Sunday Monster

Well, we have a monster problem in our house on Sundays. You don't have to listen close or watch us for long to hear screams of the most guttural kind or see flying limbs tangle with others. Its not so bad in the morning. Pre-church seems to be the safe time. Even during church its not noticeable. But something happens after we get home that starts the metamorphosis... by bedtime, it's just down right scary. Mom has turned into a monster. I don't know what it is. I'm always sorry moments after I break out but I just have a really hard time Sunday afternoons. I could offer you a lot of possible causes that will make my monstering (thanks A&P for the word) seem less like my fault, but the fact of the matter is this: I make poor reaction choices. Thanks go to temper-less, patient husbands like Chris who offer to finish putting the kids to bed by himself so our kids will live to see another day.

Tomorrow is Monday... then comes Tuesday... which is followed by Wednesday. Wednesday is the day I leave for my first trip away sans-kids. Is it too soon to count hours?

Overdue

Its been a long week. We've all been battling yet another (or two?!) bug of some kind. Hopefully, we're on the mend.

Alec has been diaper-less at night for almost a month now! We made a sticker chart and after doing 10 straight days of dryness we would to do something fun that Alec picked: Minature golfing. Alec will still go through a few spurts of waking up wet, but generally he's dry! So last friday we finally took the family miniature golfing. The boys LOVED it.

Whats for dinner tonight?

I just asked Alec what we should have for dinner and he said,

"maybe rice... and chicken... and tortillas ... with frosting on the top"

Well, maybe.

Alec and his playschool friends being astronauts about to blast off in their rocket to the far away planet of Esconderon. Charlie is in there too, Where's Waldo style.

Easter

On Saturday we had a little community egg hunt in between conference sessions. It was pretty crowded so I didn't feel too guilty about giving the kids their third egg hunt on Easter Morning with just our family at home. The best thing about the hunt on Saturday was the face painters. This year, Alec wasn't too scared to get a dragon painted on his face (probably thanks to his seeing his friend, James with one) and that meant Charlie needed one too. The face painter said both boys were out-of-the-ordinary still.


Checkin' out their dragons while we waited to get shuttled home and then again with a mirror at once we got home. They loved their dragons.

Also, we dyed eggs on Saturday and then Sunday we ate a yummy dinner with a few families and the missionaries and we also held our traditional Egg Roll. Chris placed 1st and 2nd as he had the last two un-cracked eggs. He let Alec roll one for him to find the true winning egg. I think all my eggs cracked on their very first rolls, but that is probably good since it mean Alec and Charlie each got to win at least once. Charlie was VERY careful to not crack his eggs while rolling them. He just tried to stand up a few times, while still holding the egg, completely smashing it between his hand and the floor.

We tried to give Charlie a slightly cracked egg to hold once all his eggs got cracked, but he turned the egg around, inspecting for a crack and complained once he found it. He's getting pretty sharp.

As for our Holy Week, We talked about the crucifixion (it actually got pretty detailed with all of Alec's questions) and colored the picture/cutout of Jesus and the tomb from the new nursery manual on Friday. Saturday we talked about how Jesus was still inside the tomb, dead. Sunday we shows more GAP pictures of the resurrected Lord and opened our picture of the tomb to find His body gone and then taped Jesus standing up next to the empty tomb. I think Alec sort of got it. We watched the last 5 min of Finding Faith in Christ movie and tried to talk about how the plastic Easter Eggs can represent the empty tomb and real eggs represent new life and watched a short youtube clip of chicks hatching. Its possible this will cause questions later as Alec puts those eggs together with the eggs we eat. Anyways, that is how I tried to teach and celebrate Easter this year. Now I can use these posts next year for reference.

Passover

Well life got busy and I got tired so we skipped a day or two, but it doesn't matter because already I'm focused on Christ more this Easter than last year so as my dad so often says when I ask about business, "We're making progress!"

Today is passover and the last supper. I think maybe we'll tell the story to the kids before we put them to bed and maybe eat some crackers and juice/water to go with it. I had wanted to do something more formal with the Passover, but I bet that will be more appreciated as my kids get a little bit older.

Tomorrow is the early morning betrayal (and over night suffering) in the garden of Gethsemane, as well as the crucifixion. What a sad conversation that will be with my kids. Any one have thoughts on how to talk about such cruelty and pain to children? I might chicken out and just watch the first 5 min of the last 10 min from the Finding Faith in Christ film. Or maybe that would be worse for little kids. I'll have to ask, Chris. He's got a good head for these things.

And just in case you missed it the last time (HA! ok, I just want to show my cute boys off again), here are the most adorable boys you'll ever see.

Happy Hallow

With last week supposedly "Spring Break" some of my friends and I thought it'd be fun to do something totally out of the ordinary for the kids (and... lets be honest, us moms too) so we went to a nearby amusement park and zoo geared completely for toddlers and little kids.

We had a blast and Alec even got up the courage (just THAT was hard work for him) to ride their roller coaster with Mommy. After the first big hill he desperately pleaded with me, "I'm all done, now." Afterward, however, the first words out of his mouth were, "I'm so brave!" and even told his friends that he had fun. I'll chalk that one up to peer pressure.

Charlie loved every ride he could go on and just screamed and cried as I approached him to help him out whenever the ride stopped. He did not want to get out yet. On the Lady Bug ride he caught on to the concept of acknowledging me as his bug flew by. Each pass, he'd look for me and say "Mama." He also was super brave petting the farm animals until the donkey huffed right on him. That scared us all pretty bad.


For Tuesday's day of the Easter Week, I'll talk with the kids about how Jesus went back to the temple and taught parables. We'll probably show pictures and maybe act out the Ten Virgins and the Talents. I haven't decided if I'll do a quick clue hunt to gather all the supplies needed to make an awesome fort and pretend that is the temple and read the parables in tent. Maybe I'll be too tired for all that. We'll see.

by the way.. the moon is gorgeous tonight

Ward Conference = almost 2 hour sacrament meeting + a day off for primary teachers (me!) + a "linger longer" with desserts for the last 20 min of church. All together an enjoyable experience. It was so nice to be able to go to Relief Society and sit with other women and be uplifted by the good word of God. I've been a more patient mother already as a result of it.

Here is our family picture for this Easter season. I don't know about you, but I think these are three of the most handsome boys ever created. I sure love them.
On the docket for Monday of Christ's last week on Earth is telling the story of Cleansing the Temple. (Matt. 21:12-17) I'll print out this picture:Then cut it into jigsaw pieces and hide them around the room. After the boys find them and put it together we'll tell the story and then act it out using bowls of pennies and boxes of stuffed animals for props. (I hear kids go crazy with this one)

Lest any of you think I'm coming up with any of these ideas on my own, let me tell you... I'm not. My friend Amy emailed me a copy of a handout her mom used for inspiration and I'm using it too. I'd be happy to email it to anyone who wants it.