Easter

We've started doing our "dying Easter egg tradition" the Monday before Easter for Family Home Evening. Before dying the eggs we had a really lovely little lesson about the meaning and story behind Easter. 

We read The Easter Story by Patricia Pingry that we got from the library. It was the perfect picture book for the kids about this topic. We then watched this lovely video about finding peace through Christ. There were a lot of words in it so I read them aloud for the kids. At the end it says: "He is Jesus Christ. King of Kings. Lord of Lords. Prince of Peace." After saying, "Lord of Lords," I got a little emotional and paused and didn't immediately read the next line. When I didn't read it, Shae shouted out, "Mom! What does it say?!" Through tears I read out, "Prince of Peace," and in that moment I felt such a strong connection to and love for Christ. I continued to feel it that entire week leading up to and on Easter as we discussed the Savior and his resurrection.

During one conversation Shae asked, "But why does he live AGAIN?" It was so special to be able to talk to him about what that means to me, and to our family. These kids, man, they sure do know how to bring out all the feels in me on these heartfelt topics that over the years I just haven't thought about or talked about or studied about enough. Thank goodness for their sweet inquisitive minds.

After the lesson we got to the fun part, the part Shae had patiently been waiting for ALL week. This was the first year that I felt like I didn't really have to worry about him drinking the dyed water or cracking all the eggs as he plopped them in the water (2016 and 2015).

 Lucky for us, we had this sweet girl to make sure we still had a few cracked eggs at the end of the night. Let me tell you, putting six cups full of colored water in front of her was terrifying. She's quick and messy. Thankfully, we somehow ended the evening with only one minor spill.

 (Face covered in chocolate from the Chocolate Cadbury Cookies we made the day before).

 Shae wanted to dye the eggs just like we were, which meant doing half an egg one color and the other half a different color. He was so patient, holding the egg in the water (and of course sticking half his hand in while doing so). 

 The Saturday before Easter we did a little egg hunt Primary activity with other members of our branch. Here the kids are playing a "pass the hat" hot potato type game.

These two. I just love them so much. I haven't started crying DAILY yet over the fact that they are moving in three months, but I have definitely cried. When is it too soon for the daily cry to start? 

 Our little spring bunny.

That lip. Always with the lip.

 We don't really do big fancy baskets from the Easter Bunny around here, but are trying to figure out a good tradition for us. This year we did a chocolate bunny for each kid and a new family game (Sleeping Queens), that we are obsessed with. We have played it a few times a day since Easter. It's a game that Darin and I actually enjoy playing too. In fact, I look forward to it (unlike never ending games of Candy Land or Trouble). And it was only 10 bucks! 

 Darin was sweet and let me sleep in a bit on the holiday since I didn't have church meetings. After I woke up, we ate some pancakes and then did our own little family Easter Egg hunt. The eggs were filled with M&Ms and Paw Patrol chocolate that I found at the Target dollar spot, which the kids of course were very excited about.

Before rushing off to church we had to take some obligatory family photos. We were in a hurry so didn't get outside. Of course I said, "Let's take a few now just in case we don't go outside after church, but let's go outside after church!" Of course that didn't happen because after church everyone is hungry and tired and the church clothes come off as soon as we walk inside...so glad we took these awkward hallway apartment pics before leaving :). 

The rest of the afternoon/evening was really lovely, spent with friends and food. What more could one ask for? 

 This sweet girl was the only one left on the tarp after 5 minutes and probably the only one who ate all her food. What a doll. 

At church I wasn't really expecting all the feels of the week to hit me so strong from the start of the meeting, but yowza, all it took was the first hymn. The words were just so beautiful.

That Easter Morn, a grave that burst

Proclaimed to man that "Last and First"

Had ris'n again

And conquered pain.

This morn renews for us that day

When Jesus cast the bonds away,

Took living breath

And conquered death.

Thus we in gratitude recall

And give our love and pledge our all,

Shed grateful tear

And conquer fear.

(Hymn: 198 That Easter Morn)

So thankful for him.

