Easter

The bunny paid a quick visit on Easter this year. 

He left lots of hidden eggs that were filled with candy, money and coupons. The coupons were quite the hit. They were things like "Go on a date with Mom/Dad," "Stay up 30 minutes past your bedtime," "Pick the family movie," things like that. 

All the main treats were animals themed as the Easter Bunny also left the kids a zoo pass. We haven't had one of those in a few years so they are really excited. We'll also be around this summer, so that helps with us being able to use it. 

We had a fun, relaxing day.

Now onto the gardening! There's a lot of work to be done and this is the season to do it!
Look! The two hosta I got from grandma last year came back and are doing great!

Happy (Belated) Easter!!

Tyler Turns SEVEN

Our baby is SEVEN years old!

Tyler is a fun kid. His sense of humor is really developing and he comes up with the funniest things. He's quick witted. He loves to learn, he's always coming home from church or school with a list of things to tell us.  He loves to play soccer.... and play outside in general. He can also be moody. His temperament can change almost immediately. But hopefully that is an age thing!

He was very specific about what he wanted for his birthday. His birthday fell on Good Friday this year so he was really glad to be out of school.

He wanted a huge plate of hashbrowns for breakfast.....

For lunch he wanted sushi. (I blame Lee.)

He also wanted guacamole, which is his favorite thing. I hadn't made any yet, I was waiting for him to finish the sushi. In the meantime he took the wad of wasabi that came in the sushi package (thinking it was guacamole) and tossed it all in his mouth.

Needless to say, the result was unexpected. The poor kid. His mouth was on FIRE. I could not stop laughing. I know that's terrible because I should have been concerned but it was so funny. (He's still mad at me for laughing.) After we washed his mouth out for awhile, he returned to normal.

Dinner was... of course... Nachos.

Of course we had to say hi to the manager, Salvador. We love that guy. He's so nice.

...and always lets the boys pick out some free candy.

Tyler didn't want anything else, food wise. He didn't want a cake, cookies, ice cream.... he wanted nothing. Simple kid!

That day happened to be free cookie day at a new place named Crumbl. We all went in to get our free cookie. Even though Tyler didn't want one, I made him get one so I could eat it. :)

When we went in we saw a ton of people we knew. Including Sadie from Will's class, the kids old assistant principal and many people from church. It turns out that a family in our ward own the company and everyone was there to support them. (We just went for our free cookies! ha!)

I need to get a good picture of him so I can do his yearly picture line-up. Actually ,I think he's the only kid I do that for. Oops! I'll have to remedy that.

He opened several cards that morning.

And was really excited when he saw the picture of Granny's present. He's really into Beyblades right now (basically an overpriced top) and she bought him a few.

My fancy wrapping was in the Amazon box. Oh man, I'm failing around here!!

He also loves to get sprayed by Silly String. He is our silly string kid. He talks about it for a month beforehand, and I'm always grateful because I would surely forget to buy it. We lured him into the living room that night (after almost forgetting) and he "acts" like he doesn't like it. But we all know he lives for it.

What a fun kid. HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TYLER!!

More Garden Pics and the First Braces in our Home

Some more surprises from the garden....

My bleeding heart came back... and so beautifully!

The Columbine came back too!

I learned how to use the riding lawnmower. And had to mow down a beautiful field of purple weeds.

My tulips by the mailbox.

We had a first last week in our family..... the first one to get braces! Amy had the honors. She was SO excited. I had her scheduled for May but she begged and begged to move it up. Her mentality was "the sooner I get them on, the sooner I get them off." I couldn't argue with that logic.

Let's see that brace-less smile one more time. We won't see it again for a few years.

Walking into the orthodontist office....

Patiently waiting while mom signed all the paperwork......

Getting closer!

Done!

And it's complete!

The boys had forgotten she was getting them... that or they really didn't understand what "braces" were. Will was in shock. Tyler started crying. He said "I liked you the way you were!" It took him a few hours to get on board.

She's been really good at taking care of them. Although the ortho office said girls are usually fine. She's projected to have them on for 2 years, maybe a year and a half. We'll see!

The kids had different themed dress-up days last week. The boys were quite excited about 80's day. They had in in their minds that 80's meant they needed to look like dj's. They were funny about it.

And that's about it for last week. Mom and dad were here overnight on their way to Indiana and they are back now for a few days. We are always so glad when they come visit.

I Love Imaginations!

On Sunday's we don't let the kids watch the regular tv and movies they watch all week. We like to *try* to make it a different and special day. Hoping to instill some reverence. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

Last Sunday Lee and I slept in and a vaguely remember hearing the tugging and dragging of something big and the voices of two boys working on something that started in the garage and ended up in the living room. I should have been more concerned, but I wasn't.

It turned out they had dragged in the hot water tank box and were making a tank. When I finally checked on them they had a kitchen knife and had already created a few holes around it. I had to admire their hard work! They asked if I would help cut a few more. (No, I was not concerned about the knife. They had it under control.) Amy woke up and their creation was complete. I LOVED watching their imagination at work.

They used a plastic milk carton as a spy glass (that doubled as a machine gun), they cut a hole through a smaller box and taped it to the top at the top part of the tank and drew all sorts of things inside. They had a blast.

(This is a video conference call with General Ping Ching from China) 

 
They played with it all day.

Last Sunday a lady in our ward asked if Amy and I would come over and make a treat with her neighbors. She has 3 dogs, so Amy was in heaven.

Sherry and I "stole" some plants from a friends house. She called me and basically said, "Grab a shovel, I'm picking you up." And I did, no questions asked!

Going along with the imagination thing, Tyler and this random kid worked hard on a ramp during Will's soccer practice. They were really cute rolling big logs around, putting everything in the right place, trying it out, only for it to fall and then adjusting things and trying again. I love it when kids "invent" things!

Just a moment I want to remember, "No, no, Mama! No, no!" Amy and I watched the cutest kid do this to him mom on Sunday and we died laughing. We've been doing it to each other all week. 

In the garden- I bought strawberries! and built a teepee for sunflowers and cucumber.

My activity day girls made a birthday card for our bishop using candy bars. Then we made these pretty tissue paper flowers for them to hang in their bedrooms. They are such cute girls.

I planted another tray of seeds. (sigh, I'm obsessed!) 

General Conference was this weekend. That's where we watch our prophet and other church leaders broadcast from Salt Lake. It's nice to have a Sunday where we stay in our jammies. :) Will created a list of things to do. One of them was to set up a tent for the kids to watch conference in. We also had some yummy treats, of course!

Will also wanted to make a puppet. He did great with the hot glue gun and creating his character.

I make crepes every Sunday, it's become a yummy tradition.

Amy worked on the leftover tissue paper flowers.

Tyler hasn't been feeling well this weekend. He stayed home from school on Friday with a fever and a sore throat. He's finally feeling a tad better.

And Amy is just a goof ball.

Have a good week!