Easter

Here are just a few fun photos from our Easter festivities...

Where is Joseph when I need him?

I need someone who can interpret dreams. I often times have strange dreams, sometimes they come true, which sounds wacky, but I'm serious. When I was in college I dreamt that my parents house burnt down because of a toaster fire, and while it was burning I found the whole family in my parents bedroom watching T.V. I told them the house was on fire and they all just sat there. I asked them if they were going to do anything about it, and they acted like they just didn't care. A few days later I was at home visiting, and I noticed the kitchen cupboard was burned. When I asked what happened, my dad said that while they were all in his room watching T.V., My very young niece went into the kitchen, and tried to make herself toast. Somehow the toaster lit on fire and she was too scared to tell anyone for fear of getting in trouble. When my dad smelt the smoke he went into the kitchen and saw her just standing there and the cupboard on fire. Luckily it didn't burn down the house, but it's scary how similar it was to my dream!
The other night I had a really weird dream. I dreamt that Sam and I moved into a small house in Utah. Right after moving in Sam told me that the next door neighbors told him that the people who lived there before us used to let them use the front lawn to grow corn, and were wondering if we would allow the same. They also said that they would not clear the corn field after the harvest, that would be our job, and no, we did not get any of the corn. Sam told them it would be fine, but when he told me I was not ok with it. I did not want a bunch of corn in front of my house because it would look ridiculous! After a long argument, I went over to tell the neighbors that they could grow corn on our lawn only if they cleared the harvest, and we got at least a few ears of corn which I would even exchange for some of the peas I had growing in my garden. She refused my compromise, and I was the bad guy to all of them. And if that wasn't bad enough, I went into my back yard, and discovered that all of my pea plants had died.
Any takers on the interpretation?

What do you do?

What do you do when....
You step out of the shower, only to discover that while you were in there, your kids climbed up to the high cupboard and pulled out the bag of fruit snack smiles, and ate ALL 13 SERVINGS, an hour before lunch, and are now going crazy from all the sugar? What do you do?

Well, I did what any good parent would do. I sat them down and showed them how much sugar they ate, and how much they should eat in a day, then I fixed them an ultra healthy lunch full of foods they don't like and told them that the only way to counteract all the sugar in their bodies was to eat it. After that, I made them scrub walls to work off all their energy.

Consider the Lillies

Right before Christian was born I fell into an insane nesting phase unlike anything I experienced while pregnant with Nicholas. I think this is because before I had Nicholas I had no idea what to expect, I was busy on cloud 9, dreaming of how wonderful it would be to hold my sweet baby and be a mother. The second time around I knew what was coming and it scared me to death. The lack of sleep, the poop up the back, the feeding every other hour. That was all ok, but what really scared me was 2 things... that Nicholas had colic really bad, and my tailbone was broken while giving birth to him, which meant I was in constant pain for several months. I am surprised that I lived through all of that the first time, but I didn't think I could do it again, especially since I already had Nicholas to take care of. He was in the midst of the 'terrible twos', and he was a wild one with major tantrums. I was terrified of what was coming, and to make matters worse, it didn't look like I was going to have any family members able to come help me, and I was due right before Sam's finals in school, so I would have to do it all alone. In my panic I tried to prepare in anyway I could. I stocked my house with anything I thought I would need for the next 6 months. I filled my freezer with frozen dinners. I bought several packs of diapers. I washed and organized everything. A few weeks before I was due, I finally hit my breaking point. I was stressed to the max in anticipation of what was coming. I broke down and cried late one night after Sam had gone to bed, for probably and hour. I felt impressed to pray, but I didn't want to. I wanted to feel bad for myself. I cried for a while longer and then finally decided to pray. Afterwards I felt calm, and finally went to sleep. The next day as I was reading my scriptures, I came upon 3 Nephi chapter 13, where Christ is telling the 12 to take no thought for temporal things because the Father knows what they are in need of. He says to consider the lilies of the field...

28: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
29:And yet Solomon in all his glory was not so arrayed like one of these.
30:Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.
31: Therefore take no thought, saying What shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32: For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33: But seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
34:Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

When I read this I thought of the "Surprise Lilies" in Illinois where I served my mission. They were the strangest things. You don't have to plant them, they just pop up one one day in the spring, in very random places, and bloom for only a few short weeks. If He cares about the lilies of the field, how much more does He care about us, His children? He loves us, and will always take care of us.
That is when I knew everything was going to be ok, and it all was. I had a perfect labor complete with no broken tailbone, Christian was an angel baby who slept all the time, and my Dad was able to fly out and help me take care of Nicholas the first few weeks.
I'm so glad the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang "Consider the lilies of the field" in General Conference today. It is a beautiful song, and it will always remind me of that tender time when my Heavenly Father told me how much he really does care about me.

When I grow up...

"When I get big, I'm going to buy all the toys I want, and then I'll shrink so I can play with them!"-Nicholas

A good spot.

