Easter

The day before Easter the city had an Easter Egg hunt.  We went but because we got there just as the bell went off we missed most of it.  Aubrey only got 3 pieces of candy.  It was really funny to watch the whole scene.  It was like locust to a plant.  This ring of kids and parents getting smaller and smaller as the candy just dissapeared.  There was also so much candy that baskets were overflowing and parents were cramming their pockets with anything else their kids picked up.  It was a lot of fun but it just didn't feel like Easter.  Instead of the kids wearing cute little Easter dresses and sun bonnets they were wearing heavy coats, mittens, and hats. 

Easter morning we woke up to several inches of snow.  So we had a White Easter!  After the kids finished staring in awe at all they snow the hunt for their Easter baskets began.  It's a tradition in James' family for the parents to hide the Easter baskets and the kids have to look for them in the morning.  So I got to have the fun of hiding them and then watching the kids plus James and Keith go searching.  Let just say James and Keith are a little rusty on their Easter basket searching skills.  I will have to not be so hard on the next year.  In their Easter baskets all the kids got pinwheels, Joshua got a Cars coloring poster, and the girls got a dragonfly welcome sign for their room.  (I'm in the process of trying to decorate their room with a dragon fly theme.)  Once the found their Easter baskets they were then able to hunt for the Easter eggs that the Easter bunny left them.  They found all the eggs plus leftover carrot pieces that the Easter bunny left.  The kids thought that since the Reindeer get treats at Christmas that the Easter bunny should get some too.  So they left him a plate full of carrots.

Once the excitement of the morning was over we all snuggled up to watch confernece on our computer.  Our couch was too small, our screen was too small, and we could not get the volumn up loud enough but it was still wonderful to watch and listen to our modern day prophet and apostles.  We were even able to get the kids to sit still and listen to a few of the talks with the help of the conference bingo.  In the end the bingo square that was most covered was Jesus Christ.  No matter what topic the speakers focused on Christ was still the main topic and source for everything that was taught.  What a great way to spend Easter!  By listening the the prophet and the apostle teach about Christ.  

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

HELP!!!
Who Has a Magic Pill to Keep Kids from Growing Up!

There has been so much happening lately that I feel like my kids are growing up way to fast. I feel like everytime that I blink something new hapens. I am trying my best to enjoy every minute of it but how do you stop and enjoy everything when time feels like it is in fast forward

Here are a few of the exciting things happening recently.

Joshua lost his first tooth. Since he is our oldest I don't know who was more excited us or him. He lost it after school. He was so upset that he would not get to show his friends. The tooth fairy was kind enough to leave it with some money and a note telling him that she was leaving his tooth so he could show his class. Unfortunately, just before we left for school that morning he lost the tooth.

We are also about to have our 4th mover. Lilly is on the verge of figuring out how to crawl. She has been getting up on her hand and knees for several weeks now. This last week she has started commando crawl and can almost get to any toy that she wants too. Of course if she knows that I am in the room instead of trying to get the toy herself she will just reach for it and cry. And today she took her first step in crawling. She pick up her hand and moved it forward once before she fell. Her new favorite thing is a baby push up. She loves to get up on her hands and toes.


On other first for Lilly she has also started sleeping in her own room in her big crib. The first night she slept all night long. She has always been a very good sleeper but I was surprised. She still insists on being swaddled when she sleeps. If I don't swaddle her she will wake up about every 2 hours. So the swaddle wrap was a great buy!

And her third big growing up news is that she has started baby foods. She has now tried rice cereal and green beans. I can not feed her those green beans fast enough! She gets so mad if I'm not fast enough, will then grab the spoon, and shove it in her mouth. She can easily finish off half a jar of green beans plus some rice cereal and still have room to nurse after wards. Too bad she can't share some of that appetite with Aubrey.

So there is so much happening so fast that I wish they could come up with a pill to keep kids from growing up. Not really but I better make sure I don't blink from now on.

P.S. This new blogger in draft is acting funny so things are not going where they are supposed too. But if things worked they way they should I think I will like it better.

The Factor Tree

BzzAgent.com asked me to try and review a website called THE FACTOR TREE.  The program is designed to help students reinforce math skills that they have already learned it school by providing extra worksheets.  Both Joshie and Eliza have been using it for almost a month and really enjoy it.  They don't usually want to sit down for too long because it is only worksheets.  When I started I did expect there to be some learning lessons to go along with the worksheets but there was not.  My favorite part is the first thing they will do is give the child a test to see what they have learned and then go from there.  The site is very bright colored and kid friendly.  Joshie can get on and use it without my help.  The biggest problems that I have with it are that the math skills that they have on each grade level have not matched up with what my kids have already learned in school.  Some skills Joshie had never learned and were too hard and some were way too easy and it was hard to just pass up that certain skill.  I did mention both problems to the company and they have fixed the second one.  Now if their is a skill that is too easy you can start your child on the next skill.

This website is a paid site and it costs $20 per child per month.  It was fun while we used it but without some sort of learning lessons involved I personally would not pay for this program.  It was a good program but not for that price. 

For those of you who would like to try it I have a two week trial code.  When you sign in use the code: BZF