Easter

Before Easter came around this year, I was looking at the $5 movie bin at Wal-mart.  I came across a few movies that I thought our family might enjoy.  First, Anastasia – the one that came out in the movie theatres about 1997. Second, The Land Before Time – the original one.  I usually come across The Land Before Time 45, one of the many sequels they have out on the market.  Third, Horton Hears a Who – again the one that came out a few years back. Last but not least – Robin Hood, Prince of Theives, you know the one, the Kevin Costner/Christian Slater one. Yeah, that one.  When I saw that and Land Before Time, I knew I had to act fast.  I wasn’t looking to buy any movies, but once I saw these, there was no turning back.  There I was with four movies that would be perfect for the kids (and the hubby) for Easter.  The kids have not seen Anastasia or The Land Before Time, and it was about time they be exposed to some other great movies. 

Before I go on about our Easter, I have to put in this funny little story about watching Robin Hood.  So, the hubby and I had the kids down in bed and decided to watch the movie.  I put it in the blu-ray player (mind you, it is a regular dvd).  We begin watching it, but about half way through the movie, it jumps back to the main menu.  We were both baffled, thinking something was wrong with the dvd.  Then I remembered that the dvd looked two sided, thought it was one of those widescreen/full screen, but didn’t pay much attention. We flipped the dvd over and poof * we were back were the movie left off.  I guess this dvd was either one they found sitting in a warehouse since 1992 or what we get for paying only $5.  Either way, it was a great find!

For Easter this year, we didn’t go on the Easter camp, we stayed close to home.  To start the kids week off from school, I had an ultrasound scheduled for baby number 4.  F, K, L came along, while B stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  Baby looks very healthy and kept it’s left hand up by it’s face the entire time, moving around plenty.  We were excited (especially L) to find out that we are having a baby boy!  Feels like a perfect way to end our family. 2 girls, 2 boys. 

Friday, F took off work and we spent it as a family.  We drove up to the Kimball Arts Center and enjoyed the Lego exhibit they had. It was amazing to see all the works of art made entirely of Legos.  After that we went to the Tanger Outlets and did a little shopping, well I did and the kids played on the playground with F. 

Saturday, we went up to the zoo.  We love the zoo – so much we have an annual pass and have done so since K was little.  We never get bored of the animals and the zoo has made some amazing transformations since we first bought a pass and even more since I was little.  That night, we dyed Easter eggs.  K and L were pretty creative with theirs.  L made a dragon, K made a frog and a chick hatching.  B was able to get into it a bit more than previous years. 

Sunday, New Easter clothes.  I bought sweaters for the girls and a new shirt for L, and I made matching skirts for the girls. I love being able to get them to match for one day each year.  It will be ending before I know it though!  We went to church and later we visited F’s parents. We ate dinner at my parent’s house and had our annual Easter egg hunt. My mom hides the eggs all over the backyard.  The kids hunt for the eggs.  When they are all found, we divide them among the kids (each egg has a name on it).  The kids always have a blast. 

Among all the eggs and treats, we do teach our children about the importance of Easter which is not only the atonement by our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane, but the Resurrection of Him.  I am grateful for Jesus Christ and his willingness to do all the Father asked of Him.  He leads the way back to our Father in Heaven, made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins, and live together for eternity.  I am thankful for my membership in this Church and the covenants I have entered into and for F being a worthy priesthood holder and blessing our family because of it.

B’s Birthday

Well, B is 2!  And she definitely has the personality of it.  She wants to do everything herself, wants to get into everything and where she comes up with somethings, we’ll never know.  Just the other night, the kids wanted some ice cream for dessert.  We had it out to soften.  I was with the three kids upstairs.  After a few minutes, K & L asked if it was time for dessert. I told them to ask Dad. They quickly ran downstairs & asked.  It was time.  Here is what transpired between F a& B at this point because B was in my room playing.

F: “B?” (note all words in a sing-song fashion)

B: “What?”

F: “Time for ice cream”

B: “I kno-w”  We had a good laugh about that, & I will mention she did run down to get her ice cream. 

