Easter Activities for Toddlers

With Easter fast approaching I thought I would put together a little list of the ways Noah and I will be entertaining ourselves. I also received an email from KatchUp who wanted me to team up with their Easter Activity post too, so even more reason to share! 

Egg painting - For the kids who like to get creative!

Noah isn't usually one for messy play as he doesn't like the feel of paint on his hands. I don't let that stop us and I still encourage him by re introducing the paints every now and again. A few weeks ago I bought a ceramic egg kit from a local craft store as I thought it would be fab for a little Easter activity to do together. As there was a paintbrush included in the pack I thought it would limit the amount of mess created which would be a plus for Noah! I was right and he really did enjoy himself and I didn't have much mess to clean up either, win win! 

A trip to the farm - For the animal lovers and aspiring farmers!

We recently took a trip to Folly Farm in Wales and had one of the best days ever. Noah loves animals just as much as we do and he was intrigued by all the different animals and the different noises they made. The goats were ever so friendly and Noah couldn't stop giggling at them bleating away! I think a trip to a local farm or petting zoo's would make a lovely Easter treat for children of all ages and it's something a little bit different too.  

Easter reading - For the little bookworms!

Another of our loves as a family has got to be reading. I had already bought half a dozen books for Noah before he was even born so it's no surprise that he is such a baby bookworm. I like to buy themed books to celebrate different occasions and picked up some lovely Easter books last week. We love lazy afternoons, snuggled up with a pile of books surrounding us so if the weather isn't on our side on Easter Sunday it will be the way we spend our rainy day. 

Nature trails - For the nature babies!

Now the weather is becoming milder it's the perfect opportunity to get out and about. We really enjoy going on nature trails and outdoor adventures as a family, even more so now Noah is walking. There's nothing like a bit of exercise while you breathe in all that fresh air and it's free too! 

Finger painting - For the children that like to get messy!

As I previously said Noah doesn't usually like messy play but with a little encouragement he can take that leap. Finger painting is great for making collages or even putting together some personalised Easter cards for family and friends! I am hoping to catch Noah on a good day so we can make some cards for our loved ones and even put one away in his memory box.

How will you and your children be celebrating Easter? 

Our home - The bedroom so far

Along with the bathroom one of the rooms we are really getting stuck into at the moment is the master bedroom. Although there is a lot of work still to do on the house once we have a working bathroom and kitchen, a living room and bedroom that is livable we can pretty much move in. The other jobs aren't major and can be done as we go. 

Here is our progress on the master bedroom -

As you can see the bedroom was very dated and decorated in a rather unattractive pea green. The previous home owner certainly had a thing for green as the bathroom was also in the exact same shade and they have even gone as far as painting some of the doors that colour too!

The bedroom was the first room I started on and it's one of those rooms we keep going back to when we couldn't go any further in another. First thing we did was strip the walls. The wallpaper came off very easily and underneath the walls were in an okay condition, thankfully. We also ripped up that awful green carpet too!

But you know how it goes. If everything ends up being straight forward and easy there is always a little hiccup. The hiccup in this room being the chimney breast. The wallpaper was really tough to get off on this area. It wasn't just wallpaper but it had been sealed with some sort of pink putty stuff which was so sticky and difficult to remove. It took us absolutely ages to remove the majority of the stuff and we ended up leaving it till another day. (A few weeks later the chimney breast was plastered over so we didn't even need to do it in the end!) 

The wallpaper on the ceiling came off incredibly easy to remove too. So easy infact that we didn't even need to use a steamer we literally just peeled it off in big chunks. We did have another one of those hiccups though as when pulling it down some of the ceilings plaster came down with it!

Rather than simply re plastered the ceiling we decided to have the ceiling dropped and re plastered so we could have spot lights installed. I wasn't really fussed about the lights as I do like a big feature chandelier or light shade but Nick loves the little spotlights so we went ahead.

The walls were lined with lining paper ready to be painted whilst the ceiling was plastered. This is when we really saw our bedroom coming together. 

