I love first birthdays. And Traveler? He loves first birthday cupcakes.

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1. Easter Grass Diorama from Hausfrau in Melbourne- How cute are these? I love that they look easy enough for even little ones to do and I can’t wait to try these with my girls this week!

2. Tweet Nest from No Time for Flashcards -  I love everything on this site. No kidding. She is amazing. And I think this craft is totally adorable as well. I’ve got tons & tons of yarn around this place and this will be a super fun way to use it up!

3. Bunny Ears a la Martha Stewart - Easter just wouldn’t be the same without bunny ears! These adorable ears will be making an appearance on all three of my kids this year. Now if only they would sit as still as the little girl modeling them!

4. Miniature Easter Buckets from Kid’s Crafts Weekly - These cute little Easter buckets are easy enough for preschoolers & elementary aged kids to do and will look adorable filled with yummy Easter candy!

5. Easter Egg Stitched Greeting Card from Make and Takes- This one is great for slightly older kids (and adults!) and I think it makes an adorable card to give. Actually, I don’t know why I’ve never tried this before with other holidays/special occasions. You could make adorable Valentine’s or birthday cards using this same idea!

6. Peek-a-boo Eggs from No Time for Flashcards - How cute are these? I will admit I have a soft spot for baby chicks and these play right into that. My girls are super excited about this craft, too, and I love that it is something age-appropriate for both my 3-year-old and my 5-year-old.

7. Yarn Flowers from Martha Stewart - I am in love with these! And not just for Easter. I think these would be adorable for the kids to make and wear throughout the summer/spring. They also make really pretty alternative to bows on presents or a sweet corsage for grandma (or mom!) on Mother’s day. We’re making them with all kinds of funky crazy colored yarn because I love the eclectic look of it.

8. Easter Cupcakes - Do you really ever need an excuse to make an adorable cupcake? Check out these cute cupcakes  and more at All Things Cupcake.

9. Adorable Easter Eggs from Good Housekeeping - We’ve got a stack of scrapbook paper set aside just for this crafty Easter egg project. I love that it goes beyond simply dyeing the eggs but it isn’t so complicated that the kids can’t do it with a little prep work from me.

10. Easter finger puppets from Craft Pad - This cute little finger puppet craft could be adapted to any age/ability level. Older kids can sew them or you could precut felt and use glue, googley eyes & pom-poms for the younger crowd.

So, there you have it. My favorite Easter crafts! Head over to Oh Amanda’s for more Top Ten Tuesday!

Today is the last day to sign up for my EcoSMART safe pest control bundle giveaway! Be sure to enter for your chance to win!

(The girls say “Welcome” to their new brother through the nursery window.)

It’s hard to believe my sweet baby boy is celebrating his first birthday today. It seems impossible that it was one whole year ago that I kissed his sweet face for the first time.

Last year at this time, I was nervously preparing for a C-section. I was worried about how we would afford our hospital bill. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to be a mom to a little boy. And then I met him.

(Traveler Oakes - 1 day old)

And the rest just fell into place.

Happy Birthday, sweet baby boy. I love you more than I could have ever imagined…

(Traveler at the first of several 1st Birthday parties after consuming handfuls of cake!)

(alternately titled: Excuse me a moment while I whine…)

This has been a crappy week. Both literally and figuratively. In the last week we’ve:

- had a beautiful old tree (my daughter’s favorite climbing tree) cut down by landscapers accidentally and discovered it would cost $4000 if we wanted to replace it.

- been informed that we have a bootleg septic tank which is now failing and will ultimately cost us $8000-$10,000 to fix. And it needs to be fixed now since we have a muddy pit of sewage in the backyard.

- blown a tire and had to put 2 new ones on the van.

- had a horrible case of food poisoning (both Thomas & I) from an apparently toxic meal at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants.

-learned through a scary near miss that the brakes on Thomas’ car have to be replaced and since we can’t afford it right now we’re back to being a one car family.

-come home to discover that one of the cats has decided to start using my clothes for a litter box. Despite having a perfectly clean litter box at her disposal.

I’ve always heard that bad things happen in three’s. And, honestly, I wish these things would just happen 3 at a time. I need things to calm down soon so I can come up for air.

I promise to try and see the silver lining tomorrow. Or the next day. In the meantime, I’m taking today to feel sorry for myself and get my Zoloft prescription refilled since it ran out today. Nice timing, huh?

A couple of years ago my family fell in love with Pho, a Vietnamese Noodle Soup. It is hands down one of my kid’s favorite meals. It is one of my favorite meals, too. For various reasons. Those reasons are:

1. It’s yummy.

2. It’s easy.

3. It’s cheap.

4. It’s healthy.

What more could you ask for in a meal?

So, since I’m such a huge fan I thought I’d share the recipe so you can be a huge fan, too!

