Easter weekend 2013

Besides some sickness in our family, mostly my husband, this was a really great Easter! We didn't dye any eggs and none of us felt like we were missing out (the kids didn't say anything about it). On Easter Sunday I felt the Spirit before, during and after church. I know my Savior lives and loves me and that I need Him.

The day before Easter I took the girls to our ward's Primary Easter party. I stayed for "Pin the Tail on the Rabbit" and the bunny hop sack races, and then I went for a lovely walk/run with Third Girl in our little stroller. The leaders gave the kids activity books and snacks that had Christian messages on them. The bag of pretzels says that the pretzel shape was designed to remind us of arms folded to pray; I'd never heard that before.

 

after the party

We have church at 9:00 this year, which is an early time for us. After we got home from church the kids were patient as I put their baskets together. We had told them at least the day before how it was going to be. I hid their baskets in the living room, and then my husband made First Girl's even more challenging to find. These dolls from Walgreens really are pretty cute, and were very cheap. We had been there buying some things we needed when the girls told me that they wanted these dolls. I made a few more trips to different Walgreens stores by myself to be able to buy the right kind and have them not be identical. Oh, they named them Tina and Rosette. I'm not positive which name goes with whose doll, because they switched.

I guess C could have had a new doll, too. We gave her some dried fruit and a few Easter things that we already had (to play with for a few minutes). In sandwich bags inside their tissue-paper-wrapped carrots the other two also had dried fruit -- I think just banana chips and prunes -- plus pecans, walnuts, almonds, and a little bit of dark chocolate candy. Even though my husband thinks I'm crazy for it, I'm happy to reuse my shredded green paper because I hate the Easter "grass" the stores sell. Especially the stuff that's not even green. 

Of course I made the kids pose for pictures, and the sun was too bright. But I couldn't wait until evening, which was good lighting last Easter, because I knew we wouldn't be home in the evening. I do like the pictures we got.

Soon after that we went over to my Mom's house. My poor husband slept in the spare bedroom most of the time we were there. We talked, had dinner, went for a lovely walk in her neighborhood, and watched a little of a Book of Mormon Stories DVD. I think the part we found showed Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. My family ended up doing the Twelve Days of Easter eggs as a family home evening another day.

My niece was crawling around a lot. I like how you can see on the deck the dirt that her brother had dumped out of the pot.

All of our kids have worn these bunny slippers.

(First Girl had a little owie on her chin.)

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Edited to add this. Yep, they look a year older!

March 2013 (besides Easter)

I love this. He does, too.

We had our Relief Society birthday dinner on March 5th. I really felt the Spirit when some ladies read true stories of trials women have endured. A member of our ward's new R.S. presidency taught us how to make these Easter decorations. She's been making them for years and when her kids were young she sold enough of them to buy her kids bunk beds! Before the dinner, she had made the eggs out of sugar. Then she had us put the frosting on, and use frosting to glue the parts inside the egg and the flower on top. When I got my kids from the nursery to go home, they wanted to make their own eggs, too, and they were happy that we got to take extra stuff home so they could. Shboogoo said we had to add our initials so we would know whose was whose.

  

On Saturday March 9th the girls and I went shopping at Whole Foods, and I just thought they were adorable. The little one was clapping, and then she enjoyed holding my wallet. We had not known that we would be able to see a huge wheel of cheese. My favorite part was that because of the kids' club they each got a free piece of fruit, so I got to eat some delicious organic red pear.

 

The next day, we went to my brother-in-law Aaron's new apartment. He had invited everyone over to see it, have dinner, and also celebrate my sister-in-law's tenth birthday. Aaron's girlfriend did a wonderful job decorating. Unfortunately my husband couldn't come because of drill. However, after that he was able to sit with me and hold my hand during a fireside while my mom watched the kids. The speaker, author Chris Williams, talked about his experiences and encouraged us to forgive and to "get busy serving others." He said so many inspiring things.

L with Papa. And you can see some of Aaron's 500+ DVD collection.

On St. Patrick's Day (Sunday this year) I made sure we all had some green on and we put a cheap green tablecloth on our dining room table. I had created a little sign for the holiday. It says "Not lucky -- BLESSED!" and our kids love it. Dinner that night was some steamed cabbage, fresh tomato, corned beef and potatoes, and a fried egg. That's what my husband and older kids ate, but not me, because I was doing a strict two-week anti-headache diet that Dr. Fuhrman wrote about in Eat to Live. By the way, my headache didn't completely go away, but I didn't have a more severe one during that time, either. I do think that certain foods can be problematic, and I might do the diet again. It's great that at least 90% of his patients who ate this way were headache-free after the first three months. I know headaches are complicated, though, and that I don't want to take drugs very often. I definitely felt better overall, and more energy, the day in the middle of March when I had my first chiropractic adjustment since I was pregnant in 2011, and an acupuncture treatment right after. It was my first experience with acupuncture. Anyway . . . St. Patrick's Day (and Easter window clings):

In March we started to buy some of the things on our "things to buy with our tax return" list, including good shoes and work pants for Dad. For me the most exciting thing (at least until we get a new mattress and a high-speed blender) was our new camera! It's a Canon Powershot SX150. My husband and I looked online and Target was selling this point-and-shoot camera for more than half off! So the next morning, Saturday, he and L went and purchased the very last one at that store. It has a better zoom and everything than our nice camera that broke, but I haven't taken the time to learn about everything it can do.

