March 2013

Happy Birthday Parker. He turned 4 years old this month and celebrated with a Pizza night out with the family, and a dinosaur birthday party. We got really creative this year and made a life size game of Candyland using the tile in our entryway as the squares, then the kids put on a dinosaur mask and they became the game pieces. Parker's favorite event was the pinata. He helped me fill and hang the dino pinata, then couldn't wait to take a swing at it. We had tons of kids over and it was fun to play with all of them. Parker's big favorites for gifts this year were basketball cards, monster trucks and hot wheels. Uncle Brad and cousin Kamden were the heroes of the year because they sent Parker a whole box of basketball cards and a binder. It was extra special because it came in the mail.

Easter came this month with lots of fun activities to celebrate the holiday. We have a music class on Fridays, and all the moms contributed some treat filled plastic eggs. We had a good laugh because we got to the church and nobody had keys to get it. That morning it happened to be the coldest in a long while, so the kids hung out in the cars, while all the moms hid the eggs in the bushes around the church. When it was time to go hunting, the kids hurried out of the cars, found their eggs and hurried back to the cars to warm up. They were all very cute. The kids participating were, Aaron, Mandy and Ben Spjut, Trevin Madsen, Allyson Blankenship, Audrey and Luke Westmoreland. 

 Our ward hosted a very interesting Easter activity. It was a breakfast served by the bishopric. There was lots of food. The activity started at 9 am, we brought cinnamon rolls and arrived about 9:10. By that time, almost all the food was served and we barely had time to eat. At promptly 9:25 the egg hunt started and all 3 of our kids headed in different directions. They had a blast finding eggs hidden all over the bushes. Tanner was even sweet to make sure that Alyssa found some and took care to help some of the other younger kids to have enough eggs. Parker got a little overwhelmed by the chaos of lots of kids, but when I found him and we searched together, then he had a very fun time. When we made out way back to the church to finish our breakfast, we found all the food cleaned up and gone, our stuff was the last pile of baking pans and my camera case. The place was totally empty by 10:15. It felt like a whilwind of food and treats. My biggest concern was that there was not a moment we talked about Christ or the meaning for the Easter season. It was a bit shocking.
 Our traditions at home for Easter are still going strong. The kids helped me dye Easter eggs. We went to church, the messages at church were wonderful. The kids went for an egg hunt all around our house. Each had a room to hunt in, and Alyssa was the most excited. Every treat she found she wanted to eat right away. In the late afternoon, the Turners came over to help us have an egg war. We played several rounds and there was a lot of dodging and cheating going on, so we didn't have  clear winner. It was fun to play and keep the tradition alive.

Another fun bunch of activities came during spring break. We had wonderful weather so the kids wanted to be out and about. We went with friends from Moms Club to Fairytale town and the kids were all over the place. Alyssa loved the princess carriage and stayed on the horses forever. The boys ran crazy all afternoon. We also went on a little fieldtrip to Funderland. We got discount wrist bands, and the kids cruised around from ride to ride. At the end we got snow cones for everyone, which was met with big smiles.

Our friend Emma Elmore had a wonderful idea to decorate Easter cookies. She found these great edible ink markers, so she prepared some spring cookies with a solid frosting, then the kids could decorate them with brightly colored markers. Tanner really got into it and made several cute cookies. They were not only cute, but delicious too.
 It has been a very fun and festive month.