Easter Buckets

About a week before Easter this year, I was at my friend Betsy's house for a girls night, and saw the personalized buckets she had made for her little girls for Easter. That gave me an idea. I had been looking for Easter Baskets for the kids this year, but wanted something more creative than the usual pastel Easter basket. So when I saw her buckets, I thought, I can do something similar to that. The next day I went to Hobby Lobby. They had buckets in real pretty colors and in about any color you could think of, this is what I found....

I grabbed a blue one for Paxton and a purple/pinkish one for Adriana. It wasn't until I got home and started working on them until I realized that, one, I didn't have great paint brushes on hand, so I made due with what I had and the other problem was that the bucket for both of them had flowers at the top, which wasn't a problem for Adriana's, Paxton's however, I didn't want him to have a real girly one. So I was stumped on what to do with his.
This is how they turned out. Adriana's was easier to do than Paxton's, I don't know why really, but here's Adriana's. (Note: Betsy's were a lot cuter and "Eastery").

And this is Paxton's. I tried to hide the flowers the best I knew how. So I weaved some ribbon throughout, not the best, but I guess it will do.

I know its not great or professional looking, but I had fun doing them. Who knows, come next year, I'll probably use something different.

A Cozy Little Nook

The other day, I was busy in the kitchen cooking, Paxton was laying down for a nap, and Adriana was wanting to do puzzles on my phone. She had gone to her room to do them, so it was pretty quiet in the house. After I was done cooking, I went to check on her, thinking she may have fallen asleep, she had been so quiet. I went into her room, and I couldn't find her anywhere. All of a sudden I hear from a corner in her room, "Hi, Mommy!". I looked on the other side of her bed and found her sitting in "the most comfortable place to sit".

She LOVES this bucket to sit in. Its made for her stuffed animals, but apparently its now the best seat in the house.

Dancing With The Stars

I think I have posted before how much Adriana LOVES Dancing with the Stars. She and Ryan dance to most of the dances. Paxton has recently gotten into it too. Its so funny watching him sway back and forth. In this video you will notice Paxton in the back ground, torn between dancing and getting into trouble. He is NOT suppose to be on the little bookcase along the wall, however, thinks its a great game to get in trouble for being up there.

Kitchen Nightmare

Cooking, when I'm home by myself, can be a nightmare because this little man....

Makes this big mess......

So, not only am I left to clean up his mess, I have to clean up mine...

PJ Party at Chick-Fil-A

So Saturday we had a PJ party with some cows, the Chick-Fil-A cows that is. We weren't going to go, because I hasn't going to drive into town just to do that, but then it dawned on me, that Ryan was going into town to give blood, so while he was donating blood, we could go to Chick-Fil-A. So we booked it! I had 20 minutes to take a shower and get ready. Now, granted, I put PJ's on, but no one wants to see this hair do in the morning, so had to wash it. Luckily, I didn't have to feed the kids or get them dressed, so because of that, we were able to make it work.
Adriana LOVES the cows at Chick-Fil-A! She was so excited!
We got there, got our food and then did crafts. I love this Chick-Fil-A we have in town, they are so good with the kids and do so many extras with them. Adriana got to make a fruit loop necklace, a monkey puppet and the highlight of her trip, have an Ariel balloon made for her. She LOVED it!

A quick note about the balloon, I had one made a couple of weeks ago for her, and surprised her with it, it was a dog balloon and she LOVED it! I couldn't have gotten her anything she loved more. We were at Mimi's and Pa's house when I gave it to her, and while we were standing outside talking, the wind blew it out of her hands and it popped in the grass. It took every ounce within that child, not to break down and cry. I told her we'll have another one made some other time, so this worked out perfectly!

Adriana "smiling" for the camera.

Paxton was a little scared of the cows at first. He didn't mind looking at them, until they got too close. Towards the end, every time he would see one, he would say "Booo! Booo!" (Moo! Moo!). So, in this picture above, he's not too thrilled that the cow is standing as close as he was.