I remember as a kid, watching my Dad go out in the freezing weather with a ladder, climb the peach tree, and string it full of Christmas lights, and turn them on. It wasn't Christmas, and even if it was, the tree was in the backyard, so no one would ever see the lights anyway. When we asked him why he was doing it he said that he didn't want his peach buds to freeze. I remember in his garden he had tomato plants, and early in the spring he would go out, and put these ridiculous water tepees on them so that they wouldn't freeze too. I remember often times finding him out in his garden caring for it. Sometimes I thought he was a little bit crazy because he obsessed about it so much. I also remember though as a kid getting to go out and enjoy the fruits of his labors. We would go out to the garden and each get to pick a strawberry, some boysenberries, a peach, or a cherry tomato, and we would sit outside and eat it together. As we grew up, my Dad passed this tradition on to his grandkids. After being in North Carolina for a few years our first summer trip back home was when Nicholas was almost 3. He went out with Grandpa to pick some grapes and cherry tomatoes. This was AMAZING! To find out that some of his favorite things actually grew in Grandpa's backyard, and he could pick some anytime he wanted, was a dream come true. My dad has a little child sized bench in his backyard, where they would sit and eat them. Nicholas named it the "Good Spot". Anytime they would pick something from the garden he would say "Come on grandpa! Let's sit in a 'good spot'", and they would sit down and enjoy each others company, and eat some fruit. This became such a beloved tradition, that whenever we sit down together to enjoy a treat, he says "Let's sit in a good spot!" Of course the next summer Christian was old enough to enjoy the 'good spot', and he too often refers to it. This spring I got a hankering to grow a garden of my own. This would prove difficult since I live in a townhouse. There were a few places where I thought it might work, but when I watched the sun, the spots didn't get enough sunlight to grow anything. This was discouraging. Then one day when I was at Sam's club, I saw some blueberry bushes for sale. Sam and I have LOVED blueberry picking out at the U-Pick farm, and often talked about owning our own bushes someday. Then I remembered that our neighbors had a blueberry bush in a pot. For the next few days I kept thinking about what fun it would be to have our own blueberry bushes, and maybe we could plant a small container garden too. Finally we decided to do it. When I told Nicholas we were going to plant a garden, he was so excited that he went right outside and started digging! That night I asked the boys what they wanted to plant in the garden. Nicholas immediately shouted "Tomatoes!". Christian shouted "Pants!". Pants? We told him it had to be a food. Again he said pants. I guess you can't blame the kid, every pair he owns has a hole in each knee! We went out and bought all the supplies, seeds and plants and got stared. Nicholas insisted we grow a watermelon, which I don't think you can do in a container, but just to appease him, we bought a pack of seeds, and will plant some in the ground, and see what happens. My blueberry bushes came in a pack of 4 , and I had to plant them in the pots which was a learning experience, but I got some help from my neighbor who also has a potted blueberry bush, and I'm really excited to see them grow, and hope that they survive long enough to make blueberries (It takes 3 years before you get blueberries)! So, this being my first container garden, if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it!

A Day of Firsts...

The last time I took my boys to the mall to get their pictures taken it was a NIGHTMARE! I'm not kidding. Imagine with me 2 hours of rowdy boys running circles around the studio, and every time the photographer would get them in a pose they would run away before she could take the shot, or one would push the other one off the bench. Finally we came away with this shot. It's cute huh?

Do you want to know why Christian looks so happy? Because he is standing on Nicholas, and Nicholas is saying "Owe! Owe! Owe!". Why are Children cutest when they are being naughty?

After that experience I was not looking forward to taking them to the mall today for Valentines pictures, but I had a good coupon, so I was willing to try. I did everything I could to prepare for the event. I stuffed my purse full of fruit snacks for bribes, I drilled them on what they were going to do..."Stand where the lady tells you to", "Don't move", "Smile nice like this", "If Christian gets up to run you stay put", "Don't go behind the curtain!" If they behaved then we would go to Barnes and Noble after to play at the train table. This time around it was a whole different story. They actually behaved (for the most part)! We got several good shots and were done in 20 minutes! Yes, you read that right, 20 minutes. A record! We did have to pull out the fruit snacks, and sill had a few pushes and escapes, but the photographer bribed them with a balloon when they were done, and that really worked well.




Feeling incredibly successful we headed to the See's Chocolate booth to get the boys a sucker treat and then to Barnes and Noble. I couldn't help but be amazed by the fact that I was actually enjoying our trip to the mall. I never enjoy the mall with my boys! As I watched the boys play with the trains I just tried to enjoy the moment. There was one other kid playing too, a cute 1 year old who could barely walk. After a few minutes Nicholas decided he wanted to look at a few books. He brought one to me and just as I started to look at it I heard the little boy start to scream. I looked up and Christian was saying "My trains!" I looked down and there on the cute little boys arm was a full on deep bite mark left by Christian! The kind that leaves bruises on Nicholas for weeks. The poor boy was inconsolable. I felt terrible! I apologized to his dad over and over, and made Christian say sorry too. We immediately packed up and went home. So much for an enjoyable trip to the mall!

Later today Nicholas and I were in the back yard playing with his friends. Suddenly Nicholas got the idea that he wanted to ride Johnny's bike. It doesn't have training wheels on it, and Nicholas has never ridden without training wheels before. I decided why not give it a try. The first few times I let go he fell almost right away, but after about 10 minutes of trying he was riding all over the place! I couldn't believe it! We tried to get it on video, but it didn't work very well. I was so proud of him!

Tonight for family home evening we made Valentines for the boys friends and for Nick's class at school. I have to say we got the easiest valentines ever! I found them at Sam's club. A big box of heart shaped fruit snacks. Each pack had a place to write "To" and "From" with a sharpe marker so it wouldn't rub off. It was great! I had all of them labeled in 5 minutes. As I was labeling them Nicholas came over and started picking up each one and reading the names on them! He was actually reading them! I had no idea he could do that! I was shocked and so proud!

What a crazy day!