"Spring Break" & Easter Weekend

Thursday...

My kids are currently on their spring break for school, it began with an hour early dismissal last Wednesday, and they don't go back to school until this Wednesday March 30th. I took Thursday & Friday off of work, and planned to spend time with my kids before this baby gets here. There were no plans for tropical drinks, beaches, or wet t-shirt contests, however, I was HOPING we would have some nice weather to maybe go for a picnic at the park. Much to my dismay we woke up to 14 inches of snow on Thursday morning, so we were pretty much going to be finding things to do inside. At 31 weeks pregnant my body doesn't really allow for great sleep, so I was up around 7:30 a.m. and decided to start my day with a quick workout. It gave me time to get mobile, get active, and since my kids were sleeping in, it didn't take away from our time together!

View of our deck covered in 14 inches of snow

View out our front window, Randy had made the first tracks of the day heading to work!

Once the kids were up, I made them a fruit smoothie, and then headed out to shovel a path to the back yard for our dog Mugsy. I was thinking I'd just make a path on the deck, but we just built this great deck last summer, so instead of letting the dog christen it, I shoveled out into the yard so he could take care of business in the grass. I was surprised to be so winded after just a few scoops of snow, and I was being really careful not to move in a way I'd pay for later! By the time I got down to the grass, I was sweaty & tired, and couldn't believe that the snow was up to my knees, that's just too much snow for March.

My path for Mugsy

Doesn't look like much but I was gassed!

Reese wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies from a recipe she found off of Pinterest, and that worked for me because I was going to be getting soup ready in the crockpot for dinner. We worked together in the kitchen, and Keaton was finding time to just relax and make the most of a snow day. All in all it wasn't exactly a 'spring' day, but we enjoyed our time together.

My soup ingredients for Chili lime chicken soup

Friday...

Friday started out with putting my 'me time' in first while the kids were sleeping, I wanted to make sure to fit in my workout early because we had a busy day planned. By the time I finished up, Reese was awake, and I made pancakes for the kid's breakfast. I made the healthier pancakes for myself from my earlier blog post, and then we all got showered and ready for the day. We planned to pick up my mom to go to lunch and then an early movie. The kids wanted HyVee Chinese food, so that's where we went, but I went through the salad bar with my mom instead (knowing that we were having pizza for dinner). With our bellies full we headed off to our local theater to watch Zootopia, which was hilarious, adorable, and had a great underlying lesson! The theater was packed so Reese & I sat together, and then Keaton sat with his grandma (who's the best boy!) Afterwards we dropped my mom off at her house, and then went to pick up some take and bake pizzas. By the time we got home it was nearly 4:30 p.m. and Keaton got invited to sleepover at a friend's house, so he packed a bag and I drove him there. I sat and fit in a little more 'me time' reading my personal development book before my nephew was coming over. I had agreed to babysit my nephew, and I said he could sleepover, so his parent's could have a date night and they didn't have a curfew. Reese was my big helper because our little 2 year old nephew just adores her, and he wanted to do what she did, and sit next to her all night. He went to bed early, and I followed close after because he still gets up in the night, and wakes up early!

Done with my workout just in time because then Reese was up!

Fitting in a little more 'me time' before Blake came over

Saturday...

Blake woke up at 7 a.m. on the dot & he wanted his mommy! After some cuddles and coaxing, he settled down and let me change his diaper and then he sat with uncle Randy to watch his movie 'Tangled' while I made him some breakfast. He ate his eggs, banana, and avocado really well, so I let him have a little piece of cinnamon roll cut up that I had just baked. My sister & brother in law came to get him around 9:30 and then he didn't want to leave :D. 

Randy & Blake watching 'Tangled' while I made breakfast

Blake cheesing it up for the camera

Randy & Blake 'sharing' a pillow

At 10:45 I picked Keaton up from his friend's house because we had big plans to go shopping for his upcoming 8th grade graduation. I had Kohl's cash & a coupon (that I normally totally forget to use!) and I wrote it on the calendar that we had to go shopping by Saturday to use the discounts. I knew Keats needed dressed head to toe with shoes, a belt, and the whole shebang, so I was going to want those discounts! Anyway, he was a total trooper because he was in a dressing room trying on so many pairs of pants, shirts, & combinations that it took us about an hour and a half to get his outfit pulled together just right. He didn't complain once, which if you have a teenage boy, is HUGE! Normally I just shop for him and bring stuff home, but because he doesn't usually wear dress slacks & a dress shirt etc. I knew he needed to go with me! Afterwards I took him to lunch at Chipotle because it's delicious, and it's one of his favorites. It was so nice to spend some one on one time with my son. Usually Reese always goes with me to run errands and I love our time together as well, but because Keats is usually on his own agenda,  so this was a very special day. 

