There's Always a Price to Pay

Over the weekend, Little Dude and the husband went away to Boy Scout Camp.  After watching him pack before they left, I think the husband was more excited than the boy!

I always worry when they're gone.  It's what I do best.  And some of the texts from the husband certainly didn't help.  For example, the one complaining no one else there would know how to survive in the wilderness or no one knew how to build a fire.  And those were from their first night there!  Ya, comforting.

After that first night, I assume all had a good time.  One of the activities my boys were really looking forward to was fishing.  The husband was so excited to go out last week and buy his boy his very first fishing rod.  I was worried when Little Dude was waving his rod around  like a sword, but considering he caught not one, but THREE fish, I think it's safe to say he learned the proper way to handle a fishing rod!



Once the boys were home, Little Dude told me all about fishing, running around with his friends, and how to make S'mores.  What he failed to mention to me were his battle wounds.


He fell into a wall!

I think it's about time I really started pressing the husband to let me buy this boy a helmet!



Until next time...



Our Eggs



Thanks to Pinterest, I found a new way to dye our eggs for Easter.   Instead of vinegar and those little tablets, we decided to color our eggs with a little water and Kool-aid.  Of course this all depended on if I was successful in hard boiling the eggs.  I know it's easy, but I've failed more than I care to admit at that process!

2/3 cup water and 1 packet of Kool-aid
is all we needed for each mug.


A fancy Tupperware spoon for dying eggs
didn't hurt either!


We avoided yellow because it's a light color, but we chose to go with pink.  Eggs in pink had to sit a while before the color took.  But good thing I read the entire blog with directions or I never would have known that purple could turn the eggs gray if left in too long.

All of our eggs turned out so well!  The colors were bright and cheery.  Even using a white crayon to write on the eggs turned out.  Instead of smelling like vinegar, our house smelled pretty and fruity.  Some of our favorite eggs were...

Little Dude's robin egg.
Just by chance it came out speckled!



Little Dude also dipped in egg in every color.
We decided this resembled a dinosaur egg.



GG took advantage of her egg holder to make stripes.
Doesn't this look like it should be made of Jell-o?



The kids had so much fun with this new way of dying eggs!
Making the dye was easy
Clean up easy was easy
Nothing stained from the Kool-aid



And GG even did at little advertising for me!



How was your Easter?  Do you have any traditions?  Did you try anything new this year?

You can find me on Pinterest HERE.  Directions for this activity on in my "Easter" board.

Until next time...





No Flowers for Me

At the back of our deck, we have 2 flower beds built into the wall that holds up the hillside. For years I have planted flowers in those planters.  Impatients, to be exact.  Why impatients?  Not only do they thrive in the shade, which we have plenty of in the back yard, but because I have a habit of killing most other plants.

Every year the kids and I would go out to some flower store or another to chose our impatients.  The kids loved to come with me so they could pick out which colors we were going with that particular year.  Sadly, this year, I do not see such a trip in our future.  Why?  Because I have a son.  To be more exact, I have a son who loves to dig.



Last year we dedicated a spot on the side of the yard where he could dig to his heart's content.  I think he outgrew that spot.  Last fall I purchased a sandbox thinking he could dig and get dirty in there.  He still does, but it's not enough to feed his digging addiction.  I finally caved and let him have the smaller of the two flower beds.  Those three spots would definitely give him enough room to dig, right?

Wrong!

Little Dude has moved on to digging not only in both flower beds, but up into the hillside as well.



This Spring I have decided to let him dig in all of those spots.  Partly because I am tired of arguing with him over where to dig, but I've learned his digging also benefits me.

By digging up the flower beds, it saves me the trouble of planting flowers.  Yes flowers are pretty and I would love to have a pretty yard, but it's one less thing to add to my to-do list.  By letting him dig on the hillside I've learned that the weeds no longer grow where him and GG play.  This means less weed whacking for the husband and I to do.

From the time Little Dude wakes up in the morning until the sun begins to set, he is outside.  He is being creative when playing outside, he is learning cause and effect when he builds and digs, he is soaking up some sun and fresh air, and most important, he is not vegging out in front of the tv or a video game all day.  So even though I won't be able to plant flowers in our back yard for quite some time, I am very happy that Little Dude spends his time outside.

However, there is a downfall to all of his digging.  Our water bill is starting to sky rocket due to all the hand washing and bathing of one little boy.





Until next time...