Did you know . . .

Hey all you Arizonans with kids! Did you know that Usery Pass and the other desert parks have programs for kids? It's a great way to enjoy the desert. We went last week to storytime in the desert. I think the kids had a fun time and the weather was beautiful. I thought for sure the boys would be taking of their jackets but it ended up a little breezy and not hot at all. One of the park volunteers read a story, then we sang a song and went on a little (very little, teeny, tiny) hike. I think we might look for another time to go before it gets too hot.

Memory Monday

I picked this picture today because as I was strolling down my memory lane of pictures I found this one of Alexandria eating ice cream on the counter which reminded me that I took some ice cream out of the freezer to soften about 15 minutes ago. So now I'm eating a Dreyer's French Silk milk shake. It's still delicious.

Also, I love seeing pictures of our old home. It was our first home that we bought and we have lots of good memories there. Thankfully, I don't totally miss it because I can visit it anytime since Chris and Janalyn live there now.

Dinner Discussions

When I was growing up our best discussions always came around the dinner table. Even if you didn't agree with the arguments being presented it was always entertaining. It's so much fun to watch the same thing happening in my own home now with my own kids (except they're not debating). We had such a fun dinner discussion that I had to take a picture to remember how cute they were. Every night at dinner we have each child say something that they are thankful for. I can't take any credit for this idea but the kids love it. Alexandria was thankful that I jumped on the trampoline with them before dinner and Isabel agreed. AJ was thankful that they got new reverent treats today after church. DJ was thankful that we have Chloe and the chickens. Then the conversation progressed and DJ was talking about the beast in Sandlot. Isabel was talking about the scary parts in movies and how she covers her eyes with her backpack. Then DJ made fun of AJ, all in good humor, because he covered his eyes with his blanket. They were just so cute I couldn't soak it in enough.

It's moments like this when I really miss Papi because I have no one that will laugh with me and enjoy just how fun our children really are. I get to be here and see this and it makes me cry to think that Papi misses out on all of the fun daily discussions. When will he get the chance to know our children like I do? I've said it before but I really do have the easier job in our marriage and I am so thankful for all that he sacrifices for us.

Oops! I just wanted to post about how fun dinner was tonight but I guess I took it a step farther. Oh well count it as a bonus, two posts in one. ;)

Spring Sing

I have to apologize for the shaky video. It seems like the camerawoman was dancing her pants off but really it was just little kids trying to sit on camerawoman's lap while she was trying to video.

Alexandria had her Spring Sing last week. She did a great job as always but I give up on trying to find a seat where I have a good view of her. This time we sat right up front and I thougt there was no way I would not be able to see her. Then out came the horn players and stood right in front of her! Luckily, I was able to find an angle for some of the songs. Here's a little clip from the first song they sang.

102 degrees

Yes, I know today was 102 but AJ doesn't care. He loves his jacket and he wears it everyday with the hood on. I tell him he's going to be hot but he just says, "No I'm not. If I don't wear it I'll be cold." The only time he complains about being hot is when we are getting into the car. If he has his way he'll wear his jacket all summer long. It's getting a little small so does anyone know where I can find a jacket in Arizona in the middle of the summer? Just in case we need a new one.

Memory Monday

Here's another before and after Memory Monday. It's been driving my mom crazy that I never posted a before and after shot of our kitchen remodel so Mom here you go. :) These pictures are taken from the same spot and I tried to make sure it was close to the same angle. If you want to see a recap of everything we did go here.

BEFORE

AFTER

It is now such a more user friendly kitchen. I can see the kids while I'm in it and I don't feel like I'm in a cave. I love our new kitchen so much that I think I've gained 10 lbs since we finished it because I cook more. Oops!

She Has E-MAIL??!!?

It must be 6:30

Isn't it beautiful? They all want to do the dishes. It's not perfect. Usually there's water running down the cupboards and the dishes have food left on them but they're learning and and enjoying it and that's all that matters.

Memory Monday, on a Tuesday

I'm late with this post because yesterday took forever to upload those 18 pictures. This Memory Monday is a before and after. We moved into this house in 2006. The first major project we did was to paint the outside.

Here's the before.

And here's the after.

Easter Eggs Everywhere

Saturday was awesome! Not really Easter weather but it was fun. Our ward does a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt at the park. I think it was the fastest hunt ever. We ran out got eggs, said goodbye and jumped in the car to get warm. Grandma even did an extra drive around the block so we could stay in the nice warm car a little longer.

After we got home we went back outside and enjoyed the rain a little more. Okay so maybe the kids enjoyed the rain more than me but it looked like fun.

Splashing in the rivers, oh, I mean gutters.

Playing with the flowers.

"Look Mom, it's raining flowers."

(Totally her idea. I thought that was pretty creative)

And the all time kids classic, Ring Around the Big Tree.

Then Sunday just ended up being a beautiful day. The weather was a picture perfect Easter. The kids woke up early, earlier than normal for 8:30 church, and found their new church clothes that the Easter Bunny brought along with a note telling them that he would be back after church with the baskets.

DJ wasn't cooperating so here's a picture of him. Apparently pulling weeds is better than getting your picture taken.

