Fruit Heads

While we were at the mall I took the kiddos to the food court and bought them each a Happy Meal. The theme and toy for the Happy Meals came from the new movie "Rio". The box was decorated with characters from the movie and it also had lots of fruit on it. On the bottom of the box it said that you could wear the fruit on the box as a hat. All i could figure out was to turn the thing upside down and put it on their heads. They looked so cute, kind of funny, but so cute and they got lots of comments from people sitting around us about how cute they were.

 As we sat there eating I kept looking at the hats trying to figure out why they look so goofy. Suddenly I noticed the corrugated lines going around the middle of the box. I took Rylee's off her head and sure enough the top part of the box came off. Once I took those parts off it looked more like a fun hat that two kids would enjoy wearing. They wore those proudly all through our lunch and out into the parking lot to our car. They got a lot of looks and smiles along our way. While we were walking to our car we passed a couple of guys sitting and chilling on their motorcycles. As we were walking by Rylee was watching them and then turned to me and asked if they were real. I started laughing, I don't know why she thought to ask that, I told her they were real people and real motorcycles. She is a funny one for sure!

Colored Eggs

Despite buying a gripload of eggs a week ago we never got around to coloring our eggs. On Saturday I told the kids we would do the egg coloring for family home evening Monday night. So Monday I hard boiled a mass load of eggs in preparation for our fun night. I meant to boil enough for the kids to do six eggs each but somehow my Brain was not working and I instead boiled a dozen for each kid. No problem more fun for the kiddos. Kefford did not want to dye the eggs and so while he watched sports I supervised the kids. I explained how to do it and then warned them of being careful so that there were no spills. Of course right after my mini lecture Ryker spilled the cup of blue dye. Really Ryker? Luckily it wasn't a lot and it was easy to clean. So with one more, keep my house clean warning, I let the kids have at it. Rylee was the first one done, then Avynlea and Ryker and last but not least was Kenedy. They all had lots of fun and made some super duper looking eggs.

 After the two little girls got done with their egg coloring and while they were waiting for the others to finish they got out the crayons and coloring books that they got from their Grandma Alison and had some fun. I thought they looked so cute sitting on the couch coloring together. Despite being two years apart they could almost pass for twins. In fact a couple of times while shopping at the store I have had random people comment on my cute little twins. So funny. These two have their disagreements but they are really good friends and enjoy spending time together!

Happy Easter 2011

About a week ago Rylee, Avynlea and I headed over to the mall so that I could get a swimming suit. While we were there I saw that the Easter Bunny was available for pictures. I asked the girls if they wanted to go meet the bunny and while Rylee was all for it, Avynlea showed some hesitations. She told me that she really didn't want to go and sit on the Bunny's lap. I told her that was fine but I asked her if she could stand close enough to it so that I could get a picture. She agreed and off we went. The guy at the place told me I could take only two pictures with my own camera and that I had to stand back by his stand. OK whatever. Rylee was fine with sitting on the Bunny and Avynlea stayed true to her word and stayed as far away from the Bunny as she could. She did not act scared about it, I think she just doesn't like costumed animals. I have to admit the whole concept of sitting on the Bunny's lap is kinda weird. I mean with Santa Claus at least you have a purpose. You tell him what you want and he is able to converse with you. With the Easter Bunny you just sit. They did get a fun little Bunny toy along with a chick mask and bunny ears so I guess that was fun for the kids.

 On Easter Sunday I got up before the kids woke up and hid their Easter baskets. This was something my Mom used to do for us and I always thought it was fun. I don't know why I have never done it before but it is never too late to implement a new tradition. We had Stake conference that Sunday so Kefford was home with us, that was really great. I had the kids get up and get all ready for church and then we headed downstairs and made them eat some oatmeal. I want a little bit of something healthy in their bodies before they get ahold of all that junk food. After that we were gathered around in the Family Room and I told them maybe we should wait till after church to do baskets. Rylee heard that and decided she was going to play some Barbies since she had to wait. She walked over to her doll house opened it up and found her Easter Basket! That made me laugh because she wasn't even looking for it. With that all of the other kids took off searching for their baskets. Avynlea found hers second in the coat closet. Kenedy found Rykers in the bathroom, gave t to him and then found hers in the oven.

