An Outrageous Amount of Easter (Part 2)

So Part 2 is the Saturday before Easter. We started the morning off early with the ward Easter egg hunt. What a great primary president to have put together such a nice hunt! We got there just as the 2-3 year olds were starting and both kids knew just what to do. Last year must have prepped them. Carter LOVES Easter!

Davis and his loot, already partially eaten, who doesn't love candy for breakfast??

So then we were off to the Thanksgiving Point Easter event. We went last year and quite enjoyed it, so when the tickets were more expensive this year we decided to go ahead and go anyway. That was a bad decision! It was fun and all and the kids had a good time, but it was a rip off. There was only 1 candy per generic egg and it was a cheap chew. Every egg, same thing. Last year was cheaper and so much better, cool eggs with 3 candies in each. We'll be skipping this next year. For me to not like something from Thanksgiving Point is a big deal--my sisters both worked the event and had lots of complaints.

We made the best of it though. Here is Carter collecting eggs--I picked him up and ran him out away from the crowd and then when I put him down he just sat there looking at all the chaos. I was like, hurry hurry pick up the eggs! Craziness!

Carter's collection

And Davis's

Riding the cow train, certainly the highlight of the day

Same one as Halloween in case you were wondering.


And this one the one and only chance they had to meet the Easter Bunny this year. Maybe that made it worth it? They were so amazed that they were actually seeing him! Even if he was freaky looking and very big, he is kneeling in this picture.

We went home and had nap time and prepped ourselves for even more craziness coming on Easter day. But not before running around with Easter baskets as hats!

An Outrageous amount of Easter (Part 1)

Brace yourselves, I have 4 posts coming up! Yikes! We definitely had a ridiculous amount of Easter, but it was just way too much fun! 3 years olds, as definitely trying as they may be, are also so so much fun. "Bunny Easter" is all too real to them and everything is fresh and new and awe inspiring. Who wouldn't want more of that?? So without further ago . . .


Part 1 is the Friday before Easter. My darling sis Hillary came to help us dye eggs. This year I got some egg tongs to try and alleviate some of the mess that last year brought . . .my goal was not successful. :)

Carter showing me his egg (my fav actually, a good blend of colors) and his ruined shirt

Davis' lovely blue egg--he definitely had a thing for blue this year, and dressing up as a fireman of course.

They did give the tongs a good try. Good thing we did this outside.

Finished product: Carter's hands

and Davis's hands

And the finished eggs.

We then took the monkeys to the children's garden and had fun running around. I had to throw this one in of Davis in his Batman mask, his Halloween costume from 2 years ago . . .

Just such a cute and funny fellow! Thanks for playing with us Hillary!

Easter

So of course I have a million fun shots from Easter but I left my camera again! Argh! So those will have to wait but I wanted to share these links with you now. You may have seen these before, but if not--they are definitely worth the 4 minutes each.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

This is Elder Holland's talk from conference last week with some visuals added. The talk was amazing! Here's the link to the full talk:

http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1032-27,00.html

Also President Monson's talk if you feel like bawling and being humbled, I know I'll never look at a kitchen spoon the same way:

http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1032-28,00.html

Also here's another little video with art of the Savior's birth, life, and death put to music:

http://sonofmanproject.com/

I tried sharing the message of Easter with Carter boy, it went something like this:

Me: Easter is about Jesus. He died for us and then came back to life so we can be happy and live with our family forever. Do you want to live with our family forever?

C: No

Me: Wrong answer!

Davis had the same response, seriously do they have it so bad??? We'll have to try again next year. Be back Wednesday with uber-info about our weekend. :)

A little touch of sun

Ugh. Does anyone have any answers for why I have to always throw up at work?? It is truly a bizarre phenomenon in my life. When I was pregnant I could understand, I threw up in every toilet I was ever near but since then I have thrown up at least twice more often in my work toilet than anywhere else. Weird. And lately I will just lose my dinner right after I finish even though I have felt fine all day. Maybe it was my body's way of saying that kielbasa was not the best decision for dinner tonight. Oh well, there's more than you wanted to know about my evening.

On to much more pleasant things, a touch of spring! For one blissful day the sun came out and we got up to 70 degrees. The boys and I embraced the day spending it outside. We were going to go to the park but were waiting for a friend who was thinking of coming over and it worked out well--our yard is just about as good as any park. Here's some fun sunny shots: Carter loves to swing (and try to kick mama with the camera)

Davis too--doesn't his face scream childhood joy?

