Hunter's Preschool Easter Egg Hunt

Hunter has been so excited to have his Easter egg hunt with his preschool class. We woke up to POURING rain. Palmer and Lincoln were also excited to get to watch the hunt as they were off of school for Spring Break. I wasn't sure what they were going to do for the hunt since it is usually in the back of the preschool. We got there and and found that the hunt would be inside this year. Hunter was given his traditional bunny ears. We have always loved this hunt. Last year was so fun as well as the year before.
This year I bribed Palmer and Lincoln to help me watch McKay so I could watch Hunter and take pictures. You can see how into it they are.
One of my favorite parts of the whole thing is when they sing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail." It is SO CUTE! Hunter has been singing it around the house and I love it.
The actions are just as cute.
This year they couldn't look for their individual eggs (usually they look for eggs that have their locker number on them). They found baskets with their locker numbers on them instead.
As always the Easter Bunny came and handed out treats. Palmer and Lincoln even got some which was their highlight of the day.
This is our last Jacque's Preschool Easter Egg hunt as I am pretty sure we won't live here when McKay is three. I have loved that school and how much work and effort they put into all that they do. It will be hard to find such a great preschool somewhere else.

Happy Easter!

Plastic Easter Egg Object Lesson

I thought I would share with you one more of the activities that we have done this week while following the days of the Savior's life. This also comes from A Christ Centered Easter. I actually have seen this done a couple of place and it is really a good thing to help kids remember details of the Atonement and Crucifiction.

You will need to number some plastic eggs 1-12. You will fill them with: 1-three dimes, 2-A small cracker or piece of bread. 3-A sacrament cup. 4-A length of twine. 5-A piece of soap. 6-A swatch of purple cloth. 7-a nail. 8-Two toothpicks (to represent casting lots). 9-A bag of crushed rocks and potting soil. 10-Strips of white cloth. 11-Spices tied in a small piece of cloth. 12-Leave this one empty.
You will also put the following scriptures in the corresponding eggs. 1-Matthew 26:14-16. 2-Matthew 26:26-28. 3-Mathew 26: 36-37, 39, 42, 44. 4-Matthew 27:1-2. 5-Matthew 27:22-24. 6-Mark 15:16-19. 7-Luke 23:26-27, 33. 8-Luke 23:34. 9-Matthew 27:50-51, 54. 10-Luke 23:50-53, Matthew 27:60. 11-Mark 16:1-4. 12-Mark 16:5-6.
The boys took turns opening the eggs in order and then we would have them try to guess why the object was in the egg with the scripture. It was good because it helped them to pay attention to the scriptures and not just the object.

This is one of my favorite activities we have done. The boys paid attention and learned a lot too!

A Christ Centered Easter

I never have felt like I excelled at Easter. It is a tough holiday because there aren't a lot of traditions that center around the Savior. We have always given our Easter baskets on Saturday and done the Easter egg hunts that day, but I always end up feeling like Sunday falls a little flat. We have watched The Lamb of God every year, which I love, but it still doesn't seem to be enough for such a wonderful holiday. Okay so you get my frustration right?

Last year I saw this book floating around the blogosphere. It is a book that goes through each day of the last week of the Savior's life and give you crafts, games, stories and activities to help your children understand it all.
Sunday night was Palm Sunday (Palmer's name comes from the people who were waving palm leaves to welcome the Savior). We learned about what that meant and the boys got to act it out. I made some very ROUGH looking palm leaves (okay so they don't really look like palm leaves, but they worked). My friend Trish came over for dinner (and actually BROUGHT the dinner. She is awesome!) Trish was kind enough to model the palm leaves :)
Lincoln got to play Jesus and Josh was lucky enough to play the donkey :) I pretty sure he was thrilled about it.
It was fun for the boys and they learned a lot. In this picture you can't see it, but they are waving their palm leaves.
The next day I heard the boys saying they wanted to play the "palm leaf game" and they were arguing who was going to get to be Jesus.  
We have been doing the nightly activities in the book and have learned a lot and have been focusing on Jesus more than we ever have before. I am confident this is going to be the best Easter we have ever had!

