Easter 2011

Easter morning started out very early for all but one of us. The boys were up at o'dark thirty and Bronwyn decided she needed to be up too. Ug.....needless to say if they are up, so am I. Paige slept until 830....jealous...
The Easter bunny paid us a visit and brought lots of goodies. The boys each got a new DS game (of the pokemon variety) and Paige got a new leapster game. Bronwyn got a shirt and a book. I don't think she cares either way right now. Everyone got new baskets this year. They had outgrown previous ones so I got new ones this year. These should last a nice long time! (I hope)
After the fun of the morning we got ready for church. Everyone all fancied up and we headed on our way. After church we went for dinner at a friends home and it was fun! there were several families and tons of good food. My offering was baked mac n cheese and a cheesecake for dessert. we ended the night with games and came home and crashed. I fell asleep in the chair still in my dress. It was a lovely day. We wish we could have had dad with us, but it just means that next year he'll be with us! We sent him an Easter box and are sure that the Easter bunny stopped by to see him too. One more holiday down, 9 more to go before he's home.

 before the Easter bunny made his arrival-the precandy from mema and papa

 afterwards-the easter bunny even left me a small basket of goodies

 happy boys got a new DS game

 that is one happy girl!!

 all ready for church

 another smile! this is unheard of! just glad i captured it on film!

 moderately happy boys

and after 10 years of marriage i finally learned how to tie ties.....necessity....

First games of the season

Dan and I decided that the kids needed to be involved in some sort of sports. They needed to get out and meet new people and find something to do. I got a flyer in the mail from USA Sports and since we had missed spring sign ups through the city, I figured this was perfect. It's a smaller league and so less people. Perfect. Plus it's not a long season, just 8 weeks. That way if they don't' really enjoy it then we haven't wasted a ton of time. The only thing I was really worried about was having practices on the same nights in 3 different locations at the same time. So far we dodged that bullet, but in doing so we have practice for someone every night of the week and then games are all morning on Saturday. Luckily we are close enough to one of the locations that we can walk 3 days a week to practices. Seth's are Mondays and Wednesdays, Keegan's are Tuesday and Thursday and Paige is Friday. Luckily though, those that aren't at practice can play on playgrounds that are near by. We have been going to bed a lot earlier lately and falling asleep quicker. I've even been asleep at a decent hour more often than not lately. I'm excited about that. They are so worn out by the time we get home that it doesn't take much for them to hit the hay every night!! We've been having practice for the past 2 weeks and today was our first set of games. Thank goodness all games are at one location. However they all overlapped so I was running here there and everywhere this morning. Seth started us out and we had to be at the field by 8am. Game started at 830. Keegan's game started at 9am and Paige's started at 930. ....I was able to see a bit of each one before having to run to the next one. Seth's team won their game 5-0, Keegan's team lost 2-1, and well in Tball they don't keep score. Just a bunch of kids hitting the ball and running the bases. I guess you can't ask much out of 3-5 year olds!
Each of the kids had a great time and really enjoyed playing. I'm so glad we signed them up. It's really tiring being so busy every night of the week, but we are all enjoying it. This was a great choice, one we are going to repeat next spring!!

practicing

keegan and his uniform-his team got sponsors so they provided the shorts and socks and put names on the tshirts

tball players got hats as well as their shirts

this is the not the gold color i was told they were wearing

getting ready to sub in.

that's my boy! taking on the entire defensive line all by himself! 

even Bronwyn had a good time and even managed a nap!

keegan's team getting a last minute warm up in

trying to get it done!

keegan got to be goalie for the game

one of keegan's coaches-he told keegan he was the best kicker on the team-

maybe the next landon donovan????

notice there are more parents on the field than actual players! 

my little monkey and her new BFF!

batting line up=paige towers over most of the kids on her team.

she told me she didn't need me to run bases with her, she knew what she was doing.

no helmet means a faster run time.

running back to second base after throwing the ball back to the tball stand. she was so proud of herself!

Something fun for Easter. I made these for my boys to give their teachers as well as their bus driver. All seemed very appreciative. If you like Cadbury's creme eggs, then you'll love these!! I saw these and just had to try them. I'm not a fan of this particular candy but my kids are and we had just enough of the eggs left that they were able to have one each and they LOVED them. Asked me to make them again. Not sure i'll be doing that anytime soon as they were not quite as easy as they sound. But they were fun and I am really glad I was able to do them!

*1/2 cup light corn syrup
*1/4 cup butter, room temperature
*3 cups confectioner's powdered sugar
*1 teaspoon vanilla
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*yellow food coloring
*1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips ( i would HIGHLY recommend you use the Wilton candy melts here-so much easier to work with!)


Cream together the corn syrup, butter and vanilla.
Sift in the confectioner's powdered sugar and beat until incorporated.

Now it's time to make the "whites" and the "yolks!"
Take out about a third of the filling and stir in some yellow food coloring. Viola! It's that easy!
Put the two bowls in the fridge, as they're easier to work with once they're set up a little.

This step is sticky! Keep some extra powdered sugar on hand to dust your hands with. (This step got me frustrated because the filling is so sticky.)
Make little yolk balls out of the yellow mixture. Place them on some parchment or wax paper. If using wax paper, spray with cooking spray or you'll have a mess on your hands.....again, I should know. grrrr. Put them back in the fridge or even the
freezer to firm up. If it's hot or the slightest bit warm in the kitchen these things will melt in a heartbeat. If it's high humidity when you are doing this, DON'T. They'll melt faster than you can work with them.

When the yolks are set up, you can start embedding them in the whites. Scoop an amount of white filling out and flatten it into a circle. Place the yolk ball inside, and
wrap the white around it. Know what to do next? Stick it in the fridge.


Melt the chocolate + 2 teaspoons of shortening in the microwave in short bursts until just melted.
Either dip fillings into the chocolate with a fork and let set on parchment, or skewer the fillings and dip them that way (a'la cake pops). Stir constantly, you don't want your chocolate to burn. Nothing worse than burnt chocolate, believe me, I know...grrr!

Once the chocolate is set, you can dip them again for an extra chocolatey shell or melt a different color and drizzle over the top like I did. I also found some colored sugar in the pantry and decided the eggs needed that too. I thought they turned out pretty-pretty enough to eat apparently!

4 months old

Our little girl is now 4 months old!! The past 4 months have been a blur of growth spurts and all things pink! But this also means that we are that much close to her daddy coming home!!

She is smiling all the time!! She even wakes up happy!! Did I mention that she only cries when she's tired, hungry or poopy? She's a GREAT baby!! We really love having her as part of our family!!!

oh and the other time she doesn't really smile......when a camera is pointed in her direction.....

Anniversary stuff

On the same day as our anniversary we had a good bye luncheon for a gal in the ward. Her family got orders and left for Maryland this morning. That's the downside of living in a military town. More often than not people move. One of their sons and Seth were good friends and they will be missed! Anyway, so we had a good bye luncheon for her at a fabulous little Japanese place in town (can't wait to take Dan there!). I was asked by another gal hosting the luncheon to make a cake. Helen's favorite flavor is chocolate so I went with dark chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and fresh strawberry filling and chocolate covered strawberries on top and around the sides. It really was sssooooo good!!!! Definitely a diet killer but totally worth it!

Dan was so sweet. He sent me these roses, 3 dozen of them. Aren't they gorgeous? I love them!!

He also sent me the ring pictures below! I couldn't believe it! Just wish he had been here to give it to me, but I'm not gonna be a downer. I thought he was very sweet and thoughtful! He said he wanted to get a ring that matched my personality so that is why he picked one out of rose gold, he knows how much I like pink...hehe! All I have to say is that it's PERFECT! Love you honey!!

10

Today is our 10 year anniversary. I've heard so many of my friends gasp when I tell them that I'd be celebrating 10 years of marriage this year. What?? Really?? I guess by today's standards you are lucky if you stay married 1-3 years, really lucky for 5 and it's just unheard of if it's longer. Which is odd because i know many many many people who have been married for 30+ years. That doesn't seem that odd to me. Divorce isn't an option. We vowed to work out our problems and get through them. Life isn't always easy and being married isn't always easy, but it's worth it. We've had our own share of bumpy roads to go over but I'm glad we've been able to take this ride together and that we have indeed made it 10 years. This is only the beginning for us, eternity is an awfully long time!! 10 years is nothing when you look at it like that! :)
Happy Anniversary Dan! Love you very much and I hope you are enjoying your new toothbrush-haha (he said he'd be celebrating our anniversary by opening the new toothbrush he got). Wish you were here to celebrate it! See you soon!

Our little mama

Our mama bird came back. This space is just above a column right outside our front door. This is the 3rd year that she's come back. I have to say I love it. Of course she gives us stink eye every time we walk out of our front door, but it's ok. She's just protecting her nest. In a few weeks we'll have little babies making all kinds of noise. I'm also very thankful that they don't poop all over the front walk. I think momma and I reached an accord her first time nesting there. So we are good. She's welcome as long as there is no poop on the walk! haha! I'm just glad she likes us enough to come back every year.

Ward Easter Activity

This morning was the Ward Easter Activity. It was originally supposed to be outside but Mother Nature decided to rear her ugly head and send us an uninvited spring/winter storm. The temps dropped to ridiculous numbers (it was cold!) and it rained. So it was moved inside. Which was ok with me. Easier to keep up with everyone inside. There was egg decorating, face painting, sack races, spoon races, cookie decorating, bag decorating and an egg hunt in the Primary Room. The kids had a GREAT time and i'm so glad we went. We almost missed it as I had the wrong date in my calender (thanks Melodee for correcting me). I think this should become an annual tradition!!