Easter

 Ok, I finally figured out the issue with my camera not loading pictures on the computer for the past 3 weeks...I am so very behind in recording life.  Plus the new blogger setup is a little different.  With the old style I figured out that if I loaded the pictures in perfectly backwards order, they came out in the right order.  I guess they fixed that because I did what I usually do...and they are still in backwards order.  So here is our Easter.....backwards.

 Our Easter Sunday was a little different this year.  We didn't quite get around to dyeing Easter eggs on Saturday, so there were no Easter eggs for the bunny to hide.  And, the Easter bunny didn't come until after church.  He did leave a note before we left for church saying he had to hop back home to get more cool things for their baskets.  The kids were ok with that...but thought it was strange especially when the bunny visited all their friends.  Crazy!!

 (These fishy ring suckers were a HUGE hit especially with Lily.  I'm pretty sure she sucked on everyone elses fishies too.)  Things didn't exactly run like clockwork on Easter Sunday.  I was asked to play my violin with the choir for the special program which I said I would.  I waited a few days for the choir director to bring me the music, but it never came.  I called during the week and only got the answering machine, so I left a message.  We didn't get back from our weekend festivities until later Saturday night so I called and still no answer.  PANIC.  No music and I was supposed to play in the morning.  Needless to say, sleep did not come too naturally that night.  I called as early as I felt comfortable with, and got ahold of her.  She said she would love for me to still play and I said I would as long as it wasn't too hard and as long as I could maneuver my way around not having a G string, since it had broken recently.  So I hurriedly got everything/everyone ready and luckily the Easter bunny was able to scrawl a note out to let the kids know he was still coming, and we were out the door by 8:15 so I could practice with the choir.  Not an easy feat--but we did it.  It certainly wasn't a picture perfect Easter morning.  I really wanted to find cute cheap Easter dresses for the girls which I don't always do, but they were in need of new dresses--none to be found, and I really wanted to atleast make some new bows--nope.  We barely made it out the door with everyone's church clothes on and hair done!!!  Sometimes I just fly by the seat of my pants around here and sometimes I just have to let some ideas of mine go and just let things come and go.  I have to remind myself life goes on, and it isn't about the frilly dresses and dyed eggs anyway!!

We had a wonderful set of Christ centered meetings and the musical number went fine.
I love Easter.

 (Drew was pretty excited to get a humongous jawbreaker, something he has always wanted!)  After church the kids were still surprised to see the Easter bunny still had not come!  I told them I thought he wanted to wait for our whole family to be together, so we waited for Jed to come home from his meetings.  Wow, that was a display of patience on the part of my children. 

When Jed got home we all prepared for to go for a walk.  While we were gone, the Easter bunny magically visited and also left yet another note apologizing for his lateness. 

 The kids had to find their hidden baskets as usual.

 Everyone got a kite, and we went out and flew them.

  Hannah was so cute trying to get her kite up in the air.  She mostly just got it to trail behind her, it was so fun to watch her.

Drew won a bunny at the Easter Egg hunt we went to.  I love that now our kids know what to expect when certain holidays come around.  We have gone to Swan Valley to Jed's family's property for the last few years and gone to their egg hunt Saturday morning.  The kids always have a fun time there.   

I took the big kids to their hunt and Jed took Hannah and Lily to the toddler hunt. 

This was our first official trip with our new camper.  We "camped" in our driveway a couple of months ago in the snow, but this was our first away from home camping trip.  The kids LOVE it!!  I think the pictures speak for themselves.....

We played games in together, watched movies, and lounged around in there.  We had some adventures outside and roasted marshmallows.  We went up to Jed's grandma's cabin which has a porch that goes all the way around it.  The kids all raced around it, but the most impressive was Lily.  She seriously had to have run atleast a mile!!  She ran and ran and ran and ran, and tripped then ran and ran some more.  She really had to have done atleast 70+ laps.  She will make a great running partner if she keeps this up!!  We had a pretty fun time and didn't get around to leaving to late Saturday night.

