Easter

Easter this year was fun with the kids... Everyone was old enough to go hunt after their own eggs, although we had to help Bailey try to GET to the eggs before all the big-kids found them all!  Our first Easter-Egg Hunt of the year was the week before Easter & one that our widowed next-door-neighbor MaryAnn Jones invited us to, which was fun (we were kind-of her fill-in grandkids for the event!).  But it was a REALLY cold morning, so the kids didn't last too long.

The NEXT weekend we went to Grandma & Papa's house (MY parents) & did a little Easter-Egg Hunt out in their backyard.  The weather was a little warmer & they didn't have quite as much outside-competition trying to grab eggs before them, so I think they enjoyed THIS one a little better!

And as always, going THROUGH all your Easter-Eggs & seeing what candy is hidden within is usually one of the funnest parts!  Later that afternoon, we drove to Bountiful to do another Easter-Egg Hunt at my Grandpa Erickson's house.  The kids certainly didn't seem to mind doing yet ANOTHER Easter-Egg Hunt!

Easter morning the kids were THRILLED to have to search all over the Basement for their Easter-baskets & they were even MORE excited to see what little surprises awaited them INSIDE of them!

The beautiful Spring flowers coming up always make Easter seem extra special & fresh for ME too... We have SO many amazing blessing all around us!  That night we also had a special Easter Dinner, full of different things representing foods that Christ might have eaten when He was alive.  This was an idea that I read about in a book entitled, "A Christ-Centered Easter" & has given us lots of fun, simple ideas over the past week to do with the kids to remind us all about the TRUE meaning of Easter.  And with all the Easter-Egg hunts the kids have done this year, I think we NEEDED a little reminding!  :)

Our final Easter excitement for the year was coloring Easter Eggs with the kids... I'm actually not sure that we've actually gotten around to DOING that with the kids many other times before, so they were excited to be doing something new & fun!  Kind-of a simple tradition, which always makes for a fun night of family memories!

Well, Happy Easter Everyone!

St. Patrick's Day

For some reason, St. Patrick's Day has become a pretty fun holiday around here... Skyler & Kimberly were old enough to come up with their OWN idea for a trap to build to catch the Leprechaun, so it was fun to see their little minds planning it out & putting it together.

But of course Leprechauns don't LIKE it when the kids try to trap them, so they messed up both of the kids rooms pretty good.  Kimberly was especially disappointed that HER room got messed up, because SHE hadn't put a trap in HER room, so she thought the Leprechaun would only bother SKYLER, but of course, those Leprechauns aren't always the most predictable of little guys...

For breakfast we just had cereal, but the kids were AMAZED when their milk started turning GREEN!  Those tricky Leprechauns!  But soon afterward they found a yummy green snack that the Leprechaun had left for them (green marshmallows & green kool-aid),  so they quickly forgot about being upset about their messy rooms!

St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year, so I was a little worried about us all having CHURCH-clothes that had green on them, but somehow we all managed.  But even though Skyler DID have a tie that was green, he decided instead this year that he wanted to be TRICKY & wear green in a place that not everyone could see, so he just wore some green-striped socks this year & was hopeful that someone would pinch him so he could pinch them back 10 times!  But unfortunately, only one person questioned him about it (an adult) & pinched him, but then Skyler said he was too embarrassed to pinch them back anyways... Funny kid :)

Right before church we all ate a yummy GREEN lunch of green jello, green yogurt, green apples, green cucumbers, green kool-aid & green cookies, so we all left for church with quite satisfied little bellies!  It's always fun to do something a little different & a little special for a fun holiday at home with the kids!  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Laron's Regional Basketball Game

 So our ward made it to the Regional Basketball Games this year, which Laron was pretty excited about!  They've had plenty of good skill & good turn-out every game too, which always helps.  The kids always ask if they can go watch Daddy play Basketball, but unfortunately, most of the games have been too late for getting kids to bed at a very decent hour, so we hadn't watched too many this year.  But the Regional game was a little earlier & a little more exciting, so we finally decided it was time to go cheer on our Daddy & watch him play the Basketball he loves...

The kids were excited to be in the stands as they watched Dad run back & forth dribbling the basketball & making a few baskets.  And then they got distracted with playing with the other kids.  And I got distracted talking with the other women there, of course, so we missed a few important plays of the game apparently.  Because shortly after half-time, suddenly everyone seemed annoyed as the umpire abruptly said the game was over & declared Laron's team to be the winners (even though they were down a few points at the time).

I still don't quite understand what all happened, but basically the other team got too many technicals or something (& at CHURCH-ball, they REALLY try to emphasize good sportsmanship & stuff!), so as soon as the other team reached the allotted amount of "too many," it was declared that the game was over & that was that.  I could tell as all us wives congratulated our husbands for winning the game, that they were disappointed in not having been able to play through to the end of the game & winning it fair & square, but I honestly was proud of them all for being good, honest, rule-keeping players the whole time instead of pushing the limits & being sassy & using bad language, just because they were getting a little competitive.  So congratulations to Laron & the rest of the team, for being more than just good Basketball players... You will always be winners in MY book!  

Skyler's 1st Loose Tooth!

I hadn't realized that Skyler was old enough to be loosing teeth yet, but apparently he is!  He lost his first tooth this February & now has a couple more getting looser every day.

When I first told him about leaving his tooth under his pillow for the "Tooth Fairy", Skyler TOTALLY didn't believe me!  I guess it sounded too good to be true to him!  So we borrowed my family's old special "Tooth Fairy Pillowcase" & put his tooth in the little tooth pocket that night... The next morning he came running up to us shouting, "The Tooth Fairy is real!  The Tooth Fairy is real!  She left me 4 quarters!"  After Kimberly noticed that Skyler had gotten MONEY out of the ordeal, she suddenly was determined to find a loose tooth of her own... But unfortunately none of them were even close yet!  :)  So, I guess we're on to yet another fun milestone of childhood... SO fun being a parent!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day this year was fun... That morning, I left a trail of candy out of each of the kid's room that led to a little treat, which they loved of course.  And then for dinner I really wanted to do something extra special, so I bought a bunch of yummy fruit (a real treat for us!) & just made some simple smiley faces out of the fruit on each of our plates.  The dinner wasn't anything too amazing after that, but at least we got to start off with something a little funner, to show them how much I love them!  :)  We tried to keep things pretty SIMPLE this year, but it was fun nonetheless!  I sure LOVE these guys!

A WHOLE New World!

So it's been fun seeing the kids get older & hitting some new milestones lately... The girls now love to play dress-up & they've discovered that it's funner reading books up on top of the bookcase! 

I've also finally figured out a few more ways to do the girls hair than the typical pigtails we seemed to be doing everyday, which is improvement for me!  The girls have also been loving painting our toenails together lately... In fact, Bailey wouldn't hardly keep her socks ON after we painted her toenails for the first time, because she just wanted to see her cute little painted nails!

Even Laron painted the girl's toenails one morning because the girls were BEGGING him!  Funny to watch!

This Winter I've been working on teaching the kids how to do chores & surprisingly they've really kind-of loved the added feeling of responsibility & capability.  Even little Bailey can now help us unload the dishwasher... Pretty impressive!

One day Laron brought home a BIG box from work & this is what the kids and I made out of it...  PACE BURGERS!  Skyler helped me come up with the prices, which were hilarious!  Laron decided that HE couldn't afford to eat there!  So then the kids decided that they would throw in a free shake with every purchase... It was fun to see them cooking up all of our orders & being so excited about it!

One day I was reading the kids some books & had to leave for a minute to get something out of the oven.  When I came back, Skyler shushed me & told me that Kimberly had fallen asleep, so he scooted over so she could lay on his lap... How precious!

Every time Laron leaves for a church meeting, we've taught the kids to gather & say, "Good luck serving the Lord!"  It really has helped them to not feel so sad when Laron has to leave & it helps remind Laron that the reason he's leaving us, yet again, is to serve the Lord.  Not because he likes his calling more than us, but because he's serving the Lord.  The kids also love waiting at the top of the stairs lately for Daddy to come home & shouting "Daddy!"  So sweet to watch them be SO excited about their love for their Daddy!