Easter, Easter, Easter

Today was an eventful day for our family.  It started out when we left the house at 8:45 a.m. and headed for Circe and Scott's annual Easter egg hunt.  The girls got tons of eggs and loved every minute of it.  Then we all had breakfast together at Annies.  From there we headed over to mom and dad's for a family party.  There was tons of food, a new trampoline that mom and dad bought, food, cousins, food, another Easter hunt, food and did I say food??  We stayed until well after bed time. It was fun to visit with all of Jeremy's cousins and aunts and uncles there too!  The girls disappeared the entire day which gave us a chance to visit!  Last night while tucking Kayla into bed we were talking about how the Easter bunny was coming to our house.  She got a little scared and told me she didn't want the EB to get her.  I assured her that the EB was just coming into the living room to hide the eggs and leave some candy.  That seemed to settle well with her for a minute, then I could see the wheels turning again.  She told me that she didn't want the EB to play on her jungle gym either!

This morning they were so excited to go see what the EB had brought.  We hurried downstairs to find the loot!  Of course Kayla dug right into the candy and  before we knew it had eaten an entire big pack of gum.  (wonder what that will do??) Neeley wanted to play her new card games.  so we all played Old Maid together.  Right towards the end of  the game Neeley got the old maid card and rushed out of the room crying.  It brought me back to my childhood. Oh the joys of learning sportmanship!  Jeremy then informed the girls that the EB had left a note about something that was too heavy to bring inside.  So we all rushed out to the cold garage with bare feet to see what was there.  The girls started jumping around when they found their new blow up water slide.  After breakfast we all rushed to get ready so we could go out to play on it.  It is such a warm sunny day.  We stayed out for a few hours while the girls played.  Jeremy and I wished we could keep this moment forever.  The joys of childhood are so fun to relive.  Just watching the girls giggle and have so much fun made a little imprint on our hearts!

Happy Easter everyone!

Gigantic

One day Kayla discovered the baby spoons in the drawer and she has been using them ever since.  Some how they are much more fun than the big kid spoons.  Well today she looked in the drawer and came runner over to me with much excitement.  She said, "Mommy this fork is gigantic!!"  I first stopped and thought "Wow, she's two and she knows the word gigantic!"  Then I looked and saw that it was one of those really big serving forks.  My first gut reaction was to say no.  But then I thought of something my mom has always said.  Save getting mad and NO's for big things!  Really, why would it matter if she used the big spoon?  I find myself doing this some times and I have to stop and think.  A big spoon is just as easy to wash as the little ones.  So for today I am watching out for those "does it really matter" moments  so I can practice saying yes and keep my NO's for the big stuff and let her get away with the gigantic thing for today.  Just like my mommy taught me!

FYI:  She really did do a great job of eating with the gigantic fork and it was pretty cute too!

Easter Chicks Recipe

I had a few requests for the recipe so here it is:

The original recipe called for a chocolate rice crispy type  nest but we prefer the no bake cookies instead.

No Bake Cookies (the nest)

1 cube (1/2 cup) butter

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup cocoa

Heat in sauce pan. Once it boils, cook for 1 and 1/2 minutes

Then stir in:

3 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper and try to make them nest shaped.

Then take twinkies and cut them in half.

Poke sprinkles in for the eyes.  Cut the orange slice candies in half and attach them with a tooth pick.  Then pipe on a little beak with orange frosting.  (I cheat and use the little tube of frosting you buy premade at the store!)  Then stick your chick in the nest and you are done.

One tip is to have the chicks all ready to go before you start making the nests.  Then you can put the chicks in the nest before they set up and they will probably stay perched better!

One recipe makes 12-14 good sized nests and one box of twinkies makes 20 chicks.

Easter Chicks!

