Easter--sort of

Well, honestly, I just COULD NOT get "into" Easter this year. It was too stinking early. It didn't even dawn on me that Easter was coming up until it was almost too late. I only put up ONE decoration (I have 2 fairly large boxes of nice ones). We didn't dye eggs until tonight (Tuesday). We don't hide them--just eat them--so there was no rush to do it on the weekend.

We DID have the Easter Bunny hide the plastic eggs with candy in them. I can't make myself have the EB hide the real eggs--grosses me out. Besides, what if you missed one? Yuck! The kids DID have something new to wear to Church. Toph gets a new tie each year, and Hannah gets a dress. She almost didn't get the dress though--since we didn't go shopping until Good Friday. I bought Hannah's Easter present (Barbie dolls) on clearance right after Christmas, and I knew what I was getting for Toph--I just needed to make time to shop WITHOUT my little helper, because she can't keep a secret--not ever.

We got to attend Church--2 weeks in a row! Toph read us the story of Easter--two days in a row. We'll do the 12-Eggs-of-Easter sometime this week. The kids really look forward to that, so it will be fun to do this year. Toph can read his own eggs this time.

As for pomp and circumstance, we got to witness the frenzy of finding eggs in the morning and then rush to get ready to go to Church. In the afternoon, we got to remind and remind that we don't just gorge on the Easter candy. It doesn't have to be consumed all at once! We ate nothing special at all--besides candy. Robert's Mom is coming down next month, to watch the kids while we go celebrate our 10th anniversary--we'll have a nice dinner when she's here. Since it felt like Easter was too early, I'll leave my ONE decoration up, and we'll have Easter again in April--when Easter OUGHT to be.

Easter is April 12th next year--we'll do a better job of it in 2009. As long as there's candy, the kids don't really care at all; just Mom.

TRADITIONS.....

Moving away from family has given us the opportunity to create our OWN traditions. We'll keep some of the old traditions that we have always had and loved, but now we get to start our own. So far we're not changing much.

Easter is kind of a nebulous holiday for our home. Next year I think we'll change things up a bit. We're going to ask the Easter Bunny to come hide Easter eggs on Saturday. I am borrowing that idea from some of my friends. It seems a good plan to separate the secular Easter from the Spiritual reasons for Easter--easier for younger kids to "get" that there IS a difference.

We have a 12-Eggs-Of-Easter activity we made up a few years ago. It has 12 plastic eggs in it. Inside of each egg there's a symbol of Easter (red cloth, bitter herbs, 30 cents, cross, nails, etc.) and a scripture for each of the symbols. THAT'S what I want to focus on for Easter Sunday--not the greed of who finds more eggs and who can get sick on candy first--the frenzy.

I'm also glad that Easter is always on a Sunday. It just seems appropriate to go to Church and worship on such a special day--I wish Christmas was always on a Sunday too.

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about lately--making our own, personal traditions. If I thought about it in advance, we could really implement them the same year..... what a thought!

What's next..... Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July..........

PS: I changed the layout of my blog--looks more like Easter candy to me.

Family Easter Date

Tonight we went on a family date--fun times!

On the boy scout campout last night, Justin Bird recommended Cheeburger Cheeburger as a fun place to eat. He was right! It's a 50's style diner with great burgers and fantastic service. We all enjoyed our dinner AND we split a cookies and cream milkshake. Mmmmmmmmm......... I do believe we'll be back!

THEN, we took the kids to see "Horton Hears a Who." It was GREAT! Toph was laughing himself silly at times. Hannah talked about it all the way home. I give it 2 THUMBS UP. Audiences of all ages will enjoy it.

THEN, we tickled and cuddled the kids and sent them to bed. Good times. Good memories.

Favorites

Having been my paternal Grandma's favorite grandchild, I can say that having family favorites is not always a good thing. It breeds resentment and hard feelings among the non-favored ones. Often the favored child hasn't really done anything to earn "most favored" status either.

Well, I haven't wanted to have favorites in my home, and I'm really lucky to have ONLY 2 kids--and a boy and girl at that. Because I can say, with perfect honesty and without hurting anyone else's feelings: "You're my favorite boy/girl."

I've been doing this since the day I got married. Robert's my favorite husband. Doesn't matter that I don't have any other husbands. He's my favorite, and he will be forever. Toph's my favorite son (or boy) on the planet. Hannah's my favorite girl (or daughter) on the planet. Saying this to my kids gives them a good feeling. Guess what they tell me in return? "You're my favorite Mom." I'm so lucky!

My Favorite Boy on the planet!

My Favorite Girl on the planet.

My Favorite Husband.

500 Million Questions

Asking questions is a good thing, right? It helps us learn and get smarter. If that's the case, my kids should be the smartest kids on the planet, because yesterday they were tag-teaming me. By the time we made it to dinner, I was exhausted! From 7:15 am, when Hannah woke up, until dinner, I think they must have asked 500 million questions. If you haven't had this experience yet, you should try it! In addition to that, both kids were a bit demanding:

Topher: Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, (until I
acknowledged him)
Mom: What?
Toph: I have a question. (If I only had a dollar for EVERY time he says
this--we'd buy a house!)

