olive wanted to create a leprechaun trap and once i was involved, it was all downhill or uphill from there!?? LOL i say that because i am so darn extra! once we started, i couldn’t stop adding in all the extra details. i rummaged through my craft supplies and added and added and added all the cute things. olive was game on! she loved everything i suggested and i loved everything she suggested.
we added in bling, anything shiny to make sure we attracted the leprechaun to the abode. we even made a curtain to hide the fact that it was a trap. olive insisted that we make a bed inside the box because she didn’t want the leprechaun to be uncomfortable once he was trapped. she’s so sweet! after we spent way too much time on the trap, it was ready! olive was so excited and couldn’t wait to go to bed.
the next morning, the leprechaun did pay us a visit! what a mess he made! he turned our house upside down and made such a big mess, especially in olive and ellie’s room! he threw confetti everywhere and rummaged through their rooms looking for anything gold. the girls were shocked, excited, and in awe over the mess he made and that he dodged their trap. darn it! i told the girls, maybe next year!
leprechaun trap olive wanted to make sure we gave directions to the leprechaun to go through the tube to get his gold.olive painted the rainbow and we sprinkled the clouds with gold glitter.olive wanted to make it cozy for the leprechaun, so she made a crinkle paper bed!we made curtains to hide that it was a trap!
random st. patrick’s day fun!
st. patrick’s day macarons by two brothers bakery painting cookies
first easter in my life where i did not spend it with my extended family! as you saw in the previous post about our situation with covid-19…it’s been several weeks of unknown, unfamiliar territory.
let’s be clear…i am not scared. i am not upset. i’m not living in fear but i understand that what we are doing is for the greater good of our world. i’ve loved our time home and if that’s what we need to do to flatten the curve, then so be it. i’m quite content.
celebrating the rise of Christ was so good. we started the morning off with easter baskets and gifts. the girls loved their presents! they spent some time opening up their treasures and then we ran outside for the easter egg hunt!
it had rained the day before, so we figured it would be safe to have the hunt outside and it was suppose to be 55 degrees, which was a great temp for us to hold this outdoors.
after the egg hunt, we came inside to open up all the colorful eggs to see what toys or candy it held inside! after playing around a bit with their egg hunt favors, we all got dressed up for the day and watched sunday easter mass via online.
we had our easter brunch catered through foxtail in downtown downers grove and all we had to do was heat it up! while we were preparing our meal, we were also waiting for the easter bunny to arrive!
a month back, our favorite shop, waterlemon offered easter bunny visits through their site! when i saw that, i thought hell yes! how awesome would that be with us not being able to visit the bunny this year but to have the bunny come to us?! i was on it.
as we were waiting for our food to warm up, the bunny arrived! we started screaming for the girls to come upstairs! olive rushed up and ellie was perplexed. we said, ‘the eater bunny is here!” and ellie was like no thank you. she said, “i scared! i scared!” well, we didn’t care. LOL we all rushed out and left ellie behind and she had no choice but to follow us outside.
oh what a treat! the bunny was waiting with balloons and gifts and asked if olive and ellie were around! olive was SOOOO excited! she was jumping up and down, so ecstatic to see the easter rabbit and so excited the bunny knew their names. the bunny was so sweet and loving towards the girls. they exchanged a few words and ellie busted out, “where are your carrots?!” hahaha! the bunny so wisely responded with, “i ate them for breakfast!” the visit was short, sweet, and socially distance. what i loved most was that ellie has always been afraid of life sized character costumes and she totally warmed up to the bunny…we are breaking through!
wow…it was such a fun 10 minutes of our day! the neighbors all came out to catch a glimpse and the bunny visit put a smile on everyone’s face!
afterwards, we all went inside to a delicious easter brunch and relaxed on the couch, in our jammies, for the rest of the day!
check out all the pics from our easter week!
*****
B U N N Y C R A F T
[ready to paint!]
[blue…her FAVORITE color]
[my sweet girl getting so big!]