Another funny little story…B has had to sit in “timeout” only a few times.  We put her on the bottom stair by our living room.  She sits for a minute, we talk, she says sorry and that’s it.  Well, on this particular day, she was asking for something, and I said no.  She kept asking, I kept saying no.  She got upset and was crying.  B walked over to the stairs sat down crying, and ended up curling herself up on the stair crying.  After a few minutes, she sat up composed her emotions and said, “I sorry.”  She apparently put herself in “timeout” to calm down.  Maybe we’ll rename it “calm down” area for her. She dances like nobody’s watching when everyone really is.  She is stingy about giving kisses or freely handing them out to everyone – twice.  She’ll sing songs, play her own compositions on the piano, get into every little tiny toy her sister has, play with swords with her brother, loves seeing her cousin “Pizza” each week, looks forward to seeing grandparents, wearing her boots (snow or cowgirl – any chance she can get), stomping in the snow, making silly faces, has to have a baby with her at almost all times, reading books, playing in the toy kitchen & cooking in the real kitchen at dinner time, is beginning to say prayers (with our help), takes great naps, & is constantly amazing us with things she learns and/or comes up with.  Along with that, she has been the roughest little sleeper at night, is transitioning off of the binky (thank goodness!), & is as loud as can be (especially when she is crying – more like screaming so loud, my ear drums shake in fright). We love her to pieces!! I have tried to compile a list of words in her vocabulary, this is the best I could come up with over the last few days.  It grows longer each day, so I stopped here.

u Amen u Asleep u Awake u Baby u Banana u Bath u Bear u Bib u Bird u Boat u Boo u Book u Boots u Bowl u Box u Breakfast u Bus u Bye-bye u Car u Cat/Meow u ‘Cause u Cereal u Cheek u Cheers u Cheese u Chin u Close u Coat u Cold u Color u Come here u Cook u Cow/Moo u Cut u Dad u Dance u Diaper u Ding-dong u Dinner u Dinosaur u Dog/Ruff u Don’t know u Door u Duck/Quack u Eat u Elbow (belbow) u Eyes u Face (mace) u Fall Down u Feet u Fingers u Fish u Flower u Frog u Garage u Garbage u Good u Grandma u Guys u Hair u Hands u Hat u Hello u Hi u Horse/Neigh u Hot u Hot Dog u I know u I love you u Jacket u Jesus u Juice u Keys u Kiss u Legs u Lights u Lion u Lunch u Mama u Mickey/Minnie u Milk u Mimi (binky) u Monsters u Moose u More u Mouth u Night-night (blanket) u No u Nose u Off/On u Open/Closed u Ouchies u Pajamas u Pancake u Pants u Papa u Phone u Piano u Pig u Pillow u Plate u Play u Please u Prayers u Push u Scared u School u Shirt u Shoes u Shower u Snack u Snow u Socks u Spoon u Spot u Stop u Stuck u Teeth u Toes u Treat u Two u Uh-huh u Warm u Wash u Water u Yes u Yucky u

For her birthday, we celebrated the day before.   That morning, our family with Grandpa Ericksen went to the zoo – thankfully beautiful weather, must mention we did bring a thermos of hot chocolate which helped in the early February weather.  That night we had grandparents and Aunt Bee over for presents and cake & ice cream.  B figured out the opening present idea at Christmas and obviously remembered, she opened her presents like nobody’s business.  We had a a great day celebrating our littlest lady. Happy Birthday, B! We love you!!

Schoolhouse Rock

Well, this year in school K has been learning various Schoolhouse Rock songs.  In April, the 3rd grade will perform their Third Grade Rocks program filled with the songs they have been learning.  K has been on the computer watching the cartoons and singing along.  So, I asked her teacher for a list of the songs and we put them on a cd for her to listen to.  Right now as I write, she has her music blasting and she is singing along....with L as a willing participant/audience.  I almost have the songs memorized as well. So much so, that as I watched the news the other night, they were discussing the legislature and bills, cue my singing "I'm just a Bill, yes, I'm only a bill, and I'm sitting here on capital hill..."  They are funny songs, but they are helping her to learn grammar and science, and she loves singing along.  Also, I had to make the cd because she has been listening to her Christmas choir cd up until this new cd.  I needed a change of music from Amy Grant and Mele Kalikimaka (don't get me wrong, I love Christmas music...at Christmas).  I wonder what the next cd craze for her will be, and it also makes me wonder what my own mom went through having to listen to mine and my siblings music. Also, while writing, K and L came down saying they had made up actions to a song and want to perform the song for us, so adieu.

