One Bucket For Everything - A Decluttering DIY

I had a conversation with friends recently that inspired this DIY project for Easter.  One of the moms I was talking to mentioned that her kids are still running around the house with their pumpkin shaped Halloween buckets.  Another friend said she throws her daughter's gear from holidays away every year because she can't handle the clutter.

I thought it would be great if there was one multi-purpose item we could use for everything.  I wanted something Pearl could use for Easter egg hunting, trick-or-treating, collecting Valentine's Day cards, and for any other holiday related reason she might need a special place to keep things.

My solution was to purchase a plain metal bucket.  It's not a very festive item, but it is durable and cheap.  Plus she can also use it for pretend play and for helping out in the garden.

In order to make it festive, I decided to decorate it for Easter.  The metal is a perfect surface for chalk markers.  Once dry, it stays in place pretty well.  It is also extremely easy to clean off so we can decorate the bucket for every holiday.

My drawing was a five minute effort.  Nothing fancy.  Pearl loved it though.  She wanted to contribute to the artwork so I let her draw on the other side of the bucket.  Maybe we will make decorating her bucket a new tradition for every holiday.

-Kira

Easter Weekend

We enjoyed Pearl's first Easter weekend with family and sunny skies.

Saturday was spent with my side of the family and Sunday with Jeremy's side.

Jeremy has a ton on his plate right now so I'm really glad we were able to fit it all in.

Pearl's Saturday outfit.

Her Sunday outfit.

Side note: our grass has since been cut :)

I also had fun with Instagram.  I'm sure it's old news to you, but I just got it.

I enjoyed playing with it this weekend.

1. making fruit salad 2. Pearl's first Easter egg hunt

3. my niece Maleah showing off her eggs 4. my nephew Rowdy found money eggs!

5. all dressed up 6. Syd just chillin' on dad's back

7. a pretty Easter gift 8. looking cute

-Kira

A Perfect Easter Weekend

This was such a great weekend filled with wonderful people, food, and fantastic weather (at least on Saturday).

On Friday night Jeremy and I went out to dinner and drinks (I drank water) with a few friends.  We started at the Screen Door which is one of my favorite restaurants in Portland.  I ordered the "Screen Door plate" which meant I could pick three items from any of the options on the sides or local organics menus.  I ended up with a lot of vegetables and mac & cheese.  Everything was amazing.

 Yeah, that was all my food.  No, I did not eat it all in one sitting.

After that we headed across the street and hung out at the Matador, which is apparently a tequila bar, but I don't think anyone in our group drank tequila.  It is a really nice place and the food looked great.  I was feeling pretty terrible after completely stuffing my face though.  I will have to try the food some other time.

On Saturday we had Jeremy's dad, sister, and brother-in-law over to watch the Blazers play the Mavericks in Game 4 of their playoff series.  That game consisted of the absolute worst third quarter I have ever seen and then the most amazing comeback I have witnessed in the fourth.  I still can't believe we won that game!

That evening we had some friends over with their three kids.  The weather was beautiful, and Jeremy made amazing hamburgers.  We hung out around the fire pit that evening and ate s'mores.  The kids ran around the yard with our dogs and ate a ton of marshmallows.  Their youngest kept feeding Sydney chips.  She was in heaven.

For Easter on Sunday we drove down to my grandparents house and spent time with my side of the family.  It was good quality family time, and the food was fantastic as always.  A lot of people wanted to touch my belly and it kind of weirded me out, but I guess they're family so I will have to get used to it.  Here are some photos of my niece and my soon-to-be nephew posing with their Easter gifts...

They are the cutest! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.
-Kira