Easter

We had a great Easter with just our own little family this year. The Easter Bunny visited in the morning and left a few fun things for the kids. They got some coloring stuff and magnet sets for church, movies, bubbles, books, and Gage got a tractor and Maisey a Barbie Beetle. The Easter Bunny also hid some eggs around the family room for them to find.

Yes, I know it's Easter and I know Maisey is wearing Christmas jammies. She does her own thing and there is no talking her out of it!

 That is a full mouth of Peeps!

 Maisey was sooooo excited to get "dollars and coins"!!!

 And he was content rolling around in robin eggs with a mouth full of Hershey's bunnies!

 Easter breakfast was orange juice, Easter egg doughnuts, and bananas.

After the morning festivities, we headed to church. Maisey was very excited to come home and tell us all about her Easter lesson. She sure loves stories about Jesus. And Gage came home telling us all about "Jesus Christ." It can't just be Jesus to him. Shaun taught an Easter lesson in EQ and our YW presidency did a silent Easter lesson that I found online. It was really powerful and effective.

We had a yummy Easter dinner then headed down to the Stake Center for the Stake Easter Fireside that I had a part in. I was really nervous, but it ended up turning out really well. I'm just glad it's over!

 See my name at the bottom?

This was my costume!

Haha! I can't believe I actually put this picture on here, but my mom said my kids will enjoy looking back at it one day and I'm sure they will!

I am very grateful for Jesus Christ's sacrifice for me. I am grateful that I am able to repent of my short comings and that my family will all be able to live together again.

It was a Happy Easter!!!

Easter Activities

We are novice egg-dyers at our house and definitely made a rookie mistake this year. Maisey had watched a show about dying Easter eggs and begged me to do it. So for FHE on the Monday before Easter we dyed eggs for the first time ever! I bought a kit at the store, boiled some eggs, and we got to work. They had a lot of fun dying the eggs, and when we were all finished we left them on the counter to dry. . . over night. The next morning, Maisey wanted to eat one of her eggs for breakfast. That's when I realized we left the eggs out over night and we ended up throwing them away! She was pretty disappointed, so I'll have to remember for next year to store them in the refrigerator.

The day before Easter, we headed to Bauman Farms for their Easter Egg hunt. We usually go to a different one, so this was our first time here. It was way crowded, but way fun! They had bounce houses for the kids to play on while they waited for the hunt to start. For the hunt, each kid was limited to 12 eggs. Our kids were lucky to get 12 eggs each, because some of our friends only got a few. Shaun ran with them all the way to the back of the hunting area and let them pick their 12 back there. There was no way I was going to keep up with them, so by the time I got back there I was only able to snap a few pictures of them actually looking for eggs. Once they got their eggs, we sat at a table and let them see what was inside. Maisey got a coupon for a free ice cream cone and Gage got one for a free doughnut. They were pretty excited. We also got to visit with the Easter Bunny for a few minutes. I was surprised that neither of the kids were scared, but the fact that he had a basket with suckers in it might have won them over. After we were done with the egg hunt part we went and rode the bug train a few times and then played on the giant inflatable pillow. We also visited the animals. The kids had soooooooooo much fun that day!

 Getting ready for the hunt!

(I think Dad may have been more excited than the kids!)

 Finding his eggs!

 Look how serious her face is! She was on a mission!

 Checkin out their loot

 Inflatable pillow

 I love how nervous both of the kids look in these pictures!

Shaun and Maisey came home pretty sunburned that day. It was only in the low 60's but it was one of the first days the sun has actually shone all year!

Reading Under the Stars

One of the perks of my mom being a teacher is going to her school for the fun activities. She invited us to a night of reading under the stars. The kids got to go in their jammies and bring their blankies. They had different stories set up around the school and in classrooms and you could choose what story you wanted to go and listen to. They also handed out free books to the kids, had milk and cookies, and the book fair was open. Maisey wanted to go to The Cat and the Hat reading and there were people dressed up in costumes in there. Gage wasn't a big fan of that so Shaun stayed with Maisey and my mom and Gage and I went to a story about a dog named Rocket. We were the only ones at the story and they had a real dog there that looked like Papa and Grandma Grimmett's dog, so Gage was totally obsessed with the dog and didn't even listen to the story. The poor girl was reading the story to me and that was pretty much it. The kids had such a fun time and came away with a few free books and then we let them each pick one out at the book fair as well.

Gage Goes Potty!

While Shaun was out of town, I had to give the kids a bath. That is traditionally Shaun's job. I loathe bath time! I made Gage sit on the toilet before he got in and he went potty! I was so shocked, because he has sat on there several times before but wouldn't go. So after the bath I gave him a potty treat, and did the normal bed time routine. Once he was in bed I was doing some work on my computer and I heard him SCREAMING in his room. So I run in there and he is completely naked, diaper and everything, holding his little pee pee saying "I go potty, I go potty!" So I took him in to the bathroom real quick and he went potty again on the toilet. I was so excited and thought we were starting something good! The next day he went first thing in the morning, and then wouldn't go again after that. He wouldn't even sit on the toilet. He would just say "I don't want to go potty!" So I didn't push it too much the rest of the week. But when Shaun got home, Gage went potty three times for him! So we started it back up! He wore undies for a few hours one morning and kept them all dry, but after his nap he wanted nothing to do with going potty, and that is still where we are at. :( Papa even told him he would buy him a new train if he went poop in the toilet, but no luck! This kid is pretty stubborn and just likes to do things on his own time. So I will try to wait, and continue to waste money on diapers.

