Easter and a little extra

I LOVE it when little kids dress themselves. I mean LOVE it. I think it is so fun to have them pick out whatever they are feeling like. I think it is a great form of expression and I wouldn't want restriction in that area, so I try and give my kids that choice (except for church). One day Ben found his really long scarf and wrapped it around his neck and said, "This is a good idea I think." Hilarious-ness. So I decided to document that outfit. Notice he chose rain boots  legwarmers, shorts, spider-man   shirt and then the lovely scarf that I sewed eyes onto because it looked like a snake.  

 Then one day Benny asked if he could hold the baby and I let him. This is his favorite thing to do now. He is so proud that he is big enough to hold her like this. Let me tell you, when I am in a pinch, I love this fact too. 

 We had a fun snow day and it wasn't really cold, so the boys put on shoes and jackets and explored on our back porch! 

 T

hey were very cautious for a few minutes.

They got over that quick.

He kept falling down every 3 seconds. The snow was really wet because it was melting.

Benny took a nose dive a few times too.

One day Daniel brought home a craft! He bought little dixie cups and bird seed. First you thread string through the top. Then slather peanut butter on the outside.

Put birdseed on a plate and roll the cups in the seed.

Super simple and super fun. The birds LOVED it and the boys love watching them eat it!

 Easter time comes with many traditions in our family. First is egg dying. 

The kids got a package from Grandpa Mark and Grandma Dee

They LOVED everything inside! Thank you for the treats,cards, and toys!

Another tradition is magic Jelly beans. I made a simple box and placed the jelly beans inside. I gave them to the boys and they took them outside and picked a spot to plant them. They dug little holes and placed the beans inside. On Easter morning they came out to find that their magic jelly beans had grown into big suckers! Ben is still talking about how magical it was!

Another tradition we do is an Easter basket scavenger hunt by the Easter bunny! He leaves eggs filled with clues all over the house and it leads the kids to their basket of goodies. 

For a few years now we have gotten the kids Jelly-cat stuffed animals. They are the softest, cutest, and long lasting animals ever! Benny loves dinosaurs so he got a red one. He named it Dino (so creative I know). When ever Tayrien makes any kind of sound, I think it sounds like a little monkey, so that is what I chose to give this year. When I was trying to help him pick out a name, he just kept saying "No!" to everything. Finally I said Choco (short for chocolate and pronounced chalk-o) and he yelled "YES!" so Choco it is. 

The boys helped me name Auriel's bunny Rosie. She has a soft bell inside that jingles when moved (not an annoying jingle, but a low jungle-jingle sound)

i did a photo shoot with the kids outside and it was horrible. Three is hard! So I tried again inside the house and got better results. Tayrien was throwing a fit because he didn't want to look at the camera. He eventually came around.

Auriel and I on our first Easter together. I made both of our dresses and the colors match. 

 I love my kids and I love holidays and taking pictures of said kids on said holidays. Win-win-win for mommy!