fun finds: awesome shirts for boys

i am constantly on the lookout for fun shirts for my boys that are not exactly like every other kiddo on the playground are wearing. i love my target, but apparently so does every other mama.....imagine the lost and found at school....it's crazy town.....filled with tons of the same things that you have to dig through. as usual, i turned to my favorite site etsy for unique, fun tees for my little men to wear. support small business and embrace the creative goodness.......happy shopping! xo

chillin with my peeps

back to the future

feel the force

rocky mountain national park badge

electric company

darth vader and storm troopers bike

retro mixtape

chewbacca sketch phonetic spelling

eat. sleep. lego.

hip hop ya don't stop

guess what, chicken...

skateboard

you used to call me on my play phone....

friday fun finds: teaching easter's meaning

i love easter. i love the spring and all the celebration that easter brings. just like christmas, though, it has become increasingly difficult to teach my kids the meaning of easter in the midst of all the bunnies and eggs. here are some fun things we've found to help us share the meaning of easter with our kiddos.

my kids love these on easter sunday. they are an interactive, fun way to teach your kids the easter story and there are tons of options out there to find or make your own. each egg is filled with an item that will help the kids learn another part of the easter story. eleven items to fill up eggs and one empty egg at the end of the story. perfect visual messages for your little learners.

several stores sell pre-made options.

resurrection eggs

here are some cute ones you can make yourself:

homemade resurrection eggs from mommysavers

easter is full of sweet treats. these ones are adorable and share the easter message.

empty tomb snacks from catholicicing

plant an easter garden early enough to have the grass sprout by easter sunday.

easter garden by colleen hammond

make resurrection rolls...such a great idea for kids!

resurrection rolls by women living well

easter traditions

we lived in south america for five years. our latin american friends know how to do easter right. with their catholic roots, they have an entire week to celebrate "semana santa" or "holy week" and we very easily fell into their traditions. here are some things that we still try to do to make easter last a little longer and to share the meaning of easter with our children.

thursday: this day is called maundy thursday. it is celebrated as the day of the last supper. if you want to learn more about the day, you can read up on it here. we have the tradition of making bread together as a family. we then will take some time during the day to explain the last supper to our kids and eat the bread together.

friday: this day is good friday. we typically will do a craft that has a cross in it. there are tons of great ones on oriental trading that are very cheap. you could also easily make some crafts of your own. my kids are pretty young to grasp all that good friday means but we can share some of the story while they are busy making their crafts.

saturday: this day doesn't have the significance in holy week that the other days do. we use this day to embrace some of the traditions from the u.s. we dye easter eggs and get the easter baskets ready for sunday morning. i also have the kids help to decorate our table for the easter meal. they can decorate easter placemats and put out all of the easter decorations for sunday afternoon. not only will this give them something special to do in preparation for easter but it will also give you one less thing to do if you head off to church on easter morning. if you make a special breakfast for easter morning, it is also great to have some recipes you can make the day before and this can be a great activity to let the kids help to prepare.

sunday: we head to church for easter sunday morning. after our lunch and the quests for easter eggs, we pull our our set of "resurrection eggs" to share the easter story with the kids. these eggs are one of our kids' favorite things to do on easter sunday. check back tomorrow for an easy "how to" to make some of your own.

we hope you have a fantastic easter any way you choose to celebrate it.

friday fun finds: the top 10 must-have easter treats to make

homemade reese's peanut butter eggs from the whimsical princess

salted carmel easter popcorn from two peas and their pod

easter bunny cupcakes from musings from a stay at home mom

easter bark from the browy blog

rainbow jello easter eggs from thrive

easter egg pops from britt

bird's nests from the high healed hostess

hidden surprise easter egg treats from rice krispies

peeps s'mores from eclectic recipes

easter sushi from serious eats

friday fun finds: my favorite easter decorations

it's that time, folks. time to start decorating for spring. here are my favorite easter decorations of the season. enjoy!

happy easter spring lights--$39

honey bunny embroidered table runner--$69

easter story time collection-- $19.99-$29.99

french wire egg basket--$29

peter rabbit infant/toddler feeding set--$19

easter wooden yard stakes--$29.99--$39.99

vine bunnies--$49-$59

peter rabbit placemats--$36

vintage fisher price pull duck toy--$125

diy: hair bands with flowers

my daughter loses things all the time. she also loves to stuff things in her backpack and is then surprised when they come out of the backpack looking less than perfect. this is a huge pet peeve of mine. it's also especially annoying when i buy her a brand new hair bow or hair band and find it destroyed in the pile of things in her book bag. after spending tons of cash on her hair "pretties", i decided just to make my own for her. they take time and a little bit of money but they easy to make and are much cheaper than what you can buy. here's the quick "how to."

to start, you'll need:

• elastic decorative ribbon (i got mine at "hobby lobby" for $2.00 for the whole roll)
• a coordinating flower
• wire cutters
• matching thread
• a matching button or decorative flower center
• a hot glue gun and glue sticks
• a basic matching hair alligator clip

cut a section of the ribbon to fit snugly around your child's head. sew the two ends together, overlapping slightly.

cut the stem from the flower. peel back the underlying piece of the stem and take the center part of the flower completely off of the flower. be careful not to separate the flower petal pieces as you do this.

using the hot glue gun, glue the pieces of the flower petals together in the center to keep them in place and secure. this also will help keep the flower from flopping into your daughter's face as she wears the head band (much less drama).

sew the coordinating button into the center of the flower. this will not only secure the flower petals but will also make for a decorative touch.

glue the alligator clip to the back of the flower. this will ensure that the flower can be attached to the headband or can be worn separately as its own accessory. attach the flower to the headband and you're ready to go. simple and affordable...now if i could just get my daughter to keep these on her head!