Mother's Day 2019

 This Mother's Day was awesome! It was coming off of kind of a heavy week for me. The last few years the week before Mother's Day has been a stressful one for me. It is teacher appreciation week, which wouldn't seem so bad, but I put too much mental energy into it. I just need to decide what I am going to do with for my kid's teachers every year, do that thing, and not worry about it. But there is always, should I do the group gift, is this lame, how can I show how much I appreciate all they have done for my child, $25 to Target is nothing compared to what they have done for my kids, $25 per teacher per kid is $100 in gift cards--sheesh that added up! Anyway, I need to stop over thinking it. Basically, in the future, we're going to do a little gift with a card from my kid with a gift card.
Then there is Mother's Day, which is wonderful, but I like to do a sweet card to all the grandmas for Mother's Day. This year, I just printed a photo and did a little note with compliments and a little message from each of us. It wasn't too bad.
Then there is the pie sale for the YW girl's camp fundraiser. This is the third year I have been in charge of it, so to be honest I was feeling confident in how it would work out and not too worried about it. Ironically, it was a bit of a fiasco this year with them losing my bulk order, and then we had simultaneously too many and not enough pies. And then, only one pie was dropped face down during all the prep work, and it was dropped by me.
Then, there was just other stuff. Braces coming off for Eliza. Van shopping for me and John. A school project for Miriam. All normal stuff, but it was just busy and a lot.
So finally the pie sale was done, gifts delivered to school, cards mailed, and it was time to relax for me. Unfortunately, John had to speak on Sunday, so he was kind of stressed going into Mother's day. I told him to take it easy on the Mother's theme of the Mother's day Sacrament Meeting. And he did. It was perfect. He said something sweet about me at the beginning, shared a couple of tender thoughts about mothers, everyone loving and caring for children, and the love of the Savior. It was great! I had a ton of people come tell me what a great job he did. Unfortunately, he especially did a good job compared the other adult speaker, who was doctrine-light in his talk. One funny thing was that at the beginning of his talk, John made a joke that his talk was his gift to me for Mother's Day. This was funny because if you know John and me at all, you know he is the most considerate husband ever. He went shopping for and made me breakfast, lunch, dinner, helped with dessert, had the kids make me cards, did a little video interview of them, and got me presents (both what I asked for and a couple of little surprises). Basically, there are no boxes he didn't check. So his joke was funny that he wouldn't do anything else for me except give a talk. The funny part to us though was how many people came up to me concerned that he wasn't doing anything else for me. No one in our ward said anything to John about it except for the local member of the Seventy, Elder Tilleman, who mentioned that John should also make me dinner. :)
But I had a wonderful day, full of relaxing, yummy food, and lots of spoiling. I got a couple of pics with my girls. We had chocolate german pancakes for breakfast, chopped mexican salad for lunch, fresh grilled burgers for dinner, and a decadent chocolate pretzel pudding pie for dessert. Yeah, it was delicious.

I got lots of sweet cards and presents. I especially liked this note from John and Eliza. "We love you more than ice cream, garden fresh veggies, eating at Cafe Rio, movies, soft blankets, sweaters, and so forth, all combined." They are the cutest. I received  a couple of yummy chocolate treats, new earrings, a new gym bag (that I asked for), and lots of cards and coupons.

I loved Holland's card from preschool. A cute hand print with a little questionnaire sheet. It was perfect.

The girl's cards from school were fabulous. Eliza was told to decorate the cover of hers like People Magazine, but she thought that was like the magazines in the checkout line I tell her not to look at so she designed it as the cover of the Ensign instead. I don't think that girl could be any sweeter.
Miriam did an awesome job on her card. I can tell she really put a lot of time and effort into making it just perfect.


Eliza wrote an article in her magazine about why I am special. She said it is because I am involved, kind, and hardworking. I love how much she loves one on one time with me. I need to do that more.

Miriam had the cutest little poems on the back of her card.

She also wrote a sweet letter to me inside her card. She thinks I am the best mom in the world because I am an at home mom, the best playmate, and I comfort her when she is scared. It is adorable and sweet.

And Daddy had them make extra cards at home. I liked Holland's drawing of me. It is super!

And then there are all the coupons I received. Yeah, I am going to be using these. I had to chuckle at Miriam's "Watch movies together." She told me that expires at the end of May. :)

Well, these kiddos wrote that I am the best mommy in the world but in reality I am the LUCKIEST mommy (and wife!) in the world. I love them more than I can express.  

