Easterfest

We really tried to limit the "stuff" that our kids got this year, but it didn't work very well. There were many activities this year. We participated in a city egg hunt, a neighborhood one, and my mom did one for them. The city one was really kind of silly. They had a field for the 0-3 crowd, covered with eggs. Great. Only they were filled with tiny (chokable) toys and gum. E was pretty sad he couldn't have anything, so finally his dad let him eat the gum (he doesn't understand to just chew yet) I don't think a mom was the one ordering these prizes for young children. It was fun anyway.

Our neighborhood had an egg hunt where you visited many people's yards while just collecting one egg at each house. This way, everyone gets to hide eggs in their own yard, and 10 minutes lasts 2 hours. Tiring but a fun experience for everyone. Many people commented that it was just nice to see so many people out and about at the same time, a chance to visit with neighbors outside the walls, gates, fences we all live behind. I totally agree. Once the boys caught on to the "just one" rule at each house they had a ton of fun.

On Easter morning, we ate overnight pecan rolls from the family cookbook and talked about the resurrection and the empty tomb. It was a nice moment.

They found their easter baskets and had fun with those. E ate his candy in about 2 minutes flat. I'm glad I didn't put much in.

Then, this year we got them new clothes because they are getting their pictures taken tomorrow and we thought it would be fun to have for easter. So we made them go outside for the traditional pictures, except this year there are no blooms because it's so early! Cute anyway.

Primary was a bit crazy. You could tell the kids were all high on sugar and tired. Jr. Primary was paying a little bit of attention, but it was rough. Probably because I wasn't doing any fun egg/bunny things and was trying to make it about Christ. It was okay, though. Then nursery was a madhouse. I was glad I had brought instruments, because although they couldn't even hear me singing over the cacophony of sounds, it was crazy anyway so today was the day to just be loud. Good times. DH taught in EQ and I think people were all pretty tired because he said he had a hard time getting any participation. It was nice to go and feel the spirit and remember why we were celebrating the day.
My mom's Easter dinner was the traditional (for her) funeral potatoes, ham, rolls, and spring veggies. DH made his usual deviled eggs. It was good, then we went out and watched the boys hunt for their prizes. The favorite were these Disney things to put in their shoes.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Late)

No lack of green to wear here. All of our closets were full of plenty of choices. I guess that just goes with being in our family! The boys were invited to a little party and had a ton of fun. They followed shamrocks to a hidden treasure, made & decorated hats, decorated and ate cookies, and played a game.

Good times!



We hope you all had a great day and didn't get pinched too much.

PS- E will hopefully start sleeping better since I've started treating his outdoor allergies. I've never given him anything for them, (he's had outdoor allergies since birth!) but I think he's probably in pain, (I know I am) so I got him some medicine for it. Thanks for all your encouraging comments!

Don't be fooled by what you see.....

Isn't this the cutest? DH was watching TV and E just dropped right off. Well, this has been a rare occurrence lately at our house. Since last Thursday, E has been such a stinker about sleeping. He will scream and throw fits for hours when we're trying to get him down for a nap. I am pretty sure he is getting his 2 year molars, but it's so weird that it was overnight. I wrongly blamed Grandma for giving him a whole thing of M&M's that day (sorry, mom) but it has happened every day since, so I guess that wasn't it.

He normally will sleep from 9pm until 7:30 or so (waking at some point to get in bed with us- no clue when since it doesn't wake us) and then takes a nap from 12:30-2 or later. Today I finally got him to sleep by 3:15 by driving him around. (Long after M had woken up, so no little break today) I hate driving kids around to get them to sleep. I am usually not that indulgent, and it's expensive and horrible for the air we breathe. I cannot even entertain the idea that he is giving up a nap. M still has one every day and NEEDS it, so his little brother can't be done yet! He's not even 2.

I cannot be a loving and patient mom 24hrs/day. I need that 1 hour to make it only 23, which is more bearable for some reason. We are not functioning properly. That's why the rambled rant, sorry.

In my purse today

This is slightly embarrasing for me, but you could all tell if it was fabricated, so I have to just record it how it is. This is probably the weirdest tag I've ever done. I got tagged to do this by Tash.

This is my "purse," as it was found a few minutes ago and it's contents. It's used much less frequently than the "giant chicken bag," which I have also chronicled (see "giant chicken bag" below)

Inside was found to be:
Dried apple crumbs from a food storage demo at a Stake Women's conference one time.
An almost-empty bottle of Clifford Farms Orange Blossom Lotion
An empty container of M&M's mini's that my mom gave to me in hopes of me someday storing a roll of quarters in.
Two different Lightning McQueen cars
A tube of CO Bigelow Ultra Mentha Lip Shine- Peppermint
A reminder card for a dentist Appt. in September
A receipt for Tai Pan Trading for a bunch of fake carrots
Receipt for Chevron
Sticky note Listing dinner reservation plans for Disneyworld/Another one for park plans
A reciept for Burger King- lunch I brought to DH at work one day
A coupon with the plans for this Wednesday's RS Dinner menu/plans on it (it's a coupon for flour- do you think I can still use it with writing all over it?)
A reciept for Phazes Salon for my hairdo in January (I left a $4.o0 tip- is that bad?)
Creepy looking duck and rooster head finger puppets (no clue where I got these)
And of course, a mouse nose.





Giant Chicken Bag- The "diaker bag"
Red fleece pants, 4T
Blue undies
3 Toy horses
An orange pipe cleaner or "bendy sick"
Little shooting disks from lost McDonalds toy
A magnetic Snow White tin/game thingy
A purple sippy full of water
An empty fruit snack wrapper (peanuts)
A box of raisins
Baggie of lightly salted peanuts
TaxWorks pen
My keys
My "magic" wallet DH got me from Downeast for $1 and scratched off the initials that weren't mine.
My cell phone- (so that's where my phone is! sorry if you've been trying to call)
A toy incredibles cell phone that sometimes spouts off in the middle of the freaking night
A one-piece outfit, 24 mos.
A really cute wet cloth diaper bag (see the Etsy shop of my friend Chris)
A diaper (fuzzi bunz, circa 2004, size L)
Some wipes

Incidentally, this giant chicken bag was based on a former, much-too-loved Curious George diaper bag made by the very friend who tagged me for this exercise, Tash. I just couldn't fit all this stuff I "need" to carry around once I had E, so I made me a Chicken one. Full circle.

What's hangin' here

It was a great day outside!He really was happy, despite the scorn.
I think he may have liked the dinner?! (nobody else did but me- we had my fav. "noodles boiled in tomato juice")
Just one rabbit helping another:

Help stop percieved obsolescence

Watch this and tell me what you think:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

I challenge everyone to look at your list of things to get this week and try to find them someplace like