Easter!

Today was wonderful.  We slacked in the picture taking department, but we had a great day.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting at church.  I was so grateful to have the chance to speak.  It gave me a wonderful chance to study and learn more about our Savior, His Atonement and Resurrection.  I know that because of Jesus Christ, we can be with our families forever.  I know He lives today and I am forever grateful for that knowledge.

And in true Easter tradition, we had a celebration with our dinner group friends.  It was a fun time, as always.

Happy Easter!

Saturday

The Easter Bunny came to our house this morning.  Candy, new bowties, and toys for the beach were his treats this year.  We had 3 happy boys.

And it was a beautiful day today!  We played outside all afternoon.  We cleaned up the yard a bit, planted a few bulbs, scraped our knees and wore short sleeves.  It felt so good.

Jake sneaked into the house at one point and helped himself to his chocolate bunny.  He ripped the plastic off and went to town.  He sure was proud of himself and I thought it was adorable.

 

We went to the zoo this morning with our friends and it was so nice to be outside!  We had six boys and one girl between the two of us.   Our boys were wild and loud and in absolute heaven today.  It was so much fun.  I can't wait to make it to the zoo more often.

C'mon, Spring...please make a more permanent appearance!

Woof.

 I signed the boys up to read to Murray, the library dog.  Turns out Murray isn't super interested in books.

Jake loved him though and the boys all brought home a free book.  So, it was worth it.

Muscles

 

You'd think these guys were real ninjas or something the way they have been 'training' lately.

They are suddenly really excited about building their muscles and exercising.  They have a whole workout routine they do together, and Eric and I love to watch it.

I heard about a string of break-ins happening around our area and felt a little paranoid to say the least.  I told the boys we needed to be good about locking our doors, closing the garage...you know, the usual safety kid stuff.

 

So, today I ran up stairs to take a shower and told the boys to keep the doors locked and not to answer the door unless they got me first.

 

They took their role of keeping us safe very seriously.

 

I came down to find that they had lined the floor in front of the doors with push pins and tacks.  They also tipped over kitchen chairs and had their swords tucked into the backs of their shirts.

 

Sam explained his plan, "The bad guys will step on the pins.  Then Max will tackle them, I'll hit them with my sword and then we'll tie them up."

 

Perfect plan.  Just perfect.

 



The movie Home Alone was a huge hit for these guys.  Can you tell?

Spring Break

Today was the first day of Sam's spring break, and I'm mad at Indiana.  This is what we woke up to:

Are you kidding me?  The boys were actually thrilled with the snow.  We put Jake down for an early nap and went outside to make the most of it.  Sam, Max and I built a snow fort in the front yard and tried our best to enjoy the cold.

After we warmed up a bit, we rushed down to the Children's Museum to meet up with Rhyan, Keri and Adelle.  We celebrated Adelle's 2nd birthday there and came back to our place for dinner, cake and a pinata.  Keri made all the food and provided all the entertainment...I was more than happy to host that kind of party!  It had been waaay to long since we had been together and it felt good to catch up. 

  

Trains

 

Jake has been waking up earlier than normal the past few mornings.  It's still so dark and so cold in the mornings that I can't bring myself to start the day as early as he would like.  So, I grab his bundle of blankets and we sit and snuggle in his room and we listen for birds and more importantly for trains. 

 

I whisper, "Listen." And then I can feel Jake hold his breath and try to be a quiet as possible.  Then he listens and listens.  We can usually hear a distant train in the early morning and he smiles big.  Then I ask, "Are you ready to go back to bed?"  He usually nods and snuggles back in his crib with his pile of blankies.

 

I love this baby boy.



TOFW

I spent the whole day with friends at the Time Out For Women event in Indy.

It was wonderful.  I got just the spiritual boost I needed.  We heard from some amazing people and I was reminded of my many blessings.  I was reminded that I can choose what to make of life.  I can choose to enjoy it, to make the most of it, and to be happy. 

 

One speaker in particular, Laurel Christensen, talked about fear.  She talked about how our fears hold us back from blessings and experiences that can enrich our life.  She said something that I loved and want to remember,

 "When you stop praying for what your heart truly wants, your heart stops wanting what you weren't willing to pray for." 

 Laurel reminded us that God wants us to be happy and we can always go to Him with our desires and our fears.

 

I loved having a little escape from my routine this weekend.  It was refreshing and fun!

 

I got to attend the first part of Time Out for Women tonight downtown at the convention center.

It was an uplifting night; just what I needed.

The boys were excited to have a guys night together.

 

I got home around 10:30 tonight and walked in the door to find this:

 

Eric and Sam playing the Wii.

Max in a candy-induced coma on the couch.

And jelly beans, soda bottles, and Three Musketeer wrappers all over the place.

 

I don't think they missed me.



Money

Sam is all about earning money these days.

 

He wants a Nintendo DS so, so bad.  He talks about getting one every. single. day.

