Happy Easter!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday!  We are so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I taught the lesson in Young Women today and read so many amazing talks and scriptures in preparation.  One of my favorites was this:

"The Savior has suffered not just for our iniquities but also for the inequality, the unfairness, the pain, the anguish, and the emotional distresses that so frequently beset us.  There is no physical pain, no anguish of soul, no suffering of spirit, no infirmity or weakness that you or I ever experience during our mortal journey that the Savior did not experience first.  You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, 'No one understands.  No one knows.' No human being, perhaps, knows.  But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did.  And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy in so many phases of our life.  He can reach out, touch, succor--literally run to us--and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do through relying upon only our own power.
'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light' (Matthew 11:28-30)."


(David A. Bednar, “The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality,” Ensign, Apr. 2012, 40–47)

Circus time!

We found a great deal on circus tickets and decided it might be fun to take the boys.  It was tricky to work out our schedules and we had a sick little baby but we had a great time!

I'm pretty sure their favorite part was the cotton candy that we shared.

But they liked the animals and tricks as well--especially the motorcycle riders in the metal ball.

It is always fun to do something different as a family!

James is 6!

James is a little ball of energy so it's surprising that he continues to be the cuddliest of our boys.  As soon as he is done with his homework every day he always asks, "Now can I play outside?"  He loves to play outside no matter the weather--which is great because he can burn off some of the aforementioned energy!  I love to listen to his prayers because he is always so grateful for everything and he always says things like "Thankful that I love ___."  It is very sweet.  He is a great brother and loves to explain things to the younger two.  We are so grateful for our big 6 year old!

What is your favorite...
color? red and black
food?  pizza
toy?  lego shark
show? Star Wars
animal?  chimpanzee
comic book? Star Wars
song? Ninjago
What do you like to do?  play with friends
Who is your best friend?  Grant
What do you want to be when you grow up? zookeeper
Do you have a girlfriend?  NO


I am - a human

I am afraid of - nothing!

I like - Grant (a friend from school)

I like to eat - cake!

I don't like - people that are gross

I know - mom

I want to be - a grown up

I like to watch - Star Wars

My hero is- Dad (he first said William and then quickly changed his mind to Dad)

I cry when - if someone punched me in the face  (?!)

Mom gets mad when - I punch my brother

Mom is happy when - I love everyone

What I want to be when I grow up - a zookeeper

I can't wait for - my birthday!!!

Something Mom says to me - "Clean up your toys"

Something Dad says to me - "Yes!"

My favorite place to go is - the circus

My Mom and Dad make me laugh by - if they laugh

I know my mom loves me because - I love everyone

I know my dad loves me because - I love everyone

Henry

Our little Henry sure is a handful sometimes but he is just so so so cute!  Even though Alexander insists that Henry is a baby the truth is that he is getting bigger every day.

His vocabulary expands every day: bye, dad, boys, popcorn, shoe, sock, 'side (outside), bear, and baby are a few of his favorites. Plus he makes a great monkey noise.

If only he were always this happy.  Our once perfect sleeper is horrible when he teethes... which seems to be about every other week.

Oh I just love his little kissy face!

One day he insisted on wearing a backpack all day long.  He and Alex went on a few adventures together.

He loves to wave bye bye to everyone.

And his most favorite past time is going outside!  He will find his shoes and bring them to us hoping we will get his ready to play outside with the other big kids.  In fact, Henry doesn't even care if no one else is out there... as long as he can wander around.  I'm just glad that it's finally getting warmer so that we don't have to bundle up!

But of course he is still a mischief maker always eating a brother's leftovers he finds uncleared from the table.  Or just climbing on top of the table to do a little dance.

Oh little Henry, we sure love you!

Value Walk

For New Beginnings this year we did something really fun.  Inspired by the Color Run we did a Value Walk.  We had 8 different women from the ward assigned to speak about a particular value from the young women program.  The girls all wore white shirts (white representing Faith).  Originally we planned that we would like a little 2 mile walk through the park stopping every so often to listen to the next speaker and get the colored powder (representing the value color) thrown on us.  Unfortunately the day we had scheduled the walk ended up being freezing and rainy.  At the last minute we moved the entire program to under the park pavilion.   It was still freezing cold but at least we weren't wet!

Each of the speakers was so wonderful!  I loved what each of them shared about the value they were assigned.

Towards the end (when the rain had stopped) we had the girls run around the path where the colors were thrown at them.  Even the Bishop ran around with us.

I don't think the girls will ever forget this short little run... and hopefully they don't ever forget the messages they heard that cold, rainy morning.

Sick boys + me being sick for a day + a busy weekend = LOADS of laundry.  It looks like the laundry exploded all over my room.  I am grateful that Rich washed much of it while I was sick and that I have a show to catch up on while I fold it all.

Snow

The day of our Valentine dinner/dance it snowed on and off all day long.  Not a little wimpy snow either... big, fluffy flakes.  The boys had such a fun time playing outdoors.

This first picture was taken in the morning when there were just a few flurries.

A few hours later everything was sticking and coming down harder.

James and William worked together to make an awesome snowman!  We got creative and used gummy worms for the mouth, pompoms for eyes and buttons, and pretzel rods for arms.

We've heard that it hasn't snowed here in several years so we were glad we got such a good snow our first winter here!  And it was melted by the next afternoon--just my kind of snow.

Awards

February was a month of awards.  At the school awards assembly both William and James were honored.

James earned the Math achievement award for his kindergarten class.  This boys loves math--and he's quite good at it as well.  We were really proud of him and his hard work.

William earned the "You Rock" award.  This is awarded for excellence and growth.  William's teacher sent me an email earlier in the month that read:  I just want to tell you how proud I am of William! He's doing such a great job this year. I am amazed at his reading progress. He's moved up 4 reading levels this year. I also moved him up to another group in guided reading. He's also doing really great in math. Keep up the awesome work!!

Last week was William's first Blue and Gold banquet for scouts.  There was a cake contest and one of the few rules was that mom's could not help.  So Rich and William worked together to make a cake together.

In addition to this fun cake contest, the boys earned badges for the progress they had made in scouts.  William hasn't been in for long but he did earn his Bobcat.  I got to go up with him and paint his face.

We are proud of the hard work that our boys do and glad that they were able to be recognized for it!

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

The boys celebrated Read Across America this week in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  They decided to dress up on Wednesday... so I threw together some super simple costumes for them.  Introducing the Lorax and a Star-bellied Sneetch.

William also got to participate in the book parade at school on Friday as well.  He chose to dress up as Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit (Rich has been reading it to him).  Rich found some great pieces for him at the thrift store and helped to make the costume complete.

It must have been a hit at school because he has wanted to wear it everyday since!