Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  We've had a very busy week and loved every single minute of it.  Mostly, it's just great because we're finally in spring and the weather has been beautiful.  We love that the weather is good and we can spend all our time outside now instead of cooped up inside.  We've been spending a lot of time doing projects outside that Jon's not thrilled about. . . cleaning up the yard, cleaning out window wells, working with landscapers to clean up the backyard, etc., with many more projects to follow in the coming weeks.  Spring Cleaning.  If you have any ideas for landscape ideas or good landscapers that want to work for a reasonable price, let us know.

The kids had a dentist appointment this week.  We love our pediatric dentist.  He does such a good job with the kids. . . they even actually enjoy going. Tayton sat still for x-rays and let them examine her, but she wouldn't tolerate any cleaning at this point.  Maybe next time.  But the good news is, that both Noah and Tayton have great teeth.

 We enjoyed lots of Easter festivities this year.  On Thursday, we dyed eggs as a family.  Tayton couldn't figure out how to get the egg dipper underneath the egg to pull it out, so she tossed that aside and started using her hands to move the eggs in and out of the pots.  Noah watched how easy that was working, so he resorted to the same method.  Works great, but everyone comes out a mighty bright shade of some color.  When we were done, we immediately ran a bath and threw Tayton in and asked Noah to get in too.  He came running down the hall saying, "Wait!!!  I want to watch Tayton turn colors."  Evidently she had enough egg dye on her hands that he thought the color would bleed over to other parts as well.  Pretty funny little kids!!

On Friday after I got off work, our neighbor invited us over for a little egg hunt.  The kids really loved it!  Tayton didn't know what to do at first, she just wanted to open every egg and look inside.  The neighbor walked around with her showing her where some eggs were and what to do with them until she finally figured out that the concept was to gather as many eggs as possible.  Noah on the other hand, got a little shy around the kids he didn't want to venture far from me, so I helped out as much as I could.  It's nice to have such great neighbors and be a part of such a great neighborhood.

Grandma was here this weekend, so on Saturday, we got together with everyone and dyed eggs and enjoyed each other's company.  Gina is always so kind to step in and help out the little people that are making messes and throwing temper tantrums.  My favorite quote of the week comes from Gina as Tayton is glaring at her for not letting her have any more candy, "Oh don't you dare, I'll show you what being the princess means."  Now that I'm sitting here, I don't think I got it right, but that was the gist.  We have a running joke in the family that we all have our moments of being the "Princess" and we get our crown on while we throw our fits, children and adults alike.  Tayton did eventually warm up to her again later in the day.  Easter Festivities with 6 kids and family is so much fun!!  Definitely one of my favorite holidays!

On Sunday, we woke up to a house filled with hidden eggs that the kids were so excited about.  Tayton had figured out the concept from the egg hunt on Friday, so she was immediately off, gathering as many eggs as possible.  Noah found his Easter basket after gathering about 3 eggs and dropped everything to sit on the floor and go through the goodies in his bag.  Tayton, on the other hand, found her basket but didn't care.  She just left it there and kept on gathering eggs.  Her basket was overflowing while Noah only ended up finding about 8-10 total.

Then off to church we went.  Noah didn't want his picture taken, so we didn't get very good pictures of their Easter outfits, but they looked very cute.  In primary, I was really nervous to teach the true meaning of Easter to 4 year olds.  How do you explain that Christ was nailed to a cross and died, was buried in a tomb, then resurrected 3 days later?  Surprisingly, the kids did great and seemed to understand it all.  I had a cute little cut out for each of the kids, attached with brads, so that the kids could act out the story by laying Jesus in the tomb, rolling the stone in front of the entrance, then counting to 3 and rolling the stone away from the cave and raising Jesus out of the tomb.  We also spent a lot of time learning to say the word resurrected.  See here if you'd like to use the "He Lives" craft for your family home evening.  http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4310&Itemid=429 
The 2 major things I've learned thus far from teaching primary are:  1) Four year olds comprehend much more than we give them credit for.  Smart little critters that absorb everything around them.  2) There are lots of crafty people out there that post their ideas on the web, which makes my teaching experience much more fun and enjoyable, because I definitely couldn't think of these things on my own.

After church, we went to the Webb's for another Easter celebration.  As you can see, our family takes the Easter Egg hunt very seriously. . . put on your run fast-jump high sneakers, possibly body armor and enjoy the fun!  This year, Jason wore a head camera to film the experience.  You can view it here:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200387887174063

Can't imagine these holidays without my family.  I enjoy the quiet moments with Jon and the kids but nothing beats all the rowdy's getting together to laugh, cry, celebrate and just purely enjoy each other's company.  We love spending time together and do so at every opportunity!  It means so much more when you have family to support your every move and to celebrate the minute details in life as well as the momentous occasions.  I appreciate everyone of them and how they rally around my group whenever the call goes out!  You're the greatest!!! Thank you for selflessly loving us and for loving my kids as your own!