Holiday Treats

We love making fun holiday treats!
This one was yummy and I love the way it turned out...very cute for the girls' Easter Party at PALS!

Bunny Bait

2 bags popcorn, popped (I used this kind, but you can also use Tender White)
12oz. white chocolate candy coating
1 bag Easter M&Ms
pretzel sticks, broken into small pieces
colorful sprinkles

Place the popped popcorn in a large bowl with the broken up pretzels. Heat the candy coating in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each time, until melted and smooth.

Drizzle 1/2 the candy coating over the popcorn mixture and stir to coat. Mix in M&Ms and other 1/2 of the candy coating, and stir to coat once again.

Spread out on a large piece of wax paper, top with a few sprinkles (if desired) and let cool. Break into pieces and serve in a large bowl or individual treat bags.

EDIT: Learned this the hard way...if you make this, make sure you remove all the unpopped popcorn kernels before you mix everything together!!

I got the idea from here!

I got the tag here!

Jocelyn

Growing so fast...getting so smart!

An Easter Egg Hunt

Today we went to my and Todd's alma mater for an alumni Easter egg hunt! The girls were really excited & ready to find some eggs!

They each found 10 (the limit).

I have to hand it to Duquesne! This egg hunt is one of the best we have participated in. The girls hunted for eggs, then we had a really nice lunch in Mellon Hall, followed by crafts and Easter activities. Jocelyn took a picture with the Easter Bunny, but Reagan wanted nothing to do with him!

It was a really fun afternoon!

Two beautiful little girls in dresses! It doesn't get any better than that!

St. Patrick's Day Parade

This year we made an impromptu decision to go to the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was the first St. Patty's Day parade any of us have ever gone to, which is weird seeing as how Todd has lived here his entire life and I have been living here for nearly 18 years.

Jocelyn loves a good parade, and seeing how this one is the second largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the country (New York has the largest) AND the fact that we had beautiful, warm weather, we figured we had no excuse to miss it.

We had to wear sunscreen, sunglasses and little Miss 'baldy' wore her hat! Reagan had nothing green to wear, but she did have a shirt with a rainbow on it, which I thought should suffice. With her strawberry blond hair, she fit right in with the Irish folk anyway!

Jocelyn sported her shamrock shirt.

We were definitely under dressed for the occasion. With the exception of Reagan, we all wore green, but we seemed to be the only ones who stopped with a simple green shirt. We saw green tutus, hats, tattoos, hair, socks, necklaces...you name it, someone had it on in green. Oh well, we know better for next time (if there is a next time).

The streets of downtown Pittsburgh were lined with a sea of green!

Todd and I found the actual parade rather boring. There seemed to be an abundance of cars advertising dealerships and a lack of high school bands. It also seemed that every time a dance troupe got to our section of the street they were on a break. Bummer!

Then there was a 30-40 minute halt in the middle of the parade where we were wondering what was going on. Right afterward a car drove by with guys holding HUGE automatic weapons and running close behind was Vice President Joe Biden. I guess it was kind of cool seeing the Vice President.

Oh, and there were plenty of bag pipes and kilts to go around!

I wasn't overly impressed with the whole parade and it would probably take another very warm St. Patrick's Day with no other plans to get us to go again, but it was worth it simply because Jocelyn said she had fun. I'm pretty sure the part she found the most fun was the part where people were throwing candy at her! That always makes for a good time for a 4-year-old. Okay Maybe for a 31-year-old as well. I will admit that I did enjoy the tootsie pop Jocelyn shared with me--That was fun, and spending time together as a family is always time well spent!

Signs of Spring

Last Fall, after my flower pots were done looking beautiful, I decided to plant some bulbs in the old soil in hopes that we would have some early spring flowers to brighten up the dreary looking yard once spring fever hit. I was going to leave the pots outside on the back patio for the winter, but ran into a little problem with Peter, Peter Pumpkin (and bulb) Eater so I had to move the pots into the garage to save what was left of the bulbs I planted. I guess having the pots in the garage gave them just enough shelter from the winter cold to make them bloom a bit earlier than I anticipated. Jocelyn, Reagan and I planted three colors of bulbs. Yellow, Purple and White. I guess Peter (the bulb eater) preferred white flower bulbs!Even though we didn't have a very snowy/cold winter, we still have Spring fever right now, and it's fun to have some flowers already!