[she’s so sweet]
[full focus]
[this girl is full of funny faces…she knew i was snapping a pic and wanted to display how hard she was concentrating and working on her artwork]
[finished product]
*****
E A S T E R W E E K F U N
[ellie’s easter shelfie]
[easter bunny lunch]
[easter basket goodies]
[i love creating their baskets]
*****
B U N N Y C I N N A M O N R O L L S
[yummy cinnamon bunny rolls]
[olive’s creation]
[ellie’s creation]
[she’s like – what you looking at?! LOL]
*****
E A S T E R E G G D Y I N G
[she’s been on either a cat kick or purple hair kick]
[i was very surprised at how well ellie did with dying her eggs!]
[she’s wild and sweet]
[first batch]
[painting]
[working hard with the glue, glitter, and confetti]
[olive’s batch]
[watercolor]
*****
S A T U R D A Y M O R N I N G F U N
[i had this donut decorating kit delivered to our house!]
[they ate more than they used on the donuts]
[working so diligently on her creations]
[the girl’s works of art]
[thumbs up yummy!]
[we packed up donuts for our neighbors!]
*****
E A S T E R S U N D A Y
[easeter goodies]
[excitement]
[she loves her walk a lot unicorn]
[she was excited to get this minnie mouse phone]
[olive’s glitter chalk easter eggs]
[gummi’s]
[easter dress]
*****
E A S T E R E G G H U N T
[ready to hunt eggs! i told hc to make it easy but i didn’t expect him to just dump the eggs in the middle of the yard. LOL]
oh, it was a very busy {leading up to} and very tiring week after easter! you know meeeeee, always piling on too much and loving every second of it. i swear if i didn’t plan months in advance, then i’d be a creative hot mess. LOL.
easter morning started out with the girls waking up and screaming their way to their baskets. well, olive screamed her way! hahaha! ellie, for some reason, was in a mood and pouted her way towards her basket. oh guuuurrlllll.
olive was so excited the easter bunny dropped off her unicorn ponycycle! her face was priceless when she saw it! i absolutely love that they BOTH love it and they sometimes ride it together…it’s so cute! ellie feels comfortable on it too, so the gift was a win win!
they then went through their easter baskets looking at all the goodies. they were very excited over their shoes! yay! olive had to look at everything and make a comment on each item. once they were done perusing their basket of goodies, everyone got ready for easter brunch.
but before we left, we did an easter egg hunt outside! the weather was Ahhhhhhhmazing. the best kind of day to celebrate Christ! the girls had so much fun hunting down their eggs! i made paper plate markers for the eggs and to help guide the girls through the hunt! hc did the set up {y’all know kiki doesn’t get up early if she doesn’t have to!} and did a great job with hiding all the eggs! we had filled them the night before with candies and moj moj animals. olive loooooved them all and loved that they also glowed in the dark! bonus!
i was quite proud of miss ellie getting a good amount of eggs too! she did good! once the hunt was over and the girls went through their egg surprises, we then headed downtown for brunch with the famille!
our place of choice was baptiste and bottle at the conrad hotel. we were very curious on this restaurant. i told my family that it better be amazing as it took two weeks and a whole lotta phone tag to finally nail a reservation at this establishment! we walked in and the interior looked lovely, modern, and moody. i was totally eyeing the scrumptious dessert table that greeted us!
they walked us over to our table{s} and didn’t even push them together to seat our party of 13! i had to ask them to do so. i mean, if you are out with a whole group, would you want to sit at separate tables?? that made no sense! then our server came by and he was energetic and very nice! then, 45 minutes later, our drink orders were still not fulfilled, our food still hadn’t come, and i was completely irritated. it was prix fixe menu!! the kitchen obviously knew how many people they were serving that day AND the menu was set…so waiting almost one hour for our first course to come out was ridiculous!!!!
i went to the hostess stand and asked to speak to a manager. he was very nice and polite and i was cordial and calm. he immediately reacted, apologized, and came over to our table to help our server out. for goodness sake, my sister ordered coffee and asked for cream and sugar and 15 minutes later….she still didn’t get. i had to do something!
