Easter 2011

I think we've been over run this year with Easter egg hunts and candy.  My sweet Cohen who used to beg for a banana for a snack is now asking for "tweats" (aka treats) non-stop.  It's far too difficult for me to keep even myself out of the candy, so I may have to just toss it soon before I go crazy.

Despite the excess of Easter treats, we had a wonderful holiday weekend.  I didn't have my camera on me for most of it, but I did enjoy it.

We had a little Easter party with Steve's brother and his family on Friday.  The kids loved playing with their cousins... they really are such good friends.  Then, we had an egg hunt/breakfast on Saturday morning for a church activity at our park in the neighborhood.  It's just too bad the weather has been so crummy still.  It was a little bit of a swampy egg hunt in 46 degree weather.  Where is Spring???  We colored eggs that evening.

 

I laugh when I see this picture and Kelan's expression... we colored one little green egg for him and of course he decided to taste it first.  I must have alarmed him when I said "eww, yucky!" because I got this deer in the headlights (and a little cross-eyed!) look when I snapped the photo.  

 

I'm not sure what Cohen did, but I asked him if he wanted to go on timeout... I snapped this photo mid-answer.  I like that he's giving me this innocent pleading look as he says "no". ;)  He is such a little charmer when he wants to be.

 

Then Sunday, we attended church and had a great Easter dinner with wonderful friends and family.  I ate entirely too much turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls, jello, veggies, etc.  It was just all too good!

I should have gotten a picture of everyone when they were sitting down and eating, but that didn't happen.  It's a little chaotic with 6 kids needing to be fed too... but here is the table before people and food.

 

My friend, Jen, motivated me to try growing my own wheat grass this year.  I have wanted to, but just never got what I needed in time.  It turned out so cute!  I have harvested a bit of it and Steve is going to toss it in a smoothie and see how it tastes.  ;)

Here are the kids just before we left for church that morning.

 

Don't they all look sweet?  Even Cohen.  But, don't let that fool you.  Mid-way through our Sacrament meeting that day (a short 30-45 minutes after this photo was taken), a chain of events led to me chasing Cohen outside and into the parking lot.  To top it off, I was in heels AND carrying Kelan at the same time.   Good times...  He ended up face planting it right there on the asphalt.  Now there is a lovely little scuff mark on his nice suit pants to remind me of this very incident.  Luckily his face was spared.  He certainly makes life interesting!

Me and my monkeys. I didn't plan to match them... but once I realized that I did, I made Steve wear a purple tie too.  :P  No time to figure out a family photo though and still make it to church on time... too bad.

 

After church, the kids went on an Easter egg hunt in our house.  We let Cohen go first because he's the youngest and he only made it half-way down the stairs.  He found an egg on the stairs and decided to open it and eat all of it's contents before continuing.  By the time he finished it, the older two had found all the eggs.  He didn't seem to care though as long as he had his candy.

Aren't the two boys hilarious?  The shed their white shirts and ties within seconds of being home.  That Easter egg hunting is serious business!

  

Next year, this little guy will be running with the rest of them!  It will be so fun.  :)

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter... It always seems hard to keep the focus on what the holiday is truly about when you have children.  My sister-in-law gave me the cutest thing that definitely helped my kids this year.  You can check it out here or easily make your own!

Very Jane

Steve's cousin, Mike, just created this new website. I think it sounds really cool!  So, sign up to hear about the handmade daily deals!  The first 2 weeks of deals will be free... what's not to love about that??  Just click on the picture above or go to http://www.veryjane.com

Not to mention, by signing up you are entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card to Target.  I love me some Target!  :)

Click here and like this on Facebook too!

Kauai: All the rest

This is the last of the Kauai posts, so it'll be kind of a bunch of random stuff.

We spent a lot of time down at the Point at Poi'Pu where Brenda and Barry were staying.  The kids loved the pool.  After a while, they were tired of the sand at the beach, but I don't think they ever tired of the pool.  

On two different nights during our 2 weeks there, Kanyon and Scarlett got to pack their bags and have a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Neither of them have ever had a sleepover anywhere (not even family).  We've attempted once to have Kanyon sleep at his cousin's in Las Vegas only for us to have to go pick him up at 2am.  :/  But, we had high hopes this time because he's 2 years older now and he had Scarlett and she had him.  They had a blast!  That's where they made the driftwood craft that I posted a photo of when we returned home... the resort they stay at has crafts every day for the kids, along with face painting, etc. They loved it.

One of the things they did with Grandma and Grandpa that they loved was feeding the fish.  There are a bunch of little ponds with Koi fish in them.  They got food from the lobby desk and showed us how it was done one day when we were there at the pool.

 

These fish were crazy aggressive!  And really big, I might add.  It kind of freaked me out!  The noise they all made, flopping around on each other trying to get the food was crazy!

 

Cohen was totally into it.  

 

Here is Cohen at the pool.  He is the friendliest little boy and just makes friends wherever.  This day it was a little 3 year old boy.  They followed each other around in that pool.

