A Squishy Easter

Our Friday Easter celebration was the perfect beginning to our spring vacation. Unfortunately with spring, comes all the spring allergies. I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and got a shot, some nasal spray, cough medicine and an antibiotic. It was exactly what I needed to propel me into our week in the mountains.

So back to Easter, the kids woke up around 6:30 a.m. excited about their baskets.

Isaac was the first one up. He gets UBER excited about this kind of thing. I know he was anxious about getting his Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself book. He has been begging for one for weeks. I finally broke down (against my better judgment) and told him he MIGHT get one in his Easter basket. It was enough to silence him, whew. I've decided not to stuff the kids baskets with candy. I know this is the traditional way of doing baskets, but they get SO much candy at all the egg hunts they attend, buying more seems superfluous. I like to get them their ABSOLUTE favorite candies. For Isaac, it's Laffy Taffy, suckers and gum.

I scored a lot of water toys on clearance last year and decided to save them for the baskets. Isaac also got a new pair of goggles--can you ever have to many pairs of these?

And finally the coveted book he's been waiting for. I don't think he's put it down since Friday.

Karson likes a challenge with her basket. I do a clue game throughout the house. She starts with a clue and then continues to find clues until she finally comes to her basket. It tickles her.

Karson's favorite candies are more Easter oriented. She likes Peeps, mini Cadbury eggs and I got her the cutest little sugar egg diorama from Mary Jane's Chocolates. I got her some Zinkies. I didn't realize any toy could get smaller than a Squinkie. But now they have come out with Zinkies. Looks like Miles may be taking one in for "Zz" show-n-tell next week at school =).

Miles's basket of goodies. I love his expression in the picture below--complete contentment.

All the kids got Squishy Baff in their baskets. Squishy Baff is currently around $25 on Amazon.com, but I was lucky enough to find it at Wal-Mart for $10. Love it when that happens. I bought all them a box and planned to take it on our trip to the mountains so the cousins could enjoy it too. SO, how does Squishy Baff work, you ask?

Here are the steps:

Step 1, find a willing participant.

Step 2, fill your tub to about 6 cm with water.

Step 3, add mix.

Step 4, wait about 5-10 minutes for it to set. I think this stuff feels a lot like those Orbeez--very jelly-like.

Step 5, have fun playing.

Step 6, when all is done, add the dissolving powder to turn the concoction back into water.

Here's where the REAL fun began. It's supposed to take around 10 minutes for the Squishy Baff to turn back into water. I noticed, however, that this was not happening. It was definitely thinning out but NOT dissolving. Thank goodness for the Internet. I googled Squishy Baff reviews, and the boards LIT up. People were talking about how it ruined their plumbing, they had to plunge their tub, they had to call plumbers, etc., etc. Well, out in Plano, we are on septic so I wasn't about to drain this stuff into our pipes and potentially RUIN our system. My solution: get the car washing bucket, fill and start dumping outside. After about 100 trips to and from the bath to the backyard, the fun was over =(. I've decided the next time we do Squishy Baff, it will be in a plastic or blow up pool. It's definitely not for the bath but TOTALLY FUN. I decided not to take it with us to the mountains either since I didn't want to take a chance and ruin the plumbing system on our magnificent cabin.

Easter Sunday Family Pictures.

I love these four!

Me and my twinkie Karson.

Me and my precious boys.

Meme's kids.

Karson and her pew buddies Tanner and Tucker.

The kids have been working on songs for our Easter service. They sounded great on Sunday. A special thanks to David Mahaney for devoting so much time to teach them. Here are a couple of their numbers.

God is so God. Amazing Grace Roll the Gospel Chariot

Easter service was wonderful. Matt always concludes his lesson with the "Friday, but Sunday's a Coming" lesson from Campolo. I felt an energy at our church on Sunday that was simply amazing. God was moving in our body and lives were touched, especially mine.

Look Who's HOPPY

Photography by Gabrielle took these preschool pictures of Miles back in March. Isn't that the sweetest rabbit ever (the little boy's not so bad either)! If I'd been smart and better prepared, I could've gotten a picture of all THREE kids since they were home with me--sickness. But lack of drive and the fact we had NO matching clothes, stopped that idea dead in its tracks. We've been suffering with random fevers and seasonal allergies at the Deaton home. The kids stayed home for a couple of days with illness. I have been suffering with a sore throat, sinus pressure and cough over the course of the last SIX days. It doesn't help that our neighbors (TWO specifically) mow constantly.I can understand mowing if it's been raining, but PEOPLE the grass isn't growing THAT MUCH. Sorry, I had to vent. I would love for it to rain and wash away some of this pollen and other junk floating around the air. However, I am hoping that doesn't happen our ENTIRE week off for Spring Break.

Karson and Isaac had spring pictures at school last week. I have to say that I CANNOT fix boys hair. I tried my best to make Isaac's hair calm down, but I failed miserably. Karson's hair, on the other hand, I can braid, fishbone, curl, twirl, flat iron, you name it. If you look closely at her face, you can see that she has make-up on. We usually save make-up for Sunday morning, but I decided it was a special day for it with pictures. BUT, the main reason I did it was because she has allergy eyes this time of the year. Her little peepers can swell up something awful. I had to put apricot concealer underneath her eyes to hide her dark circles.

My CUTIES!

