A little hunting, a little hiding, a little decorating, a ton of eating...

That wraps up our Easter weekend. We always dye eggs the Saturday night before. This time we invited Maresa Gabay to come and dye them with us and since we added a few more to the party, we threw in a an egg hunt as well that night. We had this egg dying kit that made the eggs all swirly. I had a hard time wanting to eat them later because they were so pretty. I did get over that, eventually. Later Sue and I filled the plastic eggs with money, candy, and hid a few Rice Krispie treats as well. Of course, I didn't buy any sugar free candy for Gage, but Sue and Maresa came with plastic eggs full of some just for Gage that we marked with a big G. Thanks friends! Gage thought this was the best thing ever - the hunt, not necessarily the sugar free candy. Mallory found a few as well, while Trevor, Boston, and Maresa thought this was a timed event. They won the race if that's what it was. It was fun to watch.








The next morning on Easter, the bunny had hid the baskets well. Boston helped everyone find their own before he was able to find his. Mallory was the one who actually crawled in the coat closet and found Boston's (with a little help from Zane). The bunny brought a lot clay and crafts in the baskets. He must be trying to spark some imagination in the kids and help them make some decisions sometimes that don't include video games. Thanks Easter Bunny - quack quack (old commercial).





Sunday was very nice at church and we came home and had a great dinner with Betty. It included the traditional meal of flank steak and hot dogs - acutally a new tradition just started this year. We didn't have a dessert planned, so Zane and I quickly made some cream puffs which were gobbled down in like 2 seconds. I ate most of them - did I mention I was on South Beach? Ha - not on Easter weekend I'm not.

Now the baskets have been put away, the grass cleaned up and most of the hard boiled eggs eaten. Now all we need is for spring to show itself a little more. Bring on the sun!

Gage Said...

Today Gage told me to "just be quiet." I told him that I didn't think that was very nice. To that he said, "WHATEVER," and walked away. Did I teach him that?

Tonight we couldn't decide on an opening song for FHE. Gage said, "Then let's do the Hokey Pokey." He proceeded to put his right hand in and his right hand out all the while singing the hokey pokey. He finished with his hands and said, "Good job. Now, let's put our legs in." We did the Hokey Pokey for our opening song. It worked out rather nice since we all did know the words. He said he learned it at Alexis's house. Thanks Alessandra!

Tonight whenever I ask Gage to do something he says, "Yes Mother." He never calls me mother only mom. I think he is being sarcastic, but I can't quite tell.

Our three year old is rather kooky!

Packages Packages!

This has been a good mail week. When so many others weeks are just full of bills and flyers, this week has beat them all. I got my apron from the Sassy Apron Swap. It is very cute and I LOVE the colors. The next swap starts April 1st and you can sign up here. Totally fun and totally worth it. Thanks Jill M. for my apron!


Then, today we hit the mother load. Okay, really there was no mother load, but my mother (aka mom) sent this little tiny sweater she knitted for Mallory and when I opened it I just began to sob. She is so sweet and I was so tired today from getting a church assignment done and it came at the right time. I feel so blessed to have a mom who sends out packages when they are not expected and something wonderful is inside. It makes living so far away from my family just a little bit easier. I always act like it is no big deal to live so far away, but sometimes (a lot of times) it just is and knowing that I will probably never live close to them breaks my heart. But, thank goodness I LOVE KY and my in laws and all my dear dear friends. That makes it so much better. Thank you mom for the sweater. Yes, I do know that Mallory is supposed to wear a shirts under it because it's a cardigan, but I thought that I would quickly try it on her and take a quick picture. Look how much she likes it!

And, I got a tiny package full of some of my favorites - Jumbo Ric Rac from my sister in law, Shannon. I love ric rac and this jumbo stuff is hard to find and she has a little quilt store down the street from her that sells it and she just sent me a package of it by surprise. Boy, I love these surprises.

Random Things

Mallory enjoyed (for about 3 minutes) wearing Gage's St. Patrick's Day crown he got from playgroup (thanks Vicki). I figured someone needed to wear it and ring in St. Patrick's Day. The boys had their cereal with green milk. And, Zane enjoyed his scrambled eggs a dark shade of green - too many food coloring drops from the chef. And, for dinner there was green macaroni and lime jello. Just a few hints of green throughout the day to keep the holiday alive and well in our house. Gage told me he wouldn't wear his green sweat pants and then I told him that people were going to pinch him. He kept asking, "who is going to pinch me?" Finally, I said, "just me Gage. I will pinch you." He then asked, "so nobody else or no other people will pinch me." I thought about it...naw, nobody would probably pinch him. So, he said, "then, I don't care. You can pinch me. I will not wear green. I only wear red pants." Well, he's a party pooper!



Mallory loves bunnies. She goes in to the room where these stuffed bunnies are about 5 times a day and just screams and points. I get one down for her and it's not enough. She wants to love on all of them. She drags them around as she crawls. Good for Easter - Great for Babies!



