The Happening(s)

Bad Blogger..bad...BAD! Now that I'm thoroughly punished for being a slacker blogger lately, I'll show you WHY I've been a slacker :) Busy, busy week - I'm talking swimming lessons, dance performances, birthdays, Easter... you name it! Here's a run down of our happy happenings! )Make sure you've got a few hours free before you start...seriously. Read at your own risk).

Monday - Swimming lessons for TJ - last day. Parent Day. Play day. They pretty much splashed around the entire time, enjoying themselves, having fun. I was glad I decided to go - I never want to miss things like this.

Later we had our Easter Family Home Evening - a sweet little lesson on the last days of Jesus' life on earth, and the joy of His glorious Resurrection. We learned the Children's Primary song "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" which is one of my favorite Easter songs, then played a fun game together. I love Family Home Evening - even when the planning can seem to get in the way of other things that need to be done, I never regret doing it. We all love it and feel much closer as a family after an uninterrupted evening spent together.

Tuesday -

Bayboo and her little pre-Kindergarten class had been working for 2 months to learn a Metis Rabbit dance to perform for their parents and other classes.

The story goes that a Metis hunter, while on his way home from the hunt, saw several rabbits lined up beside each other, and several dogs lined up beside each other, facing the rabbits. One dog would chase the rabbit around the lines in a figure eight pattern, then they would trade and the rabbit would chase the dog, then the next rabbit and dog in line would do it. The Hunter ran back to his home and showed the "Rabbit" dance to the others in the home and they all learned it. It's very lively and fun. I was so proud of my girl - she knew every step without help and was chosen to be the leader "rabbit" in her group, even though she is by far the tiniest in her class :)

Later that day my girls thought it would be a fun idea to put on every under shirt they owned. JJ just thought they were strange :)

Wednesday:
Repeat of Monday, only this time I was B's last day of lessons. It made my heart smile to see how happy she was with her little friends, and how POPULAR she is. I hope she uses her powers for good :)

Thursday - First day of Spring Break. WAHOO! Okay, I don't get as excited about Spring Break as my young college friends, BUT it is nice to kind of throw the schedule to the wind and just play. I did my playing in the form of making these way cute pillow boxes from Houseof3 for a little Easter lesson I was planning for Sunday dinner at our friends' house. I filled each box with jelly beans, then added this fun Easter poem:

GREEN is for the grassy blade,
YELLOW is for the sun God made.
ORANGE's for a flame so bright.
BLACK is for our sins not right.
RED is for the blood He gave.
WHITE is for Jesus grace. He saved.
PURPLE is for the hours of sorrow
PINK is for a new tomorrow.

A bag of jellybeans, so colourful and sweet,
is a promise, a prayer, and a loved one's treat.

Friday -

TJ's 9th birthday party! This year she decided on only inviting one friend and going to see a movie at the theatre. Sounds good to me! She was sooooo excited all day, driving the rest of us batty with her giggly chatter. I'm taking it all in, though, because I fear the time will come when she won't be so quick to want to chat with me. I hope that day is far off!
We spent the morning making some delicious chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing, and cute coconut nests with mini eggs (inspired by Amy's WAY cuter version).
TJ invited her bff, Chas, to the party - these two are like peas in a pod.

After a super yummy hot dog lunch, we opened presents - which TJ loved (as you can tell by the gargantuan hug she gave her sisters) then headed out to the movie.

We went to the "cheap" theatre to see Bedtime Stories and I LOVED IT! What a fun, imaginative, and hysterically funny flick. We laughed and laughed. I highly recommend it!

It was a great, though busy day. By the end we were all exhausted - not a very lively bunch. But I had fun. I love hanging out with my girl, especially as she's getting older and we can relate to each other on a whole new level. It's nice to have a daughter and a friend wrapped into one. Even if I am *WAY* too young to have a 9 year old. (Oh, and stay tuned for a tribute to the birthday girl - she deserves a post all to herself!).

Saturday - Easter celebrations! In our family, we have the Easter bunny visit on Saturday so we can focus on the Savior on Sunday. This was no different. The girls woke up to a note from the bunny himself, starting them on their Easter basket hunt. I (once again) used the Easter Jewelry printable from Houseof3 to write the clues on, and these were hidden in all kinds of places. The hunt was harder than previous years, and the girls really enjoyed it. In the end, they found their Easter baskets in the back of the van.

We had eggs, bacon and choco milk for breakfast (MY Easter treat) then got dressed and headed out on a bike ride. Some of us remembered how to do it, and others struggled - but it was a nice way to send the afternoon.

Was our Easter celebrations at an end? NO WAY! We still had some eggs to decorate! I love this tradition, and I love seeing my kiddos enjoying it, too.

Sunday was the best day, yet! After a phenomenal Sacrament meeting with touching talks, and a Sunday School lesson what taught me a few new things, and a wonderfully heartfelt R.S. lesson, we came home for a lazy afternoon before heading out to our friend's house for a delicious turkey dinner. They were kind enough to invite us, knowing that we had no family in the city for Easter. It was awesome of them - we love you, H family! To our pleasant surprise there was another great couple from our ward there to enjoy dinner, too- the Burgesses. This couple blow me away with their testimony, service, and genuine love for others. It was such a pleasure to spend the evening visiting with them and getting to know them better.
Of course, the kids had fun with their good friends, the H kids - playing dress up. This particular game was "Princesses and bad guys" - oh, with a very lion looking doggy, too :)

And to top it all off, we got to enjoy this awesome sunset on our drive back into the city. This was taken with my point and shoot in a moving vehicle, but it still captured the fiery red that lit up the sky. It was phenomenal, hard to look away from. WOW. Loved it.