Christmas Break

Well, it is now 2013, and we have had a lot of fun.  F was able to take all of last week off and we have had about a week and a half with our family together.  The Sunday before Christmas, we went downtown to Temple Square, walked around to see the windows at Macy's and went through the Visitor Centers on Temple Square.  We met up with all of my family and walked around the grounds to see the lights, and another look at the candy window displays.  Followed up with a delicious dinner at my parents house.  I love going to Temple Square and usually we are there late and miss going into the visitor centers. It was nice to see the displays, talk to the children, and to show them the Christus statue. 

Christmas Eve: My parents good friends had rented out a movie theater and invited their family and friends to join them. We were lucky enough to be invited and had a great time seeing Rise of the Guardians, and catch up with friends we hadn't seen for a long time.  Just as we walked into the theater, K was up talking to my mom and another girl I didn't know.  It ends up this girl is in K's school class.  Her grandma is sister's with Jill, who invited us.  Small world and great to meet her and her family (it is their first year at our school).  After the movie, we went over to F's parents house and played games, ate dinner, watched Scrooge, and had a great night. It had snowed most of the day, so driving was a little nervewracking, but we were save and sound. When we got home, the children were able to open new pajamas.

Christmas: The kids were instructed not to get up before seven.  F was in the shower at seven and I heard K and B playing in their room, followed by L coming to their door and saying, "It's not morning yet," and going back to his room.  Once F and I were ready, we let B come down first, followed by L, and lastly K.  When B saw her easel, she said, "School." The kids had a great time opening presents, and giving presents. I always love seeing the excitement on the kids faces when they see their presents for the first time.  L had asked for a bed side table (at one point in time), so we bought a small side table and glued on some lego baseplates. The table doubles as a place to display and play with his legos, and also a bed side table.
 When asked about Christmas, L said, "I didn't get anything on my list."  Which was partly true.  His list had changed daily for the whole month. He had asked for most of them over the several list changes. It also didn't help that K replied, "Well, I got everything on my list."  Overall they were both happy with what they got.  K has been taking endless pictures and videos with her camera.  After breakfast, we got dressed and made our first stop - my parents.  We opened gifts and ate some pancakes.  My parents got all the grandkids cowboy boots.  B and K have been wearing theirs any chance they can. We went over to F's parents afterwards and again more presents.  F's  parents gave us some food storage and emergency preparedness items, which are very helpful.  After playing a game and eating more food, we went to our last stop, my grandpa's house.  We again had food (I was actually to full to eat anything, but enjoyed the tradition slush). It was great to see some cousins and family we haven't seen in a few months, and some even a few years! What a day!!

Since Christmas, we have gone sledding twice, visited the zoo, slept in, stayed up, played hours of video games, ate too much, put two puzzles together (well, I did), read new books, drank hot chocolate, watched new movies, relaxed and had lots of fun.  For New Year's, it was a little more low key.  B went to bed at her normal hour, K and L stayed up until ten watching Goonies on tv.  F wasn't feeling well, so he was in bed before 11, and I stayed up rang in the New Year watching fireworks out in the neighborhood from our front window.  I can't believe how fast it has gone by and that today is the last day before we get back into reality.  But for now, I am going to go have some fun!

