Easter 2019

Easter came and went again this year. Between Joseph's bizarre work schedule and our campout, we didn't do a huge Easter meal. Oh well. I am slowly learning that we can have different traditions than the ones I grew up with. Camping was a lot of fun but I was exhausted so the idea of cooking a huge meal only to have three kids not eat it didn't sound fun. Instead, I took a nap after church.


My sister made the girls' dresses and Tanner's coat jacket. His jacket has hidden dinosaurs ironed in it. He LOVES it! They were perfect for our kids.

Instead of doing Easter baskets, my sister-in-law shared this cool idea with me. I felt much better about buying this instead of spending money on junk for baskets. We've never done baskets so Ashton still doesn't know any different. I think that will change next year when she's in school. The kids have acted out the Easter story countless times and play with this all the time. I love hearing their conversations too. It was the perfect gift for our children.

Springtime

 We've been soaking up the beautiful weather as much as possible this spring. It seems to me that it is not as hot as past years in April. I know it will be too hot all too soon. Here's a little bit of our spring.

A house down the street from us has a northern screech owl nest in it. The owl comes out a few times a week for us to see him/her. The kids are enjoying watching it grow.

 Ashton continues to take piano and is doing really well. She loves it and begs to practice several times a day still. Her first recital will be next month.

 

 Gemma is now walking full time rather than crawling. She also continues to love puddles and water.

 With all her walking, she is also finding new things to explore like the treehouse.

Random family shot of the kids and I. It doesn't happen often but we were sending some pictures to my parents.

 Our local Chick-Fil-A hosted a father/daughter date night in February and then a Mother/Son game night in March. Tanner loved going with me and played lots of games. We like this Chick-Fil-A because it is right across from the Space Center so is very "space" themed.

 We got the tricycle out for Gemma. She's slowly getting used to it.

Huntsville 2019

Ashton, Tanner, and I ventured up to Huntsville for the annual campout with our old ward/stake. This was Tanner's first year going and he did great. I'm glad we waited another year for him to go. He enjoyed it a lot more and only got lost a few times. He is such a quiet wanderer so getting lost is a gift of his.

We left Thursday afternoon once Joseph got home to stay with Gemma. We are not big fans of taking babies camping and I am grateful we left her home this time. Maybe next year, we can all go. Maybe...

We successfully did all the activities between Thursday and Saturday. The kids were exhausted and Tanner slept for the whole 2 hour drive home and then stayed asleep in the van for another hour after getting home. The weather was much colder than I anticipated, especially at night. But the kids slept well despite it.

The first two days were windy and cooler so the water was pretty rough. But Saturday was beautiful and we got the canoe out. The kids stayed still and didn't tip the canoe.

 Some gymnastic/cheer girls wanted to lift the kids. They loved it.

Tanner found some Y-scooter (or something like that) and loved it. He does well at balancing with his regular bike and he continued to balance well with this. I might be looking for one on sale/used for his Christmas present. We'll see what I find.

 Saturday morning is the Easter egg hunt. The kids loved doing it with all their friends. This was the only egg hunt we did this year and I like that. I am already sick of the candy.

 Friday night, we do a big dinner with the 100+ people who come to the campout. After the dinner, we do a skit show. This year, the kids and I sang "Alice the Camel" for the show. Tanner was pretty hesitant but quickly joined right in. One of the families brings their drones every year and the husband showed Tanner how it works.

 While they didn't stay overnight, the Coon family came and Ashton and Tanner were so excited to spend time with them too.

 We made it swimming but it was FREEZING! The kids begged me all morning to go and then begged me to go back to the campsite shortly after getting wet.

 Tanner swimming out on his own. He was pretty adventurous with how far out he went.

 Ashton stayed much closer to the beach.

 We did go real fishing but the kids preferred to "fish" at the campsite. Our fishing rod just has a rubber fish on the end of it so no hook. That way, they can "fish" wherever they want.

 If you look real close, there's an alligator in the middle of the picture. This was about 15 feet from us on the fishing boardwalk.

General Conference Weekend

We had a wonderful conference weekend. I tried to plan ahead as much as possible and it seems my efforts paid off a little bit.

The kids all knew that conference weekend was coming up. I loved seeing their excitement. They picked out treats for the key words they were going to listen for. We focused on cleaning up the house before the weekend so we could truly relax on Saturday and Sunday.

We set up the folding table upstairs with all the snacks, water bottles, and other essentials. The kids were beyond excited. Tanner kept asking all morning, "Is it General Conference yet?"

For the first time, the kids actually caught on to the key words and what to listen for. Tanner and Ashton kept running back and forth to the table to grab the specific treat. Ashton kept asking when President Nelson would speak. It was hard for her to wait that long. When she did see him, she identified him immediately. I'm grateful she knows who our Prophet is.

When I asked Ashton what her favorite part was, she said when the choir sang, "I Am A Child of God." Tanner's favorite part was eating the treats. I know the kids felt the Spirit as they listened between their whining and yelling.

For the next conference, we will definitely do the treats with certain words again. This time, we did Jesus Christ, family, and love. It worked great! I will try to find better coloring pages. The ones provided on LDS.org were a little over Ashton's head with her limited reading skills. I've seen other ideas of getting quiet activities ready such as a new puzzle, Lego building, etc. I should have focused more on that.

My favorite talk was probably Sister Craven's. At least so far. I'm sure it will change when I read them all and study them more. It's always a hard month between conference and the Ensign edition.