Five Weeks...

and counting.  I can't believe there is 5 weeks left of pregnancy.  Hooray!!  I'm pretty excited and of course nervous.... having a baby is a pretty life changing experience.  Life is never the same when you introduce a new little one to your family.  My older children can't hardly believe there was family life before Hannah and Lily, they are just part of us. 
    Jed and I did our traditional pre-baby tour of the hospital on our last date-which we finally squeezed in after a pretty packed no date 4 weeks.  We just like to brush up on the routine of baby having--we ought to have it down pat by now!  Our hospital had a recent remodel that I had never seen before and it looks great--almost exciting!  :)  
    So now I am down to Dr. visits every week--I just can't believe it.  Things have gone pretty normally this pregnancy.  I think my emotions have been much more on the surface this time than in previous pregnancies.  I feel like I can cry at the drop of a hat--if you haven't noticed my mention of crying in recent posts....pregnancy hormones at work.  I usually am bombarded with emotions post baby...so maybe I got some of those out of my system and I won't be so sensitive after she is born...?   Like yesterday.  We had a rough sacrament meeting, so rough I was in the bathroom trying to regain my emotions before I could even go to sunday school.  That is one of the things I am most nervous about--doing church solo with 5 kids...one being brand new.
     A few of the things that make this pregnancy stand out:
               *  I have discovered a love and passion for fajitas and pico de gallo that I could eat by the      spoonful.
               *  I love love love fresh pineapple and buy one whenever they are a decent price.  Soooo good.
               *  I love that Hannah likes to compete with my belly.  Hers against mine.  She thinks hers is the same size.  I wish they were....
               *  Drew likes to feel and watch the baby move.  Pretty fascinated.
               *  I exercised religiously this WHOLE time and it didn't save me one pound.  :)
               *  None of my kids have drawn me with a belly in their pictures.  I used to think it was so funny when I would see stick figures and know instantly which was mine...the one with the big circle in the middle.
               *  Made green smoothies--also hasn't saved me one pound.  :)  It's that darn sugar that I always crave so badly when I'm pregnant.  Ugh.
               *  We've been much more busy this time around--so instead of crafting little bows and making cute little baby things I've been cleaning out the freezer, re-organizing, and freezing meals any chance I get.
               *  Jed and I can't agree on a name.
      Five weeks is still awhile, but this next month will keep us busy too.  Anniversary, 3 family birthdays, Mother's Day, end of the school year programs and field trips, and other regular stuff.  She will be here before we know it!!!

Haircut.

Last Tuesday at mutual we had a really fun combined activity with the boys and girls. They had several stations set up with things they would need to know if/when they serve a mission. One of the stations was on haircutting. Since I cut my family's hair I thought I would hang around that station and learn a thing or two. I did. It was great. I learned a lot of things that I had done that I shouldn't and a lot of things I should start doing. Perfect. Both Jed and Drew needed haircuts and I got all fired up ready to go on their hair.
Finally, a 15 minute window of time opened up in one of my days last week--absolutely crazy busy week....several posts for several different days--and I cleaned out our hair buzzer and got Drew suited up ready to go. Now, even in my open window of time I had every child crying out with several different needs. It was just one of those times where everyone needed mom and they all needed me right then. I was trying to just tune it out and tell them I could help them in a few minutes as I got started on the back of Drew's hair. A couple of inches up the back of his head I noticed something was not quite right. I forgot to put the guard on! First time ever!!! I about started crying and Madelyn walks up and says, "It looks like you are bald right there" to Drew. I about died. I was so excited to put all of my learning to practice.... And it had to be on Drew's baptism haircut! I told Drew what happened and that I would try to fix it as best I could with the shortest sized guard. And my Drew, the sweetest boy on the planet just told me, "It's ok mom. I like it like this. It's ok." Then I pretty much did start crying. Man, is he ever such a good hearted little man. So forgiving. I just plain love that little guy!
So I did my best to fix it. And it ended up not being too horrible--noticeable...but not the end of the world. And he did look sharp, despite the haircut, for his baptism.

