Easter!!

Easter morning came bright and early with Nick and Kade jumping all over the bed. They were so excited to head downstairs. I actually think that they'd been down for a preview because they knew just where to go to find their Easter baskets!

 This was Skylar's first holiday with some adult insight. Kind of a bummer for us, but she was happy to make requests. She got nail polish in every color of the rainbow. She was thrilled!!

All of the kids got a Webkinz bunny in their basket! Nick was especially thrilled since he had been planning on buying one with his own money that he had been saving. My kids are so into Webkinz but haven't had a new one for a long time. They were all excited!

Kade came up with this crazy theory that we were the Easter Bunny. Gheez! He's 6!! I hope that idea was squelched when the Easter Bunny delivered his first Bionicle, Green Lantern at that, something he said he wanted forever. I told him Mom had no clue that he even wanted it and he said that maybe the Easter Bunny did. Easter Bunnies are much smarter than Moms, I guess.

Alexis insisted on wearing this beautiful hat for Easter morning. She looked stunning! She was thrilled to get some magnetic paper dolls. What a girl!!

The Easter Bunny also got the family these awesome Mickey and Minnie bunnies. He must have known how much we love Disney!! They even smell like chocolate. Yum!!

The kiddos had a blast searching for Easter eggs around the room. We made them hurry because 9 am church comes super early on holidays!!

Luckily we got ready in time to snap some shots of the kids in their cute Easter outfits. They looked adorable!!

We even got a family pic squeezed in after church....after promises of Easter candy.....

 

....and the promise that we'd let them get in some goofy shots!! 

Later on our friends, the Coxs invited us over for dinner. Their kids are so awesome! They set up an Easter egg hunt for our kids! Now here was a hunt the kids could get excited about!! They absolutely loved it (even with all of the rules)!! Thanks Cox kids!!

We had such a great Easter!! I love that we were able to spend time having fun and reflecting on the gift that Easter gives us. We are so blessed to have the hope of the Atonement and the Resurrection! Our Savior loves each and everyone of us and I love that we have Easter to remember that and reflect on what it means to us. It's the best day of the year!!

Easter is Upon Us....

......my favorite time of year! Isn't Easter the best? It is my absolute favorite holiday of the year and I always wish it lasted longer. I love how the world is coming alive with spring coming on and how that relates to the story of our Savior. I love the meaning behind Easter and the promises that it brings. I am so thankful for our Savior and His atonement and sacrifice for all of us. We spent a few of the weeks leading up to Easter talking about its significance in our lives. Easter has even more meaning to our family now that we have someone in heaven, our little Gabriel. What a blessing it is to know the true meaning of Easter and the promises that Christ's resurrection mean for our family. We spent a lot of time watching the new church movies about Christ and have loved them! One night for FHE we made Easter lilies by tracing the kids' hands. It was a lot of fun!

 

Of course there's always the bunny side of Easter, along with Easter egg hunts. It's not nearly as fun as all the Christmas hype, but in a way, I love that because I feel like we can concentrate a lot better on the true meaning of Easter without so many distractions. Our kids always want to go to the Easter egg hunts but this year it was kind of like pulling teeth. They must have all woke up on the wrong side of the bed because they weren't that interested. Somehow I talked everyone into heading down to the Riverwoods one.  We got there just minutes before it started. It was all split up into different age categories. We sent Skylar off on her own, I stayed with the boys, and Ben was with Alexis (hence only pics of the boys). The boys were all set up to grab all the loot in sight, the buzzer went off, and the darted....only to have a few seconds of fun and get a few eggs each. They were not too happy!! Skylar got a few more than them and poor little Alexis didn't score any!! Gotta love those 30 seconds of fun while they last though!!

The Easter Bunny was there, creepy as usual, and the kids had no desire to wait in the ginormous line to meet him. I made them pose for a second anyway.

Maybe it's time to give up on Easter egg hunts, eh?

One thing the kids got on board with was dyeing Easter eggs! I found these really cool Paas q-tip dye things and although they were super messy, the kids loved being able to paint designs all over the eggs as well as dye them the old fashioned way.

