April Game Play

The game of the month is Memory. Aiden is still too young to play the full game, but we can do smaller games with fewer cards to choose from. His favorite show at the moment is Octonauts on Disney Junior. That is fine and all except that its a British show so any Octonauts items that you want you have to find on eBay or on Amazon and you have to pay for the overseas shipping. I'm eying an octopod, but at $75+ shipping from England, that's not quite going to happen anytime soon.

Anyway, back to the game. I ended up adding it into Aiden's Easter Basket because of when I received the game. He was excited that he received and Octonauts item. Tonight we opened it up and he did pretty well with it. Like any child he tries to put his card back if he turns over a card he doesn't want, but I am teaching him that which ever card he turns over is what card he gets no matter what picture is on it.  

 breaking the cards apart

 Rebecca trying to take a turn too.

 

OMG!!! They match!!! I won!!

Happy Passover!

Every year I do look forward to passover. I don't know why. Maybe its the fact that you are suppose to clean out your kitchen for a fresh start. Maybe its the fact that you eat different food. Yes it is harder food-wise because you can't have any leavened bread, no rice or yeast products. So it does make it interesting if you want to go out to dinner or you pretty much have to bring your lunch all week. I have basically spent the past three days cooking so that we have food for the week. Friday I made Seth matzoh almond brittle and I also made chocolate toffee covered matzoh. Saturday I made an apple cake for Passover dinner with the family and I also made Seth's honey sponge cake. Today, Sunday, I made a 14lb turkey, my banana sponge cake that I will be eating for breakfast in the morning, sweet n sour meatballs and I also made a spinach bake side dish. This will hold us over for a few days. I still need to make a sweet potato dish and also a keugel and put the salad together, but I'm spent right now.

 almond brittle

 chocolate toffee matzoh

 apple cake before I cooked it

 all the meatballs.

 banana sponge

spinach bake


Here are some pictures from dinner at Seth's brother's house.

 

"Tie" Dying Eggs

Literally.... with a neck tie.

This is another idea that I found on the website Pinterest. You can dye eggs using a mens tie. Now it can't be any old tie. It has to be a 100% silk tie Otherwise the colors won't transfer properly. So to find my silk ties at a decent price off to a thrift shop I went. There were a lot of ties to choose from, but I wanted ones that had really intricate designs and bright vibrant colors. You know the ties that only old people would think of wearing because most of the general public would think that they were butt ugly, however if you look at the tie in terms of decoration then they look pretty good.  Here are my ties.

So basically you cut the seam in the back to open up the tie. Cut a swatch out of the tie. Wrap the egg in the fabric. Make sure that you pull it tightly around the egg so its smooth so there aren't any creases in your pattern. Next you wrap a piece of plain white or cream colored cloth around the egg. Place it in a pan with boiling water and 1/4 cup of vinegar. Remove after 20 minutes. Set on a towel or a colander to dry and once they are cooled then you can remove the fabric and enjoy your colorful eggs. No painting required and considerably less mess. Of course I did get a few eggs so Aiden could have fun coloring his own.

I will say that they they didn't quite come out like the picture did. It was really hard to get the fabric smooth over the egg and there were quite a few areas where the fabric overlapped and bunched up. Its an oblong object so its not quite going to sit right. I may or may not do this again next year.

All About Aiden

There is so much to say about you I am not quite sure where to start. I love watching you growing into your own person and know this that I try very hard to stand back and let you do things and learn things on your own. That is how we grow. I will always be there to help you whenever you need it no matter how small it may be. I love watching your eyes light up at what seems like the simplest things like holiday decorations. I love that you crack up at the drop of a hat. I love that you get upset when you don't get to give Rebecca a hug goodnight. I love that you want to help out with everything. I love being your Mom and I wouldn't change a thing about you.

NAME- Aiden Blake
AGE- 3.5yrs
HT- about 3'1"
WT- about 29lbs
HAIR- Medium blond
EYE- brown
FAV COLOR- blue
FAV TOY- his car ramp
FAV SHOW- Octonauts & Mickey Mouse
FAV MOVIE- Cars 1 & 2
FAV FOOD- Mac n Cheese
FAV SNACK- Space Goldfish  and grapes
BEST FRIENDS- Brayden, Gretta and Emily (from school)
FAV RESTAURANT- Friendly's
FAV PLACE TO GO- the mall or the park (indoor and outdoor)
FAV GAME- Hungry Hungry Hippos

Day at the Park

Saturday since it was so nice out we decided to go to the park for a little bit to get out of the house. It was a little cooler then we expected, but the kids had fun. I, of course, forgot my camera so you're going to have to settle for pictures from my phone.

Book Worming

I finally was able to get by the library to pick up our library card.  Our library is very small and I really hope that we will get by there more often, but a part of me has a feeling that Aiden won't be so interested in it just yet. I'll try. I'll also try to check the website for anything going on there as something to do. Either way Rebecca came with me on the 23rd since she had to stay home from daycare because of her eye. Which turned out to be just what I thought it was- nose drainage. Thanks daycare for making me waste a vacation day. Though I did get a lot done around the house.

Back to the library. The big reason I signed up for a card is because we can get discount tickets for other attractions. There is a smaller aquarium near us that I want to go to on a day when it is junky outside.

After picking up my card I  headed downstairs to the children's area. I wanted to check out the place and Rebecca had a little fun running around since we were the only ones there. However it was "fun" trying to keep her from doing her favorite thing...pulling all the books off the shelves and throwing them on the floor.

 reading makes me very thirsty.

 running through the stacks.

 what should i read now?

All About Rebecca

In think about what I wanted to write today the thought came to my mind about Rebecca last night in the bathtub wih her playing with her toys. She definitely has her favorite bath toys (the squirt fish) so I figured that I would do a post about her. Later in the week I will do one about Aiden.

NAME- Rebecca Brynn
AGE- 13.5 mos
WT- 18lbs 13oz
EYES- Brown
HAIR- Brown
FAVORITE MEAL- Raviolis or scrambled eggs
FAVORITE SNACK- yogurt or yogurt bites
FAVORITE TOY- the phone that came with the toy my sister gave her for her birthday
FAVORITE COLOR- Purple. It may seem early for this, but she seems to gravitate towards anything purple.
FAVORITE CHARACTER- Mickey or Minnie Mouse
No. OF WORDS- not so many. I thought she would be a talker since she is a girl, but she is also a second child so everything is "dee". You just have to know the context of when she is using it to know what she means. She definitely understands what you say to her though. Her new word is "uh oh" so there are a lot of things being dropped lately.
FAVORITE ACTIVITY- Going out side on the swings.

She is definitely starting to come into her own person. She gets mad when you tell her that she can't do something. Her big thing right now is that she likes to hand things to you. When she does something she smiles and claps her hands in praise of herself. I think the funniest thing that she does right now is when she walks through the gate in the kitchen she will turn around and close it. Its usually closed to keep her in the family room so she knows that it is suppose to be closed. She is very much a Daddy's girl. If Aiden does something that she does not like she will ball up her fist, raise it in the air and yell at him. Then she will look to see if we are around and she comes complaining to us. If we tell her "no" then she will arch her back, and let out a complain. Sometimes she will even throw herself on the grown on her belly and kick out her legs in a mini tantrum.