Easter!

We started our holiday week off right by making chocolate nests for our Family Home evening treat. They were just a little messy. :)

Look appetizing?? Kate was a smart bird mama and covered her eggs with "sticks" too. ;)

The recipe made A LOT. So much that I thought, let's make plates and bring them to our neighbors that we haven't met yet! I probably shouldn't have brought these as our first treats to people, because I actually am a good baker, but no matter. The kids were SO happy to be sharing and they loved talking to all of our neighbors. We have a pretty old neighborhood so I think all of the grandpas and grandmas had fun chatting with our kiddos. The coolest thing was that within the next few days 3 of our neighbors came over to see us! Two of the neighbors brought the kids Easter treats (like they need more chocolate!! Nice thought of course though and the kids loved it!) and one of the neighbors, a florist, had her husband bring us a beautiful Easter flower bouquet! It was so special! I don't think I've ever had flowers delivered to my door!

At the end of the week we dyed Easter eggs. I love dying eggs and so do the kids. It is a bit harder to get creative while monitoring 3 tinies with eggs and dye everywhere, but it is more fun to see how much they are having than to have the coolest egg. :)

Friday night the Easter Bunny dropped by. So fun to meet him finally! That is our beautiful bouquet from our neighbor. I loved the sight of all of the baskets together. And those cute little chicks in the basket "peep." They are almost as cute as the real thing. And they smell better. :) I couldn't find anywhere to go see some real ones darn it!

See, the bunny came!!! And went...Eeew eh? Kate ate them!!! Never fear, they were chocolate raisins. Kara was SO disgusted though. Kept saying "Eeeeww!" in her girly squeal. I thought it was pretty funny...and real looking.

I knew Kate would love her baby Cheepy. She has a thing for birds...remember that "cute" pigeon she is attached too. Yep. Now it has a baby.

Zach found his basket finally! In the dryer!

I walked in the room and thought it was so cute that they were all playing so nicely together. Then Zach let me know that they were roasting their chicks over the "fire." Nice. Makes me wonder, how would my girls be different if their older sibling was a girl?? :)

While Justin was conducting a baptism and the girls were napping, Zach and I set up an egg hunt. It was fun to watch Zach hide the girls eggs and look at me and give me a thumbs up when he thought it was an awesomely hard spot. Good work Zach. I hid his later when he wasn't looking.

So focused!! They had to find the eggs with only their sticker on them. It was fun to watch them run crazily around the yard searching for eggs. Kate still goes outside and says she is going to look for eggs. She found one the day after Easter!

Victory!

Us girls on Easter Sunday!! Zach and Justin were too quick to change. We didn't really have any special Easter outfits, but had to take a picture on Easter Sunday!

I found, and swallowed, the BIGGEST egg! ;) 37 weeks! Ah! It is getting close!

    Zach wanted the turkey leg. Yum!! :) We had the missionaries over for Easter dinner. No one had signed up?!! And they serve in 2 wards. Crazy! Anyway, our Elders are probably the SHORTEST companionship that exists in the field right now. There is a Filipino elder that stands at 5'0" and the other Elder is a whopping 4'11"! This explains why the first thing out of Zach's mouth when he saw the missionaries crossing the street was "They're KID MISSIONARIES!!!" He was pretty excited! He kept asking them why they were so short. Oh the innocent curiosity of children. I had to explain that some people just don't grow as tall as others! I was laughing so hard...inside of course! KID MISSIONARIES!!! Still makes me laugh...

Zach's GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, I HAVE A 5 YEAR OLD!?!!?

That seems so old to me! He is so excited to be 5 and so excited to go to school EVERYDAY and not just M, W, TH afternoons. He loves to watch the calendar and tell me what day it is and count down to important days/holidays and such. He has been counting down to this one for a long while now! Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

 I guess it has become a tradition for me to decorate their door the night before their birthdays. It always starts their special day off right. I mean who wouldn't want to wake up to streamers?

