Easter Fun

Easter is a fun time of Year. I love Spring, Easter, Conference and all that they symbolize. I'm so grateful to be able to teach my children about Jesus Christ and the Resurrection. I'm grateful that they love Jesus and know that He is real. I have to continually remind myself that if my kids learn this then I have been successful as a parent. 

 Dyeing Easter eggs. We have had an amazingly warm winter and spring for Colorado. It's been delightful.

 Can you tell that they like this?

 I hid their Easter baskets all over the house. They had fun finding them until the first one was found. Then the others needed hints in a desperate sort of way. They got candy, seeds, and planting pots.

 I love the Christian community in Colorado Springs. They have great kids Easter egg hunts. They start with a live re-enactment of the Resurrection and a prayer. Then it's every kid for themselves finding eggs.

 This Church is called The Gathering and has the most beautiful property. It's close to Cathedral Pines, which is where I am hoping to move someday sooner then later.

 These two were all business. 

 She is so cute.

 The older kids hunt was more difficult and the girls were also all business.

 Happy kids. They got way more eggs then they needed.

 Happy Parents.

Morrills joined us. We love having them live near us.

 For Easter the kids got seeds to plant. This was a lot of fun.

Justin's Birthday

 Justin turned 6 on March 21st. He wanted to have a bowling party with friends from church and school. He enjoyed himself immensely.

Here he is on actual birthday morning. I gave him a wallet and chapstick. He loves cold, hard cash, but can't seem to hang on to it. I am hopeful that owning this wallet will help him. Now he is concerned with getting cards to put in there since there are slots for cards. He has a petco card and we are getting him a library card as well. Justin loves accumulating stuff.

Justin asked for Waffles for his birthday breakfast. His dad made these for him.

 Both sets of grandparents gave Justin money this year. He promptly bought this large, stuffed bear from Costco. He also bought a fishing pole.

 Now I get startled when I see a bear head watching TV. Pretty cute.

 Justin is wearing his 100 day celebration shirt in this picture. He celebrated his 100th day of kindergarten with a party at school. He decorated this shirt by himself. He drew 100 puffins. He was very proud of himself, as was I.

 Justin and Mia are party prepping. Stuffing goody bags with candy is a lot of fun.

 I also bought Justin a new pair of shoes for his birthday. He had outgrown his last pair of PE shoes and desperately wanted some real running shoes. Next time you see him ask him to show you how fast he is in these. He learned how to tie the shoelaces all by himself too.

 For the bowling party Hans and I both drove a lot of kids to the bowling alley. I think the driving together in the car was one of the best parts of the party. They were very cute.

 Justin refuses to use the bowling ramp. He does a great job throwing the ball down at the pins. He also got the highest score amongst the non-ramp using boys.

 Ashley has all the nurturing skills I somehow missed out on. She is amazing with Mia. She was a great help at the party.

 I can't remember why Katelyn was sad. Sometimes it's hard to enjoy other people's successes though. 

 Katelyn ended up winning amongst the non-ramp using girls.

 His enthusiasm for life warms my heart.

 The bowling cake. We worked hard on this with the help of some neighbor friends.

 He was spoiled by his friends. I didn't even know he liked legos, but he loved all the lego toys. The best part of legos is that Ashley loves them too and so they spent hours together working on projects. 

We sure love Justin. He loves life. He is full of joy and just feels every moment that he is in. He wakes up early to see the morning and goes to bed late. He wants to feel as many minutes of every day as he can. I admire him for that. He spends a lot of time playing with Mia and his neighbor friends and he is a great friend. He knows how to make sure everyone is included and he can change a game up to make sure that everyone is having a good time. He loves interacting with people so he isn't much of a toy guy, but he loves his fishing pole. He is hopeful that he will get to go fishing someday rather then just practicing his cast outside on the driveway. He loves his bike. He still loves swimming and has conquered most of his fears of water. He loves to go to lifetime and swim laps. He will spend a good 30 minutes just working his way back and forth across the pool. He loves reading scriptures and has decided that he is going to read the entire Bible by the time he is baptized. He diligently reads every night. He is in exodus. Hans and I read to him as well, but he isn't overwhelmed by the task. It takes him 15 minutes to read 3-4 verses, but he is sticking to it. He has excelled at school and is reading well. He loves his teachers and his friends and is happy to go to school now. He is my biggest fan. He just feels excitement and loves to see how many miles I have run, what I've done at work, etc. I really really love this boy.

