Birthday celebration!

Due to Cal not feeling well on his birthday we delayed present opening and cake till the weekend. Saturday night Cal opened his first presents. I loved seeing what the girls came up with for Calvin. Elle had wrapped two of Cal's books in computer paper and was thrilled to watch him open them!

Madi had decorated a gold foil box and put a little flower inside (don't mind her face - she had just gotten back from a birthday party and had done some face painting):

Gram and Papa got Cal a super cool reverent book!

Then Sunday night after our delicious Easter meal, with both sets of grandparents in attendance, we had the rest of Cal's birthday celebration! First he opened presents - that big rocking pirate ship is from his best buddy Houston! Pretty cool huh!

He got a Ball-poppin Hippo from Grandpa Al and Boppi:

A Little People Race 'n Chase Batcave from Gram Rox:

And an Ikea train set and a hammer/nail pounding thing (not pictured) from Spencer and I:

After presents we busted into the train cake!

Another angle. . .

At first he was a little unsure. . .

Once he realized it was good stuff he dug in!

Cal was the most entertaining cake eater ever! Every bite he'd say, "Mmmm.... num!" 

He stayed pretty clean right til the end when he decided to grab a handful of cake and then rub his eyes and hair! 

Love this little guy! More about Cal at ONE years old coming soon!

Easter Week 2013

This Easter was different than any other. I was determined to set some good solid traditions that would be meaningful, and help the girls remember the real meaning of Easter while also enjoying all the fun (non religious) celebrating. So using this link from lds.org, and stealing ideas from some favorite blogs, I typed up and laminated the events that happened each day during "Holy Week." Then, instead of our regular nightly scripture reading, each evening we read the scriptural passage that goes along with the events from that particular day. I also laminated pictures from our Gospel Art Book for a visual reminder of what we read. We even had some fun reenacting of events (unfortunately this night was the only one I took a picture of):

Elle's waving "palm leaves" in front of the donkey (Spencer) while shouting "Hosanna" as Jesus (played by Calvin) rode into the city. Madi's holding our picture of the actual event- so that everyone would know what to do.

Then each night I would take the picture we used with the write up I had laminated, and tape them onto our kitchen cupboards. I loved having these pictures up all week and it really helped me to stay focused on the true meaning of Easter.

On Saturday night, along with our little "devotional", we did "Easter Story Cookies"- an idea I had found on sugar doodle, made copies of, and passed out to the kids in primary for a great "night before Easter" activity. We were rushed for time and almost considered skipping the cookies altogether, but Madi was insistent that we make them and I'm glad we did. Notice the tape "sealing" our over door (aka- tomb) shut. I think this was a favorite activity for the girls- it has great symbolism. And guess what was the first thing they did Easter morning? They ran to the oven to check on their cookies! The cookies didn't turn out to be exactly what I expected, but it allowed us the opportunity to talk more about that first Easter when Jesus' followers found the tomb open and empty and they learned that Jesus wasn't there. He had risen!

What a sweet Easter this was for me. On the couch I had layed out new dresses for the girls with little gifts from Spencer and I, but they didn't seem to be interested in new clothes or presents. Instead, they spent the morning at their art table writing and drawing pictures of Jesus. Madi wrote the sweetest book and I wanted to include it on here:

March is great because Jesus risen.                              Eggs stands for new life.

Christmas is Jesus's Birthday.                     In Jesus's love he does not make mistakes.

What a sweet little testimony! 

As for the fun/non religious stuff this Easter week . . .
On Tuesday Gram arrived! It's always such a treat to have her here - we realized that it had been almost 8 months since she was here last! My plan was to dye eggs Tuesday afternoon, but mom always comes prepared with fun crafts for the kids and I felt this one could substitute dying eggs.

The girls had a ball creating those little chickies!

Wednesday was Madi's last day of school for the week and Calvin's birthday, so we had a little celebration in the evening (presents and cake were saved for Sunday).

Thursday night Papa arrived! The kids had been anxiously awaiting his arrival, so it was definitely a highlight of the day!

Friday was our first egg hunt. We joined some friends from 5th ward over at Village of the Park. Madi and Elle were thrilled to get to play with Brooklyn Bell! Elle just wasn't loving the sun in her eyes.

