E

It was time for Ellie to get her eyes checked because I was pretty sure she was going to need glasses soon. I told her we were going to get her eyes tested in a couple of days. When I went to check on her to see if she was going to bed, she had pinned a paper with letters on it to her door, she was standing in the back of her room with another paper over one eye trying to see if she could read the letters.
"What are you doing?" I ask her.
"Studying for my eye test" she replies.
"Sweetie this is not a test you study for."
"Oh. . . It's not?"
"Nope. They have machines and you just answer honestly to the doctors questions. He usually just asks better? or worse?"
"Oh... Okay."
There goes my Ellie trying to do good on another test

So here she is with her new glasses. She really only has to wear them during school to read the board but she likes to wear them most of the time.

whats a hopper?

Brennen has some of the funniest words for things. For instance, Ellie brought home a Darth Vader transformer for him from school. He was playing with it transformed it and then said "Hey mom look at Hopper. " I was a little confused what's a hopper I ask him. He holds up Darth and says "this guy."
"Oh buddy his name is Darth Vader."
"No its not!!"
"I'm pretty sure it is."
"NO mom, 'cause he always says Ho-pper, Ho-pper." (Brennen makes Darth Vader's breath sounds with the word Hopper)
"Your right buddy what was I thinking."
So from now on Darth Vader is Hopper
Lemonade is Yuminade 'cause its so yummy
Mickin Chicken means he wants Mickey Mouse chicken (chicken nuggets shaped like mickey mouse.) Peter calls them/him Geeky house.
Alphabet is AlphaPET
The color white is wipe

egg hunt

We had our annual backyard egg hunt with a little twist this year.

Every year I get the kids some kind of present for Easter. This year

I had a scavenger hunt planned for them. It started out with a little rhyme that warned them they needed to know about the real meaning of Easter to find the clues.

The first clue was that Christ was crucified on this made out of what? answer cross made out of wood. So the next clue was in the woodpile.

Clue number two said that the Romans put one of used one of these to seal the tomb. answer. . . You got it rock so they had to find a big rock outside to find clue number three. Clue 3 said after three days the Christ's tomb was empty except for this. .. . Answer linens. Yep the linen closet was next. After that they learned that while Christ was gone he went to the Spirit World to set up missionary work. What is the main thing the missionaries use? Scriptures. So it was back downstairs to the bookshelf where we keep our scriptures. The last clue was that The atonement and resurrection of Christ is the greatest gift we could ever receive. What do we do with a gift before we give it to someone? give up. . . We wrap it. Their gift was hidden by the wrapping paper. It was this giant red ball they can climb in and roll around in. It took forever to blow up but they sure had fun in it.
Unfortunately we couldn't find any "homeless" people to have over for Easter dinner. By homeless I mean people that don't have family around that didn't already have plans. So I guess we will be eating ham and potatoes all week.

Sometimes I wonder why I do it. Why should I make this big dinner just for my family who would be happy with pizza and chicken nuggets? I wasn't really in the mood to do all the work it takes, cooking the big dinner and filling and hiding eggs etc.
Then I think about my kids and how I need to make these holiday's memorable. They need to stand out from all the other days regardless of how I feel. Maybe someday when they are older they will be in the same position that I am in, and realize they need to do the extra stuff. They need to know how to make life exciting so their children have memories.

Easter Photoshoot

We had our Easter photo shoot and I am happy to report it went a lot better than last year. Everyone was much more cooperative, and just plain had fun. I think that is the key to taking pictures of kids. MAKE SURE THEY ARE HAVING FUN!!! I decided to go with orange for the color this year. It is becoming one of my favorite colors, it's such a happy color. I couldn't find ties to go with the orange shirts so I just made some. They turned out pretty good, and now I know how to make a tie. For Ellie's dress was a strapless dress when I bought it so I had to alter it by putting on some sleeves. I think that may be what I have to do more of the older she gets. It is often hard to find dresses appropriate dresses, and you can only put a cardigan with so many dresses before you are sick of sweaters. Ellie hates to wear cardigans anyway.
I do love to get them new outfits for Easter.

I remember one Easter when I was a little girl. I saw the most beautiful dress hanging in our front closet. I asked my mom if I could have it and she said she was sorry but it was for another girl. She was just holding it for a friend so her daughter wouldn't see it.

I was bummed but life goes on, I would peak in the closet every time I walked by it to look at the beautiful dress, just to dream.
Well Easter morning came and what should my wondering eyes should behold but that beautiful dress. It was for me!! It was supposed to be a surprise. I was ecstatic.

Splash and Dash

We had our annual splash and dash egg hunt on Saturday. Once again I am sure this is the way to do an egg hunt in southern California. The sun was out and the water was heated to a balming 85 degrees. This year my kids didn't want anything to do with the Easter Bunny. They would look at him from afar, but would really rather leave some space between them. Can you blame them? We expect them to cuddle up to this life size fuzzy animal that walks upright like a human but doesn't talk. I think I would want to keep my distance as well. Scott decided to come this year and I was quite grateful for that it meant one more helper to make sure a little one didn't drown. They all had a blast. I love it because its swimming and because everyone gets eggs. Its not like the one at the park where its a mad dash to get one or two eggs.

Everyone at the egg hunt is easy going, there is music playing and its just plain fun. After all the eggs are collected from the pool the kids turn them in for a goodie bag. the goodie bag usually has a squirt gun or splash ball a color book and other little toys. NO CANDY. I love that there is no candy.
they do offer cookies and water for a snack. I just can't say enough good things about the splash and dash egg hunt.