After we got done with Stake Conference we came home to get ready to go out to Keffords parents for Easter dinner. I called Alison a couple of days earlier to ask what she wanted me to bring for dinner. She told me I could do whatever I wanted and so I let her know that we would bring cupcakes. I have a fun Cupcake decorating book and I got most of my ideas from it. Rylee and Avynlea helped me with the egg cupcakes and the flower cupcakes and Kenedy helped me with the Duck cakes. The egg cupcakes only had 3 entire egg shells while the rest were all broken. I had a hard time getting the chocolate out of the molds and only 3 survived. The Duck ones were taking a long time to put together, they were not as easy as we thought they would be and we quickly got tired of doing the, so we quit after we made about 12. That was fine because there were plenty of other cupcakes that we had made to bring. On the way out to the farm Kefford got a little crazy with his driving and so the cupcakes did not make it in one piece. they looked like they had just got done with an Easter war. Oh well, they still tasted good and the girls and I had fun making them.

We wanted the kids to keep the spirit of Easter and to remember what it is all about and so in addition to the daily Easter Week reading we did out of the scriptures, on the way out to the Farm Kefford put in the animated movie about the resurrection.

We kept all of the kids in their Sunday clothes so that once we got out to the farm we could take a picture with all of the Grandkids. There are 13 grandkids on the Peterson side of our family and for this picture taking session all of them cooperated except for one, poor little Asher did not want to sit for a picture. It's all good though it gives the picture character.

 top row: Bailey. Qiana, Isabelle, Brielle, Ally, Rylee and Ryker

bottom row: Brooke, Avynlea, Audrey, Kenedy, Mikayla and Asher

After the picture taking and after dinner Kenedy did a little family home evening lesson about Easter with the 12 Easter eggs thingie. I was going to take a picture of her doing it and when I got up to get my camera I saw that she could use some help keeping her eggs organized and keeping little hands away from the eggs until it was their turn to open them. I am not sure if any of the little kids got anything from what she was doing but she did a good job and was really patient with her little cousins. She is definitely a good oldest cousin and really treats all of her little cousins with love and patience. During the lesson Kefford and some of his siblings hid the goods out in the yard. Alison split it up this year and had the kids Kindergarten age and up go first and then the little kids got their turn. Those poor little kiddos had a hard time waiting, they were really anxious to get out their and hunt for some eggs. Among all of the treats and goodies Alison had confetti eggs for the kids. They are just an egg filled with confetti. You are supposed to make a wish and then crack it open on your head. Avynlea had loads of fun with hers. All of the kids enjoyed their Easter Egg hunt and I am really grateful for Alison being willing and happy to do this each year. The kids all LOVE it and it is a fun memory maker.



Getting Crafty

On the first Saturday of each month our Library holds a family craft hour. When my two littles found out about this they were very anxious to go. So I took them and they loved it. It was a random craft whatever you want day and they had set out a lot of different things  on the tables for the kids to explore and have fun with. My girls had so much fun and made some cute little projects to take home!

Since then I have signed Rylee up for pre-school craft time at the library. It is every Friday in April and she is loving it also. The first time I took her in she went and sat on the carpet with the other kids and I sat on the chair with the other Moms. As I sat there I watched her sitting and looking around her at all the other kids. It hit me then that this was her first time doing something like this without Avynlea. It was crazy! She has always had Avynlea with her, her own  built in little best friend. It made me a little sad for her that she did not have her big sister to sit with but then I remembered that it is good for her and that she needs to learn how to fly solo at some point. Then I realized that in another year Rylee with head off to school and it will be me all by myself without my little buddy! I don't know if I am ready to fly solo. Maybe she will be OK with not ever going to school, thats cool right? These kids sure are growing up fast!