once the ball started rolling, our server continued to mess up {he’d take away our plates and then would forget to bring in fresh plates so we could continue to eat} but we were in deep and there was no going back. the poor guy did his best to accommodate us but i really think serving was not his forte! the good new was, the food was delicious!! we really did enjoy our brunch despite the subpar service. we were with the right people and that was all that mattered.
thuy brought the kids their easter bakets and olive went nuts over what she bought her. she literally had to wear everything thuy bought her! ohmergawd, olive is so extra. the girls are so loved and so spoiled by their family. we are so so lucky to be close to them, in all aspects.
after our long and yummy brunch, we all traipsed our way over to the new shop – dylan’s candy bar store! it was bright, fun, and smelled way too sweet for me! it was a candy land dream! every type of candy, the largest cotton candy cone i have ever seen, and everything was way overpriced! LOL. of course, olive suckered me into buying her a lollipop! no pun spared.
our easter was perfect. the weather was perfect. the day was perfect. remember it’s your mindset. live positively. count your blessings. cherish the moments with your people and be thankful for what God has given you. then your filter will always view things as perfect because it is.
i am most creative at night. my mind doesn’t wind down easily and i am always thinking of ideas – what to do, what to create, what to anything. the other night, as it was nearing midnight, like right now, i had an urge to finish the easter egg project that i had barely even started. all i had were empty egg shells {i tapped each egg gently on top, peeled a hole about an inch big and broke the egg white and yolk out and washed each shell with water} but i felt completing the rest of it would be so easy!
i ran downstairs to my craft stash and rummaged around for construction paper. i picked a dark tan and white color for the ears, brought up two flat wooden sticks to hold the ears. i stole some crayola markers from my girl’s art closet {i chose some fun colors and definitely pink for the cheeks}. i rummaged our easter decor box and found shredded paper grass. i already had flowers to pick from our vase and the ceramic egg holder, an old buy from anthropologie or you can always use an egg carton from the store that the eggs come in {cut it to fit the amount of eggs you make} .
i folded the paper into fours and cut out 4 sets of dark tan ears and two sets of white bunny ears. i then used different colored markers to color in the ears. i did leave one set blank to mix it up.
i then cut the 1/4 inch wide flat wooden sticks the length of the eggs with scissors {1 1/2 to 2 inches}. i used scotch tape to affix the ears onto the sticks, wrapping the tape around the back to secure it into place.
i then drew fun and different faces onto each egg with a fine point sharpie and used a pink marker to flush their cheeks.
i placed the green shredded grass into the egg holder. i placed each egg and ears into their nests and then snipped little bunches of flowers and place them inside the top of each bunny egg.
ta da! easter egg bunnies! it was quick, easy, and fun to make! the best part?? seeing olive’s face and excitement when she discovered them! she looooooved them so much! now that is the part that i love most: seeing the joy in her face!
currently, she’s taking care of them. she’s fed them. she’s checked their health like a doctor. she loves playing with them and creating vivid stories. to be able to enhance her imagination, promote creativity, and bring her joy is the best type of gift i can give!
i have hemmed and hawed over the idea of the easter bunny, tooth fairy, and santa. i wasn’t sure if i wanted to push a made up character to persuade olive to be a good kid. ’cause honestly, she’s a good kid without persuasion. there are some big debates between parents around this subject. these fictional figures have been molded and it’s american made, it’s financially driven, it’s lying, it’s bribing, and so forth.
easter and christmas are christian religious holidays celebrating jesus. i want olive to know and understand that those holidays are stemmed from the life of jesus. that is why we celebrate on those days.
i also loved the idea that these characters added to the magic of the season and are really fun to believe in. i did believe in them when i was a kid and it didn’t harm or taint me. my parents didn’t enforce the idea of santa, the easter bunny, or the tooth fairy on me, it was all about church, the bible, and our faith but i loved the magic behind it. i was never upset they weren’t real. honestly, i always knew they weren’t but loved believing in something magical. i definitely don’t look back on my childhood and think i was scarred or lied to. all i remember is magic, love, excitement, and damn good memories with my family and friends.
