Easter Events

Our Easter began with a week off from school...

 These guys slept in every single day! Charlie had the BEST bed head.

We had an egg hunt with friends in a cool park along the Charles River

 

 We saw "HOP" and got pizza with buddies, went to the Museum of Fine Arts for some Dale Chihuly and kids' art projects, hit up the golden arches (yes McDonalds!) for some playland action on a rainy day, celebrated Josh's birthday by seeing "Rio" and some other stuff that I got pictures of (note: I think this was almost enough to keep the kids from getting bored and getting in the whiny "I don't know what to do" voice) : 

Egg dyeing! Sorry for the blur...my quick camera draw makes me forget to check my settings sometimes. 

 We tried the marble eggs this year. So oily and messy. Next time I'll wait till Josh is home to help with mess control! Some of them turned out real pretty.

 Charlie kept plopping egg after egg into the same green container! He was thrilled! noah and Pres had precise plans for each egg. in the end we dumped all the colors in one bucket to see what kind of egg we'd get. They were funny cause they were so anxious to eat their eggs! I guess I need to hard boil eggs more often.

I wanted to teach the kids about the real reason we celebrate Easter (in a fun way that might stick) and found a great idea online. It was a cookie recipe where the ingredients signify different events leading up to the resurrection. Some of the things were cheesy and Josh and I snickered a bit :) but it was fun and the kids remembered a few things.

Our cookies were supposed to be fluffy and pretty, but they were flat!

I didn't get many pics of Easter morning. Our egg hunt required lots of parental involvement. We had a scavenger hunt with clues in the eggs which led the kids to their baskets. The "Easter Bunny" thought it would be helpful to get the kids to work as a team instead of competing. Noah is so competitive and loves to blow Presley out of the water. Then Presley usually will cry--no fun. the scavenger hunt helped, but Charlie kind of wanted to commandeer the whole thing. He'd yank the clues out of our hands to "read" them first. So funny.

Our Lovlies. Yay for pictures Noah, right?

Boston LDS Temple

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We got the chance to go to the temple with the kids from our church and help plant some flowers. I totally thought they were going to only let the kids do a tiny bit of work, but they were actually able to dive right in and plant tons of pansies. 

 In Boston, like a lot of other cities, you can see the temple from the freeway. When I tell people I go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (I'm Mormon or "LDS" for short), they ask me if I go to church in that building off the freeway. The temple is where we get married and do other things relating to family history which we hold sacred. So we don't go there for church every Sunday. You can read more about it here if you are curious.

Josh and I got married at a temple in Utah. We tell the kids, "that is where our family began" so you can say it's a place we hold dear to our hearts :).

 Noah is right at home in the dirt! He was struggling cause he had a runny nose and kept needing a tissue, but his hands were all muddy. Poor guy!

 So awesome that Josh got to be there. He actually gets holidays off now that he is a working man! (In Boston we celebrate Patriot's Day on April 18th-also the day of the Boston Marathon)

Presley must have planted over 15 flowers. It was nice that she could really get into it!

  Here is our group of little workers. (I think one of my three kids is looking at the camera, classic)

Home Girl's Got Style

Presley did some modeling for Hannah's portfolio. I love the cute shots she got. Here Presley is 5 going on 16!

 She's way more stylin' than me.

Here's her Easter dress that I've let her wear too early! I wish Easter was at the beginning of April this year.

 Can you believe she started out being too shy to take the photos? Then she started to work that camera.

April Haps

Presley and I made these little bird's nests together. If she has a bad day, I love that projects are the main thing that cheers her up. We decided to bring them to hers and Noah's class the next day. I read a "hurray for spring" type book when I brought them in. I love peeking in at their class life.

They are chow mein noodles, melted chocolate chips and Robin's Eggs. Cadbury Eggs would've been good, but they were all out.

THEN, we helped out with a bake sale at the school. I sort of volunteered the women at church to bake ALL the goodies. I knew they'd be excited to help. Sure enough, I had over ten volunteers, baking multiple varieties of beautiful treats. They ranged from vegan, to cholesteral-free, to gluten-free, to over the top candy-filled. I was so excited to show off the goods. We wound up making a good chunk of money on the baked goods alone (we sold pizza too). So exciting.

Here they are filling my car:

Oh, what's that? That doesn't look like my car, you say?

Well that's because it's our new car! I'm thinking of it as MY graduation present. :) It's a Chevy Traverse with all my criteria: fits my kids and friends, fuel efficient, sun roof(s). I am a happy camper and can now handle hand washing dishes and laundromats for another year.

 AND THEN... Hannah, my intern had her portfolio show down town. Presley, Charlie, and I took the train to visit and loved her colorful display. She did a fabulous job. Isn't she cute?

Presley's little mug was peppered throughout Hannah's display (see pink frame). She is such a cooperative little model.

Just what the "doctor" ordered

Friday was an exciting day in the Plant family. Josh defended his thesis to his committee to become Dr. Plant. I picked up the kids early from school so we could go downtown to show our support. It was fun to ride the T and talk about our day. We were all so giddy about it being such a special day. When we got to Josh's lab, my nerves took over the giddiness. Josh never gets nervous. I am nervous enough for the both of us. The poor kids had to deal with mega uptight mom for an hour! (they did pretty well considering they had to watch a 45 min science presentation--talk about stressful keeping them quiet, though--yeesh!)

Here is Josh at the end of his presentation. Sorry for the blurry camera phone pic. I was in a big hurry here.

Josh's seminar was advertised all over the building.

After Josh gave his 45 minute talk, the audience was excused so Josh could meet with the committee and get the verdict. We waited in the cafeteria with the Red Sox first winning game of the season on tv (it was a sign!).

Such great views of downtown in that building. The clock was ticking sooooo slowly.

 Then Josh came out with the thumbs up.

Introducing Dr. Plant!

Here he is with his PI (lab boss), Mike. 

 There was a really nice little celebration for Josh in the lab afterwards. Then we headed home where the kids and I prepared a few things to celebrate:

 Cake, ice cream, a banner, balloons and Dr. Pepper for the doctor

Tangled

So... I opted not to purchase an overpriced picture package from the school this year. As cute as Presley looked with her little pose, I have other plans for her. :)

 The little kids love the tie-dye backdrops!

 Just recently, we rediscovered my old sponge rollers. I never thought to use them on Pres since she has some natural curl. She was so interested in them so we tried them out. We had her sleep in the rollers and everyone was so anxious to see how the curls would look in the morning.

She looks so much like Denise and I as little gals.

We were not disappointed! The curls looked so pretty and stuck in her hair so well. They add so much to her existing curls. They also keep her hair from getting so tangled throughout the day. Presley gladly lets me brush her hair now, knowing I will be putting the rollers in. I think we will make this a weekly event till we get sick of it. :)