We've decided to paint out ceiling and all woodwork white and the walls Mellow Mocha from Dulux. We are doing this at the moment so the next time I update on the bedroom it should be finished! Very exciting! 

Our home: The living room

We recently bought of very first home and are currently undertaking a full house renovation. It's such an exciting yet stressful time. As so much needed doing we just got stuck into everything. There was no time to do a room at a time we just needed to leap into it head first. We have a long list of jobs to do and every time we complete one job another couple are discovered and added to it.

Today I thought I would write all about the progress with our living room. For some reason I don't seem to appear to have any "before" photo's on hand just images from when we began. I have some somewhere though. 

The room was decorated with wood chip and painted yellow to begin with and it wasn't that bad. But as we are going to be redecorating every room we decided to do it anyway. 

Some area's the wood chip came off really easy but in some places it was really tough. It took us a good two days to get it all off. When we were stripping wallpaper off in different parts of the house we discovered bad walls underneath (cracks, holes, uneven plastering etc) but thankfully the living room walls were in an ok condition. One thing I have learnt is that with an old house you have to expect bad walls amongst other things. Still give me an old house over a new any day!

After we had tidied up I used sugar water to clean all the woodwork and fireplace. We have original wood features and coving which I love, it gives the house real character. I then sanded all the skirting boards and window ready for painting at a further date. Nick's Grandad then papered the entire room with lining paper, also ready for painting! 

We decided to paint the front room in Natural Hessian from Dulux. It was a shade we kept going back to as it was neutral and light but warm too. It will also look good against any colour so we could frequently change the colour accents in the room without having to redecorate the whole room again. 

We chose to paint the ceiling Natural Hessian too so the coving would really stand out as they were painted white. All the woodwork was sanded, painted with an undercoat and then glossed.

We had the radiator and new electrical sockets installed while we were painting the room. Once everything was dried we then went out looking at carpet. I wanted a neutral carpet that was light enough to compliment the wallpaper but was practical too. I would of loved to of gone for a nice cream carpet but that isn't feasable with a baby and three cats. We opted for a light sandy colour and I think it's perfect.

I am so happy with the living room because although the rest of the house is a shambles this room is almost complete and exactly how I wanted it. We just need a piece of skirting board and need to remove the old sockets and then we are done. I intend on having cabinets in the alcoves with floating shelves above them. Nick wants to put the TV on the wall too which frightens me but we are limited with space in the front room so we will have to do so. 

Now that one room looks finished it makes me so excited to see how the rest of the house is going to turn out. We have a long road ahead of us but we have certainly made a good start. 

Our home: Paints, paints and more paints

Oh my gosh, if I look at one more colour swatch I think I may just explode! The amount of hours I have spent looking at hundreds of different paint colours is simply ridiculous. I find myself looking at them and they all just blend into one giant splodge. I am a terribly indecisive person at the best of times but when it comes to trying to decide of paint colours for 7 rooms; living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, bedroom, nursery, bathroom.. I feel totally out of my depth. If it was simply deciding on one paint for one room then it would be fine but I need to pick 6 or 7 colours that compliment one another, are neutral but not boring, aren't too light or too dark and so on and so forth. 

This week we bought half a dozen testers from Homebase to try out the colours for ourselves. We have rolls and rolls of lining paper at the house so I cut a bit off and painted it with each tester. I wrote the name above each shade to avoid any confusion. I also wrote down my initial feelings for each paint below each sample but I have changed my mind a little since then. 

I wish we had done this sooner cause paint colours look so much different in a catologue or on your computer screen. The colours also change dramatically when drying, some go lighter and some actually go darker, which was surprising. It was a good idea painting them onto the base they will actually be painted on once we choose as we can really see what the colour will be like. I also took the sample paper into every room in the house, in all the different lights to see how they would look. 

