A Little More Easter

Wow. I think the main reason I blog is simply that I cannot email ALL of the pictures I take ... I'm sure my Dad is relieved to view them here rather than having them crash his computer while uploading as in the past =). Anyway, on Saturday night the boys got to put on their new Dinosaur jammies from the Easter Bunny, and opened their little gifts from my parents. They were thrilled to see WHALES! They knew immediately which type they were... "oh, an Orca Whale and a Sperm Whale!" They also got some little dog figures, though Owen couldn't stop calling the Dalmation a Cow. It gave them something fun to do for the evening while Brad was away attending the Priesthood session of General Conference (General Conference - the worldwide broadcast put out by our Church twice a year featuring talks given by the Prophet and General Authorities/leaders of the Church... you can view the sessions or read the text of the talks here if interested).


On Easter Sunday, we had the yummy breakfast I posted about below. The boys really enjoyed helping me make the honey cream!


We watched conference together via the internet, as we don't have satellite or cable to pick it up on the tv. What a wonderful and inspiring way to spend the day! We took an evening walk to another park together and let the kids go crazy on the slides, and blow some of the giant bubbles from their Easter baskets.

Owen got frustrated that he couldn't work the bubbles just right.

We walked around the little pond there and saw Canada Geese, deer tracks in the mud, and all kinds of birds. We could hear frogs croaking, bugs buzzing, birds singing, and geese honking... we LOVE spring!


The wind really picked up on our walk home. Apparently a storm was blowing in, as that night there was a tornado and hail warning... luckily all we saw was some rain and thunder.

It was a beautiful weekend, and a wonderful time to remember the GIFT of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It has been so exciting to teach our children about the Resurrection, and to see Eli's enthusiasm especially as he can retell the story about Mary finding the empty tomb, and then discovering that Jesus was the LIVING being standing there before her. I am so thankful for these two precious boys of mine, and I'm thankful that because of Jesus' sacrifice, these boys will be mine FOREVER.

Easter Breakfast

Whole Wheat, Flax and Honey Waffles

1/2 C Whole White Wheat Flour
1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tbs Honey
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Egg
1 C Milk
2 Tbs Oil
Add a couple Tbs of milled flax seed, or replace 1 Tbs of oil with 3 Tbs of flax seed.

Make into pancakes or waffles and top with *honey-cream and fresh berries.
Serve with Turkey Bacon.

Honey Cream

Heavy Whipping Cream in amount desired (1/2 pint?)
Honey to taste (1 Tbs or so)
*Whip as usual on high with whisk beater.

Egg Hunting and Easter Baskets

Eli and Owen are official "egg-hunters" now with all the practice they received this season! They lucked out and were able to attend an egg hunt with friends from church, another with our Residents' Spouse playgroup (which some of our church friends also attend - aren't we lucky?!), and of course at our house after the Easter Bunny mysteriously hid all their eggs. The Easter Bunny visits our house the day before Easter so that the kids can enjoy their baskets and egg hunting without detracting from the Spirit and true meaning of Easter on Sunday. Eli watched our home movie from last year's egg hunting around our little duplex in MA, so he was prepared and anxious for the festivities - Owen caught on lightning quick and was busy picking up eggs and chucking them into his basket with the best of the big kids. We got a lot of mileage out of tossing plastic eggs around the house and having the kids pick them up for several days afterwards... Eli liked to announce "I'm hunting eggs!" Oh, and the cute matching plaid shorts are from my Aunt Janice!

Playgroup Egg Hunting

I knew Eli would enjoy coloring eggs this year - he has gotten more interested in arts and crafts lately... but I hadn't anticipated Owen's excited reaction! He got pretty attached to his egg and did NOT want to give it up... even after he had thoroughly dyed his hands yellow!

Coloring Eggs

Easter Baskets and Backyard Egghunt!

As if that wasn't fun enough, we went to the park later in the evening for a picnic dinner - hard boiled eggs and veggies of course! It was so nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors as a family, and of course to get muddy!

Inspiration for Mothering

I've been reading this amazing blog written by a woman who has raised 11 kids (she's the mother of a friend of a friend) ... she has some wonderful insights on raising children lovingly - connecting with them and helping them build their own internal moral compass without harsh discipline. Much of what she says flies in the face of many "mainstream" techniques (ie. Supernanny, Love and Logic etc), but it definitely makes sense and resonates with the desires I have to parent in this way... I often seem to lack the actual know-how to follow through with my "ideal," and so far I have found a lot of inspiring things on here. The best part is that it's written in a Q&A format, so you can actually write in specific questions if you want. Here is one sample of something she wrote today:

Motherhood took on a whole new meaning for me when I adopted a more proactive approach that was based on some basic goals. The two goals that I have as I raise little children are 1) to preserve and strengthen our relationship and 2) to develop their deep, inner feelings of right and wrong. When your children emerge from these early years and become teen-agers, you will want to have firmly established those two things. It isn’t the easiest method of parenting. It takes constant thought and focus. The focus is on building a strong bond of love, helping children to succeed at what you ask them to do, and teaching instead of constant disciplining.

Physical discipline is destructive when you consider both of those goals. Not only does it damage the relationship, but it absolves a child of responsibility for what they’ve done. They have paid for the crime so there is no need to feel sorrow for it. At best, it is a deterrent—and if our goal is just to produce acceptable outward behavior, then it’s useful. The motivation will be fear of punishment. But our goal is to develop our child from the inside out—the motivation being a desire to be good.

So if you have the desire to parent more lovingly, or just want some good ideas from a wise woman who has been in your shoes, click on over to Asking Jane!!!!!

