I'll Go Inside Some Day

Recently the kids were asking about temples and if they could ever go inside one.

A temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated to the Lord and there are some very specific requirements to enter--including an age limit.  But, when one is first built, it is open to the public of all ages for a few weeks.

So, when we found out that this very thing was going on in Kansas City, we decided to brave the drive and go.

I think this is my favorite of all the photos I took, but don't worry there are many more to come.

I really wanted one with all three kids.

Trey was not in the mood to cooperate.

But he liked the part where he got to run.

Mommy, I running!

It was a very bright morning.

I love this bond.

I should have worn purple.

I was trying to get more cute pictures without them squinting in the sun.  It wasn't until later that I realized what it looks like they are doing in this picture.

We've got to work on being more lady like.

The visit inside was even more wonderful than all the photo taking.  The kids were remarkably respectful, quiet, and reverent inside.  At least, the older two were.  Trey was having some struggles of his own which I'll detail more in the next post.

But, it was really wonderful to be able to share something so important to me and Blake with our children.  Definitely worth the drive.

Easter Easter

The weekend leading up to Easter was full of Easter Fun and Adventure.

We had an Easter egg hunt and pancake breakfast at the church.

Expert Photography Tip:  Remember to check settings before snapping photos.

I've started showing her pictures after I take them.  After asking her if she thinks she was smiling in it.  She always answers in the affirmative and is shocked to see what her supposed smiles really look like.  Good thing she's cute no matter what.

This little guy was pretty causal about his egg hunting.

So cute, though.

The day before Easter is a great day to transition to a Big Boy Bed.  You might not have known that.

I can't tell you how excited I was to find this darling comforter that matches the one my mom and I made for Bryce a couple years ago.

He was mostly ecstatic about the pillow pet.

Don't be deceived by this photo.  It was a rocky night, but since he was constantly hopping out of the crib anyway, it needed to happen.

Before bedtime, we made the traditional Resurrection Cookies.

It's fun when Blake's in charge of the camera.

This is a fun photo.

And this is as close to the final product as you'll get.  I forgot to take pictures in the morning.  But the kids had fun helping me make the little dollops on the pan the night before.  And getting thoroughly messy.

The Easter Bunny came.

The kids checking out their Easter goodies.

Trey was not convinced that all of this was a good thing.

He did get into the Egg Hunt in a big way, though.

And this year I started what might become a new Easter tradition--Easter Bunny Buns for breakfast.  Look closely, can you see how they resemble a bunny from the back side?

Come On Ride The Train

Trey has become more than a little obsessed with trains.

I wanted to take him to a train yard, or something for his birthday.  I know.  I'm such a good mom.  But, his super cool (you should here him say that phrase--so cute!) Daddy arranged for him to ride one.

Here they are getting ready.

He could barely contain his excitement at being so close to a train.

And I think he saw some birds flying behind me.  All things excite him.

We were joined by some friends whose Dad works at the same place.

And I'm not alone in despising the smell of the place.  Stinky distiller.

And yes, the two in the back are, in fact, holding hands.

It's coming!  (Another really cute thing you should hear him say).

I envisioned some really cute 2-year pics.

They didn't exactly pan out.

And as I'd feared, he was much more impressed outside the train than aboard it.  At least he didn't cry.
He just quietly sucked his thumb.

All of the other kids loved it, though.  But they were so busy watching out the windows, I didn't really get any good pictures.

Happy Pre-Birthday, Trey!

It's Not What It Seems

Name the movie.

So, last year, I went pretty big for April Fool's.  This year, I knew I didn't have the energy for it, but I didn't want to skip it entirely.  So, I kept it simple.

We started with the drinks. (Actually, we started with Bug Bread at breakfast.  They never would have bought this one, except that I enlisted Blake's fabulous acting skills and he adamantly refused to touch it even though I insisted that the bugs--purchased from Trader Joe's, of course--were chock full of special vitamins and nutrients.  Of course, it only took a couple bites for them to deduce that it was actually Chocolate Chip Banana Bread).

Even Trey was pretty excited about this one.

What you can't see in this photo is how hard Kayli was sucking on that straw.

Is it just me, or does that smile look a little bit patronizing?

Aw, shucks, Mom.  You sure fooled us!


I did, though.  It was actually Jell-O and not one of them suspected before struggling to work it up the straw for a bit.

The only other thing I did was dessert.

I concocted a story about needing to taste the dirt from our garden in order to really connect with it and have a successful garden this year.  I told them I'd refrigerated it, so any worms would have crawled down to the bottom in an effort to get warm.

Apparently, I'm just weird enough that they weren't sure whether or not to believe, or chalk it up to April Fool's.

It was, of course, Dirt Dessert.

Speaking of dirt:

Blake bought a whole truckload of it.

To fill in all of the holes from the crabgrass he'd dug up a couple weeks back.

This is Bryce's scarecrow face, by the way.  He wanted to be a scarecrow.

This is when I asked him to give me a nice smile.

Just so we're clear--that was chock full o' dirt when they started.

My sexy hard working man.

Shockingly, we probably could have used two truckloads of dirt.  Amazing.

Duck And Burn

A few weeks ago I decided we should take all of the stale hot dog buns from the freezer and feed the ducks.

See that tall white bird way out there?  I was pretty sure it was a heron, or something.

Turns out it was white plastic wrapped around the pond fountain for the winter.

No herons.  But the ducks and geese were out in full force.

And we had lots of hot dog buns.  I'm not sure why I buy these when we're not going to eat them immediately.  Frozen hot dog buns never look good.  Plus, I kind of got hooked on the bakery buns last summer and these were Hostess, I think.

Trey caught on to the feeding concept pretty quickly and enthusiastically.

But still took time out for his favorite past time.

Kayli squatted down to see what that weird stuff in the water was.

Can you see the catfish faces?  They were snatching the bread right out from under the birds!

This pond is in a very residential area and you can tell the birds are quite used to being fed.

Not at all shy.  Trey even got smacked on the back of the head by a wing at one point.

Hi.

I just liked seeing his cute little hands reaching up and asking Daddy for "Mo!  Mo!"

See all of those brown things floating in the water?

They are pine cones that he enthusiastically began gathering and tossing in.  It amazed me how the birds continued to sample each pine cone thrown in before deciding that it really wasn't bird food.

But I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have deterred this little fellow anyway.

We also took a picnic dinner to eat at the park.

And after dinner, Blake and Bryce resumed practicing what they'd begun the day before:

No training wheels!

A little tipsy, but he's getting the hand of it.

He actually did quite well.

And then he had a pretty big crash.  Involving a flip over the bike.  I'm pretty sure he would have broken a limb (and his screaming had me convinced that he had before we got close enough to see), but he somehow managed to cling onto the handle bars the whole time.  I only know this because both his palms and the backs of his finger nails were scraped up from skidding on the sidewalk.  The only way I could see this happening was if those little fingers were gripping tightly to the handlebars through the whole crash.

Poor guy.

But I gave him a pep talk about how my mom made me go out driving the day after I totaled my car in high school and how he needed to get right back on that bike and ride it.  Maybe weird advice for a 5-year old, but it worked.  He got back on and rode even further than before.

All in all, it was a really fun evening.  And Bryce and Blake have continued to make great progress on the bike riding.