National Unplug Week

April 19-25 is National Unplug Week.
We are going to do it. At school they have been hyping up the kids about it, and having them make lists and draw pictures and stuff they can do ... without the TV. Well, for us it's not the TV (since we don't have one of those) but we do have computers, DSI's, and all sorts of other fun electronic games. So, we've talked about it and tonight we all turn in our computers for a week. Dad and Mom can't give up phones, so they get to stay. But everything else can go.
So, do you think we can make it a week?
I'm not sure, but I have some ideas and hopefully we will be all the better at the end of this week.
We shall see......

Dad is cool!

Okay, so I don't usually post things about my hubby. But today I can't resist. Yesterday and today my hubby did something wonderful for me. He gave me the most wonderful gift.
A TON of ME TIME.
I spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the Temple. I was able to be there for six awesome hours, and then driving time on top of that, which was also fun because I went with a friend. All the while Dad took care of the boys. Picking them up from school. Feeding them dinner. Playing with them all outside. (Which always consists of at least a few band-aids and sometimes a lot more than that.) Getting through the evening schedule of baths, pj's, clean up, prayers, and good-nights. I got home late in the evening everyone and everything was peacefully in their places. So nice.
Then, this morning I spent four hours of the morning at a service project with my Sisters at church. I had so much fun and really enjoyed my time there. And when I came home everyone was happily playing outside.
And then to top it off my sweet hubby fixed my blinker. Something I've been needing to do, but haven't found time to do yet. I went and bought the light...but never got it changed. So, he did that for me too. I do have to put this in here though.... While he was changing the light we were debating about how to change it and after looking at a couple of different ideas, I suggested a way I thought would work and I was right. He even said, "You were right." I just had to document that he said that.
YEA! What a wonderful couple of days for me. Thanks Sweetie!

Martial Arts

My Blue Tiger asked a couple of months ago if he could start a martial arts class. My hubby and I thought about it and the more my hubby thought, the more he liked the idea....for himself too. So, for the last few weeks they have been going to classes together. The most surprising part of all of this is how much Tiger likes it. Don't get me wrong, I thought he would like it, but he is very hard on himself if he isn't perfect when he does something. So especially when he starts something he usually gets very frustrated and really has a hard time until he learns to do it perfectly. But that hasn't happened. Each time he goes he comes home so happy and enthusiastic. We have watched his confidence grow and have loved watching him grow in a new area. YEA! I am so happy for my Blue Tiger.

Easter weekend.

How do I cram a weeks worth of pictures and fun into a few lines for this blog? I guess I will just try to do my best. We just had so much fun over Easter weekend, and then a week full of nearly perfect days. So, this blog will be about Easter weekend. Oh, it was wonderful. So. Here are some pics. I will try to keep this concise as possible.

We started on Saturday morning going to the Crimsons for an egg hunt. One of the prizes that each of the kids found was a kite. WHAHOO! So we walked over to a little park where we could fly our kites. Blue Tiger got the hang of it really quickly and got his kite pretty dang high too. Look even he is surprised.

Spike enjoyed the kite flying and though he never got it very high he continued to do it the whole time we were at the park.I know this pic is a little blurry. But look at how happy he is. I have such a cute Puppy. I love that face!I took a turn with it even. Man that was fun. I can't remember last time I flew a kite.The Master kite flyer though was Grandma Crimson. She put us all to shame.Several of the boys told me that their favorite part of the morning was having Grandpa Crimson push them on the merry go round thingie. Sunshine was nice enough to be my camera man for a while so I could just have fun and yet still have pictures. Here is proof. I think she enjoyed her "job".We stayed for conference and Grandma Crimson had fun things like this for the kids to work on quietly. I can't tell you how many times Sage insisted on doing this puzzle. These are the pancakes we had Easter Morning. Pink, Green, Purple and Blue. It was fun. And finally, we found this nest in a tree by our house. Yes, you can tell that this bird was helped out by our boys in creating her nest. For, those are indeed ice-pop wrappers.

Egg Coloring

YEA! It's egg coloring day. So much fun. Star showed the younger boys how to color your egg two different colors. Blue Tiger looks just WAY too happy. (He asked about every five minutes if it was time to color the eggs yet.) Check out the color of Sage's hand. Then his egg got cracked so he decided just to peel it. As I was putting the eggs away I found a nicely peeled colored egg among the other ones.

EZ loved this. He drew on each of his eggs, very intricate pictures, and then colored them. He obviously really enjoyed this.

Blue Tiger loved showing me all of his eggs. Most of them have a "value" like 3,000,000 points printed on them. (I guess for the search, whoever gets the most points wins!)

Puppy was showing me his most beautiful egg. And then it broke and he was about to break into tears when I told him he could just peel it and eat it. "Really?" I told him to go ahead and he was a very happy camper. YEA!This was stars favorite. Spike usually sticks around for quite a while for the decorating, but he was the first one to be done this year. That was a surprise for me.This year the one left at the table was EZ. Still decorating with markers and then coloring as well. He had a lot of work to do.

What a great and fun tradition. Thanks boys!

The Liahona Effect on Good Friday

We have had some of the most wonderful family scripture devotionals of late. Primarily, because for the last several months we have been reading in the New Testament, and reading about the life of Christ is always wonderful. But, today we got a special blessing. Today is Good Friday, and our sequential reading of the scriptures coincided with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in John 19. My husband noticed the "fortuitous" connection, and taught the boys about what he calls "The Liahona Effect". The Liahona Effect occurs when you are faithful in turning to your scriptures, and the Lord begins to speak to you through them. We noted that the coincidence was not a coincidence at all, but a divine puctuation mark on the importance of today. Well, lately the inspiration has come more and more frequently in my personal reading. But today this small miracle happened for our whole family in our family scripture reading. It is very fitting that the Lord would provide a tender mercy like this pointing to the gift of Christ this Easter Season. It left us all feeling very loved and aware that God is mindful of us. In my personal reading following this lesson on the "Liahona Effect" I happened to be in Alma 37 which reads, "For behold it as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land." I was taken back again as my sequential reading of the scriptures became divine communication. My faith in Christ and the Book of Mormon were renewed, and I stand amazed at the Love Jesus has for me individually and for my family.