This weekend

This weekend my sisters came up and visited me! We had a fun time together, as is always the case. One night we had ice cream cones. It was Eden's (my niece) first cone and after a couple licks off the top, decided a big bit in the cone would taste good. We all laughed as we watched Eden and Elsie make a mess of themselves. They are the same age and they have sooooo much fun together!


Today at church during Primary, they were teaching the resurrection. Because of the death of Finners, Peter's fish, we have covered this topic countless times. One time Peter found a dead butterfly on the headlights of our car and told me he wanted to watch it be resurrected, so he sat still and stared at it for a while. He finally gave up and asked me to hold it until it was resurrected instead. Anyhow, I think we've got it cleared up now. So, at church, the question was asked, "What does it mean to be resurrected?"
Peter raised his hand and blurted out, "It means to rise with living breath!" (He is quoting a song they had just been singing).
The teacher said, "Yes, you're right," and then looking over at me added, "your mom is teaching you well!"
Don't worry, Peter set her straight as he replied with a pointing finger, "No, she didn't teach me. I just knew that already!" With that he folded his arms, and smirked in satisfaction for several minutes. It was too cute. As the teacher was wrapping her lesson up, she asked one more question.
"So, why do we want to be resurrected?"
Peter pragmatically blurted out (again), "Because it's no fun being DEAD!"
Now it was everybody else's turn in the primary to smirk, trying to hold in our giggles. Point well taken, Peter.

Cheers to Friends

The past couple weeks have been somewhat emmotional for me as I had a dear friend and neighbor of mine move far away. I am really going to miss Natelie. She was one of those friends I could call up and complain to, invite her over for lunch, picnic in the park with, and dump my kids off on when I needed a break. She would do the same to me, which was all the more enjoyable, knowing I wasn't the only one who needed some friendship. It's all a bit devastating because those friendships don't come around every day. However, living away from family, I know the benefits of phones, good long distance plans, and emails. Thanks Natelie for everything!
Last week was also a time to meet new people for me. My sister, Lanita's, dear friend, whom I have never met, was in town and stopped by to drop off a package from Lanita for me. She stayed for a while and I was able to get to know her a bit. Her name is Jen, and she is becoming my family's 4th sister. I had a great time and really appreciated her help as I happend to be tending a couple kids at the time.
So, the lesson I've learned is that even though it's hard to say good-bye and it makes me wonder if friends are even worth it, knowing good, uplifting people have brought some of the greatest blessings in my life.
Here's a picture Peter took of Jen and I:

My Birthday Present

Last week was my birthday. It was a pretty crazy day and I was glad when Mike came home and things could finally slow down a bit. After dinner, we quickly frosted some cupcakes I had managed to make and threw a few presents on the table. As we were getting to work to "celebrate" Peter was noticing that he had forgotten to get me a present. He came over to me and, grabbing around my leg sweetly, said, "Mom, I didn't get you a present. Do you want to know why?"
"Why?" I asked. I was hardly listening and a little annoyed I couldn't use my leg at the moment.
He genuinely replied, "Because today I am giving you my heart."
I was so touched and I told him that was the best present he could have given me. After such a busy day and feeling like I was just going through the motions of celebrating, Peter caught me off guard and reminded me how truly blessed I am.
Maybe I made too big of a deal about it because a little while later he turned to his dad and said, "and what are you giving Mom, Dad?"

Here are a couple pictures. The first one is of the kids doing their clean-up job after we sprinkled the cupcakes.

Here's to Apolo!

Alright, I'm a bit ticked off. I just watched Apolo race the 500m, and I for one thought he totally deserved the silver! Whatever and good riddance to the ref who disqualified him for touching Mr. Canada. Since when does a touch on the hip deserve a disqualification in short-track? So, Apolo, I know you'll never read this blog, but I'm saying, "Good Job and well done! You've shown great sportsmanship and you have torn the track up!"
I would just like to take a poll: all those who think Apolo deserved the silver, comment here!

Valentine's Day

In our house we are celebrating Valentine's Day extended weekend! It started Friday with a Valentine's day party at the Library for storytime. They read books, did a craft, and then went around and collected valentines from the librarians. My kids had a blast! That evening they got a card in the mail from "far-away-Grandma-and-Grandpa". It's always exciting to get mail, so that would have been enough for Peter and Elsie. However, when they opened their cards, they found a 5 dollar bill inside. Peter was running around yelling, "I got 50 dollars!"
On Saturday a great friend of mine, Stephanie, and I put together a Valentine's party for our kids and their friends. I think they all had a blast! In the end, Stephanie and I were in need of an ibuprofen and nap. We played games, had a valentine exchange, and decorated sugar cookies. I loved watching the kids decorate their cookies. Here are a few pics.
Here is Stephanie and her son working as a team.

Elsie licked all the frosting off and left the cookie.

Some (like my son) were all about the frosting

Others were minimalists.


Today has been fun. I woke up this morning with potted hydrangeas in the kitchen and a Papa Murphy's pizza in the freezer. Thanks Mike, that is the greatest Valentine's Day gift a girl could ask for! I woke up not feeling well, so I asked Mike if my present could be given Monday instead. I guess it will be a 4 day festivity!

Exhaustion

This is the sign of having a newborn in one's house.

We can build a Snowman!

With all the snowing, freezing, and thawing that has been going on in our neck of the woods, we have the perfect snow for building snowmen. This weekend Peter and his dad set out to do just that! I must say, this snowman is a work of art. I love the spray-painted tin cans dug out of recycling they used for the eyes. It's very creative, I must say!