Birthday Planning for A

As most of you already know, I plan way in ahead for the girls' birthdays. For A's first birthday, we did something really small with just family and close friends. For her second birthday, we took her to Italy's largest aquarium because she was into sea life and mermaids. And here we are planning her third birthday.

When I was trying to come up with a theme, I took into consideration her current interests. Her favorite things are dinosaurs, Buzz Lightyear, and Spiderman. She went through a phase of only wanting to watch Toy Story when we asked what she wanted us to put on the TV.When we asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she chose Buzz Lightyear. After that, I deciced that the theme was pretty obvious. It will be a Buzz Lightyear/ Toy Story party.

Once I made the decision and confirmed it with Mr. Man, I went on the hunt for some ideas. Google and Pinterest became my best friend. I searched party ideas and how to make it girly. Then I started a board on pinterest. You can browse it here.

Once I found my inspiration, I started somewhat planning it out. Her birthday isn't until April, so nothing is set in stone since so much can change between now and then. But for the things that I am most set on, I plan to start purchasing.

Here is my inspiration:

Water Park Fun

This last weekend we brought A and E to a water park. We went with some friends. Sadly, I forgot my camera so we don't have any pictures, but I still wanted to document our adventure.

A is 2.5 years old, and E is 6 months old. We took them to a place called AquaSplash because it is smaller and a little more old fashioned. It is very much toddler friendly than the other water parks. It is about 1.5 hours from the house, so we got up and headed out that way. We ended up meeting some friends out there. A absolutely loved it. It was so much for her. She was able to run around and play and do her own thing. She wasn't afraid at all, and I was so surprised. In fact, she willingly climbed up to the top of a larger slide and slid down with me without complaining. Going down, she was scared, but once we got down and she realized she was ok, she wanted to do it again and again and again. She absolutely loved it.

Then the parents did a whole Daddy Day Care and Mommy Day Care Rotation. The men would go and ride a slide while the women watched the kids and vice versa. We had so much fun, and I didn't realize how much times have changed for me. 1 - I am older and 2 - I have had children. Both have changed my level of fear and anxiety, to say the least. I didn't realize how scared of heights I was and how scared of water slides I am. Again, to say the least. In the end, we all had a great time. Since it was the last weekend before school starts here, it was a great one. Spent with great friends and awesome company.

We were there for 7 hours with 8 children under the age of 7 and 7 adults. Pretty nice day for all of us!

Fun Facts about Spain

I thought since we are visiting Spain I would schedule some posts. Here is the first of a few scheduled posts. This one is going to be some fun facts about Spain.

As a teacher, these would be the things I would teach the students about Spain for a country project.

The Spanish name for Spain is España.
The Spanish language is spoken in many areas of the world due to the early influence of the Spanish Empire.
Spain is located in Europe.
It is a developed country with a high quality of life.
The largest city and capital of Spain is Madrid.
The second largest city is Barcelona, which is located in Catalonia.
The population of Spain in 2012 was around 47 million.
The currency used in Spain is the Euro.
In Spain they drive on the right-hand side of the road.
 It is believed that modern humans first arrived in Spain around 32000 years ago.
Mount Teide is the highest mountain in Spain (3718 m, 12198 ft) and an active volcano.
The Pyrenees is a mountain range that divides Spain and France.
Spain includes a number of islands including Mallorca, Tenerife, Ibiza and Gran Canaria. Many can be found in the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa.
The Spanish tourism industry is one of the largest in the world, bringing in billions of Euros into the Spanish economy.
Spain produces a large amount of renewable energy, including wind power and solar power.
Spain has a variety of foods and unique dishes such as paella (a type of rice dish) and tapas (a range of small snacks or appetizers).
Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Spain.
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games were held in Barcelona.
For more information, check out maps of Spain or take a closer look at the Spainish flag.

If you could visit Spain yourself, what would you want to see? What would be your must-see thing(s)?

Lazy Weekend

With us going to Spain in about a week, we have been enjoying our lazy weekends around the house. We have been focusing on cleaning up and tending to the garden so we can enjoy our Spain trip. Our weekends have involved so much outside time that it is unreal. Mowing, weeding, planting, swimming, sports, sprinkler fun, picking tomatoes and other fruits and veggies. This weekend I think we will be picking our radish pods and pickling them. We have several zucchini's that are ready as well. I think we will pick those as well and share some with our friends and neighbors. There are too many for us to eat alone. But then again, we do put zucchini in a lot of dishes.

I would love to put some pictures of the girls, so I will do that here. I know I haven't updated much on them or even posted many pictures lately. Here are a few:

Lets back track to April. This first picture of the girls shows how A always wants to entertain and be right there with E. They seriously can not get enough of each other.

These next several pictures show an afternoon of the girls playing outside. Between playing with water toys and buying them a new outdoor playhouse and slide, we spend a lot of time outside. 

I have a hard time with these pictures of A. 1 - she was/is going through a stage where she doesn't want a bow or ponytail. It drives me nuts and 2 - she refuses to wear a whole piece bathing suit. She hates the way it feels. But I really don't like her being in a two piece. Anyway, she's young... yes I know. 

And the new playhouse! 

She insisted E have a turn on the slide. Excuse the way I look! 

Sunny Day at the Park

The sun is out, so we hit the park... again! 

New Traditions: Easter

I have been thinking about what I want to do for Easter this year. It's hard to plan traditions with your children when you never know where you will be, whether the family will all be together, or if you will even have your own back yard. I have been thinking about fun foods, creative ways to dye eggs, and crafts that will entertain all of us. Here are some things that I have come across. I have pinned them all on pinterest... but most come from other family blogs.

My first thought was breakfast Easter morning. Easter is always on a Sunday, so of course we would be battling getting ready for church along with all the festivities. These I could prepare the night before and keep in the fridge then pop them into the oven the next morning. The first picture is cinnamon rolls and the second picture is biscuits.

From the time Mr. Man and I married, we dyed Easter eggs for ourselves. We never hid them, but we always made dishes with them. This year we knew we would dye eggs with Baby A, but we wanted to do something different, something special. I found that Kool-Aid is a great way to dye them! 

Next is what we would actually get her. Of course she is too young for all the candy and junk. We did not want to overwhelm her with toys either. So I found this cute idea to replace the large chocolate bunny that I always got as a child. One year she will get the chocolate bunny, but for now... it will be goldfish :) 

I love to have things hanging on our door for every holiday. I am hoping to make one for every month whenever we are in the states. This one is super cute for the spring time. 

I was looking for new traditions that are fun and exciting for children, especially toddlers. For Christmas, I found the Magic Reindeer Food/Dust. I wanted something similar for Easter. I found this cute idea. You plant some jelly beans in the yard. The next day for Easter blooms a lollipop. Of course, this only works the night of Easter. I also found a cute poem to explain the reasoning of Easter and Jesus Christ. 

When I was growing up, our grandparents always hid plastic eggs along with real eggs. I decided we would do the same. But then crossed my mind of what to put in the eggs. Remember the golden egg? We decided that we would put a couple with money in it. When/If we have more children, we will put their names on them so it is fair. Or we will do the real golden egg... who knows. But then what do you do with the leftover eggs? Here are some great ideas - Egg Characters and Egg Teacups! So cute! 

 I have all these pinned on pinterest. If you are interested, you can find me here.

What are your traditions? What do you plan to do with your little one(s) this year?