Easter!

Easter morning came around pretty early...7:15am! Which is early for our little munchkins! This is what we awoke to! More snow...for the love!!!!

Abbey was the first to spot the baskets and quickly woke Michael up! They RAN from chocolate to chocolate and Steve & I had tons of fun watching it all happen. The Easter Bunny had hidden chocolate on every floor with the big finale in front of the fireplace in the basement. Funny how long it takes to set up but it's over in minutes. Super fun though!

With the "not-so-great" weather outside we decided to get busy baking. First, we made Donna's famous banana chocolate chip muffins (that I have become quite good at if I do say so myself ha!ha!) Here's my little Abbey helping out!

Then I decided to get fancy and all hell broke loose. Here's the back story...there's a little boy in my class, Gavin, who brings in fresh baked treats everyday and one day he brought in these adorable little cookies that looked like nests with Jelly Belly beans in the middle as eggs. Gavin's Mom volunteers weekly in my classroom so I asked her for the recipe which she promised was simple. I thought I could do it... I really did! Boy was I WRONG! Here are some pictures of the cookie making process...looks fun,was fun, tasted NOT-SO fun!!!!!

To get the jellybeans to stick to the cookie you have to melt white chocolate chips. I'll spare you all the details (partly because I'm too embarrassed to re-tell it) but the melting and spreading was not my finest hour in the kitchen! OYE! Thank goodness my assistants were only four year olds and didn't really understand why Mommy was melting the chocolate FIVE times! ha!ha!

The finished product looked cute (I thought so anyway) but tasted not cute AT ALL! I brought them to school to share (a.k.a. get rid of) and didn't put a note or my name on them hee!hee! They were gone by lunch but not to rave reviews I'm sure. Here's a picture of the finished product! So much potential!

On another note, Donna found out that Abbey and Michael liked eating hard boiled eggs and so she bought me these awesome egg presses (from Japan no less!!!) to make lunches more exciting. Isn't she thoughtful!!! They are a huge hit! She bought us four different shapes, bunny, car, fish & bear. They are so cute! For lunch on Easter Sunday I made the kids Bunny shaped eggs. They thought it was so funny to bite the ears off! Thanks Donna! xo

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter long weekend...and yes Mom... I DID go to church on Sunday! (the whole hour and half!!!!) ;-)

Kitchen Reno!

When we built our house 5 years ago, we were in total baby mode. We couldn't see past playpens and high chairs and therefore the dimensions of the kitchen reflected it. Our eat-in area was really long with a lot of unused space since the high chairs were moved out (quite some time ago now). Anyway I had this idea to create a built-in work station with storage space for the kids books, art supplies, etc. It went in last week and we love it! Here are some pictures of the instillation.

Almost done is this picture (just one drawer missing). The drawers are so deep and spacious. PERFECT for hiding...I mean putting things away in an orderly fashion ha!ha!

And here's the finished product in use! Abbey and Michael painting on it this week. The kids LOVE it (and so does Mommy!) Just a few organizational knick-knacks to buy and we'll be good to go!

Merci Grand-maman and Grand-papa for such an awesome birthday present. It's awesome! xo

Just Call Him Lance!

On Friday, Michael decided that he wanted to try riding his bike WITHOUT training wheels. Steve took them off and had a chat with Michael about how it might take a while to learn to ride a bike without the training wheels on but that we could keep trying all day if he wanted to.


So off they go to the end of the driveway, down the street to the next house with Steve holding Michael's seat as he's pedaling. Michael kept saying "I'm good Daddy! You can let me go!" but Steve was of course reluctant to do so in case he fell and then was too scared to try again but Michael was persistent. Steve stopped the bike and turned it around to head back to our house. This is the video taken not even two minutes after taking the training wheels off. Insane!!! Not bad for a not-even-four-and-a-half-year-old eh?! You can hear me half crying and laughing in the background and my neighbours disbelief as well! You can hear Scott say "Okay, that's just weird!" We were all amazed!

That same day Michael biked around the block three times....with Steve and I running behind him trying to catch up. I didn't think our block was that big until I jogged it! oye! I am soooo out of shape! I'm glad Abbey said she wasn't ready yet because Steve and I need rest time between laps!!!

DISNEY WORLD!

We took over 300 pictures during our stay at Disney and tons of videos. There were just too many amazing moments to blog about so I'm going to post this one picture which totally captures the excitement and magic of our trip. A picture of our family with the mouse that started it all...MICKEY! We love Mickey Mouse and we love Disney World!!!

Guests at Cinderella's Round Table

During our wonderful stay at Disney, Steve booked supper one night at Cinderella's Round Table in her Castle. I don't know who was more excited; Abbey or ME! There was one little glitch though...the only available time slot was at 9 pm (FYI...if you are planning on going they are pretty much booked solid 6 months in advance!) It all worked out perfectly in the end. We had a family nap from 5:00 to 7:00 and headed down to the Magic Kingdom full of energy for the fireworks. They were beyond spectacular!
I cried many times on this trip...during the "It's a Small World" ride, at every parade, every time Abbey and Michael would jump with excitement at the site of a Disney character AND at the fireworks! It really is the happiest place on earth and when I'm happy, I cry! So silly I know but they whole thing was just so special!

After the fireworks we walked right up to the castle to let them know we were there. Once checked in, they opened the doors into the foyer where Cinderella was waiting. I thought Abbey would pee herself! She was SO excited! Here are a few pictures of her meeting the princess.

Big hugs for Cinderella!

They announced our table was ready after a few minutes with Cinderella. "Lord McAlpine and family, your table awaits!" I felt so special...I mean Abbey felt so special! ha!ha! We had a wonderful meal with the Fairy God Mother and the little mice dancing around. The whole thing was amazing and I would highly recommend it to anyone!


Michael had fun too but wasn't so interested in Cinderella...he was all about taking pictures with the knights.














We had bought Abbey a new princess dress during the day in preparation for our big night with Cinderella and as I was paying for it I noticed these little rings with princesses (Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, etc.) on them at the check-out counter. I secretly bought a Cinderella one for Abbey but didn't give it to her until the morning after our supper at the castle. I told her that while she was sleeping, the Fairy God Mother had come to the hotel room to give her the ring because she was the prettiest and most well-behaved little girl she saw at supper that night. Abbey loves that ring!!! She is so proud of it and couldn't wait to wear it to school! The whole evening was truly magical. It's a night that Abbey won't soon forget...the rest of the family either!