Perks

There are some perks to Brandon's work, and we have been enjoying some of them lately. If the station is involved in an event, helping sponsor or such, than Brandon can sometimes get free tickets. So we enjoy going to the museum. Sometimes the kids just tolerate the displays until we get to the kids' play room, but some of the displays the kids have really enjoyed. We also get to go to some sporting events. My absolute favorite is the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. I love the rodeo, absolutely love it. Brandon has managed to get tickets for the past 4 years or so. The kids like it, the girls more than William but he likes it better as he is getting older, but we did get earplugs for him this year. This was the first year that we stayed the entire time so we got to see the bull riding, the most exciting part next to the mutton busting.So happy to be here! Britton had so much fun and loved watching the animals. William and Britton wore ear plugs, William thinks it is too loud, but they enjoyed it.
Are you talking to me? Caitlyn has loved the rodeo almost from the beginning. When she was 18 months she would clap and get so excited anytime there were animals in the arena. She doesn't think that it is too loud so we didn't put earplugs in her ears.
Notice Brandon's tongue? I mentioned a couple of posts back that Brandon claims the kids stick their tongues out in pictures because I do and I suggested that he might have just as much influence. Brandon's sister suggested that he might have picked up the habit from me but I must say that I have seen pictures from his mission and his tongue is out in a lot of them. So the kids probably get it from both of us.
This is Scott, the sports guy at the station. He had to be there working while we were there just to play.
Some of the action. The one thing I absolutely hate about the digital camera is the delay before the picture is taken. Even holding the button down halfway then pushing it all the way doesn't work at the rodeo.

Brandon decided that this year he would get tickets to the Monster Truck Rally. I didn't want to go and didn't want to take Britton so Brandon took William and Caitlyn. The kids said that they had fun, but they also said that it was too loud even though they had earplugs in. So they didn't stay very long but Brandon can now say he has been to a Monster Truck Rally.
Brandon was really glad that some of his pictures turned out. I guess the delay isn't so great for Monster Truck events either.
Doesn't he look so excited to be there?
The kids were very excited about coming home with these flags.
This was the kids' favorite truck, Jurassic Attack, it is painted like a Triceratops and has horns. Brandon had shown them pictures of this truck before they went because there was an article in the paper about a local guy getting to drive it during the races.
The truck in action.

So that is a little of what we did this past month, all thanks to Brandon's job.

Hair and My New Favorite Thing

I know it says hair first but I just have to tell you about one of my new favorite things. But first a little background. Some of you may know that I lead a pretty boring life, I know sad but true. After I put the kids to bed I do things like Google cloth diapers and homemade laundry detergent. While I was reading about laundry detergent I found an interesting tidbit. Someone said that OxyClean is the same thing as hydrogen peroxide. Shortly after I read that Britton decided it would be a great idea to pretend to drink her red Koolaid, but really spit it down the front of her white onesie. So I figured I would try hydrogen peroxide, if it didn't work the onesie was ruined anyway. I really wish that I had taken pictures, because it worked. I put the onesie in a container, poured the peroxide on, added some water and swished it a little. Since then I have used it to get chocolate milk and hot chocolate out of a light pink shirt, why Caitlyn is always wearing that shirt when she spills I have no idea, strawberry stains, tomato soup, grape juice, and other stuff that I can't remember. Now I keep the hydrogen peroxide by the washer, sometimes I will add it to a load of whites, and a little soak takes care of the stains.

Now on to the hair. My girls have so much of it, but Britton's isn't quite as long as Caitlyn's was at the same age. Still there is a ton there. So the other day I thought I would try something out.
Tada! She has enough hair for some little puff braids. I know that you are all very excited about that. Of course she didn't exactly want to hold still while I did it. I have to laugh whenever people tell me that all you have to do is start doing their hair as soon as you can and your girls will hold still. I think personality plays into it as well because we start doing pigtails before six months and Britton won't hold still just like Caitlyn wouldn't at almost 18 months. Have I said that I'm glad that this next one is a boy because I won't have to worry about doing his hair?
A shot from the front, doesn't she look so cute? And so innocent? I asked for her cheeses and this is what I got. I haven't tried to do the braids since, mainly because I seem to be doing hair on the run a lot.

Resurrection Rolls

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I sometimes struggle with Easter. What I mean by that is, letting the kids have fun with the Easter Bunny and their baskets but also remembering Christ and what Easter is really about. For that reason the Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday, a tradition from my family that I insisted on when we got married, so Sunday we focus on Jesus. This year I thought I would try something new that I had found at The Idea Room called Resurrection Rolls. Saturday night we rolled out some rolls while we talked about the crucifixion and what happened afterwards. We put large marshmallows on the rolls and wrapped the dough around them, like the linen wrappings on Christ's body, and then put the pan of rolls in the oven. Then Brandon and William taped the oven shut, sealing the tomb. Sunday morning I baked the rolls and we had them for breakfast. Here is the plate full of rolls and Caitlyn looking so happy.