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My little Miles is almost ready for kindergarten. I've been getting prepared for registration this month. There's NO SHORTAGE on what is required to enter the school system. (1) Birth Certificate--check (2) Social Security card--check (3) Shot Records--check (4) Dental Evaluation--check (5) Vision Exam--check--we had this done today. Got a coupon in the paper for a $29 exam at ValuVision. Miles was a real trooper. Things like this scare him, but he put on a brave face and did well. The doctor remarked to me how well-behaved he was. **Makes a mom smile BIG. (6) Physical Exam--still needs --and-- (7) My letter of request for the best kindergarten teacher in the world Ms. Sara Rather. Look out Plano.....

this handsome fellow is on his way.....

following in the footsteps on another handsome fellow I know--his smoking' hot POP.

Mom and Dad hosted our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. She hides around 2,000 eggs, and there is always a big crowd.

The kids are divided up in preschool and primary. The preschoolers hunt within the fenced area of their yard which is quite large. There were prizes for kids who found the most--in the preschool competition. I learned quickly that my Easter baskets were DUDS for this kind of contest. When Miles filled his up, I had Matt empty it into a grocery sack (which mom had plenty of for kids that may have forgotten their baskets). When Matt did this, Miles decided he wanted to carry around that sack but after a minute decided it was to heavy to lug around. At that point, he was done and ready to go pet Billy (Meme's dog). He totaled 39 eggs--hardly the largest amount. BUT, he really didn't care because he found the PRIZE golden egg later that afternoon. He was psyched with his $5 reward.

I hung with the older kids down in my parents field. I didn't snap many pictures of them. They are way to fast and kept coming to me to dump their baskets out in grocery sacks. Our candy yield for the day was HIGH!

Girls group photo. I have known most of these girls in this picture since my childhood, and the others for at least 10+ years. Friendships that last =).

Somewhere in the chaos of our lives, I celebrated my 35th birthday on March 30. I met my Friday girls at Chick-Fil-A for our weekly lunch date. Did I mention I have some pretty awesome friends!! Afterwards, we went to the park for more fun. I had been suffering with the beginning stages of a sore throat which spiraled downward after our park date. I got home and was shivering beyond control. My teeth were chattering so hard I thought I might chip one. I took my temperature and had a fever. Chills and a fever on my birthday--NO WAY.

I wasn't going to let that keep me down. I had big plans on going to Opry Mills and doing some shopping. Opry Mills re-opened on Thursday, March 29 after being closed for two years after the Nashville flood. Sick and all, Matt and I took off Friday afternoon around 5 p.m. We knew it would be an adventure getting there because I-65 was covered with traffic problems. It normally takes an hour to get to Nashville but turned into an hour and a half to get to Rivergate (which is usually about 45 minutes from Bowling Green). We decided it would be best not to eat at Opry Mills with all the hype surrounding the grand opening--we were certain the wait for restaurants would be LONG. And, the mall closed at 9:00 p.m. which I thought was WEIRD on opening weekend. We ended up stopping in Rivergate and ate at O'Charley's. The service was poor to say the least, and we didn't end up leaving there until 7:30 which gave me a little over an hour to shop. Overall it was WORTH it. Shopping in such an exciting environment helped me forget about my sore throat--retail therapy is simply the best. We capped off the evening with an visit to Marble Slab creamery. Perfect!

Since we weren't able to celebrate with my family on my actual birthday, we decided to do it on Saturday night instead (post egg hunt and pre-UK-game). My awesome sister made me a strawberry cake. It was delicious.

My best friends!!! Isn't it neat to say that your husband, mom and sister are your ABSOLUTE best friends? I would say so. I don't know what I would do without them! Thanks for making my day so special!

My birthday card mantle.

We dyed Easter eggs Sunday afternoon. There are PLENTY of dye-styles to chose from at our illustrious Wal-Mart. I picked sponge rollers, traditional cup dyes and candy apple sparkles.

Our EGGS ROCKED. I boiled 18, and I do believe we cracked at least 16 =).

But the smiles and memories are no match to spoiled egg shells.

Easter fun continued this week. We made roll out cookies yesterday--FROM SCRATCH people. I do not pride myself on being a cook, but I dare say, I can make some SUPERB roll-out cookies. These cookies take TWO days to complete and are a meticulous product that requires NO TYPE-A-ness when doing. I have to check my "keep your kitchen spotless" attitude at the door. Flour, crumbs, dirty dishes, tables, stickiness REIGNS with this recipe. But, my oh my, are they worth it. The kids were SO excited about coming home and icing the cookies.

We decided to share the wealth with their teachers. Miles's teacher Ms. Teresa told me she and her grandson ate them ALL before they got home that day =).

Carefully crafting the perfect cookie.

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We plan to celebrate Easter on Sunday (like most) with our church family. However, I am moving our Easter Basket festivities to Good Friday morning since the kids are out of school. I fully anticipate Sunday morning being hectic with our spring break travels after church and trying to get everyone ready and presentable, snapping pictures, packing up and all the while trying to keep the "right" frame of mind. I don't really want to add the whole Easter basket scenario to our morning mix. I know, I'm totally copping out and may appear to be lazy. But, I want the kids to get to enjoy their goodies and not have to leave them quickly, rushing off to church and then not seeing them until Thursday when we return. SO, that's my decision, and I'm sticking to it.

Hoppy Easter to everyone!