Easter

Okay, I really thought I had posted about Easter, since I thought it all out in my head, and probably went to do it several times. Sadly, now I can't remember what I had planned to write. I'll just tell you what I know from the pictures I took (Lucky for me I take so many pictures that there's not much I won't remember):

It's tradition in our little family to have the Easter Bunny come to our house on Saturday, so Sunday can be all about the Savior. Some time around 7 am, the boys were awakened and we asked if they wanted to find their Easter Baskets. To which Ethan replied," Why don't we get dressed, eat breakfast, and then look for our baskets?" Oh, he is sooo Mike's son sometimes! And yet, even Mike said, "No way! We want to find our baskets first!"

This year the Easter Bunny brought very little candy (at least, compared to last year it was very little), but included a few gifts as well. Alex and Ethan got big bouncy balls, Ethan also got a Slinky, Andrew got Spokey Dokes for his bike & a journal (which he LOVED as much as receiving his own Book of Mormon), and they all got a small book. Mike got styrofoam gliders to play with with his boys, I got a Hula Hoop (I've always wanted one! - my current record is 40 minutes straight), and we got a Jumprope to share.

(I should just smile normally instead of trying to make my face say, "I'm so excited to get a hula hoop!")All Mike hoped to get was a hollow chocolate bunny. I'm glad the Easter bunny came through for him!All Alex liked of the Peeps were the heads and the tails. We'd find the poor decapitated, tail-less bodies lying discarded on the floor sometime after Alex was finished with them. For while, Alex had no idea that it was delicious Jelly Beans making the noise inside the eggs. He just thought they were great noisemakers. Now I wonder why Mike ever thought to show him otherwise. This year, we held an Easter Egg Treasure Hunt. Instead of getting loads more candy (we're really trying to be healthier with less treats overall), the eggs held clues to where the next egg could be found. Each boy was the leader for one Hunt, though the prizes were to be shared by the whole family. I loved how well our boys let each other be involved with the whole hunt - taking turns finding each egg! Andrew read all the clues, then they raced together to the spot it described.The prizes were the Bedknobs & Broomsticks DVD, Alma in King Noah's Court (a Liken scripture story DVD), and a duffel bag and LED Flashlights for our 72 hour kits. I was happy to find that the kids were pleased with all of the prizes. This may be the new way we do it every year!

Easter fell on Conference Weekend, so we were home, in front of the T.V., for most of the weekend. We were, however, able to have the Slades (and Longmores) over for Easter Egg dying, the last session of General Conference, and a simple Easter Dinner. Alex worked on hand painting this single egg for more than 20 minutes straight. Dipping and painting, dipping and painting. I don't think I've ever seen him do one thing for that long!I think this picture was taken during a song or something, judging by how many people are NOT paying rapt attention to the T.V. screen. :-) Legos during Conference are a Slade tradition. During the Saturday Sessions, we played Conference Bingo (a tradition from my childhood), and our new game of listening for key words or topics that determine which snack we could eat. This time, since I went way overboard on yummy candies last October, I kept the snacks more simple and healthy: Pretzels, Goldfish crackers, Raisins, and Assorted Mini-Candy Bars (you gotta have one candy option!) During Sunday's Morning Session, we worked a little on the Conference Booklets that the kids were given in Primary. During the Afternoon, in addition to playing with Legos and coloring, the kids listened for five key words. If they heard one of them, and told Grandma, they were given a ticket. At first the game was that if they heard all five words by the end of Conference, Grandma would give them a special gift at the end. When all the kids had heard all but one word by the end of the first talk, it quickly turned into a competition to see who could have the most tickets by the end of Conference. Some talks were so centered on the topics (i.e., Missionary Work) that we had to make a new rule that you could only claim a word three times in a single talk, so we could hear the words of the talk other than the key words.

I thought this would be a good time to capture some couples shots. I love the one of Will and Heidi! Heidi took the one of Mike and I for us. :-) Henry sacrificed the safety of his white shirt to allow Alex to come near it with a pen. I love what uncles will do for the sake of entertaining their nephews!This Jello-Lego Man was made from the mold that was my souvenier from Legoland. Andrew asked me to take this picture of the library book he was reading: Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School. His favorite problem from the book was "elf+ elf = fool." We also threw in a few extra "to-do's" in our day. Grandpa gave Levi and Braxton haircuts.

And afterward, Henry and Levi gave our boys flips - over, and over, and over, until I finally told the boys they'd worn out their uncles enough. (Oh they are so patient! We are so blessed!)

Andrew's Birthday - 7 is Heaven!

