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March 28, 2008
This week has been a long week. Instead of having my afternoons free to read blogs, write blogs, watch my shows, read a book, Oh and I guess pick-up the house, I have been playing with the kids. Eliza has taken 1 nap this week, while Forrest was home from school Monday and Tuesday, he had early out on Wednesday and on Thursday he went on a Field Trip in the morning. Both kids wanted lots of attention so a lot of things have been put on the back burner. Valerie mentioned that I didn't ever blog about my Easter so since I finally have an hour free with no kids before I have to go and volunteer I figured I would try and whip one out.
For years Easter has been hard for me. I want my kids to know the true meaning of Easter, but I also want them to do all the fun things like Easter Egg hunts and coloring eggs. This year I finally had an epiphany. One day before Easter we would do everything that was fun and exciting about Easter. We would color eggs, go on Easter egg hunts and generally have a good time. Then on Easter Sunday we would just focus on what Easter is all about.
We picked Thursday to be a our big celebration. I chose this day mainly because Greg was out of town and it gave us something to do. Next year I think we will do it on the Saturday before Easter. We started off the day coloring eggs.
Eliza really got into it.
And for the first time Forrest really tried hard to make his eggs look nice.
Every year I wonder what I am thinking when we decide to do this. This year I really started to doubt myself when I saw how green Eliza's hands were turning. Luckily everything came off after a good soak in the bathtub.
After we colored eggs. Forrest headed off to school. When he got home Eliza was still asleep so I had him help me decorate our bunny cake. This was the first year we have ever done this and I thought it turned out pretty nicely. 
Once Eliza was awake I headed outside and hide all the eggs.
The kids were really excited to find the eggs.
Forrest was really good about leaving the easy eggs for Eliza to find.
At the end Eliza realized that there was candy inside and wanted to eat it all right there.
When I told them it was time to go inside Forrest started collecting the biggest egg and claiming them for his own. That kid is always thinking ahead.
On Sunday we tried to talk about what Easter was really about. All day we tried to focus on the Savior and all he has done for us. After church on Sunday we set the kids down and had our FHE about Easter. I have a FHE kit called the resurrection eggs. Inside each egg is a scripture and an object that represents the last days of Christ life. It was a great FHE and I feel like we all learned a lot. Next year I would like to spend the week following up to Easter reading about Christ life. I think that will make Easter even more meaningful. After our FHE we headed over to Greg's Parent's house.
Shirley had set up a scavenger hunt for the kids.
In each of the eggs she had a clue along with some money.
She started out with pennies and then the last egg had quarters in it I thought this was a great idea because I really didn't want anymore candy.
Of course once we got inside the kids found a ton of chocolate hidden all over the house. The kids were having fun playing so they didn't pickup all the candy. During dinner the kids ate a couple of bites and then got down to play. Eliza came back in the kitchen and she had a ring of chocolate around her mouth. She had been eating all the chocolate laying around the house. I had the kids help me find all the chocolate and put it in a big bag. Luckily neither of them got sick from eating so much candy. All in all I thought it was a good Easter. I feel like we really focused on Christ this year and didn't let him fall by the wayside. Hopefully next year we will do even better.
March 28, 2008
A friend sent this to me today and I think it describes our family to the T.
March 26, 2008
I don't know about you but I hate Box Elder bugs. They are impossible to get rid of and they always find ways into our house. We, however, have found a secret weapon in our fight against them. It's called Eliza. When Eliza finds one she will pick it up and bring it to you so that you can say how gross it is. She will then set it done and let it start to run away before she picks it up again. After doing this several times she will get bored and put the bug on the ground and stomp on it several times just to make sure it is dead. She repeats this process over and over again every time she finds a new Box Elder bug. This has become a great past time for her. We are just worried that she will start doing the same thing with spiders. I don't think it will go over so well.
March 25, 2008
Greg is home from his trip and things are starting to get back to normal around here. Everyone is very glad to have him home. I have started once again to get up in the morning to exercise. Having a week off really screwed me up. Before Greg left I was waking up just before the alarm went off. This morning when the alarm went off I felt like i was trying to come out of a coma. When I got back from my workout I climbed right back in bed and went back to sleep. Hopefully I can get back on my schedule by the end of the week. Last week for Easter the kids and I dyed eggs. Eliza really got into dyeing her eggs this year.
It took about 15 minutes to make her hands not look so green.We also did a little easter egg hunt and Forrest helped me decorate a bunny cake. It was a fun day. I have been playing with Picasa and my Photoshop lately. Here is the original picture.
And here is the picture done in Picasa
and photoshop.
Which picture do you like better?
a. The original
b. The Picasa
c. The Photoshop
March 20, 2008
We are coming up on the end of day 5 without Greg and we are all starting to crack a little. Today was the first day were we didn't have the day completely planned out. Besides going to music group, taking Forrest to school, getting gas, picking Forrest up from school and going to toddler group we have not been anywhere today. It is starting to take a toll on the kids. I can't wait to see their faces when I tell them we will be eating dinner at home tonight. The poor kids haven't eaten at home since Saturday. I hate to cook when Greg is gone because the kids won't eat my cooking and I don't like my cooking enough to eat it for 5 days straight. Needless to say we have been eating at a lot of friends houses and also going out to eat.
We call Greg everyday at 3:00. Forrest will tell him about his day and then tells him how much he misses him. It is really sad. I come up with inane conversation pieces just to keep him on the line, but he eventually has to go to work. I am really missing the adult conversation. Luckily I have a great mom and sister who don't mind me calling to talk about nothing just so I feel like I am still a little bit human. Greg will be home tomorrow night and hopefully he won't have to leave again for a little while. If he does we might just have to move back in with Mom and Dad, of course they are gone more than Greg is so that wouldn't really work.
