Easter with the fam

We made the trip home to Horseheads for the Easter holiday.  We actually hadn't been there last since Christmas, so it was especially nice to be "home."  Owen was able to participate in the festivities a little more this year since he's a little older.

I told you Owen is into baking right now.  Well his grandma asked Owen to help with the Easter bunny cake...I don't know if she realized what she was getting into.  Here is where he pushed a chair over and climbed up to the counter to steal frosting.

She gave him little scrap pieces of cake to much on while she worked, but Owen decided that wasn't enough cake.

So he took the entire ear of the bunny an sank his teeth into it.  I had to put the camera down quickly here and help out or we would've had a weird looking bunny cake.

Then we dyed some Easter eggs.  He drew some scribbles on the eggs and Mommy helped him write his name.

He did pretty well with them.  He seemed to like the colors and putting stickers on them of course.

After eggs Owen got some good play time with his cousins Grace and Alex.  The best part was the dogpile on Daddy...yeah he's under there somewhere.

Then we went to my parents' house for awhile and played with the other cousins.  We did hide and seek, slides, and beanbag toss with them.  We also had some good pizza for dinner.

I'm just posting this because it was a cute one of Kendall...

Easter morning came and we all got dressed up and went to church and to Dennis's Grandma's house for brunch.  I forgot my camera oops.
We went back to the Hall's for an Easter egg hunt and baskets.  Owen had been practicing all week at home in Buffalo for the hunt, so he was prepared.  Here he points to an egg and Grandma and Alex retrieve it.

The Easter bunny treated the kids pretty well.  Owen got lots of fun things, as did the adults.  There was treats, bubbles, cars, and clothes in the baskets.

After baskets the kids were on a little sugar high, which of course is supposed to happen at Easter.  Alex started doing "cheers" with Owen with sippy cups and he was cracking up so much his face was bright red.  Now he keeps doing "cheers" to everyone all the time.  Too cute!

We had Sam take a family photo for us before we left since we all looked decently cleaned up for once.  Thanks Sam!
We then headed back to the Edwards house for more treats and playing.  We had a great weekend!

Easter Treats

We will soon be heading to Horseheads for Easter.  Since everyone always cooks for us for the holidays, I like to make sure we at least bring a little treat.  This year I decided to try the Rice Krispies Easter egg recipe that I got off the internet.  It's very easy and (semi) kid-friendly, so I employed my sous-chef Owen to assist.

First we mixed together our ingredients.  It's the normal Rice Krispie treat recipe-butter, marshmallows, and cereal.  I did the work on the stove while Owen was happy to stir around some dry cereal.

He was really into it

Then we pressed the warm mixture into plastic eggs.  He kept yelling "EGG" here.  Then Owen decided that it was time to cause trouble.  He started climbing on the table, jumping on the dog, spilling the dog's water everywhere...ugh.  We take to take a short break for time-outs.

and clean up.  By the time we got back to the eggs, they were not so warm anymore which was a bit of a challenge.

Once the molded eggs were cooled we dipped them into melted white chocolate and sprinkles

Made some random messes out of melty goo

Well you had to know this was going to happen

Ta da!  Cute huh?  And because I'm a photo nerd I took a few more pictures before these all get gobbled up.


Yum!

Mommy and Me

Dennis is away this weekend for a bachelor party in Boston, so it's just been me and Owen.  I did have the girls over for a chick flick night on Friday, but have been flying solo since.  Unfortunately, I was a little premature with the spring post last week because winter is rearing its ugly head again this weekend.  50 mph winds and snow means no outdoor play for us.  It also means a very cranky boy and a very cranky mommy.
We came up with some fun things to do though.  Saturday morning we ran some errands and played and read at Barnes and Noble for awhile.  We split a burrito bowl at Chipotle.  After that we came home and played with toys after a nap.
 
He's had this toy since Christmas but hasn't played with it in awhile.  Do you see his face?  He was beside himself.   We dug to the bottom of the toybox because those toys are "new" all over again.

He is really into cooking and baking with me lately, so we made some "dough" with flour and water.  He liked to mix it, but after it was made he was done with it.  Yeah that killed maybe 20 minutes.  It probably took longer to clean it up.

Speaking of baking, here is finishing off the chocolate chip cookies I made.  Gross!

Then he wanted to put on all his jewelry and play with his talking animal toys.  He makes these jewels with Sally our babysitter.  He has to wear them all the time!
Then it was bedtime.  All of a sudden Owen is terrified of the bath.  It's been a struggle for 2 weeks now.  He was really stinky so I had to once again get in with him and try to get him clean and soothe him at the same time.  I hope this phase ends soon.
Today has been a little better.  We took an extra long trip to Wegmans, which he loves.  Daddy will be home soon!

Grilling time

Well last weekend was pretty much perfect.  With the longest winter I think I've ever witnessed in my life finally breaking, and 70 degree temperatures to boot, how could it not be perfect?  Better yet, Dennis and I didn't have to work either.  We decided to chance it and get out the grill and patio furniture.  This probably means it will snow again next week...
It was even warm enough to eat outside.  I ran to the store and got some supplies for a proper steak dinner on the grill. 

Owen wasn't so sure at first.  I don't think he remembered eating on the deck last year.

We had steak, sauteed mushrooms, and roasted red potatoes

with some adult beverages for the over 21 crowd

mmmmmm (Dennis hums when he likes his food...it's kinda cute)

I was worried that Owen wouldn't like the steak.  He's not a big fan of straight-up meat.  So I cut it into little pieces and put it into his quesadilla.  I can pretty much hide any food I want him to eat into a cheesy tortilla and he'll eat it.  Much to my surprise, he started pulling the pieces of steak out and eating them.  Of course he's got to have expensive taste *sigh*

This one just kept begging for steak

How can I say no to that face?

The only downside to eating outside was the little man was majorly distracted.  He pointed out every bird, bug, airplane, leaf, and sound that was around outside.  The meal took forever...but couldn't have been better.  Yay for spring!

Owen's first finger paints

I decided today was the day to try finger paints with Owen.  He's been getting more into art projects, and I think we're safely out of the putting everything in your mouth phase.  We went out to Target to get the paints, undressed (well just him!), and got ready for a mess.


at first he was cautious


I think he was worried about the mess ha ha!


Luckily, he got used to the idea and went to town


He has been working on writing his name lately and wanted to paint it too.  Here's the "O"

The "W"...I couldn't recognize any other letters myself.  It's also funny that he can only say "o" and "e" so he kept going o e o e o e the whole time he painted.


After completing 2 paintings he realized his hands were "yuck" and was done.


Here's one finished work of art.  Very fun!  He only really got paint on his hands and arms.  I was amazed!  I was ready to whisk him the tub when he was done, but we were able to just wash his hands in the sink.