Easter Day

     Easter Sunday began with the visit of the Easter bunny and some early morning candy (just what our already high energy kids need in the morning!) Then we did some prettying up for church. Ashley was the cutest girl in her new Easter fuscia polka dot dress with painted pink fingernails to boot! Carson wore his blue tie complete with gel in his hair and was oh so handsome! And Dylan, oh cute tank Dylan, looks cute in anything we put on him!
      Church was great. It was so wonderful to worship our Savior and remember Him on this special day. We really tried to talk with the kids on the real meaning of Easter in a way they could understand. What a loving and selfless elder brother our Savior is and we are so thankful for the most wonderful gift of HOPE that he gave us through his atonement and resurrection.
    After church and naps, we headed up to Grandma & Grandpa Anglin's house for a delicious dinner and egg hunt. Fun to spend time with family and enjoy the good food! On the way home, we stopped at the school so Carson could ride his new bike from his birthday, Ashley could swing, And Dylan could eat, I mean, play in the grass and wood chips!
     Another beautiful day in the perfect Easter weekend!!

Easter Saturday 2011

     Easter Saturday started out with the local annual Easter egg hunt at the football stadium. But we arrived 2 minutes late and by golly, ALL the eggs were snatched up by then!! So in order to not agonize in our disappointment (and distract the kids) we went for a walk along the river. It was a gorgeous day and the sunshine felt soooo good on our pale wintery skin! And by the time we ended our walk, a kind lady and her kids shared some eggs and candy with the kiddos when they found out they hadn't gotten any. So it was a win win! Candy AND a great walk along the river as a family!
     Then we went home and went immediately outside to enjoy more sun (hey, with the weather this spring, you never know how long the sun will be there --especially without the wind!!). We had our own Easter egg hunt in the backyard, played on the swings and trampoline, and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. After naps came the coloring of the eggs, which was a blast with Carson & Ashley!
     What a fun day as a family!

Necklaces

     Today there was a craft fair and my friend, Arwa, who is my great workout buddy, had a booth to sell some of her amazing granola and trail mix. (It is soooo good-- and all natural and organic to boot!) Well, she let me display a few necklaces I've made. Sadly, none of them sold :( but maybe at some other event or thru word of mouth some of them will.
     So if any of y'all see one you like, let me know. They are $15 and come with the cord or chain of your choice. I can custom make one for you too-- with a photo, special date, or design. I can also do matching earrings. And there's many shapes to choose from : rectangular, circle, oval, square, heart, or triangle with finishes in gold, silver or antique copper for a vintage look. Soon to come are cuff-links for the guys and some awesome flowers rings. :)
    

Finally Spring

     What a great time the kids have had in the yard the past couple of days! Lots of time to swing, jump on the trampoline, run around the yard, and use their imaginations to come up with all sorts of pretend play! Their good friend Gabe is a great addition to the little gang.
      Carson can now swing himself and loves to jump out like a rocket. He is a sweet brother and spends lots of time helping Ashley to swing & have a good time. And Ashley is just so uniquely adorable! She has the cutest little run and loves to swing high. It is so great to be able to bring Dylan out to enjoy some time with them too! I am a lucky Mom --- I just love this little bunch!! (Hard to tell, huh!?)

Swing It Dylan

Yesterday morning was nice enough for all of us to go outside and swing together, which meant big Dylan could try swinging for the first time. And how he loved it! Today was even warmer so we did it again this evening, and his little 2 teeth smile couldn't have been any bigger as he giggled with every push. He was also so fun to watch as he experienced sitting on the grass and feeling its texture for the first time -- he loved it, watching the birds, dog, & cat, and listening to all the sounds of outside. What a fun, sweet, tough lil stud he is!

General Conference made FUN

     This year I wanted to make General Conference a fun experience for my little family. With Carson (5 yrs) and Ashley (3 yrs) we played a little candy game. We came up with 6 gospel words we wanted to listen for. Ours were: PROPHET -- THOMAS S. MONSON, TEMPLE, SCRIPTURES, PRAYER, MISSIONARY, & FAMILY. And since my kids are small, we found pictures of these words and mounted them onto cardstock, taped them to a popsicle stick, then stuck them each in a small bowl filled with different candy or nuts (we used some fun Easter candy at this time of year). Then, each time a speaker at conference mentioned one of those words, the kids would run up to that bowl and get 1 piece of that candy. They could either eat it or save it in their little cup for later. (Which one do you think they chose to do!?)
     I was so surprised at how effective this worked! The kids not only listened for our selected words, but kept shouting out lots of other words they picked out from what was being said. This was amazing for my kids who normally wouldn't pay attention to a word! It was great!
     Then when we needed to take a little break from all that sugar, we got out their cute General Conference 2011 packets that our ward primary made for them. They had papers for coloring, hidden pictures, and activities for doing during conference. They were wonderful! Thanks to our primary for putting them together!
     These things made conference soooo much more enjoyable! And my small children could even tell me what they'd learned at the end of the first session! LOVED IT!!

Windy.....but sunny!

     Today we met some friends (thanks for getting us out of the house, Anna!) at Jensen's Grove for some much needed outside time and vitamin D! We almost didn't go when I felt the cold strong wind while packing up the suburban. But we bundled up and braved the wind anyway (and luckily it was a little calmer at the park!)
     The highlight for the kids was this tire swing. My kids love to get dizzy, and when their friends Ava and Kaitlyn joined in, it was even BETTER!! I finally had to pull Ashley off of it so she didn't get sick. But she was loving it so much. It was so refreshing to feel the sun on our skin after this long cold winter!
     Afterwards, we went to a little pizza place for some pizza and orange soda. ORANGE SODA..... yes.... had to clean that up TWICE after little Ashley spilling TWICE!! Then a friend's 1 yr old started choking on a piece of ice so I did some back thrusts til he was breathing again. Luckily he never went blue and it came out pretty fast (but I'm sure it felt like an eternity to his mom). Even though I've been out of nursing for 5 yrs, my training and instincts just kicked right in and I was able to stay calm. And thank goodness everything turned out ok and the little guy was running around and playing before we left. :) Needless to say, after our eventful lunch we all went home for some good naps!

April Fools!

I decided to tease the kiddos with a little breakfast of "bacon & eggs" this April Fools Day. (Eggs are actually marshmallows with yolks of yellow m&M's or dried apricots, and the bacon is layers of Tootsie-rolls and caramels).
Carson's 1st reaction, "I don't want eggs, I want oatmeal!" (Typical response in our house!) Then he ventured to try the "bacon" and there was no more coaxing from there! Once Ashley tried some too, our candy-lovin-girl was in heaven!! They were so cute and fun! And little Dylan, just happy as can be (like he usually is), acted like he understand the whole thing!
This is definitely gonna become a tradition in our house - with new pranks to come each year!! :)