Geocaching

For a family night...or was it FHE...I'm a little behind in recording our families life so the details are getting foggy ...we went geocaching. Everyone was so excited about going on a "treasure hunt."

I had to include this picture of Lily, so I can always remember how easy it is to put her in her car seat. ;) It's not. She does not like to be restrained in any way. We started small and found two geocache sites fairly close to our house. We still struggled a little and even had someone come out and tell us to get off their property. That's always fun and adds some thrill! The clues said it was on private property but to feel free to walk around, so that is a little awkward when you're not walking around on the right private property! :)
But we found it and how very exciting that was to the kids!!


There was a starburst in this one that Lily was trying to open....bleh!! It was a little upsetting to her that her mom would not let her eat that antique candy!

We found another cache with a big huge stash of bouncy balls. The kids wished they could have the entire treasure of balls--so hard to pick just one that everyone thought was neat.

We talked to the owner and creator of the cache, he was so nice and just let us roam his forrested property in search of the prize. It was a pretty good one and fun to find.

We even got to watch a herd of sheep as we waited for Jed to go back and retrieve the car for us. Overall a pretty fun geocaching experience for us newbies!

After the work...

....comes the prize. Drew has figured that formula out. Drew has been wanting a remote control helicopter for some time now. Jed had gone ahead and bought one for his upcoming birthday before he even really had his heart set on one. He was getting serious about this helicopter and was counting his money, researching online which one he wanted, and asking for extra chores. I thought we would be safe atleast until his birthday so I wasn't too worried about it. Well after picking up hundreds of nails from us having to take off our roof--he had earned more than enough. Now what?! I love to make their birthday with just the right gift, but this boy had his heart set on that thing and was at the computer asking us to help him buy it. In the end we decided to let him learn that hard work does bring sweet rewards and let him purchase his own helicopter. Imagine his surprise as Jed pulled out the exact one out of our bedroom that he had been saving for--no wait for shipping!! He was thrilled and stayed up way beyond his bedtime with us learning to work his new toy. It was great! And I think a great lesson was learned in the process.

General Conference

General Conference weekend is one of my favorite weekends of all. We took it pretty easy on Saturday, we sat and listened to all of the conference sessions. Well, Jed and I did...the kids terrorized the downstairs while listening to their radios. It was great. I love feeling the spirit so strongly as I listen to the leaders of the church. I love having answers to my questions come into my mind. I love feeling like my perspective is shifting back into its proper place. I love that I feel a little more able to do hard things. I love knowing the mind and will of God through His servants.

Our children were excited too. They know what to expect on conference weekend now. They get to hear from the prophet and......we make egg rolls.

It is our conference tradition.

In between sessions on Sunday at our house you will see this:

Children peeling carrots like mad.

Drew running the food processor...and almost taking the lid off without turning it off. His mother freaked out and then all was fine. :) Cleaning up messes as we go.....and getting that ever largening tummy of mine soaking wet at the sink.

Wrapping and rolling like mad to keep up with Dad's impressive frying skills.

Dad cooking away with his little helper.

Making several dozen egg rolls and gorging on the most delicious egg rolls ever. I think Drew downed atleast 8, just at this sitting.

Yep, familiar sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of conference.

One of those things we all look forward to and enjoy!!

Honesty is the best policy?

Hannah, lately, has had a way with words. She doesn't mince words and expresses herself very honestly....and innocently. The other day she told me I had a "big fat bum." I tried not to be offended. :) "One day she saw Jed without his glasses and told him he looked weird and that he looked like someone else. Just the other day we shared some egg rolls with a neighbor down the street. The man has long hair and a beard and I heard Hannah greet him from the stroller: "Hi Brigham Young." I'm sure he didn't hear, and I'm not sure it would have meant anything to him if he did....but it just made us chuckle.