Goodbye Cricket

This morning, I went to check on Alex's cricket he got last week and He is no longer with us :(
I knew that they didn't live very long, but He'd only had it for two weeks (One week in class and one at home). It was nice for Alex to have his own first pet. Alex didn't feel too bad that his cricket died, I think he knew that he'd only have him a short time.

The kids and I for the past few days have been sick with a head cold. I don't get sick very often, but when I do, it can be a doozie! I kept Alex home from school today. I felt bad keeping him home, since Jason and I are going to be gone all next week, and they will be staying at my parents, but he was sounding so aweful, and he spent all day just lying on the couch, and trying to rest.
It was really nice for me yesterday because Jason was off and he was a great husband and Dad to take over for me and let me rest. He picked up Alex from school and got the girls off the bus for me when they got home, and also made a nice dinner, which I usually do! It was bad timing for me to be sick when we leave in a few days for Pennsylvania, but I'm feeling so much better today and should be fine when we leave on Tuesday. But at least I am sick now, and not next week when we are away! There's nothing worse than planning for a fun vacation, and then spend half or all of it sick not being able to do much!

Feels like Summer

The past two days have been beautiful, but also hot for a normally rainy month in Oregon! Yesterday got to about 82* and today should be around that. It's 4:00, and already 79*. The girls love it, though so that they can play outside. Our little backyard is nice for them to play, and I am actually grateful to live in a neighborhood where the houses are so close to us, it's providing great shade! They were outside until about 8:30 PM and I told them it was time to come in because it was almost dark! And it was still pretty warm outside, too!

Today, after I picked up Alex from school, I treated him and I to a sundae at Sonic, which only $2.20 total, that's adding ten cents to add hot fudge topping, and who could resist that! LOL!
So it's been a nice few days. Starting tomarrow it's suppose to drop a little bit and get into the 60's.

Also I realized that just one week from today Jason and I will be on our 10th Anniversary trip to Pennsylvania and Maryland! Jason's dream has been to visit the Gettysburg and Antietam battlefields. I looked at both on Google Earth and Gettysburg is huge from above! I didn't realise how big it really is. I am getting excited for Antietam! My ancestors lived along the battle lines, so I've been wanting to visit Frederick County, Maryland for a while, now!
I'm having Annie watch the kids for me, and they'll be having just as much fun there as we will be on the other side of the country!

Alex's First Pet!

Alex has gotten his first pet of his own, not including our dogs of course!

His class at school got crickets to have for the week, and they said they can take them home and keep them if they wanted. He was pretty excited when I told him that he could keep it!
I asked him what he would name it, maybe thinking Jimini Cricket, since we just got Pinoccio on dvd recently. He said that he's named it Sponge Bob Cricket Pants. He is getting so funny, but he was serious.
I did some research on the internet this afternoon, not know much about them, except that my sister would buy them to feed to her pet taurantula that she got for her 18th birthday. It said that their lifespan is 6-8 weeks, and they got them from the pet store last weekend. So, he may not be having it for very long, but he thinks it's pretty neat that he has his very own pet!
The girls were pretty interested in it. Bella keep looking at it in our makeshift home (A cut off bottom of a pop bottle). Sofy also keeps wanting to look at and I think she is very curious about it!
I had Alex put in some fresh food, small pieces of a golden potato, and rewet and rung out a small piece of a sponge for it's water source. We'll see how it'll do with us at home!

$1.40 Pizza Night!

Yesterday when I was off running some errands I saw a big sign next to a strip mall off of 185th/Baseline that had a Tax Day special for a Medium (12 inch) pizza for $1.40!! I thought, I can afford that, I've got $5 on me!
So, around 5:30, I went over there and there was such a huge line all the way outside the mall and into the parking lot! I waited a little over an hour to get the pizzas. I had Bella with me, and she was pretty good in line, being her cute self and hamming it up for the crowd. There were 3 guys behind us that thought she was just adorable and of course, Bella is my social butterfly, so she loved getting the attention from the crowd!
Anyways, they were only serving cheese or pepperoni, so I got 2 cheese and 1 pepperoni, and we still have a whole pizza left! So, Jason, Bella and I get leftover pizza for lunch for .45 each! A very good deal for dinner for a family of 5, and lunch for 3! And it tasted pretty good, too. I love it when I find such bargains wtih things our family love!

This Is Very Cool!!

