Easter Sunday Best

I thought I would share with you a few pictures of Jack and Madeline in their Easter Sunday Best.

Here they are on our front porch. Notice the light saber in Jack's hand that the Easter Bunny brought to him. He was amazed when he saw it and said to Mark "How did the Easter Bunny KNOW? The rabbit at the mall was just a guy in a suit - - I saw his face in the costume!

Now here they are doing the Chicken Dance. Mark's Mom sent us an Easter card that played the Chicken Dance song when you opened it. Madeline claimed it for her own and would periodically stop whatever she was doing, open the card and start dancing to the music. You just can't buy better entertainment than that!

Here is a close-up of them in Jack's electric jeep. Notice Madeline's face - she fell down in the parking lot while at the bike store with her Dad the previous day. Make's her look so feminine doesn't it?

The Hunt is On!!

Every year our family holds an annual Easter Egg Hunt. This year, despite the cold weather, we had a great time!

First we have lunch - so that everyone has the strength for the hunt. Then it is my Dad's job to keep the kids all inside while we adults hide all of the goodies outside. The waiting is UNBEARABLE for the kids, they all crowd around the door, hoping to be the first ones out.

When my Dad gets the "all clear" signal, he opens the door (at his own peril!) and the race is on!!

Sometimes, the younger ones need some "help", which is why my sister Hollie is racing out the door behind her youngest son.

Next, we have my sweet husband who is on the prowl with Madeline for some good stuff.

YES! Victory!

Super Hero

My son Jack is 4 and LOVES to dress up as Spiderman (either black or red) or Buzz Lightyear or Batman. Today when he got home from pre-school, he promptly changed out of his "normal" clothes and into Black Spiderman, along with a pair of cowboy boots to complete the outfit.

One night as he was getting ready for bed I noticed something sticking out from under his PJ's and asked him what it was. Here is what he showed me. . . .

Then last week as he was getting ready for church he asked for a hanger to hang up his Buzz Lightyear costume. I asked if he wanted any help and he said "No, I can do it". Later when I went in to see if he was dressed this is what I found. . . . .

Notice the Buzz Lightyear toy sticking up in the neck of his costume and the pant legs tucked into the cowboy boots!! Hysterical!! Yep, he's my Super Hero!!

The End of an Era. . . .

My daughter Jade is a Senior in High school. For the past 4 years she has been a cheerleader. Now, before you roll your eyes and click onto something more interesting- like the Utah County Jail website, hear me out.

I consider myself very lucky that she has had the opportunity to associate with such quality young women. You see, they have all been together since 9th grade - cheering. This has allowed me to make some great friends with the other "Cheer Moms" as we sat in the stands each game to watch our daughters cheer on their team, coordinate rides to all those practices, make fun plans for picking them up from cheer camp and then discuss who was doing what after the game so that none of them could get away with anything!!

There as been a fair share of DRAMA to be sure, but it was nothing that they couldn't get over and be able to move on. For the most part all of the girls that are Seniors are really good girls - no partying, nice to others, respectful, good students, etc. This has made me want to encourage Jade to keep trying out each year, even though the cost is CRAZY expensive!

Last week we went to the final End of Year Parents Banquet for all the cheerleaders. It was a bittersweet occasion for me. You see, this past football season my Friday nights consisted of finding a babysitter for the two little ones (have you ever tried to keep a 3 year old and 1 year old contained while on bleachers?!). Then I would go to Jade's game and Mark would go to Matt's game. Matt goes to a different school and played football for their team. It was definitely a "divide and conquer" effort on our part.

As we were sitting at the banquet, I thought about how this was the last time I would be here and started thinking back to some of the highs and lows of the past four years. There have definitely been more highs than lows.

Humor me.

There was the time that Jade was playing around before a game and did a standing back tuck on the field and landed on her head! For the ENTIRE game she kept asking me "What happened?" I would tell her and then five minutes later she would ask "Why am I not cheering out there? What happened?" It drove me crazy!! It was like watching the game with Dori from Finding Nemo.

Before each home game, the Cheer Moms each took turns hosting a dinner before the game for all the girls. Man, can those girls eat!!

During football season the girls all had a box to stand on so that they were more visible to the crowd and could see over the football players on the sideline and tell what was going on. For the first few games Jade didn't know the parameters of her box and so we would make bets as to how long it would take before she fell off her box!!

During the last basketball game of this year they had a Senior Recognition Night for all the cheerleaders. They were supposed to be escorted out onto the court with their parents to receive a small gift and be recognized.

There was a terrible snow storm that night and it took Mark 4 hours to get home from downtown SLC! So, instead of having me (and Jack and Madeline) escort her, Jade asked Jack to be her escort. He was only too happy to do it. The funny part about this is that he was dressed in a "Black Spiderman" costume with the full muscle look! I am sorry to say that I don't have a picture of this, but just know that Jack is "Spiderman" more than he is Jack some weeks!

I won't bore you with more stories, however I believe that if you have the opportunity for your children to be involved in extra curricular activities, it can be the best thing in the world for them and you - regardless of the cost!

Dish Duty

I am the type of person who doesn't mind doing dirty work, I just don't like getting my hands dirty. So I have several pair of rubber gloves around my house that I use for dishes, cleaning bathrooms, etc.

Jack loves the dish gloves. He calls them "Super Gloves" (from The Incredibles movie) and is always asking if he can borrow them. He doesn't discriminate between the pink ones or the yellow ones - just whatever is handy. This is very disturbing to Mark, especially when he wears the pink ones. He always tries to get Jack to switch to the yellow, but for whatever reason, if he started with the pink, he sticks with the pink.

The other day I walked into the kitchen and much to my surprise there was my HUSBAND wearing the dish gloves (the pink ones no less!) and scrubbing away on the burner grate for our gas stove! This is one of my most hated chores and I was thrilled! However, since he always gives me a hard time about the gloves, I did what any appreciative wife would do - - get photographic proof of this momentous occasion!

After he was done with the stove, Jack decided that he needed to do some dishes too. I'm not really sure how clean the dishes turned out, but I figured why discourage free help? By the time he can really do a good job he will have no interest anyway!

I'm not a Nurse, but I play one at home

A week ago Thursday I was sewing Madeline's quilt for her "big girl" bed and had been using the iron to press seams, etc. When I was done, I put the iron on the counter in the laundry room and pushed it back to cool. Now, you must know that Madeline is my mischevious one and also very quick! While I had my back to her she grabbed the stool out of the pantry and carried it into the Laundry Room to investigate.

When she saw that big shiny iron she just couldn't resist (Hey look! Somethin' Shiny!!) and she touched the iron severely burning her left hand.

After a call to Grandma (who also happens to be the nurse for our Pediatrician) I tried all of the suggestions that she gave:

1- Put it in cold water, have her hold an ice cube - she refused.

2- Put some Silvadine Cream on it and wrap it up - this seemed to upset her even more.

3- Give her some Motrin for the pain - I ended up wearing most of it as she REFUSED to take it.

Well, after two hours of Madeline crying and my nerves frazzled, I decided a visit to the InstaCare was in order, as it was too late to go to the doctor. When we got to the InstaCare she immediately calmed down and fell asleep in my arms. When we saw the doctor, she let him look at it and put medicine on it and wrap it up. When the nurse came in with the Motrin, she took it just like it was candy!! AGGHHH, she made a liar out of me!

Now we have to keep it wrapped up until it heals. Every night after her bath I cut the old bandage off and put on a fresh one. I think that for the most part she just likes having the pink wrap on. She likes to show it to anyone who will look and say "Look at my Pink!" I don't know what I will do when she doesn't actually have to wear the bandage anymore!