The Absence of Solitude

Easter Festivities

We did the usual Easter things over the weekend. That included a family home evening about the resurrection, coloring eggs, going to church, an egg hunt, dinner with family, Easter baskets, and the smashing of confetti filled eggs. Here are our celebrations in pictures:

Simon was adamant about getting the orange coloring because, "That's my favorite color!"

Jillian woke up with a huge smile on her face because, "The bunny brought me treats!"

Lauren was so excited to get a new Lego Friends set. She decided she needed her own bucket to start keeping her Legos in and separate from the boys' collection. 

Ethan wasn't feeling so great so he was just wanting to go back to sleep...after he put his Legos together. 

Jillian was really into the egg hunt and confetti this year. She wanted to crack most of her eggs on her own head. 

Simon would say, "Found one!" every time he picked up an egg. Uncle Matt also smashed a confetti egg in his pants, thus the picture of him trying to shake out the confetti. 

Lauren was in the middle of it all as well. Our neighbors are Buddhist and their little boy came over to participate in the egg smash. Lauren made sure he got lots of eggs cracked on his head. He told Mandy something along the lines of, "That was the most fun I have ever had!" So cute. 

Ethan was really feeling bad at this point. Allen took him to urgent care and we found out he had strep throat...he was so sad that he didn't get to participate. But the other kids were kind enough to share their eggs. 

And Aaron, well, he slept through it all!

Happy Easter!

St. Patrick's Day

We were able to to all the things except one, that Lauren and Simon decided needed to happen on St. Patrick's Day. We wore green, made a rainbow cake, and had a leprechaun visit and leave behind some gold coins. They were all excited about the gold coins. I think the kids were more excited that the coins were chocolate coins rather than actual dollar coins. We didn't have a green meal this year but the kids didn't seem to mind. We still had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day!

 

Valentine Celebrations

We had a fun Valentine's Day. The children were all so excited to see if they would get heart-attacked and receive a few little surprises. Of course they did and we celebrated in other ways too, including:

• A pink breakfast of strawberry milk, apple slices, and pink heart shaped pancakes
• I packed Ethan and Lauren a red lunch...it was not the most healthful lunch with all the Red40 dye.
• Simon, Jillian and I made treats to deliver to friends and people I visit teach.
• We made sugar cookies for FHE treats on Monday night. They were a new recipe and one I will be making again because they were SO easy!
• We exchanged Valentine cards with classmates and friends.
• The mailbox was stuffed with Valentine cards from family. Thank you! They loved opening them all!
• We all had our fair share of sweet treats and the sugar crash was not fun with a 2 and 4 year old!
• And finally we had heart shaped pizza for dinner with fruit and a special Love Potion drink. Ethan told me I was the only one who should be drinking love potion and he would pass on it. :) He did end up drinking a bit of it because it was super yummy...pink lemonade, raspberry sherbet, and Sprite.

It was a good day for everyone and I love all the fun things we were able to do to celebrate this lovely holiday! The kids always love to have that extra special attention and I love doing these silly little things for them once in a while.

I will post some of the yummy recipes we made tomorrow...

Happy Valentine's Day

Aunt Jenny sent the kids all a little Valentine tattoo. Lauren ran upstairs to put hers on with Ethan and when she came back downstairs, I saw that she put it not on her hand or arm, but on her cheek! When I told her they don't immediately wash off she kind of freaked out and got a little embarrassed (hence the watery eyes). I wanted to laugh but I knew that would just hurt her feelings. Man, her placement just cracked me up! She left it on all afternoon but decided she didn't want to wear it to school on her face so she scrubbed it off last night. 

Happy Valentine's Day! We love you all!

New Year's Weekend

We had a fun New Year's Eve with Matt and Mandy. We played games (Quirkle has become a favorite around here), had lots of yummy food including chocolate fondue, and watched the ball drop at midnight.

Jillian fell asleep on Mandy around eight and Simon lasted until about ten. Lauren was so determined to stay up until midnight and almost made it; she fell asleep about 11:45 pm but we woke her up to see the ball drop. Sunday after church the two littlest ones refused naps in their beds but ended up falling asleep cuddled up next to me on the couch. Monday was our last day off from school and work so we took the kids out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel for our last hurrah before we had to get back to the routine. I think we all had a great holiday weekend!

The Mom Gifts

This year I went with a really relaxed "homemade" gift from Mom. I was just not feeling up to spending hours and hours on the projects. I think the children loved them despite the little amount of time I spent on them. 

For Ethan, I finally had a drawing he did back in first grade for the rodeo art contest framed. It has been placed either behind his dresser or tucked away in his closet for the last few years. He was excited that he can now hang it in his own room. 

