Easter

This Sunday was Easter Sunday. The kids woke up and went hunting for their baskets. Lucy and Penny helped make notes and hide each other's baskets. 

Penny's basket was in the guest room (where she goes to do her homework). She got more things for her fairy garden, a Barbie, a Book of Mormon Aqua Brush book, a Stitch Lego, a Come Follow Me weekly devotional book, a Conference book and a chocolate bunny.

Lucy's basket was by the heater vent in the bathroom (a place she used to hide candy wrappers). She got fiary garden stuff, a Friends Lego set, a temple recommend holder, a pic book of the YW's theme (to read to Ruby) and a chocolate bunny.

Ruby's basket was not hidden because she's still just a baby. She got rubber blocks and an Easter book. 

Ben's basket was where we used to keep the gaming tablet. He got scripture stickers, a Come Follow Me weekly devotional book, Lord of the Rings Lego's, a drawing game and a cactus tie.

Steven's basket was hidden in the locker with his computer (his favorite thing). He got a Minecraft Lego set and a Statue of Liberty Lego set, Mountain Dew, fancy pencils and boring pencils, some Book of Mormon glue-ins, and a chocolate bunny

After baskets it was time to get ready for church. Cherish, Geli and Luna joined us at church which made the girls happy. The sacrament program was really lovely. The music was good and the stake president's wife and Bishop gave some really good remarks. The stake president's wife spoke about an artist who paints "happy Jesus" and I love that she focused on how Christ is happy to help us and love us. The Bishop spoke about a father who helped his son when he suffered an injury in the olympics. He related it to how how Christ is cheering us on and there to help us when we fall. Penny is our only primary kid currently and they sung a really pretty new song called "Risen". Ruby was a little fussy during the meeting but feel asleep easily so I got to sit and enjoy most of it. Here are my cute kids in their new Easter stuff. Penny really wanted to match Ruby so they did. Lucy didn't mind not matching so she went with her usual comfortable romper.

After church we had our friends over (Bloomfields, Eakins, Mays) for an Easter egg hunt. Ben and his friends hid the eggs for those under 12 and then they went a hunting. There was a little snag with everyone trying to find the exact amount of eggs they could get (16) but I think they all found them in the end. Then we taped money eggs on Ben and AJ and let the little kids run after them to get them. That was pretty fun to watch. Ben had no desire to take it easy on the little kids. After that we did a teen Easter Egg Hunt of sorts. I had enough prizes for each teen and then had the word written out in front of each prize (card, cash, candy...). Then we had hidden eggs which each had a letter inside of them. Whoever found the last letter for the word, got the prize. Sounds more complicated than it was and I think it was hit. Ben ended up with the candy, Steven got the the giftcard, David got the cash, Alissa got the unicorn blaster, Etta got the gum and mints, AJ got chocolate and Andrea got the game. Afterwards some of the teens tossed some eggs with flour inside of them which was only somewhat messy, lol.

For Easter dinner, Mariah's family came over. We did our traditional Jerusalem dinner, only I added a couple more grown up dishes since we had company- a meat filling for the pita and a Jerusalem salad. These were good additions and I will probably add them in from now on. We still had our usuals as well- fruit, fig newtons, pita chips and hummus, and fish sticks. When we were done eating the kids hid some eggs for Mariah's kids to find and then we sat outside and enjoyed the semi decent weather. It was all in all a really good Easter.

Monday was April first so we did our traditional April Fool's dinner. I assign a code name to everything- the bowls, spoons, ice cream, ice cream topping, spaghetti, parmesan....they all have code names and no one knows what they stand for except me. Then the kids pick 3 code names at a time and end up with an interesting assortment of stuff. Ben ended up getting the parmesan before getting spaghetti, Penny ended up with ice cream toppings before getting the ice cream, and Tyler got spaghetti without a bowl and fork- they were super happy with their choices, lol. 

Tuesday Ruby fell asleep in the car on the way back from dropping off the other kids at school and basically her schedule was all out of whack...for the rest of the week. I think I might actually be pretty happy when they are done with in person school because I didn't get a whole lot done while they were at school anyways. Naps are a blessing and a curse.

Wednesday was Luna's birthday party. It was 25 minutes away and only 2 hours long so it just felt like it wasn't worth it to drop Lucy and Penny off and come home. Especially since Ruby fell asleep on the way there so she wasn't going to go home and take a nap like I thought she might. I don't love staying at parties but I did because of that. Ruby was definitely the hit of the party. Cherish's mom was nice and set up some toys in a room for Ruby to play with and so I thought we would be out of the way but the kids loved coming to the room to hang with the baby and the other parents ended up coming in too. The parents were nice but I always feel like I talk too much. At the party they turned Penny into a mermaid, dug in sand for mermaids and had pizza and cake. A good time was had.

Steven also had his first job interview on Wednesday at Jersey Mike's (his friend Max works there).We rushed over after the party. We had been training Steven for interview questions but apparently they just asked about his availability and stuff. They still haven't gotten back to him so I am not sure he got the job. Not working Sundays might be a big hit against him in the fast food world.

Thursday the kids had Decades Day at school.I think they dressed 90's? It's really hard to determine the decade because all styles are just on repeat these days.

Thursday evening the girls had their first soccer practice. We had to switch teams because their usual team changed practices to Wednesdays and we just can't make that work. Their new team is less organized and apparently the coach isn't good at discipline. There was a kid that was bit of a trouble maker and bully. I hope the coach figures it out and things get better for the girls. I wish we could have kept them with their old team. While they were at soccer practice (Tyler took them) Ben and I went looking for Crocs- the weather is finally warming up. I ended up getting him some at Marshall's but when we got home we realized they were women's Croc's (they had a thicker/platform sole). I am not sure how I missed that. Needless to say we returned those and decided to stick with our imitation Croc's- known as Sharks- from Walmart. They definitely are a better price.

Friday Lucy got to go to a salon to get her haircut. My friend Grace just started working at this salon and since we trust her with Lucy's hair, it's worth going to the salon to get it done. It is really hard to find people who cut pixie cuts well. I am happy for Grace and this new job- it seems like a really good place for her now that her hand has healed. 

Friday evening Steven took Lucy and Ben to the temple for Youth Baptisms. He didn't even complain about driving for once which was nice.

While they were at the temple, Tyler, Penny, Ruby and I went to Costco to get a few things and then had dinner at Culver's. While at Culver's I had to change Ruby's diaper which is quite a chore in itself these days. All she wants to do is roll over as soon as that diaper is off. I do not remember Penny being this wiggly. When I was done I wanted to wash my hands and this nice mom offered to hold Ruby for me. That was much appreciated. All in all it was a good outing with the little girls and Tyler.

Saturday Steven wanted to go to his friend's house so we told him he could have the car and go over there- I was just planning to watch General Conference so I wasn't going anywhere. You would have thought I was the meanest mom ever from his reaction. He was really upset that I wouldn't drive him because 16 year old drivers have a 10pm curfew and he wanted to stay until 11pm. As if 11:30am-10pm of computer time was not enough time. He can be so aggravating but eventually he submitted and took the car. Poor kid. He is currently failing is Cyber Security class and after he clocked in more hours of screen time than a full time job last week- yesterday might have been his last day of computer time for a bit. I really wish we could get him to care about something other than computer games. I worry so much about him.

I finally got an 8 month picture of Ruby. That was such a challenge to take! She just kept trying to roll onto her tummy so I gave her this goofy pig toy as a distraction. At the rate she is going,I imagine by 9 months she will be crawling. She is into everything and everything ends up in her mouth. It is a miracle she is alive.