Easter

Happy Easter!

We did all the celebrating yesterday because Josh was off work. Yay! We love when daddy is home!

Unfortunately for him he is on 24 hour call today. That means he went in this morning around 6 or 7a.m. (I'm not sure, I'm sound asleep!) and won't get home again until tomorrow about 11a.m. 

If you did the math you'll realize that is actually longer than 24 hours. 

What a champ for hanging in there for this residency stuff! Love you hon!

Anyway, the day started with the finding of the baskets. The girls got lots of candy and these little Mooshka dolls that they LOVE. So much. Brinkley named hers Zooey and Darcy named hers Zooey. And then Rosalina. And then Ashley.

We painted eggs and dressed them up all dapper in their Easter Best. 

All ready to be made into deviled eggs. :/

I quickly sewed a festive Easter tablecloth that I quite adore.

After making a huge mess in the kitchen we ate our Easter feast of roast, potatoes, roasted asparagus, deviled eggs, rolls and strawberry lemonade (on the new tablecloth, of course). And fruit pizza for dessert. All so divine.

And if you were wondering, yes, our pee smelled like asparagus later. 

You're welcome for that.

After stuffing ourselves full we went out and hunted for Easter Eggs. 

It was nice celebrating on Saturday. I felt like that allowed me to really enjoy the true meaning of Easter today. Church was wonderful, especially sharing time. We had some special 'guests' come visit. People who had seen the resurrected Lord (Mary Magdalene, doubting Thomas, a Nephite, and Joseph Smith).

Our actors were spectacular and I really felt the spirit. So did the kids. They haven't been that reverent in a while. It was very special.

After church I popped in the Testaments and the girls and I enjoyed watching that together.

Later, we ate another giant dinner with good friends (oops, no pictures!) 

It was calm and peaceful and allowed me time to be really grateful for Christ's resurrection.

I know that He was resurrected. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us. 

I hope your Easter was special too.

And if you haven't already, give this video a watch. It's beautiful:

Here's some photos of our Easter. Maybe too many.

 Zooey

 Zooey/Rosalina/Ashley

 Why must things always end in tears?

 Sneaky little hand got in there.

Art Show

Brinks brought home a flyer about the School District's annual Art Festival. 

They display student art grades 1-12... but Brinkley's kindergarten art was also chosen to be displayed! There was a special note attached to the flyer letting my know her art was specially chosen.

I was so so, so, so proud.

I told everyone how talented my daughter was.

Yeah, don't do that.

I didn't realize how un-special it would be.

;)

Looks like ALL the kindergarteners got to display art. And 1st graders and 2nd graders and 3rd graders and 4th graders... you get the point.

Everyone and their dog had their art displayed.
And everyone and their dog came to see the art.

Oh well. I'm still proud of my daughter and really do think she is a fabulous artist. 

Like, really, really good.

So, the big event went like this: (it's going to sound a bit negative, hang in there)

We waited in long lines of cars to get a parking spot.

We walked slowly on the sidewalk on our way into the school while anxious people got annoyed behind us and huffily passed us by. (Darcy was wearing flippy flops, as she calls them, for the first time this season... that's why we were slow).

The High School was PACKED. We couldn't get through the halls. Or breathe.

I could feel my heart starting to race. I was a bit of a confused daze.

It was seriously that crowded. I thought "Are they allowed to have this many people in the building? Isn't this a fire hazard or something?" I almost had a panic attack. So did my kids. We searched for her name in the insane hallways for an hour. It was hot. And crazy. I get claustrophobic thinking about it.

And then we saw her picture. 

Yay!!!

Fortunately, that area cleared up for two minutes so we could snap a few pictures. She was so excited. 

A very kind man stopped to tell us he noticed her picture and thought it was one of the best ones. I thought that was so sweet. I also wanted to tell him that she can do even better with pencil. She doesn't get as much detail with crayons... and that's what they use at school. 

But I didn't. :)

And then we booked it the he...ck out of there. 

We took a back door because Brinkley was like "do we have to go through the crowds again?"

No, dear. We do not. Or mommy might start crying and lashing at people to move out of her way.

Anyway, we played outside for a bit to calm all ourselves down! 

Wowsers. 

We ran into a really nice lady cop who asked about Brinkley's art. So nice.

Believe it or not, we faced the crowds again to go see some dancing in the auditorium. My girls thought that it was awesome that the Winter Guard danced with swords and guns. Ha ha ha. We didn't have that at my High School. It was new to me as well! 

They also thought sitting on the bleachers was fun. 

And scary.

Darcy didn't want her flippy flops to fall under the bleachers so she put them in my purse. 

Brinkley thought she would fall through the gap. I assured her that she wouldn't. At least it kept them sitting! Fear is an excellent motivator.

I know it sounds like I had an awful time, but I didn't. 

I really am so proud of my daughter and think that she is a wonderful artist. I'll have to do a whole post about some of the clever things she's drawn as a 5 year old. I think you'll be impressed.

Oh yeah, I wasn't going to brag anymore. 

I'm done.

Coming soon: Brinkley's Magnificent Artwork!!!!

Ha.

Maple Festival

Year 2 of our annual Critz Farms Maple Festival family outing. 

Just as delectable as we remembered.

We ate our weight in pancakes, ham, hashbrowns, and eggs.