Christmas Party

This last weekend, we had our ward Christmas party. I thought it was really fun and loved the theme and all that went along with it. The theme was "A Storybook Christmas."  It all revolved around classic Christmas stories. Everyone was invited to wear their pajamas and to bring new or gently used books to donate to the Ronald McDonald house.  I'll start with what we had for dinner. For dinner they had roast beast (beef), who hash (potatoes au gratin), green salad, jello salad, and rolls.  After dinner was done and before the program, the music changed from Christmas music to the sng "Hot Chocolate" from the Polar Express.  The committee came out wearing chef hats rolling out carts with dessert (cookies) and cups of hot chocolate.  For the program, they had a ward member up on the side of the stage on a chair with a few children gather around.  All of the kids were invited to come sit on the floor just in front of the stage. The program consisted of home telling about a few Christmas story classics, the first being The Polar Express.  For this story the children who are in our elementary school's choir sang "When Christmas  Comes to Town," which K was a part of.  The next story was Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," this one starred our three bishopric members as the ghosts and had a religious spin on the story.  I can't remember the exact order of all them, but I think the next one was "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Another member walked out on stage to recite the story.  Just after he began, he was interrupted by a quartet who came on singing.  As the story went along, the quartet would echo/sing a part of the story, of course the narrator pretended to be annoyed but the quartet.  "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer" was another story.  For this story, three deacons dressed with elf ears/hat sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with their voices changed to sound like elves.  The last but not least was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." This was a small vignette when the grinch meets Cindy Lou Who and realizes Christmas is much more than presents.  To end the program, they showed a video clip from the First Presidency's 2010 Christmas devotional where Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke about the grinch and how he saw Christmas through new eyes and we must too.  It was a great way to end the evening.    As soon as the closing prayer was done and the lights back on, the entire room erupted into mass chaos of cleaning up.  Ladies were clearing tables, men were stacking chairs - as they say, many hands make light work, and it was just that. The committee did a wonderful job putting everything together and was so much fun.

Moab

During Fall Break from school, our family along with Grandma & Grandpa Ericksen, F’s Brother and his family went down to Moab, UT.  I have never been here before and was looking forward to going to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park.  We ended up with beautiful weather for the tree days we were there (in the 70’s).  It all began on Friday morning.  Since all of us were coming from different areas, we met just off the freeway at a mall parking lot, and began our caravan down toward Moab, stopping in Price for lunch at Wendy’s.  When we got to Moab, we checked into our hotel.  The rooms were small and brightly decorated.  Florescent greens and pink, bright purples – including a purple fridge, bright colored towels and sheets. Nothing I have ever seen before, but is also refreshing for where we were.  After getting checked in, all of us headed to Hole in the Rock.  Inside this rock, a husband and wife chiseled out a house for them. We took the tour with a goofy guide, but it was really interesting to see their house, how they added more rooms, separated the existing rooms, and learning how the home stays at a constant temperature (I think in the 60’s) all year round. On the property are a few shops including Native American jewelry and items, gorgeous! There is also a exotic animal petting zoo.  We went through and fed zebras, camels, raccoons, an ostrich, and several other animals.  Some of the group “kissed” the camel by putting a carrot in their mouth and then feeding it to the camel.  I was not part of that group.  For dinner we went to Pizza Hut, and got ready for the next day. Saturday, we got up ate breakfast that we packed, then loaded up the vehicles and drove to Arches National Park.  On the way there we detoured to Fisher Tower.  We climbed up and the kids explored the rocks and so did the adults. By the time we made it to Arches and up to the visitor center it was nearly noon.  Behind the visitor center are a few picnic tables and not many places to eat farther in the park, so we ate lunch and browsed around the visitor center.  Our first stop inside the park after lunch was the windows.  Both B and her cousin T had fallen asleep in the car, so F and M stayed back at the car while the rest of us walked up to the windows and turret arch. Next stop was upper viewpoint of Delicate arch.  When we pulled into the parking lot, there were only a few spots. We pulled into the first one we found, which happened to be next to a man (about the same age as my in-laws) with his windows down and jamming out to some loud techno music.  B was still asleep, so F’s dad tried to get this guy to turn down the music, his success was short lived.  M’s wife and F’s dad stayed with the little babes back at the car, while the rest of us walked up the trail to view Delicate arch.  It was beautiful!  One of these days, we’ll make the hike to the actual arch. Just by the viewpoint, there was a large mound of rocks, with an opening just large enough for L to climb and look through another opening.  It looks as if he got trapped in large rock slide! M’s family suggested we go to Sand Dune Arch.  It was amazing how in the middle of all these large rocks there is a wonderful playground of sand.  We let the kids play in the sand, we climbed up some rocks and had a great time….that is until L got sand in his eye. Then emt M stepped in and helped flush it out.  At this stop, we all had taken so many pictures that all of our phone and camera batteries were dying, which was terrible timing, but we got a few pictures at the dune.  M and his family headed back into town to get dinner, while our car went onto Landscape Arch.  We made the walk to the arch and luckily I remembered we had our iPad with us. I was able to use it to capture the pictures at the arch and the trail.  On the way back into the parking lot, K found a $10 bill, there was no one around to claim it, so we did let her keep it. She was pretty excited about it, and used it to buy a little stuffed animal raccoon at a visitor center the next day.  Dinner was at a little place called Milt’s Stop and Eat.  It was yummy! They have no indoor seating, you order and pickup through a window. To the side of the building, there is a patio with chairs, tables, and a condiments bar.  Definitely a must!!