 

Cohen is our waterbaby.  He doesn't care if it's cold or warm, as long as there are no waves.  ;)  He needs a little dose of fear however when it comes to the water.  He was in swim lessons with his older siblings right before Hawaii and learned how to float on his back in the deep water... but it almost made him just brave enough to do things in the water, but his skills to handle the deeper water weren't quite up to the level of his bravery.  

 

Small example.  Brenda and I were sitting there on the chairs talking and watching the kids.  All of a sudden, we see Cohen just walking further and further into the deeper water.  He was pointing to something (later we realized it was the waterfall he wanted to see) and just kept walking despite us telling him to come back.  He got clear up passed his nose and almost to his eyes before we got to him.  I thought for sure he would stop and turn around the moment it got up to his face... but no.  He was determined to get where he wanted to go and water was not going to stop him.  ;)  Crazy kid.  Thankfully he was happy most of the time to play in the shallow water.  

Kelan did have his first pool experience and liked it, but I didn't get to capture it on camera because with both Cohen and Kelan in the water, Steve and I both had our hands full!

 

Kanyon is our little swimmer.  He swam everywhere with his goggles and I didn't have to worry about him at all.  I can see a bright spot in our future, when the pool and any water activity will soon become not as hard of work and more play time for us with our kids.  If each one of my kids are swimming as good as Kanyon is at 5 years old, then we will be set!

 

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa... the kids loved their floaties.  Scarlett especially enjoyed Hippo because it allowed her to keep up with Kanyon a little bit more when he was swimming in the deeper water.

 

This was Scarlett after she got back from going to the store with Grandma and Grandpa.   She looked at me and said, "mom, do I have anything on my face?"  Just a little bit of chocolate!  ;)  I guess she had asked Barry if she had anything on her face and he said no because he wanted us to see her.  haha!  This is a picture of a little girl being spoiled!

 

At the pool on our last day here in Kauai, the kids got their faces painted.  I won't tell you how long it lasted, being at the pool and all.  ;)  Just long enough to get a picture and that was about it!

Kanyon had a dragon blowing fire.

 

And Scarlett got a beautiful butterfly.

 

The kids have, many times since we've been home, talked about how much they want to go back to Hawaii... how much they loved it and also how much they miss Grandpa Barry and Grandma Brenda.  :)  I am just glad we left before the earthquake hit in Japan and Hawaii had the tsunami scare (for the second year in a row!).  Barry and Brenda were safe though up on higher ground... just an uncomfortable night in their car.  So glad it was nothing more!

And now we get to focus on Spring!  I am hopeful that the warmer, high 50's we've had lately will stay!! 

Kauai: Sunday Afternoon

We spent a Sunday evening outside just playing in the big backyard and eating coconuts. It was a glimpse of what our summer evenings might be back home and thinking about it now just makes me wish for time to speed up!

Kelan just played on the lawn and when he could manage it, he would try and eat the grass.  :)

 

We ate a couple coconuts, but this one was by far the ripest and best one we found.  I think Steve felt like a real man getting those things open without so much as a knife, let alone a machete!

 

All of the kids tried the coconut milk and ate some of the coconut too.  They all loved it.  Here's Cohen shoving it in his mouth on the run.

 

 

We braided Scarlett's hair out there for the first time.  She was proud.

 

Kanyon had fun using the rope to get down to the beach at the edge of the property.  That's where all the erosion is happening.

 

Cohen learned his first farm animal sound while out there... cock-a-doodle-doo.  We had roosters galore around the house and and they were kind enough to crow even at 3am.  It's no wonder Cohen walked around screaming 'cock-a-doo-doo'.  If you ask him what a rooster says, he'll say that... but if you ask him what a cow says, he'll say the same thing.  ;)  We need to work on that, I guess.

 

Doesn't Kelan remind you of Charlie Brown?  He does me... my little bald Chuck.  haha!

 

I know.  Scarlett's braids could be easily mistaken for a braided rat tail in some of these pictures.  She was insistent though.  Lucky for me, since we've been home, I have been able to avoid braiding her hair.  ;)

 

I should have asked Steve's mom to take a picture of our whole family together while we were out there... but at least I got one of Steve and the kids and then he turned the camera on me and the kids.

 

Pictures of me and all 4 of my kids are rare.  I love this one (even though I have zero makeup on!).  Can't believe we have eye contact from all of them.  :)

 

Peek a boo! 

 

Kelan is the happiest little 6 month* old ever.  Seriously, that is the most often asked question I get from friends, family, and even strangers about him... "Is he always this happy?"  It just doesn't take much to get a grin from him.   Poor guy just must be starved for attention being that he's #4.  ;)  Just kidding.

 

It was such a nice Sunday afternoon and I didn't want to go inside, but it was starting to get dark and the mosquitoes were coming out!  Yuck!  I do not miss the bugs from out there, there were just far too many... I love that Utah is minimal on the bug issue.  :)

*Speaking of Kelan being 6 months... I guess I should note for my own record that I took him to the doctor last week for his well check and he is now 16 lbs 4 oz. (25th percentile), 27 inches long (55th percentile), and his head is 42.5cm (25th percentile).  He jumped up about 10 percent from his 4 month well check so I must be feeding him enough!  Also, it's official... he's crawling on all 4s now as of this week.  I swear that nothing is cuter when they figure that out.  :)  Love him.