Braces Off

At the beginning of the school year, Eliza got braces put on the upper front four teeth. She has been a champion about them. She has flossed almost every day that she has had them. Seriously she is a gem. This last week, they got taken off. We had to do some before and after shots. Notice that she is wearing the same shirt and hairstyle. I think there might even be the same car in the background. :)

 And then after! What a beautiful smile!

 Of course she is darling either way, but I think she'll be happy that we got those front teeth a little straighter. Also, I can't help but notice she is looks a lot older in the after photo. It was only a little over 9 months, but it looks like she aged like 4 years!! I love that she looks so confident in her after picture. This girl is much, much more than a pretty smile, but I am glad we had the opportunity to get her teeth straightened.

Easter Choir Concert

 By Eliza:
Miriam and I performed at the Mesa Art Center the weekend after Easter. It was super fun. We sang "Jesus is Your Friend" "To Be American" "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" and "Dem Bones." "Jesus is Your Friend" is a really pretty song. We sang it on the risers behind the orchestra. There are 5 verses but we only sang the last three.

 "To Be American" is a patriotic song. It might have been my favorite. I really like patriotic songs and how you sing them: strong, loud, proud of your country. "A Might Fortress is Our God" was the opening song of the concert. Professor Stewart said it is a song to banish Satan, and that's why we sung it first. It is a really amazing song, but it was definitely hard to understand because of all the parts. One part we sang was even in German. "Einfeste Burg ist Gott." "Dem Bones" was a fluff song. It tells a story, but you don't know what story it is until someone tells you. It is a fun song. There are a lot of special. It is one of the few songs that we are told to yell, whisper, and sing. Overall it was super fun.

Miriam says: It was really enjoyable, and I loved singing in it!

By Mommy:
Wow, what a spectacular concert! My parents came down for it, and it was wonderful! That many kids, youth, and adults singing plus the orchestra was just magnificent. I probably liked the song selection of this concert even better than the one at Christmas time. I am grateful that the girls get to participate in it. I love hearing about all the little gems they are learning, even if it does seem a bit intense at times.

School Activities

This is the time of year, when things start to get busy. There are a lot of events, which is fun but crazy. The one that kicked it off this year was the district art show where Eliza was selected from her school to attend. Her's was an op art, that means optical illusion piece. The reason her's was selected was because she made the center of her grid look like there was a bump there. That was totally her idea.

Then there was Pride in Learning night, which was chaotic but fun. I'll tell more about that below where I post the video. It was fun to go pick up their clay pieces and see the work they had displayed on the walls. Eliza had a class project of putting together a huge timeline of the history they are studying. Miriam had a whole packet of writing and projects she had done about the revolutionary war. It is times like this that I know homeschooling isn't the right choice for us.
That being said, I am really proud of them for other reasons. One day Eliza was helping Miriam with some math homework and reading her scriptures. Just to round out the complete adorableness of that situation, I looked over and several time saw them holding hands while they were working on that. I didn't get a picture of that , but just trust me is was overwhelmingly cute.

 Then there was a school art show which is a fun activity! They got to see one of each of their pieces framed.

 Eliza actually volunteered as part of her work with NEHS. 

The girls and Daddy drew excellent self portraits. 

There was a glow in the dark art room, art done with a robot, origami, and medallions to make. 

What a fun activity!

I have to say that the Pride in Learning night music performance was a bit of a circus. The kids and songs were adorable, but the parents were insane. The room was crammed full of people and there were shouting matches because people standing and filming in front of other parents. I guess I am no better, filming my own kid, but at least I put down my phone for more than half of the time. Other parents were filming before they even started singing. It reminds me of a podcast that said that we need to be present for our kids and not just let them see and sea full of phones at their performances. I want to be better at that. 

Desert Botanical Garden

Since my mom bought us another year's membership at the botanical garden, we took advantage and went to a children's activity called Cocoon for them. It was cute! Eliza really liked the tapestry weaving. 

 There were fun dress ups and musical instruments. There were barrels that they could dig for seashells. All fun activities until Holland realized she wouldn't be taking the seashells home.

 There was a fun tic tac toe table, which my girls loved. Then we had to walk over to the butterfly house. It was getting pretty hot that day, so when the misters were on, it really felt delightful. Despite the heat, the butterflies were more active than I think I have ever seen them there.

 One landed on the top of my phone right as I was about to take this picture of Holland. So a delighted, genuine smile was easy. They also loved Eliza's hat.

 They also liked Eliza's hand and shirt. I liked the pretty orange butterfly contrasted on the purple flowers.

 Miriam wanted one to land on her so bad, and one finally did right at the end. 

