Paint Balling and the Founders Day Fairy

Founders Day is always a favorite around here.  Yes, the wind usually blows, and yes, it is usually cold, but after awhile you just get used to it and realize how lucky we are to be here.  I love Joseph City.  I love the people, the country life, and the traditions.  Every year on founders day I can count on the anvil going off at 5:45 in the morning right in front of my house.  I can count on a pancake breakfast served by the scouts.  I can count on a couple of runs, and always a turkey shoot. I can count on the luncheon at the firehouse, folowed by the auction to support the Fire Station, and there are always activities to please the kids young and old.  When my parents were in charge of Founders Day a couple years back, we had a 4 wheeler/motorcycle race in the wash.  It was fun, but hasn't been done since.  I guess too many people got hurt.  Last year we had a big parade down main street, complete with several backhoes and front loaders. Just good ol' country fun.  This year the new game was paint balling.  Not my thing, but I do have a teenage daughter who thought it might be fun.  She has never gone before, but thanks to a lot of coaxing from her friends here and afar, she decided to try it.  After just a couple of minutes she was out.  But boy did she go out with a bang!  Needless to say, i don't think she will be trying paint balling anytime soon.  Ouch!

 At the auction I snagged a couple of items that I thought my kids would love.  I was not disapointed.  Here is my little Founders day fairy.  I just love her!

Founders day came and went.  I was so fortunate to get to spend some time with old friends, and meet a new one.  Alona brought her fiance to visit, so we went out with the Mulder family for dinner, and then back to my house for an evening of games and laughter with Holli Turley, Cara Hutchens, and Julie Clifford.  I love this bunch.  What a great way to end a day of traditions.  Next year, same place, same time.

Easter Egg Extravaganza

Today was the last official day of Spring Break.  I asked my kids if they wanted to go somewhere like Flagstaff and watch a movie or something, but to my astonishment, they didn't!  They just wanted to stay home and veg.  I took that as a challenge to do something with them.  The solution?  Easter Egg Dying. When I was a kid we used to decorate the eggs and hide them outside.  The older siblings would help the younger ones, and then we would spend hours outside hiding the eggs until the eggs became too damaged to hide.  I am a slacker mom. I haven't done this with my kids in years!   Probably because I'm lazy and I don't like the mess the dye makes, or maybe it's because nobody wants to help color eggs with me.  But this year I decided it was time.  So I dragged them all downstairs, had the girls boil the eggs, and after eating 2 of them with our lunch (mmm, tuna sandwishes) we dyed the eggs. 
Funny things happen when you start to dip eggs into dye.  First the kids are cranky and not wanting any part of it, but as soon as that first egg comes out of the cup all colored up and pretty, they start changing their mind.  "Ooh, I might want to try one.  But just one."   Or, "That looks kinda cool mom, but if I color an egg I will make mine look like this:"   And so it begins.  16 eggs to color, and 4 kids coloring them.
  Karly was so excited to dip her eggs into the pretty colors, but not before scribbling all over them with a white crayon.

 
Clarissa experimented with dipping her eggs into 2 colors and then drawing faces on them.  Very creative. 


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Kaitlyn would dip her eggs into multiple colors at different angles, giving it the tie dye effect.











And Ethan, well, he just had experimenting all kinds of methods, and became very creative with the permanent marker.  I love the faces on these eggs... and on that boy! 






Before long, it was no longer the ol' I don't want to do this, but instead, it was Aww, are all the eggs colored?  Can we make more?  

I love these kids, and it's moments like this that remind me that my time with my kids is the most important investment I can make.  I need to remember that, and look for more ways to spend quality time with them.  They grow up so fast, and before long I will have nobody here to color eggs with, or to make messes with.  I'm so thankful I have been blessed to have 4 terrific kids in my life.  They make me smile, give me reason to get up in the morning.  I couldn't imagine my life without them.  And because of the sacrifice that my Savior did for me, I won't have to.  I get to spend and eternity with these terrific kids.   Happy Easter everyone!

Karly's Birthday Bash

I wasn't really planning on doing anything for Karly's birthday, but since I had my mom help me make 2 boxes of cupcakes for Ethan's school birthday, I felt compelled to do something for my girl.  After all, a girl only turns 3 once, right?  So about 4pm I got on the phone and text all my family that was in a 5 minute radius and invited them over for a spontaneous cupcake and ice cream party at 5:30.   Except I forgot to have Clarence pick up some more ice cream, so it was mostly just a cupcake party. 
 Before I get the lecture on being a lazy bad mom and a procrastinator, let me just back up a little bit and remind you that I was on crutches and REALLY having a hard time with it.  I don't like to ask for help, but to plan a party, go shopping, bake the cake, AND set up tables and chairs was just next to impossible by myself.  So I didn't.  What I did do is make a great dinner for my family and have a fast, yet fun party for my baby.... and then rush off to Young Women's, because that's how I roll.

 I love how excited she was to blow out the candles! 

 She put in a lot of concentration to blow out all these candles.  Whew, this is hard work!

Aww, the cake face plant.  She was totally diggin' her cupcake.  At first she was little timid, but once she figured out it was ok to shove her face in her cupcake, she was all for it!

 

 The final product.

 

 She was all into opening her gifts this year too.  I loved how she dove in and just tore everything apart to see her gifts.  She just kept yelling, "yeah, presents!  Yeah presents!"  She recieved some new shoes, a team Umi Zoomi movie, some more animal blocks, and a xylaphone.  She loved her gifts, and still does!

 

Here is a picture of some of some of the family that was able to make it to help celebrate this special girl turning 3.

                            

It was an exhausting day, but in the end I was so thankful to be able to spend time with my family and capture these moments.  I'm glad we decided to have an impromptu party!