Easter



We kicked off the Easter season by going to the Easter Pageant. I took all the kids, plus Beckam, myself, and so I was super glad that I ended up taking them to a dress rehearsal night. It wasn't the "official" dress rehearsal, which has pretty much become the first real night, now that so many people go to it. But it was also after a few of the first dress rehearsals where they stopped a bunch and made comments, adjustments, etc.

The night we were there, they ran through the whole thing without stopping once. We were in the 2nd row, with practically no one around us. The kids could be a little noisy, and it didn't stress me out. Plus, it started an hour earlier than the "real" performances, which was perfect for bedtime.

 

They all did really great and Brooklyn got a lot more out of it than I thought she would. Her commentaries were pretty cute.

Plus, even the next day she was telling me about the scene when Jesus gets whipped. It was so somber and in detail. I grabbed the camera and tried to get her to tell it to me again. Of course when I do, she mostly says, "I don't know" and shrugs her shoulders. I was like "yes you do! You just told me!!!" ha ha. Oh well. I tried.

 

CJ loved drawing some cool sea creatures with these new Easter Egg chalk

We dyed eggs

We (plus Parker) went to the Mesa Arts Center for an egg hunt, and were walking up right when they said "GO!!" So the kids ran right over there and between the 4 of them, Payton found 1 egg. That was it! It was crazy! There were sooooooo many people. We didn't even get to do the crafts or play the games, because it was so crazy busy. I found out later that they had planned on 200 people and over 1,000 came. Oops!

 

I continued my tradition of writing the Easter Bunny a letter so he'll come and leave the "fun" basket stuff on Saturday, that was I can leave the "real Easter/Jesus" basket stuff on Sunday.

 

That evening we had a Hatch reunion at the inter-stake center and it was so fun! Best one yet!

They had coloring, crafts,

bounce houses,

face painting,

egg hunt,

the Easter Bunny,

sports, a DJ and dancing, food, slide show, etc. It was so awesome and super fun!

 

Sunday morning the kids followed the string attached to their door to find their baskets.

 

Then we had a couple spare minutes before church to do a photo shoot: 

Love that Brooklyn was so excited and showing Payton her nail polish that matches her dress (totally my daughter! :)

And cute that he showed interest.

Field Trip

Butterfly Wonderland

Payton's class went on a field trip and I got to go with them. It was kinda funny because a few weeks earlier I had heard about this place and wanted to go. But when I looked it up, it seemed too expensive to take all the kids. So when I found out that his class was going, I quickly volunteered to go. It cost $5 for Payton, and was free for me :) Woohoo!

 

 

We watched a 3D movie that was really cool, and then got to walk around and see tons of different size and colors of butterflies. They even landed on us!

Payton and then his teacher, Ms. Gerodimos, posing as butterflies :)

I thought the neon green ones were so cool!

Plus they had a desert exhibit, and a then a sea life one too.

We all had a great time and really enjoyed it there!

 



April



We started off the month with a few little April Fool's jokes:

the night before I froze bowls of cereal for each kid, so that when they went to dig their spoon in, it wouldn't work! CJ could tell something was off, and pretty much started crying when I tried to get him to take a bit of it, ha ha. He was scared and didn't want to touch it.

I super glued some pennies to our back porch, because they always love to find and pick up pennies. Apparently Payton got a couple off by using a hammer.

For dessert we had dirt and worms.

I had wanted to switch the boys into each others' beds, but couldn't figure out how to do it by myself, pregnant, since casey was still at work and got home late. So instead I just switched their outfits. Occasionally I'll lay out clothes that I want them to wear, and CJ actually came down wearing the shirt, shorts, and underwear that are Payton's :)

Oh and I did the whole toothpaste in Oreos trick, but Payt was able to figure out which ones were real and avoid the fakes.

Fun! :)

 

 

 

After FHE one night, the boys had a marshmallow gun fight.

Brooklyn was so cute to want to come help me make dinner, so I put her to work assembly the salads on the kids plates. She did great!

There was a lunar eclipse that I woke the boys up to go outside and see around 1am. I didn't have to wake Casey up, but he came outside to see it too. Pretty cool!

Loved the cool evenings and being able to play outside. Payt was shooting hoops, CJ was drawing with chalk, and Brooklyn was trying to be like daddy and practice her golf swing :)

Andy and Bekah went on their pioneer trek, so I watched their kids Thursday after school through dinner time, and then had Parker all day Friday, while Emily and Cherryl had the older 4. Since it was Good Friday and there was no school, Emily and I decided to brave the Science Center, with 11 kiddos. Not only is it pretty crazy to even attempt that, but HOLY COW was the place way more packed than I've ever seen it before. Like I'm talking 2 whole lines wrapped around from the admission desk, to the ramp where you walk in. SO CRAZY BUSY!!!

 

 

But lucky for us, we didn't lose any kids and they all had fun.

When 2 year olds rule the world, ha ha :)

 Brooklyn and Parker commandeered this huge globe for at least 10 minutes, and just kept changing the color, etc on it. It was adorable.

Payton had slept on the bean bag downstairs one night during spring break, and I forgot that CJ never got to. So when Payton spent the night at Beck's one night, CJ asked if he could, and loved it.

CJ had his very first Let's Play Music recital and loved every minute of it.

He did such a great job! He really seems to understand what he's learning (more than me!) and answers questions correctly, plus can sing in tune (which I can't do! :)

I love that he has something that makes him happy and that he's good at. I only wish the other 2 videos I had would upload, but they're not cooperating!

Oh and Payton caught a turkey. Only in Lehi do random turkeys walk around with about 10 babies following them, fly up in trees when the dog chases them, and lay eggs in the driveway. (Those all happened at my parent's house.)