It's that time of year again. Time to get the colored eggs and various bunnies and chicks out of their boxes to once again remember that......Christ Has Risen?! Sorry but I just don't see the connection. The jolly Saint who gives children presents on the day of the birth of the Christ Child now that makes a certain kind of sense but a bunny that lays colored eggs and leaves sweets for kids in a basket with fake grass....where did that come from? I am going to have to look that one up.
(just a random shot of Lexie at her dance class...too cute!)
Anyway - Lexie and I have done a couple of things to prep for the bunny. Last weekend we put a few dozen plastic eggs around the "gardens" in the front yard. My neighbor did it last year and Lexie begged me to do it to our yard this year. So I blatantly stole the idea but I should have just asked her what she did to make them not blow away. First we tried sand because they had this cool blue play sand at the store and I thought Lexie would have fun filling them.
She did but these silly eggs all have holes in them. How I didn't notice that through the years I'll never know. But after doing a dozen only to look down and see little blue piles forming under each egg was more than a little discouraging. Plus I didn't want the blue sand all over the yard. So I sent Lexie off to get some of the smaller rocks between the sidewalk and the road while I dumped the first dozen out and started over. This was the look I got when I told her the plan....
This worked well enough but I have to say last year the flowers and trees were already starting to bloom and I guess my neighbor had at least 100 eggs because it looked a little bare when we were done.
But Lexie liked it which is all that really matters. She even put some in the pots we'd planted earlier that day.
As for our next Easter project, well every year a local photographer has "Pics & Chicks" 10 days before Easter. It's where she has her studio set up in a cute spring setting along with live baby chicks and a bunny. Ever year I've managed to get Lexie there for a shot. You don't get them on a disc so I can't show you the pictures that are so sweet but here she is on the way. This year she told me she NEEDED a purse so the mouse Angelina Ballerina joined the chicks & bunny. Lexie told me this was her big girl look. I am in soooo much trouble.
After her pictures, I had to stop at my office and she saw these daffodils growing in the field next door. I've had to explain several times that flowers can only be pick if they are growing wild not in a pot or garden or even just in someones yard...sorry neighbor Bob. So when she saw these flowers she KNEW they were hers for the pickin'.
It's strange how the daffodil almost glows in this shot.
Funny thing is she didn't keep them. She gave them all to Ms Andrea the receptionist at my office who sometimes watches her for me. I thought for sure I'd be nursing them for a few days in a paper cup at home.
Well today it was time for the real prep. Arts & crafts....and you thought I was going to say color eggs didn't you? Nope, not yet anyway. First I let her glitter paint a bunny mask.
Then it was on to the main event.....a bunny house. Yup a gingerbread house decorated for the fluffy little guy. I picked up the kit last year on super clearance so I made it very clear to Lexie that she would not be eating this when it was done. I think she made up for it with the icing though. This girl takes her beater licking seriously!
While she was waiting for the icing to mix she sang "I'm a little tea pot."
Even without a video I think you can pretty much tell what she's doing.
She was actually going for a quick dip of the icing for her finale. She's getting sneaky as she gets older. But she did a lot of the frosting on the house and was very focused on her work.
But wait. She had to take another beater licking break.
Then it was down to the serious business of decorating. She was set on making the candies be in a pattern. She really work hard to get everything just the way she wanted it.
Soon it wasn't enough for her to just put on the candy and spread the icing. She wanted to try the icing bag. I figured it's her house so why not.
I love the evidence of her childish beater licking with the very focused look of concentration on her "big girl" task. Naturally she had to try the blue next. She was so proud of herself!
And again she amazes me with what she knows and how she can apply it. The picture on the box shows green grass around the house. In the instructions they suggested mixing green food coloring with shredded coconut for the grass. Since we just ate the last bag of coconut, ha (really do a lot of you just have shredded coconut on hand?) I found some green sprinkles we could put on over the remaining blue icing. Lexie said "hey we have blue and yellow which makes green so we can mix them to make the grass." Nice thinking!!
Finally we added the little bunnies...
and a bunch of "eggs"
WA-LA!! A bunny palace even the Easter Bunny himself would be proud to call his own.
Since we used every piece of candy included in the kit (which was my goal...candy on the house not in the mouth) I had a hard time convincing her that it was yucky and she wouldn't want to eat it.
She was very sure she would love it and it would taste deeeelicious. Here she is pretending to be a bunny who should be able to eat it. How could I resist?
Well I did. The house is in tack and Lexie got to have chocolate yogurt for dessert so everyone is happy (especially Mommy since I won't have to make an emergency trip to the dentist this weekend.)
Happy Easter To You!!