The warmer temperatures have caused an early retrieval of the outside play equipment and some play sand!

And today Jocelyn and I colored one of our trees with chalk to make it look a little more spring-like. I saw this idea on pinterest and thought it looked cool!

Rainbow Chains

We finally got around to making those Rainbow Chains I was talking about in my previous craft post!

It took a sick Jocelyn missing a day of school to do it, but it finally got done! Jocelyn really hates missing school, and the only way I could get the tears over missing her second day of school EVER was promising we would make our rainbow chains. Oh, and she decided to wear an orange undershirt because she was missing orange day at school. She's always thinking! ;-)

First I found a pot of gold printable and had Jocelyn color it. I colored a second one so that we could have a double-sided pot of gold.Then I drew lines on construction paper and Jocelyn cut out three strips of each color.

We stapled the strips together, added the pot of gold, and Wa-la: A Rainbow Pot of Gold decoration for our dining room light!

Writing 'Jocelyn'!

Today Jocelyn wrote her name for the first.time.EVER!

I made her a name"worksheet" like I used with my Preschoolers when I was teaching. On the first line she traced my solid letters, on the second she traced my dotted letters and on the third line she had to try to make the letters all by herself.

I think she did pretty a pretty good job for her first time!!
(Oh, and I almost cried while she was doing it)

A Nightmare

Last night around 1:00am, Jocelyn came into our room saying she had a dream. She said something about an onion and Reagan getting stuck in a hole. I told her it was just a dream and took her back to her room and tucked her in. This morning I got the whole story!

"Me and Reagan were playing outside, coloring with chalk. Then we saw an onion growing in the grass so we went and picked it. Then Reagan wanted to hold the onion and we started to fight and pull the onion in our hands. I got the onion and Reagan fell into the hole. I tried to help her get out but I fell into the hole and a big mouse came and ate her [Reagan] up. He was mad that Reagan dug in his hole. Then you [Mommy] came and tried to save me but you couldn't and you fell into the hole too. Then Daddy came to save us, but the mouse was going to eat us all up!"

Interesting dream, huh? Oh,and she said that in her dream Reagan was a "big girl" not a baby.

I wonder if the mouse looked like this:

Reagan's Obsession

*WEAK STOMACH WARNING* If you find everyday dirt on children disgusting, you may wish to ignore this post!

One day she may be embarrassed that I blogged about this, but I just can't ignore Reagan's latest obsession any more! You may find it offensive (really--it's just baby feet), but I want to remember the cuteness of my baby girl picking her toes for all time. Yes, you read correctly. I think Reagan picking her toes is CUTE!

Somehow Reagan discovered "toe jam". That's what I called it as a kid anyway, and hadn't thought about it again until recently--when Reagan started obsessively looking for toe jam between her toes.

Here's a definition in case you are clueless as to what I am talking about.

I'm not sure exactly how it happend, but Reagan's toe-spreading and "sweeping" has become an everyday (and sometimes multiple times a day) occurrence. She will get the idea to remove her socks and pry each toe apart from the ones beside it to look and see if any sock lint has collected. She is serious about this new job of hers. When she's looking for toe jam she's in the "zone". There's no stopping her. If I'm changing her diaper I must wait until she checks each toe before she will put her leg back down enough that I can strap her diaper on. If she finds any she sweeps it out with a finger and moves on to the next space between her toes. I think it's funny (and cute), but Todd doesn't harbor the same feelings. If he sees it, he tells me to tell her to stop--he doesn't like the site of her toes being pulled so far apart (LOL) and thinks she's going to break them off. Here are some pictures in case you are having a hard time imagining this serious task of toe jam removal.

Hey, it's a great fine-motor skills activity, right?
Isn't she cute?

Our Little Reagan

As I looked back over the past couple of years since I have been blogging I realized that I posted a lot about Jocelyn while she was a baby--what she was up to, her newest developments, milestones she had reached. For my poor little Reagan, there is barely any of that. I hope that one day when the girls are reading through their childhoods (as described by me in this blog), Reagan doesn't feel that I cared any less about her milestones and developments than I did of Jocelyn's. That is simply not the truth. Reagan's milestones have been just as important and maybe even celebrated more since there are 3 of us to cheer her on. I just don't have as much time to sit down and blog about them. It is very sad, and I am going to try to do better from here on out...STARTING TODAY!