My parents came by to see all the action too. We were there for almost an hour and a half. By the way, a little Lori moment for you, I was the ONLY parent that wore PJ's. Don't know if that makes me a great parent or an embarrassment in public. Oh well...

Towards the end, they had a dance party with all the kids and the cows. Adriana didn't know what to think at first, like she was a little embarrassed and then she got into it and LOVED it. Me and Paxton were dancing too!

"Who's the old lady in the PJ's?"

Minus this lady in the grey shirt, this is a picture of Adriana and the little cow dancing.

Adriana again, showing how excited she is to be standing with the cows. You would think that it physically hurts her to smile.

We had a GREAT time and made lots of great memories!

The Furminator

Okay, last week I did a blog on my favorite things, well, if you are a pet owner, I would HIGHLY recommend this new favorite thing of mine. Its called the "Furminator". I had never heard of it until we took Milo to the vet. I was talking to the vet about how much he sheds. He pulled out this tool, that looks like a razor comb on clippers. He ran that thing through Milo's hair just a few times and you wouldn't believe how much fur came off that dog. He told me that it pulls out the under coat and that really helps with the shedding. I was amazed. I was also amazed at the price. He said they are about $30-$40. Yeah, I don't think so. I'm too tight and frugul to buy something so high. Well, later that week we took Milo to the groomers and they used the Furminator on him but charged an additional $7 to use this tool. I wanted him to be nice and clean, so we had it done. Well a couple of weeks ago, I was on Amazon, which I rarely shop on there, and just looked up the Furminator on there to see how much they were. Of course they come in all kinds of sizes, but I was AMAZED when I saw the large size marked down from $50 to $14! I bought that sucker so fast. I have checked several times since then and they haven't been that cheap since. The cheapest I have seen the same one is $30. I must have gotten in on the deal of the day or something. Its sad, really, how excited I was to get this thing in the mail. Not only do we have a shedding dog, but our cat is so full of hair, its crazy. Her hair is so gross, it even has clumps in it. I know, its embarassing to admit. Well, I whipped that tool out and went to town on the cat, and unfortantaly, it was super windy that day and so this is literally half of what I got off that cat.

And I could have gotten more off, if she would have let me. Its amazing and a must for pet owners!

Adriana-isms

Adriana has said some stuff over the past month or so, and I hope I can remember them, because they made me laugh. *When we got Milo groomed, we were going to drop him off that morning. I had just gotten finished telling Adriana what we were doing that day. A few minutes later she asked, "Mommy, what are we doing today?". I told her I had just finished telling her, and she said, "Oh, that's right, we are taking Milo to the grimmers!". After we picked Milo up from the "Grimmers" she went up to him and said, "Milo you smell as pretty as a dog". *One night Adriana and Paxton was playing and Paxton went over to her and grabbed her arm and Adriana's reaction was, "Paxton stop grabbing my arm, you're not a police officer!" *Adriana thinks she needs salt and pepper on food, if we put salt and pepper on our food. The other night she put some on there, and she leaned over and whispered (loud enough for everyone to hear), "Daddy, I don't like the black salt, its spicy". I know there is more, but unfortunately, I'm drawing a blank. I need to write them down when they happen.

the Naylor Wrestling Challenge

(In a big announcers voice, booming across an auditorium) Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, I'm proud to introduce to you, the Naylor Wrestling Challenge. In the right corner we have Ryan Naylor weighing in at a modest 210lbs. In the other corner we have Adriana and Paxton Naylor, with a combined weight of almost 60lbs. This match isn't for sissy's folks, this is the real deal, lets watch and see who will win in this show down of wrestling...(the crowd goes wild with anticipation!)...

Was my narration cheesy? Yes! But I thought it was a fun way to show this video. Don't my kids have the best Daddy in the world? (either that, or you guys can see that I really have 3 kids instead of 2!)

These are a few of my favorite things....