I wasn't excited about the reason for the first photo I took with the new camera: our oldest got pink eye (conjunctivitis). None of our kids had ever had it, until C did a few months ago. Shboogoo's teacher noticed she was itching her eye a lot. We took her to the doctor the next morning, and started putting in prescription drops and Genteal preservative-free drops. She stayed home from school on that Friday, Monday and Tuesday (soon before spring break, but this stuff is really contagious).

Of course the middle child got pink eye a few days later, and after a while the youngest got it too (second time for her). The eye goop wasn't too bad; First Girl and Third Girl each had just one morning when they couldn't open their eyes. But then there was coughing, too. My husband's all better, but when I started the draft for this post I wrote "D sometimes coughs pretty bad after laughing." He only went to one church meeting on Easter. I'm grateful that I didn't get sick, besides having to blow my nose for two or three days. . . .

Another new thing we bought was a phone, because I needed a new one. This is the one I chose. The price was $0.99 plus a fee.

Near the end of March we celebrated my niece's first birthday and had a great time with my extended family and my sister's husband's. I liked their Strawberry Shortcake theme. It was sweet how the birthday girl started to hand little pieces of her cupcake to her brother, and he was cute pushing the clubhouse mop and bucket around.

 

birthday girl with Uncle Nick

  

 

snowy January + Valentine's Day 2013

I took some winter photos on January 12-13th. We still had our Christmas stuff up (because of my hubby's work hours, basically). The snow and ice can be very beautiful, even if the view of our apartment buildings isn't!

My, what a bright orange coat you have, neighbor!

Looking out from the fitness center.

 

 

P.S. I miss Taylor's family already. He's the boy that Shboogoo was playing with when she was hitting the snow with our yard stick. Weird girl. Oh, and Taylor's mom Lisa, whom I visit taught, drove Shboogoo to and from school each day for two weeks during this colder-than-normal January. My husband was using our minivan as we waited to get our car fixed. Lisa served me more than I served her, and I am very thankful for her. I'm happy that they were able to move close to her husband's new job.

Now for the Valentine-y stuff. I always think about how it was close to Valentine's Day when my friend introduced me to D at a school dance. . . . February 13th was the date that his unit told him he would be deployed (for the first time), but on that day the next year his 2-week leave began. . . . This year, our February 13th lunch included a heart-shaped piece of red bell pepper. That night my hubby and I had our traditional Valentine's Day dinner date, and it was really fun (but no photos). It's always nice to not be interrupted by any of our kids. You don't see him in this post, but I love him so much. He is my best friend. We can hardly remember not knowing each other.

I had pinned instructions for making heart-shaped carrots slices. I didn't end up doing that, but we did make a heart-shaped pizza (a few days later, one of the evenings when their daddy was working). Just a little cheese on the kids' part and nutritional yeast instead on my part. The crust wasn't as good as the rest of it. Maybe I did something wrong because it didn't seem to rise, and I'm pretty sure that after that, I left in the fridge too long before finally baking it. The kids had fun helping, though.

We gave Shboogoo's class fruit leathers for the Valentine's Day party (like we did for Halloween). I didn't take a picture of the finished ones, but I had cut out a heart from leftover scrapbook paper to tape on each one. On the heart I wrote, "I love being in class with you! Love, [Shboogoo]."

I took some pictures of my little Valentines. I can never have too many photos of them. I put C in her heart vest and "I love Grandma" shirt from Nana (the vest came with a different top and pants). Shboogoo had planned on wearing a dark pink shirt that has a big heart on it, and L has a cute magenta and gray outfit with hearts on it. It would've been so cute with all three kids like that (and I was in pink, too), but in the morning on Valentine's Day they decided they really wanted to wear their red owl outfits instead. D worked two jobs that day, so my next-door neighbor took the photos that I was in. 

This is what the kids looked like last year, when C was only about 8 weeks old.

(Here's where I wanted to put the Valentine's Day 2011 photo, but I haven't been able to find it yet. I left this post sitting here for over a week.)

As long as I'm reminiscing, I also like {these} winter photos I took a few years ago. I'm really proud of the one below, which I took on December 20, 2010 -- even though I know very little about cameras. If I want to act like I'm more of an expert, I should say I "shot" it, shouldn't I? :o)