Easter Overload

Whew, Easter & the events leading up to it were so fun. A thousand pictures later, and there is something (new?) that we have discovered: Kosty is un-photogenic. Holy moly, as you will see, that is no exaggeration. We tell him to "say cheese" which obviously doesn't work, he tilts his head up, scrunches his face and does buck teeth, all at the click of the camera. You would think we would learn, but no, it happens over and over and over again. Just wait. The other choice is head down & a picture of the top of his head, not sure which is better. Oh, and getting a decent picture of the two of them is also impossible. Consider this picture a sign of what's to come... (Brayden is so tired of posing forever while Kosty looks away, so I guess he got smart & decided to take him into his own hands!)

First up: Easter Pageant. We were slightly hesitant to go due to a looong day & fighting crowds & trying to get a good seat on a Friday night. We decided to go based on the fact that I knew otherwise my kids would strictly connect Easter with bunnies & egg hunts.I am really glad we did. We had terrible seats, but Brayden was really into it & asked me a bazillion questions throughout. He was particularly concerned with the Crucifixion scene & wanted to be reassured that the actor who was playing Jesus, was not really getting whipped & nailed. When they mentioned Jesus healed the sick, Brayden said, "He healed the 10 lepers, and only one said thanks." I was grateful for the opportunity to answer his questions though & I could tell that after seeing it, he understands more about our Plan and the sacrifice Jesus made for us all. It always makes me so happy to see ALL kinds of people, members & non-members alike that come out to watch the Pageant. I know that there are a million other things that they could be doing instead. There were no protesters this year either, which was nice! Oh, afterwards the little Shepard boys brought out the baby lambs for us to pet. They were SO adorable, only 1 week old. The kids LOVED that part! After it was over, Kosty said, "we saw Jesus!"

Next up: Easter Egg Hunt #1
Our Primary had an Egg Hunt at the park.








(failed picture attempt #3-thanks Kosty!)



Next up: Easter Egg Hunt #2
Across the street there was another Easter celebration at the school there. This one had bounce houses, food, face painting, and pictures with the Bunny. It was VERY warm & we *sweated a lot. (*that can't be a word, but its the only one that makes sense at this moment.)











.. AND he sticks his fingers in his mouth when he gets nervous, which also makes for a superb photo!

for the love kid, can't you just SMILE?

Then he goes from eyes closed to one eye open! an improvement?




After the fancy face paintings were complete, we went home to dye Easter Eggs... Brayden was not so thrilled that Kosty decided to inhale 4 of his beautifully decorated eggs...

Then came Easter Sunday. After church, we went over to Grandma & Grandpa's house & then Nana & Pappy's for another Egg Hunt and dinner...

my little sis & my big sis

my ADORABLE niece, Libby. I LOVE this picture of her!

THE END. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

made me laugh

Me: Brayden you have to go to bed early tonight because school starts again tomorrow!
Brayden: Awwwww man!
Me: Woohoo! I'm happy because school is good for your brain so you can learn.
Brayden: No, I think staying at HOME with my Mother is good for my brain!

who knew?

A 2 year old can easily set the table...

..and a 5 year old can mop & vaccuum!

Where have these kids been all my life?!

and now...the BEST day of his life

Today Jer flew home from Cali from a short work trip, and the first thing he showed me was the Skymall catalog, where he found a whole page dedicated to Harry Potter collectibles...but more importantly, a real WAND. "We just have to get it for him," he pleaded. "Its $40!" I said. A few minutes later, there they were, Kosty on his lap, eyes glued on the page, grin ear to ear. "Wook Mama! a wand!" Jer had one hand on the computer, and one on the phone tracking down Party City to see if they carried the wand. The news was good, so like 2 excited children, off they went to pick up the wand & they found Harry's glasses too.... for only $10. He emailed me the picture from his phone just now & I can hardly stand how cute he looks!!

& then I had to add this one after his bath. Doesn't he look studious?

"STUPTIFY!"

Kosty's favorite thing to do nowadays is pretend that he now IS Harry Potter & use our household lighter as his "wand". (You heard me, lighter...but he can't turn it on). He runs around the house yelling, "STUPTIFY!" and you better be falling down quick. The second you start getting up, he casts another spell. I'm so glad he likes to play with Daddy more than me. It sure gets tiring falling to the floor every 2 seconds! He also says Expelliendo! & Expector Petrolam! but his favorite spell of all is definitely StUpTiFy!

The lighter actually broke recently, so he has since taken to this somewhat (safer?) choice, and it is a little more "wand" looking. Of course I had to snap a picture of him taking a nap with it, because LOOK! its in perfect position. He's always ready to "STUPTIFY" you, even in his sleep!

He also gets real joy from pointing his Incredibles Blaster in my face, & says "Soot Mama!" He really truly loves "sooting" me. Whats even better is that if I dare try to "parent" him & he doesn't like it, he'll say, "I soot Mama" and scamper off to go find the blaster, (or the wand to "Stuptify" me). YOWSA! Can't a girl feel safe in her own home?!