Sure enough when we got home there were the baskets from the Easter Bunny. Isabel got her first bike. She was so excited.

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kristine and Jordan came over for lunch then we went out to Uncle Heath's for homemade ice cream and another Easter Egg hunt. They have the best backyard so it was the perfect place to do it.

Counting all the eggs to make sure we got them all. Oops, I guess one is still out there somewhere. Luckily, it wasn't one of the real eggs.

Then came the bubbles.

It was such a fun two days.

Whew that was a lot of pictures. It took forever but, I hope it was worth it. Now I'm just hoping blogger doesn't lose my post when I publish it. (Please post . . .please post. . .please post.) I really didn't know one post could handle that many pics. I guess that concludes my picture packed post. Did I picture you out? Well sorry if I did but, I hope you had as great of a weekend as we did.

Happy Easter!!

Water

How to get a drink of water in the morning after just rolling out of bed.

Step 1: Ask Mommy for a drink of water with the cutest face possible despite messy hair.

Step 2: Pull messy hair out of face.

Step 3: Proceed to drink water.

Dreaming

Every culture has it's funny quirks and innuendos. For example, kids in the US repeat the saying, "step on a crack and you'll break your mommy's back". In the Dominican Republic they say that when your child is sleeping face down in the fetal position that they are asking you for another sibling.



Seems like she wanted to make sure we saw this one by falling asleep right in the middle of the kitchen. So what do you think? Is she trying to convince us?

Simple Things

Easter traditions . . . well, there's no more desert trips, I'm skipping coloring Easter Eggs this year since our little Foxy lays greenish colored eggs and coloring Easter Eggs with four shorties is more of a mess than a fun tradition, but there's one thing we always do . . .THE EASTER PAGEANT. This year was no exception. It was good as always but the funnest part was the kids. You always hope that your kids get something out of it because why else would you go? We got off to a rough start though. While Mary was dancing with the Baby Jesus DJ leaned over and asked me, "what if she kicks Joseph in the face while she's dancing?" I really had to quiet my laugh so I wouldn't be rude to the people around us. He's such a BOY! Isabel on the other hand was talking about the beautiful dances for the rest of the night. But after that rough start I think they started catching on. In a way I was seeing how acting on the inspirations we receive for our families brings more blessings than expected.

Did I confuse you? Let me take you back to conference. As I was watching conference I was trying to figure out how I could make our home a nicer place. I realized that a lot of the stress comes at night. It never used to be that way but now with the kids in school I feel like the drill Sargent ordering the troops around at boot camp. Night times have not been fun around here. It gets to be late, I'm stressed out because kids aren't in bed, kids are tired, they want to read books, mommy just wants them to sleep, house is a mess, mommy cleans by herself, kids still don't want to sleep. . . and so it goes. I was into this thought so intensely that I don't even remember who was talking or what they were talking about but they said something and everything clicked. Surely, this is not a big revelation to anyone else it was way too simple but it was specific for our family. I'm not a planner but I needed a night time schedule. So in my conference notes I began to jot down how our nights would be run.

6:00 Dinner
6:30 Inside Jobs (We have outside jobs too but, that's an entirely different post.)
7:00 Baths/Brush teeth
7:30 Scripture study / Family prayer (This was new in my list. We have NEVER attempted this before.)
8:00 Bedtime

This was too easy, I thought. Making our home a nicer place couldn't be that simple. But that night we tried it and IT WORKED!! It ran like clockwork. Not only that but the kids were happy to do their jobs and they actually sat quietly for scripture study . . . SCRIPTURE STUDY!! Of course that was the first night but you can imagine my total amazement when the next night we tried it and it worked again and they were in bed by 8! HUGE accomplishment for me. Not only that but the house was CLEAN!! Now before you think, "What does this have to do with the Easter Pageant?" I am coming back to that. About 4 days ago we read the story of the crucifixion and resurrection, not because I thought it would be good to read before we go to the Easter Pageant, at the time I didn't even have plans of going, it just happened to be the story that the kids picked. Then tonight I saw the bigger picture. Alexandria sat there and watched as the crowd yelled "crucify" and leaned over to Grandma and told her all about that part. And DJ was so into it you would have thought he was watching Star Wars on stage. Plus he totally redeemed himself when he told Grandpa with such faith and happiness that his favorite part was when Jesus played with the little children. Then I realized that we are already receiving blessings from our little scripture study time however loud and crazy it can sometimes be. They are listening and they do get it. All this time I thought we would do it when they got older. Well, either they're older or I was wrong. I'm pretty sure I was wrong since two four year olds don't fall into the "older" category. So this small (really teeny tiny) revelation has blessed us in more ways than one. It has made our home run smoother like I was initially hoping for but then it also has allowed us time to study the scriptures together as a family. It really was sweet to see that we can receive inspiration to help us do what we have been asked to do and that usually the change we need to make is so simple it doesn't seem like it could make much difference at all. But the difference it does make is exactly what you needed. And the blessings . . . so many blessings.

"Now ye may suppose that this is a foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" Alma 37:6

Easter Time

Remember back in the day, like 4 years ago, when you could take your family out on the desert for a fun Easter Egg Hunt? Now all that desert is fenced off. Too bad because we have great desert memories.