Easter

The Easter Bunny is just so accommodating. I told the kids that since we have 8am church I wrote the Easter Bunny a letter and asked him to come during church instead of during the night. And he did. No rushing the morning Easter baskets over here. The Easter Bunny even had time to leave eggs all over the Living Room for a little hunt.

It was a nice relaxing afternoon. Bruce even let me sleep on the couch (since I stayed up late cleaning up after Ashlin's bday party from the night before, post of that below)... While I slept for 2 hours on the couch Bruce instigated on his own cooking and dying eggs with the kids, and took pictures... even of me sleeping.

Then the highlight of our Easter Day was my parents and sisters coming over for a big feast and hunt. This year the Poulsens in our ward came too. We loved having them.

Here they are lining up by the back door to start...

Egg Bomb Warning: I was so thankful that Bruce cooked and dyed Easter Eggs with the kids HOWEVER, we discovered after decorating 5 dozen eggs that they were not cooked all the way. I put one in the microwave for 30 seconds... hoping to find a way to salvage all the eggs... but turns out after 28 seconds it exploded in to tiny pieces all over every square inch of the microwave with one loud BOOM. My friend said her husband did that as a teenager and it blew the door off the microwave. Who knew?

16 Candles

Last week Ashlin turned 16.

She wanted to do a joint birthday party with her friend Brittany, who lives on our street. (Brittany was so gracious and thankful and helped for hours beforehand and after the party getting ready and cleaning up)

We hung up white lights outside and had a fire pit where the kids could roast hotdogs and later Smores (sound kind of familiar, like Dallin's party...)

They wanted to have "Just Dance" going on inside...

Funny story: All Ashlin's younger siblings were here running around during the party... they were so excited and everyone was so nice to them. In the middle of the party I realized I hadn't seen 5 year old Lily in a while. I felt so bad and thought she was probably nervous with all these big teenagers everywhere... I went to look for her... and where did I find her?? In the family room standing up doing "Just Dance" with the cowboy below and some other boy... ha ha. All these girls were watching her with big smiles and clapping and telling her how cute she was. She loved it. :)

Chris and Vanessa (below) have car pooled with Ashlin to 'A' hour all year... they are crazy. Before the party they brought over the hugest presents. I happen to be out front before the party and saw them walking down the rode pulling one over on a wagon. ha ha.

Everyone came in to see them get opened.

yep, a big mess...

Ashlin's present had ALOT of tissue paper and candy, and a note to go out front where she found a blow up swimming pool filled with goldfish. Go figure?

Happy 16th Birthday Ashlin.

Time goes too fast.

Mud Pies

This weekend was Ashlin's 16th birthday party... it wiped me out, but when it was over she gave me a big hug and told me thank you so sincerely that it was worth it... more pictures to come.

Last week I was doing some work on the computer (I promise it was work and not just Facebook/Blogging)... I heard Sophie's cute voice come inside right behind me. She had been playing so sweet outside with Lily and Bailey...

So I turned around so happy to greet my cute little Sophie who speaks to us in gibberish all day... and I gasped. She was so proud of herself standing there covered in mud/wet sand (on my newly cleaned floors) holding her little bowl filled with mud.

These cute pants use to be white

Poor Sophie didn't understand why I jumped up and carried her back outside to the sandbox.

The weather has been so beautiful. And even though it inevitably brings lots of sand in my house... I still love the sandbox outside, because the kids will play there for hours. And I think that somehow playing out there in the sand getting wet and dirty in the fresh air must be good for them.

AAAH

So thankful I saw this quote yesterday:

Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. … It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”

Last week I posted a picture of my bedroom and said I just wanted to lay in my bed and cry, but it was too busy of a day and I didn't have time. I erased the post because it made me look more dreary than I felt. Life is so demanding! UGH- I wish I could clone myself to do all the things my heart longs to do in a day. These are the things that constantly stress me out that I wish I had:

-More time to spend with my sisters

-More time to spend with each of my kids individually

-More time to really be friends with each of the ladies I visit teach

I guess we just do the best we can.