Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Bunny Tails


I wanted to share with you the Easter Treats we made for Conner and Kennedy's teacher's and for Claire's sitter for Easter. I thought the bag toppers turned out really cute! The treat is a one of my very FAVORITE recipes! My sister gave this recipe to me several years ago and every time I make them everyone raves about how good they are and the best party is they are super easy to make.

Chocolate Truffles

Bake one Devils food chocolate cake as directed on the box and cool completely. I usually bake the cake the day before so it is super moist. Spoon the entire cake into a bowel and add one can of Eagle Brand condensed milk. Mix together. It will be a thick consistency. I usually then place the bowel in the freezer for a few minutes to let it chill to get rid of some of the sticky consistency of the mixture. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and then dip each ball into melted dipping chocolate and place on a cookie sheet (put wax paper on cookie sheet to prevent sticking). I used white of course for these to resemble BUNNY TAILS. I think Wilton melting chocolates work the best! Chill truffles after dipped in refrigerator for about 15 minutes until they are set. ENJOY!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Easter Bunny Breakfast






We had so much fun this morning having breakfast with the Easter Bunny! My mom and I took all the kids to Memorial Methodist Church. We had a wonderful pancake breakfast, took lost of pictures with the Easter Bunny and had a GREAT time at the Easter Egg Hunt! It made me so proud to see Conner give ALL of his pink eggs to his sisters! It was such a fun day! We might have to make the Bunny Breakfast a annual Taylor Tradition!

Easter treats for my PEEPS!



I found this cute ideas and decided it would be perfect for the kids to hand out at school and at the sitter to their friends for Easter! I printed out the adorable bag toppers from:
http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/02/peeps-topper.html
I then put the peeps into zip-loc baggies and attached the topper with some double sided tape. I made little labels to attach to the back that said: Happy Easter! Love, Conner, Kennedy & Claire! I thought they turned our very cute and they were SUPER easy to make!

You've Been Egged!!!




The kids were so excited to start a new tradition this Easter. We decided to EGG our friends houses! Wait...I know what you are thinking, What are you teaching those kids??!!! We DID NOT use real eggs we filled 50 plastic eggs with candy, lip gloss, ring pops, waited till we knew our friends were not home and scattered them all over their yard. We placed a sign on their front door that said: You've Been EGGED! Now go egg someone else. We are hoping the fun continues around the neighborhood! When I told the kids about the idea they could not wait to do it! There was so much excitement as Conner and Kennedy frantically raced out of the car up to the front door, put the sign up and scattered the eggs and raced back to the car in a matter of seconds to ensure NO ONE saw them! We can't wait to do it again next year! Maybe it will be you who gets EGGED!!!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Happy St. Patricks Day cont.....

As I predicted the kids were SUPER excited to find that the little leprechaun had visited our house while they were sleeping!







The kids helped me prepare a GREEN dinner too! Conner and Kennedy even decorated the table! We had lime jello, lemon-lime Kool-aid, green milk, and fettuccine with ham with GREEN alfredo sauce. We even had green butter to go with our french bread! The kids could not wait until Daddy got home to surprise him with our St. Patrick's Day Feast!


To end this exciting day we had a GREEN bubble bath and to answer your question NO the food coloring did NOT turn the kids green!!!! The kids were super impressed with my idea to turn the water green. It is a good thing it does not take much to impress a 5, 4 and 1 year old! What a WONDERFUL day! We had so much fun as you can tell!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Happy St. Patricks Day!

As I am writing this post tonight I am anticipating the excitement on 3 little faces in the morning when they wake up and find that a little leprechaun has come to visit while they were sleeping! How magical this will be for them. I can remember how excited I was every Christmas Eve when I was a child anticipating Santa coming while I was asleep! I hope to create that excitement as much as possible in my children while they are young. I absolutely LOVE being a Mommy and thank God each day for the 3 miracles he has entrusted me with. I hope they will always remember the excitement they felt as a child on days like these and carry some of our family traditions on to their children when they become parents!

Gold coins hidden in their shoes. There is even one hidden in Conner's pants pocket! Won't he be surprised!


GREEN TREATS for everyone: green gum, green chips, lucky charms chapstick, green glasses, hats, necklaces, stickers and a green rubber duck for baby Claire.


Of course we have to have LUCKY CHARMS cereal for breakfast with green milk!


