Busy Busy

Michael loves the dishwasher but he’s usually just taking off the jet dry knob. Last week he decided that he needed to completely crawl into the dishwasher in order to fully enjoy it. I thought I would grab the camera cuz it was pretty cute.

Soooooooo, then he turned around and I took another picture. So cute! Until I noticed the huge boogers hanging out of his nose. Gross! Hands down Penny would have thrown up if she saw this, she gags when she sees a teeny booger. Eva, how you doin?

So, I’ll counterbalance that last shot with this very studious Michael enjoying a blueberry yogurt popsicle. He liked how cold it was but mostly just wanted to play with it. Sorry kiddo. That’s enough popsicle for you. I'll smooch on those lips though....... yummy!

His Whole Crap is Gone

The video says it all. Wow....I could not stop laughing.

Egg Hunting

Our Friends Jennifer and Andrew (and their 3 boys) had an egg hunt at their house on Friday. It was A LOT of fun and all the kids really enjoyed the games and egg hunting. A few are here:

She found that blue one, but she didn’t see the orange one. This age is so much fun because they get so excited still at the easiest finds!

On Saturday we went up to Gold Panning country (will go back soon for some gold panning). Its just 20 minutes from where we live and they had an Easter egg hunt that took up a whole meadow. It was really fun! Penny brought her stroller and baby (Tesla).

Her little pig tails (piggies) were so stinking cute.

They had the kids in different age groups and she was in the 0-3 year group. This picture is her waiting at the front of the group at the fence. Theirs was around this quaint little cottage all fenced in by a white picket fence.

You’ll notice the eggs scattered around behind her. No need to hide them too hard for this age group….they get excited wherever the egg is.

The Easter Bunny was kinda creepy looking. He had a little hole that he could see out of his mouth, which made for a weird, open mouthed bunny.

We then had to open all the eggs, take out the loot and give the eggs back. They reuse them every year and people donations help the hunt get bigger and bigger each year. It was a lot of fun and one that we’ll do again next year!

Afterwards we came home and I introduced Michael to bubbles (we have the best bubble blower, I just squeeze it and the wand pops up…and then let go and it goes down into the trough of soap ready to come up again and make more bubbles). Michael crawled up into my lap and wanted to try.

But really, he just ended up licking the wand.

That night, Penny helped me make cookies for the Young Women the next day. Its totally messy, but these Sour Cream Cookies (kinda like sugar cookies but they put sugar cookies to shame) are COMPLETELY worth it.

She had flour all over her pajamas…….she had to change before she actually went to bed.

So….I haven’t even gotten to Easter Day. Stay tuned. Enjoy the video! =)

Dyeing the Eggs

So again, as in years past, we don’t mess around when it comes to Easter Egg dyeing. We did it a little early again this year because Dominic was leaving for Alaska and that way we had another egg eater for a few days before he left. We tackled dying 5 dozen Easter eggs on Monday night for FHE.

This year was fun in that neither Penny or Dominic needed assistance and Dominic was really quite creative. Even after doing 5 dozen eggs, my kids could have kept going. There is never enough!

Penny learned what fun things the crayons could do and there was no stopping her. She scribbled and scribbled and even was successful in making a happy face which is really hard to do on a curved surface!

I told Dominic the art of making dinosaur eggs like my brothers used to do. He had fun dipping a few eggs in every color till he could get the perfect brown.

We skyped with Penny Grandma and Michael just hammed it up! He made a mess of the strawberries, I’m not sure how many actually made it to his mouth.

Hard at work:

Notice all the colors of the eggs on Penny’s side? She was a little biased to the pink dye directly in front of her.

Half of the finished products. Eggs anyone?

Somebody was a little mad that he couldn’t actually get down and play with the eggs. And I think mad was an understatement.

So then we proceeded to have an Easter Egg hunt that night. I hid 30 eggs in pretty easy places and Penny and Dominic searched and searched till they got their trays full. I LOVE the surprise of a good find. It was a fun night

However, when all was said and done we had one lost egg and for the life of me I could not find it (even though I hid them all). I looked again and again and again to no avail, this egg could not be found! This was on Monday. On Friday Penny tripped and fell playing and landed with her nose up against Michael’s walker to which she then exclaimed, “Oh, hey! An egg!”