I saw these pictures on Yahoo and thought I would share them! The statue is made up entirely of Legos! It is being shown in a church in Vasteras, Sweden. It is the identical statue that we have in at Temple Square that I have seen many times!

I thought it was so cool with it being made of Legos as Alex loves, loves Legos! He told me just today that, just as an idea for me to think about, for his birthday he'd like some Legos that he doesn't have yet, which is not many more sets left to get him! He thought it was pretty neat.

Anyways, thought it cool to share!

Easter

Sofy and Bella in front of Grammie and papa's house
on the rare moment it wasn't raining. Sofy wore her hat
the whole day! Bella's dress came with a headband, but
she has kind of a small head it it kept slipping off. I got their
dresses at Ross, which came with the matching coats for just
$12.99!! And I'm so glad I chose to get the warmer ones,
since it tends to be cold and raining, which of course it was!!


Here's Sofy all pretty in a magenta colored
dress. Her's came with a pretty hat, but I
guess here for the picture it was off. She's
wearing it for the outside picture above!





Bella had to have a Pink dress. She loves pink
and wears pink every day, especially to school!
She only will wear pink clothes to school!!


Hi Everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great Easter. We had a great weekend and it was so great to be able to celebrate with my family, and also to be able to host Easter dinner at my house!


Saturday morning, our ward had a breakfast, which I brought homemade cinnamon rolls to contribute. They were all taken, too! I didn't even get to try mine, so I guess they turned out tasting great!
They also had a small easter egg hunt in the grass outside the building, although I forgot entirely about bringing a basket or something to put their eggs in. Alex used his shirt to hold them all in! And he got alot too! The girls didn't want to get too many, though.


After that, we came back home to make sure that my house was clean enough. We then went over to my folks and have a fun weekend with them! I figured the earlier in the day on Saturday to head over there, the less time my kids will be at our house and getting it all messed up again, so we went over there about noon!
We hung out for a couple of hours and then took the kids to see Monsters VS. Aliens again! They loved it the first time, especially Bella!



We went to church with my parents to the ward I grew up in. Alex wasn't feeling very well, and my Dad has gout in his foot that he's had a lot of pain with and it's been hard for him to walk on, so Alex stayed home with him. The girls came with us though and were surprisingly very good during Sacrament and letting me be able to listen to the talks and feel the Spirit so strongly on a very important day!


After church, we went back to my folks and we made Egg or Grilled cheese sandwiches and Top Ramen for a light lunch. We hung out after and watched the church video The Worth of Souls that has Uncle Ben on it! It is one of my favorite videos the church (Well, actually it is a BYU made video) has made.


Around 4:00, Annie, the girls, and I came back to to my house so that I can prepare the scallop potatoes and also the dessert. We chose to come back to my house for the Dinner so that Jason could have a real holiday meal with our family, and not just a plate brought back to him! Since he's been working on Sundays when he started and Intel, when I've gone to my parents for a Sunday holiday (Or just to go over for the meal!), I bring home a plate of food for him, but we felt this way by having it at our house, he could have a real meal at our table and join with us!
Anyways, my parents came over with Alex around 6:30 and we started eating around 7:00. My parents brought the ham and it tasted wonderful!! I love ham! They also brought a Strawberry Jello salad and corn for the vegetable. For dessert, I made Strawberry Lemon Curd Trifle, that was so good. I found the recipe on the Joy of Baking website and for the pound cake, I found a Sweetened Milk Cake that tasted great with it. It was very much like a Strawberry shortcake, with Lemon curd with it. It tasted great!


So, we had a great Easter, even though it rained all day Sunday, coming down pretty good for a while, too. I made the comment out loud that it seems to rain every year for Easter. Alex said, "Well, Mommy, it probably rains because the earth is Sad because Jesus died." I said that was true that Jesus did die on the cross for us. But the important part of Easter is that he was resurrected on the 3rd day and that we can all live with him. He said, "Oh, yeah. But the earth still gets sad that he died for us." Very true, Alex!

And as for the Easter bunny bringing treats, for the past 3 years, he (or she, whichever one that one believes in), has come Saturday morning before Easter. I have always felt that it took away from remember the Savior when kids think about the Easter Bunny and the treats that were sent in a basket for them. So they get them on Saturday, and then we can focus on the important and blessed reason for Easter. To remember the important sacrifce that Christ made for all of us and for the glorious Resurrection that we all hope to attain!