Fire House

As a part of the Network of Resident Spouses playgroup that we attend, we were able to tour the local Fire House last week. The boys had a great time meeting the Firemen, and of course investigating the HUGE garage and firetrucks! They were even allowed inside one of the trucks. One of the firemen gave us a demonstration of how he dresses in his gear, and when the oxygen tank turned on with a loud hiss, Owen about went through the roof. It was tough to convince him to loosen his death grip on me after that... but I at least got him on the bumper of the truck for some pics. I actually had a lot of fun myself checking out the trucks up close!

Hair Cuts

When Brad and I got married, one of my longtime/childhood best friends gave us a hair cutting kit as a gift. I was shocked when Brad actually wanted me to use it to cut his hair! I had never cut hair, other than trimming my sister's LONG hair.... a man cut with clippers was totally new to me. We sat down in front of a mirror so he could see what I was doing, and he guided me through it (his Dad had always cut his hair so he knew a little about the process). It took about 2 hours and I was covered in hair and unsure if I ever wanted to attempt it again. Fast forward 7 1/2 years and I not only remain Brad's exclusive stylist, but I now have two little tow heads to keep trimmed up as well. It's not a process that I necessarily look forward to, but I'm much faster now, I've learned a few things, and it saves a lot of money.

Owen Before:

Owen After:

I use a combination of clippers and scissors for Brad and Eli, but I wanted to keep Owen's hair relatively long. It's much shorter than I was going for, but I messed up his bangs, then I watched some helpful videos on youtube and was able to fix it with a complete scissor cut. I find it helpful to use smaller scissors on toddlers, and to invest in some blending shears! I also sprang for a child's cape and a cape for myself this time - I figure 7 1/2 years of detesting the feeling of hair stuck in my clothes warranted me a cape! It also helps to strap the kids in a booster chair, plug in a movie on the portable dvd player, and give them endless goldfish and yogurt raisins!

The Setup:

Here are links to the video series I watched in case you are inspired to try this at home.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

St. Louis Temple

Just before Easter, we took the boys to St. Louis so Brad and I could attend the Temple. It ends up being an all day affair for us, as it's a two hour drive there and back, and we each take turns going in for a session so the other one can stay outside to watch the kids either at the park or in the visitor's lobby (children under the age of 12 do not participate in Temple attendance). That's at least an 8 hour day, and we usually work a picnic and some shopping into the trip as well. Eli LOVES to see the Temple, and will point out any local church building with a steeple and insist it is the Temple.
We always stop at our FAVORITE store - Whole Foods! We stock up on a few of our favorite natural products, and then buy a picnic's worth of food from their salad bar. As a special treat this time, we tried their Italian Gelatto (like thick ice cream) - oh, it was YUMMY!

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!