and thunderstorms, each class had to make other arrangements as to how they would do their egg hunt/party. I over heard that a couple of classes were hiding eggs in the school cafeteria, some were hunting in the gym and others were doing their own egg hunts inside their classroom. I liked Mrs. M's game. She piled all the eggs in the middle of "the rug" and assigned each student a number. If she called out your number, that child/children were to pick out an egg and put in their bucket. After the last students picked up their egg, you went straight to your desk for your Easter snack and opened up your Easter eggs. Us parents, fixed all the plates for the children and even gave each child a little gift basket filled with all sorts of goodies. I don't believe I got the first picture with Katie smiling, she was too preoccupied. LOL!
With the storms headed our way, I went ahead, checked Katie out of school after the party and we soon headed to my in-laws. The storms here had a lot of wind, but nothing like the southern counties. Tuscaloosa area got pounded with tornadoes. While watching the local weather, they were talking to one of their weather spotters, which had a camera live and just so happen that we ended up watching a tornado form during the report. It was something to watch it form, disappear and then form once again. I hope I never get the opportunity to see one form other than on the television. It's April, so we're expected to see more storms by the end of the week. Yay (not really). It's amazing, as soon as the temperature begin to warm up, a front comes through and cools things down just so the temps can creep back up in the next few days. It's like a see-saw (up and down).
I know I had a lot to update yesterday and decided to separate all categories and subjects individually in order to have a little order to my posts. Like I said before, I'm having troubles with my Picasa albums, so I'm forced to use my Shutterfly albums to show the photos. I posted several subjects yesterday with photos that you might find that the slideshow may not be available. It does still work and logically there is no problem. I've found out that if you just click on the title or "to view larger", you should be able to see the photos just fine. Sorry for the confusion and hope you enjoy the craft and recipe ideas that I posted.
By the way, I've updated the Calendar of Events. I wanted to make you aware of all the different events that will be happening around town or surrounding cities in the next few months. Be sure to check it out and mark your calendar.
While we were in Hobby Lobby, Katie was begging to do a craft that she could do. Well, I remembered seeing this cute Pipe Cleaner Rose Ring tutorial a few months ago from Tatertots and Jello and thought it would be perfect for Katie and not too expensive. A large assorted bag of pipe cleaners from Hobby Lobby cost a little over $2 a packet. At this price, Katie can make oodles and oodles of rings, bracelets, and other necessary accessories. I made her the pink rose ring and bracelet and the multi-color spiral ring. She made the yellow rose ring. She did such a good job, but that's all she wanted to make tonight.
There are several different kid crafts by just using Pipe Cleaners, so much fun! For the ring tutorial, CLICK HERE!
This bunny has been busy, busy preparing for Easter. A while back, my cousin Laura, posted this wreath with hopes to get one made up. She got the idea from another blogger/crafter.
Kristen's Creations posted this beautiful wreath tutorial last month and I fell in love with it. Fortunately for me, I found just about everything that she used for this wreath at Hobby Lobby for half price. Yes, I purchased everything shown for half the price. There is quite a bit of work time to get everything just right. This is a large grapevine wreath. I worked on it during my spare time (ha), so it took me approximately 3-4 days to complete. It turned out to be much bigger than I thought it would be, but I love it. At first, I wanted to display this Easter greeting on my front door. Uh huh, not going to happen because it's too big and thick.
Kristen displayed daisies with her wreath. As much as I love daisies, I thought it would be special to display the dogwood instead. If I could have found small white Easter lilies, I probably would have added them too. Instead, I used dainty pink and lavender Spring flowers.
I liked the lavender mesh ribbon that Kristen used, but they were out of stock, so I used baby blue. It doesn't show in the photo, but I found that the mesh ribbon to be quite cumbersome to work with. In Kristen's instructions, she states to cut the ribbon 1 yard in length strips to tie around the wreath. Well, my problem with that was the ribbon wanted to unravel right where I just cut it. I was beginning to worry that I had made a mistake. After I finished the project, I went back over it and just trimmed where it was needed. It looks much better and I'm pleased.
Katie had a fit when she got home this afternoon to see our wreath. Beings it is too big for the front door, I've placed it on our Dining Room wall. The same wall that I'm trying to find the perfect mirror for under $100. LOL!
If you would like to make this wreath or one similar, you can find the tutorial on Kristen's Creations' website.
As a child, I remember my mother roasting cornish hens for supper and they would be so good. Well on my bucket list, I've wanted to roast cornish hens for supper for Doug and myself. At least do it once. Right? Oh, they were mouth watery good.
I'm having problems with Google loading my photos and yes, I've deleted several photos from my Picasa albums. So, I'm using Shutterfly to display today's post photos.
Roasted Cornish Hen Recipe
Lay hen(s) on roasting pan with the breast side facing up. Please note to be careful when purchasing a roasting pan. I wanted one with removable rack. I purchased an 18" pan from Target. Not thinking about the size of my oven, I wanted to get the 18" to place 2 cornish hens without worry that they both would fit on a 16" roasting pan. I found out very quickly that the 18" barely fit, at an angle, in my oven. Shew.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. I melted mine in the microwave. Baste chickens often during roasting time.
I seasoned the hens with a little barbeque seasoning for flavor.
Cook the hens at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a cooking therometer registers 180 degrees. I basted every 30 minutes.
The outer skin was a crispy, golden brown, but the inside meat was nice and juicy.
PERFECT!
Serve it with steamed veggies, like shown, and would be delicious with mashed potatoes. Yum.
