Happy Easter!

It's been a great week here, busy and fun getting ready for Easter. 

I was glad to send the big girls to school last Monday March 21.  Dan was back to work as usual and we did our grocery swap (except for Emily, she was with me).  Megan had a soccer clinic that night, so we moved FHE to Tuesday.

Tuesday was joy school for Candy.  So in the morning it was just Jack and Emily and me.  We had fun.  We did a little shopping looking for Easter basket stuff but didn't have much luck that day.  After school Megan had piano and we did Family night about Easter.  

 

 

Wednesday we had playgroup at one of our favorite parks.  I picked up one extra kid and the weather was great.  Emily was an angel and slept most of the time while the kids played and I chatted with friends.  Wednesday afternoon was busy.  Ali watched the other kids (except Emily) while I took Megan for her follow up at the ENT.  The good news is Megan doesn't need tubes.  The bad news is we are feeling more and more sure that the hearing loss in her left ear is probably congenital (which is why tubes didn't help last year).  We will continue to check it every 6 months and make sure it's not worsening.  For now we won't do hearing aids since she seems very adapted and isn't having problems at school or otherwise with hearing things. 

Emily on Wednesday--so strong!

She's getting too strong!  She rolled herself off the pillow when I wasn't in the room on Thursday!

Joy school got cancelled Thursday bc of sick kids.  So Candy stayed home and got to be here when Linda T and Kat and her 3 year old Logan came to visit.  It was fun to chat and catch up.  They brought lunch to share too.  Thursday night, Dad and Sally came to visit and brought dinner.  They hadn't seen Emily since the hospital.  We got to hear all about their trip and see the pictures--it made me want to go to Israel!  And it was cool to show the kids where all the things happened in Christ's life.  They stayed til bedtime and it was great catching up with them.

Friday was a day off of school for Good Friday.  Emily got to wear her Easter outfit. 

We had friends over to play in the morning and at lunch time met up with a bunch of friends at the park for an easter egg hunt and potluck lunch.  Carrie joined us and we had a great time.  

 

Friday night we had a ward social at someone's house in the ward (they have a giant backyard with a full size tennis court, big play area, etc).  It was fun to see friends and have dinner.

Saturday we (Dan) worked on the yard, took his car in for some repairs, took the kids fishing at a pond in the neighborhood, and after naptime we went to Ali's for an Easter egg hunt, egg roll, and dinner before Megan and I went to the Women's broadcast.  Megan played in a little handbell choir with other girls from our ward for the prelude.  She did great.  And the broadcast was wonderful.  All about serving others.

Fishing:

At Ali's

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Easter morning was fun as usual.  We started with Megan sharing these eggs with us that she made at A-Days--12 eggs and each had something representing the last week of Christ's life with a scripture to go along with it.  And we bore our testimonies of the Savior and talked about why eggs--new life--are a symbol of Easter.  Then the kids got to find their baskets (new swim suits!) and eggs.  We (except Dan who was fasting) had french toast for breakfast and took some pics all dressed up before church.  Emily and I went for the first time since she was born (3 weeks today!) and just stayed for sacrament meeting.  After church we had Ali and Ben over for dinner along with a lady Dan home teaches (she is single and has no family and pretty poor health--she was really happy to be here).  Yummy food and the kids had fun playing.  We watched some family movies before bedtime.  The kids are wiped out after such a nice weekend. 

I felt such overwhelming gratitude for my Savior as we took the pictures--because of Him I get to be with these kids forever. 

I loved having an Easter fast Sunday.  The testimonies all focused on our Savior and were sweet witnesses of His love.  I love Easter.  I love reflecting on the joy the disciples must have felt after experiencing such a tragic loss as they looked on the resurrected Savior for the first time.  I'm so thankful to know we will all be resurrected one day because of Him.  

3 weeks old today (March 27)

 

Spring Break Week

Monday March 14 was the first day of spring break for Megan and Brooke.  Dan worked from home all week.  Ali and Jane (Dan's mom) took all the kids except Emily to a place called Pump it Up (it has blow up toys and big slides and such).  The kids had a blast, even Jack who was a little small for a lot of the toys there got up his courage to ride this big slide and did it over and over again.  We had Ali's fam over for family night too and had a nice lesson about Easter.  We said our goodbyes to Jane that night since Dan had to take her to the airport at like 4:15 am Tuesday morning to catch her flight.  It was so nice to have her here for a few days.

Tuesday was great weather and I left Emily sleeping while Dan worked and took the other kids to "recess" with a bunch of other ward members at one of the parks here.  The kids got to try double dutch and jump rope and kickball and played at the playground and ran around.  I ran to the store in the afternoon when Dan was done working to restock our fridge for the week.

Wednesday I packed up the kids and we headed to Lake Conroe.  The weather was great again, low 70s and sunny.  We got to the lake house around 10 am and hung out with all the kids except Adam and Zach who were out on the boat with the adults.  My kids loved playing on the deck, climbing in Jamie's hammocks, and playing games with cousins.  Emily was an angel, sleeping, eating, and sleeping some more.  After a lunch break for the adults, Jack got to have a quick joy ride to refill the gas tank and then a little later Candy got to joy ride while Megan and Brooke tried their hand at kneeboarding.  With help from Jamie and Shad, they both popped right up and had a blast.  They stayed up for good long rides.  Then they got to take turns kneeboarding with Chloe and they all did great again!  When they came in, it was 6 pm and we headed home by way of Chick Fli A.  My kids were SO tired and SO happy.

 

Thursday I took all 5 kids to see a new disney movie called Zootopia.  I was nervous about how Jack would do, but thankfully it was a matinee filled with kids so it didn't matter that he was standing off and on.  He fell asleep halfway through which helped too.  Emily slept the whole movie and the big girls loved it.  Emily had her 2 week checkup that morning and she already beat her birth weight by 5 ounces!  She weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz and is doing great.  Ali and her kids came to say hi in the afternoon.  It was St. Patrick's day, so we had dinner with the Tracy's and ate our corned beef and cabbage and irish soda bread.  Poor Jack got into fire ants (he was smashing his hands into the mound!) and got a bazillion bites.  His arms look awful but he's ok.

Friday Dan was able to take a vacation day, so we all headed back to the lake house.  Carrie came up too.  It was a great day just being with everyone--we just missed Ty and Dad and Sally!  My kids kneeboarded again, Dan got up wake surfing, and at the end of the day all the girls went tubing.  Even Candy was talked into one tubing run.  We came home and took the kids to our babysit swap group and grabbed Whataburger and watched March Madness games with the Tracy's.  

 

 This is how Emily does March Madness.

I love those little skinny legs!  She looks so small still in the car seat!

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Saturday Dan and Megan and Brooke went to a friend's baptism from the ward in the morning and the girls went with Ali to the open house after.  The weather cooled off some and the kids played outside a lot.  We got the a/c fixed in Dan's car and had a quiet night.  Dan had a priesthood meeting where he got his beads for finishing Wood Badge (a scout leadership training that took like a year to finish all the goals for, but he finished!).  

 

 

It's been a good Sunday.  Dan had early meetings but came back to pick up the 4 big kids for church.  Emily and I stayed home.  I read conference talks again and rested.  After dinner we went to Jenn and Chris R's to have some smores and enjoy their new fire pit.  Emily got lots of love there and we had fun catching up with them.  We came home and put the kids down (Jack was wired after all that sugar but the girls all crashed fast). 

Real life is back this week after our 2 weeks of having Dan home during the days.  I'm glad the kids will be back to school :).  Emily is still a sweetheart and we all just love to snuggle her.