Pride

On the last Sunday of each month, the Young Women join us in Relief Society for opening exercises before adjourning to their own classes. Today, when I stood up to lead the opening hymn, I saw several of the young women put their heads together and heard, “{whisper, whisper) cute shoes!” It was good to know that even at my advanced age (36 was ancient when I was fourteen!) my taste in footwear has not been relegated to the realm of grandma shoes.

"I Can Do It!"

Today Matthew finally figured out how to use the pedals on his tricycle. He has been riding it Flintstone's style for a year and a half now. He was totally thrilled . . .


. . . and thoroughly pleased with himself.

Beer and Pretzels

Root beer, that is.

Matthew has got this funny (and by that I mean "disgusting") habit of dipping his food into his drink whenever he has a regular cup instead of a sippy. We've seen crackers in water, carrots in juice, ham in milk . . .

Today it was pretzels in root beer and he got himself a spoon to help the process. Umm, gross?!

Easter Egg-stravaganza!

Easter (at least in its commercial aspects) is a holiday chock full of hoppy bunnies, fluffy chicks, and cute little baby animals beloved by little girls everywhere. So for those of us who have a household of boys, how can we add a bit of manly to our holiday? Make camo Easter eggs, of course!


We bought the kit because it had actual camo colors, but you can make camo eggs with any kind of dye. Just add three tablespoons of vegetable oil to your egg dye, stir, and then add the egg. Stir it constantly for thirty seconds and then pull it out. We discovered that they looked really cool if we dyed them in a light color, let them dry, and dyed them again in a dark color. The boys had a great time, Matthew included. This is the one time of the year that he gets to touch eggs (with strict supervision and washing as soon as he's done, of course) and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. All the boys were bummed when we ran out of eggs.




Nathan and Matthew also helped make Rice Krispy Treat nests with jelly bean eggs. Matthew didn't want to help make the nests once he found out his hands would get all gunky, but he did enjoy putting in the jelly beans, probably because he could eat them on the sly.

(I have no idea why Matthew is grumpy in this picture, but Nathan is trying to tickle a smile out of him.)

Easter is not a big gift giving occasion at our house, but traditionally there are a chocolate bunny and a few other small treats in each basket. Since there is nowhere in the world that I can buy a chocolate bunny that is Matthew friendly, this year I bought a mold and made him one. And his first ever chocolate bunny was a huge hit! He had no problem biting those ears right off! It did confuse Nathan a bit though. We've never really played up the whole Easter Bunny bit, but Nathan just could not reconcile the Easter Bunny with the fact that Matthew had chocolate because he knows that I have to make stuff like that for Matthew. I think he finally decided the chocolate bunnies (except for Matthew's) were from the Easter Bunny and the rest of the stuff was from me.

After the last session of conference, we headed off to my parents' house for our Easter egg hunt. Once again, in our family the kids know it is us that hides the eggs. Maybe we're just Easter Bunny killjoys, but it works for us. Anyway, either my mom or Esther (I'm not sure which) worked out a fabulous idea to let Matthew join in the fun and still keep his basket allergen free. (Easter is almost as scary as Halloween for a mom who's kid is allergic to milk, eggs, and nuts.) We put Matthew's name or initial on the plastic eggs that were safe for him and after I showed him a couple so that he knew what to look for, he had a grand old time. He would pick up a plastic egg, turn it all around looking for his name, and then chuck it back (literally) if it was not marked as his. The wonderful thing is that he doesn't feel gyped in any way about the crazy things he has to do. It is just his life and he is good with it.


Nathan spent half of his egg hunting time helping Matthew and Daniel discovered that there are benefits to being one of the tallest ones in the hunt.



And then there were deviled eggs for all . . . except Matthew, of course. I mean, why ruin a perfectly good holiday with a trip to the emergency room?

Random Occurrence

So Nathan had an appointment this morning and it was not what he (and we) were hoping. He has "slipped" a little, meaning that his eye is back to 20/25 instead of 20/20. The doctor assured us that this is completely normal and happens to a lot of kids as they start backing out of the patching. But what it means is that Nathan is back to patching four hours a day. He's handling it pretty well so far, but we'll see how he is in a few days.

After his appointment, we all went out to lunch. Kev took the day off work (it also happens to be our anniversary) so he was with us as well. We had lunch at Jason's Deli (yum!) and then we went to Kev's parents' house. That is when Kev realized that his cell phone was gone. He searched the car, called it from his parents' phone, couldn't find it. After we dropped the boys off (I love date night!), I called the doctor's office to see if it was there, with no success. Then I tried to call his phone again . . . and someone guy answered. I said, "Hello?" He responded with, "I think I have your phone." Apparently he had been at Jason's Deli and after he was finished and had driven away, he stopped at a stoplight and noticed a cell phone sitting on the hood of his car. That made me laugh. I mean, what are the chances that a tiny cell phone would stay balanced on the hood of a car as it drove down the road? Anyway, the guy took the phone back to the deli where we later picked it up. Random but true. Unfortunately I didn't think to ask the kind stranger for his name so we could give him a proper thank you. Kev thinks his phone went flying when he took his coat off after getting out of the car. The phone is all scratched up, but still fully functional. And now he doesn't have to tell his boss that he needs a new phone.

Bunny and the Amazing Technicolor Fur Coat

The boys are off-track, so today we did a little Easter crafting. After showing them a bunch of craft options, they decided to make sock bunnies. I pulled out the ribbon, felt, google eyes, and glue and they crafted to their hearts' content. Daniel's bunny was definitely a reflection of how he thinks: very utilitarian. If it didn't have a purpose, it wasn't there.


Nathan's bunny fit his personality as well: completely over the top. Seriously, could he be wearing any more pom poms?


Even Matthew's was an indication of who he is: OCD. Before you see it, let me just tell you that I helped him with the beans, the rubber band, and the ribbon and that's about it. He cut out the mouth, nose, and eyebrows. He selected the eyes and all the pom poms. All I did was put glue exactly where he told me to. So without further ado, let me introduce Bunny and the Amazing Technicolor Fur Coat:


As you can see, Matthew wasn't feeling very photogenic after all the excitement of crafting.


But we had tons of bunny-shaped fun!

They Ate It And They Didn’t Die!

Matthew is a very particular child. There are things in his life that have to be a certain way or in a certain place. He has been this way since he was just a baby. Last week I made him a soft taco which he promptly unfolded. He ate the inside and then told me he needed a clean tortilla. He couldn’t eat the one that I had made into a taco because it was dirty. My mom is probably laughing right now and saying that I totally deserve him. When I was young my spaghetti couldn’t touch the sauce. I had to have them separate and then would dip one noodle in the sauce at a time. If my food was touching on the plate, I wouldn’t eat it. Anyway, in a world where things are expected to be a certain way, unexpected things (green pancakes, for instance) are not something to be taken lightly. Hence Matthew’s request for white pancakes on Wednesday.

But with a few days to consider the conundrum, Matthew took a walk on the wild side this morning. When we got out the waffle iron to make breakfast this morning, Matthew informed me that he wanted green waffles. Apparently watching the big boys successfully digest green pancakes with no ill effects has convinced him it is a desirable food choice. So green waffles were on the menu today. And he was mightily pleased!

Luck O The Irish!

Since the boys are off-track, we had time for a bit of St. Paddy’s Day fun for breakfast.


When I asked Matthew if he wanted green pancakes he responded with, “Noooo . . . just white ones.” So he got regular pancakes. But Daniel decided that colored food is more exciting and Nathan informed me that the pancakes tasted green. I must say that food coloring is fun!