Easy, Personalized Ornmanet

I wanted to find a nice ornament for the kids' great-grandma, but nothing I found seemed right. There were a couple of cute ornaments I found, but they were outrageously expensive! I finally decided to try to recreate one on my own. That way, I could personalize it, too. As it turns out, Sharpies are expensive. A large pack of multi-colored Sharpies was $13! I'm sure I'll get lots of use out of them, though, and I can make more ornaments in future years.

I looked up images of holiday clip art online, and then I drew the images on an ornament.

On the other side, I wrote all of her great-grandkids' names. I tied a bow and a gift tag to finish it off. It came out really cute, I thought!

Easter in Texas

My in-laws treated our family to a trip to visit my mother-in-law's family in Texas. When we visit, we normally stay in the Austin area. This time, we met them at their new vacation condo on Padre Island. A blog of our travels can be found here: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/WhirledPeas/Trips/18721

Oliver loved the beach! Uncle Gene showed him how to find all sorts of sea life. He also built sand castles and splashed around a bit. It was the perfect vacation for him. We also celebrated Easter while we were there, and here are some Easter photos from Texas.

The Easter Bunny came! The Easter Bunny brought bunny ears, pinwheels, bubbles, a toy rabbit for Jo, an egg full of candy for Oliver, and the buckle toy that I'd made for Oliver. The toy bunny was actually sent to Jo from my cousins Missy and Jana. However, I thought they'd understand why the Bunny put it in the basket. Jo is too little to care about much, so the Bunny probably didn't want to spend money on new stuff that wouldn't have made a difference. The Easter Bunny actually didn't come for Oliver's first Easter at all. He came for Jo's because that just makes more sense for Oliver.

The Easter Bunny almost always brings a pinwheel.

Seriously, I love these stinkers.

You might recognize Jo's Easter dress from a previous post. It was the first outfit I bought for her, back when I was pregnant and suffering pregnancy complications. I am so happy that she is here today, wearing the dress.