Easter Morning

I finally got the rest of the pictures off my camera.

The Easter Bunny leaves a basket of eggs (one for each child) on the table each year. Each egg contains a clue leading to another egg containing yet another clue, etc. There are usually about 6 clue eggs per child. The last clue leads to the hidden basket. The Easter Bunny tried this one year to mix things up but it was such a hit that he hasn't been able to stop. The poor Easter Bunny is running out of clue ideas. He has recycled some from year to year but I overheard the kids commenting on the repeat clues. The EB might have to drop this fun tradition if he doesn't get a stroke of new creativity. The kids love this little game though so if you have any good ideas please send them to me and I'll pass them on to the Easter Bunny.

The girls sporting off some of the flower clips the EB broughtBy now, you've probably all realized I have a small obession with dressing my kids in matching/ coordinating clothes. I've never really met with much resistance, but I fear the end is quickly approaching. Katy was furious that I made her wear this dress that morning. We were going to a friends house for the last session of conference and for dinner. The friend is a boy and she did not want to be inhibited by a dress. (He once asked her if all her clothes matched her sisters and I think that added to her resistance Easter morning) The very windy day did not help the situation. She was convinced that her friend must have seen her underwear several times because the wind kept blowing her dress up. To put it mildly, she was not a happy camper by the end of the day. Well, its been a fun while its lasted and you can be sure I'm not going down without a fight. I will try to sneak as much coordinating in as I can!!! (On a side note, I got these darling dresses at Old Navy on clearance last year for a couple dollars each!!!)

Easter with friends

(I'm experiencing some technical difficulties with my camera, so Easter morning pictures will have to wait. I took pictures later in the day with my phone so I can post those)

We went to our friends, the Pearsons, for Easter dinner. Our friends the Westons were there also. It was a ton of fun! We had the traditional ham dinner and an egg hunt.

Family pic- some family members were not thrilled that we were all coordinated
The little munchkins got a head start
Jacob really got into it this year. He had a blast running around picking up eggs.

Every now and then he'd stop to check out his loot

Holding Bella's basket once it was full and she ran off to gether some more in her arms

We had the hunt in a field across from their house. On the way back, the neighors dog came out to see all the kids. I wish we had Jacob's reaction recorded. He was convinced the big dog wanted his eggs. He picked up his basket arched his back forward and ran as fast as he could. He was not going to let that dog get his eggs. He ran by me and by Jared, and was desparately trying to make it to their front door before the dog got his eggs. The dog who orginally wasn't interested in Jacob was excited that the little boy wanted to play chase and took off after him. The owner eventually caught the dog and we caught up to Jacob but I was laughing so hard. The visual was great, wish you all could've seen it.

Let's go fly a kite

Saturday, between sessions of conference, we flew kites at a park. The girls always enjoy this activity. It all started when Grandpa took them kite flying in Las Vegas years ago. This was the first time Jacob was old enough to really get into it. And "get into it" he did. He LOVED flying kites. He had a hard time patiently sharing 2 kites between 4 children.



(if you click on the pictures, you can see them enlarged)

Luckily for him, his sisters eventually made their way to the playground and he was left to fly both kites himself.

Eggtime

We had the annual egg dying fun Friday evening

Springfield

Wednesday Jared took the day off and we headed up to Springfield to see the Abraham Lincoln sites. We started at the Lincoln home where he and Mary Todd had lived before going to Washington. They had closed off several blocks to pedestrian traffic only. We got to go inside a couple other houses also.

Then we continued down the street to the church they attended. It was fun to learn that Mary Todd had "her" pew also. She even wrote their pastor from Washington asking him to keep her pew for her.(My pictures from the church didn't turn out.) From there we saw the Law Office Lincoln worked at and the Old State Capitol.

My friend had recommended a little deli that happened to be right between the offices and old capitol so we ordered sandwiches and ate on benches outside.

