chick-ology 101

I enjoy Easter. a lot.
I love the deep spiritual significance.
I love the spring time feel.
I love the Easter eggs.

I have secretly been planning Easter baskets, eggs, and activities for months.
I am so excited that it is finally here.

This week the boys and I pulled out all the Easter eggs to practice our egg hunting skills and learn a little about chick-ology 101.


First, we had to build a nest for our eggs





Sheriff Woody was recruited to act as the mama chick.

At first the boys were not too pleased. They wanted to play mama chick. There was quite the debate about whether the sheriff could really keep the eggs warm enough. We eventually had to incorporate many blankets and pillows.



When the conditions were absolutely perfect, the baby chicks emerged from the eggs.
Cute, warm, and hungry.



We were ready to feed their appetites with some tasty worms.
The chicks really like to eat them... and so does Colton.



Such a fun game.
We played it for days.

Eventually, we decided that we needed to make more baby chicks to play with.
I really need to invest in googly eyes.




These baby chicks are a bit older than the "hatching chicks" and they needed a home that was easily transportable.

So, we made a little pet carrier for them.




Caleb loves it.
It is like a little suit case that he can carry around with him everywhere.



He had to try it out by going up and down the stairs with it at least a dozen times.



So incredibly fun.

I found packages of eggs for forty cents a pieces at Hobby Lobby. I went a little egg crazy. We are having a lot of fun sorting eggs by their color, hiding eggs with numbers inside and then lining them up in the right order once they are all found, and basic word spelling with letters hidden inside each egg.

My boys are awesome egg finders.
The Easter bunny is going to have to get a little creative this year.

happies...

Most of the time I feel outnumbered, overwhelmed, and ready to explode. The "fantastic" four's, "terrific" two's, and the "anxious to walk" baby - all at once. is. a. lot. There are days when I feel all I have accomplished for the day is a lot of discipline, yelling, and time-outs. There are many moments in which I feel my mothering skills are inadequate and failing.

Yesterday I decided to entertain the boys with a movie while I attempted to fold the ten loads of laundry that were lying on my bed. Silently, Conner got up from the movie and without being asked he put away his laundry. He later came back to put away Caleb's laundry as well.

I was astonished.

Somewhere. Somehow. Something is working.
And that gives me the happies.


...Duct taping myself to this cute lady also gives me the happies. just for the record.

forgiveness give you...

One of our family new years resolutions was to start memorizing various quotes with the boys. So far, we have memorized all sorts of quotes from "come what may and love it" to "decisions determine destiny."

It has been very fun - surprisingly.

Yesterday morning I asked Conner what our quote for the week was.
He instantly fabricated a quote from somewhere within his brain.

"forgiveness gives you energy"

It might not be the words of President Hinckley, Shakespeare, or da Vinci.
But I love it.
Our quote for the week instantly changed, and I am so glad that it did.
I am so grateful for the daily lessons my kids teach me.
I have so much to learn from them.

Marker Lid Evolution

Caleb has a serious fascination with marker lids.
He loved to wear them on his fingers and play with them as if they were action figures.



So I decided that eyes were necessary.
Action figures need eyes to sword fight.



Caleb took the marker lids with him everywhere.
One for each finger to be exact.
But marker lids slid off fingers and I was beginning to spend the majority of my time looking for the marker lid that fell behind couch, under the bed, and all over the van.

The superhero marker lids needed a car -badly.
So we made one.
No wheel drive. Bright green. One door entry. Cardboard interior. Seats six. The perfect car.



I don't know when it started.
Maybe it was the many advertisements for the Disney movie Tangled.
Maybe it was Uncle Spencer and his long "China hair."
Or maybe it was the fact that Caleb learned to say the word "hair."

I don't know.
What I do know however is successful superheros must have hair and lots of it.
Hair creates an illusion, protects identities, and looks plain awesome.




We were happy.
All of us.
Marker lids and all.

We felt fulfilled and satisfied... that is until I started assembling the Easter decorations and realized that we were lacking bunny puppets for the boys. That is when the marker lid evolution occurred.



The superhero action figure marker lids evolved into plush bunnies.



And we love them.

I wish I had caught Caleb's response with the camera.
So so so cute.
He is in bunny boy paradise.
Which he totally deserves.
Did I mention that he chose to potty train himself this week???


Marker lids... who knew?

what every little boy needs...

I believe that deep within every little boy is the need to be dirty beyond recognition....




and paint mixed with lots of soap is the perfect way to do it.
(little did they know I was actually getting them ready to take a bath... hee hee)














I am so excited for summer time mud :)

Egg Trees

My mom has this cute tradition of "egging" her trees with plastic Easter eggs.

The boys pretty much love this activity. They loved climbing trees, riding around on shoulders, and eating the plastic eggs.

Wow.

So fun.

Utah Day...

I spent April Fools Day on the BYU campus.
Without the boys.
Not joking.

The neurology department paid for the hotel room and the faculty spent the entire day talking with Nate (and five other candidates) about the graduate level neuroscience program. Simply said, Nate was in academic world bliss. We will know if Nate has been accepted to the program by May 15th.

And about my cute cute boys. They had a fabulous time playing with family. It had been eleven months since the boys had visited Utah. They. loved. it. In the words of Caleb, it was "Utah Day!"

I love Utah days.






But seriously.... who wouldn't love a trip that included an uncle with a mullet?

And if you happened to smell anything funny... "Conner [just] farted in Utah."