Neeley has to take a treat for preschool tomorrow so we decided to make our Easter chicks again.  We got the recipe for them from our friend Sarah Granata a few years ago and have made them ever since.  We think they are adorable and the kids can help.  Neeley and Kayla have been staying at my sister Shauna's house since Sunday.  She dropped them off today and was headed up to my parents to help my Mom out so she left her two girls here to play with Neeley and Kayla.  Cassidy and Linzie have been a great help and have entertained the girls very well.  They helped make the treats too!

Last Thursday I went in to have surgery to have my gallbladder out.  I started out at the surgery center, went through the whole admittance process, cried as they wheeled my bed into surgery.  I was really scared and I am sure it didn't help Jeremy much to see me being wheeled away crying!  When I woke up they were rushing me to feel less pain so I could get dressed up to go over to the hospital for a second operation.  The first one went well but they found that I had several stones stuck in my bile ducts.  So I had to get dressed and go over to the hospital.  Jer pulled up to the ER doors and got the wheel chair to wheel me in.  Then I had to go through the whole admittance process again while I was sitting there in agony.  Then they had me get back into the lovely gown and wait.  This time when they wheeled my bed away I was in too much pain to cry.  When we got into the operating room they told me to roll over on to the operating table onto my stomach.  I thought they had to be joking after having been cut into in 4 different places on my stomach, but no!  Then they put this weird cup thing in my mouth and I was put out again.  They stuck a tube down my throat, into my stomach and up the bile duct past the stones that were lodged in it.  Then they blow up a balloon and drag it back out so it drags the stones out with it.  Jeremy says that I was really weird when I woke up this time.  I kept asking the same questions over and over again.  I also kept telling the nurses, "Thank you for taking care of me" over and over again.  At that point, I really was thankful!  After a bit of recovering they got me dressed again and Jeremy brought me home.  Thanks to Grandma Dopp we didn't have to worry about the kids until bed time that night and Lilah was even taking a bottle!

We are so thankful for all of the help we had during all of this.  We had dinner from Nikki and Richelle and from a few people in our ward.  My family fasted for us.  My sister Karen came and helped me on Saturday while Jer and the girls got out of the house, and my sister Shauna took the girls for a few days.  We have also had countless calls from friends and family to check on us.  You really start to see how loved you are when times get tough.  It is so nice to have an army of people around you who care.  Jeremy has also been so supportive.  He has taken over everything and given me time to recover.  Finally today I am starting to feel better.  I am still not up to speed.  In fact it is 5 pm right now and I am ready for bed.  But each day I have been feeling a little better.  I am sure it will take a few weeks before I am back to feeling "normal" (if there is such a thing) but we have a start.

Jeremy's Funny Friend

One of Jeremy's best friends ever since grade school works for Callaway in California.  He wrote this rap and the company took him to a recording studio and recorded it, then filmed the video.  It is sooo funny even if you don't know him.  He is trying to get over one million hits and is almost there in just a few days.  Currently it is 13# on U-tube!  Take a look by clicking on the link below.

Nate Randall's video

Disneyland!!

Super Dad!

This has been a rough week for our family and without Jeremy we wouldn't have been able to hold it all together!  He really has been a super Dad. I spent two days of our vacation in the hotel room sick and Jeremy took the girls to Disneyland by himself.  Since getting home I have had two more gallstone attacks and he has taken over the household.  He has done everything from getting the girls dressed and fed, playing ref between them, keeping up on the house and dishes, waiting on me hand and foot, messaging my back, keeping the girls out of my hair, grocery shopping and anything else you can think of.  Now he is doing the frustrating task of trying to get Lilah to have a bottle so that I can have surgery.  Never once have I heard him complain.  He has kept it all positive.  He has been going around the house teasing the girls, singing to the baby and talking me out of a lot of stress!  I feel remiss that his birthday came and went without a lot of fuss from us.  This is the first time in 10 years that he hasn't had some sort of surprise from me!  At least we managed to get him one of his favorite birthday treats, a Parsons cake!

Happy birthday baby!  I will make it up to you soon!  Thanks for taking superb care of us all!  Without you we would be lost!  You are my ray of sunshine on a cloudy day!