Nanny McPhee Has Left The Building

Laila is losing her teeth really early, according to her dentist.  Her front two teeth started getting loose a few weeks ago. The first one came out quickly and easily.  The other one, not so much.  For the last couple of weeks, she has had this tooth hanging and sticking out in front!  It has been driving me crazy.  I just wanted to yank it out, but she was scared.  Rick is better at pulling teeth than me.  I am still traumatized from losing my own teeth as a kid.  

We have joked that she looks like Nanny McPhee with her tooth sticking out.

 I was insistent that it be pulled before Easter.  I just did not want that thing stealing the show in our Easter pics!  The day before, Rick pulled it right out.  We were all so happy!

 I mentioned that Easter weekend was hair prep time.  I obviously did not think that through clearly.

Ready to take out braids and "Let it Fro."  (This is pre-tooth removal)

 I really thought that hair prep and braiding would get easier as she got older. That has not been the case.  She cries and gets mad at me.  I try to explain to her that it is easier to do it all at once and have a break than to have to do it every day with a fro.  She just hates the process.  

Getting her hair braided. 

 I call this picture, "Tears in my Popcorn"

 Marjorie does such a good job and is so patient.

 Once she is finished we both breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we have 2 months before we have to do it again!

This chick reminds me a lot of Lauren at her age.  She is really sweet, gentle and affectionate.  She has been pretty easy behaviorally up to this point.   But, she has hit a "getting into everything" kind of stage.  Lauren did the same thing.  Just when I thought we had skipped over those behaviors, they showed up around 5-6 years old.  In my other kids, they showed up around ages 2-3 years old.  Not these two girls.  I keep finding little messes all around the house.  She will write on things she shouldn't.  She is getting into things like lip balm, nail polish, etc.  When I went to tuck her in the other night, she smelled like sunscreen!  She decided she needed some that day.  Those kinds of things exhaust me, especially when I feel like we should be past that stage.  I know it will pass, but I feel like I have to keep my eyes on her ALL. THE. TIME! I am ready to move on!  

I love that I am getting a lot of one-on-one time with her.  She definitely is getting more than the other kids did.  She is doing 2 years of Kindergarten because of the cutoff date at the charter school the other kids attend.  So, that means we get half days together again next school year.  A couple of weeks ago, we spent our afternoon at Mr. John and Mrs. Sue's house.  We LOVE going there.  They always make us feel special, AND they have CHICKENS!!

Laila absolutely loves feeding chickens.  

 Mrs. Sue saved the feeding and egg collecting for when we arrived. 

 The BABIES

 Holding babies

 Collecting Eggs (Nanny McPhee phase)

 A Happy Little Farmer Girl

 We even got to make homemade peanut butter

Thanks, Mrs. Sue for hosting us.  We had a great time!!

Easter Weekend 2014

I am having to make adjustments in my expectations of our traditions.  As the kids get older, not everyone wants to or is even here to do EVERY tradition.  In addition, I have some older kids that are very particular about what pictures are shared on here.  So, you will see that there are many more pictures of my little ones and some of the group shots I took on Easter weekend have been left out.  I am trying to respect their boundaries, but still record our memories.  It is a fine line.  

Easter weekend turned out to be crazy busy for us.  Rick was gone from home for 2 Good Friday services, 2 Saturday Easter Services, and 3 Sunday Easter Services.  So, we basically didn't see him until Sunday afternoon.  Cody had driving school all day Saturday.  Sam had a baseball game.  Lauren had a soccer game.  It was also hair week so there was braid removal, moisturizing and hair prep for braiding to be done on Monday.  It was so cray-cray!  

On Friday morning, before our running around began.  I was sitting in my comfy chair, drinking coffee and talking to Rick.  I looked out the window and saw this:

Pretty Cool sight on that Sacred Day!

On Saturday morning, we woke up and made Tombs.

 We added those along with grape juice to our Big Breakfast and did Communion together.

 We missed having Cody there

 "The Tomb is Empty!"

 "Jesus is Alive!"

 "They taste really good with bacon?"

 We then, decorated Eggs.

 Aerial Shot

 Lauren  and Abby tried a  new technique with nail polish

They turned out pretty

 On Saturday night, Lauren, Abby, and I volunteered in the nursery at church.

Easter Morning

Scavenger Hunt:  I decided this year to put the candy in their baskets and only send them around for a couple of items.  Some liked it that way better, others were disappointed.  It was all I had the energy for.

 We tried out this idea we saw on Pinterest, cooking canned cinnamon rolls in  a waffle iron

They turned out great and cooked way faster

Mandatory Pictures on the Porch

 These two will still give me a photo shoot!

 Isaiah calls this the "Awesome Pose"

This is titled the "Silly Pose"

 They are growing up on me!!

The lighting was awful, but I wanted to share a family picture

Church was amazing with over 100 baptisms throughout the weekend!!

 Easter Ham Dinner

 We ended the day with our Easter Egg Hunt

The older ones were only participating to find the prize eggs.

 Isaiah decided to do "creepy eyes" in all of his pics

 "My Precious" - the little kid prize egg

 Big kid prize egg

 Cody found the Grand Prize - Golden Egg, but I didn't get a pic

 I really do love Easter and all of our traditions.  I pray that these special things that we do will bring their attention to how special and important this weekend is to our faith.