Davis my model posing in the "TarterDadis clubhouse, come inside it's fun inside". If you don't have 3 year olds and/or the Disney channel you'll have no idea where that's from.

Well you don't see that everyday, Batman and a train conductor blowing bubbles. Well, I guess I do--Davey boy wore that mask everywhere for a few days.

Carter upside down with his cute, dirty little tootsies

Happy swinging boys, in shorts!

I love this one of Carter, it's hard to tell in pics but those cheeks are so soft, I love to touch his face.

So I spent my 2 days off visiting. I was up past 10 both nights just chatting the night away. So wonderful to have adult conversation! Tuesday was UVMOM mom's night out--bowling, dinner, and then ice cream and chatting. Delightful! And yes I scored the lowest at bowling, no surprise there, Davis beat me both of his games from last week. Then last night we had dinner with my family and Sue and Scott Hoyt--my best friend growing up's parents. These were my "other" parents growing up, the ones who saw me at least as much as my own and who always adopted me at girl's camp. They are moving from my childhood home of Manteca, CA to Denver where their daughter my BFF Kris lives. It was great to hear about what everyone is doing from "home". Truth is, everyone has left but I still considering everyone from our old ward as family. My mom and I are excited that Sue and Kris will both be 8 hours away now, we're already scheming a trip minus the silly boys (my dad and Lowell) who are not so much into that drive.

Sadly my poor boys were neglected. Usually my days off are all play time with them instead of play time for me. I'll make it up to them with a bunch of fun Easter plans and then Lowell is off next week for Spring break and we're ironing out the details for fun in Arches and Goblin Valley. Stay tuned!

Here's how the kids thought breakfast should be spent today (insert exaggerated eye roll here):

Oh well, they did clean it up themselves. And I am pleased to say Carter has his little lizards there for finally going #2 in the potty. Today he even told me he needed to go and followed up on that announcement. He took himself potty at the gym too. Davis has always been a bit ahead of Carter in the race to be potty trained, but perhaps Carter is pulling ahead. Whatever, just please please get it done! We are getting there. They are undies all the time except when they are sleeping now and aren't having many accidents at all. The #2 issue is the biggest hurdle left and I am praying we get over it soon. I'm ready for all the fun things I have promised them for after they are potty trained (and I don't have to spend so much moola on diapers)--gymnastics, itty bitty ball, preschool . . .

And finally because my darling little sis wants to see the pic and to prove the insanity runs in the fam, here's a pic of her and her friends heading to a concert last night:

She's on the far right and ever so silly. Very much like I was at her age. Sometimes I wonder why I ever grew up. Love you cutie girl!

Overheard . . .

Davis: Tarter you're making me crazy.
Carter: Oh yeah, Dadis you're making me crazy.
Davis: Sure are!

Someone's been listening to Daddy. . .in his defense our Parenting with Love and Logic teacher told him to use that wording. :)

Friday Fun Day

Honestly when I got up Friday I had no major plans for the day but it ended up being a Friday Fun Day. I do like once in a while just having fun and doing some cool things for no good reason. We have an elaborate reward system at our house, one for potty training and one for helping to clean and behaving with different prizes for each. Although my kids are certainly spoiled they do have to earn pretty much all toys and treats in one way or another--a major exception being holidays, those are freebies. But like I said once in a while they get spoiled just because I'm their momma and I want to. I think it comes down to times when I get lots of call backs at work. That causes me to be overly tired and have extra money. Easy to make the connection . . .
So, Friday began as the last couple of days have, with dress up time. Seeing how much the kids loved playing dress up at the gym, I finally found a dress up chest for boys. There were plenty for girls, but boys were a little trickier. They have adored it--you'll see in the next few pics. Davis the pirate, I can always count on him to pull a good face.

Carter the fireman

Carter as the pirate


Davis the cowboy
Carter the knight. There's also an indian which neither has taken much interest in yet.

We then went to Toys R Us because they were having a buy one get one free sale on all Little Tikes toys (29.99 and under). The sale ends today and is online if anyone is interested. BOGO are a very good deal for me as I buy 2 of most everything anyway. They had the "rockstar" toys on sale, the kids have the guitars but we picked up the drums and keyboards. They will have to earn them though. The silly easter toy they got for being good in the store. We also picked up some Krispie Kremes for Daddy on the way (and a little bit for mommy ;)). By this time it was also lunch time so we got Happy Meals to get the Monsters vs. Aliens toys that Carter is so fond of--I really must have been in a good mood.