I had to post these two also because he just looks so grown up and OLD?! Especially with his birthday haircut and spikes. What?! I am glad though. It is fun to have kids grow up and talk with and play with you.

 I caught this candid of them walking through the kitchen Zach's birthday morning. And yes, they are both plugging their noses! I would have too!!! We had ribs for Zach's dinner. Part of the recipe is to boil them for 2 hours. They stunk so bad! Our whole house stunk! Kara thought I was cooking poo and Zach said it was "garbage food" on the stove. I didn't ever tell them it was their dinner...which tasted amazing by the way!!! Even Justin's dad said so!

 This is how a 5 year old wipes the table. He was all of the way on top of it, but I was too slow. I am trying to give him more responsibility. Harness and use all of that energy. He empties the silverware from the dishwasher and sometimes "vacuums". We are working on it...

Zach was in charge of the fruit kabobs at dinner. Check out his eyes. Now THAT is concentration.

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Zach had to go on a treasure hunt to find his presents in the house. Here he is after he found them saying "Arghhh..." with his map. And yes, those are the weekly ads used as wrapping paper. Recycle, reduce, reuse, right?? Mommy forgot...and I was lucky to even have those! I just took the recycling in too!

 This boy waited ALL DAY LONG to finally be able to open presents! Daddy is working in Milk river now and was on call both days before his birthday, so we didn't see him from Tuesday morning until Thursday night. Zach kept asking and asking to open some presents before daddy got home, or to call him while he opened him...or how about we video him opening them and then show it to daddy. Or skype? Please mom?!!! This boy's mind works like his mothers!! What a problem solver. ;)

 I don't know who was more excited, Zach or the girls!

 Arrrrgh....

 And yes, that toy is from the dollar store. Yes, it did break in the first 3 minutes of use. Hence the taped sword. Oh well!

 Our Jolly Pirate. This was Zach's Golden Birthday. He turned 5 on the 5th. I had no clue what to make for him, but then I remembered he was getting that pirate set he wanted so bad from the dollar store one day and thought pirates have gold!!! So we made a treasure chest cake! I took the kids to the Bulk Barn a.k.a candy heaven, and we found some shiny candy to go inside. Then we baked a delicious chocolate cake in a loaf pan and iced it with fudge frosting. YUM!!!

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 Pretty sweet!!

 My baby has gotten quite a bit bigger in 5 years.

I love this bundle of energy!!

Calgary

A couple weeks ago Justin had 2 conferences to go to right in a row. One was in Calgary and one was in Banff National Park. So, instead of being 34 weeks prego at home with the 3 crazies from Wednesday morning to Monday late night and then have Justin be gone AGAIN the next week Wednesday morning to Friday night I decided to pack up the crew and go with. I was nervous, yes, but the kids had a great time and so did I. It is so much nicer that they understand when I talk to them and I can reason with them. It was a BUSY couple of days, but we stayed at a hotel in Calgary with a yummy breakfast and a pool with a water slide so the kids were in heaven. I had no clue what I was going to do during the day to pass time until daddy got back, especially since one of my Calgary friends was headed to Edmonton the exact dates I was in Calgary and the other was laboring with her 5th child. The nerve ALYSHA!!! :)While Just was at his conference I took them swimming (yes, ALL 3 by myself...a first!) and to lunch the first day and we all tried to "nap" but being in a hotel room is just too much fun for that right?! Ugh. Then the next day I took them to the new (and over-priced) Science Center Children's Museum which they LOVED and then to a friends house to just hang out!!! (Thanks Ashley! Just what this tired mama needed!) So yes, it was busy and tiring, but I think everyone had a great trip.

Enjoying lunch at Tim Horton's. :) The residency pays for our food and lodging too, so it is a pretty fun time for the kids to go out to eat several times! We went to Tim Horton's, Little Caesar's, Boston Pizza, and Moxie's, and of course McDonald's for lunch on the last day.

Maybe I should send this in to Tim Horton's advertising agents? Makes you want one, huh? I mean, eh?