Once again, there were several days involved in the celebration of a birthday in our family. Andrew's first party was at Grandma & Grandpa Slade's house, on the traditional "Third Sunday Dinner," and was shared with Jase, whose birthday is just about 2 weeks before his own. In Andrew's honor, French Toast Sticks were part of the menu.

Aunt Kathie made their birthday cake, continuing a tradition they began while we were living in Pennsylvania of making a volcano cake, including dry ice, for Jase's birthday. Andrew had said he wanted a ToonTown cake, so Kathie added some cool printouts of ToonTown characters dancing around the base.

(There was a little talk of whether or not it was appropiate to be cheering and laughing about a volcano while the whole of Europe & Iceland were still suffering the effects of a recent volcano eruption, but after a contemplative pause, we continued.)

We gave Jase a card that Andrew and Ethan designed & signed, with $5 attached to the inside.

Grandma & Grandpa Slade gave him an outfit to wear to their activity of riding the bumper boats at Boondocks, sometime when the weather isn't cold, rainy, or snowy (as it has been rather often lately).

Kathie & Henry gave Jase & Andrew matching Nerf guns that kept them entertained from the moment they opened them until we were telling them to get into the car to go.

Grandpa Slade had us each say something we loved about each of the birthday boys. It was fun to hear what others in our extended family see in our boy - he's smart & can see through someone's "tricks", he plays well with his cousins, he's obedient, he's happy and fun.

The next celebration was at Grandma & Grandpa Larsen's house. We went over on Saturday, the 17th, and helped clean out their basement a little, so they could effectively make progress toward finishing it. Grandma mentioned that they would like to give him his birthday present while we were there, and it was all he could do to wait until lunch was made and we were all gathered so he could open it. They gave him a card that played Star Wars Theme music, the book "Falling Up" - which had recently been added to his wish list and fits his sense of humor perfectly - and a dollar, since he's been interested in counting and recounting his money lately too!

His party there was the next day (and I forgot to bring the camera), and was shared with a whole bunch of April birthdays - Grandma Larsen (who has his SAME birthday), Grandpa Larsen, Uncle Erik, Uncle Ben, Uncle Josh Jensen, Great-Grandma Larsen & Great-Grandpa Larsen (who weren't there, but who were mentioned with love)! All the adult children (except Justin & Tina, who couldn't make it and who had already taken them out to dinner for their gift), had gone in together on a gift to cover birthdays and Mother's Day/Father's Day. It was a kid-sized picnic table and an airplane teeter-totter that can fit 7 kids at a time! (I must admit that, even though I thought Jayni's idea to give them the picnic table, and my idea to add the airplane, were great ideas, it felt a little selfish to be giving them gifts that were meant for the enjoyment of all OUR children; but, they get such a kick out of being grandparents and having fun things at their house for their grandchildren that we knew they'd love it!)

On Andrew's actual birthday, we gave him our presents: a Star Wars the Clone Wars MadLibs book, a Kids Word Searches book, a Magic Treehouse book, and a Soccer Ball. He was happy with all of it!

We served French Toast Sticks for breakfast, he had a homemade lunch that included snap peas (from Sam's Club, as the ones we planted have not matured enough to produce any yet), and had Rainbow Tortellini, Corn on the Cob, and Snap Peas for dinner. (I never thought a meal he chose would include so many vegetables! Hooray!)

Then, we all went to Dylan's for shakes, since he got a coupon for a free one, from his school, for having a birthday in April.

Andrew's final celebration was the Friday following his birthday. We let him invite 10 friends to a ToonTown/Club Penguin birthday party (Should I really be encouraging all this online gaming nonsense? - At least there's no real violence involved, and it's a way to connect with some friends across vast distances. . .) I was just as excited as he was for the party, for I was "well-pleased" with some of the ingenius things I had planned to carry the themes through the party. With his approval, we made Puffle cupcakes, instead of a recreation of his ToonTown character, Wierdcliff Nickelseed. Ethan and Alex helped me nearly every step of the way, so they got to choose theirs first and add sprinkles so they could tell them apart from the others.

I made cardstock cards of Fire, Snow, and Water to recreate the Card-Jitsu game from Club Penguin (which is actually a more involved version of Rock, Paper, Scissors), and played Human Card-Jitsu, taking the idea from Human Tic-Tac-Toe listed in the LDS Game Book.