Followed by a tractor ride out to the sugar bush. 

A winner every year. 

Check it off the List

Josh and I have a huge, long bucket list for our lives. 

Go to New York City, go bob sledding at Lake Placid, actually get passports and go up north to Green Gables in Nova Scotia (don't laugh)...  I think White Way Delight sounds just as magical as Anne does.

Etcetera. 

 

A part of me thinks that we'll never get through our long, unrealistic list because we rarely do anything cool. BUT, every once in a while we do actually go somewhere as a family and do something fun!!

And that, my friends, is when I blog. 

Yay for that!!

And today you are in luck because we escaped the addictive clutches of our electric blankets, braved the polar vortex (it's a real thing!), put on our snow gear and did something we've been meaning to do for like 8 years. 

We snow shoed. 

Granted, it's no Green Gables, but it was so much fun! We are no respecter of family activities, so, if we do it, we are completely happy. This one day outside getting fresh air should tide us over for another year or two when we decide to do something else. 

I'm kidding.

Anyway, a few things I learned from our experience:

First off, can I just say that kids in snow shoes is like the cutest thing ever. I can't believe they make them so tiny. Stinking adorable. 

Second, snow shoeing is totally doable for kids. They caught on so fast. Amazing. They were tromping in the snow like it was second nature - all while Josh and I were getting ours on! 

Third, even though kids catch on quickly does not mean they will enjoy it for more than a half an hour. 

And they will not walk fast enough, ever.

Fourth, the trails were all nicely groomed. When we were done, we took off the snow shoes and walked along the trail for a bit in our normal shoes.... Aaaand it was like 10 times easier. So, umm, I'm thinking snow shoes are designed to be used on the road less traveled, and not on trails that have been packed down all winter. Oh well. It's all for the experience, right? I do think I would like to try it again, and actually go in un-walked on snow. 

Fifth, I am one tough mama (and Josh is a tough daddy too). We reached a point where both kids were crying, one had to pee, of course they were starving and thought we'd never eat again, plus we had no idea which trail we were on. But we had to get back somehow. So, we told the kids to buck up and march on. Well, that didn't go over too well. And honestly, seeing your kid sob as they walk and walk and walk and walk aaaannnndd walk is actually pretty heartbreaking (and frustrating too, when all you're trying to do is HAVE A LITTLE FAMILY FUN DANGIT!). So, unsurprisingly, we ended up carrying Darcy all the way back. Josh did half, and I did half. My arms felt like they would break off, but I did it. And I counted it as my exercise for the day (even though the rest of the time we were walking at a snails pace)

But, really, it was super fun. I get all snarky, but I truly love spending time with my family. Especially when we are out in nature remembering that Heavenly Father created all these beautiful things for us to enjoy.  

And enjoy it, I do. 

Even when I am lugging along a 30 pound child in my arms. ;)

Weeks later, my car still has pine cones all over the floor that were later found in coat pockets. Ah, to be a kid. Remember when pine cones were the coolest thing in nature? You wouldn't believe how happy I am to have little bits of torn apart pine cones in my car. It means my kids enjoyed it too. 

Go snow shoeing. I recommend it.

Soup Recipe (for my exercise group on FB!!!)

Corn and Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small red chile, seeded and finely chopped (I usually use half of 1 serrano chile because they're easier to find. They're also very spicy. I have also used jarred jalapeno, it works fine)

7 1/2 cups vegetable stock (Chicken broth works great too)

2 tsp cumin

1 medium sweet potato, diced (I always double the amount of sweet potato to make the soup thicker.)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 lb corn kernels (I use frozen corn.)

salt & black pepper

lime wedges, to serve

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a heavy pan and fry onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and chili and fry for an additional 2 minutes.

2. Add 3 cups of the vegetable stock and; simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the cumin and diced potato to the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Season and stir again.

4. Add the pepper, corn, and remaining stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Process half of the soup until smooth and stir into the chunky soup. Season and serve with lime wedges for squeezing over (the lime is a MUST! It makes the soup that much more delectable)

(You can also sprinkle broken-up tortilla chips, chopped avocado and cilantro on top of the soup.)

Dad and Rebecca Visit - Watkins Glen

I fell in love, love, love with Watkins Glen. 

I had never been and I was not disappointed! It was amazing!

It's this glen near Seneca Lake that has like 19 or something waterfalls throughout it.

They have made it hiker friendly, complete with stone steps. A LOT of steps. We all did a celebratory dance at the top. 

Even Brinkley hiked all the way up and down (3 miles total). In fact, we had to keep telling her to slow down because she would get so far ahead of us! She was LOVING it! She was also pretty excited because I gave her permission to get dirty. Let me clarify. She doesn't like getting dirty and was kind of freaking out about a little mud that got on her pants. So I told her, "Brinkley, we are hiking. It's okay if you get dirty today. You will get dirty. So just have fun." After that she would get a little mud on her shoes and be like "Mom, it's okay. We can get dirty today." Funny kid.

Darcy made the hike up, but was cranky-pants on the way down. She made me carry her and no one else could touch her... It was a good workout.

Not to mention on a 80 something degree day, it was so much cooler in the falls! A nice break from the heatwave we got while the fam was in town. (So hot and humid, we had to put the air conditioner in)

I want to go again and again. Everyone should see this incredible place. I bet it is GORGEOUS in the fall!