Sunday morning we ate breakfast, packed up the cars, checked out and made our way first to Dead Horse Point.  It was incredibly windy – forgive the crazy expressions and hair, we were nearly knocked over by the wind.  I couldn’t believe that the people used to leave the horses out at the point to die – why not just open it back up and let them run free?? We ate lunch at the picnic area right by the visitor center and headed for our last destination before driving home…Canyonlands.  In Canyonlands, we stopped to see Aztec Bluff, Orange Cliffs Overlook, Grand View Point, and Buck Canyon Overlook and at Upheaval Dome – I really wanted to go up, but we were running out of time and little B was once again sleeping in the car.  I took the other two kids and a few of the other family members made their way up, too.  K, L, and I hurried as fast as we could up the mountainside, much of it seemed to be natural rock stairs.  We made it and enjoyed the view.  Just as we were starting our way back down, the rest of the group were reaching the top.  At one point on the way back down, L stopped at the bottom of a large rock, turned around and held out his hand.  He wanted to help me step down from the rock.  What a gentleman!  We had hurried so that if F wanted to go up he could, but he didn’t want to. As soon as the cars were loaded up again, we drove home, making a stop again in Price for dinner at Wendy’s.  It was a great trip and I am looking forward to the next time!

Lego Birthday Party

For L’s 6th birthday, we did a Lego themed birthday party.  Thanks to Pinterest, we had a load of great ideas to choose from.  I had a great time putting everything together and I think all of the boys had a great time, too!

Here is what we did.  I borrowed the large box of Legos from my parents… with three brothers, there are quite a few Legos.  I separated out body parts.  Heads, torsos, legs, and hair/hat accessories. The boys were able to pick out and built a Lego guy, which they took to the table where they could color a picture of their Lego minifig.

Then they could free build with the Legos.  I had these set up on a big queen sized bed sheet on the floor of our living room. 

After all the kids arrived, we ate some little snacks.  Chips, grapes, rectangular shaped Jell-o Jigglers, and some graham crackers filled with a little frosting topped with colored marshmallows to look like Legos. I made the banner from cardstock and made them look like Lego bricks.I added little Lego smiley faces to the side of each cup and also wrote their names on the back (I hate when I lose my cup in the sea of  cups at a party!) 

Next…games.  The games we played were: Pin the head on the minifig,

Lego toss game, simply tossing Lego blocks into the rings.

Find the minifig head: hiding the several heads from the previous game.

Lego scavenger hunt: To pick teams for the scavenger hunt, we had separated out two colors of Lego bricks.  One for each kid and having equal of each color. Let each kid blindly pick a block, determining their group.  The prize at the end was a bag of Lego brick crayons that I made earlier in the week with a mold and old broken crayons.

Last but not least, a Lego brick piñata.

For the cake: we had cupcakes instead.  Along with the brick mold, I bought a Lego minifig mold.  I used candy melts in different colors (yellow for the head/hands; blue, green, red for body and legs). I had made these earlier in the week too.  I used one to top each cupcake and displayed them on a cupcake stand. 

Party favors: I cut circles and hot glued them to the front of bags and filled them with stickers, little ninja guys, and other Lego items found at a party store. Attached a tag with the name of each boy. The font I used is from dafont.com called LEGo hic.

And as a little thank you, I used the yellow candy melts to cover marshmallows on sucker sticks. Wrapped those in little cellophane bags, attached a ribbon and thank you tag.  I don’t have a picture, but I drew a little Lego face on the cellophane bags (I didn’t have a edible writer, or I would have just drawn it on the candy.)

When everything was done, the boys went back to building Legos in the living room as parents came to pick them up.  It was a great party!! I had a fun time putting everything together and I think L had a great time too!