I had grand plans to make a quilt for Lauren out of her baby clothes but I just couldn't get it finished and I really didn't want to rush it and then it not be as nice as it could have been. So I am taking my time with it and I hope to give it to her for her 8th birthday later this year. Lauren did complain a couple of weeks before Christmas about not having any "girl" blankets to snuggle up with on the couch so I just made her a new fleece blanket. She loved it and surprisingly it lays on her bed and she doesn't use it when on sitting on the couch. 

Simon's gift was actually the most time intensive and it really wasn't that bad because most of it was done at a craft night. It is 16 square blocks with a photo cut to fit the blocks and make a puzzle. So there are six different puzzles and they are all members of the family. He opened it and moved right to the next gift and then later told me he didn't want it. However, he has played with it since and likes to put the one of him together the most. 

And Jillian loves to look at pictures of herself and sadly was always taking a little photo book of Lauren's because she did not have any pictures of herself to look through except on the computer. So I went through 2 years of pictures and had over a hundred pictures printed and then put them in a photo album for her. I think she has loved her gift the most; she looks through it every night before bed.

 They were simple gifts but perfect for what I could reasonably accomplish this year and perfect for each of the children. 

Finally a Christmas Post

We had a quiet Christmas at home. The excitement could hardly be contained but the children all went to sleep quickly and Santa was able to make quick work of putting out everything. We also had a little elf join us this year in helping. It was pretty special to let Ethan be a part of the magic this year. He got to do everyone's stockings (except his) and then we sent him off to bed so he would still be surprised by everything else in the morning. 

Ethan has finally joined the ranks of pre-teens and teens everywhere by owning his first ipod shuffle. He began loading it with music right after breakfast. He kept whispering "thank-you" to me every time he passed me throughout the day, so as to not let the littles in on "his secret" of knowing who really gave him the gift. I did have have to tell him a few times (and still do) to take out the earphones so he can hear me talking to him and also that if I can hear the music clearly then it is way too loud. It's been fun though and he has really enjoyed it. He also got some new legos that were assembled so quickly, I didn't even get a picture of him putting them together. 

 

This Christmas was the year of crafts for Lauren. She wanted an art kit and craft items from Santa. Well, she got those and it seems like everyone else got the message too. She has been crafting up a storm the last couple of weeks...beads, boondoggle, stamps, shrinky dinks, stencils, friendship bracelets, etc. She now has her own plastic tote under her bed filled with all her crafting supplies. She LOVES it. Her other favorite gifts were a Cats Cradle book and string to learn all the fun string games like I used to play and several new pairs of earrings that are now switched out often. 

 

Like I said in my previous post, Simon's favorite gift has been the Lincoln Logs. They are pulled out several times a day. He was so excited about all the gum in his stocking and it was gone before we knew it. He made sure to leave a carrot on the plate for Santa's reindeer and was a little upset that the whole thing wasn't gone. Simon was also super excited to get a Lego Ninjago so he can now battle with Ethan. The six year age gap between Simon and Ethan makes it hard for them to play the same things so it's fun to see them playing together with the Lincoln Logs, Legos, and the hockey set they received from Aunt Kim and Uncle Sean.

Jillian is all about babydolls. The doll carrier and stroller was broken earlier this year by the kids pushing each other around in it. So Jillian received a new stroller and carrier for her babies. As soon as she opened the Cabbage Patch doll from Nana & Papa she ran to put in the carrier and said, "Shhh. Baby sleeping." She pushes the stroller around all day long! The candy in her stocking was also a huge hit and we found most of the wrappers in her doll carrier before breakfast. 

We were also able to go to church that afternoon to remember what this season is all about. I love it when Christmas falls on a Sunday. I think it makes it even more special and meaningful. Overall, it was a simple, fun day full of suprises for everyone. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was low key and fairly quiet around our house. We did our traditional things for the day which includes a good house cleaning, finishing up the wrapping of a few gifts, making sugar cookies for Santa, pizza for dinner, the reading of Christ's birth in Luke 2, the kids re-enacting the Nativity in costume, and the opening of one present before bed.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Lauren was excited that she was able to get the cookies off the counter all by herself.

All hands on deck for the cutting of cookies.

Jillian's cookie was covered in sprinkles.

Simon was the angel this year as well as the star.

Even Buddy played a part in our Nativity as one of the Wise Men.



A typical picture of all four kids...It seriously was the best one I could get.

Two Pictures

We had a nice Christmas and hope you did as well. We are enjoying our new toys and each other so until I have a few more free moments to post more about it, here are two pictures with opposite reactions:

 

One from the Naughty List with her sack of coal found in her stocking. 

And one from the Nice List when he got something he really wanted...something to detect when the naughty ones go in his room. 

Be back soon....

 

P.S. The coal was just gum but she really thought it was when she saw the sack. She made the Nice List too!

Merry Christmas