Easter Week

Easter week started up with FHE on Monday night. We did a little object lesson that my kids LOVED so I thought I would share it with all of you...I found this idea online and was a little hesitant to try it, but it made a HUGE impression on my kids. So here's what you do...

You take a crescent roll that represents the cloth Jesus was wrapped in, then you take a marshmallow that represents Jesus' body and coat it with butter and oil, which represent the spices used to anoint the body. Then you take the marshmallow and cover it completely with the crescent roll (the cloths). Okay now you stick the rolls in the oven/tomb and the oven door is the stone rolled in front of the tomb. After about 10 minutes you "remove the stone" and pull out the rolls. Each roll looks like a mini tomb that is hollow and empty.

It was really great, and I am sad that I didn't take pictures of ours, but it really worked.

Easter weekend began with the Easter Hunt in Malad on Saturday morning. Both of the boys did really well this year, and were awfully proud of their findings...

Next was the hunt at Grandma Mary Ann's with all the cousins. Kesler kept telling me, "Mom, I'm not very good at this." Brevin was more determined, but got awfully ticked if anyone pointed him in the direction of his eggs.

Easter morning the Easter Bunny brought goggles (the only request the boys made) and some summer toys: a new bat, balls, swimming pool etc. Brevin left a note and a hard boiled egg for the Easter Bunny asking for him to disclose his real name. The Easter Bunny ate the egg and left the shells behind, but took a minute to write the boys a note reminding them to remember the real reason we celebrate Easter.

After church...my handsome boys...I promised the boys that they could paint my enormous belly like and Easter egg. I first had my mom and niece, Brooke, paint it and then took the photo at the top of the page. Then the boys had their turn, along with Brooke and Bree. They thought it was so fun.

One of the highlights of my Easter Sunday was spending time with my Grandma and Grandpa. I shocked the socks off of Grandma when I told her I had a rash I was wondering if she could look at and popped out my "Easter Belly." She nearly suffered a heart attack, but laughed and laughed and couldn't believe I would do such a thing. It was hilarious.

No Foolin'

So on April Fools I had a doctor's appointment first thing in the morning. I was just about ready when Bryson and Kesler came to find me to tell me that Taffy had kittens! Yep 5 little black and white striped mouse-sized kittens. Oh man...what in the world have we done to ourselves? The boys are absolutely obsessed with them and go to check on them about every 10 minutes. They already beg to keep them because they know we wont let them. I made the mistake of telling them that when they are about 6 weeks old we will give them away. I regrettably used the time reference of "about the time our real baby gets here" So Kesler pleaded with me to just keep the baby in my belly so the cats wouldn't have to go!
They've already named them. They agreed (which is a rare occasion) on
Boxer
Brevin chose
Max and Alex
Kesler's picks were
Grapes and Mint :)

So anyone looking for some new pets let me know! Otherwise, to the pet store they go.


We have this fun little clean up game we play where I let the boys stand at the top of the stairs and then I toss them items that have made their way downstairs and shouldn't be there. So yesterday I was tossing things up to Kesler and I threw a tube of ridiculously hot pink lipstick that my niece had brought downstairs up to him. (The lipstick is used for Halloween only, just for the record). So anyway just about then the doorbell rang and my friend Cori came in. I heard her talking to Kesler and laughing. So I went up the stairs to find this....
Last week he was putting my lip gloss on at church, and I'm sure he thought that there would be no evidence at all that he had tried it again.

Brevin and his "air shot" Oh my land...my son has developed a nervous twitch we like to call the air shot. He will just be walking through the house, or telling me a story, or getting out of the tub for crying out loud and about every 30 seconds he jumps into air and acts like he's shooting a basketball. It is the most random thing! So throughout the course of dinner last night I continued to shoot my own air shot every once in awhile. Although, I had Bryson laughing to tears, Brevin didn't think it was nearly as funny. He was ticked actually and kept saying "MOM!" louder and louder each time.
Garden update. The plants started making an appearance only a couple of days after we planted them. They look really good, but have slowed down just a bit...I think because of lack of sunlight. PLEEEEASE let spring come!
Baby Update. After another thyroid scare, a crazy rash that has now subsided, I have now found out that my iron is EXTREMELY low. I was told that I should be taking 350 mg twice a day, and the pills I bought are only 45 mg each. So basically I could take the entire box to fulfill a half day's requirement. The drawbacks of iron deficiency...super tired, can't catch breath, dizzy, and desire for non-food items (no I haven't eaten any sheet rock this time...I know that's what you're all thinking. It doesn't sound too bad though...I must admit). I swear this pregnancy has been such a roller coaster. The good news though-I only gained one pound at the weigh in...wooohoooo!!