I don't really even know where he's seen one.  I think a lot of the boys in his class at school have them and talk about them a lot. 

 

Eric and I told him that he'd have to save his own money and buy one himself.  Even Santa won't bring him one of those!

 

So, Sam is saving up.  Slowly, but surely. 

He's got to earn about $100.  He's got $9 so far.

But Sam doesn't give up.  He'll make that hundred bucks.

 

He said that the only thing he wants for his birthday (in August) is a fifty-dollar bill because he's certain that by then he'll have earned $50 of his own and then he'll have enough to make his big purchase.

 

As much as I dislike the idea of him having a Nintendo DS, I love the idea of him working hard, saving, and earning it completely on his own.

 

He's growing up way too fast!

 

 

 

Typical

 Skeleton in one hand.  Snack in the other.

This is Max.

 



 

He was giving me some sweet compliments today.

"Mom, you are the best maker ever!"
"Mom, your ears are so tender.  And your eyes are so brown.  I love them!"

 

I love my Max J.

He has been asking me lately why he doesn't look just like Sam.  He begs for brown eyes sometimes and always asks when he'll grow to be the same size as Sam.

I always remind Max how lucky he is to have eyes just like his daddy's. 

Green eyes are so handsome.

I want him to be himself and be excited to be a just little bit different.

 

I love you, Max.  Just the way you are.

Nest

Jake and his nest of blankets.

I love it.

Time out

 

 

This little man has turned into a biter.

Here he is sitting on time out after biting Max...

and he usually only bites Max.

Max knows just how to push his buttons.  What are big brothers for?

It's so hard to keep a straight face when I look at Jake sitting there through his punishment.  He's so adorable and so little.



Boys Club

Sam recently watched the movie Little Rascals and has since become so excited about the idea of starting his own club.  He wanted a little podium of some sort to stand on and direct his club meetings.  He worked hard and turned our step stool into this:

 

 

 

The perfect podium complete with a spy hole.

 

 

 

He also showed me and Eric his agenda for his first club meeting.

We loved it and could not stop giggling.

 

 

 

Oh my goodness, I love this boy and his imagination.

Age six is awesome.

{Translation: a snack, choose who has the staff (giant stick he and Max have designated as a club must-have), do an activity, go to the club house, spy on my parents, and play.}



 

Sam has begging for almost 2 years to do something in our ward talent show.

When he heard that the talent show was coming up it was all he talked about.

Really.  He was obsessed with idea of getting up on stage and performing.

When I asked him what he wanted to do for the show he said, "Ninja moves!"

Awesome.

 

So, I recruited 9 other little boys from church to join in on the ninja action.

Thanks to my friend, Cassidy, we came up with a little ninja dance that the boys performed tonight. 

The boys loved it.  They took their ninja roles seriously and did some pretty wicked kicks and spins.

Sam was proud of himself and is already planning his routine for next year.

 

I love ninjas.

Easter Egg Hunt

 

Tonight was our 2nd Annual Adults Only Easter Egg Hunt.

Sounds a little weird, I know, but believe me this is one fun party!

Each couple has to creatively fill a dozen Easter eggs and people get pretty creative.

We hired a neighbor boy to hide the eggs for us and then the hunt began.

It was intense.  Almost Hunger Games-esque this year.

I loved it.

 

 

I love that we have friends who are willing to be as nerdy as us.

It was a fun (cold!) night and we laughed a lot.

Thanks, friends.

Can't wait til next year...

It was fun to get a text today with this photo:

 

 

We don't ever get to see Eric in action at work, so this was a fun little glimpse into his day.

He is loving work right now.

It's a huge bonus that he loves what he does.  It makes all of the long hours worth it.

 Okay, so sometimes I'm cheap.

Okay, a lot of the time.

It comes from the fact that we have been students FOREVER. 

Our entire marriage.

(Which will be NINE years next month!)

 

I like nice things, I just don't like buying them.

It stresses me out.

Thank goodness for Eric.  He helps balance things out a bit.

Without him, we would have nothing.

Like no couches, no camera, no car, no house, etc.

 

He helps remind me that we save money to spend it when we need it.

Easier said than done.

 

 

So, back to my cheapness, a lot of the time when one of the boys' toys runs out of batteries I don't replace them. 

Buying new batteries?  What a waste.  Right?

 

Enter Eric.

 

The boys were grateful for their dad today, who remembered to pick up a 9-volt battery on his way home.

 

Suddenly that remote controlled helicopter was a lot more fun when it actually worked.

 

Who would have thought?

 

We just registered Sam for flag football.  It doesn't start for another month but he's excited about it.

The boys tried to practice a bit in the backyard today.  It didn't last long because their fingers froze fast.  Winter has decided to stick around.

This whole mom thing continues to make me stretch and learn.

I'm grateful for what my boys teach me.

They help me to remember to be goofy, to laugh and to let go of the little things.

I am always thankful for their patience with me...it helps remind me to be patient with them.
 

I love them so.