Happy Easter

I just wanted to say Happy Easter to all of you! We had a great Sunday.

Our family spoke in church! Cooper, 2 1/2 yr old, got a little nervous and wouldn't talk. Dad told the congregation what Cooper had planned to say. Cooper held a picture of a sun he drew and Dad said, "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam to shine for him each day. Jesus is a rockstar!" That is my son's testimony!

Cadence, 4 1/2 yr old, read most of her talk about saving worms that were crawling into the road and drowning in the gutter due to the rain last week. She likened that to be like how Jesus saves us from death because of the resurrection. She drew three pictures for the congregation to see!

Chris and I spoke about Christ overcoming death and atoning for our sins. I shared a few stories (the empty egg and a mission story about a Jewish lady realizing that Jesus was the Christ) and a personal experience how I know I will see my deceased father again. Death is NOT the end! I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It brings me much joy and peace!

Here are the kiddos on the way to church. Cooper insists on wearing his pinewood derby medal for the coolest looking vehicle. (His was a semi truck!)

After church, the Easter bunny came and brought some new spring clothes, books and other little gadgets. Many eggs were hidden and found! The kids loved it, but they know the real reason we celebrate Easter is to celebrate Christ's resurrection.

I hope you had an enjoyable Easter!

Hula Hooping Cadence In The News!

Cadence was invited by our good friend (and my former student), Jen, to participate in the Special Needs talent show. Jen was going to hula hoop and wanted others to join her. Cadence was up for the fun. We found a hula hoop at DI a few days before the big event for a $1. Coincidence? I think not:)!!!!

Cadence really enjoyed participating and did a great job along with Jen and the rest of the crew. I got it on video and she had to watch it a few times before she went to bed!

The hula hoop act made the front page of one of the sections on the local newspaper, The Herald Journal. Here is the link!

How often do you go to the pet store? What kind of animals do you see?

My New Year Plan!!!

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So this coming year, I have a few big goals!

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1. Stay sane!

2. Gain less than 50 pounds!

3. Learn how to manage THREE kids, a job, a blog and a life!

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Yes, my big announcement is that I am pregnant. I made one of those cool skeleton shirts with a fetus skeleton to tell some of my family and friends. It tooks some (my mom) two days of me wearing this shirt before she asked if I was pregnant. Others it took one or two minutes. It was fun to wear around even if it wasn't Halloween. I used the heat transfer material from Silhouette to make the shirt. I recommend the product!!! It worked great!

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I am due June 30, but will probably get induced a few days prior to this. (Our insurance starts over on July 1 and we have already met our large deductible this year due to my knee surgery. I don't want to pay the deductible again!) We will find out the gender in February!

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I have been great friends with the toilet for the past 2 1/2 months. I'm hoping that friendship will end soon or I am going to lose my mind. It is so hard not being able to open the fridge or cook for my family without puking!

Here is a close up of the shirt. I took it as I was wearing it so I realize the picture isn't that great. I should have taken it off!!!

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Wish me luck in obtaining my goals!

Halloween 2010

This year for Halloween, I suggested to the kids that they be Mickey and Minnie with the clothes I made for our Disneyland vacation. They thought that was a good idea......for a while. That saved me having to make or find new ones!!!

We were invited to a Halloween party at Groll's house and I went to D.I. to find a robe to finish off Chris' wizard costume. I found a graduation gown for $2. Good enough! I also looked at a lot of the kids costumes too. They were cheap ($2-$4) so I bought some for dress-up. Cooper LOVED the Spiderman costume and Cadence loved the skeleton. Her friends, Jack and Piper, were skeletons this year and I think that she wanted to be like them. They switched their costumes to skeleton and Spiderman. I ran out to the barn and grabbed some of my mom's clothes from the 70's. I should have put on Cadence's Minnine ears because then I could have been a Minnie from the 70's instead of "being my mom 30 years ago".

It rained on Halloween. We went to the church for dinner and Trunk-or-treating and then knocked on about 15 doors. I think trick-or-treating is the best thing about Halloween. I love snitching a few candy bars from the kids:) Here the kids are posing in front the big wooden bear Justin and Ruth (our former neighbors) left for us. The kids put spiderwebs all over it.

Carving pumpkins was a huge hit. The kids painted some at Montessori and carved one at home. They loved the candles inside!

Since Halloween was on a Sunday (and we participated in most Halloween celebrations on Saturday) I decided to make Dinner in a Pumpkin for Sunday. I was a little nervous, but it turned out great. Basically, I made this casserole type mixture and then baked it inside a pumpkin for 2 hours. The pumpkin bakes down. When you scrap out the mixture, you also scrap out the pumpkin and eat it. It tasted good. Pumpkin tastes a lot like squash! HERE is the recipe I used. I think I will make Dinner In A Pumpkin a yearly tradition.