April and Easter Fun

 April was a really good month, filled with lots of fun things! It started off with some birthday parties. Boston went to Blake's Wicked party, and even though it was very girly, he still had a lot of fun. In the card he gave to Blake he wanted to write, "I hope you eat lots of cherries," with some drawings of cherries. It's quite the joke now! Leo and Boston also went to Arthur's party at Chuck E Cheese. It's kind of crazy, but I can honestly say that even after 4 kids, I had never been to Chuck E Cheese! I stayed there to help the kids and hang out with the Lockings. It was actually so cute. The arcade games were unlimited, which was great, and they had a cute little presentation and dance for the birthday song. They even gave out dip'n'dots for dessert! I also went to Jillayne's house for her birthday Karaoke one night. 

Tamara and I decided to sign up for the Mini Hyrox at F45. It consists of 6 stations, where you have to hit a certain distance or number of reps before you move on to the next one. Tamara and I did it together so that we could take turns and have some breaks, but I have to say, we were never ready to start again when it was our turn again. It was hard!! Lee did it on his own, and was dying. I couldn't believe he made it through! It was a really fun event and even though we were so nervous to do it, we were so glad we did. We even matched our outfits to make it more fun! We're hoping to do it again in the future and beat our time. 

One night, Alina Drosu (my former boss and client of Jeffs) came over to show us a machine that she loves and sells called the Thermomix. We ended up buying it and have had a lot of fun making smoothies, desserts, bread, and ice cream with it. We've also cooked some meals and side dishes with it, as it cooks as well. Bentley especially likes to use it, and I think the best part about it is the screen on the front where you can select a recipe and it gives you step by step instructions right on the screen. Pretty neat!

We enjoyed General Conference this month and had our usual breakfast of German pancakes, bacon, and fruit. We look forward to that now! I gave the kids books to write notes in and I really loved reading what they wrote and found important. The younger kids had activity books that kept them busy for a time. 

Lena invited us to the Minecraft movie one night, so we took the whole family. It was a great movie for all of them and so fun to see Lena and the kids, as it's becoming more rare now that they live in Okotoks. We love to see movies now and I'm always impressed with how well Boston focuses on it. 

Easter was a lot of fun! The church is trying to get us to put more emphasis on Easter, just as we do Christmas. So, I made a basket of eggs filled with symbols and pictures of each day of holy week (the week before Easter), starting with Palm Sunday. I had laminated cards for each day that described what happened leading up to and including the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Each day we would read the card and the scriptures that went with it, and then I also included a treat and an activity for each day. On Palm Sunday, we decorated our home with a palm leaf banner and easter nativity. We also made our own palm leaves. On the day Jesus cleansed the temple, we built our own temples out of graham crackers and candy. On the day of the last supper, we had a special supper together. I baked my own bread and made some soup. I also had a charcuterie board, bowl of grapes, and sparkling grape juice in fancy cups. There was also a day where we each wrote a passage in a family journal. We all had a lot of fun with it and I think it made Easter more special!

We did Easter with the Ady's a week early because of the Alley-Oop tournament being on Easter weekend this year. We had the usual egg hunt, with the incentive of one of the eggs having 20 bucks in it! The person who got that egg was none other than our little Boston! All the kids tried to trade and bribe him, but he knew there was something valuable about that money and wouldn't give in. Even though he really wouldn't even know what to do with money! We also had a delicious turkey dinner and had a lot of fun together. 

The kids got their Easter baskets on Saturday morning this year, because Sunday was a little too busy. It was so fun watching them go through the baskets, and they were just so thrilled with everything they got! I am always the one that fills the baskets, and the Easter bunny comes and drops eggs in our yard. So, they had another egg hunt at our house! The eggs were filled with chocolate eggs, money, and some toys. 

Easter Sunday was so great! They've made Easter be only sacrament meeting now, and it was filled with music and great talks. Of course I was in charge of the music and it was fun to organize. I had the primary sing "The miracle" with Kyra and Hudson Christensen singing the solo parts and it was so beautiful and touching. I couldn't help but cry listening to those kids! The choir sang as well, and Todd Davis played a beautiful number on the piano. I was so glad I got to be at our church because we flew out that evening for Arizona!

Alley-Oop was also that weekend (which was silly for it to be over Easter!). The kids had a lot of fun, as usual, playing ball and also hanging out with their cousins and friends at the Oval. Deacon's team killed it every game and won gold. Bentley's team did great the first couple games, but then ended up not quite getting a medal. The kids did end up playing on a Sunday. I hate how they have games on Sundays, but since it's so rare, we let the kids decide what they wanted to do. Bentley got a great picture with the Instagram famous Grandma at the "Candy Court" booth. The kids also got to hang out with Scarlett quite a bit, and it was fun to see so many people we knew.