Happy Easter

Happy Easter From the Ouren Bunnies!

Easter is Upon Us

We have been gearing up for the bunny's arrival tonight. Caleb asked me to take a picture of the bunny basket he made a school from an old milk carton and his prized yellow egg from school as well.

Today we spent some time coloring eggs. This is Zaden's idea of coloring eggs. He then thought it was fun to pick it up and drop it over and over until Zaric took it from him and he dropped it over and over. It's pretty cracked up but we kept it anyway.

Here's Caleb coloring some eggs. He had been excited about it all day and then by the time we got there, he could have cared less. He colored about 3 and then ran off to play with his dinosaurs and matchbox cars. Mom and Dad colored the rest.

And here's Mike working on his masterpiece egg. I forgot to take a pic. but he made one with Mario Bros. pics on it of course. I'll try to get a pic for tomorrow.

And just a look at our pretty eggs. We were pretty impressed with the vibrant colors we got on a few.

Stay tuned for more picture fun tomorrow!

Tie-Dye Eggs Round 2

Ok so I had so much fun that we found ourselves heading to the DI again for some more tie patterns. Mike helped me pick out a few and we tried another round. Some worked, some didn't. We are still perfecting it and saving some of our favorite ties for next year. Still a really fun project. (See tutorial below for instructions)

Tie-Dye Eggs

Allison had pointed out this technique to me online and I thought it sounded like a lot of work. Then I saw it again in a magazine.....lazied down a bit for people like me. So this is my first try. Not perfect and will be trying again but still pretty freaking awesome!

Step One: Find some old silk ties. If your husband doesn't have any lying around, go to your local thrift store like I did and pick some up for cheap. Cut 5-6 inches off. I used the manufacturers label as a guide and cut just below it.

Step two: Roll up a raw egg in the cut off portion. I rolled toward the point.

Step three: I rubber banded the ends and put one around the middle. I would recommend taking the one off the middle as it left white spots on my eggs. So next time I will skip that one.

Step four: Place eggs in boiling water for 15 minutes. When done remove from water with slatted spoon and leave on plate or paper towels to cool.

Step five: When cool enough to touch fabric, unwrap and viola! The pattern is on the egg and you hard-boiled it at the same time.

Like I said they aren't perfect, but I'll take it for a first try. The one I tried with a floral pattern didn't work at all so I won't be trying that one again. I'll try more later and rumor has it you can use the same piece of the tie over and over a few times for a few eggs. What could be easier?

Caleb Connections part 2

Caleb has made another one of his baffling connections when trying to understand this world. Last week we stopped by Mike's work where one of the ladies told Caleb that she was going to put a brick on his head so that he would stop growing so fast. He thought that was pretty silly and we just left it at that.
Well we were on our way to school and listening to to one of his lovely kids songs CD's when the song "Shortening Bread" came on. You know, "Momma's little baby loves Shortening, Shortening..." That one. Well from out of the blue he says, " I bet the baby sticks it on his head so he doesn't get bigger." Get it "SHORT" ning bread! HA! If it's named shortening bread, it's got to make you short right? It took me a minute to process where he would come up with such a thing then once I made the connection to Dad's office then it all made sense.

Mushroom Heads

Aunt Allison Rocks! She found these cute mushroom hats from Super Mario Bros. online so she ordered them for the boyz Bday. She stopped by on Sunday night right after we got back to give them to the boyz. We love them and they will be perfect for Mike's 30th birthday bash coming up in July. For those of you that don't know, Mike is a huge Nintendo fan and we are having a costume party where you have to dress as a Nintendo character. So these little guys are set!

Zaric
Zaden

Zaden giggling at Zaric's funny hat.....like he didn't have one too.

And the Shroom Heads!

Thanks, Allison!

Birthday Bash!!!!!

Hooray! My babies are 1. What a year it has been, full of surprises, fun, frustrations and ups and downs. I really don't even know sometimes (looking back) how we survived some of it but we did and we are so proud of ourselves and our little guys. So it's time to share our party time for those of you that couldn't be with us.
Well the weather didn't cooperate at all, with freezing temperatures and wind, rain and snow we were forced to take the party from the park to Tracey's house. A special thanks to her for doing all of the work needed to accommodate this. I braved the elements and stood outside to BBQ our burgers and hot dogs for the guests. Since we were doing a combined party, we did our best to clash everything together in a smaller space. Case in point the Birthday banners.

I used my decorations to decorate on her tablecloth.

And here's a picture of the cake we got for them. Sorry this isn't the best angle to see it all. But we thought it turned out cute.

At the last minute I saw these party hats in Target and decided to grab them. Good thing I did. They were a hit with the little ones.

Here's Mr. Leyton showing his off. This was also his party, he's turning 4.

And DaNell styling in one.

And of course, Caleb and his twin Schydi in theirs.

Zaric has been battling a double ear infection and chest cold and was starting to wear out so we decided to do cake before presents. The bakery gave us smash cakes with our order. Problem is they gave us chocolate ones....or is that really a problem ? Zaric touched it once and then decided that a nap was more important.

Luckily he woke up later and went to work on it (I'll try to post more pis later). I got this pic when he was done. This is my favorite pic of the day.

Zaden took the long route with his cake. He wasn't really sure what to do with it and not quite sure he was allowed to have it so for the first few minutes all he did was poke it and lick his fingers.

Once he started to figure it out though, he was in heaven.

I used a fork to cut him off some chunks and he took it from me and started feeding himself in a more civilized manner.

And the after effect.

We finally got around to presents and the discovered curling ribbon. That was the best part. They even liked it better than the paper this time.

Here's Uncle Ryan helping Zaden with a present.

Since we had goodies for 4 boys, our cake didn't even get touched. But not to worry, all the kids or "Cake Locusts" came over to Papa's today right before we left to help us out with that so we sang Happy Birthday again and partied once more.

After the party yesterday a group of us also made it to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was hilarious. Caleb loved it and has been quoting it all day. It's a must see!

Do we know how to party or what? Be sure to read my other posts below for the rest of our birthday weekend fun in Price.

Park

Of course we couldn't get out of town today without a little play time. Zaden was napping with grandma Nette. Like I said in the Bday post, Zaric is battling a double ear infection and chest cold so he didn't really care much today either that he got to swing with Mom and slide with Dad.

Here's my niece Schydi take a couple turns on the slides.

And my goofball Caleb. I told him to smile at me when he came down the slide and this is what I got several times. A big open mouth. When did that become a smile?

But I did sneak in one good one.

Here's hoping the nice weather keeps up so we can make it to a park again soon. Hopefully when Zaric is feeling better and Zaden is awake.

Hey Batter Batter!

Before we left Price this morning my niece called and asked if it was warm if we'd play baseball with them. I hadn't played in years so I thought it sounded kinda fun. We headed to the park around 11 and everyone showed up. So we picked teams and had a little game. Nobody kept score, but it was pretty obvious that my team didn't win. A good time was had by all none the less.


This is my sister, Tracey, striking a pose with her mitt.

Taylor whacking the ball into the outfield.

David showing off his pitching abilities.

Papa and Leyton covering 2nd base.

And Leyton taking a whack at the ball.

Oh that's right......I still got it. All those years of softball paid off. I hit a few good ones. And thanks to Maygun I got this pic of my backside.....my better side some would say ;)

And here's the little outfielders Caleb and Schydi.

And miss Maygun at the plate.

Thanks for the invite and we'll make sure to play again sometime when we are down.