Mother's Day!

As demonstrated by my birthday, I might just be the luckiest mom on the planet.  I have three girls who think it's loads of fun to pamper their mom.  Since I'm not about to discourage these lovely impulses, my Mother's Day was fantastic.  The only thing that could have made it better was if John had been able to join us.  (This is the 4th Mother's Day in a row he's missed.

The Three Piggie Opera

The kindergarten class has a fantastic tradition of putting on an opera, a "Three Piggie Opera", at the end of every school year.  I don't know who wrote the opera, but it's darling.  Naomi was the closer, which means she was the one to say, "Thank you for coming to the 'Three Piggie Opera.'"  Obviously, that is the most important part in the whole pageant.

Because I forgot my camera, I don't have any footage of the actual event, but I have these recaps performed by Naomi on her own.  Here is the song that the parents sing to the piggies before they leave home:


And here is the song the piggies sing to the wolf.


It's sad to think that my other two girls won't get a chance to sing these songs.  We've sung the wolf's song ("I want a big . . .  fat . . . pig to eat, I want a big . . . fat . . . pig to eat.") for over two years now, especially when there is any pork product on the table.

Great Deal

I found that there is a fantastic promotion happening at Paper Coterie right now.  Through Friday, every customer gets $40 off their order (not including shipping).  You may or may not need the code OPENHOUSE to make this work.

I've been using today to fill out two recipe books from Paper Coterie.  One for my favorite baking and treat recipes and one for my go-to dinners.  Awesome!

What a man needs. . .

. . . is a Jeep!

And John bought a Jeep today.

It's obviously very manly.  John plans to make a big clubhouse-esque sign for the side that says, "No Girls Allowed."

How do you think that's going to go over with the rest of the members of this family?

Seriously, the girls have already been taken for a couple rides, and they have big plans of where they want to go in "Daddy's Jeep."   And what dad could possibly resist?

Late Easter

Here is the post I wrote for my Easter last week.  


I hope you all have souls full of the blessings of the Resurrection and the Atonement.  I intend to contemplate these wonderful gifts at some point in my life, but here's how my Easter Sunday went.

1)  Olivia refused to wear the flower hairclip that I made for her and also had a mutiny over the sleeves of her Easter dress.  "Too itchy."  Every single one of her sisters is in the same Easter dress uncomplainingly.  I'm sure you know that I handled that really well.
2)  Mimi and Liv fought ALL STINKIN' MORNING.  They were banished to separate rooms three times before we left for church.
3) Bella bounce-bounce-bounced on the pew through two baby blessings and the sacrament prayer.  Maddie, in full stranger-danger mode, refused to go to any of the well-meaning members of the congregation who were trying to help.
4) My new Easter dress, which I made for myself, is impossible to nurse in.  I'm obviously a genius.  So, taking Bella with me, I tried to nurse Maddie in the bathroom stall, sitting on the toilet and feeling like a pervert.  Bella opened the door on me twice, exposing me to the ladies out washing their hands.  Did I resort to threats?  Absolutely.
5) Did they work?  No.  She did stop opening the door, but she crawled underneath the door and started looking under the doors of the other stalls, asking questions like, "What you doing, huh?"  "You look like you pooping.  Are you pooping, huh?"  Awesome.  Should one apologize in this situation, or should one simply pretend that one is unrelated to the misbehaving child?
6)  After kids went to Primary and nursery, I took Maddie to Sunday School, where she looked darling in her Easter dress but screamed--SCREAMED--if anyone but me tried to touch her.  Again--awesome.  I sat her on the floor with all her little rubber toys, and she played happily for about 4 minutes.  Then I hear a choking sound and looked down to see Maddie's face all red and her eyes big.  I smacked her on the back to get her breathing again and she vomited.  First a gum wrapper (WHERE did she get a gum wrapper?), then her entire breakfast of sweet potatoes and all the milk she had consumed in our little pervert session in the bathroom stall.  Luckily for the church carpet, I caught most of the vomit in my church bag, where it promptly ruined all the visual aids for my lesson on the Atonement I was teaching in Young Women.  Again, awesome.
7) There was more, but I'm stopping here, since it's still too soon for this to be more funny than horrifying.  Suffice it to say, we are celebrating Easter next Sunday when John is back from Idaho.  Maybe I can feel the Spirit just one week late.


We did.  Church today, with John, was relatively soothing, spiritual, and peaceful.  We cooked a delicious dinner (most of prepared early, so I just made rolls while John made my grandma's famous raspberry ice cream), and celebrated Easter with some friends later this evening.  It was wonderful.  I love the opportunity to ponder the blessings given to us by our Savior and recommit to living my life as He would have me do.  As always, I'm just a little bit late.