Sean and I were lost in a fit of laughter. I’m so glad we did not have to wait until it stunk up the house to find it.

Its happening

I pulled out my first grey hair today. That is all.

Captain Underpants

 

I wish that I could show you the rest of this pictures without completely humiliating my oldest child. But I won’t. You’ll have to just imagine the rest.

Enter Dominic, wearing a cape and underwear laughing hysterically and mom on computer in a haze of getting things done.

To which he then says, “Captain Underpants!”

I could not control my laughter. Man, I love this kid.

Motherhood reminders

As I was leaving the gym today I was in the middle of buckling the kids in the car (Penny and Michael). Penny was sitting in her carseat waiting for me to finish nursing Michael. I had just finished nursing him and buckled him in. When I got out of the car to walk around and buckle Penny, the lady next to us walked up to her car as I was walking away on the same isle. She smiled and got in her car.

I noticed her looking at me when she went to back up. She stopped for a second and just watched as I buckled Penny in. I pretended not to notice completely, though I shot her a smile. You could see in her eyes the reason for the stare; the reason for her adoring smile. She even had her chin resting in her hand as if daydreaming. It seemed to me that she was remembering when she had little kids to corral and buckle in while she ran around doing errands. From her age they were no doubt grown and out of the house now. It seriously took my breath away and when I drove away a few minutes later it almost brought me to tears. In that brief moment I also saw myself in 25 years looking in awe at someone with their little children remembering today and how amazing it is to be THEIR mom. I love my job. Thank you random lady for noticing us because believe me......I noticed you too.

More Life Pics

Penny loves to have her fingernails painted. From 13 months old she would sit still and wait patiently for them to dry. Because of this I’ve learned how do do tons of fun things that I can’t do on my own nails because I can’t get my left hand to do my right hand very well. I can do flowers, designs and jewels on Penny’s fingernails. She absolutely loves it! However, these particular nails didn’t last very long (all the jewels fell off within 4 hours) with using the nail polish they provide as the glue. I’m debating trying a super glue to get the jewel to stay on and then painting over the top of that. She’s my little diva!

(two coats of purple nail polish, the jewel, and a coat of clear to top it all off. She sat for probably 20 minutes till it was COMPLETELY dry)

She’s been falling asleep in the funniest positions lately. This one did not disappoint.

Michael is beginning to enjoy more normal foods. I’m finding that he’s not so interested in the baby foods anymore and wants whatever we’re eating. Here he’s having panini pizza and rinsed canned peaches (he didn’t want the french toast). Super yum! Since he has a mouth full of chompers, I have found that I can feed him just about anything. His favorite foods right now are apples (peeled and quartered) and bananas.

Cassie (Penny’s babysitter) gave us her old easy bake oven so on Saturday I looked up a recipe for a pink cake (it was pretty tasteless!) She was thrilled to make something of her own and gobbled it right up.

I’ve never used one of these before and was surprised to learn that it cooks everything using the heat from a light bulb.

Michael was teething last week (bottom and over one on the right). That’s 7 teeth! He was pretty miserable for a day or so.

I taught Penny and Dominic how to make a scratch template. We colored a rainbow and then covered it with black crayon. I then gave Penny a penny to scratch off a picture with…..she just wanted to scratch the whole thing off. Goof.

Watching general conference in our jammies. Well, I was watching anyways.

Michael was pretty snuggly. I love his full lips.

He seriously looks huge on Great Grandma’s lap now. When Grandma come in the room Michael reaches for her every time. He really really likes her….go figure. She just loves her great grandbabies!

Easter

This is still my most favorite video on Easter. I know its a tad bit early, but I'm preparing my lesson in YW for that week and we're using this as our meat for the lesson.

It is a reminder that because Jesus walked such a long lonely path, utterly alone.....we do not have to do so.

I have a testimony of the atonement. This year I've come to rely on him more and more as I try to do everything that needs to be done in a day and still fall short, He guides me. I am perfected in Him. He strengthens me in times of need. I see His love surrounding others and it comforts me too.