1 lb of chicken (I often use frozen chicken and just boil it because I ALWAYS forget to thaw it in time)
1 can chicken broth (I use bouillon sometimes, too)
2 cups water
1-2 limes
garlic
rice noodles (from the international section @ grocery store)
cilantro
hoisin sauce
bean sprouts

Boil the raw chicken in the broth/water until cooked through. Add lime juice, 2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce, garlic & cilantro. Add more water if desired. When broth is ready, add noodles. Cook per instructions on package. (Usually about 5-6 minutes). Remove from heat and serve immediately. Can be topped with bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, limes and more Hoisin sauce!

That’s it. See, what I mean? Easy peasy. And definitely sure to please the whole family!

I have this very fond childhood memory. It goes something like this…

My sister and I grew up in the country. We loved to play outside. Since we lived on several acres of land we’d play for hours unsupervised.  It was a great way to grow up.

But, my sister and I were very much like my kids. We could find trouble wherever we went. Not the bad end-up-in-juvenile-detention kind of trouble. More like the play-with-RIT-dye-and-color-yourself-up-to-your-elbows kind of trouble. But that’s a whole other story.

On this one particular summer day we found our way into a kid’s dream come true. One day, like magic, a HUGE mud pit appeared in our backyard. It was easily 10 feet by 8 feet.

And when you’re 10 years old and playing outside unsupervised in the summer what do you do with a huge mud pit? Ummm, you jump in it of course. And we did. We played in that mud pit for what seemed like hours. We threw mud at each other and rolled around in it until we were covered from head to toe in mud.  And afterwards we trudged, giggling, up to the front door of our house and waited for our mom to find us. We thought it was hilarious. And in retrospect it is. But for a whole other reason.

And here is where I put myself in my mom’s shoes. Because if I opened the door and found what she found waiting outside I’m not sure exactly what I would do next. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with mud. I don’t have a problem with kids getting dirty.

But the mud we had been playing in? It wasn’t your ordinary mud pit. It was…our septic leach field. I. kid. you. not. I remember the smell to this day. Apparently as a kid I just though that was what mud was supposed to smell like.

But, no. We had been playing for an hour (or more) in septic sludge and we had no idea. Can you imagine?

I have a feeling my parents would have preferred to find out their septic system was failing some other way than by finding their children waiting on their doorstep covered in household sewage.

And this story right here is why the other day when we realized our own septic tank was failing and creating a small soggy mud pit in the backyard I grabbed my girls, took them over to it and told them EXACTLY what it was. Because the last thing I wanted to do was walk outside to find my kids playing in an E.coli bath.

After all, they are their mother’s daughters…

One of the best things about being a little girl…

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and Seven Clown Circus!

I hate bugs. HATE them. Even thinking about them while typing this gives me chills.

But, I love the peace of mind that comes from knowing I’m not exposing my kids to tons of dangerous poisons so (despite how much I loathe creepy crawly creatures) two years ago we cancelled our pest control service. We did it partially because it was expensive but mostly because the idea of all those toxic chemicals around my babies freaked me out. I considered other options but ultimately I’d pretty much just given up on the idea of having a safe pest control option for our house.

And that is problematic because those creepy crawly creatures I hate? They love to live in this old house of ours. Whether it is spiders or ants or the especially horrible Palmetto bugs (a.k.a. Giant Flying Tree Roaches) they always manage to find their way into our house during the warm weather months.

But, all hope is not lost because I was really excited to learn about EcoSMART pest control for the home. EcoSMART offers a variety of solutions for pests inside and outside the home which I love since I can rid my house of those aforementioned crawling bugs of terror and something to rid my garden of the pests that target our vegetables. Their products use organic plant oils that targets systems which exist in insects only and leave other animals, birds, fish and (most importantly) your family safe from dangerous toxins.

Now, for the really exciting part. EcoSMART has offered to give one very lucky reader the pest control Value Bundle of their choice! Whether you need roach killer, garden pesticides or natural ant killer they’ve got what you need. To enter click over to the EcoSMART site and check out the value bundles they offer. Come back and leave me a comment letting me know which one you’d pick and be sure to include contact info or a link back to your info!

Comments will close Monday, March 29th @ 11:00 p.m. EST and the giveaway is open to all residents of the continental United States. Good luck!

I am SO over this rain, y’all. I know I should be thankful that we’re not still in a drought, but being trapped inside all day every day with three antsy kids? It is slowly driving me mad.

We’ve gone through all the ideas I can find on the internet. We’ve done puzzles, sensory boxes, board games, scavenger hunts, dancing to music - everything I can think of. And today with inches and inches of rain in the backyard I am at my wit’s end. I actually told the girls they could go outside and play in the mud if they wanted to. They nearly took me up on it, but I guess we’re not that desperate. Yet.

So, in a last minute attempt to keep them entertained I grabbed trash bags, their full-length mirror and some paint and told them to have at it. And so I’m sure that has bought me about 30-45 minutes of whine-free time. But, I’m not sure what to do when the fun runs out. Maybe I’ll see if they find an all-day marathon of Real Housewives of New York as entertaining as I do…

Help me out here! What are your favorite outside the box rainy day activities?