Why are you being so cranky????

I know. You all think this post is about me. It's not.

Look.
Can you see it? It's there. Right in the middle.

Wyatt got his first tooth on Easter Sunday. He's been so cranky the past few days. He's been drooling like crazy and had a runny nose. I wasn't sure if he was coming down with a cold or if
he was cutting a tooth. I'd been checking his gums and couldn't feel anything. Then, Sunday night, there it was. Poor baby. He's not a happy camper. I bet the girls won't be sticking their fingers in his mouth much longer.

Happy Easter!

Well, I wish I had talked to Chrys before today so we could have incorporated some of those Easter traditions into our holiday celebration this year. Next year for sure. It was a beautiful, cool spring day today. We got up and dressed the children in their new Easter clothes and went to church. Here they are...we had to get pictures before any stains set in. Aren't they adorable!!!

Then, the family came over and the festivities began. We dyed Easter eggs.We had an Easter egg hunt.

Prizes for kids and adults. Woo hoo!! Poor Nanny took a nasty tumble during the hunt. She must have known what the prizes were and was anxious to win the prize. Sorry Nanny! Connie, Landon, Logan and Lauren won the prizes.

And of course we ate lots of food. I'm stuffed. Mmmmm. It was good. Anybody want leftovers??? We hope you all had a Happy Easter, too!

Easter Traditions

I just heard about these cool easter traditions to do with your kids. Well, not your kids, with my kids. I don't want to forget about them so here they are to be shared and included in my blog book when the time comes.

Resurrection Rolls
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:
Crescent rolls
Melted butter
Large marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Read Matthew 27:57-61

1. Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus.
2. Have him/her dip the marshmallow in melted butter. This represents the oils of embalming.
3. Now dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represents the spices used to anoint the body.
4. Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus’ body after death.
5. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. (The oven represents the tomb - pretend like it was three days!)
6. Let the rolls cool slightly. The children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN!!!! (The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

Now read Matthew 28:5-8

Easter Story Cookies
This is a great recipe to teach your Children the REAL story of Easter. That the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior is not dead but has Risen. The recipe can be found in countless places on line but the true author is unknown.

You will need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
a pinch salt
1 cup sugar
a zipper baggy
1 wooden spoon
scotch tape
Bible

Instructions:
These are to be made the evening before Easter.

Preheat oven to 300F.*** (this is very important --- don't wait until you are half done with the recipe).

Place pecans in zipper baggy and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested. He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

Read: John 19:1-3

Let each child smell the vinegar.

Put 1 teaspoon vinegar into mixing bowl.

Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross. He was given vinegar to drink.

Read: John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His lifeto give us life.

Read: John 10:10&11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the restinto the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.

Read: Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.

Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.

Read: Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.

Read: Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

Read: Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.

Read: Matthew 27:65-66

GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Read: John 16:20&22

On Resurrection Sunday (Easter) morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.

Read: Matthew 28:1-9


Thanks Chrys. Great traditions to help us remember the reason we celebrate Easter and to be greatful for the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior.

Enjoying all of God's Creatures

It was Good Friday so we took a trip to the zoo to enjoy the beauty of all of God's creatures. Here are some pictures of His lovely creatures!

I have always loved to go to the zoo. I think the animals are beautiful and I love for my kids to see and enjoy them like I do. My kids were a little cranky this time and we were missing daddy. Too bad he had to work. It was a beautiful day and a very fun trip.

Tech Support

One more post for the night. I thought it was funny.


Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance -- particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1.
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?
Signed, Desperate
-------------------------------------
Dear Desperate:
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.
Please enter the command: 'I Thought You Loved Me.exe', try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 It runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources. Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck, Tech Support

Happy Birthday Aunt Connie!

I won't post your age, for one, I don't know and I'm not keeping track. By the way, at what point do we stop being happy about being one year older? My guess, and my body agrees, is that 30 must be around the age we stop sharing our ages and maybe start feeling it. I don't know for sure...cause I may not be there yet. Sydney and Lauren worry about us (mom and dad) getting old. They watched a cartoon, can't remember the name, where the dad talks about getting old and then a bird dies because it was old and ever since then they have been concerned about us dying anytime we say we're getting old. Anyway, we are all still young! How did I get on this subject? This is to celebrate the birth of Connie. We're glad it's your birthday!

So, a couple of weekends ago we had a Simms family March birthday celebration for Riley, Wesley and Connie. Connie was the only birthday girl at the celebration. She was the only one to fully enjoy the festivities. Happy Birthday Connie!

Caillou is the name of the show. Oooooh that was bugging me.

One more note on getting old. We were at a baby shower a few weekends ago and someone, who will remain nameless, proceeded to tell a fabulous story about a women who had 8 babies in ten years. She is about the same age as me, which will also go unmentioned, and this person mentioned that she was still young enough to have several more children, which I will not. Anyway, not 2 minutes later this person looked at me and said...so, how does it feel to be old. Ha ha ha. Not very funny. I am not old.

Sara is 12! Happy Birthday!

A young woman. A babysitter. She's growing up. Grandma bought a big chocolate cake and we went over to surprise her, but she knew we were coming. Happy birthday, Sara! We hope you had a great day.

We had some fun with the new wig, too. Poor Wyatt wasn't having fun though.

Here's our traveling birthday frog. Don't be surprised if he comes to your house.

Happy Birthday Sara. Poor Aunt Audene missed all the fun.

Kindergarten Registration

We should not be doing this now. It's way too soon. How can it be? We went to kindergarten registration last week and took a tour of Sydney's school. She is so excited! I am too, but as I sat and listened and walked around the school, sometimes I just felt like bursting into tears. I had to hold them back. How silly, I'm even tearing up now as I think about it. What's going to happen on the first day of school?

Here she is touring the school.On the playgroundChecking out the school bus.