my heart sings

...and I love them...

faith

 A couple weeks ago I noticed some little grow kits in the dollar section of Target. I'm so drawn to plants (even though I've never successfully grown anything...) and I figured we could give them a try. When we got home I realized what a great family activity it would make. So Monday night we had our Family Home Evening lesson on faith. 

Incase you can't tell from the pictures Madeline really enjoyed it :) In fact we all did. I know Jeremy looks forward to having a garden someday, and I'm getting there too. But for now little cilantro and basil plants, GROW GROW GROW! 

easter family picture

Walking home from church on Sunday we walked past an middle-aged woman sitting on a bus stop bench. I noticed she was dirty and unkempt. Silently I judged her and complained to myself that she didn't have the curtesy to wait an extra ten seconds before lighting up her cigarette. I mean at least wait until my kids are past you lady!

She didn't wait and I felt her exhale surround my family in a film of smoke. 

But something happened that I didn't anticipate. With that breath she wished us a happy Easter. She told us what a beautiful family we were and how great we looked in our Easter clothes. She made a special effort to greet Madeline on her level and then she suggested that we remember to take a family picture that afternoon.

Time and time again I am reminded of the goodness people. Reminded that we are all children of God. That our Savior suffered for not just me, my family and friends, but for all people. He loves us equally and I would do well to remember that.

Of course we didn't get to that nice family picture... We did manage to take a few pictures together after skyping with family... just incase, you know, you haven't had enough photobooth pictures lately ;) But we pretty much wore what we wore for our family pictures on Luke's blessing day and you can see those here.

The past few weeks have been hard. It's pretty amazing the things life teaches you... I was talking to a friend after a really hard couple of days and she commented on how well I had handled everything. She told me she was proud of me for dealing with this particular situation so well. All I could really say was,"It's amazing how powerful the Atonement is when you allow it to work in your life." And I really do believe that. 

Life is hard, but it is GOOD. Hard things make us stronger when we trust in Him. There isn't much that excites me more than feeling myself grow. Even when it's hard and I don't know how everything will work out, trusting in Him and allowing Him to lead me, it's exhilarating. 

There's been lots of growing lately and I'm sure I have more growing in my future, but I'm grateful for the opportunities I'm given to become better. Grateful for a Heavenly Father who is in control and grateful for Christ who made it all possible.

p.s. my cousin showed me this article explaining the connection of the bunny and eggs to Easter. I figured I should show you after my little rant yesterday. Thanks Alexis :) 

p.p.s. I still think the world should cool it on the Easter presents....

egg hunt

^^Love my guys!^^

 ^^someone found a candy.... No he did NOT eat it^^

 ^^CAUGHT!^^

^^"Maybe if I smile super cute mommy will let me keep it... " 

Close but not quite^^

^^Eggs are apparently pretty boring when they're empty.^^

I kind of struggle with the easter bunny. It almost feels a little creepy to me, a giant bunny coming into peoples houses and leaving eggs? What the? He doesn't feel special or magical to me like Santa. There's definitely something to be said for the spirit of Christmas, but I'm pretty sure the spirit of easter can't be embodied in a giant bunny. You've lost me. And when did the easter bunny start competing with Santa? 

But at the same time I don't want to be that parent... ya know? So we did a little egg hunt in the living room Saturday afternoon. It was simple. Just last years basket and plastic eggs and a handful of jelly beans. It was lucky for Madeline she didn't have to compete with anyone for eggs because she was s.l.o.w. She meandered around, found an egg, walked back over to her basket, dumped the candy on the floor right next to the basket, put them in the basket one by one and discarded the eggs. It was painfully slow. But she seemed to have fun.

I'm not sure what we'll do in coming years. I'm sorry this wasn't meant to be such a downer post... I just wish this holiday was more focused on Christ, because that's why we have it. If I totally brought you down I'm sorry... scroll back up and look at the chubby happy baby up there. Or watch this amazing video about Christ. Grateful for Easter. Grateful for my Savior. Happy Easter.

bedtime

Evening... Bedtime... It can be stressful, am I right? We're all tired, sometimes hungry, depending on how on top of it I was that day with dinner. It's usually not a family's shining moment in the day. Or maybe that's just us...? But I have a sneaking suspicion we're not alone here ;)

Lately we've been trying to make an extra effort to enjoy the bedtime routine with the kids. Rather than stressing and dragging our feet about one more thing before peace and quiet, we're looking at it as forty-five minutes we get to spend together as a family. Forty-five minutes where we have a chance to reset and go to bed good again. It doesn't matter how much tension filled the house during the dinner hour, or how many tears were shed (by kids or parents...), life can go back to happy again. 

We recently started bathing both kids together and it has been really fun. It's a special thing to watch the relationship between your kids grow. I love that they're becoming fast friends. Luke is quite the little fish, kicking and splashing to no end. And he manages to throw a lot of water around! Poor miss Madeline is a little more of a wuss when it comes to splashing. When Luke calms down she gets right in his face and says,"Stop. Stop it Luke." I'd show you a video, because it's the cutest thing you ever did see, but Luke hasn't learned about keeping it modest yet... so anyways....

Also, I'd highly recommend this Book of Mormon reader put out by the church. We wondered if it'd be too advanced for M, but she's loving it. Makes family scriptures less of a chore when she's excited about it! 

Grateful for this little family of mine and for the realization that bedtime doesn't have to be stress-time. 

photobooth freenzie

^^I told her to "smize" haha^^

we be funny. happy friday.

incase you need a little dose of cute today...

I give you two freshly bathed babes in diapers.