I feel like Oprah broadcasting some of my favorite things. The only difference between Oprah's favorite things and mine is that I won't be giving everyone reading this, free stuff, oh, and I won't be yelling like a crazy person as I announce each thing. Nothing too special, I just kind of think its fun to find out what are some of people's favorite things around the house are. The first thing I chose is a new fragrance I have found at Bath and Body Works. It may not be the newest scent, I actually never go in there, but a coupon lured me in there one day, and I stumbled across this. I LOVE this scent. Its a very sweet smell. I know, I know, a scent of anything, is one person's preference over another. That's the beauty of having so many choices out there, everyone is different, so with that being said, you may not like this scent, but if you haven't tried it, I would suggest it. The next thing is....Jelly Watches or Silicone Watches. Whatever you call them, I love them. I think they are super cute, and my friend Hilary turned me on to them. I have one in black, white and brown. Out of all of them, the white is by far my favorite. They are about $15 each. They are pretty popular right now, so they should be easy to find. I like them because one, they don't break my arm out like leather and metal watches do and that I have one to match every outfit!

Here comes another scent for you. I'm in the mood to burn candles lately. Its probably because I'm paranoid about my house smelling like dogs, cats and poopy diapers. I normally buy the cheap-o's that you can get a Wal-mart or something like that, but I decided to splurge. I think I have come to grips with the fact that, somethings, you just can't get by buying cheap stuff, candles is one of them. All the cheap candles I buy smell like wax, and that's it. Yum! Well, I found this scent again, at Bath and Body Works. Dang those coupons! Anyway, I got a pretty good deal on this candle. I was wanting something light and springy. Here it is...."Tropical Spice". I think the ingredients are something like coconut oil, rum and cinnamon. Very homey smelling. And Ryan likes it, so that's a plus.

Next newest thing I have found, is a "Frothier" (sp?) for your cream for your coffee. Someone had told me about it, so I went out and got it. I LOVE it. I whip my cream in a separate cup before adding it to my coffee, making it nice and foamy. Its like a cappuccino. Maybe its all in my head, but I think it makes it taste better too. For about $5, you can add a little party to your coffee.

And last but not least, no, this isn't a miniature toilet seat its an egg slicer. I have, also been told about this little trick. You can use it for boiled eggs (duh!) but you can also use it for, strawberries. You just cut off the green part of the strawberry, put the bad boy in there and push down on it. It slices them so easily and perfectly. Its so easy, I let Adriana do it when I make Strawberry Shortcake. Just make sure to buy a nice sturdy one, since strawberries are a lot tougher than eggs, sometimes the strings can bend or break.

Well, there you have it. What are some of your favorite things? Things that can make life a little easier or a little more fun.

One Tangled Up Party

Well the other night, we splurged. We RARELY splurge (especially the day BEFORE payday), but we couldn't help ourselves. I normally buy everything used, and I mean everything (except for food and underwear). But the movie "Tangled" came out this week. It was actually Ryan's idea to get it for Adriana. Normally, if we buy something like this, we wait until a birthday or holiday to give it. I know, Easter is around the corner, but I already have some stuff stashed away and we are like kids ourselves so we wanted to give Adriana this gift NOW instead of later. So on Wednesday night, we told Adriana we had a surprise for her. We asked her if she would like to have a family PJ party, eat pizza and watch a movie. Of course, her answer was YES! She still didn't know about "Tangled" yet, so that was the next surprise. We told her we got something for her and to close her eyes. She was so excited about it, but she still didn't really know what to think. I ran and got a $5 pizza from Little Ceasers and changed into my PJ's. Everyone was in their PJ's except Ryan. (My PJ's were by request of Adriana).

As we call it, I made a "nest" on the floor with pillows and soft blankets. Even Milo had to get in on the action.

Of course, Paxton couldn't care less about any of it, and since I had seen the movie twice and Ryan hadn't ever seen it, I was on ornery boy patrol. He was getting into everything, but overall we had a great night and hope to do movie/pizza/PJ nights more often.