Utah Weekend

Since this next week is Spring Break WOOHOO!! We decided to head to Utah for a fun weekend with Sissy and Nate. (We would have gone this week, but they are headed to Cancun...jealous) My kids were SOOO excited to see Sissy and Nate. Nothing is ever boring when they are with them--and the SPOIL my children ridiculously. We drove straight down as soon as Brevin was done with school on Friday and went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Then the boys headed back to the apartment for some racquetball, tennis, and hottubing. While the girls did a little shopping.

We were not the only ones who thought it looked like a perfect day to go to Hogle Zoo on Saturday. We had to park about a 1/2 mile away from the parking lot because it was so packed. It was such a perfect day, though. We all got a little sun (except for Brevin who insisted on wearing his jacket the entire day!) We have always gone to Hogle Zoo in the dead of summer when you sweat your guts out and the animals are all buried as deep in their caves as they can to get some shade, this was much more enjoyable. The animals were out and about like I have never seen before, and sweating was minimal :)

Brevin and Kesler's favorite stop was the monkeys. They were quiet entertaining. I almost felt like I was watching a rated R movie, though. The boys laughed and laughed, as did the adults.

After the Zoo we grabbed some lunch and Sissy and Nate took us to a nearby park, if you can call it that. It is HUGE! Sissy had bought two kites for the boys and the wind was just right. There were about 10 other kite fliers around us and besides a couple of mishaps, and laughs, everything went quite well.

Kesler was so excited to feed the ducks/seagulls, so Sissy and I took him across to street to find at least half of the Utah's seagull population.

It was so nice to get away and not have to think about all the crud going on around here. Last night Brevin asked if he could move in with Sissy and Nate. We are so lucky to have them in our lives. I keep praying they never decide to have children; my kids wont know what to do with themselves! Thanks for a much needed fun weekend guys, we love you!

Martha Round Two...ding ding

Well, for those of you who have been following us for more than a year...this might look familiar. Last year I was watching Martha and thought it seemed like such a great idea to get our garden started early. The boys absolutely LOVED watching the garden grow on our kitchen table, unfortunately, we didn't really plant the right things and the first night we left them outside they froze :( So...this past weekend I had a Martha on, and low and behold she was doing the same thing. Although, this show was a little more informative than the last one. Maybe I wasn't the only failing gardener out there. The boys have been BEGGING every day to plant the seeds so I promised we would do it for FHE. So I will be doing updates on the garden growing...and pray the outcome is a little different than last year.

After another series of eventful happenings this weekend, I think my mom was worried that I was going to have a mental breakdown so she came up to spend some time with us. The boys were thrilled to have Grandma Mary Ann here and asked her immediately if she wanted to have FHE with us. Although she tried to sneak out of every picture, I managed to catch her in one.

I just started converting my blog to a book and realized how fun those little things my kids say are. I had forgotten so much, so I am going to try harder to keep track of those things.

Yesterday Kesler was in my closet with me while I was getting dressed and he said, "Don't put two bras on today, okay mom." I looked at him puzzled. I said "Mommy never wears two bras, silly." He said "Yes you do, you wear one right here," and pointed right beneath my belly. Oh, aha, the belly band...the best invention EVER! For those of you who don't know what it is. It's like a tube top for the belly/bum crack! It's too bad that my belly is twice the size of the biggest one in the picture.

Kesler and I went to the library while Brevin went to school and checked out a bunch of books. I decided to try getting a bigger book that maybe they would look forward to the story and want to keep reading so I decided to try James and the Giant Peach. Well, we started after Brevin got out of school and read the first 17 chapters. The whole book (136 pages) was completed in less than 24 hours. Every spare second the boys begged me to read on. It was so fun.

Although spring hasn't quite sprung, we are pretending that it has and the boys are loving every minutes. So are their cats...even though hey have more than doubled in size these two insist on carrying them like babies...the funny thing is that those poor felines are so used to it, they don't even put up a fight.

We were painting all day on Saturday...don't even ask...and the boys spent most of the day playing outside with Tango and Taffy. Well it's been almost a year and we still aren't sure if Tango (the fluffy one) is a boy or girl. So on Saturday I was sitting on the lawn with the boys and the cats and Brevin said "Hey mom, I knew it! Tango is a girl. Look at her teats." (He has read A LOT of those informative animal books) Well I looked down, and let's just say...it wasn't a teat, and we finally have an answer. Tango is a boy!

