Noe News is Good News

Early Easter Bunny Visit

I have this feeling that I won't be around this weekend for Easter with my kids so I made sure to arrange a visit from the Easter bunny a little early this year. The looks on their faces = priceless. Such a fun Easter! AND I was super proud that I didn't stuff their baskets with junk. I gave them each 2 little small chocolate bugs and then some organic bunny fruit snacks and cheddar bunnies. It fit perfectly with the Easter theme :) 

It was super cute because I had told them that I thought the Easter bunny would come early some time today but that they would have to be really good and quiet so they wouldn't scare him away. While they occupied themselves downstairs, I hid their baskets and then let out a little yell that I thought I saw the Easter bunny running away! So they both excitedly ran upstairs and searched for their baskets. They especially loved their new bla bla dolls... I don't know what it is about those dolls but they really have a way of carving out a spot in kids' hearts. The kids had each picked a favorite one last week after they wouldn't stop touching the one I got for Lyla... I told them I would let the Easter bunny know which one they wanted. Even they website was kid friendly and they loved looking through all the characters.  














 


 I love seeing my kids enjoy their gifts... what was even more priceless was their play right after... I'm surprised they let me take video... they never do. But here they are caught on camera playing nice with each other. This video is priceless!!

 

Bunnies!!

A friend of mine found a burrow filled with baby bunnies as she was cleaning off some vines around a tree in her backyard... seriously SO cute!!! We dressed our kids up in their Easter attire and took some pictures with the bunnies- perfect as can be! They were seriously adorable. Joselyn and Landen were both so gentle with them.

And don't worry- we made sure to double check that the bunnies' mommy would still care for them after human contact! They do. 

Easter

I had really big cute plans for Easter weekend... but with the events happening those all got put on hold. The good that came out of all of this was that we were able to focus more on what Easter was all about. Joselyn was able to see the Easter pageant and I have lots of cute stuff for next year! However, I had already got a few things for an Easter basket so I felt I should give it to them. So we went to go pick out some baskets (couldn't find one for Landen that I liked so I used one we had at home) and set them out for the Easter bunny to fill and hide after I had returned from Arizona. In a haste to fill eggs, I did something I told myself I wouldn't do- I filled the eggs with candy. Only a jelly bean or two in each egg or a cadbury mini egg or two, but nonetheless I will never do this again. Candy makes my kids awful cranky!!! Especially lots of it. Seriously- never again. But watching them look for and open their baskets was priceless.





We hid Joselyn's in the kids' bathtub and Landen's in the laundry room. Since they were on different floors searching, there was no confusion as to who's basket was who's. Joselyn was so cute looking for her basket.



When they finally found their baskets, I ordered them to sit on the couch so I could take pictures of them showing off their stuff- so glad they cooperated!





My kids love their hooded towels for bathtime... and they only had 4 between the two of them so I decided to add to the collection. Joselyn got a duck and Landen a monkey... since he loves this little song about monkeys that Adam made up for him. They also both got a book and some carrot bubbles. But of course the first thing they went for was the candy and it was gone fast, except for the jelly beans in the carrot bags which got thrown down and bust open. So glad I am not doing candy again. They would have been happy with empty eggs. I know they would have.

The Easter Pageant

Attending the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Arizona temple is another one of those traditions that I hold close to my heart. I recently learned that my grandparents were one of the first to produce this pageant in the capicity it is held in today. There are literally thousands who come to see this production and it is quite amazing. When I was growing up in Mesa, my grandmother was the narrator for this pageant as well. So it was only fitting to go see it while we were there. My mom and Aunt Laura went really early to save us some seats and Joselyn and I arrived about 2 hours before it started. I took that opportunity to just enjoy the beautiful grounds and let Joselyn run free. Still in her Rapunzel character, she kicked off her shoes and started singing "I feel the grass and dirt just how I dreamed it'd be.... for the first time EVER I'm completely FREE!!" I was smiling so big my cheeks hurt.

The flowers were beautiful. And the grass... what I wouldn't give to get our grass to look and feel like the grass on the temple grounds there!!

 












While there we saw 3 couples who just got married and were taking pictures. Joselyn stopped all of them and told them they were so pretty and beautiful- even gave one of them a flower! They loved it of course. We also met some of the characters who were walking around before the pageant started. This one girl gave Joselyn a bracelet.



This was only the halfway point- behind the chairs are areas for blankets and such to sit on the hill and watch. We were pretty close to the stage and still had a hard time seeing everything... wonder what the people way back here thought?



Everything about the pageant was beautiful. I loved that they used live animals- made it so interesting. And of course this was especially nice since it would be the only Easter actvity Joselyn and I would have all during Easter. But I must say this was a great way for Joselyn to learn the true Easter story.

To learn more about temples go here.

Easter dreaming...

I LOVE putting together Easter baskets! But I don't like the abundance of candy!! SO I've been gathering some cute ideas for the kids' Easter baskets that are non-sugar. I know... a little Early to be thinking about Easter baskets but I can't help myself!

Since spring brings flowers and gardening, I thought it would be fun to get the kids some gardening supplies! I spied some really cute mini watering cans and gardening supplies for kids at Target. They had some in the $1 spot and some back in the seasonal department too.

Then there are these adorable bunny crackers!! Annie's Homegrown brand... some of them are all organic, but even if they weren't would be so cute to fill eggs with! I've also seen people fill carrot shaped bags with these! They are orange so they look adorable!



I am waiting for these cute bunnies to come out from Blabla kids... Joselyn's favorite stuffed animals are bunnies... so I know she would cherish one of these. She seriously loves bunnies!



