Easter Photos

It's late and I shouldn't be blogging. But I want to get these Easter photos up before it's too late and I give up on documenting it entirely. Cuz I do that. A lot. Anyhow, I don't think I'll write too much about these pics because I can barely keep my eyes open. But here they are!

Okay, I have to say just a bit about Easter this year before all the memories disappear into the dark abyss of my mind. Cuz that happens. A lot.

We spent the night before Easter decorating Easter eggs with Grandma and Grandpa Sudweeks. Then we watched a video called "Finding Faith in Christ" to teach the kids about the whole meaning of Easter.  Porter still asks everyday to to watch the movie where Jesus stopped the storm. I love it when real stuff sinks in.

Notice the bundle of lollipops in Lucy's hand. Watch for those in the following photos. I may or may not have used them to bribe the kids for pics all Easter weekend!

On Easter morning, Brian woke up sick so he stayed in bed while we had our Easter morning festivities without him. Poor Daddy. And poor Mommy had to get everyone all ready for church by herself. This photo of the kids in their Easter clothes may or may not have been taken when we were already 20 minutes late for church. Priorities, right?

After church, we headed up to Grandma & Grandpa Nye's for their Easter dinner & egg hunt.

Check out that dainty little nose. Love it.

FINALLY got a smile out of this girl! She does not like smiling for photos these days. I only got this one cuz I was chasing her, then stopped mid-chase to snap a photo before she ran away. 

Then she ran.

Annual cousin photo. Missing this year are Cassidy, Caitlyn, and Carter. Those lucky kids managed to move to Washington last year. I would say to them, "Wish you were here!" But really it's, "Wish we were there!"

All in all, a wonderful Easter! Now I need to figure out what to do with the huge bag of candy in our pantry. I have a few ideas. My poor hips.

Window Washing

Clean windows & mirrors DO NOT last long at our house. I feel like I'm washing windows all the time.

Porter and Lucy both think they're being "helpful" when they wipe the condensation off the bathroom mirrors with their hands. It's so cute that they think they're cleaning and being helpful that I put them up on the counter and let them go to town.

Here's a game Porter likes to play at our back door a few times a week.

Lucy loves this game too. She laughs and laughs each time Porter squirts the door.

I've washed that door 3 times during the past week. But it's okay. I'd trade my clean windows for cute, happy kids any day.

Science Experiments

We are loving springtime! 

Every year around this time, when I was teaching, I had certain science experiments I loved to do with my students. Of course, I'm not teaching this year, but I just had to keep the experiments going. So here's what we've been up to . . .

Soil Ingredients:

Potting soil on the left. Our garden soil on the right. Notice a disparity?

Grassy Egg-Heads:  *official name :)

I've done lots of different ways to grow grass seed with my students in the past, but I LOVE this particular project for Porter. When the grass gets tall enough, I let him give them a haircut (the photo above was taken right after their first haircut). That way, he's working on his fine motor skills as well as learning about seeds & plants! Lucy helped too-- notice the empty spot on the left? Lucy did that one!

Butterflies:

I mistakenly told Porter that we were going to order our butterflies a couple weeks before I was actually planning to order them. So for 2-3 weeks, he asked every day if his butterflies were coming yet. His smile in the picture above is genuine. He had a permanent smile on his face the moment the box arrived! That means there was no bribing necessary to get a smile for these photos! The package arrived a week ago and Porter has loved watching his caterpillars grow and grow.

I won't burden you with any of the caterpillars' later photos. They're home isn't quite so clean anymore. Ick! I did butterflies with most of my classes while I taught and I think this is the 2nd or 3rd year I've done them with Porter. It's a great experience when you look at the big picture-- but I hate all the little details that come along with it. We'll just say that the process of growing and changing isn't all rainbows & butterflies. :)  It's messy and gross and a little creepy to me. But I love these kids and they love butterflies, so we do it!

Morning Conundrums

A while ago, I started doing a little morning devotional with the kids during breakfast. We have a manual for the nursery class at church, so I just glance at one of the lessons, tell them the main points and show them the pictures to go with it. Very short & sweet. At first, they loved it. But then one day, Porter started plugging his ears and running away. I thought with a reaction like that, we might as well just stop.