A Couple More Crumbs...

I've started this post about 4 different times and never finished it. The label says March 5th, but it's March 10th now...let's hope I can sit in this chair long enough to get it done!! It just keeps getting longer and longer. Remember...I do this for journaling for my kids, so if you are bored that's totally okay!

I took the boys with me to the fabric store last week for find some fabric to make a baby quilt. We weren't having much luck when the boys decided that they wanted blankets. I humored them and we looked at some of the fleece. Kesler wanted the nastiest horse head fleece I have ever seen, and I told him that as much as I loved him. That wasn't happening. They found some REALLY soft fabric that was on sale so when we got home I ended up making these...

Not this...

These...
Kesler's latest word of choice--spylish, yep with a "p". He is constantly asking if things are spylish, and I can't help but crack up every single time he says it.

Speaking of stylish...on the way to school this week Brevin said, "Mom, I thought you were helping in my class today." I told him that I was. He got this really funny look on his face, and I asked him what that was supposed to mean. His response--"Well, you...ummm...just don't look that stylish today." What?!? My 6-year-old Kindergartner is paying attention to my fashion? I said my hair is done, my make-up is done, I have on pants, a shirt, and shoes...I'll admit it wasn't my finest day, but sheesh!

Speaking of "speaking of", I must say that A LOT. I have never noticed, but now that both of my children preface each sentence with it, I am noticing it more and more. During church today someone mentioned Stake Conference...Brevin actually said, "Speaking of stake, I can't wait to have some steak on the grill when we get home today."

I got home from Bunko on Wednesday night and Brevin had his "up to something" smirk on his face. This is what he had made while I was gone...his own version of memory. I thought it was so stinking funny. It was equipped with pairs of bulls, dogs, cats, hay bales, K-Dog (Kesler), and himself all drawn on 1inch by 1inch papers. He was so proud.

I went to the doctor this past week and am embarrassed to say that I have gained a whopping 41 lbs so far! Awesome. I keep getting those...so you're due any day looks and boy, is that fun. The good news is that I am starting my every two week appointments now. So I guess that marks the end. Some friends keep saying that they're going to throw me a party when I get to 50 lbs, and celebrate with pound cake...hilarious, Josh!

My niece Breelle was baptized last Saturday, and I stopped at my Grandma's to take her with me. It was so nice to be sitting in the chapel with her again. It made me a little teary. We all sang I am a Child of God and it was so nostalgic. Her perfect alto while I sang soprano took me back to being a little girl sitting with her in church. She is the most amazing Grandma. She always put her family first and never missed one single thing we invited her to. I felt like I should get a picture with her after regardless of what I look like these days :(

So Brevin comes home from school and empties his bag...the usual routine. He gets this funny look on his face and hands me a picture that says -------+Brevin. Completely decorated with hearts and the word "love," you know something I would have made for Bryson in, I don't know, the 7th grade!! Not Kindergarten!! Oh, I was so bugged. So after a minute I said "Brevin, do you know what a girlfriend is?" He looked at me like, duh, mom. So I asked him what he thought it meant. His response..."Someone you graduate with!" Oh, well, if that's how he feels, he is welcome to have as many girlfriends as he wants! I mentioned it to his teachers and they said how there's been a competition started by some of the girls in his class to fight for his attention. So it's official...home school!!! I can't handle this!

Brevin had his last basketball game on Saturday. I was so glad Grandpa Thayne had come to watch him, because he had his best game by far. I can't believe how much he has improved in 6 weeks. He scored 10 points, and the little old man sitting next to me would chuckle every time he made a shot. Someone nudged him and told him he was sitting by the "little one's" mom. So he turned to me and asked, "Are you number 5's mom." I smiled proudly and said told him that I was. He said, "He's the littlest one out there and is our high scorer! What a shot!" It was so fun.

It was so nice to have Brevin home from school wednesday through friday of this week. Made me remember how nice my life was before he left :( I starting these blocks conference weekend...yep in October, but now that my toy room is almost finished...HOORAY!! I thought I'd better get them done. Saw them on Martha Stewart and fell in love. So I put my boys to work painting...not that they'd call it work. They loved every minute of it, and we finished them up this weekend. They have been playing with them like crazy.

The finished product...

The boys have been on a big game playing kick. We have been trying to leave the TV off more. This time of year it is so tempting to turn it on! So we've gone to game playing. Brevin loves to play Chess, Checkers, and Stratego. Kesler loves them too, but has his own versions of playing :) The nice thing about having Kelser on my team, though, is that I always have my own personal spy :)