Catching Up

We have been so busy. Busy with fun stuff and of our own creating, which is the best kind. So much has happened since Katelyn's baptism. I am making a list of blog posts to come.

Justin's birthday and catching up with Justin.
Marathon Training and the Marathon.
Easter.
Our new Boat.
Day to day for Spring Months - school activities, Hans' new hours, my jobs, etc.
Boston Trip.
Kate's move up at gym.

Now hopefully I get to doing this soon!

Katelyn's Baptism

We had a great weekend celebrating Katelyn's Baptism. Both sets of Grandparents came, which made it very exciting for all of us. The kids were able to show off and we ate a lot of delicious food.

The cute kids. I'm impressed with people who bring simple gifts to these events. It reminds me that simple gestures go a long way.

With Grandma and Grandpa Heath.

With Grandma and Grandpa Heath.

With Grandma and Grandpa Egbert.

With Grandma and Grandpa Egbert.

With Natalie, Katelyn's friend, and Brother Searing, who presided over their baptism. My favorite part of the program, outside of the actual covenants, was when Brother Searing had the girls stand on chairs and reminded them that all the people there loved them and cared for them. Their smiles were priceless.

Sister Shumway, their primary teacher.

So grateful Hans is able and willing to baptize Katelyn.

Standing by the font. She was SO excited.

Our Family.

Katelyn really is a lovely girl. She is full of enthusiasm for life and it is contagious.

Miscellaneous

I am finally moving into my house. It took me 6 years, but I am doing it. This is one of many projects I have to complete. It has been fun.

The girls are helping me figure out where to hang our family pictures.

I love this picture of Justin. He looks so serious in his new helmet until you notice the pink barbie bike. His friend left his bike behind Hans' truck and it got ruined. So this is what he gets to ride until he grows.

Justin and his new helmet. He had to have stitches in his chin from falling off his bike. He fell again and busted it open. I think it's because he wears his big snow boots while riding, but this new helmet makes him feel safe. And me too.

Hans signed Justin up for TaeKwondo. Justin loves it. They have a great reward system for following through with tasks at home and it really has helped Justin become a better listener.

Mia, masked as a bunny, with an iPhone and an iPad. Mia is the reason I instituted media-free Sundays. For about 2 months she literally went through physical withdrawal symptoms by Monday morning. Ridiculous, but true.

Katelyn had a busy February. She had her birthday, valentine's day, AND her tonsils out. She handled it all very well. I didn't like seeing her in pain, but it was kind of nice to have a day set aside to spend just with her. Sad that it took getting her tonsils out for us to do that. Her voice has permanently changed, which I guess is common when you have tonsils that touch each other. It took her 2 1/2 weeks, but she fully recovered. She was back to gym after 1 week, but mainly just did strength exercises. She said it hurt too much to go upside down. She is a hard worker.

This is how she looked for 2 weeks. She refused to swallow her own spit. She told me last week that she is sleeping better at night now that her tonsils are gone. What a relief.

I am 30 something.

I had a great birthday. I went to lunch and yoga with Hans. The kids sang to me and we ate at Cold Stone for dessert. Later in the week I went to dinner with friends. I feel lucky to be alive with all these great people surrounding me.

Katelyn turned 8!!

This is a dark picture. Katelyn had a yummy waffle for breakfast. She is very excited to be 8!

Mia loves Gluten Free chocolate chip pumpkin cake.

The cake. She and Ashley decorated this.

We played pass the present. Each girl got their own Amazin hamster.

Ashley and Katelyn designed a pin the whiskers on the hamster game.

Opening presents! She now owns three amazin hamsters.

Katelyn's birthday celebration lasted for a few days. She brought treats to school one day. We went out to pizza time one night. She had a party. I think by the time Sunday, her actual birthday came, we were all partied out. We had a great fun honoring Katelyn. She is such a great girl. We love her so much!

She planned out a hamster themed party, which was a great success. We played pass the present with amazin hamsters as party gifts, pin the tail on the hamster, hamster quiz, and ate hamster-type food. Then they played. Mainly they hung their hamsters down the loft on yarn. Katelyn has a great group of girls at school and at gymnastics that she is starting to become more friendly with.

February

February posts to come.

My Birthday.
Katelyn's Birthday.
Katelyn's Tonsil surgery.
Katelyn's Baptism.