Our Easter

Happy late Easter everyone. We had a great day around here. The girls loved everything about Easter, even the extra talking, lesson, and movies on Jesus. Of course they didn't get it yet but they loved hearing about it and all about Jesus. They loved the candy and egg hunts and the egg coloring. How fun is Easter for kids? I totally forgot how much fun they have. We did eggs the night before and they loved it. They did have green and blue stained hands that I was afraid would be there the next day but when you spend an hour in the bath, not much stands a chance of still being there! Of course they loved the egg hunts at home and at Grandma and Grandpa's house and all the candy they could possibly eat. We had a great dinner too. I want more just thinking about it, yum. They cousins all have so much fun together and the weather was great in the afternoon. Here are some pictures from the day.

Easter hats.

Candy stained dress by the end of the day.

Yeah a picture of us!

Rachel and Pop Pop.

Rachel dunking with Daddy.

Some family pictures, with smiling kids! A miracle!

During the egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Rachel stopped and opened every egg she picked up to see what was inside and eat most of them. Livy was on the hunt. She didn't open hers until her basket was full!

A kiss for ducky.

A kiss for cat.

A kiss for sister. I had to have them do something or they wouldn't smile for me. So there are none of them just looking at me smiling because we had to do lots of actions to get a smile. They still came out cute though. Lots of pictures up here because usually it is just one of them with a smile in each picture.

Hugs.

Clapping.

High five.

Kiss again.

Rachel digging candy out of her teeth. Lovely. She was unstoppable with the candy. She couldn't get enough and I don't think she ate real food all day besides breakfast. She did share with Pebbles though. She only liked the purple jelly beans so she would feed the rest to Pebbles.

They have wet hair because we took and after breakfast bath so that they wouldn't be the stinky syrup kids at church!

Bunny ears. After they got lots of candy they finally put them on and hopped around.

Sunday morning went much faster with a bucket of new toys to entertain them!

Best purchase I have made in a while. In the background you can kind of see these red barns.

$1 section at Target, barn and animals. They played with them all day. That was the biggest hit besides the candy of course.

Too busy hunting for candy to look up for a picture.

Coloring eggs the night before. Wearing daddy's work shirts so they could get messy. Didn't actually get that messy.

They loved it though!

Mommy and her girls.

Proud of their creations. I peeled one for each of them to try for breakfast on Easter and they were so grossed out by the way it felt it didn't get close to their mouths.

Relaxing before nap time.

Enjoying the beautiful weather we have here in Houston lately. I am already dreading the months to come and the insane heat. Everyday we will be in the pool for sure. They love love love swimming and playing in any water that they can. Including Pebbles dog bowl. I have caught them twice in the past week dunking their stuffed animals in Pebbles water outside. Gross. I actually didn't even get mad the second time! Yeah a step in the right direction! How does it go, "If you can't beat them, join them?"

My grandma Barbara sent the girls these necklaces and Rachel has been wearing it around since she got it. She loves it. She tries to get Livy to wear hers too but Livy isn't into it.

Having juices. Livy can now open the child safety locks on the cabinets so she goes in there and gets her and Rachel a juice whenever they want one. At least she only goes in that one cabinet and doesn't get into all the others with safety locks.

Eric and I teach a Sunday school class at church. We teach the 7 year olds. I was happy that I got to teach the Easter lesson on the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a great opportunity to study and to remind me of all that our Savior has done for us. All that he went through and all that we have been given because of him. I am truly grateful for his sacrifice for me and the opportunity he has given me. I hope I can teach the girls of our Savior's love for them as they continue to grow and understand more. It is so sweet to see them talk and learn about Jesus and the Gospel.

Food Storage

This post is for anyone interested in getting some organization and tips on food storage. My friend from BYU made this blog about food storage and it is awesome. It takes you through the different step and areas of food storage in "baby steps" as to not lose anyone! Just what I need, a little at a time. They just came out with a Food Storage Made Easy binder available in a pdf file to purchase online if anyone is interested. It has all the food storage info you need in one place including recipes for your food storage. Or just check out the blog and you can get lots of info from there for free. Good luck everyone in your ongoing food storage adventures!

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

sorry the picture doesn't link you, I didn't know how to do it:)

A Hard Day

I don't think that the girls were acting any differently today than they normally do but today was an especially hard day for me. I didn't feel like myself and I almost broke down crying 4 times today because they don't listen to me. No matter what I say they don't listen. I can only imagine how Heavenly Father must feel like jumping off a cliff with all of us down here "not listening" to what he says. Although, he is past all of that I am sure and has had millenniums to practice his patience. Normally it doesn't make me feel so terrible but the past few days and today especially I feel like I must be totally doing something wrong with them. I just feel like a terrible mom. It seems that other peoples kids obey but maybe everyone feels like this. Not only can I not make them obey me, but I am losing my patience a lot lately too.