Swimming Suit Season

Are you ready for a good laugh? I was going through my swimming stuff this weekend - trying on my new suit to be sure I wanted to keep it and getting rid of old stuff. The boys had to get involved of course. They each picked out a suit to try on and insisted they get to wear them - so yes I'm the one who helped get them on, but this was THEIR idea!


Pretty groovy huh?! I guarantee they look cuter in them than I do! =)

Potty Success

I think it's safe to say that Eli is officially "potty trained." Believe me, there were moments when I thought it might not happen for another year, but looking back, it really was pretty easy. We took it slow in the beginning... there were several months of starts and stops, experimenting with underwear and pee puddles all over the house, but our "official" start was somewhere around two months ago. I should have kept a log =). We switched to underwear completely for the daytime, cold turkey. I took Eli potty every couple of hours, and it went great. He rarely had an accident, and was dry overnight as well (though we kept him in a cloth diaper overnight "just in case" until this week).

Poop was another story, however. For the first three weeks, he pooped in his underwear every single day. He would always hide when he did it, and refuse any of my attempts to get him to try on the potty. We promised him Hiro the train (from Thomas and Friends) if he did it, and finally one day I just happened to catch him mid-business and he was able to have a small success on the potty. We jumped for joy, high-fived, called daddy and grandma, ate chocolate, and drove to the store to buy his train.... then he felt like he had achieved his goal and quit trying again for nearly two weeks!

Then one day the stars aligned or something and I happened to get him on the potty at the right time, and he did it! We celebrated again and immediately hung up a new "poop chart" with a picture of his next coveted train (he was of the mindset that each time he pooped he would get a train - I needed a visual for him that THIS time he needed to go more than once before getting his prize). The next couple of days involved a few accidents and a few successes, but mostly overcoming his fear of going on the potty. And finally it all clicked into place. It was like once he felt comfortable pooping on the potty, he was suddenly able to be in charge of all of his potty needs - meaning I was able to completely stop reminding him to go, and try to encourage him to go throughout the day. He now tells me whenever he needs to go, which means I have to jump up immediately from whatever I'm doing, but hey, that's ok! He still needs help with his clothes and getting up on the potty, but I'm sure that will come in time.

It's so funny to me at how watching my child learn to master the potty and being involved in helping him feels like such a major victory, but it does! And not just because I don't have to change diapers or messy undies anymore, but I feel honest, true joy at his success and seeing how proud and happy he is to have learned such a tricky process. I loved listening to him excitedly recount to his dad "first I was scared, then I was brave, then I took a deep breath like this, then it came out and I pooped!" I just love my Eli!

The Chart

Eli with "Spencer" the final prize.

Seconds before Owen destroys the track...

Scary Dream

Eli has been having nightmares here and there lately, and they seem to be recurring... He comes into our room at some point almost every night, and some of the time will tell us that he is scared because of a "scary tree" that has either fallen on him or chased him. One night last week, he uncharacteristically got up and started wandering the dark hallway, sobbing. When Brad went to get him, he got hysterical (also unusual since he usually comes to Brad when he wakes up in the night). I got up and was able to comfort him and take him back to his own bed, where he fell asleep. The next morning I talked to him about it. I pointed out that he had been crying in the night because he was scared, and I asked if he remembered why... this is the story I got:

There was a big, scary tree. And I was alone. And I was sad, because I can't find you. Then at last, I was home. And you were sleeping in the bed! (Eli, age 3 yrs 3 months).

I could not contain my giggles at his exceptional re-telling! I of course have sympathy for him, because I was plagued by nightmares and fear of the dark throughout my childhood (probably until 12 or so!) - I think it comes from an active imagination. Anyway, I really don't know what initiated the scary tree, but I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it!

***Edited to Add: I didn't make it clear in the first paragraph that Eli is NOT having nightmares every night... he IS coming into our room every night, but I think just because he gets cold or lonely or what have you.... what I mean by recurring nightmare is that when he does have them, it's always about this said tree. So yes, I feel bad for him for having any night time fear, but at the moment it is not at all excessive. What most struck me about this dream was how he narrated it, which I thought was funny.

So Sweet

I love it when I catch my boys being sweet... like the other morning when I woke up to see this next to me:


And this evening when Owen insisted he bring a baby into the tub and proceeded to love on it... then Eli wanted in as well and took over washing the baby's hair, "helping" it sit up, and chattering away about how "cute" his little tiny baby is.






One minute these kids have me tearing out my hair (ie. read Dumpster Diving post) and the next minute they are melting my heart!

Dumpster Diving

I couldn't find my cell phone the other day, so I used Brad's phone to call it. It took me a few minutes to locate the ringing - it was coming from the bottom of our deep kitchen garbage can. Owen has been fascinated with opening and closing the garbage can lately, but I hadn't realized he was throwing things in it! While rescuing my phone, I also came across a few of the kids' balls, stuffed animals and cars down in there, which got me thinking.... we'd been missing a few wooden balls from their pound and roll toy, so this morning I went through the full bag of garbage that had already been placed in the garage. Sifting through smelly garbage in search of mystery lost items is really not my idea of a party! The good news is, I found the balls - along with a bib, some of MY socks, eye shadow, some cars, a bird, wooden farm beads, and a necklace. The bad news is, I think I finally know what happened to our Cars and Thomas Train dvds, as well as two more pound and roll balls that have been gone for a while.... I think those are gone forever in the dump somewhere! So now my kitchen garbage is up on top of the counter until I can get something to secure the lid with. Good times!


Though I don't have pictures for this one, Owen's other fixation is the toilet... apparently he has seen me rinsing cloth diapers in it because he keeps throwing clothing, rags, clean diapers, shoes, mirrors, toys and various other items in it whenever he can. He is dangerous to have in the bathroom when I'm trying to help Eli use the toilet, because that's inevitably when he gets to it while I'm tied up helping his brother. Mischevious is his middle name!