Jellycat also has the SOFTEST plush animals!! They have them at the Gap sometimes and every time I see them I want to hold one and pet it the whole time I am there. They are SOOO soft!! So this might be an option too!



Joselyn might appreciate a few new pairs of cute undies :) Gymboree has some cute ones with bunnies on them!


This little pack from the Gap would be cute too:



And I wouldn't doubt Old Navy has something cute.

For Landen, I bet he wouldn't mind some new ties or Sunglasses. Children's place has a great selection! Maybe even a new hat that looks like daddy's... or socks!

I'd love to put all this stuff in a basket I can reuse... maybe one of these from Land of Nod to re-use in their rooms.



I already have two in Landen's room. They are sooo nice. We keep all his balls in one and all his stuffed animals in the other. I'm sure we could find a great use for another one in his room... They are a little on the large side so they would work as a place for dirty clothes. If I put a lot of paper grass at the bottom it would be kind of fun!!

My kids also LOVE rubber duckies! Bath and Body Works always comes out with a cute selection this time of the  year!!




I'm excited for Easter!! We're going to hide the baskets this year now that they are old enough to go find them... and of course we'll have a cute little Easter breakfast. I'm excited to set the table! I saw these place settings somewhere and I might try to recreate something like this. All of these were put together with dishes found at Goodwill and Salvation Army type places!



Then on each place setting I hope to have a napkin shaped like this:

Tutorial here. Cute huh?

Any fun Easter traditions you have?

Easter Morning

I've gotta say one of the best parts of being a parent are the holidays. I love putting together little things for my kids and finding excuses to buy cute clothes etc. This Easter I wanted everything to be memorable. I wanted to get lots of pictures too so that I could somehow remember the feelings of Joy I receive while watching the kids giggle in delight over their Easter baskets and such. I definitely had fun on my shopping trips to Target and the Dollar Tree finding fun things to put in their Easter Baskets. I tried to avoid an abundance of candy (although I did include SOME) and instead tried to find lots of books and other fun things... that would actually get used.



Joselyn's Easter Basket: I found cute flower hairbands at Target... they don't quite fit her hair yet but I just loved them so I used them as an adornment on her basket with plans to use them in her hair somehow soon. I included lots of books from the Dollar Spot at Target and some Peter Rabbit board books we got at Chick-fil-a which I set aside. My kids love wind up toys so I found a few of those for each of their baskets and for Joselyn I also found some CUTE little shirts at the Dollar Tree which I stuffed into the carrot and chick eggs. And we can't forget the little apple notebook from Target (they have the CUTEST things!). Joselyn is always watching me "take notes" and always wants to draw in my notebooks so I got her her own.

Landen's Basket:

Landen got a cute little Robot tie, lots of books, and balls of course. (most everything else was the same as Joselyn's stuff)

We also got the kids both something special this year for Easter. We took Joselyn to Build-a-bear and bought her the flower Easter bunny they had. She loves that thing- she even put two hearts in there.

After last week's basketball incident, we decided to get Landen a big basketball all of his own. I didn't think we needed anything too fancy, but Adam wanted to get him a nice one, so we did. Since it was on sale, we also got him a small Nike soccer ball. Couldn't resist. This boy loves his balls!




Our floor was covered in green paper grass... but we let the kids have fun and make a mess and didn't worry about it. The pay-off was priceless smiles and laughs.



They was lots of cuddling going on. Sweetest thing EVER. These two really are best buds.

 

Being a parent and a mother is truly a blessing.

Here's something I couldn't resist buying for myself this Easter. I used to always want cute bunny slippers like this!

 

(I know some of these photos are duplicates from my photography blog so sorry if you are seeing these for a second time!)

Easter Egg Hunt

My brother and his cute wife Holly organized a little Easter Egg hunt this morning for the kids. Since I forgot to dress the kids up in their Easter outfits for church last week (oops!) I put them in their outfits this morning to get some good Easter-y cuteness on camera. Joselyn's cute dress is (of course) Target bought- one of her Liberty of London dresses. I fell in love with the layers of floral- perfect for Easter! And who can resist a little guy in a loose tie and pin stripe blazer? 

The Easter Egg hunt was fun to watch. Landen actually got the hang of it with help from his daddy and was looking all over for eggs to put in his little basket. It made my heart melt.




 

Once Joselyn figured out there were surprises in the eggs, she went busy stuffing huge malt balls in her mouth. I love her.         

Thanks Holly & Seth for the fun! And to mom and dad for the yummy pancake breakfast! I can't wait until tonight... we're going to set the baskets out for the Easter Bunny to fill up with all sorts of fun stuff. Then tomorrow morning we will try and find where the bunny hid them! I love being a mom.

Decorating Easter Eggs

There is something about decorated Easter eggs that make me really really happy. They just look so colorful and pretty lined up in their carton. I love the uniqueness of each egg and I don't know. You can call me strange if you want :)

Anyway, I was really excited to do it this year. Today we went over to Nanny's (Adam's mom) to decorate the eggs with Melanie who is home on Spring break. She had set up a table on the back porch and we had TONS of boiled eggs for coloring. I brought my chalks, and Nanny provided the dyes. I also found some Aprons for $1 at Dollar Tree (along with some other really cool finds I might add) so it was perfect.

Landen, as usual, wasn't so interested in the planned activity. Since there weren't any balls involved, he moved on to his SECOND favorite activity. Eating. He was actually "eating" the dye... the green dye to be exact. He kept on shoving it into his little mouth despite us telling him not to numerous time. The result was a very green mouth. Matched his apron.





Oh. And say goodbye to Landen's long unruly hair... because he got a haircut tonight!