my heart is so full to see her so excited over things like the easter bunny. she loved her basket from the bunny, she loved finding the eggs the easter bunny left behind. she giggled with excitement at the idea of presents. i’m ok with that.
what i try to do every day is parent with love, respect, and discipline. do i fail, alllll the time but i try, try again. i want to raise my girls to become strong, smart, independent, kind, and to be filled with gratitude {to name a few attributes}…the list goes on and on.
so whether they believe in the easter bunny or not, or whether i push it on them or not. i think they will grow up just fine and hopefully pass the traditions and love to their children to create magical moments together too.
{we celebrated easter together in the morning and then met my family for brunch in chicago, at swift and sons, later in the day!}
[ellie making her way to the easter baskets]
[olive eyeing the baskets and excited!]
[ohmergawd her hair!! talk about bedhead!!!]
[digging through her goodies]
[she sooooo wanted this bunny!]
[she was so excited over everything!]
[ohmergawd, this sweet babe]
[look ma, an egg]
[i’ll pretend to eat it]
[hahaha! just kidding!]
[i’m so funny, i crack myself up!]
[easter egg hunt time!]
[checking out her goodies]
[so excited for her shopkin surprise!]
[easter egg hunt aftermath]
*****
BRUNCH AT SWIFT AND SONS!
[sweet cousins]
[opening up her easter basket from r + b]
[always doting on her]
[thuy getting festive]
[flummoxed]
[my love]
[i loooooooove bloody mary’s!]
[cheers!]
[dan and agata]
[preptastic]
[we fail ,every holiday, at taking a family picture together]
my sister kim, last minute, asked us to come with her to go see the easter bunny at 900 n. olive paid a visit to the easter bunny once {at a local easter egg hunt}, when she was two years old but we didn’t see one last year. we hosted an egg hunt at our house versus going to one and seeing an easter bunny at a local mall or so.
the next morning, we did our usual routine and got ready to head out. i remembered back in the days, something like this stressed me out with two kids {hahaha…and yes, i only have two. not three. not four. referencing, it’s all relative, right?}. getting them ready & dressed, getting myself ready, getting them fed, packing up enough toys, diapers, snacks, etc., not forgetting anything for myself, getting them layered up for the cold weather, getting them strapped into the car seats {’cause, hell, that’s a process in itself!}, do i have the stroller? all sorts of things to remember and plus, i was always late. yes, it used to stress me out but now it’s like second nature.
we were ahead of schedule and hit the road to head to 900 n michigan ave. we parked, i fed ellie, i assembled the stroller, we rolled in, walked around, i had to go to the bathroom, we went to the wrong floor, and then we finally found the easter bunny area and signed up for a visit. it was an hour and forty five minute wait! oy! there were 40 families ahead of us!
everyone finally rolled in and we all gathered around the 6th floor {for coffee at oak tree}, to wait our turn for the easter bunny while the kids played in galt toys. olive obsessed over a unicorn bouncy. she was smitten. the entire time we were there, she bounced on it all around the store. she was sooooo happy! she showed it off to anyone who would listen. it was so cute. when we were leaving, she asked me if she could ‘borrow’ it. her word for, can we ‘buy’ it. i said, “maybe you can tell the easter bunny to bring it to you?”. her eyes totally lit up!
it was finally our turn to see the easter bunny! it went by much faster than estimated {one hour versus the hour forty five}, thank goodness! as expected, ellie was a hot mess when i left her with the easter bunny but overall we received pretty awesome pics!! olive was so good! i was so surprised and my heart was so full that she was excited to see him and not scared! the set up was so gorgeous! the balloon arch was beautiful and the flowers and lights were so springy and fun! i was so happy with the results!
after the easter bunny pics, we headed on over to the blue door kitchen and garden down on elm. it was so cute and cozy inside! the dinnerware was pretty, the libations were tasty, and the food was so delicious! i absolutely enjoyed our service; everyone was so attentive and polite! i definitely hope i can get back there with hc to eat again!
after our excursion at the restaurant, we shopped a little bit more and then headed on our way home. later that evening, the family came over to our house to eat dinner and dye eggs! our day was filled with so much fun!
it was such a lovely day. it really was. we had such a great time with everyone. seeing the easter bunny was so much fun, the restaurant was so good, and the company was even better. it was a really fun day with the family! time spent like that is priceless. oh, and the easter bunny did get olive her unicorn bouncy! yay!
happy easter lovelies!
