Good Morning!

This is what I woke up to one morning and had to laugh.  The other pictures are of the kids taking over my bed, trying to get me out of it.  Good luck kids!  Afterwards, they climbed on the chair with Daddy and pretended to be asleep.  Eventually, we will all wake up and get ready for church!

Fairy Godmother

My young women came to babysit, clean and help me out.  I appreciated them so much and before they left, we (both Riley and me) did their hair, lent them dresses and jewelry for a dance that they had that night.  Riley kept asking if we could go, I told her no, but we could be their fairy godmother.

Serenity Came Again!

Serenity came to play again because her mom had a baby and while her grandma was working, we were happy to take her in.  So happy, that when she left on Friday, Riley cried for almost an hour.  They played all day, including dress-ups, princesses, music jamming and doctor.

Two Months

Morgan is finally starting to get some chub as she has hit the age mark of 2 months now.  The time has flown by and we have enjoyed her immensely.  She has a quarter taped to her stomach in order to reduce her chances of her belly button getting a hernia. We don't know if it will work, but Riley had the same problem and she had to have surgery. 

Playing with Big Brother

Morgan was really fussy this evening, as she usually is during this time of night.  Eli was playing the computer and I asked her if she was fussy because she wanted to play with big brother.  I put her down in the Bumbo chair and the computer as well as Eli were talking with her.  She was fine after that.

Resurrection Rolls

We found this on Facebook and decided to try it on Easter evening.  It was a big hit for the kids and we were able to focus on the true meaning of Easter.

RESURRECTION ROLLS

Recipe and Instructions for Easter Rolls that tell the true meaning of Easter

which is the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is an inspiring family project that can be done on Easter Morning....
...
Ingredients needed:
Crescent rolls
Melted butter
Large Marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Give each child one triangle of crescent rolls.
Explain that he 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.
This 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 all in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.
The oven represents the tomb--while you are waiting for the rolls to bake, read Matthew 27:62-66.

6. Remove rolls from oven and let them cool slightly.
Now the children can then open their rolls (cloths) 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 28:1-10

Easter Pink

I am not usually one who dresses the entire family into corresponding colors, but I felt like matching my daughters by wearing pale pink.  This is as color-coordinating as we get.  I asked my husband to take a picture to celebrate the moment.

Resurrection

Today was a very challenging Sabbath as seen in the picture below, but not without it's rewards.  The children were very irreverent during Sacrament meeting and so I grabbed Riley and put her on my lap and whispered to her that she needed to think about Jesus.  I told her that Jesus loves her and loves Eli and that she has a body just like Jesus and many other things about Jesus.  When we came home, we made the kids practice how to be reverent at church. 
Being that it was Easter, Riley and Eli learned about the Resurection and that we can live again.  It brought joy to my heart to hear her say that becuase a few weeks before, she kept asking about my Grandpa Jansen.  He died March 2009, much too young for Riley to remember.  However, she is very curious about death.  One particular day, she kept telling me, with tears down her cheeks, that if Mommy died, then she will never see me again.  I tried to teach her that because of our Savior Jesus Christ, we will see each other again.  It was difficult for her mind to comprehend and at the time, she didn't get it.  I put her down for a nap and took it to the Lord.  I prayed for a way for her to learn it and for some reason, she came home from Primary, understanding the Resurection.  She knew that Jesus lived again and was no longer dead. 
Toward the end of the day, she stood on a stool and taught Cinderella and Jake (and the Neverland Pirates) about the Resurection.  She told them that Jesus loves Riley, Jesus loves Eli, Jesus Loves Jake, Jesus loves Izzy, and Jesus loves Cinderella.  She told them that Jesus was Resurected and that Jesus is Risen and lives again. 

Egg Dye

After a shower from dancing in the rain and Riley woke up, we dyed boiled eggs.  It was magical for the kids.

Pouring Rain

A typical El Paso rain storm will usually come ot of nowhere, pour really hard and then quit all within about thirty minutes.  Many times, it won't even hit in the entire city. 
I tried to get Eli to dance it the rain with me and he wouldn't, so I did it and showed him how fun it could be.  Finally, I convinced him it to try it and it was.  This whole experience reminded me of President Uchtdorf talk about showing gratitude in any circumstance. He quotes: "How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"  When Eli will have trials, I will remind him how much fun we had, dancing in the rain.

Glo in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt

This is something we have never tried, but so glad we did.  We stuck some glow sticks inside the plastic empty eggs and hid them in the yard.  Our yard is not the usual El Paso yard because we have grass and trees and bushes.  It was perfect for a hunt because the weather was warm as it usually is in El Paso.  We had young woman come and help prepare and hide the eggs (with packaging tape).  The yard was like looking out in space with colored stars.  It was beautiful. This picture can't begin to describe it because it is so blurry. 
While the kids were waiting while the eggs were being hidden, we had the kids play the chameleon game.  It is this lizard that dances around while the children try to toss eggs in his mouth. 
The party was such a blast.  We had 13 kids and their parents. Both members and non came and we had some opportunities to invite them to future events.  I am thrilled.

Easter

These next few posts are about this Easter weekend.  It was full, amazing and so much fun.  It started with an Easter egg hunt at Eli's Rainbow school. His class only has seven students and after hiding the eggs, they found them quicker than it took to hide them.  Barbie was really quick and when she and Eli were racing for an egg, she left Eli in the dust.

Shots Outside!

This little baby is so cute and changing so fast and so I am taking tons of pictures of her outside.  The only trouble is that the baby usually makes silly faces.  We are not sure if this is because she has trouble focusing (cross-eyed), or she is just not photogenic.  Fortunately, we can take a dozen photos and chose the best ones.  These are the best ones, minus the one with the three kids.  The one with Morgan in purple has Riley running in the background.  It was a challenge trying to get a good shot of Morgan while at the same time missing the 3-year old running around in circles around the baby. 

Eyelashes

Look! She has eyelashes!

Sisters

I cannot express how happy I am to have two girls.  I never had a sister growing up and I am glad my daughters have each other. I just hope that my son can have a brother. 
In this picture, Morgan was fussing and Riley came up to me and said, she wants her big sister.  Ok, so I let Riley hold  her.
The other picture, both girls were waking up from a nap and Daddy got the benefit of waking them up. Fortunately, they are not as bad as waking Eli up.

Serenity Came to Play

We had Serenity come for a playdate and as soon as she got here, she wanted to dress up.  Serenity was Ariel, Eli was Captain America and Riley was Minnie Mouse.  After I took the photo, I sent it for her mom, who was attempting to go into labor.  It can be hard to leave your kids while staying at the hospital and so she was grateful to have a picture of her kids and to know they were just fine.
Serenity kept my kids busy the entire day, with only a few normal conflicts with Eli regarding gender.  Eli wanted to fight and the girls wanted to be princesses.  With the right coaching, they were able to settle their differences.  All in all, she fits nicely with my kids because her age is in between my kids and they enjoyed her company.

Stop and Smell the Roses

I have a few pictures of Eli when he was about 2 smelling the roses and thought it would be fun to post some updates of my kids smelling them again.  Stop and Smell the Roses

Rose Gardens

One of the items on my El Paso bucket list is to go to the Rose gardens.  Our family went and had a great time.  They didn't cost anything, because this was considered a city park.  They weren't very large, maybe a few blocks, but they were very beautiful.  The roses were in full bloom and some the rose bushes date back to the 1950s.  It was kind of strange to see have full bloom roses in El Paso and even stranger, to see palm trees in a rose garden.