Easter joy

Fun activities, warm temps and sunny skies, and moments to reflect on our Savior's atoning sacrifice and resurrection pretty much sum up our Easter.

We had fun dyeing eggs and having peeps. Well, the children had the peeps. I can't stand them.

We had a fun Easter egg hunt with a bunch of friends. Mason was hilarious. Found his first egg, broke it open, and inhaled all the contents - including a bunch of grass - in about 5 seconds.

Easter morning was a bit crazed. Mason woke up at 4:45, and in my sleep-deprived state I watched the children discover and enjoy their baskets in a semi-fogged state. I didn't even remember to take pictures. And I had to teach Relief Society. So we managed to get everyone ready for church, although later I noticed boys were missing ties and a belt. But church was wonderful and my lesson went well. Then we snapped some basket pictures after church, although baskets had been fairly well disassembled by then. Connor loved a Lego Star Wars set, Lucas loved an R2D2 figure thing, Isabel loved new jewelry and Mason loved his new Elmo DVD. And they all loved the sweets. Duh.

I hosted Brian's parents and aunt and uncle for dinner. I made a brown sugar-and-orange glazed ham, au gratin potatoes, rolls, chocolate coconut oatmeal no bake nest cookies and a lemon berry tart - all from scratch, all scrumptious.

Hope you all had a beautiful Easter!

St. Patrick's Day

We had a fun little family pre-St. Patty's Day celebration when we went to see The Kilted Man, a great Celtic musician who has an amazing story, and also happens to be a member of our stake, something I learned when I did a STORY on him for a local magazine. The kids loved the performance, and talked about his jokes, his stories and his music after it was over. I am so happy that they appreciated it!

Here's us, with The Kilted Man-

St. Patrick's Day started kind of busy, with Connor's first Pinewood Derby, but we did manage to get a visit from Lucky the Leprechaun, who did tricky and green tricks around the house for the kids to awaken to. This never fails to delight and impress. Breakfast was quick, just Lucky Charms this year.

Later in the day we listened to Irish music, read some St. Patty's Day books, went on our traditional treasure hunt for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow-

I have cute leprechauns, indeed (but only managed to photograph two of them; it was an insanely busy weekend)

I had a fun dinner out with girlfriends that evening, a fun tradition. St. Patty's Day is always fun, esp. since Brian and I are both really Irish.

And some Kilted Man video, for my mother in law.

Christmastime

This Christmas will be remembered as one in which we: enjoyed a white Christmas in Colorado (which is less common than one might think, as only approximately 1/3 of Christmases in the Denver metro area in the past century have been white); were watched over and blessed by a number of angelic secret Santas who performed a variety of anonymous and extremely generous acts of service for our family; managed to keep the tree and ornaments largely intact despite a destructive toddler; shared some laughs; watched one of our own children perform a touching act of his own service; learned more about our Savior and grew to love him even more; saw Brian lose himself in and subsequently find a way to produce one of the most touching writing pieces he has ever created; enjoyed watching the children take an increasing interest in identifying all the faces in the abundance of Christmas cards that arrived in the mail; and celebrated the joy of the season.

Christmas Eve day found us playing in the snow to burn some energy and making mini snowmen-

It was just the six of us for Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a fun appetizer dinner, played some Christmas-themed Minute to Win It Games (this was SO MUCH FUN!), including throwing marshmallows into a small bucket, playing the Nutstacker (stacking bolt nuts on top of each other) and carrying marshmallows to a bowl via a spoon in the mouth, no hands), watched the children perform their own version of the nativity, with Connor as Joseph, Isabel as Mary and Lucas as the innkeeper, watched 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, read some Christmas stories, let the children open one gift, and put out cookies and milk for Santa.

It's fun to play Santa and prepare for Christmas Day after the children go to bed. I made these fun snowman poop stocking stuffers-

Christmas morning! Santa brought Isabel a fun new desk for her room, since she spends so much time writing/coloring/drawing and such; we got the desk from a friend; it had a cute shape but needed some TLC. I saw an idea on Pinterest to paint the drawers in the graduating colors from a paint card, and Isabel unknowingly selected the knobs when we were shopping one day. I love how it turned out! Connor got a great Hot Wheels race track, Lucas got a scooter and Mason got a Little People farm tractor set.

For breakfast I made Father Tim's Christmas morning casserole from my Mitford Cookbook, and my mom's cherry bread-

Our family on Christmas-

At church we enjoyed a beautiful Christmas program, then we hosted Christmas dinner with some of Brian's family. I was so busy I forgot to take pictures! We capped off dinner with an unbelievably scrumptious caramel bread pudding. That evening we relaxed and watch the Joy to the World DVD, which always fills me with joy and love.

Hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas!