twig tree

I can remember our family tradition of having a little tree for easter. I want Aiden to have the same spring memories. Despite not having fully packed for Arizona, I am trying to squeeze in all sorts of spring fun before we leave, and this is a heck of lot more fun than sitting on top of suitcases and checking off my scribble list.

Aiden has this funny little bird book that gives the recipe to make bird ornaments in the back. He got extremely excited to make his own ornaments with "toooools!" I got out all of our cookie cutters (which is quite the collection now - I may have to divide it by season) and some playdough tools. He helped me mix and knead the dough (see the simple dimple recipe we used below) and we cutout two trays worth of cookie cutter animals and egg shapes. They dried and the next day we painted them all. Then the next day, we took a trip to the backyard to pick out our big twigs (some of our ornaments ended up being a bit heavy) so we helped start some of the spring bush pruning.

I had something new to look forward everyday I came home this week.
Monday - making the dough and the ornaments:

Tuesday - painting the dried ornaments, a pretty big mess:

Wednesday - trimming down the twigs, stringing the yarn, and hanging the ornaments on our very first Brennan Family Spring Twig Tree:


This spring tree we will be able to enjoy once we get back too, assuming that the cats don't decide to fight it...I may have to corral it somehow because that seems far too tempting.

salt dough:
1 cup salt
3 cups flour
mix salt and flour together (Aiden likes doing it in the open dishwasher "work area" and the mess is easy to clean up - just shut the washer door)
add 1 cup water (more as you knead it)
knead for a good ten minutes or so until it's set
then smoosh it into shapes - ideal size is 1/4 inch
avoid a roller and flour your work surface because it can be pretty sticky
place on a greased cookie sheet and dry in the 325 oven for about half an hour

egg decorating

We decorated some eggs that would've gone bad while we were in Arizona this past weekend. I feel like we've moved all the spring celebrating up earlier this year so that we can break out of this winter hibernation with some fun. So here we are decorating with stencils, wax crayon, dye and giggles:

Egg Decorating from LB on Vimeo.

birthdays

Aiden just loves birthday parties. What's not to love - playing and then eating cake!? We were at a Little Gym party today which included all sorts of jumping, rolling, hanging, and runnnning. Lotsa running! Aiden was really independent (it still surprises me sometimes that he doesn't need anyone hovering over him). Aiden started talking about blowing out the candles before we even got to the party. So, it was inevitable that Aiden was just off camera trying to "help" blow out the candles in the dark. Luckily, my new friend that had invited us to the party was super nice about it and wanted him to help. I'm going to be in trouble if Aiden gets invited to a party and he doesn't get to help.
Here's a link to the whole party with our new friends:
http://flickr.com/gp/brennans/pA54x0

egg hunt

We had a great outing with a group of fun kids and their families today. There is this professional photographer in the area who organizes these fun outings and during the event she takes photos that you can later buy. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she captured. It was an Easter Egg Hunt this month. Aiden really enjoyed searching for "Eggs that start with A" since he was looking for his name sticker on them. He was doing a good job picking out his named eggs. He also really enjoyed trying some of the marshmallow bunnies that were in his eggs. I think she got a few funny shots of him munching on marshmallow. I'm looking forward to seeing what she captured - Here's video:

Hunting for Eggs that start with an A from LB on Vimeo.

After the egg hunt, we visited our favorite little zoo which is part of the same park.

First Zoo Visit of the Year from LB on Vimeo.

With the time change bumping Aiden's nap back, we also snuck in a trip to see the Easter Bunny too. Aiden was so excited to see the Easter Bunny again and get a snuggle. I hadn't seen him get so excited that he did a head stand like that in a while. The Easter Bunny was rocking him in a rocking chair and I thought he might fall asleep.

Hi Bunny! from LB on Vimeo.

happy first day of spring

Here're some condensed videos (thanks flip magic movie) from the playground yesterday on the last day of winter.

Playground snippets from LB on Vimeo.

