Easter Weekend

I really loved Easter this year.  As Wesley has gotten older, all the holidays seem more fun.  This year he, and even Jack, really seemed to understand the true reason for the Easter holiday.  We had a great time reading the scriptures each night this week, learning more about Christ and his sacrifice for us. 

But that's not to say we didn't also really enjoy all that the Easter Bunny has to offer!  Saturday, Michele and Matt hosted an Easter Egg Hunt and picnik.  The kids had a great time filling their baskets and then spent the next hour on the trampoline!

 That evening we dyed eggs for the first time with our kids.  We didn't do many, but they like it. 

  

Sunday morning Wesley was up bright and early (5:50am), ready to see what the Easter Bunny brought.  We made him wait a few minutes (until 6:15) before waking up Jack, then we were off on a mad dash to find the Easter Baskets.  This year the bunny only sat out Mom and Dad's basket, but hid the kids' baskets.  He left them clues hidden in eggs around the house.  Wesley and Jack were super suprised to find the Easter Baskets in their room under Jack's bed, Can you believe the Easter Bunny snuck in there while they were sleeping?!

 

The kids looked so sweet in their Easter outfits for church, so of course I made Brad take a family picture.  Afterwards we spent the evening with Chris and Lory.  She set up another great Easter Egg Hunt for the kids and we had a yummy dinner.

Hope your Easter was as delightful as ours!

Family Home Evening

I am a little embarassed to say we've never implemented Family Home Evening in our home.  But I've rationalized... we do a lot together as a family, we're all together almost every evening, our kids can't blow off family time yet, we try to teach them gospel principles on a regular basis, etc.  After all this rationalization I haven't been able to get FHE out of my mind for the last few months.  So, I bit the bullet and got on board.  I browsed through many great ideas on the internet for an Easter lesson and then jumbled them together with some of my own creativity and came up with this...

Basically it's a countdown to Easter, referencing Christ's last week.  Each day there are a few verses to read (easy and appropriate for my young kids) and a primary song to go along with it.  Yesterday we read both Sunday's and Monday's stories.  The kids loved it.  The lesson was quick, easy, and effective.  At Christmas we tried to impress upon the kids that the holiday was more about Christ's birth than Santa and presents, and this lesson helped focus the Easter holiday on Christ's life and resurrection, rather than just the Easter Bunny and eggs.

Wesley's First Soccer Game!

Monday night was Wesley's first soccer game! How cute is he?  We signed him up a couple months ago with some other friends from the neighborhood (Tate, Bailey, Gavin, Olivia).  They named themselves the Red Dragons, this game was against the Fireballs, they both sound pretty scary for preschoolers!  He was so excited to play and loved every minute!

He got to start the game with the first kick and ten seconds later Tate scorred the first goal! 

(these pictures are stills from my video, sorry they're blurry)

It was pretty funny watching four year olds play the game.  After the first kick Wesley wasn't quite sure what to do but run.  Sometimes he wasn't even near the ball, but he was always smiling!  Then he saw Gavin guarding the goal and he thought he'd give that a try (they don't have a goalie for teams this young).  But you can see in the second picture how well that worked out!

It was freezing cold, but Brad and I couldn't have had more fun watching Wesley.  Does this mean I'm turning into a soccer mom?  Watching the video back I got a little tired of my own voice cheering him on.  I'll try to reign it in a bit!  And I'd like to tell you the score, but no one keeps score... Wesley was just happy when I told him both teams won!

Super job Wesley, we think you're Awesome!

Avery @ 15 months

Avery is truly a delight.  She keeps us laughing and on our toes.  She has learned the fun in running away from her mother when I want her.  She teases her brothers.  She loves her Dad, of course.  And she is very emotional, heaven forbid we tell her "no"!

I love that she can keep herself entertained and happy.  I love her hugs and kisses.  And I love her chubby belly.

She can point to her body parts (nose, eyes, ears, mouth, belly, finger, and toes). She likes us to sing patty cake, itsy bitsy spider, and popcorn popping.  She enjoys trying to use utensils by herself, she's really good at using her fork, but the spoon and applesauce is a little to messy for me.  She can say a few words: dada, mama, that, and aha.  And she is finally keeping her clips in for longer than a minute!

At her check up last week she weighed 23 lbs (50%) and was 32 inches tall (95%).  Unfortunately, the doctor thinks she may a have a mild case of cough variant asthma, so she needs to use a nebulizer before bed for the next little while.  She screamed at first, but the last two nights she has sat like an angel while we did it.  She's becoming such a big girl.

Avery really is a joy in our home.
Love you baby girl.

Ughhh. Utah weather.

One day we're enjoying the sunshine and eating lunch on the patio...

 ...The next, we've got another 8 inches of snow!

West Jordan Fire Station #52

Tuesday morning we visited the firestation with Wesley's preschool class.  We toured another fire station last year, but this time the fireman got all dressed up in his gear.  Avery did not like him!  She cried the whole time he was dressed up, but the rest of us thought it was pretty cool.
The boys "drove" the truck and took home some awesome "tatoos" to put on later.

 

Go Lakers!

Last night Brad and I got to go to the Lakers game, thanks to Matt and Michele giving Brad tickets after finishing their backyard. The seats were awesome and it was such a fun game to watch. A little tense for Brad in the first half as the Jazz lead by 17. But leave it to the Lakers, soon after the second half began they were back on top.

Final score: Lakers 96, Jazz 85

I love all the crazy fans on both sides.
My favorite signs of the night:

"Kobe can you teach me how to Jimmer!"

and

"The only good Laker is a Salt Laker"

Love it.

It's been a month already?

I just realized how long it had been since my last post. Geez, I'm a little behind.

So here's what's been going on with us...

We visited the Aquarium with Wesley's preschool class.

The boys have been to some super fun birthday parties.
At Tate's superhero party they dressed up a life size Michael Jordan as a villian and sprayed him with silly string!

Hudson's party was at the new Airborne Trampoline Arena. So much fun.

And at Gavin's party they decorated guitars, always a hit.
My mom came into town for a couple weeks. Finally NO MORE CHEMO! We even had a party to celebrate.

Although it's pretty much a party all the time when Mom's in town. We took the kids to see Tangled. We had a few girl's nights. Did some shopping. And took Blake to the temple for the first time. Awesome.
The day before she left we decided to do something new. I'd heard about the Aerial Tram at Snowbird and so we headed up the mountain. And I mean to the top of the mountain.
Really, the very top.

We totally loved it.

I especially enjoyed watching Mimi try to get a half smile out of Jack!

So my mom is gone now and we're already busy with something else. We decided to start framing the other side of the basement. So this is what our basement family room has looked like all week. Crazy, right?

And, for like the 15th time this winter, someone in our house is sick. So this is what Avery has looked like the last couple days.

Anyway, fun times at the Curtis house.

And hopefully only another month of winter!