Egg Rolling

You really haven't lived until you have spent Easter afternoon with a bunch of kids throwing Easter eggs down the hill and then racing down the hill to pick them up and roll them again and again until they are crushed into itsy bitsy pieces of egg shell. It's the best.

We teach 'em early. Here's Claire handing Ben an egg so he can get in on the fun.

And here's Daddy explaining the whole routine.

And he's ready to roll.
Another successful day of egg rolling. Our way of ensuring the seagull population doesn't go hungry.

In My Easter Bonnet...

Actually, there were no bonnets this year, but here are the kiddo's in their sparkling new Easter clothes. Don't look too close - you may see evidence of the Easter goodies they devoured whilst "entertaining" the congregation during sacrament meeting. That's what happens when you have 9:00 church and have to take your pictures after church.

It's sad that our most cooperative picture taker is the one-year-old. The other two just can't be bothered with pictures.

Hope you all had a great Easter!

Earth Day Confession

This week, the troops and I headed out to clear the streets surrounding our house of litter. We do this every few months as a nod to my years spent cleaning the roads of Newton as our token mutual service project. Our leaders tried sending us to Newton Dam one year to clean up the beaches, but that activity proved to be a little more R-rated than our leaders planned on, so we stuck to the roads with an occasional leaf raking to mix it up. The kids love cleaning up the roads. I don't know what this says about them. I am a little worried that Cole the pack rat will find some treasure he can't live without on one of these trips, but so far we've come home empty handed.

After we came home, I was feeling a little smug about doing a good job teaching them to care for our earth. And then I looked around and it hit me. I can never really call myself green.

Politics and science aside, I believe in taking care of our earth. I want it to be beautiful. I want it to be clean. I want it to last. I believe it was created by One in whom I have much love, respect, and admiration. I would never want to treat it in a way that would harm it. Compared to the majority of the state of Utah, I think I am fairly green. The recycling can is usually more full than the garbage can. My garden is organic. I almost never let my car idle. I use CFL bulbs. I try to buy eco-friendly paint whenever I have a painting project. I have lots of reusable grocery bags and sometimes even remember to use them. I even researched cloth diapers for Annie, but decided not to get them since she was close to potty training (I guess it's time to look into them for Ben...). The trouble is there are just a few things I can't quite let go of. So here, in no particular order, are the reasons why I will never be totally green.

1. My car can't really be considered gas friendly. And I probably won't be getting one that is anytime soon. This is the sad reality of having three kids and a gear-loving husband who requires extra space anywhere we go just in case we find a river he can fish.

2. I hate the new energy friendly Christmas lights. You know the ones with the blueish glow? They just seem dull and depressing to me and don't look Christmasy. Christmas is a time of cheer and depressing lights just don't seem to cheerful to me. much prefer the energy sucking versions of years past. I try to tell myself it doesn't matter too much since I only use them one month of the year.

3. My kids go through reams of paper per month. They are really into coloring and making notes and projects and such. We go through paper like crazy around here. And that doesn't even take into account the gobs of paper they come home from school with.

4. In my heart, I'm not really a thrifty person. For example, while doing a painting project that required oil-based paint, instead of washing the paintbrushes out after using them, I just used a new one for each coat. I tried to justify it by telling myself the fumes from the mineral spirits I would have used to clean the brush were just as damaging as disposing of the brushes. I guess it's a close call, but the point is that I'm not really very good at being thrifty if the cost is minimal. Keep an old booster seat hanging around my house waiting for the next child or just get a new one? I chose just get a new one. Same goes for all those plastic Easter eggs (although I did keep a stash this year because Annie loves to have Easter egg hunts) and all kinds of baby gear and toys that I don't feel like storing for the next baby.

5. But the top reason why I will never really be green is my love affair with paper towels. I love them oh so very much. I can't stand dish rags. They make me gag. I know Martha Stewart says to keep a drawer full of microfiber cloths in the kitchen, but I do not like the feel of microfiber cloths. They are like nails-on-the-chalkboard for me. So I am afraid that Martha and I will have to agree to disagree on this point. Also on whether keeping pets in the house is a good idea.

Here's to hoping you all have a happy earth day. We are celebrating with a field trip Friday excursion to watch "African Cats" and hoping we can plant a tree when this forty days worth of rain dries up. In October.

The Boxcar Children

So here's an age-old question for you. What is it about kids and boxes? Do yours love them too? This large one arrived just in time to beat a bad case of spring fever. These kids would like out of the house.

What this means...

One thing this picture means is that I'm a mom. Because who else decorates their table with dandelion bouquets?

I'm hoping this also means that spring is here to stay.

Please bless...amen.

She might need a sister...

Annie likes to dress up and she likes other people to dress up with her. It seems to be her favorite game these days. I played with her most of the weekend. On Sunday, she told me that she needed to choose my dress because the last time I didn't look pretty enough. I was busy watching a little basketball last night, so she recruited her little brother to play with her.

I don't think he liked it.

Ben at 1-year (plus a couple weeks)

-Is both a mommy and daddy's boy. Sometimes he just can't make up his mind about which one of us he wants the most.

-Always reaches his arms out for other people to hold him, but once he is in their arms, he immediately reaches back for mom/dad.

-Gives the best and tightest hugs possible.

-Loves his brother and wants to do everything he does. I don't see this trend stopping anytime soon. Is also a clone of his brother.

-Is still a bit wary of his sister. With good reason. The girl just can't help herself from smothering babies. With lots of love, but still...it's smothering.

-Loves food, but you wouldn't know it. He's a tiny little guy, which is especially surprising given who his parents are. Two percent in weight, forty-first in height. The Dr./Auntie Sheryl has given orders to feed him more - an extra yolk in his eggs, extra butter on everything, powder in his milk, etc. We'll see if it works...

-Loves to be outside and cries until you take him out. We could use more spring-like weather.

-Once he is outside, cries "Daisy" (the dog's name) over and over until you get her out to play.

-Thinks it's funny when you spit or pretend to spit.

-Can say the following: Mama, Dada, no, ca-ca, again, cookie, Daisy, Annie, and more.

-Is a champion stair-climber and also pretty good at coming back down.

-Can walk, but prefers to crawl.

-People always comment on how many teeth he has (8) and how much hair he has. I don't think he has an unusual amount of either for a 1-year-old, I think they just think he is younger than he is so it seems like he has a lot.

I'll skip all the clichés about how fast this year has flown by and just say that it's been a great year. We love you oh so very much, Ben-a-boo-boo-boo.