Saturday morning Mom and I took the girls over to the community center for the "Easter Eggstravaganza"! Spencer had to finish up some stuff at work (it's been never ending this month) and dad volunteered to stay at home so Calvin could nap (he then ended up organizing our entire garage- something I've been wanting to do for months- thanks a million dad!). The Eggstravaganza turned out to be awesome and I was bummed that Dad, Spencer, and Cal missed out. We got there right at the beginning and had little to no lines! And the best part was that almost everything was free!! The girls jumped in 2 different bounce houses, Madi went on a pony ride (Elle freaked out just before her turn), they played "knock down the bottle", won a prize, and did 3 crafts (did I mention- ALL for FREE!). Each girl also got their turn at the egg hunt. Elle went in the first group (ages 1-3), ran super fast, and managed to gather up 10 eggs (this was impressive considering how many kids there were). Madi was in the next group (ages 4-7) which had even more kids all circled around the egg filled area. Madi grabbed 8 or 9 eggs in the 20 seconds it took for the entire area to be completely congested. 

Elle knocking the bottles down!

After the Eggstravaganza Madi headed off to a birthday party. I always love the cards she creates for birthdays.

Saturday night we ordered out for dinner and ate in the backyard. After all the kids were tucked into bed, Dad and Spencer went off to "kick tires" while mom and I hung out at home. My goal for Saturday night was to finish Cal's birthday cake and get all Easter stuff prepared (dinner, primary, Easter outfits, etc). Spencer and I might not have gotten to bed until after midnight, but we got everything done!

This brings us back to Easter morning. It was busy but nice to have 2 extra sets of hands to help with the kids, cookie making, packing, dinner prep, etc.  Sundays always seem to be such a stressful day at our house. This Sunday was no different (minus the meetings though). We left for church later than I wanted to, I ran to set some things up in the primary room, and then had to squeeze between dad and Spencer at the end of a packed row in the middle of the chapel. I was on the program to sing "He Sent His Son" with 3 other friends. Singing in public always makes me super nervous and my heart finally stopped pounding halfway through the musical number. It wasn't until primary that I finally got to sit back, relax, and soak in the spirt I felt while the kids sang songs that testified of Christ's love for each of us. I love primary!

After church we came home to a house all ready for Easter dinner. Since Spencer had to leave at 7pm for Fresno and my parents were heading back to Brentwood with the girls at 7pm as well, Spencer left church with his parents (who came to hear the girls and I sing) after sacrament meeting to get dinner going (and lay Cal down for a nap). Everything looked and smelled absolutely fabulous- a very nice thing to come home to!

Yum Yum Yum!!!! I love our traditional Easter dinner!

It was a delicious meal with fabulous company! Big thanks to both our parents for all their help and for joining us on this special holiday.

After dinner, Calvin opened birthday presents and we all got to share his train cake with ice cream for dessert (but that's for a whole other post)!

It was nice to have my parents here this week for all the celebrating. I felt bad that we were so busy the entire time. We do so appreciate them being here though and for how much help they are. 

It was a good Easter. A really good Easter. It was sprinkling when we left for church which made it difficult to get the pictures that I wanted to get, so this will have to do! Happy Easter! 

1st hair cut

Cal's hair has been driving me crazy for the past couple of months, but my mom begged for me to wait and let her cut it on his first birthday. So I waited... and waited... and waited. Then one week before she got here, I couldn't stand it any longer. One night after his evening bath, I put him on my lap in front of a "kids love trains" youtube video and snipped away. It wasn't anything fabulous, but just trimming up the back and sides made it all better for me. Check out how long it'd gotten.

It was nice not to have to tuck his hair behind his ears anymore. Ya, it was still long, but not driving me crazy anymore. I sure was excited for Gram to give Cal his first "real" haircut though!

Check out all that hair:

Cal was a champ and sat super still the entire time. But yes, that is an ipad with the train video playing. Cal sure loves trains!

I tell ya, he was glued to that ipad!

My baby looks like such a big boy now!

Thanks Gram for the handsome haircut! 

Happy Birthday Calvin!

