Easter and that Bunny!

While in Cincinnati we got to celebrate Easter! Our festivities began with a Passover meal which included a discussion of the Last Supper.

On Friday night the kids got busy dyeing Easter eggs.

Wow! That's a lot of eggs! Good thing we all like to eat them.

You can't dye Easter eggs without making a dragon egg!

Saturday morning the kids hurried into the family room to see what the Easter Bunny left them.

Legos,

Les Miserables,

and some more Legos!

The best way to get Easter Bunny Day started is with a little chocolate for breakfast.

Ciarra was all ready to start the Easter egg hunt, finding the first egg.

And the rest of the kids were ready to go as well!

Beautiful Easter morning. A special day to reflect on all our Savior has done for us. We started the day by watching some wonderful videos of the Resurrection.  We also enjoyed the uplifting messages of the Atonement and the Resurrection taught at church. A delicious meal was a fitting end to our special Easter celebration.

Three beautiful girls in their Easter dresses.

Spring Break Fun!

I took the kids out of school two days before Spring Break officially started and we headed off to Cincinnati to see Grandpa, cousins, aunt and uncle. We had so much fun though it didn't start off too well. One of the reasons we don't go to Cincinnati for Christmas anymore is because I HATE driving in the snow. We have been caught in several snowstorms as well as an ice storm on our travels to Cinci for the holidays but I thought by the end of March we wouldn't have to face any of that scary wintry weather. I was mistaken! Just before we hit Cumberland, Maryland we started getting snow flurries and for the next 3 hours we were driving through snow.

Thankfully we made it to Cinci safe and sound and were able to enjoy our week there.
We always do so many fun things, like Chuck E. Cheese, my absolutely favorite place on the whole entire earth.

We followed up our morning at the children's casino with lunch at Chick Fil A.

The two Indiana Jones.

There are always plenty of adventures to be had in the woods.

One crowded table! Mealtimes were always filled with funny conversations.

A visit to the zoo is always on our schedule. Unfortunately I didn't make it this time due to a severe cold and cough but the rest of the gang had a great time, checking out all the animals, riding the carousel, taking a ride on the train, and, of course, thanks to Grandpa, indulging in a nice big ice cream cone.

Savannah made sure to take lots of pictures of the gorillas for me since she knows how much I love them.

The most recent addition to the Cincinnati zoo...oh, wait, that's just my brother-in-law. He took this lovely picture of himself and put it on my phone's wallpaper. The first time I went to answer my ringing phone I got quite the shock though now I can share it with everyone on my blog. Thanks, Ryan, for all the entertainment!

The other fun things the kids did included water fights (even though it was freezing outside!), chasing the cat Jackson all over the house, playing Capture the Flag, dress up, games, the Wii, reading books, and hanging out with Grandpa. The girls did manicures and pedicures;

and the boys spend quality "boy" time together.

Grandpa took us to see The Croods

and we also went to a book signing by Brandon Mull. I think McKenna was the most excited of the kids to meet this famous author but Heidi and I were definitely the most interested in hearing him talk about his life as a writer.

Savannah and Xander with Brandon Mull...he was very funny and nice.

Snow Day!

Well, it took until the end of March but we finally got a decent snowstorm, enough snow for the kids to have a snow day! Instead of learning about fractions and pronouns, they were outside making snowmen, sledding, and having snowball fights with the neighborhood kids.

The boys' snowman versus

the girls' snowman.

In all fairness I did take the picture of the girls' snowman before they were done but I'm not a real snow person so I only made a few trips outside. After playing in the snow all morning the kids enjoyed some hot soup and cocoa for lunch. By the next day the snow was mostly gone but the kids were definitely happy for one day of playing in the snow.

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Duck Dynasty is one of the few if only shows on TV these days that our whole family can watch together and we absolutely love it! Who can resist Sy's hilarious one liners? Or Jace and his love for bullfrogs? The beards, hot donuts, the black panther, raccoon droppings mistaken for berries, and prayers before meal times? No, all of these things are irresistible! So imagine our delight when my good friend Elinor decided to throw a Duck Dynasty themed party for her husband's birthday. We were definitely happy, happy, happy! Decked out in our Duck Dynasty finest!

We headed outside to play Capture the Flag. Unfortunately it was so cold that we didn't last too long. Ours was the winning team, winning all four times we played.  

The enemy!

Reloading our ammo.

We had such a blast though when I got pegged in the nose it really hurt! My proudest moment was hitting Sim in the thumb and then shooting Elinor...the look on her face was priceless. The kids had a blast and we all decided we must do it again when the weather warms up.

Target contest...you can't get any more redneck than this!

The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline.

We had a yummy southern dinner with a Duck Dynasty cake for dessert. What a fun party!

We Love the Scriptures!

I am so proud of our little family - we made it through another reading of the wonderful Book of Mormon!

It is not always easy. Some mornings the kids or I will be running late and we only can read a few verses. Other mornings one of the kids will be in a bad mood and make our reading time less than pleasurable. The best is when Noah doesn't feel like reading so he will angrily yell out the words in his verse. This morning was one such morning but I had to laugh and tell Noah his yelling was fitting the verse perfectly - it was Laman and Lemuel's angry response to Nephi. However, I have to say that most mornings we feel the Spirit as we read about the faithful men and women in the Book of Mormon and the words we read set the tone for our day. I love having discussions with my kids about the ancient prophets, about faith, about the plan of salvation, about the Atonement, and about our Savior. It's so amazing to hear their thoughtful responses to questions raised by different situations. I especially love hearing Noah tell us all about his favorite scripture hero, Samuel the Lamanite, and show us the picture he drew of this courageous man.  The things we read are sinking in!
After finishing the book I had the kids either write or draw their testimony of the Book of Mormon, something I plan on doing after each future reading. Savannah let me read hers and I was so impressed with what she was able to take away from her reading.  Noah's picture he drew of the Savior hanging out with a knight brought a smile to my face. Well, we all start somewhere.

Leprechauns

A few days after St. Patrick's Day a bunch of women on Facebook were singing the praises of a blog posted by a mom that called for moms everywhere to tone down the excess on holidays. She stated that when she was younger the only thing kids did on St. Patrick's Day was wear green. Now moms everywhere go overboard with leprechaun antics and gold coins and we need to stop because it's just too much for moms like her. Well, all I can say to that woman is Bah Humbug to you! We welcome all leprechauns at our house and my kids thoroughly enjoy setting traps, seeing their shoes on the overhead fan, and collecting all the gold. And as for me, I don't need another mom criticizing the fun that I have with my kids just because it's different than the fun she wants to have with hers. For me holidays are one of the bright spots of being a mom so bring on the leprechauns!

We had our traditional yummy dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage!

We also had a St. Patrick's Day movie marathon, watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People, The Quiet Man, and The Secret of Roan Inish. We love St. Patrick's Day!