Easter in Photos

Not much time to write today. Suffice to say that our Easter was filled with fun fun fun. I didn't even get a chance to take pictures with grandma and grandpa or the great friends that we spent Easter evening with, but our day was packed. When the kids awoke at dark o' thirty, it was game on from (before) dawn till (after) dusk. Here are some snapshots of my favorite people.

Good Friday Easter Egg dyeing. It's fun, even with only 1 arm!

Yes, their shirts were off on purpose. Smart mommy!

Why yes, that is my son in the skull and cross bones winter cap. It was snowing and blowing on Holy Saturday.

Hunting Easter eggs at dark '0 thirty on Easter Sunday. Let's put it this way, we were up early enough that we made it to 9:00am mass at 8:30. Since grandma and grandpa were with us, that meant that all 6 of us were up showered and ready before 8:30am.

It's always hard to get clear pictures of Cam. He moves too fast!

I had to include a photo of the grand finale dessert. Strawberry bits and pudding. Yes, I made it. Yes, it was yummy.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I realized today that a child with a cast on his arm can not play with play-doh. Lesson learned.

2. The wind has not stopped blowing here for two weeks straight. Please make it stop.

3. I really think Cam might be a rock star when he grows up. He has really started reciting songs and enjoys showing off for the girls.

4. Speaking of Cam, he has decided he is going to consult a Magic 8 Ball to determine which cutie pie 5 year old is going to be his girlfriend.

5. Colin is dressing up as an Abound Solar engineer for career day tomorrow at school. I love that he wants to be just like his daddy.

6. I have to confess, dinner tonight was canned peaches, string cheese, bagels and sun chips. I went all out.

7. Cam woke me up at 1am to tell me his cast was itchy. In the time that it took me to usher him back to bed and get him a drink of water, he was asleep again. Thanks buddy. I was really hoping to be woken up at 1am so I could get a few things done.

8. The school year is almost over. Cam will be in K next year and Colin will be in 2nd grade. I'm having a small panic attack over this. When did my kids get so old?

9. I went a little crazy and spent nearly $200 on clothes on Monday. I have not really shopped since Colin was born. I don't consider buying t-shirts from Target shopping. Hey, I spent $200 but I saved $400. Gotta spend money to save money right? I bought a lot of cute clothes for my new job so I think it's justified...right honey?

10. I wore my winter coat to Colin's soccer practice tonight but I have our a/c turned on right now. Colorado is weird.

Easter Eggs and Jesus

Today we went to the Erie Easter egg hunt in the park. It's a tradition that we have done every year since we moved here. It's a great way to see friends and neighbors from the town. It takes 15 minutes from start to finish. I'm sure that the folks from the Erie Optimist Club spend hours ahead of time setting things up. Not to mention days and days of filling Easter eggs. What I really love about my kids is that they are always asking questions. Sometimes those questions only come in the form of, "Mom can you do xyz...?" However, often they ask questions about their faith. Today after church and the Easter egg hunt, they asked many questions. Their questions were easy but I couldn't answer some of them (thank goodness for Google). "Mom, who were the two men that died with Jesus when he was crucified?" That's a pretty easy question, but I didn't know the answer.

Do you know the answer? Dismas and Gestas. Who knew? They were two robbers that were put to death at the same time that Jesus was crucified.

Next question, "Who was the man that helped Jesus carry the cross when he fell?" Answer, Simon. That one I knew. But the questions kept coming.

My kids always keep me reflecting on my faith. I always battle with Christian holidays in the secular and in the faithful. However, I take every opportunity to use those teachable moments to remind the boys why those Christian holiday exist.

The most important thing for me is to spend these holidays with my family. Whether that means just my small family of four or grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins...it does not matter. Just as long as we are with family enjoying the day and sharing our faith together, I think that's what means the most to my kids. Yes, they love gifts and candy. But when Steve and I sit down and play a board game with them or snuggle up to read a book, they eat it up. These are the things they remember.

So, that's why we go to the Easter egg hunt every year. It's time spent as a family. This year the boys asked if we were going to the Easter egg hunt because it has become a family tradition. Those were their words. "A family tradition". That warmed my heart. This is something that the boys look forward to every year. They look forward to spending time with their mom and dad. Wonder how long that will last?

The other day Colin told me that God and Jesus were his #1. Wonder how long that will last? I hope it lasts forever.

Easter Eggs ... Fun Fun Fun

Every year the boys dye Easter eggs. We do the simple, put a dye tablet in a cup of vinegar, Easter eggs. The boys always have a good time and it gives me a good excuse to (have my mom) make deviled eggs. This year I did not assist the boys. I gave each of them their own dye cups and dippers and let them go to town. Cam cracked and dropped more eggs than he didn't. They dyed eggs on Saturday. Today (Thursday), I looked on top of Cam's dresser and found two cracked dyed eggs placed magnificently on his dresser for display. I think I caught them before the smell hit. Maybe.