My favorite is at :43 when he says - "I'm a vrooming man" as he bounced on the car.
J was wearing shorts despite the wind. Aiden was confused by shorts and kept telling him he needed pants.

st patty's

Leprechaidens are very giggly. They like to pretend they are wizards and ask you whether shamrocks look like magic wands. They like to run around laughing with their mouth open wide. They like to hide in the bathroom. They like to sit on the big leather "lep-ra-ra-can chair." They'd like to wish you a Happy St. Patty's!

i spy bag

We're getting geared up for our big trek to Arizona. We are really, really looking forward to being there (and especially seeing everyone!), but not looking forward to the getting there part. It ends up being over 12 hours of travel each way with the layovers and plane changes. Crrrazy idea with a two year old. I'm just hoping that flying on a plane sounds like his idea of a good time that day - which lucky for us he loves most of the time. He is quite the experienced traveler and knows that plane rides lead to some fun.

So, to get geared up I'm trying to come up with a bag of tricks that I can use on the plane and while we're away to keep Aiden happy and occupied. One crafty project that I'd been wanting to try was the I Spy bag. I came up with my own DIY version with the leg of a pair of overalls that had the strap chewed up in the washer.

Pant legs are double triple reinforced so at least the pellets won't make their way out of those side seams. My squirreling-away-everything-for-future-crafts also paid off when it came to the flexible vinyl. I used a vinyl piece from the packaging of Aiden's big boy undies.
Ignore my messy double stitching. Above you see it stitched and then reversed below:
I filled it with a big assortment of little teeny tiny toys (mostly plastic animals and little food erasers). J liked pointing out that it is a great way to collect all those tiny toys that scatter all over the house into one fun toy. Here are all the pellets hiding the toys that are ready to be "spied":
These little plastic pellets are sold at the craft store by the stuffing, but you could also use rice or little beans. I was looking for light and easy to carry in the airport and I think the plastic pellets will be lighter than the rice or beans.

I couldn't help but show it to him now - I had to double check he liked it, right?! But hopefully it will be a new and different fun toy to play with on the plane... Maybe the pushing, shaking, squeezing, and spying will buy us an hour?

pi day

How did you celebrate Pi Day? With an early dinner of pineapple pizza pie at 3:14pm? No? At our house we had a visit from a little known, but very giggly super hero named Super Pi!

Super Pi to the rescue! He rescues baby hippos by feeding them pie. Sometimes mommy and daddy turn into Super Pi Mommy/Daddy and they need pie to make them strong. Super Pi Daddy appears to have a pi symbol mustache. Super Pi has a super double stick taped pi symbol cape.

Super Pi plotting his next rescue:
Super Pi can fly!

Every rainy Sunday needs a math related superhero.

We also have a history of celebrating with Auntie Lizzie - from 2008:

Yep, that's a middle school puffy paint shirt that has an apple pie and says "now that's MY kind of MATH!"

bunny

What a fun trip to visit the bunny we had today. We expected about the same as the visit to Santa, skeptical at best. When we got to the mall he had the same excitement as he ran down the hall "so xcited" looking for the bunny "house". When he saw the big bunny ears walking down the path to his flower throne, he giggled and squealed with excitement. I became skeptical that he was truly that excited. He was the first to visit the bunny and he was giggling as the bunny waved to him. He ran up and shook the bunny's hand, then honked his nose, then hopped right up on his lap. You can tell from the photo that he was pretty giddy. He was very excited when the bunny gave him his very own ears and a cloth pennant he can color. He was a good listener with his big ears on as we found some new sandals for our Arizona trip. We then hopped over to the Garden Fresh Bar for some bunny food.

scooting

Someone loves his scooter! Helmet not as much.

ella's first

We celebrated Ella's first birthday today! Aiden was excited to help blow out the candles, putt a bit, wear the party hat, and ride Daniel's awesome Thomas choo choo. All the photos here: http://flickr.com/gp/brennans/FVsG21

playground

Just so I don't forget when it starts snowing again this week, but Saturday we were at the park in our little spring jackets (with a sweater underneath and fleece lined pants, but we'll take it)! It was over 50 degrees! Aiden was giddy... so was I. The first weeee of the season: