Dying Easter Eggs

We didn't get around to dying Easter Eggs till late last week. The kids loved it but who doesn't love it.
I love the element of surprise upon seeing what we wrote with the white crayon.
I love this picture above because it's so them..silly and giggly!

Carter was surprisingly careful with the eggs.

No surprise here: Alexis...going for the PINK cup!
Notice the wet spot under the yellow cup. How could we not notice that at the beginning?
It took us awhile to see it. We thought it was a spill early on...but later realized there was a hole in the bottom.

Dora stickers for Carter! Every morning he comes into my room and pulls back my blankets all the
way down to my toes (I thought those days were over when I finished early morning seminary in
high school. No one told me it switches from your mother to your children!) After he gets the
covers off, he pulls my arm and says, "Dor-Dor" for me to turn on Dora the Explorer!

Alexis using her creative side...I'd like to think she gets that talent from me!
Now, notice the spot from the yellow cup...WHOOPS!
I guess we were having too much fun to notice the obvious.

The eggs looked fabulous! Too bad the kids didn't like eating the hard boiled
eggs the following morning! Tonight, I called my friend to borrow eggs to make cookies...
because those hard boiled eggs you see above still sit in my fridge and probably will till
we decide to throw them away. Anyways, my friend said I could have her eggs as long
as I didn't care they were colored. She dyed her eggs and didn't boil them because her
kids hate hard boiled eggs and she didn't want to waste them...BRILLIANT, Natalie!
I'm definitely doing that next year...then I don't have to deal with the fact that my eggs
always crack when I boil them and I can actually use them for something.

Jonah and the Whale

A few weeks ago we had such a fun sharing time lesson. My sister-in-law did this in her ward and let me borrow it. It was so fun and I know the kids are going to remember this experience forever. So we told the story of Jonah and the Whale...and when it came time to talk about Jonah being swallowed by the whale...we all got swallowed too. We told them about what happened next once we were inside. Only two kids were too scared to go in. It was sooo dark inside...my flash on my camera obviously takes that away. When Jonah got spit out...we did too. I loved doing something fun and different. I'm sure you can imagine what you'd think if your kids came home and told you they got swallowed by a big whale like Jonah. The parents that mentioned something to me did so thinking their kid was making stuff up. It was great.

Alexis and Carter outside the whale (we took pictures a different day). The whale is made of two black tarps taped with black tape on the inside and formed into a shaped of a whale. The mouth is gray duck tape. And it blows up like a bounce house would with a fan in the tail. The kids entered in through the gill of the whale next to Alexis' left shoulder!

It was surprisingly large inside. It could have fit 40 kids inside. Our 30 junior primary kids only took up 1/2 of it.

A view inside the whale...the tail end. An an old school house fan did the trick to inflate it and keep it inflated!

The mouth end of the whale. You can see the opening through the side where the kids go in and out. After we were done the teachers said..."How are you gonna out due that?" My answer: "I'm not and I'm okay with that!"

Lost from the River

Finally, finally finally....the sun has appeared! I think the rain got me down. Call me spoiled, whatever you'd like...but whenever I complain about the high cost of living here someone usually always responds, "Yeah, but you pay for good weather year round!" So is it too much to ask for that weather I pay for?

So, with the sun shining we put our bathing suits on, packed up the stroller and walked down to the beach. As we were walking a golf cart passed us on the road. (Not something we commonly see around here) So I definitely expected my kids to think the golf cart was pretty cool and say something. But I didn't expect Alexis to say this:

"Look, Mom! I think it's lost from the river!"

So Dad...would you do me the honors of teaching my child that not all "decked out" golf carts belong at the river! This is one of those times where I think...what a rough life for our kids. They know how to pause the TV and occasionally they freak out and wonder what the heck happened to their show when a commercial comes on! Seriously!

Crazy Day

Yesterday was the busiest day! I worked all day with a 15 minute lunch break. When I came home at 6pm I had 15 minutes to get dinner together. (Love the crock pot!) By choice I went to my favorite class at the gym. Then I came home and had 15 minutes to eat and I was off to my Presidency meeting. It was 7am-9pm non-stop! But I have to share a few things with you. I love my profession because I can talk and talk and talk! However, sometimes I wish my patients could talk more because they have the most interesting stories!

One lady was asking me how my kids were and kept telling me how lucky I was to have kids so young and I should keep having them young. I was pretty surprised seeing as most people react the opposite to having children at a young age. Anyways, she had a thick accent so it was hard to understand what she was saying. But finally I realized she was telling me how she had her son when she was pretty old and it was no good. Then she proceeded to tell me how she had to have an abortion with her second because she was only allowed one child. Of course, I've heard you are only allowed to have one child in China but it never hit an emotional cord till I spoke with this lady. I just couldn't imagine having that freedom taken away from me. Talking to her made me so grateful that I live in a country that gives me the freedom to make my own decisions especially when it comes to how many kids I want.

Then I was talking to another guy and he races cars. He actually drove the main red car in the "Duke's of Hazzard" movie. He was the stunt driver and they inserted the actors faces digitally! His stories are crazy! But last year around this time he was sponsored to be the first person to drive a truck and do a full back flip in the air in the x-games. He was doing his practice runs right before Christmas. I thought I'd link these you-tube videos of him so you could see for yourself. I'll tell you what happened after...

First Practice Run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j31VRT4witQ

Second Practice Run: (going a little faster...according to the driver)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w69nF1AFnbw

So, it took one hour for the jaws of life to get him out. He broke his back and came close to becoming paralyzed. Instead of competing in the x-games he spent Christmas and New Years in the hospital. I said, "Your gonna quit now, right!" But I don't think that's ever gonna happen. He's pretty determined. So watch the x-games at the end of the year!

So, bottom line. I'm grateful for my family, kids, freedoms and my oh so busy but "ordinary" life! Because I take it for granted too often.

I GIVE UP...for now!

Does this surprise anyone that I went back to my traditional hair do? Short and blond, once again!

P.S. That stupid fridge farm toy is giving me a complex! I came home for my lunch break the
other day and walked over to the fridge and the thing "moo-ed" at me. No one even touched it.
Then Chad laughed and had to point out...there wasn't even a match or anything in it. How does
it moo when there's no cow in there? All in favor of getting rid of the toy, say I?
It's destroying my self esteem!