If February went quickly, then March and most of April has zoomed by. . . either that or I'm just finding it harder to update this blog of all of our happenings. So here's our March and most of April in a nut-Schnell. After we celebrated Amelia's birthday, we went to get her ear's pierced. I was hesitant, but she was so excited and brave!
We also went to Boomshaka to celebrate Amelia's birthday, rather than having a birthday party. So fun and so much easier!
I help out in Sophie's class every week and was able to go with them on their field trip to the Children's Museum. Gratefully, the four kids I had mostly stuck together, making my job much easier.
Our Relief Society had a "formal attire" event to celebrate the Relief Society's birthday. I wore this outfit that one of my employees from Africa gave me over 10 years ago and I've never had anywhere appropriate to wear it. Yeah for fun events!
March 24th was a great day - Amelia chose to be baptized.
It was a small family affair, with only 2 other couples there, but the Spirit was there, and that's the most important part.
I'm proud of Amelia for doing something she knew was right, even with her small testimony.
When you take out your earrings at night, after your ears have only been pierced for 3-weeks, and you have a young, healthy body, the result is closed in holes the next morning 😞 Amelia was brave and got her ears re-pierced . . . and put up with another 3-weeks of maintaining newly pierced ears.
For Spring Break, we headed to UT to spend some time with my Dad. Since we were traveling over Easter weekend, we had an Easter egg hunt and dyed Easter eggs while we were at Grandpa's house.
And of course we got ice cream (at least once). This time was with cousin Richelle, in the snow!
We spent a day doing "UT" things. We toured the newly renovated Jordan River temple. The girls were excited to go inside a temple, but I think Amelia was a bit disappointed that it didn't look like a palace inside, ha-ha.
We went to This is the Place Heritage Park and had fun being a pioneer.
And we ended the day by doing a quick tour of the Conference Center in Salt Lake. By that time, the girls were tired and not so excited to have their pictures taken, ha-ha.
One day my Dad showed the girls how he used to dye Easter eggs - with onion skins. I've seen the finished product many times, but I've never seen how it was done . . . so we all thought it was cool.
We had a play date with friends who used to live on our street in WA, who now live in Layton. How we've missed them!
But the best part of the whole week was spending time with my Dad - visiting, working together, and watching him play with my girls. It's hard being so far away from my Dad, so the time we spend together is precious.
Ken had a birthday this month, but I realized we didn't get a single picture - happy birthday to him anyway! I'm sure there was more for April, but that's it in a nut-Schnell for now!
February went by too quickly . . . and we weren't even that busy. I'm participating in a #bebetter52 challenge this year, and each week we get an assignment to help us become better people. The week of Valentine's Day, we were challenged to write love notes to random strangers. I stuck a note in the mail slot for the mailman, put up notes in the teacher's lounges at the Elementary school, and put hearts on random neighbor's houses. I have no idea what anyone's reactions were, but I hope at least one heart made someone's day - I know it made mine.
This year Ken and I are putting more of a specific focus on Family Home Evening, to help Amelia prepare for baptism. These are snap-shots of my lesson on preventing "spiritual eclipses". Moon pies and Capri Sun drinks were the treats that evening :) I wish I had the mental energy to always plan such fun FHEs . . . they definitely go over much better with the kids . . . but life goes on and we do the best we can.
Both girls love playing music with Daddy . . . and that often takes many forms. More cowbell Sophie! And don't mind the photo-bomb at the end ;)
Sophie LOVES helping Ken work out in the yard . . . even when equipment and/or tools are too heavy/ hard for her to use. We'll thank her this summer for our green, moss-free lawn ;)
Ken and the girls had President's Day off, so we headed up the mountain for a little fun in the snow.
We had sleds, but Sophie wanted to try her own way of doing things . . . and had just as much fun.
When the girls tired of sledding, there was always snow to play in. They started digging this hole and were using it for their "house" by the time we left.
I love how their different personalties come out, how they each chose to be when they asked me to take a picture of them in their "house".
A few days later, we got snow at our house! I caught this sunrise at the end of our street.
And with the snow, of course comes a snow day. And playing outside as much and as long as possible.
Sometimes, the snowball is just a bit too big to push, but that doesn't stop Sophie!
The last week of February, I had the opportunity to do a business trip in Milpitas, CA, which put me 15 min. away from one of my dear friends. We got together for dinner and catching up like old friends do.
And suddenly we're into March, and celebrating Amelia's 8th birthday! I can not believe this sweet girl is already 8. She helped me make her lemon blueberry birthday cake, including decorating it, and loved every minute of eating it. She loved the cake so much, she wanted to share it, so we delivered chunks of cake to a few of her friends! Love her generous spirit!
Here I go, getting all caught up again. December was not the crazy month it usually is, and we enjoyed many fun activities. When you live in the Pacific NW, you often have to get your Christmas tree in the rain . . .
. . . and find one we did! 11 ft tall . . . thank goodness for a big car and vaulted ceilings at home.
Meanwhile, when your children are bored, but creative, they find new ways to entertain themselves.
The elementary hosted another Math night - this one themed around cookies and decorations . . so of course they got to decorate a sugar cookie girl. So fun!
Next came the gingerbread house making. Some day, perhaps, I'll be brave/ adventurous enough to make my gingerbread from scratch, but for now, the kits are cheap and easy to assemble.
And the girls only needed minimal help from me.
Sophie was in a tap dance class through the city of Lacey's Park & Rec. Her teacher arranged for the 6 little tappers to dance to "live music" as part of the American Legion's Christmas concert band.
She did great and was thrilled that her Kindergarten teacher even came to see it :)
Meanwhile, my oven stopped working, due to an electrical short in the control panel. So we were all excited to be invited to our friend's house to decorate sugar cookies before Christmas since we couldn't do it at home.
On our way home from church on Christmas Eve, it started to snow.
And even though it didn't snow a lot, the girls managed to get enough together to make a snowman!
The week after Christmas, we hired a company to trim some of our oak trees out front. I am so glad that is not my job!
But we all had fun sitting in our driveway watching the "tree monkeys" (as Sophie called them) do their job. Pretty impressive!
The best present the girls got for Christmas was the swing set that Ken built for them - and he got it done on New Year's Day. If it's not raining or dark outside, the girls are on the swing!
45 only comes once and I celebrated my birthday over a few days with my friends and family. A few of us went to the Painted Plate in Olympia - it was so much fun.
The finished product.
Ken and the girls got me a new USU t-shirt - go Aggies!
And because the girls didn't have school on Jan. 15, we decorated sugar cookies, since we didn't get to do them at Christmas. I was without my oven for 3 weeks and I've never been happier to bake and bake and bake!
We celebrated as a family for my birthday by going out to eat. The girls ate just as much sushi as Ken and I did! Happy Birthday to me!
