Easter Tradition

My Dad had a beautiful Easter tradition when we were little (and even now, sometimes, even though we are grown).  He would blow out and paint an Easter egg for my brother and I each year, and then go and cut some branches to hang them on.  It makes for some really wonderful Easter decoration.

A few years ago, my parents divided up the eggs between my brother and I and now we get to decorate our own Easter bouquet.

With Vivian and Annelee, I am trying to keep the tradition alive, even though I don't think my painting skills have evolved since I was a child.  :)

On Monday, we had a beautiful warm and sunny day, so Vivian and I set out to cut some branches, put them in the vase and then proceeded to hang up the eggs.  She would point to the next one to hang up and I would either explain them (e.g., the one with the Pittsburgh Skyline or the one with Will cooking) or read out the name and the year for her.

This evening, I sat down and added two more eggs to the collection, Annelee's first and Vivian's third (oops, I missed one year).  I can't wait until they are old enough to paint eggs with me.

Nikolaus 2010

As in previous years, the German Nikolaus paid a visit to 745 Gypsy Lane this year.

Because Annelee doesn't yet wear shoes, I asked Vivian to pick out a shoe from the big box of outgrown shoes of hers.  Big mistake.  She wanted to try on every pair, no matter how often I told her they wouldn't fit.  She finally picked a pretty black one.

I then asked Vivian to pick one of her shoes to put out, too.  She kept telling me in a very worried voice that she, too, needed a "nicause shoe".  None of her own were acceptable.  I finally figured out that she needed a "Nikolaus shoe".  We settled on her tap shoe.

The next morning, Vivian went downstairs to discover the gifts the Nikolaus had brought for them (a stamp and coloring kit for her, a rattle for Annelee).  Both toys were a hit. 

Vivian immediately started stamping (yes, they are supposed to be used on paper, and yes, the ink is water-soluble)

Annelee immediately started a new work-out program

And then Vivian insisted that Annelee wear her "nicause shoe".  Maybe to prove the gift was really for her?  Kind of like the cinderella test?  I have no idea.  But I thought it was cute.

Gingerbread House

One of the reasons I wanted to do the Advent calendar with activities is that it actually encourages me to do some of the things with Vivian that I may otherwise think "Oh, I can do that tomorrow instead".  So, we actually decorated a gingerbread house this year.  Rowan and her Mom Jenny came over to join us.

Lots of fun was had, and we'll definitely do this again next year, however, there are some important lessons that I've learned  :)

(1)  Which Kit To Buy
I had initially bought a kit that contained several small gingerbread houses, but those needed to be separated first before the houses could be built. Apparently, I'm not very skilled in that department.  In fact, Will called me a home wrecker  ;)  So I ran out (literally an hour before we were going to decorate) to buy a kit for a single big house that came in individual pieces.  The kit also came with a plastic base with grooves to aid in the construction of the house. Definitely something to look for next time!

Exhibit A: Home-wrecker

(2)  Construction Timeline
Make sure the house is constructed at least one hour before decoration begins.  Or risk the roof sliding off and/or the walls collapsing.

Exhibit B:  Partial Building Collapse

(3)  Set Up
Instead of sorting the candy by type, give each child a bowl with a mixture of candies to decorate with.  Prepare enough icing (colored icing is a big bonus - see Exhibit B above) and cover the table in plastic.  Get the kids half naked.  They are not old enough to feel the cold yet. It all makes for easy clean-up.

Exhibit C:  Final Preparations

(4)  Icing vs Candy
As it turns out, the girls got even more into the icing than sticking the candy on the houses (although they enjoyed that, too).  Way too much icing and candy was consumed.  Record (and play on a loop): "Please don't eat any more icing.  It's the glue to hold together the houses, it's not for eating.  Please stop eating the candy.  It is for decorating."  Better yet, stop calling it "icing" and "candy" and start referring to "glue" and "decorations".  Oh, and you can never put enough icing, I mean, glue on a gingerbread house.  Ever.

Exhibit D1: Drown the snowman in icing

Exhibit D2:  Amount of icing = amount of snow forecast (but luckily not received)

Exhibit D3:  Icing, icing everywhere!

(5)  End Results
Fabulously decorated houses.  Next time, I'm going to let Vivian do the icing (I had started it this time, but quickly conceded everything) and the decorating.  Can't wait to see what the next house will look like.

Exhibit E: Vivian's finished products