Happy Easter!

The boys have enjoyed a fun Easter weekend! Yesterday began with the annual egg hunt at the community center up the street. This is the third year in a row we have attended and both boys really seemed to have the hang of it this year. We met up with our new neighbors as the kids opened their eggs. My boys did a candy swap when they got home and swapped all their candy out for some dark chocolate eggs from Gramma. They didn't complain! We spent the rest of the morning coloring eggs, which Oliver had been asking to do for the past two weeks. I was really happy with the way the organic egg dye kit turned out. After they woke up from their naps they decorated some Paleo bunny cookies I had baked while they were sleeping. We finished the day off with dinner with our new neighbors who moved in down the street. Just before bed Oliver left a card, some money, and a snack for the Easter Bunny.

This morning they ran downstairs to explore their Easter baskets, hunt for eggs and have a leisurely breakfast. We had a nice Easter lunch with Jim and Cynthia and finished off the day with a late afternoon trip to the beach! The weather was unusually warm and calm by the water so the boys quickly removed their shirts while they worked on building a dam. I hiked around a bit with Penny since the tide was low, and on the way home we all took a short hike in the woods. It was a great end to a fun-filled weekend.

Hunting for Eggs!

their new friend/neighbor, Charlie! I love the expression on her face as she tastes a bite of taffy.

Egg Dying time!

Painting on the glitter

And now for the cookie painting! I made the frosting by melting coconut butter with a bit of raw honey, and adding some of the food coloring powder left over from dying eggs. It worked wonderfully!

Easter Bunny Rabbit's snack of a cookie, strawberries and carrots. Plus his card and money.

Easter baskets

Family selfie this afternoon after lunch.

Beach trip!

garden friends

I took the boys to Swanson's Nursery today to pick up a two plants for our front yard, we needed another blueberry and rosemary bush. I've been wanting to get some little garden friends for a while, so I let Oliver pick out a few. I love them! I put one gnome by each of the boys' maple trees.

this little gnome is hanging out by Elliott's tree

and this is the one Oliver wanted for his tree

and some geckos eating the clover

Later on, this little guy helped me pick basil for the delicious Zusketti I made for dinner.

he mostly ended up with handfuls of cilantro and dirt

pez (paleo hack)

I've been scrounging the house for fun toys/snacks to bring for Oliver on our flight next week. I want to make sure he has plenty to do since I'm sure I'll be occupied with Elliott. I was looking for a small container to pack a few dark chocolate chips in, but I couldn't find one small enough. I only want to pack 5 or so. Then I went through some drawers downstairs and I found four old Pez dispensers that I had saved from when I was a kid. Perfect! The 365 brand of 70% dark chocolate chips happen to be nearly the same size as a Pez candy, and much healthier to boot.

Just out of curiosity I looked up the Pez ingredients: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Adipic Acid, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel & Palm Oils And Soybean Oil Mono & Diglycerides, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Artificial Colors (including FD&C Red 3,Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2). Not exactly Paleo or healthy by any means.

Oliver doesn't even know what Pez are but I know he's going to love this delicious and healthier version!

my little chef

Oliver is my little chef. Every morning he pulls out pots and pans, pot holders, a spatula, his wooden vegetables and a few other things to use in the day's concoction. He's so good that he even likes to put the "leftovers" away in our Tupperware and store them in the fridge. Quite lovely to open the fridge and find it full of wooden food! Today he pulled out my apron as well.

Completely unrelated, but he's signing and asking to watch a bear e-card that my mom sent him.

all decked out with the right equipment

a little bummed that I wouldn't actually plug in the hand mixer, but pretending will have to do for now

sifting the veggies

Look how tall he's gotten! He can freely help himself to the utensil drawer, much to our dismay. Drawer locks don't work either, because he knows how to open them.

Notice the carefully placed book under the pan, this is his "burner". He has two large square books, and they are always his burner, whether the "stove" is on the ground or the couch that day. This is something that he started completely on his own, and I think it's quite clever. It sure beats him trying to use the real stove for now.

honey

There's nothing better than baking with honey!