[i’m typically walton]
[how gorgeous is this balloon display?]
[i could stare at this all day…it’s so whimsical and pretty!]
[i think i was more excited than olive when the easter bunny came out!]
[she spotted the bouncy]
[she’s going for it!]
[no pictures of this next event but the poor babe fell on her face. eep!]
[she faired better on this riding toy]
[sweet babes running through the center]
[my sweet babe]
[sweetest cousins]
[cookie monster]
[super auntie thuy and ellie]
[what really happened…oh poor babe was so scared!]
i always love making fun, quick, super easy desserts. it’s great for olive to get involved and so easy for her to help – the most important part! but what i love most is that it’s e a s y. i can juggle this fun activity for olive and not have a huge mess to clean up or be too involved in the process to a point where it takes me away from ellie.
i did the prepping and dipping, olive did the sprinkling! i think she had the best job of the two of us.
this cookie dessert is so simple, it doesn’t need any instructions. all you need is one bag of white chocolate chips, a bag of oreos, and sprinkles. i always melt the chocolate in a pot separated from another pot of boiling water {a makeshift double boiler}. i half dipped each oreo and placed them on wax paper and olive sprinkled them all. that’s it! at first, she tried tipping the sprinkle jar onto the chocolate and that was a compete disaster! hahahaha! so, i poured the sprinkles into a bowl and it was much easier for her to control it and cover the cookies!
she did such a great job and we really had fun! gosh…with each passing year, this babe is such a joy! i love how helpful she is. i love how understanding she is. i love that she has an opinion {although there are plenty of times i wish the opposite! ha!}. i love that she can articulate her feelings to me. i love that she is so sweet. i love that she is a great big sister. i love that she loves me and always wants to be by my side {until she turns 14…wahhhhh}. i love that she forgives me when i am letting her down. my heart is so full watching her grow.
well, these cookies did not stay in the house! we divvied them out to others to enjoy! it’s such a fun, springy treat to gift others…holidays and sweet morsels always go hand in hand!
happy easter lovelies!
[getting ready to make chocolate dipped cookies!]
[big mistake…i let her shake it out of the container and she pretty much dump the bottle on the cookie! ha!]
[yuuuuuuummmmmm]
[this babe chose her outfit…the dress, the bow, all her!]
[i dipped the oreos and she covered each one with sprinkles]
[i looooooove her!]
[finishing touches]
[so pretty!]
[she was cracking me up biting into this cookie!]
[ohmergawd…she was BOTHERED that the chocolate had dripped on her mouth and chin. i had to beg her to stay still for a photo but i am sooooo glad i got a pic because it makes me laugh so hard every time i look at it. mainly because i was there to witness it and that she was so upset and laughing at the same time!]
i try to be creatively proactive with the holidays because if i don’t make a conscious effort, it seriously slaps me in the face unexpectedly. hahaha! then, honestly, i get disappointed i didn’t fair better. innately, i have always loved holidays.
growing up catholic vietnamese, my parents were very religious. so, holidays were all about church, jesus, mary, and celebrating the life of. absolutely nothing wrong with that because i am all about being catholic, respecting my religion, my faith, and the idea of just doing/being a better person and preaching the word of the Lord. easter is all about jesus being resurrected and that is it in a nutshell.
buuuuuuuttttt, i have always looooooved the frilly aspect of it. the commercial, american way of celebrating religious holidays. i love it for the fun, whimsical notions. i like easter baskets, the easter bunny {i adored the easter bunny as a kid!}, and the cute, fun decorations that come with it!
