Easter

Okay, so I know that this is late, but we had a fun Easter and I have some fun pictures to share. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter as well. The kids had way to much candy due to the the plethora of Easter egg hunts. There was about six: Riley's hunt at school; a hunt at a birthday party; two at my house (one with friends and one with just the kids Easter morning); and one at the park that Walla Walla sponsored. As you could see by Sunday I was candied out and ready to focus on what Easter really means.
How grateful I am for my Savior. I am differently not perfect and I know that if it wasn't for Jesus Christ I would be in a sorry state. I am just grateful for the time to really appreciate his sacrifice for all of us. This Easter I have had some situations to help me think more on my Savior.
Riley goes to preschool at a Christian school. Well at Easter time they sent home a cross filled with colorful sand. Riley and Abbie proceeded to argue over whose cross it was. Terry and I had the opportunity to sit down with the kids and explain why we don't worship the cross. That, yes the crucifixion was important but, Christ's atonement and resurrection are what we need to focus on. Christ lives, he was resurrected and because of this we can all live again. I think Riley understood parts of it, and I know we will need to continue teaching him about the Resurrection to further that understanding. Abbie on the other hand proceeded to play with the cross.
The other thing that happened was some missionaries from another religion showed up at my house. I always try to be as polite as I can to missionaries from other churches because I would want the same curtsy shown toward our missionaries. However, the day they showed up had been a stressful day. They showed up during nap time and rung the doorbell. Not to mention at this time I am trying to keep the other kids quiet so they don't wake up the baby. It was a mad house. I ended up being a little rude, especially when the gentlemen sprung a question on me. I don't like being put on the spot. I just don't function well, plus being stressed out at the time. Anyways, he asked, "Have you ever thought about what the name Christ means." I am ashamed to say that at the time I drew a blank. I could tell you about Jesus and what he means to me, but I couldn't tell you what his name meant. Due to this I have taken the opportunity to study more about Jesus and I can now tell you what Christ's name means. Which I will not say, so that if you are like me and can't don't know, you will have to go find out for yourself.
Well I think that is enough rambling. Most of you probably just want to see the pictures so here you go. There is also some videos of Riley singing during his Easter program at school. You will notice that he can not hold still. I think that is why his teacher always puts him on the end. Enjoy!

WEDDING NEWS!

I am excited to announce the upcoming marriage of my brother Byron. He will be getting married in June, to a woman named Natalie. The last I talked to him the wedding is going to be June 6th. He will be getting an already made family of 4 kids, ranging in ages of 9, 8, 7, and 5. Natalie seems to be a really nice woman and I can't wait to meet her. I have only talked to her on the phone. Terry and I have been keeping tabs of grandchildren on both sides of our families to see who has the most. We have been pretty even throughout the years. This year it looked like Terry's family would pass mine. I am proud to announce that is not the case with the new additions coming.

Health

Okay, so I feel like I am falling apart. About a week and a half ago I sprained my ankle pretty bad. It was not getting much better after a week, so I went in and had it checked. Thank goodness it is not broken. It is still pretty tender, but I have finally seen some improvement. Yes, I am Bonnie's daughter! Than on Monday I was walking down the hallway with a load of laundry when my back went out. I could hardly walk. Of all times for it to go out, when I am caring clothes. I couldn't figure out at first why it would have done this, until I finally gave in and called Terry at work. (I didn't want to bother him because he has been so stressed with getting his Masters Project done) After talking to him it dawned on me that I had been working in my garden all day on Saturday. I even ran the rototiller. I am going crazy being out of commission. My house is so unorganized. It took me all day to get caught up on my laundry, plus two hours of folding clothes. I still need to hang up the clothes. Plus, I miss exercising. All I can do is go for walks.

On the brighter side of things. My family is in good health and enjoying the warmer weather. Abbie would be outside all day if she could. Terry is almost done with his project. He hopes to be done by this weekend. It will be nice having him home in the evenings again. I have been spoiled the past year with him being home for the majority of the evenings, I had forgotten how hard it is not to have him there.

I am grateful for my children and my husband and hope all it well with everyone else.

Riley's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY

The past week we have been celebrating Riley's birthday. He has been pretty excited. He turned 6 years old on Monday. It is hard to believe my first child is 6.
Terry and I decided we would let our kids have a birthday party on even birthdays, starting when they are 4. Riley was really excited to have a party this year. I don't know who was more excited Abbie or Riley. Abbie thought it was her party and she was going to get a Care Bear cake.
I asked Riley what he wanted to do and the only thing he wanted to do was play duck, duck, goose, goose; open presents; and have cake and ice cream. So I started brain storming about ideas. One of the presents Riley was adamant about getting was a pirate lego set. We decided to have a pirate them party. We made a pirate cake, made pirate hats, went on a savager hunt for treasure, and did a fishing pond. The kids had fun, and most important Riley really enjoyed his day. At the end of the day Riley was telling everyone he was 6 years old now. We had to explain, since we had his party on the Saturday before his birthday, that he wasn't 6 yet. He got really sad about this, until he realized he would be getting more presents on his actually birthday.
I got this idea from one of my friends blog. Here are some pictures of Riley over the past 6 years.

Riley's Baby Picture

Riley's at 1 year old
Riley at 2 years old
Riley at 3 years old

Riley at 4 years old
Riley at 5 years old

Riley at 6 years old
Here are some photos and videos of Riley's birthday party and birthday.

Update

Well it is probably time that I did an update. Things have been going well for us. Busy but well.
I am busy watching three children, besides mine own, during the day. Terry is busy with work and his Masters, so we don't have much time to spare. That is why I haven't made too many posts lately. I will try and make at least one post a month

I have been watching Abbie get more and more crowded in her toddler bed. She has at least four blankets she has to take to bed with her. Not to mention the 10 or so stuffed animals she has. So Terry and I decided on Riley's birthday we would move Riley to the top bunk and move Abbie out of her toddler bed into the bottom bunk. Well the other day while I was cleaning up the kids room, I decided I would start cleaning off the top bunk to make sure I had a place to store everything. The next thing I knew we were making a trip to Home Depot to purchase some wood to make a railing so Riley didn't roll off. It made for a very hectic day. The kids had fun though and Abbie slept a lot better last night with more room. Riley thinks it is fun to sleep on top and says that the monsters and ghosts can't find him now.