A Rockin' Easter & 39th Birthday Weekend

It all started on Friday when Layne and her kids minus Turner came over. Layne and I made Sheri Green's famous peanut butter chocolate dipped eggs. It was a lot of fun, despite some minor issues with the chocolate, but in the end it all worked out. Marin, even lent a helping hand. The little kids entertained themselves on the new swing set and airplane teeter totter even though it was a little bit chilly.

Here's a sample plate of our fine craft.

Saturday was another fun filled day. It started off with Charl going to a nursery with his mom so he could get his birthday present...a tree, of course. He got a Hinoki Cypress. We are pretty sure our cute little ornamental tree in the front bed did not survive the winter, so he dug it out and replaced it with this new tree...hopefully it lasts.  Then the kids went to an Easter egg hunt with kids on our street. We had a BBQ lunch afterwards. Andersen had his first soccer game, so we ate quickly, then went to his game (already posted about that.)  In the late afternoon, we took the kids over to Layne's to get babysat while I took Charl out to Cheesecake Factory.  His parents and Teresa joined us and we had a great time. After dinner, we walked the mall looking for running shoes for Charl. We didn't have any luck in the stores, so Charl ordered a pair on line when we got home and I made his birthday cake...a chocolate bundt cake with black raspberry chocolate chunk in the middle.

Here's Andersen shaking his bootie waiting for hunt to begin.

2 little posers.

Tate and his first egg hunt. (Notice the new tree.)

I'm cool.

Now I'm cute.

Holly is just happy to be eating candy.

Tate found an egg and he knew just what to do with it. Hopefully when he gets older he won't be mad at me for giving him a light purple Easter basket.

Elijah is checking out Holly's stash.

Sunday...Easter morning. Holly and Tate woke up early, as usual for them (7 AM - too early for my blood).  Andersen didn't get up til after 8 or 8:30 and that was after we were yelling for him to wake up. The kids enjoyed their baskets. Tate drooled plenty of chocolate and colored sugary messes everywhere. The Easter Bunny obviously didn't think through the candy very well. Andersen was happy with a new lego set.  Holly was thrilled with her new headbands and candy.  After church Charl went Home Teaching and I made a salad to take to Charl's parents for dinner. We celebrated Easter and April Birthday's (Charl's and Taran's). We had good food and the kids of course had fun seeing their cousins.

  

The early birds checking out their baskets. Tate's already 4 bites into his peanut butter egg.  Holly's checking out her new barbie mermaid movie.

Tate had more fun with the fake grass than his toys.

Happy Holly.

Tate finding some eggs.

Holly displaying her treats.

Andersen finally showed up. He got a new Scooby-Doo movie featuring Batman and Robin, and new legos.

All dressed for church.

Andersen all dressed and ready for church, too. He's sporting his new belt and lego knights. 

My Easter display. I need to work on my collection.

The Birthday cake.  It was really good and easy to make.

I think Andersen is trying to refrain from blowing out the candles.

Tate is just wondering what in the heck is going on.

I failed to get a picture of the kids before church all dressed up and posing cute on the front porch. They were such a mess after church I didn't even try. There's always next year...I seem to be saying this a lot lately.

Backyard Playground

Spring has brought us such a nice surprise. Toys that will give our kids some exercise. (You can sing those lines).  Now, if only Spring would really come so we can enjoy it in nice weather instead of the cold and dreary weather we've been having.

Book Worms

About a month ago, I caught Holly and Tate reading "the classics". Hopefully this love never fades.

Oh, I just love these BookWorms!

First Soccer Game

We (Charl and I) had a great time watching Andersen's first soccer game. He really has no clue at all about soccer. We got him cleats, shin guards, and a ball a few weeks ago, so he's only kicked the ball a few times previous to this game. We (sadly) haven't tried teaching him much about the sport either. But he has this competitive side to him and he knows the object of the game is to get the ball in the net. That's a start, right? Well, we need to teach him the proper way to score a goal instead of the way he demonstrated during the game. He decided to pick the ball up and run 3/4 of the field down to the net and throw it in. He was so excited to score a goal. He was cheering, so proudly, that he was even blowing kisses to the crowd. The crowd was totally amused. I was laughing so hard I was crying. He still has no idea that his goal was illegal, and I don't have the heart to tell him.

Andersen is near the ball in the blue hoodie. (Yes, it was rather chilly.)

This shot makes it look like he knows what's up. This was his best dribbling moment.

I think he just kicked the ball here, as well.

And this was his throw in, the second attempt. The first attempt he was going to throw it in from his waist and the coach was trying to teach him to throw it over his head. Then he was trying to run in with the ball, rather than throwing it. Once the coach finally got him to get the ball over his head, the coach had to hold him at the waist so he wouldn't take off running again. In the end it was finally a successful throw in.

GREAT FUN!

Scripture Power

The primary has challenged the children to read the scriptures every day.  On the first Sunday of the New Year, the kids were given a sheet to mark off each day they read scriptures for that month.  Set the stage...Holly cried as she went to her first day of Sunbeams, so I sat and held her in sharing time.  Then when I didn't stand up and sing "If You're Happy" with her she threw a little fit.  So I left her with the teacher and said, "Come get me if she gets really hard to deal with."  Well she cried for a few minutes, and then realized that she can either cry or sing and have fun (mind you...she loves to sing.)  She chose to sing and after settling down...she did great. Well, she was so excited to come home with her scripture chart.  It is now the 14th of January and I'm happy to report that Holly has read scriptures every day.  She faithfully reminds me at breakfast.  I started the kids off with the Book of Mormon, but she likes to find places to read, as well.  One day she picked the first chapter of Ruth.  Well today was the first day that she and I forgot to read in the morning at breakfast.  But, this afternoon, she remembered (while I was busy doing something else) and went to the table and opened up the scriptures and started reading. I couldn't hear everything she said/read, but she ended with something like this..."and then Lehi went into his tent, and it came to pass."  It was a cute moment......

Family Room - (post christmas)

This is mostly for my mom...I told her I'd take new pictures of our family room after our mini-remodel.  I didn't take very good pictures after we finished painting, so I waited until I had Christmas put away and the room back to "normal" to take more/better pictures.  And today was a good day, since we just hung our new painting and I just cleaned and vacuumed the room.

 View from the funny little angled wall where the wall clock is hung.

 View from the kitchen table.

 View from fireplace looking into the kitchen. Oops, I didn't fix the pillow very well.

View of the the funny angled wall.  I may not keep the blue vase there, but I like the bookcase there. (I think I'll look for a bench to go in the foyer where this used to be.) I need to get some picture frames and I'll add pictures of the kids. (This is where we put our Christmas tree this year.)

 The rest of these pictures are views of the yard and mountains looking out of the windows from the family room. We had no snow for Christmas, but then we got slammed this week. (Charl had to shovel like 3 times in one day.) The kids are sick again, so I didn't let them go out and play. (Lucky me, kind of...I don't like playing in the snow when it's 20 degrees...I'll consider it when it above 40 degrees.) Today looks pretty...see the nice blue sky.  We haven't seen the sun in a few days.