Happy May!

May is always a busy month for us. This year we even missed May Day, but maybe we can play catchup for Family Home Evening tonight. Here are a few of the exciting events coming up this month:

• May 13 - Aaron turns 18
• May 19 - Our granddaughter is scheduled to arrive!

• May 21 & 22 - Performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It. I'm directing and Marianne is "Celia".
  
• May 30 - Aaron's Eagle Court of Honor & our 23rd wedding anniversary
  

Chips From He!!

Actually, the chips are good. It's the bag I hate!

Last night Evan and I went to see a fun production of You're A
Good Man Charlie Brown. On the way there, we stopped at Target to pick up a few things and I told Evan he could get a snack to munch on during the play. When we got out to the car, I was startled by a horrible rustling noise. Evan explained that Sun Chips now come in a "green" bag. The bag even has a little warning label: "Louder because it's compostable!"
And believe me, they're not kidding.

Evan loved the noisiness of the bag and took great glee in tormenting me on the way to the show. But when got there, even he admitted, "Mom, I can't take this bag inside. There's no way I can get a chip out without the bag crackling."
He solved the problem by dumping his chips into a plastic (non-compostable, but very quiet) Target bag.

Today after church he went around the house annoying his sister and me with the empty and now even LOUDER bag. I finally told him to get rid of it.
And because we aren't currently composting,
he threw it in the trash.

I'm all for going "green"
but not at the price of my sanity!

Easter Fail!

I love the Easter season and I've always tried to make it a special time at our house. I want our family to find ways to focus on the life and resurrection of our Savior, but I also love celebrating with eggs, Easter baskets and candy. The way I see it, all those "fun" things are just symbols of something even more joyful and exciting.

The Easter bunny always hides the kids' baskets and they have to search all over the house. This year the bunny had especially good taste and included books along with the ridiculous amounts of candy. Here are links for some great Easter books. Choose your category: Nephite, Restoration, First Easter, Isaiah, Easter ideas

Sorry, for going off on a book tangent. I just couldn't resist!

We also had a great time trying some of Martha Stewart's egg dying techniques. Here is a "cracked" egg I made. It gave me a good chance to develop my patience as I cut a jagged edge out of sticky electrical tape using little tiny scissors.

Another new project this year was making a garden tomb. Marianne has more wonderful pictures on her blog and a link to the creative friends who inspired us. It was exciting to get up on Easter morning and find the stone rolled away. The next day, the little buds you see just above the stone, surprised us by bursting into bloom. Special thanks to my sister who forgave us for visiting their yard while they were gone and digging up some moss for our garden.

Now for our Easter disaster. . .

I really wanted to have a seder dinner with my family this year. My younger kids can hardly remember the last time, so I decided to celebrate Passover during Family Home Evening the day after Easter. Unfortunately, I had trouble with my grocery list.

Grape juice - check!
Green herbs - check!
Roasted eggs - hey we can use the ones we dyed!
Lamb bone - umm, why don't we just use a breadstick
Matzah - totally forgot

I am embarrassed to admit that instead of kosher unleavened bread, we used ritz crackers. Without the lamb bone and the Matzah I probably should have abandoned the whole idea, but I persevered. I got out my almonds, apples and cinnamon and set to work making the haroset. My blender gave me a bit of trouble, but it was finally finished. A quick taste confirmed it was delicious!


As our Passover dinner proceeded, things were going well. We lit the candles, recited scriptures and sang songs. We sampled the haroset and herbs. Then I noticed that the haroset looked a bit gray. Upon closer inspection I found that there seemed to be little gray things rising to the top the of bowl. What was going on?!

When Aaron spit out pieces of rubber, I suddenly realized why my blender hadn't worked very well.. The rubber sealing ring at the base had gotten caught on one of the blades and was chopped up along with the haroset.

Uggghh! I guess it's a good thing we're not Jewish.

April Fool's

As a child, I LOVED April 1st. Mainly because it gave me permission to play jokes on my brother Scott. I was a very rules-oriented kid. I wasn't a practical joker because that usually involved lying or breaking some kind of rule. But on April Fool's Day, it was okay. In fact, you were SUPPOSED to fool people.

