Easter

Easter fell earlier than usual this year.  Because we hadn't discussed ahead of time the fact that the Easter bunny would be coming Saturday morning, Hailee was over the moon when she came downstairs and saw the baskets lined up on the counter.  She excitedly raised the alarm and got her brothers up.

Bryson decided that he was too old to hunt for eggs, which I didn't argue with...

but when I mentioned that it meant he also got no candy, he quickly hopped up and joined the hunt...

Hailee and Jace had the most fun just opening up and admiring all their candy- don't get me wrong, they ate plenty of the candy too, but not nearly as much as I though they would!

 I've officially reached the point in motherhood where I just didn't care how much candy they ate before breakfast.  I did put in some extra effort to make all of our meals a little more healthy that day though (and sugar free!)...

As usual, I was in charge of bringing rolls for Easter dinner.  Hailee was my awesome little helper.  She had so much fun rolling and shaping- I love how she always refers to flour as "sooguh" {sugar}.

I am so thankful for the empty tomb, that he is risen-

I am grateful for the hope his resurrection brings of Eternal Life with those I love.  What peace the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings.

Email

On my way out of the hospital tonight, I received the following email from Eli:

Dear Mom,
We all mess you.  When will you be
back? We can't Waite till you get back.
You are a rose to me.  I love you so much.
Are you having a good day?

I especially loved the picture of a rose he drew- What a sweet boy *grin*

Eli's Baptism

 After lots of debating and hemming and hawing over scheduling conflicts, we scheduled Eli's baptism for this last weekend.  While I understand that it's the ordinance and not who is present that is important, I still want my boy to know that his family loves him and are there to support him!  Unless we wanted to wait 2 months for him to participate in the Stake baptisms, we had to do it on our own (with approval of our bishop of course!)

It was a busy Saturday morning with his wrestling match first off.  He faced really tough competition and ended up with a bronze this week- he  had a rematch against the one kid he lost to last week.   While he lost to him again, he did so much better this week and definitely held his own.  He was pretty evenly matched against the other kid he lost to, but just couldn't ever get the upper hand.

After the match, we had a quick stop to make (to buy some white underwear!!) and then to his baptism.  Since we were on our own, Eli helped plan the program, which I think made him feel pretty special- he had Bryson give the talk on baptism and Papa Ross speak on the Holy Ghost.  My dad shared a special experience with a prompting he had to buy a carbon monoxide detector a few months back that possibly saved not only the lives of my parents, but also my husband and kids lives- Nathan and the kids stayed at their house one night I was at work and the monitor detected CO levels rising due to furnace venting issues.

I hadn't taken any pictures of my boy and his dad prior to the service, so thankfully, since it was just us, and we're all pretty low key, I snapped a few shots just prior to them going into the font 😖

It was a beautiful event, one that I hope Eli will remember.  He's such a sweet boy who loves life- sometimes that distracts him, but he has good heart and strong desire to do the right thing.

As we were driving home, I remembered that I didn't take any pictures of the three of us *sigh* 

Photo Shy

Hailee is usually not photo shy- she loves taking her some selfies.  Every attempt, however, to get a picture of her newly toothless grin clams her right up.  Last night we had my family over for dinner- Kim and I were chatting and I told her all about how Hailee lost her first tooth- Hay of course quickly cued in that we were talking about her and wanted in on the conversation... until she realized what we were discussing.  It took some coaxing, but she finally let Kim see her missing tooth... she still wouldn't let me take a picture though.

I attempted to get it in a selfie, but she wouldn't cooperate... at least not initially.  I figured maybe I could warm her up with some silly pictures...

She was being a penguin (??) 

Then she got hold of  my phone and hammed it up-

And FINALLY, we got a picture of missing tooth!

While she is still uncomfortable discussing the details, at least we have photographic documentation of it now *wink*

Missing Teeth

Today was a snow make up day, so we didn't have school.  This afternoon, I was in Hailee's room as she was coloring- we were talking about school, and super heroes when I noticed a new and large gap in her bottom teeth.  When I asked her about it, she clammed up.  She threw her hands over her mouth, wouldn't show me, wouldn't open up, wouldn't even talk about it!  She's a very private little girl about certain things (and not at ALL about others)!  To most of my questions, she just shrugged her shoulders.  I know the tooth was there yesterday night when we brushed her teeth... I think she lost it while eating because she doesn't know where it is... at least that's what she indicated.  I think maybe she was worried she'd be in trouble or was possibly self conscious, but pressing her about it brought her to the verge of tears.  I reassured her that it's a normal part of growing up and becoming a big girl, which seemed to diminish her worries a little.  Later, when I mentioned the tooth fairy, she tensed up again- so we decided I'd just pay her for her tooth, which is f.i.n.e. by me!  She wanted "pennies" ie: coins.  😁  Sadly, I have no picture's because she would barely even let me see her mouth, no way I could take a picture!  Funny girl!

Our newest Cub Scout

Included in the list of things Eli has been counting down for quite some time, was joining Cub Scouts.  He was well prepared in advance by his brothers.  He even practiced the salute *grin*

So what if his shirt goes down to his knees??