I love the symbolism of new life that the Easter season brings. The spring flowers, the eggs, the chicks, the green grass and the budding trees. All these things symbolize to me new life which is what the Savior has offered to us by his sacrifice on the cross. We can repent of our sins and be offered anew because of the atonement. In this process it is by him, through him and of him that we can make it back to live with our Father in Heaven. Each tulip, each boiled egg, each spring chicken reminds me that I can start whole again.

Easter is such a symbolic time of year, what symbolism is your favorite?

Lego Universe

 

Dominic is hoping to be able to win a contest from the lego magazine. He even included his ability to win in his prayers this morning. So cute.

 

Meet The Sea Destroyer:

Spaghetti Sauce

When Sean and were first dating I used to make spaghetti sauce from scratch in 20 minutes. I’d throw some tomato sauce, tomato paste and some spices in a pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes. It was good sauce to me at the time. He told me that his mom took all afternoon to make spaghetti sauce and he was questioning if I knew what I was doing if I could do it in so little time.

“Well I don’t doddle,” was my response; which totally came out wrong (hi Sean we’ve just started dating, in case you were wondering….I think your mom doddles).

I’ve never been able to live that comment down. Recently I’ve started making spaghetti sauce from scratch again and have decided to try  my hand at doddling while I make it. It makes for a WONDERFUL sauce that my kids gobble up (even Dominic who has an extreme dislike for red sauces) and Sean is all smiles at the dinner table.

Start with 1 large onion (I had 1 small purple onion and a large bunch of green onions that I used the bulbs from). Dice the onion and add fresh garlic and simmer till onions are translucent.

Take the 2 cans of diced tomatoes and onions and put them in a blender to puree (my family doesn’t like chunks in their spaghetti sauce. If you like chunks, skip this step).

Place puree and above ingredients in large pot along with

1/2 tsp dried basil (use 2 tsp-ish fresh if you have it)

2 tsp dried oregano (use 3-4 T-ish fresh if you have it)

1 tsp fresh parsley (2 T-ish fresh if you have it)

1 T brown sugar or honey

2 T of cooking red wine (optional)

1 T of worcheshire sauce (optional)

Simmer on low for 4-5 hours stirring every 15 minutes or so.

I forgot to take an after shot because we were so excited to eat it. I have been using turkey burger for the last 5 years and I love it. I think it tastes better than hamburger when used in spaghetti sauce. If you haven’t tried it before…..now is the time.

So, If you find you have a long day around the house planned with cleaning and chores or working or NOTHING, throw on a pot of spaghetti sauce before lunch and treat yourself to a completely home made SAUCE come evening. Its really the best way to end a day! But please, make sure you doddle……it is the secret ingredient.

A little of Errrybody

Michael is into EVERYTHING. But, he gets very busy and content to figure things out. For the most part, I don’t mind the messes he makes but I do enjoy the fact that he’s not walking yet as that brings a whole new set of discoveries! I love this busy face.

We got to have Tucker over this last week and Penny and he painted a truck. Before that, I gave them both a pair of scissors and let them cut paper to a million pieces. So fun when you’re 3.

After watching a showing of a bunch of snippets from Broadway musicals performed as a Stake Roadshow at church, Dominic and I decided that we would get “The Music Man” on DVD. He stayed up late one night and watched it with me. It was a fun story and Dominic got to ask me what the heck, “gee gawds” meant.

Penny is learning how balancing and gravity works. She is getting better and better at building tall towers!

I seriously love this picture and will probably frame it at some point. There is a rite of passage about figuring out where the ziploc bag drawer is and being able to empty it in less than 30 seconds. Oh Michael, how I love your ways.

Bathtime! He’s so squishy….though we mostly just call him Chubba now.

But seriously, why why why?

Making faces at the dinner table.

Waiting for dinner. Guess mom was taking too long. It’s a hard time of day for her and she has no qualm about taking a nap and sometimes begs that I let her.

Dominic wanted to know if he could make himself invisible if he moved fast enough. Almost Dominic! I love how 8 year olds brains are trying to always figure things out.

So anyways. These were just random pictures from the last few weeks that didn’t have their own post. I love peeking back and seeing these posts!