E is for Egg....follow up

Ok, here they are.  Not great, but i didn't want to dunk them in paint either, so sponged with faces painted on (sorta)...here they are.  And if i find out that someone put this on craftfail.com (mandy)  you will be in big trouble!  At least, now there are step by step pictures so someone can do it better!

 I like to use the egg cartons turned over to hold the eggs..only downside is that one carton only holds 5...

 inspiration

 Before faces

* only one pig was hurt in the making of this craft.  He sustained facial lacerations from a fall while posing for pictures.  He will probably be side-lined during game time.

F is for Fever

Yep, it just wouldn't be a holiday for the Coopers if one of the kids weren't sick!  I came home to a cranky 2-year old with a 102.3 fever wanting his mommy.  Poor thing.  i'm pretty sure it's just teething since i change his shirt twice in 4 hours because the front was totally soaked from slobber.  So, we started the Motrin/Tylenol schedule and, while it hasn't broken yet, he was more like himself.  he at least ate and participated in some loving battles with his big brother.  Meanwhile, in another room......... I've got two cakes baking for a special treat and the angry bird eggs have begun.  The base color is on.....now to dry and apply ANGRY eyes!  party tomorrow and then off to Mimi and Papa's, where hopefully, the Bunny will be able to find us.  I assured Mikey that Santa and the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy are good friends and Santa would surely tell the Bunny where to find the Cooper boys.  Good times!  Happy Easter to all!

E is for Easter Eggs, of course!

So, that special time is only a few days away!  The eggs are hard-boiled - i hope - and ready to go.  You know, it's funny, but 'how to hard boil an egg' is always a new concept to me.  for some reason, i can NEVER remember from one time to the next what on earth i'm supposed to do!  So, i looked it up.  Now my refrigerator smells like eggs, but it's not awful, so i hope i did it right.  This year, the little one and I are going to make Angry Bird eggs.  Saw it on, where else, Pintrest!  Only, i have not been able to find any instructions for them.  There are a couple of demos out there for making angry bird things, however, the picture of the eggs that is circulating seems to just be a picture and not attached to a blog anywhere.  Best i can figure out is that they did it with acrylics.  How else do you get an egg black?  i'm open for suggestions if you know.  i guess i could have gotten the little tub of black icing coloring at the craft store and then used a sponge, but that seemed a little to extreme and, well, costly for what will amount to 2 black-dyed eggs.  When else am i going to use black icing coloring?  ok, strike that, i can figure on many times when i would.......check out the ladybug cake in one of my earlier posts.........however, i don't foresee any blackness in my cakes anytime soon.  Anyway, the other eggs in the picture also appear to be painted and not dyed.  No one, i don't care how long you let that egg sit in the red dye, ever produces a bright cherry-red egg...it's always some form of pink, dark pink if you're lucky!  So, anyway, i'm thinking i will use a sponging method and use scant amounts of acrylic paints to color the eggs and then we will draw on the beaks and eyes and such.  The egg shell should be thick enough to protect the egg, right?  i'll have to check the toxicity warning on the bottles.  I'd used watercolors, but even a little dew in that grass and we're ruined, RUINED I TELL YOU!  ok, any other ideas?  I'm open for suggestions, otherwise, i'll report back what we come up with.  I'll even take pictures along the way, so in case we do a good job, we'll have a step by step out there for other people instead of a mystery pic!  Wish me luck!

D is for Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead!

tonight i am sharing a funny incident about my son......

My son's favorite movie is "The Wizard of Oz".  He loves the big fire head of Oz and thinks the flying monkeys are hilarious!  He would watch it 24/7 if we let him.  A few months ago I asked him if he would like to watch a movie, he said yes and that he wanted to watch, what else, the Wizard of Oz.  I said, no, you need to pick out another movie.  he responded, "Mommy, do we have any other movies with flying monkeys?", i said no, he said, "then, we're watching the wizard of oz."  Couldn't argue with that.  tonight is short, but i have a ton of other stuff to do!  I'm off to see the wizard.......