Hannah was the same way while Toph was at school. What was it about yesterday?!

But as much as they make me crazy and give me gray hair, I love them to death! I can't imagine my life without the 500 million questions.

Functionally Techno-Tarded

I've been thinking a LOT about how fortunate I am to be married to a geek. In our home, "geek" is not a bad thing--it's GREAT.

There are cords and cables running to every form of entertainment we have. And it gets pretty complicated. And I'm pretty sure I couldn't figure out how to connect it all myself. We wouldn't have even half of the cool stuff we have if I made all of the decisions.

It seems to me that many people start to suffer from being techno-tarded as they get closer to 40 (yes, some folks seem to suffer sooner than others). Well, it won't be so long before I hit that decade, and I find myself getting worried. Technology progresses so rapidly, I fear I may some day be left in the dust.

For now, I'll just keep working hard to keep up, and I'll be happy that I can consider myself funtionally techno-tarded. I'll also be thankful for my NUMERO UNO GEEK and all that he does for me. But if I ever get to the point that I can't work the TV remotes, the microwave, or the answering machine someone please shoot me!

.....last year's lies and deception.........

This would be the birthday boy.

A year ago, we were in cahoots with Jan, BIG TIME! She wanted to surprise Art for his birthday with a visit from us, so we planned and plotted. Due to scheduling and school and life, we couldn't go until June. That's a LONG time to keep such a secret. And it's a LONG time to remember which lies you've told--because lying is hard work.

It all paid off. We arrived in June, and we walked into Art's office, and he was speechless!! It was a fabulous surprise--even if we were celebrating 3 months late--less suspicious that way.

For our vacation we were happy just to spend time together. But if you go across the country, some of your time must be spent in pursuit of tourist memories....... We swam in the pool. We went to Orlando and ate at the Rainforest Cafe (pretty fun). We went to a science-type museum called Wonderworks (really cool). And our finale was a trip to the Kennedy Space Center--everyone should go there at least once. The weather was pretty nice (for June) and we all had a great time. I think Hannah would have been happy to just swim with Grandma the entire time. We made lots of good memories and I think that's one of the best birthdays
Art has ever had.

Playing around in Florida.

The Nickel Crew at the Kennedy Space Center.

Grandbears with the Grandparents Bear.

Yes, we saw 3-D movies.

Surprised? Yes, BIG TIME!! Birthday cake tastes good even when it's late. :-)

Way to go Jan!

Happy Birthday, Art!

We love you and miss you!

Enter the Twilight Zone

Saturday afternoon the cell rings--not a number I recognize.

Stranger: Hi, it's Dawn. I'm in town. (I didn't hear the name, and she sounded like my Mother-in-Law).
Me: Who is this?
Stranger: It's Dawn. You just gave me your new number, Marianne.
Me: Oh, that's weird. You sound like my Mother-in-Law and my name is Maree. You dialed correctly but your friend gave you the wrong number.
Stranger: Well, we're supposed to meet Marianne for dinner--we're here in San Diego. Have your mother call me.
Me: Huh? Why do I want to have my Mom call you?
Stranger: Because we're supposed to meet them for dinner while we're in town.
Me: But my Mom doesn't know you. I don't know you. I'm not Marianne or related to her--she gave you the WRONG NUMBER.

The light bulb goes on.........

I laughed so hard I almost needed a depends! :-)

...the four words he loves to hear.........

I was pretty opposed to the whole scrapbooking wave attacking womenkind several years ago. When I retired from teaching to become a Mom, Robert gave me a scrapbooking-themed Christmas. He said, "You need a hobby." I thought, "Great, now I get to spend 8 hours for one page of scrapbook and it's going to cost me millions." But I got into it and had a LOT of fun. Now I'm way behind, but that's beside the point.......

More than two years ago, Robert told me that I should blog. My reaction was, "Why on EARTH would I want to post my private journal on the internet for anyone to read and comment on?" In my head I was accusing him of smoking crack yet again......

Honey, YOU WERE RIGHT!

Why don't I listen to you more often?

I have seen the light. Actually, I have seen some good examples, and now I understand what blogging can be--not my private journal published for the world, but slices of my life that I choose to share with the world.

Pretty cool stuff.

A New Blogger Born Today

I guess I've entered the new century--now I'm a baby blogger. Be patient, my skills will grow with practice. I've had so much fun reading friends' blogs, that I just HAD to try this myself. Once Hannah starts school next year, I'll be able to devote more time to this new hobby. It seems a good way to keep in touch with everyone and share photos of the family.

Last week was.......interesting. Hannah cut her hair (again), so we've banished scissors from the house once more. Hannah also had her tonsils out. Enjoy the pictures........

This is Hannah AFTER she cut her hair--and right BEFORE Mom's stoke.
Where did all of that beautiful hair go?

This is Hannah AFTER getting the hair "fixed." It grows back, and she DOES look pretty spunky with her "new" hair.

I'm happy to have blogged for the first time. Way to go, Maree!