Four Year Old Ninjabread Boy

Wow, it feels like it's been years since I last wrote a blog post. March was just an awful month full of sickness sickness and more sickness, oh, and tons of snow and cold. Nothing blog worthy at all. We are now about to finish off the first week of April (or at least we were when I first started this post) with another crazy bug going around our family. This one has led us all to live in the bathroom and our beds for a few days before the next person took over. Belén’s 2 year molars decided to stop by last week as well and we were up quite a few nights with her, non-stop. Poor poor girl. And poor us. Really hoping this is all almost done. We went the whole winter without getting sick and I was so happy--until 5 weeks ago. 

Hence my 2 month late four year old post about Shae. I just want to remember every detail of him right now! So I'd better hurry up and get this written before he changes too much more.

...On top of the sicknesses, I really wanted to get some good pictures of him outside and there was just NO day all of March to get outside and take pictures. It was a yucky yucky month. We finally had a day last week where the sun was shining enough that the lighting in our apartment was decent, so we took advantage of that (we did end up getting out later this same afternoon b/c the weather was okay and since his hair was done...).

Okay, let me stop complaining about March and snow and sickness and move on to better, happier things...like this sweet boy! 

This kid has been SOO sweet lately. Constantly telling us things like, "Mom, I love you and I like you," and running around giving us hugs and kisses and "love strokes" (a stroke on our cheeks accompanied by him saying in THE sweetest voice with THE sweetest smile, "Love stroke?" 

I just can't get enough.

The other day we were talking about mailing a letter and he goes, "Mom, remind me to bring the envelope...sigh...I love you."

At the doctors for his 4 year check up: Sitting up on the table while the nurse listens to his heart, he looks over at me and sighs and says, "Mom, I just love you." ha! Right there with two nurses in the room and his shirt off. 

Notes about Shae:

Weight: 36 lbs.

Height: 39"

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Animal: Super hero dogs

Favorite movie: Cars

Favorite Songs: Wreck-It-Ralph Soundtrack

Favorite Book: Ghost Town at Sundown (Magic Tree House)

Favorite Foods: Pizza, Hot Dogs, Chicken Nuggets, Ice Cream, Tomatoes, and Cantalope

Least favorite foods: Any main dish dinner food that is not one of the above (he will eat all other foods, but not without complaining first) and jello.

Favorite imaginary games: Magic Tree House, Super Heroes, and Paw Patrol (he loved playing "family" but now that is ALL the girls in Joy School want to play and he has started to not want to go to Joy School because, "I don't want to play Family.")

Favorite board games: Trouble, Sorry, Candy Land, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

And now on to a bunch of random things about Shae and things he has said/done recently that I want to remember:

We have stopped giving him milk in a sippy cup, but we often find him hiding somewhere chugging his sister's sippy cup full of milk (since she is the opposite of him and never drinks it). Clearly it's the sippy cup that he is most attached to, not the milk.

He LOVES taking pictures and videos (mostly of himself) with my phone. I gave him an old digital camera to play with a few weeks ago and he had a blast taking pictures of everything. 

When he draws letters in a weird way (and this totally drives me batty) and then says, "This is my Spanish S!" or "This is a monster M!" 

He thinks Ks are unnecessary and always changes them to a C. Thanc you. Jacc and Annie.

We've had to switch things up with quiet time now that Belén climbs out of the pack n' play. She now sleeps in her crib in their room, Shae does quiet time in the living room, and I work in my bedroom. I was so worried about this change, and while it's annoying that I have to move all the toys out into the living room, Shae has been SO great. He has been super in to building towns lately which is so fun to see (Magic Tree House audiobooks have helped a ton too. Some days I let him take a bath for quiet time and he will just play in the tub listening). 

We had a FHE lesson about the Holy Ghost recently and it really stuck in Shae's brain because he will occassionally ask us things like, "Did the Holy Ghost tell you to be nice to me?" (Usually said after I have lost my cool and then have to restart and apologize).

"Maybe I do want to die and go to Jesus so that I know what color the Holy Ghost is." 

While in the tub, "I'm dead now. I'm with the bathtub Jesus."

So many hilarious gospel related statements from kids as they try to grasp all this deep church stuff we throw at them. 

Shae has an affinity for keeping all of his artwork and showing it off on his wall above his bed. Sadly for him, we don't actually let him tape up ALL his artwork, b/c that would be a lot, but the wall is definitely quite filled. We're at a point now where he has to choose something to take down when he wants to put something else up. And I love that he wanted that family picture that I drew right in the center of it all. 