How they "slept". 3 kids on a queen. Sometimes we had to build a makeshift bed on the floor for the one who kept waking up...ahem...Kate. We put them to bed and then went into the bathroom and read for 15 mins or so until they were asleep. HA! I sat on the (closed) toilet one night and the other in the empty tub so Just would have a place other than the floor to perch on. Anyway, after they fell asleep we would come out and turn a light on and read. 5 in one room isn't ideal, but we did it. Let's just say I was VERY ready to go home and have their own beds, and not have to hear Zach cough and grind his teeth all night! Ugghhhh...that noise gives me the SHIVERS!!! Yuck! What do you do for a 5 year old that grinds his teeth?

Honestly I didn't take my camera out much because I was busy playing mother hen gathering my chicks. Trying to keep them all in eye sight was hard. We would have stayed longer but I was getting tired!! They had a really cool water table, a big jungle gym/climbing area, a theater, a bunch of blocks and magnet shapes, experiments...it was a pretty cool place. Not as cool as the big city ones I've seen in the States where they have the entire building as a Children's Museum, with a fake grocery store and mini real life stuff, but cool enough.

The kiddos did this one for a while. Dropping balls down the tubes and then using a bag on a pulley to get the balls back up.

And this was Zach's dream! This kid LOVES tools and doing projects. Just like his Dadd--wait...his mommy! I remember back in elementary school one of our centers was the take apart center. It had old radios and electronics that we could just go at it and disassemble. It was awesome.

So other than that we did a lot of swimming, water sliding, eating, and not much sleeping. I was very ready to go home after the 3 nights, even if it had to be without Justin. There is just something great about home. Structure. Familiarity. Even Zach said "Isn't it great to be home?" :) Although I would have LOVED to be in Beautiful Banff...kidless...

Provincials in Cardston!

The 4A Provincial Basketball Tourney (like going to State!) were in Cardston this year! Justin's youngest brother, Dallin...the LAST Low...was playing in Provincials. Justin took a day off and we all stayed in Cardston over the weekend to watch the games! Here was the girls' favorite part...the cheerleaders! They were trying to copy everything they did. It was funny to watch. Don't get any ideas girls...sorry!

(Warning...Video is semi long and monotonous, but still cute!)

AND COUGARS WIN!!! That's right, for the first time in 58 years they won the provincial basketball tournament! It was kind of cool because a grandson of a guy that won the tourney 58 years ago was on the team this year. Genentic. Here is all of the Dallin Low support group. Minus Grandma French. Where is Grandma French?!His Aunt Tammy and Uncle Ron and cousins from magrath and even a couple from Edmonton were there! So nice! "Dal who? DALLIN!" (That's the cheer that the kids and I do. :) Pretty awesome!) He did SOO good. Especially for being injured the whole season. Poor guy. Anyway, he ended up being MVP of the league! It is sad that it is over, especially for Brian and Cynthia who for over 15 years have been watching and supporting Cougar basketball there in Cardston with all of their kids. But what a way to go out. WINNING 4A PROVINCIAL BASKETBALL TOURNEY!!

And not that it is all about me, but how is it fair to throw the prego lady in the tent shirt front and center. I don't think so... :)

 We were there over St. Patrick's Day. I was exhausted, so Justin let me sleep in (bless him!!) and got up with the kids. If I was home I would have dyed something green for breakfast and thought, sad. Oh well. But then I went upstairs and Grandma had made them green waffles and green eggs! Good work Cynthia!! Oh, and Justin wasn't wearing green. He definitely got pinched.

We visited Great Grandma and Grandpa Low while we were there. The kids always love to see them. They do miss their old place though and always ask about the Hungry Hungry hippo game they used to play at their house.

Girls with Great Grandma Low. They like to visit her...especially since they found her treat drawer!

Then they each took turns trying on Grandpa's hat.

It's backwards dear...but you are still cute. ;)

 Great Grandpa's hat and gloves.

I love watching Grandpa with them. It is sad because he is forgetting a lot, but he still sings to them and plays with them and makes them laugh. Such a great man.