My baby boy turned one today!! I can hardly believe it - this year flew by way too fast! He's been stuffed up with a runny nose and fever for the past 2 days so we postponed his birthday celebration until Sunday (when both sets of grandparents can be here). We did other things to make it a special day for the birthday boy though: pancakes for breakfast, pizza for lunch, chicken/broccoli for dinner, swinging at the park after nap time, and bubbles outside in the evening. It was a good day. And even though he wasn't feeling up to par, he still let me take him out for a quick birthday photo shoot - giving me tons of handsome smiles. He's such a happy little boy! I feel so very blessed to have him a part of our family! Love you Cal!

Catching up

Can't believe I've only done two posts this month! On my morning runs I like to organize my thoughts and I usually write blog posts in my mind while I run - it's quite therapeutic for me. But then later I realize I never actually recorded any of those thoughts, events, frustrations on my blog. I have a lot of catching up to do before I forget.

Spencer's been working non stop this month and I'm exhausted from evening after evening of doing bedtime alone or just having bedtime pushed back later than I'd like it to. The whole time change threw everything off and Madi's never ready for bed before 8pm anymore! Oh how I miss the nights of everyone in bed by 7pm!

My girls are going through some weird stuff right now (which is a whole other post by itself though). It's just completely draining and has kept me on my toes. Spencer and I talk daily about how desperately we're in need of a vacation - just the 2 of us!

My mom flies in tomorrow morning and will be here all weekend (Dad will join Thursday night). Looking forward to having an extra set (or two) of hands for all the things I've got going this week. Cal's birthday is Wednesday - gotta figure out a present for him and what cake to make. And I'm determined to set some real solid Easter traditions this year. I'm pretty much stealing all my ideas from one of the Eyre daughters (Spencer teases me about being obsessed with the Eyre family. It's true though- all my ideas come from their books or blogs lately). Check out her ideas here.

Anyway, my bed is covered in clothes, and my desk in Easter ideas to finish. So I gotta run for now. Happy Easter Week!

Today

It was a blow-up the pool kind of day!!

I about passed out getting that thing blown up, but it was totally worth it to see my kids having such a good time!

March

This month is a busy one. I was doing some calendering with Spencer last week when I realized that every single weekend this month was already booked with something. Last Saturday Spencer sailed out to Santa Cruz with his dad and some other guys from 2nd ward. I was determined to make the most of our Saturday without Spence so we picked up Boppi and had our own beach outing:

Then this weekend was packed full! We had a visit from Uncle Curteis (Thursday and Friday night)! It was Cal's first time meeting Curteis and the girls were over the moon with excitement to see him! Curt taught Madi some cords on her guitar, watched Elle do tricks on her trampoline, and checked out all the "special things" they'd been dying to show him.

Friday night I left Spence and Curt in charge of the kids and took off for a General Primary Training with the General Primary President, Sister Wixom. My presidency actually got an invitation to take part in a small focus group meeting before the training. It was awesome and such a treat. I love meeting the leaders of our church and feeling of their spirit and love for all of us. She even invited me to join her at the pulpit and share my experience of ward council. She's an awesome lady - one of those kind of people that make you want to be better.

Saturday morning we said good-bye to Uncle Curties. The kids armed him full with pictures and drawings to take back for their cousins:

Saturday night Madi got to perform at a dinner/dance/auction fundraiser for her school, held at the Las Posas Country Club. I'm always so amazed that Madi never gets nervous to perform. This was a huge group of people and she couldn't have been more excited. She picked the songs (Star Spangled Banner, Do Re Mi, and The World is a Rainbow), practiced on her own during the week, then walked onto the stage Saturday night and did her thing! Incredible!!

Tonight we ate dinner at Spencer's parents. We so appreciate their invitations, especially on super busy Sundays like today- I was basically at church from 10am - 5pm (with an hour break to run home, get the girls ready, feed our out-of-town neighbors fish and cat, grab stuff for my after church teacher training meeting, load up the car, and get back to church). Plus it's a real treat to see pictures like this one - Cal snuggling with Boppi. Such a sweet picture and I'm totally dying over how big he looks!!

It's also nice to eat dinner and let someone else deal with Cal's recent pickiness and fussiness. Grandpa Al always seems to have the touch.

I do wish time could slow down a little! This weekend was a busy one, but our upcoming week is even busier! Monday night is my only free night of the week! And for a homebody like myself, it's not something I look forward to.