Happy Easter

We feel so blessed to have participated in the world wide fast on Good Friday. We're so grateful for our faith and the faith of those throughout the world. We know God will bring healing in the ways that we all need it most.

Our Easter celebrations (we do easter bunny, egg hunt, etc on Saturday so that we can just focus on Christ on Sunday) this year included a mini Easter egg hunt, gifts from the Easter bunny (Kinetic sand, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and some candy), a hike, and homemade brownies and frozen yogurt because my birthday is also this weekend. We all ate way too many sweets, and had a blast together! The kids used ALL of their bubbles in about 2 hours! It was a giant bottle. We're glad they had fun though. A was so excited about The Easter bunny coming she woke up 3 times during the night, turned on all the lights in the house, and asked us where the eggs were, lol! She could hardly contain herself the next morning!

When we first began coloring the eggs, L didn't understand what we were doing and tried to eat it. She was very upset when she bit into the crunchy shell!

Eventually she caught on and really enjoyed herself.

In preparing for our hike L had to get in on the scarf wearing. She picked out her pink play scarf and I rolled in around her head as best I could. She looks adorable!

They really enjoyed the hike. S tried to jump off the cliff into the water once, but learned quickly that that was a bad idea (thank goodness!). He did a great job navigating the rough terrain and was especially interested in the sticks lying about. L walked the whole way in. She was pretty slow and sat down to rest a couple times, but she made it! Allan had to put her in the hiking backpack for the way back though. A was so excited she kept running up to the bridge ahead, then turning and running back to us over and over again. She's our little energizer bunny. She loved exploring all over with Daddy. None of the kids wanted to leave.

We helped all the kids give little talks about Jesus in our at home sacrament meeting for Easter. They did so well in their practices. When it actually came time to have our services this is what happened.

A at least held her pictures up while I read her talk.  Our church services ended well though with coloring and cake and ice cream to say "Thank you" to Jesus.

I asked L what she learned at church that day and she said and signed "Thank you, Jesus!"

This handsome fellow hates vegetables. All of them. We've never had this problem before. We had hummus, vegetables, and pork for dinner the other day and he actually ate the carrots! Apparently he is a big fan of hummus. Enough that he'll eat carrots too! We are amazed!

S is very curious and into everything. One thing that he loves to do is put things together: lids on markers, buckles, etc. He loves to sit in this stroller and buckle himself in and then walk around, lol!

We've been enjoying doing some OT and speech at home. We done sand play/manipulation, tweezers and puff balls, gluing, cutting, etc. It's been a lot of fun!

Today while I was helping S go down for a nap, A got out some paper bags and made some puppets! I used our nugget couch to set up a puppet show stage and she gave us a little show with her puppets! She did such a great job! Her story was about Mom and DaddyAllan (this is what she calls Allan) and A. The mean person tries to take A. Mom and DaddyAllan save A! Mean person goes away. (I think she's getting all this mean person stuff from us teaching her about stranger danger and body safety.)

Just in the Nic of Time

We finished the gym, except the paint. The kids have been LOVING IT! And just in time too with this quarantine going on. We're feeling extremely blessed to have all we need for OT at home.

A house is being built behind our home. S is enthralled with the construction equipment. So far we've had a mini ex, skidsteer, backhoe, cement mixer, pumper, and dump truck. His favorite is the backhoe. He calls it a "coe". One day it was just sitting, not being used. He ran to me saying, "Mama, Mama! Coe sick! Coe sick!" He was so concerned and so relieved when it was moving again the next day.

A is doing such a great job with reading! She catches on so quickly. She is also doing great with math, and really seems to enjoy it. She's always loved numbers. We added in some yoga and mindfulness cards for little breaks to help her refocus. She's loving the yoga especially. She always wants to do the partner ones. It can get pretty entertaining with me trying to do it with her.

L has started talking!!!! We're so proud of her! She says her colors and labels most things. She loves to say "stairs" and try to count them as she goes up and down. A lot of times she just says "3" over and over again, haha! We've been working on requesting words and she can say help and want pretty well now. She also learned how to say "scarves" (on of her favorite toys).

We really enjoyed watching General Conference. A especially did well this year listening to the speakers. L and S really enjoyed the music. During the speakers they climbed all over us, yelled, giggled, cried, danced, ran around, threw things, colored, and played with toys. Actually being able to listen to the speakers was pretty spotty, but we did get to listen to the prophets talk in the Sunday morning session and participate in the Global Solemn Assembly. I prayed that all of our children would participate and feel the spirit of it and the Lord answered my prayers. They all did the Hosanna shout and were very reverent during the whole solemn assembly and most of the prophets talk. I'm so grateful for these small, beautiful answers to prayer that remind me that God is aware of me and my family and that He loves us.

The kids and I made a car ramp out of boxes. A had the idea to add on a car garage and a collector box at the bottom. She did a great job with it! They played with it together for a long time.

We've had some really beautiful, sunny days and have been making the most of them! Picnics, lots of walks and bike rides, schooling outside, etc. We've had a blast! A is getting so good at riding her bike, we should be able to move her training wheels up soon! L has figured out how to pedal all by herself. She even figured out how to bring her bike to the top of the hill, get on, and pedal all the way down! She still can't pedal much unless it's down hill a little, she just doesn't have the strength yet. But she's getting there!

L is strong enough that she can climb up the slide though! She's super proud of herself too!

L seriously loves the dirt. There is a random spot not quite the middle of our yard that is just dirt. We put the kids mud kitchen in it. L asks daily to go outside by signing "boots". (I make them where their snow boots even if it's not snowing, because there's a lot of mud in our yard and I don't want their other shoes to be ruined.) As soon as she's out the door she goes straight for the dirt. She digs with the shovel and fills up bottles and frisbees with dirt and then pours the dirt all over her and her doll, lol!  They all love playing in the mud and frequently come in covered from head to toe. Ha!

A is getting really good at drawing people. She recently drew a picture of me holding her and a "mean person". I'm protecting her from the "mean person" and saying "No! No!"

Before the COVID-19 virus broke out Aunt K3 and cousins RG and RB came for a visit. We had such a good time! It was warm enough for picnics and walks.

And Daddy cleaned up the leaves that we didn't have time to get before the snow fell. The kids had a blast playing in them and throwing them at each other.

A needed some alone time so we set up a little hideout under the climbing wall. She loved it so much! She sat under there and read books and had a little snack.

These two are such little buddies! They adore each other and are always doing something to either make each other laugh or cry, lol!

A got into the acrylic paint and painted her and S's faces, clothes, the table, the floor, the chairs. GAAAAH! I was sick and Allan had gone to take care of something outside for a minute. Seriously, 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure it will never happen again because it was difficult to get off and she hated every minute of it.

I often wear a scarf around my hair when it's really frizzy. Aunt SG gave A a scarf for Valentines Day. She loves it so much! Usually she wears it as a "cape", but lately she's enjoyed wearing a "scarf like Mom". She looks so beautiful in it!

S had to get in on the action too.  Headband for a "scarf" like mom. Haha! And of course he's wearing my sunglasses too.