The End of Indoor Soccer

After our first year of indoor soccer I am proud to announce that we are fans. The boys LOVED indoor soccer (especially Lincoln) and would count down the days until it was time to play. Lincoln would say on Sunday, "only 6 more days until my favorite day in the world." I would ask what day that was and he would tell me it was when he would play indoor soccer. I love that they loved it so much. They both played goalie a lot and really were good at it. I think they both also tired of goalie after a while because they began to ask their coach to not put them at goalie. Josh was/is a goalie and so it was fun for him to be behind them coaching them on what to do.
This was Palmer's team (I am sad that I didn't get a picture of Lincoln's team. Oh well, we have their team pictures I guess.) Palmer's coach totally reminded me of "Ben" from Lost. At one point he shaved his beard and he REALLY looked like him. They had a very good team this year (note Palmer's crazy blue socks.  He INSISTED on wearing them and would not even consider black or white.  I never know what my boys are going to do.  I kind of like the randomness of it all).
They both got this spiffy medal, which they were so proud to wear around. We have quite a few trophies, so I am always glad when the medal is chosen to give the boys.
After their games we always give them some sort of reward if they were good sports. I don't care how many goals, touchdowns, baskets, runs they score, but if they are good sports I feel they are learning what I put them in sports for. We have had a few issues with tantrums and poor sportsmanship so this was necessary for our family. Over the years that we have been doing this they have become very good sports. The reward was a little bigger on this last day of indoor. After their outdoor games were done (they have now played 4 outdoor games and I haven't even seen one! I am always at the indoor games so Josh can coach the outdoor soccer games. The season is half over!) we headed to Chik-Fil-A for lunch to celebrate a great season (oh how I love that place).

Can I tell you how kid friendly that restaurant is? When you pick up a high chair it has a stickable placemat in it so that babies don't have to eat off the table. Genius!
McKay LOVES fries (surprise right?)
These boys are so cute and so good at saying "thank you" a million times at lunch.

If you can't tell we are pretty smitten with them.
It was a good day and has been a good experience. I have to be honest doing both sports was a little nuts, so I am glad to be done with one of them. On to outdoor soccer (well, the rest of it anyway).

Hunter's Preschool Field Trip to Wheeler Farm

The field trip to Wheeler Farm is something that my boys anticipate all year long at preschool. I always go with the boys when they are in their "senior year" of preschool :) I got to go with Lincoln last year, and Palmer the year before that. Hunter was so excited that it was his turn. The bus ride to the farm is always on a chartered bus and it is such a highlight for the kids. They play farm songs all of the way there and the kids practice them the whole month before so they know them well. I had some of them stuck in my head for the entire day.
We went first to the "lightening tree" to get some pictures. It is the coolest tree! Hunter was DYING to climb it, and to be honest so was I :) We need a good climbing tree like that.
Hunter's class.


I love all of the pioneer stuff that is all over the farm. I just kept thinking the whole time we were there about how far life has come, how hard it would have been to live back then as well as how simple and wonderful it would have been to live back then.
While we were waiting for our tour of the farm we played red light green light. I got out A LOT. Apparently I need to work on my stealth. Hunter is a champ at it however. I am amazed at his patience. Most kids just want to run, but Hunter bides his time, slowly taking a few steps every time. Is there a career is red light green light?
On our tour they passed around a little container of cream that were were going to shake into butter. I never saw what happened to it at the end, but I remember having it and I don't remember passing it off to anyone. I think I might have left it on our wagon ride...whoops! Don't tell Hunter his mom bombed the cream making experience!
I can't believe how big this house was for the time they lived here. It would have been a mansion! It is way bigger than a lot of houses now (especially our little town house!)
The kids learned about milking cows (I want to bring my boys back to do this, it is only 50 cents and I think it would be a cool experience. I milked a goat on a date to the Utah State fair in high school. Made me who I am today :) They also learned about the blacksmith, which was pretty neat.
I learned a lot too! Did you know that the black and white cows are called "Holstein cows?" They are the cows that give us our milk. The brown cows are called "Jersey" cows and they give mostly cream. Who knew? Now you do ;)
The bunnies are always a favorite. I however am allergic to bunnies. It is sad really. In 5th grade some little kid brought one to my class for us all to see, my eyes puffed up so badly I couldn't even see. Random huh?
The kids were very interested in the sheep and lambs eating.
Mostly because this little lamb wiggled into the feeding pen so he as standing on top of the hay while all the others ate.
The kids all got something that looked like wheat grains to feed the ducks.
Hunter's FAVORITE part of the day was lunch time. I had taken him to pick out his lunch and he was in heaven with this Lunchable. This field trip I was prepared. In the past, my kids have been so excited about eating their own lunch that they didn't really care about any of the other stuff we were seeing. They would ask me when lunch was every few minutes. This time I brought little treats I would sneak to Hunter any time he wanted to go eat his lunch so he was pretty happy to see all of the stuff. Much better.
It was fun to be with Hunter one on one. We both had a great time at the farm!

More Family Pictures

I have been so excited to get our family pictures back from my sister in law, Amy. Little did I know they have been sitting in Josh's car for 2 weeks! I can't tell you how great Amy was as our photographer. I love all of the pictures and am not sure how I am going to decide which ones to print!
This is one of my favorite family pictures.


This is such a cute little candid.
The boys all together.




I seriously LOVE all of the pictures. Amy thank you again! You are A.MA.ZING!