Easter Traditions

First, there was dying Easter eggs...

 Last year and this year, we tried some "no spill" technology so that Grant could be totally involved in Easter egg dying without making a huge mess, or breaking all of the eggs.

 How did that turn out? I think I boiled 30+ eggs to end up with less than 24 that were totally smashed.

 And his hands say it all where the mess is concerned. We usually start out with the best of intentions, but by the end, it's just Meili and Grant transferring eggs over and over from one color of dye to the next.

 It's worth it in the end. After a few baths, there hands are usually back to normal, and we have yet to permanently stain the counter.

 At this stage in life, I love that we basically just get to move from one holiday tradition to looking forward to the next.

 Speaking of... The Saturday before Easter, we had an Easter egg hunt and my parents house, and then headed to Honeyville for another Easter egg hunt. For Easter being so early this year, I'd say we couldn't really complain about the weather.

 Grant was just as excited to find what he believes is one of Papa Randy's golf balls.

 Neither in Bountiful or Honeyville did my kids leave needing more candy. My mom asked each of her kids to bring 12 eggs to contribute, and then I think she said that she added 100+. Mind you there are 11 grandkids in the family.

Whereas in Honeyville...

 I don't think anyone has ever bothered to count the eggs. There are always PLENTY. Lets just leave it at that.

 Can we just admire Gigi's pose for a minute?

 The 2 littlest boys who are not going to be so little anymore next year.

 William didn't even need the candy inside, just the Spiderman egg.

 ...And then there was Sunday morning.

Easter candy is my favorite, and our house was LOADED. Oh my goodness! That many treats would have lasted the average family like a year, but even in our house it was a good 3 weeks-which is saying a lot to have it last even that long.

Valentine's Day

I have a friend whose birthday is Valentine's Day, and as a present to her, her husband basically got in touch with a bunch of people and asked them to do acts of service for other people, and then share their experience in a book for Anna. (Which I thought was pretty much the best birthday present idea ever.) So my friend Lacey and I, made pillow cases and gave them to an agency that works with children in foster care. Then I also made a bunch of sugar cookies, and took them to people. (That way there was at least one project my kids could help with.)

 

I love making sugar cookies, but Josh has always said that they were "good, but probably not good enough to give to other people." I tried a new recipe this time, and Josh gave me the approval. We took them to my friend Alisha's family (with the button on the plate that you'll see,) then she was supposed to do service for someone else and pass the button on, and hopefully everyone would continue passing it forward. We also took them to the people I visit teach, and Meili's primary teachers.

 Definitely service that I can get on board with! (Not that there's a lot that I don't.)

 Here we are making our first attempt. Truth be told, most of this batch was eaten by our family. But that's okay! Win, win for everyone!

 As for Valentine's Day, which was on a Sunday this year, we had our obligatory heart shaped breakfast.

 

And our fun Sweetheart's dinner. We had a really hard time coming up with a menu this year, so it basically consisted of brisket, that my kids didn't eat, jello that they don't like, but was fun for me to make, rolls and vegetables. But once they got all their juice and presents, the didn't even notice!

 

 These pictures are titled, "Why we need siblings..."

 Because I never would have thought of putting socks on my hands and skating around on all fours on the kitchen floor.

  But apparently it is amazing, and kept them occupied far longer than any toy in our house.

FYI- Still to this day, when Grant sees those blue socks, he believes whole heartedly that they belong on his hands, and is very upset when I don't agree.

P.S. I advised Meili against this particular outfit, because I said that it looked like she was in mourning. She made sure to tell me when she got home from preschool, that none of her friends thought she was mourning.

I stand corrected.

I'm Ba-Ack!

Yes, I realize that it is now May, and I will be posting pictures beginning in January. The truth is, we have had (are currently having) major computer issues, and the main reason that I continue blogging (other than all of you faithful-one reader-who can't sleep at night without hearing about my ever-so-exciting life) is because it helps me remember everything at the end of the year when I do our family scrapbook. So, here it is, May, and I have yet to finish my scrapbook for last year, which is absolutely stressing me to no end. And, with all of our computer issues, I'm nervous that I'm going to start losing pictures. In the past, I've always thought, "Worst case scenario, they are floating in cyberspace on the blog somewhere." And so I need, NEED to get these pictures up just so I can sleep at night.

 

In January, we had a combined January birthdays party, and did a little sledding in the front yard of my parents house.

 Grant isn't much for the sledding, but at least he's cute in pink!

 They love it clearly!

 And my kids did some mini-sledding in our front yard a couple weeks later.

Playing in the snow with daddy is so much better than with mommy! Yes, you better believe that the next time I was in the snow with them, they required a snow mountain, and mine paled in comparison!