Look at the little green footprints that Leprechaun left behind along with a trail of gold coins!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Kennedy's 4th Birthday Party: THE FINAL POST

Wheww....3 posts later and I am finally wrapping up this 4th birthday party extravaganza! I am sure glad birthday parties only come around once a year...wait a minute make that 3 times! I had so much fun with this party as you can tell. It melted my heart the evening after the party when Kennedy said "Mommy, that was the BEST birthday ever!" "Can we do it again next year?!" I sure do love that little girl!
Happy 4th Birthday Kennedy!
Love,
Mommy


It looked like Toy's R Us at our house after the party. Can I say ONE SPOILED LITTLE GIRL!

Lanie...her American girl Doll given to her by her Grancy!


Claire and Kennedy playing what else but, Candy Land before the party!


Kenned's 4th Birthday Party: THE FAVORS

CANDY NECKLACES
Each child was able to assesble there very own handmade candy necklace. Lifesaver gummies, peach Os and pink and orange ribbon were all the supplies needed for this FUN craft!


Big Brother Conner showing of his candy necklace he of course had to make before any of the little guests arrived as "An Example" and yes that is an exact quote from my little guy!

HAIR CLIPS
I made each little girl a hair clip to take home to remember this special day. I took tiny styrofoam balls and covered with fabric on some I secured each end with ribbon to resemble a piece of candy and other I inserted a sucker stick through and secured with ribbon to resemble a sucker. I glued alligator clips to the back of each one and clipped them on to hand stamped pieces of paper. I thought they turned our adorable!



FAVOR BAGS
Each child left with a favor bag with yes, you guessed it, a TOOTHBRUSH inside! There was also a little tiny gumball machine and candy shaped lip gloss!

Kennedy's 4th Birthday Party: THE FOOD

THE CAKE
A special thanks to my next door neighbor for this fabulous cake! It was such a huge hit!



THE DRINKS
It was a big decision for the kiddos (and adults too I might add) when it came to what to have to drink. We had pink lemonade in pink and orange sugar rimmed glasses served with licorice as a straw. We also had orange crush, which always tastes better out of the bottle decorated with a little ribbon to keep with the orange and pink theme.




THE CANDY BUFFET
The main entree of course was the candy buffet! Well, we did have little sandwiches, a chiken tray, chips and fruit but who cares about that...lets get on with the CANDY!
It was a dentists nightmare we had skittles, m & ms, gum, peppermints, rock candy, suckers, licorice, pixie sticks, I could go on and on. At the beginning of the table I had pink and orange hand stamped lunch bags that said SWEETS. In a frame I placed the following: Grab a bag, take a treat, Thanks for making my 4th birthday so SWEET! Love, Kennedy. I made sure each child got a bag full of candy before leaving! The kids were just fascinated with this!

Kenned's 4th Birthday Party: THE DECOR

THE CANDY BUFFET:


These were the utensils for the kiddos I found on clearance at Target. I wrapped them in napkins which were all held together with a candy bracelet.


The paper lanterns wrapped on cellophane and secured with fishing line turned out adorable suspended from the ceiling above the candy buffet to resemble over-sized pieces of candy!


THE TOPIARIES....These were my favorite! I must give my husband credit for these as well. I would not have been able to create these without his assistance. To start I took two medium styrofoam balls and covered each with dum-dums (a BUNCH I might add). I then inserted a dowel rod in the center of them. After my husband spray painted to flower pots while he filled each with cement and set the dowel rods in place. It took this to secure them because the balls with suckers were VERY heavy. A little pink ribbon and they turned out ADORABLE! I made two of them and placed them on either side of my front door. The kiddos enjoyed taking a sucker on the way out to enjoy as well!


GUM DROP WREATH
Well I said the topiaries were my favorite but I have to admit the wreath was a close second. I stared with a large syrofoam wreath and took toothpicks and inserted into about 8 bags of gumdrops and then inserted each one into the wreath until it was completely covered. I thought this was such an adorable way to greet guests on our front door to Kennedy's Sweet Shoppe!

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Zoo





We were able to celebrate Kennedy's 4th birthday on Sunday with BEAUTIFUL weather at the Zoo. The baby giraffe was Everyone's favorite! All three kiddos enjoyed the wonderful day and to top it all off Grancy was able to go too! What a fun day we had!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Kennedy's Fake Birthday

What a wonderful day!!! Kennedy and I celebrated her 4th Birthday today with a "Girls Day" we went and had our nails done and went shoe shopping! What more could a girl want?! Kennedy told everyone all day that it was her "Fake Birthday". She came up with this all on her own because her actual birthday is not until Sunday!
We also picked up the Dora cupcakes and the ice cream sandwiches for Kennedy to take to school tomorrow to share with her friends to once again celebrate her "Fake Birthday"! Thank you Kennedy for a wonderful Day, I can't wait to share many more girls days with you! Happy "Fake Birthday" Sweetheart!