Our little Reagan is soon-to-be 20 months old! 20! I just cannot believe that she will be turning two in a little over 4 months. I noticed that Jocelyn changed from baby to little girl sometime between when Reagan was born (2.5 years old) and her third birthday. I just don't think I'm ready to let Reagan become a little girl just yet. Can't I put a brick on her head or something to stop her from growing up??

Reagan is our crazy girl! She is so funny and makes all of us laugh a thousand times a day with her cute little faces. She has so much personality and spunk! The thing that stands out most about her right now is her vocabulary development! She seems to pick up on and say new words every day, which truly amazes me! Right now, she really loves trying to say words that end with the 'k' sound, so her favorites are: cheek, drink, truck, book, back, etc...you get the impression. Oh, and 'chocolate' because that middle 'c' has the 'k' sound too!

I would say that Reagan's favorite activities are reading books (the Dora the Explorer books are her FAVORITE), and being chased around by her sister. She has also picked up a desire to scribble on things. I have already had to wash crayon from the entire tabletop and the walls! I wondered why Jocelyn never did these things and then I quickly realized she did not have crayons as readily accessible to her when she was Reagan's age. Oh the benefits of an older sibling!

Just recently Jocelyn has said to me that she is so happy to have Reagan as her little sister. These statements melt my heart! I am so happy that the girls have each other...they will share a common bond for the rest of their lives and I can only hope that their love for each other grows stronger and stronger. They already seem to love each other so much! Jocelyn will literally freak out if she forgets to give Reagan a goodnight or goodbye hug and kiss, and if you ask Reagan if she loves her big sister she will shake her head 'yes'. When they hug each other it is one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed. It may be a little early to judge whether this will be their life-long feeling toward each other, but a mother can only hope and wish that these early indicators will continue on through the years! Check back in about 10 years and see where this has gone! ;-)

In the mean time, I'm off to find that brick for Reagan's head...

A Family Portrait

Jocelyn drew a picture of our family the other day. The biggest figure is me (Mommy)...I'm trying not to take her interpretation of what my hair looks like too personally. The person to the left of me in the picture is Todd (Daddy); to the right of me is Reagan; the all green one underneath me is Jocelyn; and the two that are completely purple are Steve and Mira (our cats). The one that is both purple and green is an unknown person--do NOT get any ideas from this (ahem, Debbie & Mom). There is no hidden meaning behind the mystery person, I promise!

I just love the beginning drawings that children make, especially when they are the drawings by my own little Jocelyn!

Another St. Patrick's Day Craft

We are on a roll with our crafts in the Aston-Reese household!

Today we made rainbows with Froot Loops (another idea I found online), and we did it at snack time so that we could eat all the broken ones!

First Jocelyn sorted the froot loops by color.

Reagan preferred the eating part of the project...

Then I helped Jocelyn form the top arch of the rainbow with school glue and she began placing the red froot loops on the glue.

After each color, we added more glue and a new color.

Jocelyn also made observations about the froot loops. Some were bigger than others, and she also noticed that there were more green froot loops than any other color.

When she finished all the colors of the rainbow, she added some cotton ball clouds!

Here's the finished project! I think she did an excellent job!

This craft also went well with our recently read story about Noah's Ark!

If I was to do this craft again, I think I would use a heavier paper, or even cardboard--we used card stock. I would also use a craft glue, like tacky glue, rather than a school glue. It took a lot of glue to keep the froot loops down, and I had to squirt glue into each hole in each piece of cereal as well. Now that it is drying, the froot loops are soaking up all that glue and shrinking like they are in a bowl of milk. The craft is still cute, but I think those minor changes would have helped it stay looking it's best through St. Patrick's Day.

Our next craft is one I thought up myself! Our chandelier looks barren without the hearts from Valentine's Day, so I think we will make some rainbow colored paper chains with mini pots of gold to hang there. We will see how this one turns out! In my head it sounds like a good idea. At least I know Jocelyn will have fun cutting again...her favorite!

P.S. Don't overlook Jocelyn's choice of clothing as of lately--lots of layers with her favorite polka dotted short-sleeved shirt on top. ;-)