These guns and swords were used in the Civil War.
This was one of the drums used in the Civil War also

From there we returned in our cars and drove to the cemetery. We were not expecting the monument there to be so big. One of the workers asked Jared to remove his hat before entering the tomb. While making this request, he noticed Jared's BYU-I alumni ambassador shirt. He asked Jared if he was mormon. When Jared replied in the affirmative, he said he had a story that would interest us. He then proceed to tell Jared that when Joseph Smith was brought to Springfield on false charges he was taken to the Federal Courthouse adjacent to the Lincoln Law office. (the only Federal courthouse in Illinois at the time) The judge released him due to a lack of evidence. Joseph went across the street and rented a room at a building there were he gave a few sermons. It is believe that Lincoln and Mary Todd may have been in attendance. Don't know how much of that is true, but its pretty cool if it is. We weren't expecting to get any church history from this trip.

Soldiers used to come rub the nose of Lincoln before leaving for war. It was supposed to bring them back home safely. That led to people of all sorts rubbing his nose for good luck.

We then headed about 1/2 north to a reconstruction of an old town named New Salem. Lincoln lived here as a young man. He moved to New Salem after leaving his parents house before getting married. The old log buildings have been reconstructed so the village looks like it would've during the mid 1800's. In the summer months, there are demonstrations and volunteers in period clothing. We were too early for all of that, but we did get to walk along and peek in the buildings. There was a gift shop with all kinds of neat item in it. It actually reminded me of the gift shops in Nauvoo with the pioneer dresses and bonnets. They also had all the children games from that time period for sale. I bought the kids a candy stick as a treat. I remember selling candy sticks as a child for 4-H.

All aboard for the zoo

Tuesday we went to the St. Louis zoo. The Pearson were going and invited us to go along. Strangely, I wanted to stay at home and relax but the kids insisted we go. Jared overheard a conversation in which I was trying to convince them we should stay home. He asked "who are you and what have you done with my wife?" I'm the one always overscheduling us and moving from one adventure to the other. It has a beautiful day for the zoo though and we had a great time. The Puffins were exceptionally playful and splashed us pretty good. This of course made Jacob's day. Other highlights included seeing a baby camel and taking a train ride.

The splashing puffins

The baby camel is laying in front of the rock

The gang of kids (Jacob fell off the fence so I had jump in the picture. The kid between Levi and Katy is the Persons neighbor).

We left later than we should've and got into horrible traffic on the way home. We ended up completely missing the first piano lesson. Fortunately, the student after the girls was out of town and we got to use his lesson time.

Spring Break

The kids had off the 26th of March through Easter. We stayed busy and enjoyed the summer like weather. The first Friday we went swimming at the YMCA. Jacob was getting frustrated watching everyone go to swimming lessons week and week. He wanted to swim so badly so I took all the kids to open swim. Bella was excited to pass the deep water swim test which allowed her to jump off the diving board. It was an exciting accomplishment for her. She was nervous her first time and turned and walked back off. I jumped in and that gave her the confidence to jump, knowing mom was in the water to help her. After that, we could hardly get her to stop. Jacob wasn't so thrilled. It was one more thing the girls can all do that he can't. Patience little buddy, patience.

Monday I made the girls clean sweep their room. Lets see how long they can keep it looking so nice. Tuesday and Wednesday will have their own posts. Thursday we met our friends the Westons and Kraudes at a park for a picnic. Jacob's little buddy Tyler was so freaked out by the wind that they had to leave early which was sad. My allergies had been bothering me all week and were especially bad on Thursday. Friday, I realized that it was not just allergies. I was supposed to run my last big run before the race, but was too sick to run for several hours straight. We had lunch at the Pearsons, and then the kids played there well I ran to the Walgreens take care clinic. I LOVE that place. In and out so quickly with my prescription filled 5 minutes later. Friday night we watched Ice Age 3 as a family. Jacob laughed so hard the movie was much more amusing to me than it would've normally been.