However, Porter still goes to the bookshelf by the table every morning and pulls the book out for me, finds a page he likes, and says, "You forgot to do our lesson." Then when I start the appointed lesson he plugs his ears and runs away. Morning after morning.

I am very confused.

A Porter Update

[from Porter's journal/blog]

You say things and do things every day that make me smile. I'm always thinking how wonderful life is with you and that I don't want to forget a single thing. But then I sit down sometimes to write an entry for this blog/journal and I can't remember all those things I told myself I wanted to remember. So I started taking notes this past month of little things I want to record. So here's a little peek of you at age 4 years, 2 months.

Things You Say

Ducklings are "duck-links"

Despicable Me 2 (the movie) is "Izza-pick-a-pull Me on 2"

Binoculars are "kin-ock-el-ears"

Bobbleheads are "shaking head guys"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" (it always comes in threes)

"What up fishes?" and "Oh snap!" (you and Daddy say these back and forth to each other all the time)

"Look what starts with D: /d/ /d/ double-u!"

Often when you use past-tense, you pronounce it /ed/ even when it's supposed to be the /t/ or /d/ sound. Example:"I like-ed it."

We watch a sweet 10-month old named Andi. You love that sweet little girl. But you always get mad when I call her "sweet" (I nicknamed her Sweet Andi because it sounds so close to a song called Sweet Annie). You said I can't call her "sweetheart" because that's what I call Lucy. Then the other day, you told me this: "Mom, she's not Sweet Andi. She's not sweet. She's just too beautiful."

Things You Do

As Lucy is learning to talk, you love to teach her new words. Often, as we drive, I will hear you saying "Lucy, say (trees/flowers/Mommy)." I love to see your sweet relationship. You are such a great brother to her! However, I must say it's not quite as endearing when I hear you say, "Lucy, say (bum/fart)."

Your favorite tv show is Garfield.

You fall asleep every night with Big-Head Bear and Rockwell (the dog); one in each arm.

Vintage Mickey

I've been trying really hard to limit the kids' tv time this week. However, during the few times I let them watch tv, I've discovered that I don't feel quite as guilty when it's old Mickey Mouse movies versus the newer cartoons. I love it when the kids love the movies I loved as a kid.

A Lucy Update

[from Lucy's journal blog]

Here's a little look at what you are like right now. . .

Things You Say

You whisper "yeah" when you respond to questions. You seriously have the cutest voice in the world!

You do a tongue-roll sort of thing when you don't know a word. You used to do that sound ALL THE TIME. But since you've started talking, we hear that sound less and less.

You say "bee" for "baby." And, oh my goodness, you LOVE babies! Anytime a baby is nearby, you light up and point and say "Bee! Bee! Bee! Bee!"

You say "apfo" when you're being "helpful." I think it's adorable that you're using that word already! But you are a VERY helpful girl and you have LOTS of opportunities to say it, so of course you know it so well!

You say "ampo" for "temple." Right above your changing table, there's a picture of the Salt Lake temple. You point to it every time you're by it and say, "ampo." Then whenever we're driving near a temple, you get really excited and point and say it again. You're such a smarty!

You sing! When I sing to you at bedtime, you sing along. Some of my favorites are when you sing "up-u-bu" (for "up above" in twinkle, twinkle) and "row, row, row" (for row, row, row your boat). And it makes us smile so big when we are driving with the radio on and hear you singing along with the music, making up your own words. I love your sweet little singing voice!

Things You Do

You love to play with dolls! You sleep with your arms around them and you always make sure that we tuck the covers in around them too. The other day, I watched you when you were supposed to be napping. You held up two dolls and had them say "Hi!" "Hi!" to each other. Then you had them give each other kisses & hugs. Sometimes you go through a phase for a couple days where you won't go anywhere without one of your dollies: the dentist office, the grocery store, a walk around the block. You love to give your dolls hugs. When you put them up on your shoulder to give them a hug, you always say, "Oooooh!" It is the sweetest thing ever!

You are so good at sharing. You really amaze me with this one. If Porter gets upset because you have a toy he wants, as soon as you realize that he wants it, you hold it out to him and say "Go" (meaning "here you go"). You do it when you share snacks with him too. You are such a kind, thoughtful little sister. At one year old, you are already an example of empathy and kindness to all of us!