I go up and down, up and down. One minute I am sitting with them and we are having so much fun. Watching them laugh, seeing what they find funny, listening to all the cute and hysterical things they say, how they take care of each other, how they congratulate me and give me five when I go pee pee on the potty and how they run to me to kiss their boo boo and it is magically all better. And then the next minute I am trying to get them to do what I tell them, put stuff down, don't touch, hurry up, sit down, all the normal things-and of course they don't do it and I am mad. Just for a minute until quickly reminded by the little things they do that they are 2 and absolutely adorable with all their quirks and personalities that I sometimes don't fully appreciate. Then again I am in awe that I get to be their mom.

Tonight Eric was out to eat with his brothers and dad and off to the Priesthood Session of General Conference. The girls and I had some food shopping, sorry-grocery shopping, to do so we didn't hang out with anyone like we normally do on these nights. We stopped off at the BBQ place that we love to grab a quick bite. Perfect place for us I figure. The girls love this restaurant because it has a train that goes around the whole restaurant on a ledge close to the ceiling. Great I thought, they will be good for me. Whatever. Out of control monkeys. We sat in a booth, first mistake. They wouldn't sit down and were walking all over the booth no matter how many times I asked nicely for them to sit, and asked not so nicely a few times too. And they were leaning over watching the people next to us non stop, with french fries loaded with ketchup in their hands. Finally I decided to sit on their side of the booth with them. Little did I know that Rachel had spilled her cup of water on the bench and I ended up with a big wet patch on my butt. Lovely. I shoved my food down as quick as I could so we could get out of there. This picture is from right after we ate. They both have lots of BBQ sauce on their shirts even though it is hard to see. I think we will be eating at home when daddy is not with us from now on. No big deal right? But today it was super frustrating and I almost cried again because of it. Hopefully this up and down and crying stuff doesn't last too long.

This morning we had a Williams family photo shoot with the wonderful photographer Ginger Williams from our ward. She is so great and I am so excited to see what the pictures look like. These are a few we just shot with our camera after and during. This is one for Pool Works. Who would let these crazy near their pool? Just kidding guys, I like this one!

There you go. Now these gentlemen can plaster a pool for you, and do your deck!

Challenging photo shoot. We didn't get any pictures with all the girls smiling but at least they are all looking straight. Rachel and Kylie had a little melt down each at one point and Peyton told April "no" when she asked her to smile but that was about it! For so many so young I think they did great! Lexie and Blake were the only ones who got excited when we tried to sing to them to get them to smile. So much for that tactic.

These ones with just the kids are adorable. Look at Peyton and Halli, so sweet! The one below looks so much better with the light. I don't know how to do photo shop yet. It is on my list of things to do.

I love Katelyn and Blake in this picture. She is just holding his hand and he is staring at her. She seems like she has done it forever!

While I was getting ready Livy came into the bathroom to do my nails for me. She had her nail polish and did my nails and then sat down to do hers.

Don't forget your toes!

Nice hair, below all cleaned up!

At the family photo shoot.

My Grandma Ede got the girls these bracelets when they were little but they are just starting to fit them. Rachel was so excited to wear hers and Livy wanted nothing to do with it so Rachel wore both of them. She is such a girly girl.

My pediatrician told me not to give the girls peanut butter or nuts until they turned two. I hear different things now but anyway we did it until they were almost two. Now Rachel is totally enjoying peanuts. She love them and peanut butter too. She just eats it on a spoon. She is definitely mine! I can't get enough of either!

This is their new picnic table they just got. They love it. We have eaten lunch on it the past few days and they ask to eat their snacks there and stuff too. They always ask me to sit with them too. It is so cute and perfect for this summer when they will be all wet and we can eat outside now.

Some new shades. Supposed to be for Easter but that is what happens when I shop for holidays early. I bought a bunch of stuff for Easter a month ago and I think I have maybe one thing left that they haven't gotten yet! Oops. Don't tell you know who!

Speaking of him, the girls now call him Eric when he is not there and sometimes when he is. They pretend call Eric on their phones and just today Rachel called me Jessica.

I am so thankful it is General Conference weekend. For anyone not a member of the LDS church, it is a conference held two times a year broadcast from Salt Lake City world wide. During this weekend we get to hear talks from our Prophet Tomas S. Monson and the Apostles. It is always such a great weekend. I am so happy it is now and I hope I can be receptive to the spirit and the messages that I need most at this time. I am so thankful for a loving husband too. A stubborn and independent spirited husband but loving and supportive one too! He gave me a long hug and told me I am doing a great job with the girls. He says no ones two year old listens to them, not any he knows of anyway. He didn't need to say anything spectacular just comforting and understanding. I know he loves me and I am so grateful for him. Hopefully tomorrow is a little less emotional.