We love having a membership there. We have been pleased with how are plants are doing, but we are getting to capacity. John says it is time we instituted a "one in, one out," rule. 

 Unfortunately, we had one purchase from the plant sale that isn't doing too well. I tried to create a shade of sorts for it, but I am not too hopeful. It hasn't even gotten that hot yet, and if it can't survive this heat, than there is no hope to survive the summer. The desert rose is lovely right now though. I love those blooms and that girl!

There was also fun huge bubble blowers at the Cocoon event. They loved it!

Easter

We had a low key Easter this year. In years past, I have been on top of getting cute things for the kids from the dollar spot at Target well in advance of the actual holiday. But despite this being a later Easter than normal I was scrambling to get things at the last second for them.
Fortunately the Pratts did their Easter party, which is always fun. The sack races are always hilarious.

Go, go, GO! I especially liked the one that the adults did. Those men take sack races very seriously.

After eating a yummy brunch, we had a visit from the Easter bunny. My girls had a soccer game right before this, so they were still in their gear. 

Holland was still a little nervous about the big bunny. That Sunday we did a Sunday devotional about the true meaning of Easter, which actually was awesome. I have loved the change to two hour church, which a dedicated devotional time at home. It has been working wonderfully for our family. Look at the awesome posters our family made. Miriam wrote on hers, "Easter isn't only about finding eggs and candy, it is about Jesus and how he rose from the tomb on the third day." On Holland's poster she colored a fancy heart more precisely and carefully than she has ever colored anything before. It was impressive.

The night before Easter Sunday we dyed eggs with the kids. My mom was in town visiting for the girls' upcoming choir concerts. 

Easter Sunday church was a little stressful for me. First I was singing with my girls and the other Activity Day girls and their moms in a musical number. Second and much worse, I spoke in church. Normally, speaking would make me a little nervous, but not too bad because I know it is pretty rare for someone to remember a talk for more than 24 hours. But this was Easter, there is just so much more pressure to share something that is more meaningful and profound on the Sunday when we celebrate the atonement and resurrection of the Savior.

I was pretty nervous about it. I would get a sick feeling in my stomach when I thought about it, but I hammered out a talk and timed: more than 20 minutes! So I edited and cut, edited and cut. Finally I made it to about 12 minutes which was the top of the range of my talk. So it was acceptable. Although at the last minute we got an email saying that with all of the musical numbers our talks might need to be cut down, but that wasn't going to happen. I had already done all that I could. The conference talk I was asked to base my message from had 5 major points and it was pushing it to talk about all 5 of them in that 12 minute window. 

Well, I made it through and since I was the first of two speakers there wasn't as much pressure for me to rework my talk to accommodate the time. Since I was so nervous, I had been praying about the whole thing. Really I just asked for a blessing that I not embarrass myself and that I say something meaningful for at least one person. I feel like that prayer was answered! In that moment I wasn't really nervous so my talk came out smooth. I felt pretty comfortable up there. And then afterward, the Young Women's president that I work with came up to me and told me how meaningful it was to her. She was a little teary and said how it really helped her. What a blessing! 

 After church we came home and did an Easter hunt with the kids. For the first time we placed a couple of things in their baskets because there was somethings that belonged to an individual kid. We didn't want any fighting. Sunglasses and a magic trick for the older girls, and a stuffed lamb and peep popsicle for Holland. Even though we have way too many stuffed animals and have gotten rid of some, it just makes her so happy to get a new one. Seriously a home run. I was pleased too how much the girls like their sunglasses and magic tricks.

 Then it was time to find eggs and candy. 

There was too much loot for to fit in their baskets so they each had a grocery sack to fill as well. I wouldn't have bought so much if I had known my mom was going to bring down a bunch of stuff too!

After the kid hunt, the adults participated in adult hunt put on by the children (their idea!). Their's was downstairs, ours was upstairs. So Eliza was in charge of taking photos. This year I wised up and bought candy I was actually interested in receiving from them, just one package of dark chocolate Cadbury eggs and some Milano dark chocolate cookies. :) They cutest part was that they put little love notes in the eggs as well. My girls are seriously adorable. 

The adults with their loot. Then we had a tradition ham dinner made in the slow cooker. We added "Resurrection rolls" to the menu which was a huge hit. They are just crescent rolls wrapped around a marshmallow and when they back the marshmallow melts, leaving a hollow "empty tomb." Fresh rolls + marshmallows = happy children. They loved them! Add some asparagus, salad, and homemade ice cream, and it was one yummy day. They girls even eased up on eating Easter treats because they wanted to make the ice cream so much. That is how I feel: ice cream is the best!