Everyone in the family got their own Easter egg!

Unfortunately, like always, the desire to dye eggs continued long after the eggs ran out, but we had a lot of eggs!! We always have so much fun!!

The kids were excited to get their baskets ready for the Easter Bunny to come leave their loot. Silly kids!

Fieldtrip Fun!

Skylar came home from school one day so excited about her upcoming field trip and telling me how badly she and her friends wanted me to be a chaperone. At first I felt flattered that they wanted me, but then she admitted that it was really because they all wanted to be together in the same group and if one of their moms came then they'd be allowed to. Oh well, I'll take what I get from my girl who is growing up so fast! In the end we had a few parents from "their group" come along but we still got to stick together. I arranged for babysitters for the littles (thanks babysitters!) and was glad that I could go along for a day of fun.

First we went to the Hutchings Museum in Lehi. I just barely heard about this museum a few months ago but apparently it's been there all along. It was pretty cool to see all of the different rooms they had. There was a lot of stuff in that place! Since their grade is learning about Utah history this year it was cool to learn about the different animals, rocks & minerals, dinosaurs, natives, and early history of the state.

Okay, sidenote.....I learned something of great importance to me on this fieldtrip! Did you know that there is such thing as Blue Topaz and that it is a substitute for November's birthstone? I did not!!! Now, all of you that know my weird thing about birthstones know that I have never wanted to have a baby in November because I am really looking forward to an amazing Mother's ring someday and the Citrine or yellow Topaz just doesn't go with the color scheme that my children have all pleasantly cooperated with.....blues, greens, white....which just happen to be my favorite colors. With this new information we can have a baby any time!! Ha ha!! I know I'm crazy, but it's always been something I've stressed about since we began this journey into parenthood. Now, of course, I'll take a baby any day of the year, but this new news gives me hope that just in case we had a baby show up in November, that mother's ring of mine is still in good shape! 

 

Anyway, the girls loved the dinosaur room the best because there was some hands-on stuff. They especially loved the fossilized dinosaur poop! Silly girls! 

 In the history room they got locked in the original jail cell at the Lehi Jail. I almost talked the guide into leaving them there.

We had lunch on the lawn outside the museum and one of the guides brought out a hawk. The kids loved it!

After the Hutchings Museum and lunch we headed over to the Thankgiving Point Museum.We only had like 45 minutes there which was not nearly long enough to see all there is to see. Of course the girls loved playing with the water and sand the most so that's where we spent most of our time!

I had a really fun day out with my Skylar and her fun friends! I know these days of her wanting me to be along with them are quickly coming to an end as she grows up! I want to take advantage of all the opportunities I can spend with her while I'm still considered somewhat cool. I know that's bound to change before long!!


P.S. Dear Blogger, not a fan of the new changes. My posts look ridiculous and I don't have the energy to figure it all out! Oh well!!!

April Fool's!

Since we had an entire week of leprechaun tricks I was practically out of ideas for April Fool's. Of course my kids expected some good stuff though so I had to scramble to come up with something. I decided to let the kids wake up to everything being normal...they weren't expecting that! After breakfast though they got a big surprise when their toothbrushes all had dye on them. The girls were not happy and refused to get a picture taken! Of course goofball Kade loved it though!!

For lunch I made the kids stay out of the kitchen and made up an April Fools' lunch. We had "banana splits"....hot dogs, potato salad, and even a cherry tomato on top. I made a special treat of onion rings...which were licorice frosted, dipped in crushed graham crackers, and rolled up. Lunch wasn't a big hit with Nick since his "banana split" had too many toppings!

Then I made a super special treat! Cookies!! No one was a fan of the string that had been baked into the cookies though. Ben said you're not supposed to mess with cookies!

For dinner the kids came to the Fool's Cafe. Thanks Pinterest! The kids had to order off the menu with items like Utahn's Delight (jello), Wicked Breakfast (deviled eggs), and Two Paths (a fork). They had to just order blindly and see what they would get with each course. The kids loved it...especially when they got to eat Cold Cow (ice cream) for dinner!

It wasn't such an awful April Fool's for not having anything planned.  Happy April Fool's!!