But what I do LOVE is eating dinner with this kid. With every bite, he says "Mmm.. mmm.. mm." Or "Yum-my!" and my favorite..."Deee-lis-is!" But the best one was last night, when he said, "I yuv dat, Mama!" He's so rough & rugged but at the same time SO SO charming. He is so complimentary about meals & so gracious too! Who knew? :) He always makes up for it in the end. I enjoy him ridiculously much, sometimes I wish he could be two forever! I've said it before, but TWO is my favorite age!

countdown to spring break

We have been anticipating Spring Break around here... and officially it begins tomorrow! At Brayden's school this week, they celebrated Dr. Suess' Birthday. He got to wear jammies to school & bring his favorite book. They made these adorable hats too. They had "surprise" readers come in sporadically all week, and I got to come read "Go Dogs Go!" to his class on Friday. I love the sweet, shy smile he gets whenever I walk into his classroom. I hope he will always do that :)

Then we went to Panda Express, why you ask? Trust me, I hadn't eaten there in about 7 years, & now I remember why. Sorry if any of you are Panda Fans, skip this part. Brayden has been asking about chopsticks lately & has been dying to try them out. I told him the Panda place has them...so I figured no biggie, they will eat the rice and noodles. Well after 2 bites, they were both done & wanted to try an egg roll. Lets just say after looking inside of one, I HAD it. Filled with slimy dark meat chicken. And I witnessed the cook dumping slimy nasty chicken in the fryers too, ewww. A waste of money, but at least they will know they were not missing out on the "Panda Place" now!

Oh, another thing Brayden has been wanting to try: banana splits. So, that night, we made pizza & watched "Surf's Up." I made banana splits for everyone & when I gave Brayden his, he said, "Uh, Mama. This has bananas in it. I don't want bananas in it." Hmmmm. What did he think was in a banana split anyway!? Who knows...

This weather has been so perfect & I cant help but feel a little sad as I am soaking it all in. I just know the blasted heat wave will come spoil the fun any day now. I wish we could just PAUSE it! Saturday was overcast in the morning & we all sat around inside way too long. Finally, Mama got a little feisty & demanded we go enjoy the outdoors, NOW! They were glad they listened :) We headed over to the park & had a picnic lunch. And so you know, packing a picnic lunch is not as easy as it sounds for us. I have to make something different for every mouth in our family.

Jer--ham and cheese on a SUB roll, no mayo or mustard + salt & pepper
Kosty--hard-boiled egg (won't eat sandwiches! grrr) + banana + juice box + fruit snacks
Brayden--Ham sandwich on reg. wheat bread w/ mayo, no cheese + juice box + apple + fruit snacks
Me--egg salad sandwich (I know some of you are gagging) and that's it! Notice Jer and I got only the bare minimum. No time to waste on us. So typical, right?

Oh, I have to add this in here. Today, I found one of my pots with about 3 inches of water, sugar, a jacks set, a noisemaker, and a toy baseball, along with a big wooden spoon. When I asked what the heck it was, Brayden said "it's sugar and spice and everything nice!" (also the recipe to make the "Powerpuff Girls" that he was watching!)

"Cardigan"

When Brayden had the stomach flu last week, he threw up all over his beloved & all time favorite stuffed lamb, Cardigan. We got Cardigan when Brayden was just 2 1/2. I remember because it was a quite a few months before Kosty was born. We found him at Kohl's & he is the softest, cutest lamb ever. Brayden instantly decided that his name would be "Cardigan." (which he copied from the lamb on Charlotte's Web 2). I thought it was such a clever name & was perfect for him. He stole Brayden's heart from day one. From then until now, every time we pass a Kohls, he reminds me "that's where we found Cardigan." He has brought him to California on vacation, to school for show & tell, and he is the first thing he wants to snuggle when he isn't feeling good.

After we realized "Cardi" had suffered as the flu target, I put him in the laundry room till I figured out how to get him clean (his tag said 'surface wash only' & his hooves have some little plastic beads in them, so I was nervous) Brayden has been sad ever since & every night claims that he "can't fall asleep without Cardi." Today, I went to the dry cleaner & they told me that they don't clean stuffed animals. So, after some talking into, I took a risk & put him in the extra delicate cycle. Brayden was on full watch. He yelped a big "NO!" when I put him in. I assured him he would be ok (I hoped) & then he stood over the washer & with every spin, he would say, "Mama, he doesn't like that. It really scares him." Meanwhile I was yelling "Woohoo Cardigan! Hows the ride?!!" Trying to make it seem FUN, of course. Well he wasn't buying any of it & continued to stand guard. Anyway, he SURVIVED in one piece!! No lumps & no missing eyes or anything else. Victory! I told him he would have to air dry & then I found him in the bathroom drying him with the blow dryer. I love how tender he is with him, & how he genuinely treats Cardigan like he has feelings & a personality. Its so cute. HOORAY! He's back!! Brayden is finally at peace, and out of excuses for not falling asleep at night!