Fish Hatchery

We went to the hatchery today to take in the beautiful spring weather.  After feeding the fish we took a walk along the new section of bike trail under Hazel bridge and over to the aquatic center.  It was gorgeous out and we enjoyed seeing the wildlife.  

Fiesta 40 Party

A couple of months back I received a call from my good friends husband asking for help to throw her a surprise party for her upcoming Birthday.  The email chains started, the Moms were on the loose in party planning mode.  We nailed down a date and decided to do a Fiesta theme. 
Somehow, after a couple of months of planning, no one spilled the beans and she was very surprised! 
Banner made using Cricut cartridge Celebrations and Jasmine.

 Margarita Cupcakes via Pinterest from here.
They turned out awesome, the recipe is going in my favorites folder.

Tissue paper flowers made by Sarah, very festive!  

The sombrero was from Chevy's and then Ramona decorated for our special gal. 

 Sarah made this Happy Birthday banner as well.

 The bar set up before the actual booze arrived. 

  Taco bar

We had a great time, but that's not hard to do with our group around.

Piano

Hooray, we now have a piano to call our own.  

It's not the most beautiful one, but trying to round up enough people to travel to get one, this one worked out the best.  It needs some love, but has a good sound.  

 It's fairly easy to play, I think it will be better once it's tuned and adjusted.  It has a few sticky keys on the very edges, but those have gotten better since it's been brought home and inside.  I've left the top open to really air it out, it seams to be helping.

 This is the inside the top, really pretty wood.  Hopefully at some point we'll be able to polish it up a bit. 

A quick tune to share...

Excited to have it tuned on Friday! 

Easter Fun

The Easter bunny came last night and filled up all our baskets!  

 We then tortured the boys and told them they couldn't wake us up before 8am.

I'm pretty sure they were up around 6am, but were good and stayed in their room.

Can we open them now Mom?!!?!

 Easter bunny loot...

 The bunny left a note that he was awfully busy this year and asked for some Mom help.  

So I set up a scavenger hunt that sent the boys around the house to find their big gift.

 Whoo Hooo, found it!

 Then they searched around for the treat eggs the Easter Bunny left.

 Counting their eggs...

 Once they were dressed, it was time to test out the new stadium.

Before we knew it, time had come to go to Grandma and Grandpas.  

Once everyone arrived it was time for the egg hunt.

 The little boys had 6 eggs to find with their initials on them.

The big kids each had to pick a color and find all 6 eggs of that color. 

 Eye spy with my little eye a pink egg!

 Found one!

 Purple...

 The boys checking out their loot. 

 The big kids had to solve a Scrabble style puzzle, each the same, to claim our gift card. 

After a nice brunch and some play time, we called it a day!

Dying eggs for Easter...

The boys have been asking since the beginning of March if we could dye eggs this year.  They were really excited when we opened the Easter box to find two dying kits ready to go!  I was crossing my fingers that they weren't too old and would still work.  In the end, the old set (5+ years) didn't work all the well, but the newer ones were great.  Plus we have cups for next year.

Every time I hard boil eggs I have to Google it, it's really not the hardest thing I've ever cooked, but it's easy to mess them up.  So eggs in the pan, covered with cold water, brought just to a boil, then cover them and turn the heat off.  Let them sit for 12 minutes or so, then place them in an ice bath.  Done! 

As to not ruin anything else in the house, the garage was where we set up. 

 Wasting no time, Ty dunked right into the green. 

 Cody really liked writing messages and designs on this eggs.

 Double dunk...

 Ty slowed down and drew on some of his as well.

 This one hit the ground, but we figured we would just keep dying it anyway. 

 No super smiley photos today, egg dying is serious business.

 That or it just wasn't as exciting as they pictured it to be.

  Egg bath...

Pretty eggs, all finished.

Happy Easter!