Here is what I am thinking at the moment:

Living room - Mellow Mocha

Dining room / Lounge - Natural Hessian
Kitchen - Caramel Latte (Not sure yet)
Hallway, Stairs and Landing - Natural Hessian
Bedroom - Dusted Fondant (Feature wall) with Mellow Mocha
Noah's Nursery - Natural Calico or Natural Hessian
Bathroom - No paint as room will be fully tiled
Box room - Whichever paint we have left

As you can tell I am a huge fan of neutral tones and going to add pops of colour here and there with accents such as picture frames, lamps, vases, rugs and so on. I'm really excited to get all the renovations out the way, have everything painted and then I can have fun furnishing each room.

This is the plan for now but I am not 100% on the kitchen colour. Our kitchen has cream cabinets, oak work surface and will have white tiles so I need a colour that's darker than cream but is not too dark. It's really tricky. I want to go for a shabby chic/cottage feel in the kitchen and dining room so need a shade that is suitable. I wish I was brave enough to go for a lovely pastel colour or even a nice sage green, but I'm not, so I am sticking to my trusty neutrals. 

Do you have any favourite paint colours or any advice on what colour to paint the kitchen? 

Our home: One week on

Well where do I begin! We've now had the house for 10 days and almost every day we have been down there working on something or other. It's been none stop! We have so much work to do in so little time, there's no time for dawdling. 

The house looks derelict and absolutely awful at the minute as every room is in the process of being gutted. I like to think that seeing the house right now at it's worst will make us appreciate it so much more once it's done. We move in at the end of this month and although we don't expect all the work to be done it would be good to have the majority of it out of the way before we do. I don't want the house to be a building site once we are in there, it would be a nightmare with the baby! 

Going into this we had a huge list of jobs that needed to be done and to look at it was so daunting. We have made a good start on everything but the minute you tick one job off the list a new job appears. For example we will take some wallpaper off to discover a hole in the wall! Still we would rather see these things now before we redecorate and move in, that would be another nightmare. 

So here is what we've been up to so far:

I have mainly been steaming and stripping wallpaper. Nick's Mum has come to help on a couple of days which has been great! So far we've done our bedroom, the nursery, the hallway, half the landing and the front room. Which leaves us with the kitchen, dining room, box room and bathroom to do as the entire house needs stripping and redecorating. We can't start on the bathroom until we have the old one ripped out and we can't really start decorating yet as we are still waiting for the central heating system to be installed. I have to say I am getting rather fed up of scraping wallpaper off but it needs to be done! I think I will throw a party when it's finally all off! 

Nick has been the laborer of sorts, helping out wherever he is needed. Stripping walls, clearing up, trips to the tip, odd jobs here and there. He is terrified of spiders and we keep frightening him by telling him we need him to go under the floorboards to sort out the wiring, ha ha. 

Nick's step dad has been a godsend. He's renovated dozens of houses in the past and is one of those people who can do everything! So far he has started the house rewiring, removed rotten floorboards and replaced them with new, damp proofed and plastered the kitchen and so much more. He is about to start fitting our kitchen too, which arrived today!

We've also had lots of help from Nick's Grandad too. We will turn up late on in the morning after we have sorted Noah and he will of already been there hours. He ripped out the old kitchen, he's been plastering and filling holes in the walls, blocking old fireplaces and countless other jobs. You wouldn't think he was coming upto 80 years old. We keep reminding him to take it easy but he loves it, he won't hear it. 

We are extremely lucky to have a lot of help from our family cause if we didn't have this help we wouldn't of gone for this house in the first place. If we hadn't of gone for this house then we wouldn't have our foot on the property ladder as there is literally nothing suitable for sale at the moment! I keep looking and I am so thankful we found this house and looked past all the renovating that needed to be done. It's going to be a lovely family home.

Check out our other home posts here;

We want our house
Renovating and decorating
Getting the keys
The work has begun

Noah makes art

I would like to say I am an artistic person but that would be lying. I have always enjoyed drawing, painting, and creating but that doesn't mean I am any good at it! Photography is my creative medium and I will stick to that. Stick to what I know. 