One day at swim lessons I snuck a pic of him and got in trouble for it. I told him later what happened and said, "The pool lady tapped my shoulder and said 'Ma'am' no pictures please." 

Shae: She wasn't talking to YOU! Your name isn't ma'am! 

The picture that I shouldn't have taken of the kids quietly listening to their teacher before jumping in. He's in the navy top on the right.

He LOVES swim lessons and I have been so impressed how different he is in the water over a short few months. Watching him bob in and out of the water when he wouldn't even dare put his chin in the water when he started has been so cool. They always end the lesson by jumping in the pool (little pool) and last week he told his teacher, "Don't catch me this time, I'm going to do a cannonball." And he did! Three of them!

He also wanted to take his swim shirt off last week like the other boys, so I helped him take it off and he immediately covered up his chest with his arms and said, "Put it back on!"

He reads sight words pretty well and will sound out words when I encourage him to do so. He can read better than he thinks he can, he just doesn't like to try. We've implemented a new rule that when we get "easy reader" books he has to read every other page and he knows and follows the rule. "Oh mom, this is an easy reader..." (I've learned to pick out easy readers he gets excited about, mostly Disney, Super Hero, Diego, etc.)

We started taking away his brown blanket that he has been SUPER attached with since he was a baby during the day. We noticed that he is more wild when he has it. He'll swing it around and terrorize Belén with it. When we took it away, it was amazing how much calmer he became. When we take it out of the closet at the end of the night, his excitement is so real as he runs and hugs brown blankie. Silly boy and his attachments. 

Shae (with Eppie): Me and Eppie are playing Mom and Dad and we need to play in your room so that we can pretend it is night time and go to sleep in your bed together.

Cue simultaneous mom laughter and freak out.

While it feels like Shae and Belén are constantly fighting over something these days, it is really cute how excited Shae gets while watching Belén learn things. When she says a word (any word, even if it is one she uses all the time) he will say "Yay! She learned a new word! Good job Belén, you said 'cracker.'" 

It's a bit strange just how excited he gets when she pees in the potty as well (or at least he did for the first few weeks). If she went in the little potty, he always wanted to be the one to pour the pee into the big potty (??) and when she went in the big potty he would run in and say, "Can I see?!" I love that her joys are his joys.

On the other end of this, he also becomes pretty excited about Belén being disciplined. "Mom, she hit me, she should probably go in a time out for that shouldn't she." It just must be SO cool to see your sibling be the one being disciplined and not you.

He really does put up a lot with her though, and he does a good job. It's gotta be hard having someone around who destroys all your block creations and train tracks, someone who throws their food at you during meal time, or draws on your drawings. He's (mostly) a good sport.

Shae considers every movie to be a bad movie if there are bad guys in it (every movie...except Cars, which is why he loves it). We have tried to explain that it can be a good movie, with bad guys in it, but he just hears the word "good" and can't take it since CLEARLY it is bad, if there are bad guys. "Shae, did you like Moana? It was a good movie wasn't it?" 

"No mom! It was a bad movie. There were two bad guys!" 

"But didn't you enjoy it?" 

"Not the bad parts!"

Me (after Shae had a conversation with the mailman): Did you know I wanted to be a mailwoman when I was a kid? Instead I chose to be a mommy and an editor.

Shae: I'm glad you chose to be a mommy instead of a mailwoman.

Oh, my heart.

Shae: When I grow up I want to be a ninjabread boy, and a Dad. 

Shae: I want to help put the gasoline on Belén! Please can I help you put the gasoline on her!
Me: It's VAS-oline, bud. Vasoline. 

Shae is such a joy. He is thoughtful, kind, loving, and friendly. He can be timid when it comes to trying new things and gets upset if his food is cut incorrectly or the milk level in his cereal is lower than it should be. But overall, he has such a big heart. He gives me a hug and kiss EVERY time I leave the house, even if it is just to check the mail. He loves his family and talks about his extended family often and when he will see them again. He notices when other kids aren't included and makes sure that everyone has a turn at doing things. Darin and I fall asleep just about every single night talking about funny/adorable things that he has said or done that day. We just love this kid to the moon and back. 