So, I spent every March 31st planning a prank. One year I "sent" him a package from Hawaii with nothing but bricks inside. Another year I fooled with his favorite condiment, cinnamon sugar. I planned to add pepper to the mix, but the pepper spilled all over me and I ended up sneezing for about 20 minutes! One year we had friends visiting and we planned an elaborate hoax on our moms. Our story was that one of the kids had been climbing on the swing set and fell from the top. We had the "injured" child scream and then lay down "unconscious" on the ground. The rest of us acted really upset and someone ran to get the moms. We considered using fake blood as ketchup, but decided against it. Our trick was a huge success, except for the fact that our mothers didn't quite see the humor in it.

A few years ago, I made meatloaf cupcakes and pound cake "cheese" sandwiches. It was fun, but it didn't really fool anyone. One year Marianne put a raisin in the toothpaste tube and it was quite a "gross out" to Evan. My brother Jason once sent us an ultrasound picture announcing that they were pregnant. We were all impressed with his mad photoshop skills, but none of really believed him.

I guess I need to plan ahead and come up with something to make next April Fool's Day really memorable. Any ideas?

What is your favorite April Fool's trick?

Answers

When I got home from my hike this morning, Marianne let me know that my "Guess Who" post was confusing. That's what happens when I write late at night! So without any further confusion (hopefully!) here are the answers.

1. is totally into watching Gilligan's Island online?
It all started when Evan was assigned the Gilligan's Island theme song as one of his piano pieces. He'd only seen a couple of episodes and he wanted more! TV Land didn't have what he was looking for, but a google search brought up several good alternatives. Last night I went upstairs to find all 3 kids on my bed watching those crazy castaways on my laptop.

2. practiced his/her instrument beautifully and without complaint?
Marianne often needs a little, shall we say "encouragement" to practice her flute. But yesterday she was ready to go with such a positive attitude. Her happy, upbeat spirit really came through in the beautiful music she played. I love listening to her!

3. loved the No-bake cookies we made for FHE?
All 3 kids! After all, who doesn't love no-bake cookies? (And my peanut butter hating sister doesn't count!)

4. begged to have his/her back scratched?
Here's my confession: I like getting backrubs, but I HATE giving them. I feel guilty about it, so I try to be loving, but my heart really isn't in it. My kids usually turn to dad for a good back rub. For some reason after FHE, everyone wanted their back scratched and John was busy doing the taxes. So I did it cheerfully. Aren't you proud of me?

5. is totally into bird watching and looking up birds in the field guide?
100% Evan. He carries the field guide with him everywhere and he's been listening to bird calls on line. He even likes to give me quizzes about various birds. Aaron asked him if he wants to become an ornithologist. Now there's a good vocabulary word!

6. read the entire New Era cover to cover?
Well, it was Aaron, but only because it earned him seminary makeups. Did you see that the April issue is totally focused on dating?

7. gobbled up a Chipotle burrito and then wasn't hungry for dinner?
Once again, Aaron. He doesn't eat much fast food, but he LOVES Chipotle.

Can you guess who is waiting for me to finish this post so we can go to bed? Good night!

Can You Guess?

Which one of my children . . .

1. is totally into watching Gilligan's Island online?

2. practiced his/her instrument beautifully and without complaint?

3. loved the No-bake cookies we made for FHE?

4. begged to have his/her back scratched?

5. is totally into bird watching and looking up birds in the field guide?

6. read the entire New Era cover to cover?

7. gobbled up a Chipotle burrito and then wasn't hungry for dinner?

To make it easier, I've only included my 3 youngest kids. Your choices are: Aaron, Marianne, Evan or all of the above.

Recycling or How to Avoid Practicing the Piano

Not quite as exciting as bubble wrap,
but lots more fun than styrofoam peanuts.
I'll have to send a thank you note to the
BYU Bookstore for sending these
along with the books I ordered.