Easter Part 3 Trents Easter Photo Shoot

I love to pretend like I am a photographer - I wish so much I had the patience to learn the technicalities of using a fancy camera properly, maybe some day, but for now my phone/camera will have to do.  That being said, you can't fail at getting a good picture when you have such an adorable subject.  This little boy of mine is such a delight!

 oooooo, oh how I love little baby hands!

 Finally I captured his smile - LOVE it!

 I love his pouty face too - he is so done with this photo shoot.

 Peek-a-boo!!

 I love how his little bum just barely fits in the Easter basket.  This is one of four Easter baskets we had when I was a little girl.  I love it!

My talented brother Easter Part 2

I am so grateful for a brother who has developed his photography talent and is willing to share it often.  I LOVE these pictures that he took at our families Easter party!

Easter Part 1

This year Jared and I both wanted to make a greater effort in focusing on the real reason we celebrate Easter and much less on the commercial reasons.  So Jared introduced us to the Jewish custom of the Passover meal.  We talked about the significance of what each part of the meal represented.  We all enjoyed it - minus the bitter herbs of course.

 I put together a daily scripture study schedule that included one of the Bible videos about each of the events leading to Easter Sunday.  Each night we would read about what happened on that day of the week leading to Easter Sunday, then we would talk about it and then finish off with one or two videos which we watch on the new TV in our bedroom.  The boys loved "special scriptures" (probably because it was in our room and it involved watching a video on our new tv, but I'll take it).  I was really impressed with how much they understood and how much they retained.  After each scripture study we would hang a picture that went along with what we learned.  At the end of the week they could tell us interesting details about each picture on our wall.  :)

My hopes for a more Christ centered holiday however were debunked when Jared and I miscommunicated about the Easter baskets and bought WAY more stuff than was needed, and of course come Easter morning the boys could only think about their baskets.  :(  Can I just say how much I hate the commercial aspect of holidays - it turns me into a real scrooge!!

 Alright - rant over.  Sunday afternoon we went to my Grandma Johnson's house for dinner and an egg hunt. that was and always is a lot of fun.  My Grandpa Johnson maintains such a beautiful yard that it makes holidays extra special. 

 Oh, how I love spring!!!

I was in charge of the Easter party for preschool.  For our craft we did shaving cream painting.  It was a lot of fun, the boys loved smearing the shaving cream all over their tray.

After they had fun painting with shaving cream I added the paint for them to swirl with Q-tips into the shaving cream.  I was worried about the acrylic paint getting on their shirts so I made them strip down.  They thought that was very amusing. ;)

I love their expressions!

 

After they finished swirling the paint they put their Easter shapes on the paint, the we scrapped off the left over shaving cream and our masterpieces were finished.

 

I think they turned out pretty cute.

 

 

 

More March Merryment :)

I love that digital cameras allow you to take pictures any time, anywhere.  Otherwise I would only take pictures for special events, but the day to day adventures can be just as fun and picture worthy, here are a few from March.

Grant - a.k.a. Spiderman, loves to hang from his bed. :)

 School Pirate Assembly for reading - a great assembly - even as an adult I was excited and entertained.  It was fun that Brandon and Grant got to watch it with their friends who happened to be twiners that day. :)

 While Jared took Brandon for a day trip to the Sportsmans Expo, Grant and I had a fun day at home and lunch at DairyKeen.

 I could watch Trent sleep for hours - what is it about sleeping babies?

 I love each and every expression that Trent is making, which is why I couldn't choose just one photo.  His smile and giggles are becoming more and more frequent and I couldn't be happier!

 Trent HATES tummy time, but if I put him on his tummy on the foot stool he is much happier, especially if the dogs come to visit.  Pete and Annabelle have been great with Trent, they are happy to be close enough to entertain him and even let him pet them once and awhile.

 Everytime I see this picture of Grant and his buddy Tyler fishing I think of the Colin Ray song with the line

"cuz they think they can catch that big fish anywhere,

and I aint gonna tell em, boys there aint no fishin there,

cuz what they don't know, just might be a blessin 

don't get em second guessin,

let em dream without a doubt. 

cuz, if they don't know, it can't be done they just might do it."

 

 Such cute boys - I love their imaginations!!

 Trent really does love his big brothers, but sometimes they smother him, just a bit.  He is such a good sport about it.

 The annual St. Patricks day party just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year!  Which reminds me - I forgot to journal about our ward boundary change. In February our stake had a special meeting with four of the eight wards where they announced that they were doing to dissolve one of the wards and then rearrange the other three to accommodate the people from the former ward.  Basically the four wards were in a square boundary divided into four really long ward boundaries.  Each of the rectangles belonged to the 6th, 1st, 11th and 9th wards in that order.  The 11th ward was dissolved into the 1st and 9th wards, and the 1st ward was split with half going to the 6th ward, leaving us with the 6th, 1st and 9th wards.  It has been a much harder adjustment than I had anticipated.  Our ward prior to the change was very close and tight nit.  If there was a stake function we were inevitably the last people to leave, because we just had so much fun together.  So it is hard not seeing half - what seems like, most, of our friends regularly.  So that is probably why this particular St. Patrick's Day party was so big, it was now full of four different wards trying to get to know each other better.

FYI - with the ward change many callings had to be rearranged, but Jared stayed as the Executive Secretary and I stayed as the 1st Counselor in Primary - with a whole new presidency and double the children.