Easter Craft Eggstravaganza

It was the most beautiful weekend so far this year. AND I was off work! The girls and I spent pretty much all of Saturday outside making crafts, swinging and playing in the sandbox. These are the days we live for.

Truthfully, I was hoping to take them out and about to an Easter egg hunt or festival somewhere. I don't sit at home very well, and I think they have acquired some of that "on the go" bug from me too. However, my dear husband reminded me to do what was best for our girls. They had been sick and fussy last week and just needed some focused mommy/daughter time at home. Plus, Adria does not have any braces that she can wear right now to give her the support she needs to safely walk around. She has broken two pair in the last week and even though Daddy tried to fix them, they caused major bruising on her legs :(

So while Daddy was busy helping some friends move on Saturday (we know how important moving help is!), the girls and I made our own Easter fun right in the backyard. My mom is very crafty, but I just got a small amount of that skill. I need to use resources to get ideas. We made a fun and easy craft that I saw in Family Fun magazine and then got a little extra help from this tutorial video the girls liked.

Presenting...Plastic Egg Easter Bunnies!





I just love the focus and concentration on their little faces! Johanna preferred playing with stickers over trying to make bunny ears out of craft pipe cleaners, but Adria loved gluing on the eyes and tails.

Adria proudly showing off her dozen new Easter bunny friends that we made (with a tiny bit of "help" from little sister Johanna)

After a couple hours of making our bunnies and taking a lunch break, we began the painting craft. Now this is the stuff Johanna really loves. She never sits still...unless she's coloring or painting. Maybe there's an artsy side in her future?

We cut out the cups of an egg carton and painted each one in bright, springy colors. They dried over naptime, and we haven't yet finished this project. Our hope is that we'll add pipe cleaner stems and make a lovely bouquet of egg carton "tulips."

Precious little profiles, deeply focused on the task at hand.

Johanna's little hands at work painting

Our painted egg carton "flowers" and my messy hand. Good thing we did this outside!

And then there's the yummy crafts that you get to eat. A couple weeks ago we made these delicious little lamb sandwiches (another idea from Family Fun). They were a bit more labor intensive than I anticipated, but Adria loved them and thought they were delicious.

LITTLE LAMB SANDWICHES

Ingredients:

Small bagels or English muffins
Provolone Cheese
Black Olives (which my girls LOVE)
Mayo or Salad Dressing
Shredded Mozz Cheese
Tiny Pepperoni or Cut up Ham circles

Directions:

It's all about using the Mayo as an adhesive. A little on the bagel, then place the slice of cheese. Cut out circles and half circles of cheese for snout and ears. Slice and dice black olives for eyes and mouth. Pepperoni for nose. Top it off with shredded chees for the hair - always using mayo to get the parts to stick. The Lamb Sandwiches were super cute and turned out tasty, especially when served with soup. Adria's Granny and Grandad even got to enjoy them. However, these will be a rare treat when there's extra time to spare.

Adria was quite pleased with the final product of our Lamb Sandwiches. They weren't perfect but that's okay, they tasted good!

Sometimes doing crafts can test my patience when the mess begins to spread, but I try to remind myself it's all worth it just for the precious time to be with my little ones.

But before I go, I have to note a not-so-precious time. Once again, as I was halfway through this post, little Johanna awoke getting sick and throwing up in bed. And once again we did the late night quick bath and bed clean-up. Poor thing is still recovering from an ear infection and pink eye! I so hope she's all better soon.

Maybe it was all the excitement and running around tonight because of her new pair of pumps that Daddy bought :)