C is for Christmas

Yes, Christmas!  Why is it that the preparations for Christmas almost seem more exciting and magical than the single day itself?  The invisible connection while putting together cards, the moments dedicated to single individuals while we choose just the right gift for them, the joy and fun of putting up the tree and the stockings and any other decorations you deem worthy.....we, for instance, started a paper chain that goes around our entire family room.  This year, both kids should be able to assist in adding to it.  Maybe it will creep into the kitchen this year!  My favorite part of the season, though, has got to be the smells!  I wait all year to stick a brick of Apple Cinnamon or Holiday Spice into the warmer!  Anyway, the point i was going to attempt to get to was this...we put so much effort into the holiday season and then it's...just...over.  there is a slight delight of putting things away and getting things re-organized, but it doesn't last that long....it's still winter after all.....then Spring, which I will admit have it's own merits, then Summer......i'm good for a little bit of summer, but i'm not much a hot weather person.  There's only so much a person can remove, you can always add layers, but once you're naked....you're out of luck (or not?)  Anyway, back on track......you spend a lot of effort, it's over, you try to put your all into the rest of the year, but for me, i'm really just always looking once again to The Beginning..........First day of Autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas!!!  My favorite season?  the Holiday Season!  What's your favorite part of the Holiday season?

Ok, not so much of a cohesive thought as I would have liked to present, but it was the only alternative to my first choice for the letter C as developed through a short brainstorm with Ms. Heather.

Title:  C is for Cat

Blog:  Damn cat.  The end.

B is for Boys

My life is run by boys!  This is a true statement although this post may have nothing else to do with it other than I am the only woman in the house!  I know I'm a day late with this post and i need to stay on track with this challenge, but, surprise, i tried to do too much yesterday and ended up hurrying off to bed so i had a prayer of being up on time this morning!

So, a thought from yesterday....'they' say there is woman's work and men's work.......well unless your respective hoo-hoos are performing the work, i don't see how possessing one or the other uniquely qualifies you to only accomplish one type of work.  The only time when this segregation of responsibility applies is in carrying of a child in the womb and giving birth.  OK, there.  have a good day!

A is for Anniversary!

So, this being the first day of the A to Z April challenge....i need to start with "A".  Good thing this has been my anniversary weekend or you may have been treated to a blog about ants or antibiotics!  So, how do you spend your anniversary?  We chose to take on a project to test our relationship!  The hubby and I spent the majority of this weekend renovating our kids' bathroom.  I also completed the refreshing of our half bath (just a a little paint).  It has only taken us 2 1/2 years to complete the bathrooms in this house.  I can't believe we're nearly there!  I have 2 entire Franklin Covey planners where every week has "bathroom" listed as a 'to do' item.  I may have to take the day off to cross it off! So, we started off with icky white walls, cracking light-colored tile, and a builder's grade sink and vanity set.  We've actually had all the stuff since the day we moved in because we wanted to replace all the sinks and vanities in all 3 bathrooms and also paint them all the same color.  So, we've done this twice before, right?  It's the biggest bathroom in the house and.....drumroll please.......it's square!  Hallelujah!  Umm..right?  So we, started off....took out the toilet..no biggie.....took out the vanity and the cabinet.....easy enough.  Ok, tile removal time.  Yeah, ok.  so not cracked enough to come up easily.  Poor Mike.  Then we discovered that the tub we had put in when we moved in was.....wait for it...... professionally adhered to the old tile!  Fabulous.  (insert sarcasm here)  Slowly, and painfully, e managed to get it out.  No worries that the tub is now floating about our new floor's level by half and inch!  ok, so then we needed a break....he took a nap.....me, i can't sleep in the middle of the day, so i took to painting.  coat downstairs, coat upstairs, another coat up......you get the picture.  Then i tried to apply the boarder in the kids bathroom....the roll is 15 ft....the wall.....15 1/2 feet!  Darn it! (again!)  Mind you,  bought this border 2 years ago!!!  So, off to Walmart we go.  No luck.  oh well, i'll figure it out, right?  So, on to dinner..actually had our nice romantic-spend-too-much at 'Jimmy the Greek'.  I highly recommend the French Onion soup!  So, back to the house around 10 and decided neither of us can do it anymore.  To bed.  First thing this morning I got up, my brilliant idea to paint a mural on the wall to account for the missing 6 inches....i ended up painting a palm tree with a monkey, copied from the border.  Mike got up, we attacked the floor....i won't go into the full drama, but let's just say we now have a contractor friend fitting us into his schedule to completely uninstall and re-install the bathtub so that it is done 'right'.  At least the toilet and new sink are back in and the vanity will be shortly.  Below are the before, during, and after pics...the after pics aren't totally complete since the vanity and sink are still missing doors, but the little one went to bed and drilling had to come to a stop for the night.

I AM happy to report that we are still very much in love and no threats of violence were uttered this weekend!  Happy 7th Anniversary, Mike! and, Thank You, Mom and Dad and Mandy for watching the boys and making this possible!