Easter... No... Halloween... No... Easter...

I couldn't find the kids' Easter baskets for our Egg Hunt this year, so we got out their Halloween baskets instead. A holiday fusion of sorts!!! Why they have them on their heads is truly beyond me... ;o)

Oliver found the only silver egg that was strategically placed high above their heads!

Jaren finding his first egg!!!

I think there may be one hiding under the bowl, Eden!!!

Ed opened one of the eggs to show Jaren what was hidden inside!!!

Oliver and his Dracula Easter Basket!!!

Eden looking 'thrilled' with her discoveries!
Jaren tasting some of his Easter candy! Smarties are one of Grandma Young's favorite goodies!

No... Your Eyes Are NOT Deceiving You!!!

Coming: DECEMBER 14, 2009

Nauvoo - April 2009

Ed and I made the 3 1/2 hour trip south to Nauvoo, Illinois on Friday in order to visit the temple there!

Statue of Joseph Smith in front of a new cafe near the temple.

Nauvoo LDS Temple

The Angel Moroni atop the dome on the temple.

The Angel Moroni

Sun & Stars

Statue of Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum. Behind flows the Mississippi River.

Beautiful stained-glass star window

The first inkling of Spring.

The top of the temple. Ed and I actually got to go up into the highest point of the temple once when we were cleaning there one night. We got to touch the top of the dome and look through the windows across the river and the town of Nauvoo.

Mommy/Daughter Date - April 2009

Eden has earned several Reading Awards from school and we had never used any of them in the past so I thought that we would go on a Mommy/Daughter date and go to Pizza Hut for dinner! She got a personal pan pizza and loved every bite!!! :O) After that we went to West Music for the first time and went away with some new instruments in hand! I also let her come to our Enrichment Night for the women at church and she got to play with some of her good friends! :O)

Dying Easter Eggs - April 2009

As Chad was set to leave for New Mexico the next day, we had one last family fun night together with our family, Mom and Chad. We decided to color the eggs for Easter. One thing I missed doing was our "Egg Judging". I think we were all just too pooped to do it... plus... I couldn't find my red food coloring so we were lacking in some colors!!! It was a spontaneous event, so it wasn't too well planned on my part. At least we all had fun!

I thought this looked like an eyeball when we were mixing the colors.

Ed and Bear getting ready to dye some eggs.

...and the fun begins! (side note: Why do my kids never have pants on???)

Mom and her rubberband egg.

Chad's "Egg-dger Allen Poe" creation.


My tie dye egg effect.

Oliver and Jaren. I LOVE this picture!

First a Nacho Libre pumpkin... now a Nacho Libre egg... What is wrong with me!?! ;o)


"Naccchhhoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

Mom put the egg stands on her ears... AND...

...like Grandma... like Grandson... ;o)

MORE World Fair Pics - April 2009

My mom and I took Oliver and Eden to the 2nd Annual World Fair at the NCC Pepsi Pavillion. It was a fundraiser for a non-profit organization founded by a gal I graduated from high school with. There were lots of booths with information on various cultures, health and wellness. They had several different foreign foods to try as well! I bought the kids some chop sticks and we traveled around to the different booths learning new things along the way. We also sat and watched the entertainment as well as watching Oliver perform in his first 'gig' in capoeira! They also had several crafts from each continent around the world which was fun! We had a blast!

2nd Annual World Fair - April 2009

Over the Rainbow

Health & Education Services

WORLD FAIR ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE

Saturday, April 4, 2009

NCC Pepsi Pavillion

1:00 - African Groove Music Mix

1:15 - Chinese Tai Chi

1:30 - Middle Eastern Belly Dancing

2:00 - Saudi Arabian Theatre

2:30 - Bag Piping

2:45 - Bosnian Dance

3:00 - Mariachi Music

3:30 - 'Over the Rainbow' Slideshow

3:45 - Brazilian Violinists

4:15 - Capoeira Roda & Workshop

Back in March - Hockey and Capoeira

Oliver at Capoeira Class. He does the best headstands!!!

I took Oliver on a Mother/Son date to his very first hockey game! We went to see the Waterloo Blackhawks play here in town and he loved it! We got some pop, nachos and settled in for a fun night together!



Oliver LOVES practicing his capoeira moves at home! This is the "Little Monkey". He will watch various You Tube videos and try to imitate some of the moves that he sees! He's very good at it!

This was at Oliver's very first roda! He even got to play the pandeiro! We bought one for him to practice on at home a few weeks later!


Oliver and Francesca playing at his first roda!

14 Weeks... Last Monday...

Welcome to the second trimester! This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb. Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

13 Weeks Today!

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce. As you start your second trimester, most of your baby's critical development will be completed and your odds of miscarriage drop considerably

Mall of America - March 18 & 19, 2009

Mall of America - March 17, 2009

Mall of America - March 16th, 2009

Today Ed and I took most of the kids to Nickelodeon Universe. For a week or so, for every $150 spent at the mall, you earned ONE FREE ADMISSION!!! It ended on Sunday, the 15th and I think we earned like 13 FREE WRISTBANDS!!! WOO HOO!!! Jared and Addy joined up with us for lunch at Johnny Rocket's a yummy 1950's type restaurant in the mall! We went on some more rides that day and finally returned to the hotel. Later on that evening we went to TGIFridays as I had never eaten there before! I really liked Ed's appetizers... they were some yummy chicken strips in some sort of sauce... YUM!!! We then just hung out in our rooms for the rest of the night!

Mall of America - March 14th & 15th, 2009

Oliver woke up this morning not feeling well so Ed stayed with him while Jared and his girls and Eden and I ventured to the mall for a few hours. There are soooooo many great stores there that it was hard to get to all of them, but we managed... after all, we WERE there for a whole week! :O) Aubrey had wanted to go to the American Girl store since we had first gotten there and so we finally went. We looked all around the store to find a doll that resembled Aubrey and Natalie and they found "Kit" and "Molly"!!! As a wonderful surprise, Eden also was able to get a doll as well. Hers was "Ruthie"! She was just BEAMING!!!

We got back to the hotel and the girls played with their dolls for the remainder of the day. As it turned out, Ed took Oliver to a doctor up there and he had Strep Throat, probably from me since he was around me before I even knew that I had it! Poor little man. He just layed low and watched TV all day in bed. I hate seeing my kiddos not feeling well! Good thing we had MANY more days together so he didn't miss much! Nat also was a bit under the weather, but recovered surprisingly quick!

That night we ordered pizza and swam in the hotel! It was nice to cool off and relax after walking around the mall for so long. (My feet were still VERY sore from my heel spur surgery, but I think I did pretty well!)

The next day we went to the mall in the morning and ate lunch at Famous Dave's, but went back to the hotel because I wasn't feeling well and so we all just had an easy day at the hotel!

Mall of America - March 12th & 13th, 2009

The morning we left I woke up around 7:30 and just KNEW I had Strep Throat. I was like, "CRAP!!! Go freakin' figure... right when we are supposed to leave for vacation!" So, I got up and waited for Urgent Care to open at 8 am so I could be the first one seen and sure enough... STREP!!! I then went to get my meds and waited awhile for those so we didn't get to leave for the Mall of America until several hours after we planned.