We played my stand-by games for this age or older: Twisted Pretzel & Cinnamon Roll. Then, we played the Best game I came up with: Cog Attack. Earlier in the week, I'd asked a talented, artistic friend/neighbor of ours, Tyler Stott, to draw a Cog (the bad guys from ToonTown) on a large piece of cardboard. He painted a Legal Eagle (Andrew's favorite). Meanwhile, I purchase whipped cream spray and aluminum pie pans. You get the idea - the kids donned our store of "paint shirts" and just threw pies at the Cog. It was GREAT! Since it was cold outside, we had to do the activity in our garage, but I'm sure we'll get the mess cleaned up someday!

Even Grandma Chase got into the action!The end result was very satisfying for all! We also played Barnyard Din (from LDS Game Book), Hide & Go Seek, & Sardines.

Andrew was a little disappointed that I wouldn't let him invite all his cousins, along with his friends, so he was very grateful I let him include Uncle Trevor! Grandma & Grandpa Chase, & Uncle Trevor & Uncle Bryan, of course, gave him some Super Saturdays toys (which we previously knew nothing of, but which he's played with nearly constantly since the party), a Bank in the shape of a Knight's head, and $5. He was thrilled. Andrew received wonderful gifts from all his guests! He gave Glow-in-the-Dark Stars to his guests, and to Ethan & Alex, with a Club Penguin thank you note attached.

This was everyone who came: (Anna Larsen, who was pictured above and had to leave early), Uncle Trevor (above, far left), Jacob Hess, Aubree Hoffman, Ethan Balls, Carson Jones (above, far right), Nathaniel Haroldsen (below, next to Andrew), Isaac Ball, and Kyler Haroldsen (below, in background, with Puffle as his face). Kaleb Shroeder, from Andrew's Primary class, was also invited and came over later that day, with a gift, and played for a while.

After the party I looked a little closer at the bag that Anna decorated herself for Andrew's gift. Ever since she played Cinderella in the FairyTale Friday production I put on in Andrew's class, I've really liked her. She's just a neat girl. Apparently, she thinks Andrew is pretty "neat" too:

We are so proud of the boy Andrew is, and the young man he is becoming! It's amazing to me that there's only a year until he can choose to be baptized! He's making the right choices now to be prepared for that day. Lately he's been extra sweet to his brothers, playing with them, making them laugh, and helping them learn new things. He's very responsible about his chores - often doing them without even being reminded to, and always before he asks to get on the computer of have a friend over. He's good about following the limits we've set for his computer time (one hour of Educational time, and one hour Action time - anything not educational). He delights in reading his own Book of Mormon, though it's not a regular occurance yet, and in writing in his journal, though that is also not regular yet. Mike and I are so grateful that he came to our family and was the first one to make us parents!

A Trip to the Fire Station

Ethan's Preschool had a field trip to the local fire station, the day before we were to leave for our vacation to San Diego. Ethan had been to another fire station several months ago, with his cousins, while I went with Andrew to a free trial of karate lessons. I had been looking forward to watching him have this experience, (because he was once totally infatuated with fire engines), but when it came right down to time to leave, I wasn't sure I wanted to take the time to leave the progress I was making in packing. We had just replaced his holey, shoelaced shoes with lovely velcro ones. So, I told him to put on his shoes in the next 5 minutes, or we were not going. I believe finished getting them on at 4 minutes and 51 seconds, after quite a bit of complaining. I just remember that the fire safety movie had already started when we walked in.

Just then, I noticed the smell eminating from Alex's diaper. So, I missed the movie to change a diaper in the car.

The firemen seemed at a loss as to what seven 3 & 4 year olds would want to know about the fire station. It was kind of humorous to hear the man list off the parts of the truck, pointing to them awkwardly, as the kids gazed around the large garage, not understanding much of what the guy was saying. Some of the kids' interest was piqued when he was describing how the Jaws of Life get people out of cars that are too wrecked for them to get themselves out.

The coolest thing, according to Ethan, was walking through the cab of the truck. They climbed up, walked through, and climbed down. I don't even think most of them saw anything while they were inside; it was just cool that they got to go inside! LOL.

I thought it was cool when they showed the kids the "Boots & Bunkers" from inside the Ambulance. I had visions of fastening my kids shoes to their outfits for the day, so that getting dressed would be less of a hassle, and their shoes would be less likely to get lost. Ha, ha.

I asked the firemen if the kids could try on their helmet, just to see how heavy it was. Ethan refused to try it on, but Alex was anxious to be one of the first.

This is Elliott. He ran home and dressed up as a fireman, using things from around the house. I don't think he included a helmet - perhaps this was why:

My second favorite part was the picture on the front of the truck we took at the end. They're all such cute little kids! Too bad the sun was right in their eyes.