A Hunt for Bunny Money

Over Conference Weekend, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Monson, as is tradition! We were joined by our cousin and aunts and uncles! I loved Conference! It was so enriching and fulfilling! I walked away feeling renewed and filled with hope and love! The kiddos enjoyed conference as well...Friend collages, games on the IPad, Fruit-Loop Necklaces, and decorating foam Easter Eggs.  But above all, the Bunny Money Hunt was the best for them! 

 

My sister-in-law and me have the same taste in pajamas it appears! 

Matthew going on the hunt! This is his second year, though last year he spent the hunt in someone's arms, he soon had it figured out. 

Andrew is a smart kid! He shook the egg to make sure it had money in it and not just candy!

Peter was so fast at getting his eggs that this is the only picture that I got of him.

 Julia's first hunt and she was a pro! She had the advantage of two adults helping her but did an exactly job of hunting for her eggs.

I was very excited to see that Julia got chocolate in her eggs! Maybe next year, I'll share with her!
My mom filled several eggs with just fishy crackers for those that couldn't have it! (Deeply appreciated!) We had to do a little switching around but in the end, everyone was happy!

Julia can't wait to be big and get to go outside with the boys. She is constantly trying to get downstairs with them and loves to wrestle with them.......Can you say tomboy?

Peter had a birthday!

Peter had a birthday about 10 days ago....I'm a little slow with the posting...my baby has turned a whooping six years old! It seems like yesterday that Anth and I were desperately looking at each other to figure out how to make the baby stop crying...poor kid...the oldest has it the toughest...green parents that need breaking in can be hard work! 

We had a small birthday party with my family to celebrate since one of my brother's birthdays is close to Peter's. We usually combine them.

I made hats for everyone that wanted one since we weren't having a "friend" party this year! It is so much easier to tie balloons when you aren't 6 months pregnant!!!

Julia even got to wear a hat! 

The Cake!

We got a new gate for our kitchen since Matthew figured out how to climb the board and knocked the others! Poor kid..life is so hard when you are almost 2 and curious about everything!

New birthday tradition....doughnuts for breakfast!!! The boys were super excited and it made Peter feel special! 

This kid cracks me up!!!

I must be getting old because these just didn't taste the way that I remembered...anyone else think they have a plastic taste...guess I'll have to stick with Crispy Creams!

The official birthday cake!!! Peter was a little nervous when I called it a dirt cake but "wormed" up when I told about the gummy worms and bugs!

The haul...the monster puppet things...a great investment...they are kind of like Mr. Potato Head but with felt pieces that Velcro on to the felt puppet! (*If I could sew...I would make some more ...sigh..oh well..)

This is a "What was I thinking?" kind of present...but he loves it...as well as everyone else in the house...pity that it got lost with the by the second day!

Happy Birthday, Peter! I love you so much! Thanks for breaking us in and being patient with us!

The Day the Leprechauns Came to Town

Every year our home is visited by little men in green clothes...they like to dye our food green and pull pranks. So this year we decided to build some traps to catch them! The boys were way excited about it and worked on their traps for two days. They could hardly sleep that night thinking of those leprechauns.  It was almost like Christmas! 

Peter and Andrew posing with their traps! Very simple and it took two days because we only spent 20 minutes for two nights working on them.  The poor photo quality is due to the camera on my phone. Not the best!

This is what the leprechauns did to us in return for trying to catch them! 

I see many years of leprechaun traps in my future! 

Who knew...

...that the dentist could be so exhausting?

* Sorry about the photo quality...I used my phone because it was handy!

About a month ago, Andrew had to go to the dentist to have three cavities filled.  The dentist has been less then a fun experience for us...in fact its dread by both the kids and the parents. Andrew would often kick and scream so bad that I would have to hold him on my lap and lay his head in the dentist lap so that he could quickly look in his mouth. So when the 6 month visit rolled around, I shuddered with fear! 

Much to my surprise...Andrew walked in, laid down, and let them do everything that they needed too! What a tender mercy! Definitely had a lot to be thankful for that night! When we went for the cavities, I was terrified that it was going to be a bad experience! Once again, Andrew surprised me by climbing up on the spaceship chair, took the "happy" gas, and started to fall asleep! By the time the dentist had given the shot and let it sit for a while, he was snoring!! I was totally floored!!!  Kids totally surprise you! 

