Happy Easter!

Dying eggs--I've had this special "marble" egg dying kit in my cupboard for a few years, and this year we finally used it.  You rub on the dye with this plastic glove and it's supposed to be "marbley."  Kind of fun and different, I guess.  

These guys LOVE boiled eggs, and Hayden peeled one and started eating as soon as we were done coloring the eggs.

Sugar Cookies

We ran out of frosting before we ran out of cookies, thanks to this kid.

Ready to hunt for Easter eggs!

Hayden kept trying to crack these eggs open like real eggs.  

It made us all laugh because he would say, "One, Two, Three, Hack!"

Sean retrieving one from on top of the playhouse.

That's me with my 6-month belly.  This little girl of ours is really stretching out my ribs.

Daphne being goofy

Enjoying their spoils.

I don't have pictures of these, but we also did some cool stuff to reinforce the true meaning of Easter.  We read a cute book called "The Easter Walk" and went on a search for our own Easter Treasures for Family Home Evening.  And later in the week we had a "Jerusalem Dinner" which turned out better than last year's dinner-- probably because we had lamb instead of lentil stew.  We had lamb, cous-cous, melon & berries, bitter herbs with goat cheese and olives and cucumbers, mediterranean flatbread (basically pita bread) and white grape juice.  Surprisingly, the kids were really good at trying the new things.  I guess none of them looked like "throw-up" like my lentil soup did last year.  One of these years, it would be fun to dress up, but it didn't happen this time.  

We are so thankful for our Savior who came to the earth to redeem us from sin and death.  Because of his infinite atonement, we can repent, and because he was resurrected, we too can live again!  I am so thankful for this knowledge, and for this special time of year when we celebrate the most glorious event in the history of the world.  Happy Easter!

Scrapbooking Retreat

Last weekend, I got to get away with these eight fabulous ladies to do a little scrapbooking.  I look forward to this every year--sometimes twice a year, and it's just about the only time I actually get any scrapbooking done.  We go up to a conference center in Glorietta (just an hour and a half away from Albuquerque) and set up all our scrapbooking gear and snacks to share in a big room.  We sleep in rooms on site that are like hotel rooms, and eat at the cafeteria.  And for two and a half days, we scrapbook, eat, sleep, talk, laugh, and share supplies and ideas.  It's great!

My friend, Erin--she has so much stuff, it's unbelievable.  She was almost barricaded in her workspace surrounded by boxes and piles of paper and embellishments.  She is so great to help us think of clever titles for our pages, and supply us with whatever color paper we find we are missing.  Hurray for Erin!

This is a side shot of my work space.  I sat here working for two and a half days, and came up with the following 10 layouts!  I also got three others partially done.  Yahoo!

Knock-Knock

During breakfast today, the kids proceeded to tell me every joke they've ever heard.  We had lots of knock-knock jokes and lots of courtesy laughs, and a few genuine laughs, which were usually not about the jokes.  :)  Here are a few, in case you're looking to expand your repertoire:

Dallin:  What's the biggest ant in the world?
Me:  Um, a giant?
Dallin:  NO!  ANTARTICA!

That joke inspired this one from Daphne:

Daphne:  Why was the beaver at the North Pole?
Me:  I don't know--why?
Daphne:  Because he was lost! . . . . That wasn't very funny, was it?
I started laughing out loud when she made that last comment.

Sean:  Knock-Knock
Me:  Who's there?
Sean:  Banana
Me: Banana who?
Sean: Knock-Knock
Me: Who's there?
Sean: Banana
Me: Banana who?
Sean: Mom?  There are lots of bananas in this joke.
Me:  Thanks for the warning.

He then proceeded to do at least five more bananas, until he got to the punch line when, of course,  he said "Orange" instead of "banana."  When I said, "Orange who?" He said, "Aren't you glad I didn't say banana?"  Dallin immediately corrected him with, "No, Sean, it's ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?"  So poor Sean tried over and over, and finally came up with "Aren't ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?"

Then Hayden piped in with, "Knock-knock!"
Me:  Who's there?
Hayden: Banana-who
Me: Banana-who who?
Hayden: BANANA-WHO!

Good times.

Park Group Egg Hunt

Here are some cute pics from our ward's Park Group Easter Egg Hunt.  We each brought 12 candy filled egg per child, and then after hiding them, the kids all got to go out and find 12 eggs for their baskets.

Here are the kids all lined up to find their eggs

A little closer of Sean (in red) and Hayden at the very left.  

He looks like he could probably fit into that basket himself.

He's only collected two eggs, but he can't wait to eat what's inside!

Sean made quick work of finding all twelve of his eggs,

and then was a very good big brother by helping Hayden add to his meager numbers.

Sharing jelly beans.

"Say 'aaahhh'"

Happy Birthday Dad!

Love you Dad!  Hope you had a great day!

Homemade Wheat Bread

I'd just like to say that after 10 + years, I think I have finally perfected my homemade wheat bread.  I have found that the ingredients and the equipment are equally important in making a perfect loaf of wholewheat bread.  Here are the secrets that I think make all the difference:

1.  Freshly ground wheat flour (just bite the bullet and get a wheat grinder)
2.  I use 1/3 c vital wheat gluten and 2 tbsp. of Dough Enhancer
3.  Sometimes I also add some flax meal which makes it even softer
4. Maybe it's not necessary, but my wheat bread has been vastly improved since I got a Bosch for    Christmas one year.  I let the Bosch knead it for 8 minutes before I put it into the bread pans to rise.
5.  And the final touch was the right pans to cook it in.  I had been using pans that were too big, and as a result the bread wasn't baking well.  Thanks for those aluminum bread pans, Mom, they are PERFECT!!!