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The Little Things

Easter Holidays The Little Things

Easter Eggs

Last year was Cullen’s first Easter, but at only three months old, egg dying was out of the question.  So I was super excited about the opportunity to get him in on the egg dying action this year.  To be honest, I expected it to be a disaster, but as it turns out, he had blast and we made very little mess!


I decided we would attempt Kool-Aid dyed eggs, following this tutorial. I don’t know that we did everything quite right, and I would probably do a few things differently next time, but I really love how our eggs turned out.  And Cullen was thrilled with the entire process, so not much else matters.




The only supplies needed are eggs, Kool-Aid, water, and obviously something to actually dye the eggs in (we used plastic cups). When planning this, I kept picturing Cullen trying to drink the dye (he will drink anything in a cup) so I liked the idea of no icky dye or vinegar.



I mixed the Kool-Aid with the water and we got to dying. I just knew that this was going to end up with me dying all the eggs and Cullen screaming to get down and knocking everything off the table, but it turns out he was really into it and helped a lot! After seeing me put the first egg in, Cullen knew exactly what to do.  He couldn’t wait to dunk each egg into a cup of dye.



The eggs only had to sit in their Kool-Aid bath for a few minutes (it seemed much shorter than traditional egg dye) which was good for our impatient little boy.  I love the way his face lit up with excitement when he saw the dyed eggs.  He wanted to hold and ooh and aah over each one.

  

I kind of like the marbled look we ended up with, and obviously Cullen was impressed, but making sure your eggs are completely dry and rotating them in the dye more would probably help ensure a more even color.

No matter what our finished product looked like, starting this Easter tradition with Cullen will be a lasting memory.  Dying eggs has always been one of my favorite parts of Easter, and I am so glad I get to share it with Cullen for years to come!


The Little Things

Lessons From Life With A Toddler

Last Saturday was supposed to be a busy day for me and Cullen. We had a ton of errands to run and a bridal shower that afternoon. But he had other plans. Cullen was a Mr. Cranky Pants all morning. From the moment he woke up, he refused to eat, nap, or listen to anything I said. Needless to say, we did not make it out of the house and did not make it to the bridal shower.  


I am sure that new molars were to blame. After fighting with him all morning, Cullen finally wore himself out and fell asleep on the couch.

After almost two hours, he woke up as a whole new person.  He was my sweet, happy little boy again.  Nothing had been crossed off my to-do list and we missed the shower, but instead of counting the day as a loss, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous late-afternoon weather.


Cullen, Macey and I headed out to the backyard to play.  Macey sun-bathed, I pulled weeds, and Cullen ran circles around the yard.  Seeing him so happy definitely made up for the rough morning.


Cullen also got to enjoy the slide he got for his birthday. Side note: slides are good inside, but way more fun outside!

I think Saturday was a lesson in flexibility for me. When you have a toddler, there are days when the plan and to-do list go out the window. And that is okay! Sticking to my original plan for Saturday would have made our Mr. Cranky Pants even crankier, and I would have missed making this wonderful memory with him! I will give up errands for playing with Cullen any day!


The Little Things

Dance Parties

I don’t dance.  Corey doesn’t really dance.  Cullen dances all the time.  I don’t know where he gets it from, but this kid loves to dance.  At the first note of any song, he starts moving.  He dances when we sing The Wheels on the Bus, when a song is on the radio, to music in commercials, sometimes even when there is no music at all. He will dance in the middle of dinner, when we are trying to snuggle, and he will drop his toys in an instant to get his groove on. His little moves are the cutest ever! 

Corey and I can’t help but stop what we are doing and grin ear to ear when Cullen starts dancing.  We rewind and play the same commercial over and over to extend his mini dance parties.  Like Cullen’s first ice cream last week, this is one of those little things I want to remember forever.  I’m sure this dance party phase won’t last long, so I don’t feel bad at all about the amount of time we spend enjoying Cullen’s moves.



Watch out ladies; he is pretty adorable, and has some pretty sweet moves!

The Little Things

Ice Cream

This past Sunday, the three of us took a trip to Ikea.  I say trip, because it is a two hour drive to the closest Ikea.  We usually go once or twice a year, so I always have a pretty long list of things to look at when we get the chance to go.  We spent over two hours eating lunch and shopping on Sunday, which is pretty good considering it takes about that long just to walk through the store.  To reward Cullen (and Corey) for being so good, we got some ice cream before we got back in the car for the two hour drive home.  




This was Cullen’s first time having ice cream, and HE LOVES IT!!!  He ate about half of mine and some of Corey’s and was super excited when he found out you could eat the cone too.  He would eat a few bites of mine and then point to Corey’s to get a bite of his.  I kept trying to cut him off (in hopes of getting some ice cream myself), but he was having none of that.  He ate until all of the ice cream was gone.  I think it’s safe to say that Cullen loves soft serve almost as much as I do.  Almost. 

Watching his little face light up when he discovered this new treat was priceless!  It’s these little moments that I want to remember the most.  It is so easy to focus on the big milestones we pass as he is growing up, but seemingly insignificant things like his first ice cream make the best memories, for me and for him.