Easter Surprises...

I have had the makings of these laying around for a LOOOOONG time..
I had planned on making the crayon caddies for Christmas.. Brooke's brilliant idea :D.. and they had enough stuff. So for Easter they are!
These have been waiting around since before Peyton was even a thought..
Reverence books made out of the brag books, covered with felt, the pages have pictures from Greg Olsen mini kits, bought for super cheap at Seagull Book.
So between these goodies, and some other treats the Easter Bunny will be bringing ;) this should be a reverent Sunday at church (knock on wood!).

A Flashback.. of sorts..

We have been gearing up for Easter around here the past week..
Had a special Easter Family Home Evening lesson on Monday.. got out the old plastic eggs for the object lesson part of the evening.
They have been played with all week long.
I began to remember, when I was young and flatter-chested, how I would utilize these objects..
My mom would buy "Leggs" pantyhose.. the kind that came in a large, plastic egg. I would beg for the empties, then go to the privacy of my room, rig my legwarmer to be a bra of sorts, then, stuff it with the egg halves.
I learned quickly, that it was best if I saved eggs, so I would have two same-sized halves, and not be lopsided..
So it was funny that I was remembering this about myself (and thinking I might have to utilize this tactic soon ;)..) when my dear sweet 4 year-old comes to me, asking if I like her shirt..
"Of course.." I think, as I recall what she is wearing that day.. I did make it :)
Nope.. not quite what she meant...
You see....
Like mother, like daughter...
But she figured out the same-sized half part...

My kids are "normal"..

Or so I am told by the sales lady at our local Old Navy..
You see, my children seem to enjoy talking and somewhat socializing with the mannequins at any store.. headless or with the old noggin in place, they are downright friendly to the faux people..
So friendly today, that they posed for an imaginary family portrait with the "super modelquins".. complete with Ashley holding two of the models hands, like they were her parents, and saying, "Say cheese Lynn! They are ready to take our picture!!" I was giggling quite uncontrollably at that one as they both stopped what they were doing to pose for an imaginary camera and say just what Ashley suggested, "cheese!"..
They continued on, talking about which one was their "mom" as I was checking-out.
The sales lady just laughed.
"I would like to do a psychology paper on this phenomena.. every kid who comes in here talks to them like they are real, they'll hold their hands and everything.. it is so funny!"
"So you are saying that my kids are 'normal'?"
"Yeah.. totally."
So reassuring! ;)
As we were getting all buckled up in the car for the drive home, Ashley and Lynn begin discussing how they will miss their "real mom" at Old Navy...
I butted in: "Hey! Who am I?"
Ashley: "You are our step-mother.."
Me: "Oh..."
Lynn: "Yeah.. you aren't our 'real' mom.."
(Like the mannequins are real?)
Me: "Well then can someone explain to me the reason why I have all these stretch marks on my body? The saggy boobs... I seem to faintly recall a small scar on my lower abdomen, like someone was cut out of me.. hmmm... I wonder how I got all of those if I am not your 'real mom'..."
I enjoyed the chorus of giggles coming from the backseat...
Tonight we dyed Easter eggs.. Merrill actually manned the camera so you get to enjoy a guest appearance by me!! :D

I have to post some of the fun new things Peyton says and does...
- says "mom"
- will hug me, not a weak little hug... like two little arms shooting around my neck and squeezing me hug.. love those!
- she says "this" and points at things, waiting for an explanation.
- she'll point to her eye, or gouge mine out, and say, "eyes".
- she really tries to say "Lynn"... you should see her get her little tongue to try to wrap it around that "L".
- she recently started walking backward.
- she has a new dance step that I am trying desperately to catch on video.. it's like she's running in place!
- she now shrugs her shoulders and says, "Um.."
- she's pretty comfortable with going down our carpeted stairs... baby gate gone!!!! Hurray!!!!!
Oh yeah!!! I got my new Shade swimsuit in the mail today.. so hopefully that saggy chestal area issue will be resolved when it comes to sunbathing and swimming activities ;)

Look mom!!!!

I dressed myself!!
My girls are quite creative when it comes to the self-dressing portion of our lives...
Ashley just makes me laugh...In case you didn't capture the whole effect from the last pic..Lynn is quite fun...Me and my obsession with feet :)Happy spring!

A new author...

Lynn's class is at the stage in their phonetic spelling, where they are writing and illustrating their own books.. so fun!
So I thought I would share a reading of her first book.. by the author herself!


And just in case you didn't catch the spelling (love it!!) or the pictures above.. here you go...
Oh how I want to remember this forever!!

Catching up..

2 done... yay!

My kids...

Are always making me laugh... and I love to laugh, so my girls were definitely meant for me!!
Lynn is spouting off lines from "Back to the Future", her latest love...
"Last night Darth Vader came to me and told me if I didn't ask Lorraine to the dance, then he would melt me brain!!"
(This is repeated many times throughout the day...)

After having a bath the other day, Ashley began talking about her ear wax.. her latest obsession..
Ash: "Can we eat ear wax""
Mom: "No."
Ash: "I have a big chunk on ear WACK..."
Mom: "It's wa-X..."
Ash: "No! WACK."
Mom: (laughing at this point because she's so serious about it..) "WA-X (making "x" sound over and over..) it's wax."
Ash: "But I am talking about ONE ear.."
So apparently, WAX is plural, and WACK is singular...