Oh The Excitement!

The best Easter picture we were able to get of the kids before church. I love Daniels smile.

.

It was great to start the day out with a nice brisk walk this morning.  My friend and I talked about preparedness and children.  Love it!  When I got home I switched laundry and put in my 3 load for the day. I love my Mondays!

Recently I have had to come up with creative ways to divert Eliza's attention from Daniel.  She seems to like to smoother him with kisses and very tight squeezes.  Occasional pile drives occur as well.  In an effort to protect Daniel on Mondays when I am folding laundry I bring Eliza in with me.  I wanted to test her ability to remember. I must say I was shocked a little when I first pulled out an article of clothing from the dryer and asked her who's it was, and she easily told me.  So now that is our new game we play on Monday's together.  "Whose clothes are these?"

Lucy and Kady wanted to play matching games and old maid for our "homework" this morning.  Lunch was not very succesful.  I tried serving leftover noodles from last night but they mostly complained about it.  They did eat strawberries so at least they had something.

This was taken last month

We filled the water table up in the afternoon and the girls had a blast using their imaginations.  Eliza again sat in it and was sopping wet.  She came in without me realizing and went to sit on the bar stool and literally made a big sloosh sound with her diaper.  I brought her back outside to dry off.

Emma had garden club today after school.  It is such a great idea to me to do with kids.  They have planted a "salsa garden", "cactus garden" and a "vegatable soup garden"

Next week they will be having a party and will have samplings of the products.  I am excited to try it out.
Emma also decided to buy several things at their book fair today, with her own money.  I was unaware that she had intentions to do so.  Sera came home with a cute little tiny jeweled notebook.  I asked her where she got it from and she told me Emma had bought it for her.  She was excited because Emma told her she had another surprise for her once she got home from garden club.

Sera was so excited to see what it was.  When Emma got home she pulled out this large poster of a little puppy with a pink bow in it's hair.  Sera was beyond elated.  Emma also purchased this, how to be a star beauty book.  In my former mother life I most likely would have poo-pooed on her purchases, but have learned since that sometimes it is best to put your personal feelings aside and enjoy the moment.  I know I am a late bloomer.  It was a joy for me to watch all of the girls be excited and to watch Emma beam as she felt so happy inside to have shared with others what she had bought.

The girls played dress up and wanted to do a fashion show but we ran out of time tonight.  Another night I suppose.  Emma also got another free little puppy poster, becasue as she said "I got more than $10 of stuff" She decided to give that to Lucy.  Emma told us several times how good she felt for sharing.  That makes me happy, real happy!

Here are the girls doing a photo op after Emma dolled them up

We enjoyed  delicious bake potato bar for dinner.  Lucy made a huge mess putting her's together jsut the way she wanted.  We always say "It's okay to make a mess, you just need to clean it up when you are done."  So she did.  Kady was sad that she didn't get to put her potato together so I told her that if she ate what was on her plate then she could have some more and she could fix it herself.  She ate very fast so she could do that.

I was in charge of the treat tonight for Family home evening (FHE).  My sister gave me a great suggestion to make chocolate jello with cool whip mixed in and then layer it with oreos.  Super easy and everyone enjoyed it.  Emma was in charge of activity.  She chose to do a fire drill and talked to us about what to do in case of a fire.  We decided where we are to meet if our home was on fire.  She was very thorough.  Sera was in charge of lesson and she talked about being kind and used Emma as an example.

Sera showing off some more.  She was waving her hands around and speaking in a British accent.

I love it when everything seems to be going right and good.  I don't know what other homes are like but if they are anything like ours we go through ebbs and flows of wonderfulness and then down right blah.  Right now is the time where everything just seems to go just right and then something snaps and then the  kids will seem like all they do is tattle tale and complain and want to hurt each other.  I seem to be less patient and kind myself during those times.

 Jared's Grandma came down Easter weekend with his aunt.  Daniel enjoyed talking with her and getting lots of kisses from her too.

I have learned that it is just the nature of our lives.  I feel that those times when it all seems hard and frustrating are the times we can either learn and grow or just give up and feel defeated.  Of course sometimes it may feel as if it would be best to just give up, but I believe that it is not in our innate nature as women to give up, but to pick ourselves up off the ground (sometimes literally) and get back to work.  That's the trick to figure out how to get up and get back to work, to reach beyond our own abilities and trust God in knowing what is best for us and then doing.  A wise person once said we should "Go and do, not sit and stew."