Here's a few pictures of the Easter egg happiness. I'm trying to go to bed tonight with happy thoughts. Tomorrow morning Cam goes to the orthopedic specialist for more x-rays. I'm hoping it goes well but I think I might be hoping against hope.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Cam likes to ride his scooter.

2. Cam likes to go fast on his scooter.

3. Cam likes to show off on his scooter.

4. Cam always wears his helmet while riding his scooter. (It's a good thing.)

5. Cam did a jump on his scooter.

6. Cam fell off his scooter at high speed.

7. Cam landed on his left arm after falling off his scooter at high speed.

8. Cam had to go to Children's Urgent Care.

9. Cam fractured his humerus bone near the elbow.

10. Cam finally wore himself out after crying so much and fell asleep.

Tantrums, Tirades and Too Much Yelling

Why, oh why must boys fight all the time? I'm typically not a "yeller" when it comes to my kids. But I promise you, if I had a penny, yes just a penny, for every time I yelled at my kids in the past 4 days, I would be able to take those pennies and buy at least a pack of Cadbury Cream Eggs. That might be the only thing right now that will pull me out of this bad mood fog. I never in my life thought I would catch myself saying, "Stop trying to stick that in your brother's ear." Or, "Get those underpants off of your head while you walk down the stairs." And my personal favorite, "Please get off of your brother's head, stop giving him wedgies, take those bubbles outside and get changed out of your soaking wet clothes." It's just been sort of like that around here the last few days. The weekend was brutal as Steve and Grandpa working on insulating the garage so Cam's room (which is over the garage) is not hot enough to fry an egg this summer and cold enough in the winter to build a snowman. The boys have been fighting like brothers. I remember some pretty good fights with my sis, but I don't remember it being constant. I mean, at least we fought about realistic things, like whose turn it was to do the dishes or vacuum. But these boys, they fight just to fight. They fight to make each other laugh. They fight to make each other cry. They fight to make their mother cry. I know this is normal behavior. However, I do not have to like it. Camden's fits have returned in full force. I won't even go in to details other than to say that they are about absolutely ridiculous things. He's acting like he's two and my best solution is to send him to his room and ignore his fit throwing tirades. Last week the boys were outside for exactly 14 minutes after school (that means that had not seen each other for nearly 8 hours) and they both came in crying and complaining about what the other one did. My solution? Go to your rooms. I could not fathom why Colin had slammed Camden in the face with a ball while he was on top of the swing set while Camden screamed at Colin that he was going to kill him. It was a moment to make any mother proud. I don't know if this is an age, a stage or a phase. Whatever it is, it had better leave my house quickly. I have had a killer headache for 2 weeks, I can't seem to get a good nights sleep. This otherwise very cheerful mom just about turned herself into social services last week so she could have some time away from her kids. Is it bedtime yet?

Banana Bread as a Rain Catcher

This morning I decided to bake some banana bread before my dad headed up to Estes Park. There's something comforting about sending your nearly 70 year old dad up into the mountains with a warm loaf of banana bread. Maybe he could use it to fend of the bears. Maybe he could use it as a tire stop if the rv broke down. Or in this case, he could use it to catch rain if he got lost in the woods and needed water. What started out as a perfectly normal banana bread, turned into the Grand Canyon within 10 minutes of being out of the oven. As you can see, it was not enough to stop me from "testing" a small hunk. Delicious! But the middle always falls. I tried to adjust the recipe for high altitude. The thing is, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've heard others say that the weather messes with their baking (something about high pressure, low pressure, barometer, etc...)

All I know is that I added 6 Tbl. flour and 1/2 an egg and took out 2 Tbl. of sugar. That's what I do with all of my sweet bread recipes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Oh, and last week I made chocolate chip cookies that tasted oh so yummy but were flatter than a pancake.

Does anyone out there have any tried and true high altitude baking recipes? I don't have time to experiment and get it right. I'm all about learning from others.

Spring Break is Finally Over

We're finally done with spring break. Cam's break was the third week of March which overlapped into the next week while Colin was on spring break. I love my kids, I really do. But this was hard to juggle. I didn't want to do any "big" things with Cam while Colin was still in school (i.e., Children's Museum, Nature and Science Museum, Aquarium...) and vice versa when Cam was in school. I had to strategically plan the two overlapping days and then the afteroons when Cam was out of school. I think by the end of the week, we were all worn out. Case in point, Cam got strep. If you remember anything from our last ordeal with strep, it was awful. I took Cam in right away and he seems to be doing fine. I'm just waiting for Colin to show symptoms (which he has none right now). So spring break was a combination of the entire family pulling together to help out. When I say entire, I mean grandma and grandpa too. I had teacher inteviews for two days during spring break so thankfully grandma and grandpa watched the kids one entire day and Steve took off work for the other. Combine that with an evening appointment, interviews all day on Saturday, a day of snow and a day of 80 degree weather and you have one really messed up spring break. Glad that's over. Now back to normal. Ha ha.

Just a Picture....

Could they be any cuter???