March 17, 2008
When I was little St. Patrick's Day was something we really didn't celebrate. On St. Patrick's Day it would start off as any other day until I would arrive at school and see everyone in green. Realizing that I had forgotten what day it was I would usually try and grab a green marker and put a small clover leaf on my hand. If that wasn't available I would usually lie and say my underwear had green on it. For the first part of the day kids would go around pinching each other until the teacher would get sick and tired of it and make everyone stop. After that you were pretty safe, unless you had an vindictive sibling, but that never happened in my house.
Now days it seems that everyone goes all out for St. Patrick's Day. In the past I have usually ignored it, but with Greg being gone this week I decided to have a little fun with it. Last night Forrest and Eliza helped me set a trap for our little leprechaun. Forrest decided that leprechaun loved cheese so that is what we left. Once the kids were in bed I stuffed the trap with green items. They got green apple juice, green chips, green gum and some green candy. I then left a trail of green M&M's from their door to the trap. Also I snuck into their rooms and drew a clover leaf on their arms. The next morning Eliza woke up before Forrest so we both went into wake him up. As soon as I told him the leprechaun had been there he ran out of his room to go see his trap. Eliza was fascinated by the M&M's and had a hard time making it down the stairs. Forrest was a little disappionted that we didn't catch the leprechaun, but he has lots of ideas of how we will catch him next year. Forrest also loved his clover leaf on his arm. I told him it was for good luck and because the leprechaun left him his sign for good luck he would have good luck throughout the year. He thought that was pretty neat.
This afternoon we will make green sugar cookies and then to top off our day of green we are going over to some friends house to have a green breakfast/dinner. We were put in charge of a fruit dip. Forrest had a great time picking out fruits that were green. He really wanted lime's, but I had to tell them they were too sour to just eat straight. So far this has been a really fun day. I think we will have to do this again next year.
March 15, 2008,
I have finally found the secret to having your house clean all the time. You just need to invite people over. There are several scenarios where this works.
#1. Decide to have people over for a baby blessing, birthday party, book club, etc and then spend weeks getting your house spic and span before everyone comes over. When everyone leaves your house is once again a disaster and you are so sick of cleaning that you just leave it.
#2. Have someone call you on the phone and ask if they can drop something off or they will be right over to pick something up. You warn them that your house is a mess, but they assure you they don't mind. You then run all over the house frantically trying to make it look semi presentable. When they arrive and exclaim that your house really isn't that messy insist that it is, but don't mention your marathon cleaning right before they came over.
#3. Have someone unexpectedly show up at your house and see it completely trashed. That night go on a cleaning spree making everyone clean up after themselves and help you make the house presentable again. Have no one come or drop over for a couple of days, decide you would rather watch Oprah than clean up again and give up.
No matter which one you choose I guarantee that as soon as you mop the kitchen floor someone will spill their dinner all over it.
March 10, 2008
Every year when daylight savings time rolls around we have to deal with messed up sleeping schedules and very tired kids. Eliza never falls asleep unless she is in her bed. Last night she was so tired from a week without her binki and then daylight savings time on top of it that she fell asleep on the couch.
This has been going on for years. Every time daylight savings time rolls around we can usually find Eliza asleep someplace weird. Hopefully she will grow out of it soon, or the government gets rid of daylight savings. Either one works for me. 
March 3, 2008
We had a great weekend this past week. Forrest was able to go to the train show, Greg was able to get in some snowshoeing and Eliza got some new play animals. Unfortunately for Eliza it wasn't such a good thing. In exchange for giving up her binkies the Binkie Fairy brought Eliza some new toys. Eliza loved the new toys, but wasn't to keen on giving up her binkies. So far she has done pretty well, of course she won't take a nap and last night I had to rock her to sleep, but we haven't had a binkie in the house since Saturday. That is progress in my view. Hopefully in the next week she will have adjusted to the loss of her binkie. If not well I am sure we will all survive, right?
On a side note I had my first crown today. It was a very horrible experience and one I hope never to repeat again. I have noticed in the past couple of years that all the medical and dental trauma I have had to go through is because of kids. Kids are sure hard on your body. It is amazing that women live longer than men considering all the abuse we take having and raising kids.
Eliza really got into it.
And for the first time Forrest really tried hard to make his eggs look nice.
Every year I wonder what I am thinking when we decide to do this. This year I really started to doubt myself when I saw how green Eliza's hands were turning. Luckily everything came off after a good soak in the bathtub.
After we colored eggs. Forrest headed off to school. When he got home Eliza was still asleep so I had him help me decorate our bunny cake. This was the first year we have ever done this and I thought it turned out pretty nicely. 
Once Eliza was awake I headed outside and hide all the eggs.
The kids were really excited to find the eggs.
Forrest was really good about leaving the easy eggs for Eliza to find.
At the end Eliza realized that there was candy inside and wanted to eat it all right there.
When I told them it was time to go inside Forrest started collecting the biggest egg and claiming them for his own. That kid is always thinking ahead.
Shirley had set up a scavenger hunt for the kids.
In each of the eggs she had a clue along with some money.
She started out with pennies and then the last egg had quarters in it I thought this was a great idea because I really didn't want anymore candy.
Of course once we got inside the kids found a ton of chocolate hidden all over the house. The kids were having fun playing so they didn't pickup all the candy. During dinner the kids ate a couple of bites and then got down to play. Eliza came back in the kitchen and she had a ring of chocolate around her mouth. She had been eating all the chocolate laying around the house. I had the kids help me find all the chocolate and put it in a big bag. Luckily neither of them got sick from eating so much candy. All in all I thought it was a good Easter. I feel like we really focused on Christ this year and didn't let him fall by the wayside. Hopefully next year we will do even better.