so, with that being said…i had the best time creating easter baskets for the girls. it’s definitely hard to shop for them when they are with me! i had to hide stuff or tell them that they don’t get what they did see until easter. olive was like, “okaaayyyyy”. i am so blessed olive is so compliant and sooo freakin’ well behaved. she just plain listens to me!
i created their baskets the other day and was so pleased with how they turned out! i wanted to limit the candy {although they still get a few treats!}…because i tend to go overboard every year with that and focused more on fun things they would use or like.
voila! useful, fun, pretty, reusable easter baskets! i’m in love. i can’t wait to give these baskets to the girls!
happy creating my friends!
counter clockwise: garland: hooray everyday // book: little owl’s colors // bunny: target // unicorn horn chalk {not online but in stores}: nordstroms // mini melissa’s unicorn shoes {they’re not available online but similar ones here}: nordstrom // macaron bath bombs: nordstrom
ohmergoodness. i am finally posting about easter. it’s been a whirlwind in life of late. i don’t know why it’s been so busy and hectic for me. i feel like life hasn’t changed much but yet, i am constantly chasing time!? smh.
anyhoo, my sister kim had planned an easter brunch at maple and ash…a yummy little restaurant in chicago. i was excited to go because we had celebrated new years there and it was epic. so, of course, i was stoked to eat brunch there!
we arrived pretty early, well early for us, and casually walked in & got seated right away. my family wasn’t far behind us. once everyone arrived, we ordered beverages and waited for our server to explain any necessary information guiding us in our soon to be brunch consumption.
we then took off and starting gathering copious amounts of savory sorts onto our plates. it was yummy! i loaded my plate full of bacon, fruit, sausage, and pancakes and i am sure i am forgetting what else. ok, ok, i put a lot of food on my plate because i was going to feed olive! hahaha but i did eat most of it, darn that breastfeeding! i am always hangry!
i love maple and ash. it’s so pretty, fun, and always a great time. we love the service and food there and we always have fun interacting with the staff and exploring new palates.
it was a great time out with the family and it was an absolutely gorgeous day out! what a fabulous easter it was. ellie’s first easter was awesome and olive’s 4th was just as amazing. i love celebrating holidays with the family and it brings me such joy to see my girls enjoy it too!
xoxo
[brunch menu at maple and ash]
[she’s so sweet & highly emotional]
[sisters]
[bromance]
[the seafood starter was amazing]
[aren’t they sooooooo cute?!]
[i captured the sweetest moments between these two loves of mine]
one, it was hc’s birthday and two, it’s easter! we love to do fun things like decorate easter eggs and participate in fabulous easter egg hunts!
it was all very last minute because olive had been sick for a few days prior to this and we could not get out of the house with her. poor thing was glued to the toilet, so no easter egg hunt outings or anything of that sort due to her not feeling well.
i scrambled to put together something…we didn’t have any food to host with, nor did i even decorate! ha! i thought i was going to get away with not decorating for easter but then we, last minute, decided to have our family over and how could i not decorate to create a little bit of a festive environment?! sphhh, hello…it’s me. so there i was in the morning, hanging banners, pulling out fun decor, and filling easter eggs. {let alone, i had to make a quick or tried to make a quick trip to the grocery store too!}
my family came over and we sipped lemonade, ate a simple lunch, and hunted for & decorated easter eggs! the weather was a m a z i n g!!! seriously, it was so beautiful out! the kids had a blast searching for the eggs and opening up their goodies to find toys, candies, and money inside!
after all that, we then opened up easter gifts! {of course we saved olive’s basket for the morning because the easter bunny needed to drop that one off} the kids were so excited and spoiled rotten. gosh, we tend to do that with every special occasion. when you have that many family members…it can get cray with the gifts!
overall, it was truly a wonderful day! we celebrated hc, we celebrated easter, and we were all able to spend some great family time together! until next year my bunnies!
[easter prep]
[my new favorite glasses]
[we wished hc a happy birthday!]
[super aunty thuy created the prettiest french braid for miss o]
