So not ready for this!!

So this happened the other day...







I figure I've still got a few weeks before he actually starts crawling, time to baby proof the house I think!

Here's what else my littliest man is up to -

 - rolls both ways (and has been doing so for over a month)
 - smiles and laughs so much, he seriously is the happiest baby ever!
 - loves his big brother to pieces and watches him like a hawk
 - LOVES playing with toys and will reach out and grab the ones he wants to play with
 - gets distracted in the night and tries to crawl around his cot instead of sleeping
 - has recently gone back to waking up to feed four times a night, making for a very tired me...

Easter Recap

I hope you all had a great Easter. We certainly did here! I mentioned the other day that besides Christmas, Easter is my favorite time of the year and this year was no exception! One of things I love most about it is that it brings all our family together.

It's becoming a tradition that I host an Easter brunch each year. After the Easter egg hunt Sean, my mum and sister and who ever else wants to help all work together to whip up a yummy meal. In my mind I always plan it to be an elegant affair with gorgeous table settings and 5 star food. In reality its normally 10+ people crowded around a 6 seat table with bacon, eggs, fruit, pancakes and hot cross buns. It's still perfect though :)

Max woke up super early on the Sunday and unlike at Christmas, he didn't need reminding that it was a special day. The first thing he asked when he woke up in our bed was 'has the Easter Bunny visited us'! He was so excited to find that the bunny had eaten the carrots and left baskets of treats for him and Lincoln.

{The gorgeous Easter bunnies my sister made the girls and the no-sew Easter baskets I whipped up}

Once my sister and her girls and our parents arrived we did the Easter egg hunt. They three of them had so much fun! I think next year will be really special too with Lincoln getting involved for the first time. This year he slept through the whole thing!

After the egg hunt Max, Ava and Emmy sat down at the table to look through their baskets and they were spoilt with even more eggs from the grandparents.

A week later and we still have a house full of chocolate. I'm thinking about whipping up a big batch of something for Sean to take to work tomorrow, otherwise we'll be eating Easter eggs for months!

 

Easter Round-Up

Over here at Casa Riley we're in full blown Easter mode. Decorating eggs with the kids, making handmade presents with my sister, cooking big family meals and even whipping up half a dozen batches of fudge to hand out as Easter gifts for the grown ups. After Christmas, Easter is the most important time of the year for me and I love to spend it busy and surrounded by family!

Seems I'm not the only one that feels this way... So many of my favourite bloggers are busy, busy, busy too! I've teamed up with some amazing bloggers to share a round up of some great Easter crafts, DIYs and recipes! Just what you need to find all kinds of amazing inspiration just in time for Easter! Make sure you take a second and stop by to visit these amazing bloggers and check out their great ideas!  

**Note: When pinning, pretty please pin directly from the original blog. Just click on the links or image and pin away!!**
 

DIY Easter Coloring Pack at Hubby Made Me

Rainbow Fruit Salad with Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip at The Baker Upstairs

No Sew Easter Baskets at Max & Me

Kentucky Derby Wreath at Cleverly Inspired

Adorable Easter Cupcakes at High Heels & Grills

Spring Pinwheel Wreath at The Cards We Drew

Easter Hors D'ouevres Party at Strawberry Mommycakes

White Chocolate M&M's Pudding Cookies at The Recipe Critic

Easter Bunny Glitter Jar DIY at A Bubbly Life

Chocolate Easter Bunny Cards at Bloom Designs

Paper Dahlia Wreath at Love, Pomegranate House

Robin's Egg Nests at Mama Miss

Berry Gift Basket at Sweet Rose Studio

Lemon Chess Bread Pudding at Something Swanky

Free Easter Printable Pack at Kiki & Company

So much amazing inspiration! I hope you all have a blessed Easter surrounded by people you love.

No Sew Easter Baskets

My lovely sister and I have quite a few family traditions that we enjoy doing together, and one of them is making handmade Easter baskets and bunnies each year.

The oldest three still love the baskets we made last year and they often get used in their imaginative play games. Lately Max's one has been used as a shopping basket, a catapult and as a means to carry the toys he likes to 'reclaim' from Lincoln's room...

This year I wanted to make something again that they could keep using year round, but this time I decided to go down the 'no sew' route. I absolutely love how they turned out!

These were so fun to make and nice and quick too. I did all four in a day (including working out how I wanted to make them).

Here's what you'll need to whip some up:

   - round kraft box with lid
   - fabric
   - batting
   - ribbon
   - fabric glue
   - hot glue
   - scissors
   - wool
   - scrap cardboard
   - paintbrush

Start out by smearing fabric glue around the outside of your box and then wrap the batting around it. Hold for a minute or so until dryish, then trim your batting down level with the top and bottom of the box.

Next up lay your fabric right side down on the table and measure off a section the same height as the sides of your box (mine was 7cm). Paint that section with fabric glue and then wrap around your batted box. You want the edge of the fabric to be even with the bottom of the box and all the excess to be up at the top of the box because the excess fabric will be folded in to cover the inside.

Once you've folded all that fabric in it's time to make the inside base (which will cover up all that extra folded fabric). Take your lid, cut the lip off of it and then trim it down so that it will fit snugly inside the box. Using your fabric glue again stick some more batting to the circle and trim it into shape. Then cover your circle in some more fabric (I used some cheap white poplin I had left over from making Max's headboard).

Leave it to dry from a couple of minutes before pushing the circle down into the inside of your basket.

To make the ribbon handle, attach some ribbon to the underside of your basket with hot glue and then secure the ribbon up the sides of the basket using some more fabric glue. Then glue a thick ribbon around the base of your basket.

Last but not least make a sweet little pom pom (tutorial here) for the bunny tail and hot glue it to the front of your basket.

 

 
Done! One very sweet little Easter basket (or in my case four of them!).

Jenny's working on some co-ordinating Easter bunnies to go in the baskets, I'll share them as soon as they're ready to go :).