Keats & I on our lunch date @ Chipotle

While we were out and about we hit up Target for some Easter candy & goodies to stick in the kid's baskets, and healthy granola & nuts for mine & Randy's basket. (Although I made sure to sneak in a dark chocolate Dove Easter bunny for myself as well) Then we headed home to get working on our hard boiled Easter eggs.

We tried something new this year that I had seen on Pinterest. Since the beginning of time we've used the water & vinegar method with the PAAS Easter kit. But as it normally goes, the kids want to dye one or two eggs, and then I'm left with a dozen or more to do by myself when they lose interest & patience. SO, I thought we'd try something new. This method called for whipped topping (you could also use shaving cream, but the idea of all those chemicals in the shaving cream sitting on our hard boiled eggs made me cringe) & food coloring.

Materials for our Eggstravaganza :D

I gathered all of the materials:

Whipped topping

Food dye

Straws

Craft Sticks

Kitchen tongs

 9 x 13 dish

18 hard boiled eggs

The Method:

I stirred up the whipped topping and then poured it into the pan and smoothed it out so it was fairly even. Then I used multiple drops of gel food dye and left about 2 inches around each. We used the straws to mix the dye into the whipped topping a little. Then we simply dropped our eggs one at a time into a color, and gently rolled it through the whipped topping & dye using our craft sticks to guide it. When it was covered with color, I'd use the tongs to lift the eggs out & placed them on a baking sheet I had covered first with plastic wrap & then a paper towel to contain the mess! They started out looking like a blob of colors. We let them sit overnight, and in the morning I rinsed them off a little and then used a damp paper towel to get the rest of the glopped whipped topping off of them.

After swirling the food dye & whipped topping with a straw

Kids using the sticks to guide their eggs through the dye

Keats & Reese enjoying the messy method

Our gloppy eggs sitting to dry overnight

Our final product, pastel tie dye eggs!

Things I would do differently: I would not stir the dye into the whipped topping, I think I'd just let the dye sit in little pools until the eggs roll through & swirl them to make more vibrant colors. Otherwise it went super fast, the kids were laughing & having fun, and the eggs looked tie dyed so all in all it was a fun project!

Sunday...

To follow suit as a totally 'pregnant brain' lady at 31 weeks pregnant...I forgot to take a photo of all of us dressed up on Easter Sunday. Our plan was brunch at my parent's house, and dinner at Randy's dad's house.I made an egg dish in the crockpot, I'll post the recipe soon because it's super easy and it's now my go-to for holidays. I also made some healthy paleo zucchini bread that was a hit for the second year in a row! Reese baked blueberry muffins on Saturday that we brought to my parent's house, and there was a huge spread of delicious foods, fruits, baked goods, and of course Easter candy :D. My kids did a little Easter egg hunt to each find 10 plastic eggs with money & candy. We normally like to try and do this outside, but due to the winter storm of course, we were forced inside this year. My philosophy is you're never too old for an Easter egg hunt! 

We ate until we were uncomfortable, and of course the morning wasn't without a fiasco at the Chicoine house. My mom tried a recipe for monkey bread in a bundt pan, there is a caramel sauce so when it's done, you flip the pan over onto a serving dish and the caramel coats the whole confection. In customary Chicoine fashion, we successfully flipped the bundt only to find that the monkey bread was still really doughy in some areas. So, now it was on a glass serving plate, but not baked. We suggested that she put the bread back into the oven on the dish, since now there was caramel everywhere...about ten minutes later I could smell (with my pregnancy spidey senses) something burning. I opened the oven and the glass dish had broken in a star pattern, the caramel goo was now leaking down onto the potato casserole underneath it, and some was dripping onto the floor of the oven, which is what I could smell burning! 

We went over to my father in law's house for supper around 4 p.m. and he had cooked a ham, and a whole spread. I was still pretty full from brunch but we sat around and talked and caught up with everyone. We left around 6:30 so it was still early, and we decided to sit and watch a movie as a family, the 'Penguins of Madagascar' that Reese got in her Easter basket. It was a wonderful weekend, and it definitely made Monday morning a little difficult to fire up for!

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