Fireworks! (Part 2)

We hadn't initially planned to go see another big fireworks show, but then the bishop invited us over to their house to see the one the country club puts on. (It's over the golf course, which is across the street from their house.)

We'd bought some of our own, so we set off those first.

Kristen was the one who was most into it. She thought it was fantastic!

We did sparklers after the big show. It was a bit dark for good pictures.

It was a great way to end a fun Independence Day!

What Better Way to Spend Independence Day than at the Lake?

None, I tell you.

Oh, Yeah, Easter Happened Too

Happy New Years!

Everyone kind of went their separate ways for New Years Eve. But we had Alison's friend Sophia over to our house for a sleepover.

Then we had our annual New Years party. It was smaller this year; a lot of people were out of town and/or sick, so it wasn't as well attended. That said, we had fun. (Except for that one shouting match over game rules between a couple of the girls, but we won't mention that.)

We dug out our old game Time Out and played it, which we haven't done since we lived in Virginia. Our suspicions about the game were correct: it's too obscure and too dated to be truly fun. (That said, Caitlyn and I rocked as a team!) Anyway, I was talking to a friend about it, and she said their family play it but without the cards. (This is me writing it down so I don't forget.) They have each player write down on a slip of paper a person (either in the room, or a celebrity/notable figure) or a character in a book. Then they break up into teams of two and play three rounds. First: the reader can say anything but the person's name to guess the card. Passing is not allowed, and all teams need to get through all the cards. Second: You can only use one word. Passing is allowed. Third: You can only mime actions. It should be more fun this way!

Easter Dinner

We were going to eat Easter dinner right after church, but sometimes meetings get busy when one is in the bishopbric (and the other is helping out in Primary), and the ham -- excuse me, Wild Boar (donated by our across the way neighbors) didn't get put in the oven until after church, which meant dinner was at actual dinner time. (The boar was quite yummy, by the way.)

Which gave Alison and Elinor time to put together our dessert (yummy!)

And for us to do our Resurrection eggs, which tell the story of Christ's last week. It's become enough of a tradition that the girls would miss it if we stopped. It's also a good way to remember why we celebrate Easter.

The "grown up" table. Russell found out after church that the elders didn't have a place to go for Easter dinner, and he decided that since we were already feeding a ton of people, two more wouldn't hurt. I agreed. The elders were very happy to come, though my dad said after that he kept grilling them with trivia and they didn't know the answers. (But Caitlyn did! Go Caitlyn!)

And the kid table. It looks like it's just moms and little ones, but Russell actually sat there too. You just can't see him because he was taking the picture.

It was all quite yummy, and (much like Thanksgiving) gone too soon. We were very happy to have extended family to share it with, though!

Easter Selfie

I missed it because I had to practice for the musical number at church, but it was way too cute not to put up.

Game Night! (Aka St. Patrick's Day)

For St. Patrick's Day, we got together with some friends for corned beef and cabbage, beef stew and soda bread, beignets (yeah, I know, they're not Irish. I just wanted some) and brownie sundaes and a game night. It was TONS of fun.

One of our new favorite games is Tenzi, which is just basically rolling dice. You wouldn't think it'd be fun, but it is.

And we also played a rousing game of Quelf in which much laughter was had, sonnets were made up

and all sorts of antics were done.

It was a great way to celebrate.

Happy New Year!

We had a crowded house, but there was yummy food:

Good conversation:

Games:

TV watching:

And silliness:

(Russell's not in any of these because he's the only one who thinks it's important to document this.)

A great way to start a new year.

Back to Normal, Spring Edition

It’s hard to remember that we’ve only been back a week. It seems SO much longer.

Maybe it’s because we’ve had a hard time getting up in the mornings (early morning seminary is difficult after a week of sleeping in!).

Maybe because it didn’t really warm up this week until the weekend.

Maybe it’s because I worked four days this week instead of my usual three (even though Russell got Good Friday off!).

Maybe it’s because we all realized that Kristen’s birthday was NEXT WEEK and we hadn’t gotten any presents. (That’s fixed now.)

Maybe it’s because teachers who gave kids a break (mostly) for spring break went “OH MY GOSH STATE TESTING IS COMING UP AND WE’RE NOT READY” and piled on the homework.

Whatever the reason, we survived until this gorgeous spring weekend, and have been enjoying having the windows open and playing outside.  (As a side note: our computer/TV usage goes way down in the spring and fall when the kids can play outside. It’s so nice.)

Today has been a good day as well. Russell put together a really good Easter program, I survived the music (when you’re one of three music people in the ward, you end up doing all the music. I did a duet of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, which turned out really well, and accompanied the choir, which turned out better than expected). We got new dresses yesterday (shopping with Caitlyn is time-consuming, but fun), and basically enjoyed our small Easter. (Now to go buy some chocolate bunnies before they’re all gone...)

Rumor has it that it’s supposed to turn cold again tomorrow, but I’m going to believe it’s an April Fool’s joke. Spring is here, and I’m going to soak up the sun, and enjoy it before it turns hot.

Happy New Year!

We had a full house, with kids running around, spilled drinks, loud conversation, lots of food, and games. And, as always, I'm glad Russell thought to take pictures of the insanity.

Here's to 2013!

May Day - Cinco de Mayo Smashup

So, May Day rolled around this year, and it turned out that we had TONS of stuff going on that day. We did manage to get the girls their baskets,

Oooh, chocolate bunnies!

but everything else had to wait.

Like, days.

We did, eventually, get around to dying eggs. This year, since I didn't want to deal with hard-boiled eggs no one would eat, I took the time to blow out every. single. egg. Only 18, but still. By the end, I was a bit light-headed.

Somewhere in there, we had our little Cinco de Mayo celebration:

Watermelon water: tastes like Kool-Aid

 And eventually, long after the fact, we did put chocolate in eggs and have Russell hide them.  We did consider doing away with the whole egg-hunt thing, but there was such an outcry, we did find time to do it.

Giving instructions. I think he REALLY likes this part.

Russell color-coordinated the eggs when he could.

Alison was the first one done this year, which led to the realization that her eggs need to get hid better. But there was less crying than in past years, and everything got found (hooray! No melted chocolate in eggs three months from now.)

Ah, traditions.

New Year's Eve, 2011

We played games:

(Dominion. Which we got for Christmas.)

Talked:

(Megan went to a dance later.)

Set off poppers:

(Alas, fireworks are illegal this time of year.)

And opened cans of soda:

(Not wanting to open the sparkling cider)

And then said goodnight to grandparents, put the girls to bed, and stayed up watching Captain America.

We know how to party! Happy New Year, everyone!