You scream. When you and Porter are in an especially silly mood, you play this game where you scream back and forth then crack up laughing. This game is usually played in the car, but sometimes in grocery stores or at home. And, as you can imagine, this is not a game that Mommy loves. But it's hard not to smile sometimes at how funny you two think you are!

You love to act grown up. The other day in the kitchen, I watched you walk over and open a drawer, take out two oven mitts, put them on your hands, walk over and touch the oven door and say "hot," then walk back and put the oven mitts back in the drawer. You love to copy the things that you see us do. Another thing you do (that I love) is put purse-like things on your shoulder (anything with a handle, really), then walk away saying "bye-bye" and waving, like you're taking off somewhere.

In case we don't tell you enough, we love you SO much!

Washington Trip

Since the kids were born, I've been keeping journals for them. I tried to write in funny things that they say or just write about developmental milestones, or letters to give them advice that I think will help them when they're older. Well, awhile ago, I decided to move their journals into online blogs that I can add photos to and print off into blog books periodically. Those blogs are completely private and I'm the only one with access to them. But since I've been neglecting this blog in favor of recording more on the kids' blogs, I thought I'd just start pasting some of their entries in here so I can still stay connected with all my blogging friends. So, just to warn you-- some of my blog posts from here on out may begin with Dear Porter or Dear Lucy. If you see that, I guess you'll just know it's a stolen post from their journal blogs!

Here's our Thanksgiving trip recap:

Dear Porter,

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Washington. I was so excited to take you to the state where I grew up. For weeks leading up to our trip, I told you that we were going to visit the beach where I grew up. Soon you started telling me about when you go to my beach and how you're going to grow up big while you're there. I realized that you thought the beach had magically made me grow up. So funny!

Also, we often talked about going to Seattle. I didn't realize until right before our trip that you thought we were going to see Attle. I found out the misunderstanding when you asked one day who Attle was and when we were going to see him. Throughout the whole trip, you still referred to this person named Attle whenever we mentioned Seattle. Oh, how I love the way you teach me to look at things in new ways!

We had a very busy schedule while we were there. First, we started with an 11 hour drive that we split into two days. Grandma and Grandpa Nye originally planned this trip on their own, but very graciously let us ride along with them. You were so great during the drive-- except the time you peed your pants in your carseat on the drive back to Utah. I guess you didn't realize you had to go!

We spent our first full day in Washington visiting the island where Mommy "grew up." We visited my favorite beaches and drove by my old house and went to church at the Camano Island Ward and visited some of the people who have known Mommy since she was a little girl.

That day, we had dinner with the Morrill family in Snohomish. I used to babysit the Morrill boys when I was younger and now they are all so grown up! It made me worry about how fast you'll grow up too.

The next day we went to the Seattle Aquarium. You learned how to say sea anemone, which I think is the cutest thing in the world! You also got to touch sea stars, watch the octopus get fed, and watch a scuba diver teach you about the fish in the Pacific Northwest waters.

My favorite day was when we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island.

While there, we visited the Bloedel Reserve. We did a two-mile walk around the beautiful gardens and grounds of the Bloedel property. You found leaves there that were bigger than your head! You called them your treasures and I had to take a photo of them before I could convince you to leave them.

On Wednesday, we visited the Microsoft campus where Uncle Jeff works. There were so many cool things there-- I think Mommy had more fun than anyone with their FaceCake makeup station!

For Thanksgiving, we went to Marysville to spend the day with Dallan & Chelsea. They made the yummiest food and you had so much fun playing with Tanner and Claire.

We went to Seattle the next day. We started out at the Space Needle. You even got to visit with Santa at the top of the Needle.

Next, we went to Pike Place Market.

And we made a quick, disgusting stop at the Gum Wall to take some photos.

We stayed one more night in our hotel. You cried when we had to leave it.

On Saturday, we stopped to see Snoqualmie Falls before heading out on the first leg of our journey back home to Utah.

We were sad to leave behind our cousins and Aunts & Uncles who live there. But we had so much fun! And don't worry- I'll do all I can to make sure we make more trips back to Mommy's favorite state as often as possible!