Here's the toys talking to each other. And yes, Davis went to Toys R Us as a pirate, hat, eye patch and all. Carter only insisted on bringing the sword.

So, lucky for me Cyndel was available to hang with Carter so Davis could get one of his other rewards fulfilled. They get a sticker for every morning or afternoon they stay dry and one for every time they do #2 in the potty. Every 5 stickers get a special candy and 25 stickers--the whole chart--gets them a special outing with mom and dad and no brother. Davis was so excited, he kept saying, "No Tarter". They missed each other though, he just felt special which was the whole idea. I kept referring to Carter as "them" giving Cynnie instructions for watching Carter, it really is bizarre doing anything with just one. We kept opening the door to get the child out of his car seat that wasn't there. We went bowling at Big D's request.

Doesn't he look like Carter here? Someday I am going to label this the wrong child. And yes, he bowled in his full cowboy motif, minus the gun which kept falling off the belt.

Carrying the big ball, he is so Mr. Independent. He wouldn't bowl until I would sit down, wanted to do it himself. And be the boss and tell me what to do. Very Davis.

He loved it and was pretty good actually.

He got so excited with every pin that dropped, he even bowled a strike, yea for ramps and bumpers!

Game 1's results

I thought the little bowling shoes were too darling. By game 2 his interest starting to wane but I think he still had a really good time.

Game 2's results. Lowell is fun to watch bowl. He is a "fancy" bowler with the cool moves and everything. But it kept screwing him up instead of helping him. Funny boy.

So as if that wasn't a full enough day we took the boys to see Seussical the musical at Lowell's school. I must have been feeling brave (or crazy) when I planned this but it actually went better than I expected. Within 15 minutes both boys needed to be taken out for climbing all over the chairs but Davis came back and as long as he was on my lap he did really well. Carter came back after intermission and made it through Act 2, again if seated on mine or Lowell's lap. I can't even believe we made it through the full 2 hour play. It helped that it was a really fun play and based on characters they know and love. If you've never seen it, it is a blend of several Seuss books, mostly Horton hears a Who and Horton sits on an egg with Gertrude McFuzz, The Grinch who stole Christmas, The Cat in the Hat, Oh the Thinks you can Think, and the Butter side up/down book--I haven't read that in forever so I can't think of the name. This was a Jr. High production so not too elaborate but the kids did really well performing and the music and rhyming was really fun. I enjoyed the brief moment when I was holding both kids and they were content. Ever since my less than ideal delivery (at 34 weeks with kids going to separate NICUs) I have always oddly mourned the time right after they were born when I was supposed to hold both my babies. That didn't happen for another 2 weeks and since I have never taken for granted the moments I get to truly have "my hands full". It's those little moments I always savor holding both my darlings and having them healthy and well (nice to have Lowell next to me too).

Here's the only shot I got, Davis in front of the display. After the show the cast was staying for photos and you better believe I was ready to run up there, but Lowell shot me down. In his defense it was after 9 and we hadn't even eaten dinner yet, and he was at work and would have to stay and get things done. But you know me and pictures . . .I also wanted them to get to meet the actors but I guess Carter got a chance in the hall. He went straight for the Grinch and then flirted with Gertrude McFuzz, blowing her kisses and all. Such a ham. I asked the kids what their favorite part was and they both said, The Grinch.

So we got dinner and I put the exhausted kiddos to bed. What a full day--look at these tired kids:

It has certainly been a successful day when the boys are asleep within 10 minutes of being put down, that usually takes hours.

Today will be a lot more mellow, I don't even have any plans. Of course that's how yesterday started too . . .

Davis the schemer

I am just a whole bundle of grouchy today (I've been having a tough time at work . . .) so how about something fun?

Me: I've got a deal for you guys, if you can be nice at the store, we'll go to the gardens.
Davis: Hmmm . . .I know, gardens first then store! K, Mom, gardens first?

Me: What do you think the bear is saying? (At the gardens, after the store)
Davis: (intently listening) he says, "I want chicken nuggets".

Davis: Mommy, I lub you foreber eber eber eber eber
Me: [awwww]
Davis: Can we go to Dinneyland next week?
Me: [oh]

Me: If you don't stop fighting me, I'm going to spank your bum.
Davis: Don't hit my bum, my bones are in there! He is such a funny kid, sure keeps me on my toes!

P.S. Loved The Host, reading it the second time already . . .also Congo.