Mr. Incredible has a new weapon? It's some fierce new finger tips that even I would be scared of. Or, they are the plastic pieces from Pop O Matic Trouble that Gage has decided to wear as finger tips (just like the olives of old). Not too scary and maybe even cute.

Pinewood Derby Remix

Trevor signed up to go to the district Pinewood Derby and it was an ALL day event over at a local elementary school. Man, there were tons of cars to race, but when it was finally Trevor's turn, he came in first place out of all four of his heats. Since they give out first, second, and third based on time (pretty high tech set up by the way), he didn't place, but felt good about winning his heats. I heard Zane and Trevor talking about what they needed to do even better next year and it even including a trip to Home Depot yesterday afternoon where Zane showed Trevor which tools he needed to buy. These purchases will be VERY important for father/son bonding for sure!

I Haven't Gushed Like This Since Josh Groban

Last night was one of those nights that just fell in to place and I didn't even think we had any plans. Well, we didn't have plans, but by about 4 o'clock pm, I surly did. Thanks to my dear friend Suz, I was off to see Michael Buble. Seeing as I just started listening to his music a lot when my mom gave me her IPOD and all his songs were on there, it was quite the unexpected treat. I had fallen in love with his music in 6 weeks time and had been working out to it. He was quite the showman and his voice is UNBELIEVEABLE. Even better live. Seriously, it is amazing. He is quite wicked up on stage and it was so much fun to be out and having a good time. Yes, I haven't fallen in love with a man's singing voice since Josh Groban (with a slight crush on Jack Johnson) and Harry Connick Jr. in high school. You should have seen me at the HC Jr. concert back in the day! Anyhow, an 11 pm visit to PF Changs (my second dinner for the night) and that sealed the deal to title it "an incredible night". I am a mom with 4 kids and it doesn't take much to make my "incredible" list. The company was hilarious and great as well.

Good Has Come - Finally (Read Trevor's Prior Post)

I just want you to know that after a nice (but rather quick) FHE lesson, the boys were able to play their new game "Super Smash Brothers Brawl." Yes, Trevor's wait for an entire 1 1/2 days was well worth it, although hard for him, I am sure. We figured out a way when dad came home to turn in enough games for trade that weren't played to make this game cost pennies. The boys benefit greatly from Zane's "make it work" brain. I hope they appreciate Zane's creativity and don't get upset(eventually they will appreciate it right?) my need for order - game off at 8:15pm - time for bed. I think I will always be the bad guy when it comes to video games, but it sure is fun to see the kids play the Wii with their dad and jump around like maniacs. Just for the record - Trevor and Boston were sweaty when they went to bed. That's kind of gross I know, but that does mean they got a bit of a work out from this game and in the winter that's sometimes all that we can ask.

bad comes with good

if some of you know this game -> you'll know most of the big "bummer" it comes out on sunday but you don't know the big miss.if your a member of "Edge" (like me) they informed you and called to tell you at 12:00PM!(witch as we all know is a little late!) was having a so called "party" were every body (exept us) went and played it and at 12:01 it will be avalble.Well it has feedback thats not good!first if you are like us and can't play video games on sunday well it's sunday and if you can you actuly not going to be playing it if you got it you'll be tired.So if this happens again well we'll know what were missing out now.

More Photos From Today

Would You Say It Was A Foot?

I am thinking it was about a foot of snow that we got - wouldn't you agree? It is beautiful. Okay, it is March and not quite the snow season, but I love it. I only love it because we don't live in it all the time and if we are going to get snow, let's get a good amount and let the snow games begin. I think my boys have had about 5 rounds of going out and trying to sled, make snow angels, and a few snow ball fights until they come back in freezing. That means they have gone through at least 5 changes of clothing. But, I really don't care because they are having so much fun outside. Trevor was out until after 7pm last night and came in when it was truly dark. He and Tanner were trying to get those sleds to go fast. Today Zane took the boys over to a big hill and they took about 4 big rides sledding before someone (it was Boston) said they were too cold and another was asking to be carried (that was Gage). Mallory just watched from the window everytime they went out and I don't think she cared that she wasn't out there only that she wanted them to look at her through the window every once in awhile. This will be gone soon enough and spring is on the way. I know that because I am losing an hour tonight and that is sign enough for me.

Little Gift

As we are being drowned under a blanket of beautiful snow, I am thankful for the little gift of yesterday which included sunshine and kids playing outside. It could have been seen as a cruel trick since it wasn't going to last, but I see it as a blessing because my kids were outside, breathing fresh air and riding their bikes. I took Mallory out for a bit in the morning and she and I played with our neighbor's dog. She laughed and loved Murdock (that's the dog). Now, I am extremely excited for spring time to arrive. Let the count down begin.