Happy Easter!

I hope that everyone has a lovely Easter with family.  It's one of my favourite holidays because I love warmer weather and Easter always feel like the start of Spring even though the weather isn't always "Springy" yet.  In fact, this year we still have snow around even though Easter is later than usual but that should be gone soon.

So, the other day, I asked what everyone was giving their kids for Easter on my Facebook page and it seems like there is a huge range of opinions on Easter.  Some of us treat it like another gift giving holiday while others don't plan on giving anything at all.  Here's my opinion on this one.  Just like Christmas or Thanksgiving, I believe that getting together with family is the most important part of the holiday.

With that said, I feel obligated to at least replicate what we did when I was a child.  We all got Easter baskets from the Easter bunny and it included the eggs we had decorated the previous day along with a large chocolate Easter bunny and a variety of other Easter treats.  That is all we expected and we had fun looking for our Easter baskets.  Yep, that's right.  We didn't do an Easter egg hunt in our house.  We were big game Easter hunters and searched for the entire Easter basket.  I remember finding mine in the Lazy Susan one year.

I find it interesting that the concept of giving gifts on Easter is on the rise.  Admittedly, I have fallen into this trap of commercialism myself.  I try to reason that it's appropriate for babies since I clearly can't give chocolate or candy.  Instead, I am giving Aleena a book and her first large crayons...and I may be sticking the Blu Ray version of Bambi in her Easter basket too.  Yep, there ya go.  I have officially gone overboard.  I mean, really!  She doesn't know the difference.

As for Connor, he'll find some treats in his basket this year and his first set of washable markers.  I also bought him some Curious George books for his Easter basket.  He will be getting extra spoiled this year because I just happened to receive an item I am doing a review and giveaway for very soon.  Let's just say that he is going to love this particular Easter "gift" and I am also really looking forward to giving one of these away too!  There will be photos to come..holidays are so much fun when there are kids around to be excited about it.

So, whether you are into gift giving at Easter or not, I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your loved ones.  And, at the very least, colour a few Easter eggs..and better yet, organize a little Easter egg hunt for the kids because they'll love it and it'll help burn off some of that extra candy and chocolate energy.  That's my plan anyway..Happy Easter!!!

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One last reminder that the 'GurlyStuff... and more' giveaway will end on Sunday.  I"ll announce the two winners on Monday..one for a newsboy hat and one for a flower headband.  Click on the photo to enter the giveaway!

Pinned and Purchased! (Livie and Luca Woodland Boots)

Even though I've cut down substantially on online spending, I still managed to have a nice pile of parcels waiting for me when we came back from Florida.  It felt like Christmas really!  At least some of the items were only $5-10 and it was fun to check everything out.

Amongst the pile of goodies were the Livie and Luca Woodland Boots I bought for Aleena from Babysteals.  I think that when you pin something in Pinterest, it almost feels like you have permission to buy it when you see it on sale.  In my defense, my baby girl doesn't have many shoes that aren't sandals for the summer so these adorable boots should get a lot of wear out of them.  They are made of a soft leather and they open at the top with a large velcro closure so they are easy to get on and off.  Really, they are just so darn cute that it wouldn't even matter if they were a bit inconvenient (which they aren't).

These are the type of boots that almost makes me wish they made adult sized ones although I would likely look ridiculous in this style of shoe.  Here are some more photos!

PS- These boots were the most expensive item in the pile of parcels at $33 including shipping.  They are priced regularly at $47.50.

The cute shoe box containing the cute shoes.

Aleena's adorable new boots!

One year olds don't sit still for very long..this was the best I could do!

Here's a little info from their website about the shoes:

Artisan Touch
We want people to remember that our baby and toddler shoes are made by hand. In this spirit, we’ve asked our shoe makers to leave their markings which can be found under the strap. To reduce our carbon footprint, Livie & Luca chooses to use remains of high quality leather that would otherwise be discarded. In addition, because they are handmade, every pair of shoes will be a little different. Each pair of shoes is as unique as the child who wears them.

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Also, if you haven't already, remember to enter the GurlyStuff... and more giveaway.  There are two prizes, a boys' newsboy hat and a girls' flower headband.  Both items will be customized and winners will have their choice of size and colour.  Click on the photo below to check it out.

Day 5 at Disney World: Hollywood Studios (Part III)

For our last day at Disney World, we headed back to Hollywood Studios just for the evening in order to watch Fantasmic.  We had heard it was the best show at Disney World so we didn't want to miss out on it.  As I said in my last post, it does not play everyday so it wasn't available the previous day which was actually kind of a bonus for us in that the crowds generally stay away from Hollywood Studios when it's not playing.

We didn't leave for Hollywood Studios until later in the afternoon since we were only planning on attending the show and possibly buying another souvenir or two at the park.  We arrived around 6:15 pm and found the line for the show had already started when we got there.  We lined up too and got excellent seats when they let us in at 6:30 pm.  Of course, the show didn't start until 8:00 pm so we had a long wait.  Jeremy was able to sneak out with Connor and waste some time since two year olds simply don't wait for that long in one spot.  They don't make it well known but they will let people in and out of the amphitheatre before the show starts.

Fantasmic - This show did not disappoint and it really was the most spectacular show at Disney with all sorts of special effects such as holograms, lasers, fireworks, and fire set to familiar Disney music.  It's basically a montage of everything Disney all-in-one and we really enjoyed it.  We took plenty of photos and captured a lot of great video as well.  I am just posting the video that I took on our smaller camera and may try adding the good stuff in HD when I have more time  Just a bit of a warning about taking young kids as Disney movies feature lots of villains and almost half of the show is dedicated to these evil forces.  Connor was hugging Jeremy pretty tightly and we have to calm him down after the show.  He seemed satisfied that Mickey Mouse made everything better at the very least.

Last Moments at Disney World in Photos