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.

The Holy Week

I'd like Easter to be more meaningful for my children than just Easter eggs, candy and our traditional egg roll competition. My friend told me her mom used to talk about each day in the Holy Week as it leads up to the resurrection on Easter Sunday and so I'm going with that idea this year. (hopefully more years too!) So I'll post a quick link to whatever I'm doing in case any of you out there want to do it too.
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, so we'll read the story in the scriptures and then cut out our own palm leaves and act out the story, taking turns both welcoming Jesus by waving the palms and by being Jesus (is that weird?) by riding on Dad the Donkey.

Here are some pictures of our Ward's Easter Breakfast and Egg Hunt. Super fun!

slip n' slide pictures

I'm not sure how much the slip n' slide was actually slid down... mostly the kids liked to try and walk down or roll toys down or play with the water that shot up.

Spring is here

We've had a taste of warm weather recently. It got up to 80 on Saturday! Its been in the mid 60's ever since. We got out the courtyard slip 'n slide and sprinklers. I'll have to post pictures soon. Charlie looks adorable in his wetsuit looking outfit Chris' aunt and uncle gave Alec. Spring Break is this week, but its not much different for Chris and I. He's going to decide this week about where to intern this summer. We're lucky to have two great options to choose from.

A year or two ago we saw a posting on freecycle where someone wanted people to dig up all their plants in their yard since they were doing some remodeling/landscaping. We went with some friends and I took home some bulbs I was told was [I-can't-remember-the-name-of-the-flower] but haven't seen anything but leaves. But just last week, this flower (lily?) popped up! Anyone know what its called?

Happy Wear-Green-Day

Another exciting courtyard event, including a treasure hunt and dinner. I sure love our courtyard parties. Its always fun to celebrate something, especially when you can dress silly. I bet as soon as we graduate and move away (some infinite-seeming amount of time in the future) and I stop getting paid to throw neighborhood parties, I'll still want to do them. Happy St. Patrick's Day.


Chris competed in the "I'm wearing the most green" contest:

The winner, our friend Ellabella: (by the way, she wanted and asked to wear all that!)

Of course, if we'd had the contest for most enthusiastic eater, Charlie would've won... hands down.


Just minutes after this picture was taken we realized the string was starting to make Alec's hand/arm turn red, so we had to take him inside and pin his thrashing self down to cut it off. This might have been his last smile of the day.

Leprechaun story

The kids came up with this story in playschool today. Since we had to write a story about the leprechaun before he would let us open up the treasure box we found, you can sort of guess where some of the plot came from. :) What cute kids.