Sunriver

Our trip to Sunriver was just as fun as always! We did a lot of fun activities but we also just hung around the house and relaxed! It was a great weekend. . . until Shaun had to leave us early Monday morning to head to Arkansas. Then things kind of went down hill and my mom and the kids and I ended up leaving earlier than planned. 

Here is our weekend in pictures:

Shaun took the kids ice skating for their first time! I hung on the sidelines for two reasons. A) I didn't want to fall and hurt the baby at all, and B) I didn't want a sore back! Shaun is a great dad to do this with them. Gage quit about half way through and hung with me, and by the end, Maisey was actually getting the hang of it.

We went sledding!  I really really really wanted to take the kids sledding while we were over there. Mt. Bachelor has a tubing park, but the kids weren't tall enough to do it and they wouldn't be able to ride with an adult, so we asked around and found a sno-park near Sunriver. So we ventured there and there were signs for snow shoeing and snowmobiling, and signs that said NO sledding. It was kind of frustrating, but the kids were sooooo excited to go sledding, so we drove on the highway toward Bachelor and found a little spot to pull off. We climbed up the hill and made our own sledding hill. The kids had a blast! It was so fun to see the pure joy on their faces. And I was surprised at how brave they were!

The kids had fun playing some rock band and a Cars 2 video game! Shaun had fun helping them race Lightning McQueen!

We went to the village and rode a fun train (twice!) and got ice cream (twice!). The kids seriously loved the train. We did it on two different days but they are wearing the same coats! The first day (yellow car) the train conductor let the kids push the button that blows the whistle and rings the bell. They thought that was pretty special, so then when we went back the next day (blue car) they asked him if they could do it again! They sure loved that train! I thought the train ride was going to put me into labor it was soooo bumpy!

We played outside whenever it wasn't raining, hailing, or snowing. We did chalk, played basketball, drove the tractor, played hide and seek, and swam in the hot tub. Maisey learned how to put her face underwater and was a bobbing maniac by the time they were done swimming around. I was really proud of her. 

We celebrated Daddy's birthday by going to Red Robin and opening presents. I got him a pellet gun to keep the animals that poop all over our backyard out! I didn't let him open the gun in front of the kids, but he opened all of the accessories to go with it. The kids didn't know what they were all for but Shaun was sure excited. He also got Blazer's tickets (we go in 2 days!!!), a couple of movies, and a few gift cards. It was a fun night.

Maisey got to have a sleepover with Grammy in a king size bed! Too bad Grammy only got about a foot of the bed because Maisey invited her doll (with the crib), four little bear cubs, and one GIANT bear to the sleepover also! I don't think Grammy slept very well that trip!

And while Gage wasn't running around wild and crazy getting into everything, you could find him parked on the stairs watching Toy Story. That was his favorite place to watch a movie.

We had a great time, and we can't wait to go back this summer with some cousins!

Happy easter from our house!!! The morning has already consisted of a mouth full of peeps, a full on brawl over maisey's new barbie car, and shaun shooting dogs in our backyard! It's going to be a great day!

Some of my random thoughts

Things I'm stressing over:
1) Maisey's school situation for next year. We just found out she is 5th on the wait list at the charter school in town! Better come up with a plan b!
2) This Easter fireside that I was asked to be apart of Sunday night. The last time I was in anything was when I was in Scrooge in 3rd grade. I'm Mary Magdalene and have a speaking part that I have to say to music. Have I ever mentioned I am musically illiterate? Luckily my friend let me come over and practice while she played the piano.
3) My enormous to-do list! I just barely finished and threw away a to-do list that I had last week while Shaun was in Arkansas. There were only 5 pretty simple tasks on it: 1) Hang new pictures in hall 2) Pay bills 3) Mail proof of insurance to OnPoint 4) Fill out rebate for contacts 5) Clean out purse. Not to mention my 19 item list for this week, one which is updating the blog from the last few weeks. Yeah, not getting done today!
4) My kids!!! They have seemed to both regress quite a bit over the last few weeks. I thought that usually doesn't happen until after the baby comes, but they have both been acting out quite a bit lately. Maisey has to take a nap for the whole month of April. She's been so grumpy and sassy in the afternoons that she lost the privilege of quiet time. And Gage, he's a ticking time bomb as far as tantrums go! Wow! I haven't put up a post about Sunriver yet, but let's just say we left early to come home because he was so out of control! Oh, and, I'm not sure what we are going to do with them when we are at the hospital. I've only got a few more weeks to figure it out.
5) How busy our April is! When Shaun and I flipped the calendar on Sunday I was surprised at how packed it was already, and we just keep adding to it!
6) The fact that I didn't take pictures of my kids on St. Patrick's day, which doesn't seem like that big of a deal now, but I know I'll be kicking myself when it comes time to make calendars for the grandparents next year. So I've been telling myself everyday for the last few weeks to put them back in their green to take a pic, but I just can't find the energy to do so.


Things I'm looking forward to:
1) Shaun's dad, brother and sister-in-law coming into town at the beginning of next week.
2) My sister and nephew also coming into town at the beginning of next week.
3) T-ball starting up! Shaun is coaching a 3-4 year old team, and since Gage turns 3 two weeks into the season and Maisey is still 4 they are both on his team, along with 4 other friends! So we know 6 of the 9 players! It will be a fun season!
4) My final ultrasound next Wednesday!
5) Maisey's ballet performance in June! She got measured for her costume on Monday in class, and it is way cute! We had to miss the December one because it was on the same day as Uncle Ryan's wedding, so I'm really excited to see this one.

Well, that's enough of my random thoughts for now! Hopefully a real update will be coming soon. . .  if I can ever find the time or energy to get it done!