Got Threaded?

A couple of weeks ago I drove down to Utah to help my sister Emily because she just had surgery on her shoulder. She fell and tore the cartilage in her shoulder and had to have it operated on. Ouch! she was told to expect a 6 week recovery period where she had to have her arm in a sling and she could not drive. This was not good news. Emily has been going to school and her kids were still in school, she really needed someone to drive her around and help out around the house. So I left my little family and headed down to Utah, Brit and her kids came with so they could visit her family and my brother Josh came down from Seattle to visit us and he came with me too.

I spent my time in Utah Driving Emily to and from school, taking her kids to and from school, cleaning up around the house, doing dishes, doing laundry, helping to fix dinner. Emily also needed me to help her get dressed the first couple of days I was there. But by the end of the week Emily had found her Independence and was able to get dressed all by herself. What a smart girl! Both of us wanted to keep exercising despite my lack of a gym and her injury so the first day we walked the walking path at her kids school. the next day it was snowing, blech, and so we went to the mall and walked the mall. We enjoyed that a whole lot more then walking around outside and so we did that for the rest of the week. It was fun to walk and talk and look in all the windows. I saw some things that I wanted and so one of the days i dropped Emily off at school and Joshua and I went to the mall where I bought a couple of things. So fun!

One day after Emily was done with class she and i headed to the mall to check out the Quilted Bear, I love this store! While walking around the mall I saw a place advertising "threading". Its this new eyebrow shaping technique using string. I was intrigued, it was cheap, $10, and i needed a good eyebrow shaping so i went ahead and did it.

The verdict?

It hurt! I guess for some reason i was expecting not to hurt as bad as it did. Waxing hurts also but one rip and you are done, this is a drawn out hurt. At one point the girl had me holding my closed eyelid down with one hand and pulling up on my forehead with the other. I did not like this because my eyes were watering and it was making my mascara smear, plus it was an awkward position. Overall it was an OK experience. What could have made it better was if the girl doing my threading did not have such bad breath. She must have come from lunch and it was not the best smell. I imagine if she had cinnamon breath that that would have made the experience better. Cinnamon is calming.

Field Tripping with Kenedy

In the Fall Kenedys class went on a field trip to the capital for a red ribbon rally. Kenedy really wanted me to go and so I signed up to go and help out on the field trip. The day before her teacher called me to tell me that so many parents signed up to volunteer they did not have room on the bus. He said that I could drive myself and meet them there but I could not go on the bus. I decided to make it easier on me and everyone else and opt out of going. I still hadn't worked out babysitting arrangements for Rylee and I was not wanting to drive myself downtown and worry about meeting up with her class. I was fine with not going, Kenedy, however, was pretty disappointed. So I promised her that I would go on her next field trip.

The next one that came around was again to the Capital, but this time we were taking a tour of the Capital Building and not just hanging out outside listening to people tell me not to do drugs. I was ready to go and go I went.

When I first saw this picture after I took it I wondered what was wrong with my hat, it was looking a little bit wonky. Then I realized I had posed myself right in front of the building and that was not a really tall hat on my head. Kenedy and I laughed about it and then retook the picture.

Much Better!

We got to listen in on the Representatives in session. It was kind of interesting but also a little boring because I was not aware what they were talking about. I did find it interesting to see the lack of attentiveness with some of the Reps while others were speaking. But it was pretty boring so I don't blame them. Anything to get through the day right. :o)

While we were sitting in the room listening this Lady, Representative McKague, announced us and our school. that was kind of cool.

Our tour guide had us look up to the very top of the capital and told us that it was 208 feet to the top. How can we remember the height of the Capital? It is 208 feet to the top and Idahos area code is 208, totally not done on purpose just a random fun fact.

The Governor is Butch Otter and so this little display in the Governors office made me laugh.

I had lots of fun being with Kenedy on this field trip and am really glad I got to go with her. She is a fun kid to be around and I love her loads!