Stella was stella

Winter storm Stella was legit. It started snowing in the middle of the night Monday night and didn't stop until Wednesday evening. While not being super excited for a huge snow storm in the  middle of March, this one was surprisingly quite fun. You'd think we would have all gone stir crazy being inside for 2 days straight, but there was just something about watching the snow fall ALL DAY LONG that made us all just want to hibernate inside (and take advantage of the fact that daddy was home with us for some of it--mostly in the bed room working on a paper, with occasional visits). 

And while we were mostly inside, we did step out a few times to take in the snow. On Tuesday the kids went out and played on the balcony for a bit.

We had planned a little pie party with some friends, but ended up cancelling because no one could drive. Good thing since I burned my  Triple Berry Pie! (While watching the Great British Baking Show no less! How embarrassing!) We still ate it and just scraped off the burned parts. We did end up rescheduling our party for the weekend and I made Mel's Magnolia Lemon Pie which was heavenly. Definitely making that one again. (Funny side note, the other three families all brought Peanut Butter Chocolate Pies! So funny because that is what I almost made until one of my friends said she would be bringing one. I guess we all had peanut butter on the brain).

On Wednesday we played inside in the morning for a bit while also people watching from the kids room (one perk to our apartment living is our huge bedroom windows). At one point our neighbor was out there trying to dig out his car with his ice scraper so I jumped out to help him while the kids rooted us on from the window. After coming back inside, the kids said they wanted to go out and "help" also and I figured, why not, they could use some outside time. It ended up being so fun to play in the deep snow. Shae and I did quite a few cannon balls into the parking lot.

This last picture is from Saturday. We went out and climbed all the massive snow piles all throughout our apartment complexes. Pretty sure they will be here till the first day of summer...

It's sunny and 45 today so it feels like spring really is coming (yay!) except it's supposed to snow again tomorrow... 

This kind of snow is kind of what we expected to be normal here in Ithaca, good to know that normal it is not.

Belén Turns Two

It was so fun celebrating Belén on her birthday. She seemed more than prepared for it too. With Shae's birthday just 3 weeks before and two friend birthday parties between that time, she seemed to really get what was going on. As in, she knew the birthday song VERY well (except she sings it "Happy Shoo Shoo Shoo YOU," and knew that presents, cake and ice cream were involved.

She received a bday package from Aunt Amelia a few days before her birthday. We opened it up and put the presents on our bookshelf. Every single day she would go over to them, point at them and sing "Happy shoo shoo shoo...mine." 

When she woke up, we all went in the room and sang Happy Birthday to her before getting her out of her crib. She didn't seem to like that too much. Haha, she fussed and whined and said, "No!" I guess the three of us coming in in the morning was a bit too much for her.

She did, however, get excited when she walked out to see streamer and balloons in the hallway. We let her open up her birthday cereal (which Darin did a great job picking out just for her--I was really rooting for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but he chose Rapunzel instead. She appreciated it. I, however, am not a fan of marshmallow cereal).

Grandma and Khun-Ta came in to town right around lunch time. When they arrived we went ahead and gave her her other presents. My mom found this little kitchen right after Christmas for 75% off and got it for her. The kids both love it. 

They especially love making things for others and taking them over to them and hearing their reactions about how good the food is. Shae keeps making a drink called a snapper...not sure where that came from.

Cheers.

Opening the presents that she had been staring at on the bookshelf for a few days by this point :).

Lathering up with the chapstick. 

Ever since getting a membership to the Y Shae has wanted to go as a family for open swim. We just could never seem to make it happen, until the day of Belén's birthday. We wanted to do something fun with my parents in town, but it was 15 degrees outside, so our options were limited. The pool was the perfection solution.

Shae gets to do swim lessons often, but she hasn't had a chance in the pool yet and she loved it. It was really fun to play with her in there and to see all the things that Shae has been learning in his lessons.

When we got home we had some dinner and did cake and ice cream. She helped me put the final touches of the blueberries on the cake. 

Her birthday was simple and sweet. It was so nice that my parents came up for the weekend to celebrate with us, that in and of itself was enough of a treat for her (and us). 

We are so in love with this sweet girl and still can't believe that she is two! 

Happy Birthday Belén!!