Lately, I have been seeing lots of photos of babies of a similar age to Noah enjoying a spot of "messy play". Initially, the thought of a baby and paint left me feeling very apprehensive. I imagined thick staining paint all over my child, his fingers in his mouth, paint all over the sofa, and so on. I was reassured by other Mum's that there's nothing to worry about as long as I pick up the child safe, nontoxic paints. They were right, it simply washes off with a baby wipe and I didn't have to worry about any going into Noah's mouth! 

We picked up a pack of finger paints, coloured card, felt tip pens, and paintbrushes this weekend. The Works has a brilliant range of arts and crafts supplies for all age groups. We decided to embrace the mess and go for it! Noah was going to experience paint for the very first time and create some Easter cards. 

I made sure I caught Noah in a good mood and stripped him down into his vest. He sat waiting in his swing, paintbrush ready whilst I prepared everything. Large plastic mat on the floor, paints open, jug of water, paintbrushes out, card folded, we were ready to go!

Nick kept a firm grip on him while I painted his hands and got the card ready. He wasn't really phased by having his hands/feet painted and was fascinated with the bright coloured card.

I let him explore the card with his painted hands but he wouldn't just touch the card he wanted to take it out my hand and waft it around! I also attempted to get hand and feet prints from him, which every parent knows is easier than it sounds! 

I had folded 10 pieces of card to make into Easter cards for our family. About 4 cards in and Noah was getting a little fed up. He wasn't unhappy but I could tell he was getting a little frustrated. The paint had begun drying on him so I doubt it felt nice. Still, he carried on and he created ten messy pieces of art. 

I was going to write "Happy Easter" on the front of the cards or draw on a chick or bunny but decided to leave them as they were cause although they just look like messy splodges to others they are pretty special to me. They are Noah's first paintings! I put two aside for myself, one went straight into his memory box and another I am framing!  

If you are thinking of having a play with paints with your little one then I urge you to. Not only is it fun but you are also creating lovely keepsakes. I can't wait until Noah is older and we can dig the paints out again and have crafty afternoons with one another. I would love Noah to have a creative side and enjoy arts and crafts just as I did when I was a child.  

Noah's first Easter

The past couple of days have been so much fun, I've loved every second! Nick has been off work with us for the bank holiday and Easter weekend and we have taken full advantage of the extra family time! 

On Good Friday we took Noah to the zoo for the very first time. It was a lovely sunny but awfully busy day! We can't wait to take him back when he is a little older so he is able to enjoy it more. 

Saturday we introduced Noah to paints and made some beautifully messy Easter cards (which I will be blogging all about soon). We then spent the afternoon at the park with Noah's Auntie, Uncle and Cousin which he loved! 

Easter Sunday we got up and I gave Noah his Easter present which was a cute bunny teddy in a basket. I had intended on making him an Easter basket but thought he was too young but by the time I realised I could make one suitable for his age it was too late. I was trawling through dozens of shops in town and there was hardly anything left. Next year I will have to make an extra special one as I love the whole occasion gift basket traditions that I've seen so many people do.

We then spent the afternoon visiting my Dad, his partner and my two brothers for a catch up. They had bought him a lovely teddy bear for Easter which Noah instantly took a liking to as he loves his cuddly toys. Then it was off to my Mum's for tea with my other brother and sister. My Mum was a bit unconventionally and made us a curry for a tea, which was delicious! My Mum had bought him some Easter gifts too, books and a teddy! He's a very lucky boy. 

Today we have had a rather chilled out day in comparison to the past couple of days. The three of us had a lie in till around 10am and then we relaxed at home till after lunch time. We went on a lovely family walk in the woods. I took my DSLR and got some snaps too (which I will also be blogging about). 

Who knows what we will be up to tomorrow! We are thinking of going somewhere on a day out though as it will be Nick's last day off before he has to return to work but I would be equally happy having a lazy day with his busy we've been lately! 

What have you guys been up to over the Easter break?