Look at what I did!

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Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day! Always have and always will...I'm a romantic at heart and when I was wee lass I would envision all kind of romantic things happening to me on Valentines' Day. Of course...I then was always disappointed and irritated at the whole for the following week for not fulfilling my desires. How inconsistent! (I once actually slammed a book over the top of a kid's head during my health class on said holiday because he messed with me on the wrong day! I'm told it was an awesome hit...I don't remember much of it...just picking up the book, standing up, and then sitting down while everyone in my class looked at me like I had grown another head or something...ne ways...)  But I have grown up and matured and realized that its not the world's duty to make me happy but that it  has to do with my attitude and most importantly letting my expectations be known! (It took being married to learn that one!) 

This year Anthony and I weren't really going to do anything since the holiday fell on a Monday and his family usually does a party that only the adults get to come to...one kid free night...its awesome...The party is this weekend so we thought it would be good to do just that. Saturday came and I found myself getting all hyped about Valentines (mostly because I had to go to the store and see all the flowers and balloons and etc). I finally let Anthony know that I wanted to go out and so we did! 

We went and saw a movie (Gulliver's Travels...not the best date movie) and then played some arcade games which I love to do! We got an awesome number of tickets and decide to get the boys some fun stuff! Which we delivered after we rescued a fireman...while attempted too! (His van wouldn't start so we gave him a jump but it didn't help.)

 Not sure what these are called...Chinese finger stuckers...but the boys loved them! It kept them busy for the next ten minutes anyways...

 Don't you think that these would be great in sacrament meeting? Just imagine one on every finger! Yeah..I think it might work! LOL!

A hacky sack was also a good investment of tickets...a ball that doesn't roll... another great Sacrament toy. (Our chapel is sloped...meaning anything that can roll will if dropped or in our case thrown!)

 Julia celebrated Valentine's Day cutting her first two teeth! YESSSSSS!!!!! It only took two months for those suckers to come in!! You can kind of see them if you look really close!

My sweet husband listened to my expectations and delivered exactly what I wanted...flowers (not roses..I like daisies so much better) and chocolate (dove milk chocolate...its wonderful frozen and then sucked on when life gets a little crazy...two or three times a day... : )  The "kids" gave me the other plant...Peter went with Anthony to get my flowers...

The kids each got a Valentine cup with Circus Animals in them (Banana Puffs for Julia) and Anth got a bucket full of crackers and swedish fish...his favorite! 

Isn't Valentine's Day wonderful?!

Am I really that old?

Two weeks ago I had a birthday...it really made me feel...well ...old.  Loved ...but old. 27 is kind of a weird age for it to make me feel that way. Maybe it has something to do with that I have four kids, graduated from high school 9 years old, graduated from college 3 years, got married almost 8 years ago...I feel like I have grown up! I know that sounds really weird but its true! All the things that I planned on doing when I was young and in my teens has happened...I feel so blessed to have seen many of those hopes and dreams come to reality! 

I had an awesome day and went to bed feeling loved and appreciated! My visiting teachers came by and gave me a yummy cupcake and a bouquet of my favorite flowers. Anthony took the day off to be home with me and the younger kids while I ran kindergarten and preschool drop off! (Do you know how awesome it is to only have to put two kids in carseats instead of four to drive the equivalent of one mile? That TOTALLY made my day!) We then went and got paint for the kitchen..something that has been in the works for about three years!

These are the flowers I got for my birthday and also the new paint on the walls! I totally love the color! It make my kitchen so much brighter...buts that another post!

My mom then took me to lunch with my sisters-in-laws and sister...awesome..and then my dear friend and sister-in-law Christy brought me another cupcake for my birthday! So awesome! Kiss the diet goodbye! It's only once a year right? (I've been saying that a lot lately...man why do they have to have some many "yummy" holidays so close together?)

Anthony and I then got to out for dinner and were going to do some of other things but my non-gallbladder body couldn't handle the onion rings that we had...sigh...oh well...overall it was a great birthday!