Yeah for Easter!

We had a jam packed weekend with Easter Egg hunts, brunches, BBQs and sunshine! We went to 3 egg hunts hosted by family, wards and friends!

Bucket heads are requisite in our family.

Showing off the prizes from the hunt!


We celebrated Merril's birthday this weekend as well! He's 33.

We dyed eggs, of course.

I especially liked Maxine's starry night sky.

This morning we hunted for eggs!

We had a breakfast of hard boiled eggs and toast before dashing off to church at 9:00 a.m.

Okay 9:04 a.m. The egg hunt threw us off. I might have been able to get us there on time but I refuse to get up earlier than 6:30 a.m.

These are their Easter outfits! This is after church so the hair was already coming out and shoes had come off. I love to make a matching tie for Jack. It's so easy and I got the pattern and instructions online here! Ties are all about cutting the fabric on the diagonal and after that, it's a cinch! The dresses worked out fine. Maxine's was too big, then I took in the sides and it was too small so I ripped out the zipper and got an extra 1/2 inch and it fit perfectly. I had to sew her zipper 3 times! The first time I sewed it in backwards by mistake so the zipper handle faced the inside of the dress (woops), second time was perfect but I had to pull it to gain an extra 1/2 inch, third time wasn't as pretty as the first two but oh well, I was done. I wasn't about to pull it again and sew it a fourth time. I think I'm over my fear of sewing zippers now. :)

Happy Easter!

Yeah Kites!

We went to a local kite festival that rewards children for reading and Maxine earned a free kite. A few days ago, it was perfectly windy and we tried out our kites.

Juliet's kite was caught in a tree for a minute but rescued.

Jack's kite ripped a little in the wind and was fixed with tape.

Maxine's kite flew like a champ until it got stuck on a neighbor's roof.

It was a nice day!

School Lunch...

The other day, the little kids and I decided to have lunch with Maxine at school. Yum! Spaghetti!

Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic cheese toast, and a veggie mix (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots), and then anything on the salad and fruit bar. Maxine opted for cold peas from the salad bar and Jack and Juliet wanted bananas. But this isn't about whether lunch was good or not. It was about how much food gets thrown away!! There were kids who only wanted noodles, no sauce, chocolate milk, no veggies and maybe some applesauce. Then they ate 2 bites and threw the rest away. Frustrating. It made me thankful that my kids eat pretty well.

Jack is my fussiest about vegetables. (He has issues with green peppers, mushrooms, and celery but will eat most everything else.) I wish there was a way to say to the lunchroom kids, "Okay, get a little of everything, try a bite or two, and if you still don't like it, don't eat it." But that's not the lunchroom workers's job. Oh well, I've still got a little while before Jack is eating at the school. He might need me to make him peanut butter and jelly everyday. :)

Is it Christmas???

Okay so it's not Christmas. But it snowed on Friday and Saturday and I was determined to keep my apricots and peaches from freezing. One website recommended putting Christmas lights on the trees because the light gives off heat. I don't know if it made a difference but my fruit didn't freeze.

The kids liked the snow. I was a little cheesed.

Here's the apricot tree with lights and a big plastic bag. Like a little greenhouse.

I might have an unhealthy obsession with my trees. The crop is going to be soooo good this year!

The King's Speech with a new rating...

I originally wanted to see the movie, "The King's Speech" until I found out it was rated R. Bummer. Don't watch those. So I figured I'd wait until it's shown on tv in a few years. While looking at movie listings, I noticed that a theatre in our town has a PG-13 version of "The King's Speech" playing!!! So I googled it and producers of the movie decided to release a tamer version (less swearing) in order to draw in more families. Personally I'm thrilled and will try and see it soon!

Working on Easter...

I wanted to make cute skirts for my girls for Easter. I had the idea in my head and was very excited about it. Then I told Maxine and Juliet and Maxine informed me that she required a dress. I came up with a dress with straps that I liked and pictured her wearing a shirt underneath. She informed me again that she didn't want a shirt underneath, she wanted a dress with sleeves. *sigh* A little irked, we went to the fabric store and argued for an hour about fabric selections. Maxine kept picking blue, old lady floral prints and Juliet kept picking purple retro prints. Jack kept picking out camo. A fabric was finally agreed upon, thread was purchased and I ran from the store with my 3 kids.

That was 3 weeks ago. Yesterday, I decided to start Juliet's dress. I finished it this morning. I even sewed the best zipper I've ever done. (That's not saying much, I've only done 4 in my whole life because they scare me. But this one was GREAT!)

I have visions of corkscrew bows in the colors of the dots: dark pink, royal blue, light blue, green and orange. Maybe not all the colors but a couple of them. Maxine's dress will match except the skirt will be royal blue and Jack will have a tie or vest, depending on how much fabric is leftover. The ribbon by the hem was the hardest part because the hem curves and the ribbon is straight. But I'm satisfied with how it turned out. Yeah! One down.

Sleeping at the wheel....

Jack tends to fall asleep anywhere. If he's tired and there's enough space, he'll be asleep. We used to have 1 o'clock church and Jack would fall asleep in Primary around 75% of the time. His teachers would let him lay on the floor and doze off. We registered him for kindergarten last week and I requested morning for that reason. He doesn't have a nap every day but he will if he's tired. Last week we had some beautiful weather and the kids decided to play in the sprinklers. After all that playing and with a little dinner in him, Jack promptly dozed off, in his swimsuit.

Other than that, I've been busy. But I'd like to share these pics before going.

We made a fort over Spring Break and all 3 kids slept in it every night and spent most of their days in it.

And the kids like to play with my camera. These pics are as we're getting ready for church.