The coolest part-when you break open the rolls they are hollow. The marshmallow is gone. (This made Caitlyn very sad because she wanted to eat the marshmallow but it made the rolls sweet.)

William was quick to point out that the marshmallows had melted. But it was fun to talk about the rolls being empty like the tomb was Easter morning. William has told me that he wants to do this again next year, so it make become a tradition, and it was fun to hear the kids tell me what they knew. William could tell me the details of the story, why it was important, while Caitlyn got right to the point, "Jesus loved us."

Easter

We had a good Easter this year and the Easter Bunny did actually make it on Saturday. We were lucky he didn't get lost. The kids were pretty excited to leave out their buckets and were equally excited to see what was in them in the morning. You can barely see Caitlyn's head behind the buckets, but she figured out that she could see her bucket better from the other side. William almost had to climb on top of the table.

William was so excited about his bunny ears. He wore them for two days straight. Caitlyn liked them, but her head didn't seem to be big enough to keep the ears on. They got bunnies to match the ears and they have been sleeping with them since.

Isn't she the cutest bunny ever? The ears didn't stay on too long.

We had our own egg hunt, and for the first time since we moved in we had to have it inside. Some of you know why, for the rest of you there will be pictures in a second.

William and Caitlyn helped Britton find the last couple of eggs. Once she figured out there was candy inside the eggs she really didn't want to pick up any more.

Caitlyn got in a fight with one of our kitchen chairs, the big black ones that are really hard to see, so I was trying to get a picture of the welt over her eye. Kinda hard to see, like the chair I guess.

This is why the egg hunt was inside. Of course this picture was taken a couple of hours after we had the egg hunt but you get the idea. The kids probably would have gone outside and enjoyed it but someone (Brandon) didn't want to go outside in the snow to put the eggs out.

She doesn't look like she is hating it. The kids thought it was really funny that it had snowed. I thought it was funny that they couldn't use the things they got in their baskets; sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, and kites. Caitlyn did ask if she could fly her kite, but it hasn't happened yet. Of course the snow had mostly melted Sunday, the kids did get out the sidewalk chalk for a bit. But William had his first ever snow day from school two days after Easter.

The Rest of March

Okay, I have been incredibly lazy. So you are getting most of the month of March in one long post. So bear with me.We had a surprise on St. Patrick's day. The leprechauns left a trail of clues.
Deciphering the clues, where will they lead?
They left us a pot of gold! And some gum. At first it was a toss up about which one was more exciting.
Britton diving into the pot for some chocolate.
Caitlyn was very excited that the sun was out. It was warm enough to walk to church and warm enough to wear the new dresses we found a month ago. William was excited to wear his short sleeved shirt. Of course, looking at the picture I am thinking that we might have to stop getting 4T dresses for Caitlyn. I know she is only three but I don't know if that dress will last through the summer.
It was also warm enough to draw on the driveway, remember these pictures when I get around to posting pictures of Easter.
The kids' masterpieces.
"Please let me hold the camera. I will be careful I promise. No dropping it this time."
I am so cute! Do you see the dirt on her face?
A close up of the dirt. She had a fight with a tree root and lost. Face first in the mud.
The kids colored the stepping stones going to the backyard. Brandon liked it because it made it easier to see them.
The girls coloring. Britton has started copying William and Caitlyn more and more. She even tries to lay on her stomach while she colors. Brandon claims that the tongue out of mouth during pictures is my influence, but I've noticed he does it a lot too.
Brandon's family came up during William's spring break. For Family Home Evening we made ice cream in a bag. If you decide to do this we found a great recipe at allrecipes.com but add more salt than they tell you to or it will take forever. In case you are wondering about what in the world Britton is doing, she is dancing along with Dancing with the Stars.
Brandon shaking his ice cream.
Caitlyn shook hers for a little bit and then was content to let me shake it for her. The kids thought it tasted really good. In fact, Caitlyn told me that we should do it again.

So that about covers March. Hopefully I will be better about April.

The Princess & the Frog

It took us forever, but we finally got the Princess & the Frog movie from Disney. We ordered it before it came out on DVD, yet it took nearly 3 weeks to get to us. Now the kids love it, and even like to act out the scenes. Enjoy their version of the Princess and the Frog.