4 boys + 6 cups of dye = 3 dozen dyed eggs.

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Dying Easter Eggs is such a love hate relationship for me. I love watching how much fun my kids have dying the Easter Eggs, but I have so much anxiety about the dye being spilled. I guess the joy in my children's faces have outweighed my worry of dye because we do it every year.

Brad Method: He is the oldest and as such he is more sophisticated in how he does things. He was the last one to finish dying his eggs. He is into doing 2 or 3 colors on each egg.

Kyle's Method: Kyle is our kindergartner and preferred also have 2 or 3 colors on each egg but only by putting the whole egg in multiple different cups.

William's Method: Monopolize the white crayon, scribble excessively on each egg. Then proceed to place eggs in dye. Take out color some more and put back in dye, usually a different color cup.

Matthew's Method: As our newest member of dying eggs, Mom was on hand to provide constant supervision without thwarting his artistic desires. Basically he drops them in has fast as he can into the cups and with in seconds wants them back out. Drops them back into same cups, and takes them back out. Final steps include taking the egg out, giving it a good squeeze to get the pleasure of a break. Mom takes the egg away, Matt proceeds method with the next egg.

Mom and Dad's Method: After a few years of experience we have learned lots of newspaper, only one parent takes pictures while the other helps little hands. Setting the rule if you want a different color and one of your brothers have it you must ask Mom or Dad to get it for you. If you are under the age of 5 the spill factor goes up greatly, thus you are stripped of your clothing.

Matthew

Matthew has been giving us lots of kisses lately. He has the best kissing face. Since it has warmed up he is racing to the back door all the time to play outside. He loves playing outside, and will do it for hours and hours. On a similar note, he has been sleeping like a champ for naps and at bedtime. He is so exhausted from playing outside. Matthew also discovered that although his body is small enough to fit between the banister bars, his head is not.

Kyle learning to ride a bike

We would like to welcome Kyle to the club of two wheel bike riders. He picked it up very quickly. We are still working on building confidence, but it took him about 30 seconds to be riding down the street by himself. I have no doubt that he and Brad will be able to enjoy many hours this summer riding their bikes around.

Pinewood Derby

Brad had his first pinewood derby. He designed his car and painted it all by himself. Joe help cut it out, make sure the weight was right, and put the wheels on. Brad didn't finish first but he didn't finish last either. We can't wait again until next year!

Rodeo

Every once in a while our family needs to have some bull rides.
Lucky for the boys Joe makes a wonderful bull.

We Broke a Record

Candy (our dog) had to have a path dug out for her so she wouldn't get lost in all the snow.

A lot of snow

William Sledding

Kyle Sledding

Brad Sledding

On February 19th we tied the record for the most days of snow on the ground. So in honor of that here are a few snow activity pictures that we have taken. Are boys really enjoyed the snow and Kyle especially is sad to see it go. At the most snow, the boys could hit the stop sign with their hands when they were standing on the pile.

Playing Around

William Lifting Weights

Kyle and Brad lifting weights

Building blocks

All four boys on Matt's blanket

A few pictures of the boys playing around together.

William putting on a Litte Mascara

William found my mascara and decided to put a little bit on.

William Starts Preschool

William started to go to preschool in January. He loves his teacher and his class. He gets to ride on the school van every day to school.

How we survived the Snow Days

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Right before Christmas break started some harsh weather in Omaha, including, a blizzard, and sub zero temperatures. After break the weather continued to keep school canceled.

Here are a few things we did to keep ourselves entertained. Some days school was canceled for the fact that it was just so cold, so most of the things had to be done inside.

1. Pick which meal we are going to eat when out of a hat. Of course the first one picked was dessert for breakfast.

2. Movie Day

3. Fort Day

4. Pajama Day


Above is a picture of the fort that we made.

Happy Birthday Joe

Happy Birthday Joe! I honestly don't know what I would do with out you. Since Joe is 33 here are 33 things I love about Joe.

1. Great Father
2. Loves his babies
3. Lets me sleep in more often then he ever asks to.
4. Isn't afraid to change diapers, and does so all the time.
5. Always has a funny story, joke, or dream to tell
6. Does the dishes
7. Is a hard worker
8. Shovels all the snow. I have had to shovel once this winter, and we have had a ton of snow, he always takes care of it.
9. Puts boys to bed
10. Strong testimony of gospel
11. Makes sure we say family prayer every night.
12. Loves coming up with family activities
13. Rough houses with the boys
14. Loves a good comedy
15. Reads to kids
16. Will go to chick flicks with me when I ask him to and doesn't even complain.
17. Tries to pull the element of surprise just to make me laugh. (see previous post for example.)
18. Agreed to a puppy, even though he didn't want a dog. Now he enjoys having the dog around.
19. Painted our house himself, saving us a lot of money in the process.
20. Will try just about anything just to try it.
21. Sweeps the floor.
22. Will sit in a room with me and read a book, even though we aren't talking, it is nice company.
23. Not afraid to jump in and help with the laundry.
24. Makes sure that our boys know that you don't treat Mom unkindly, talk back to her, or completely ignore what she is saying.
25. Loves God
26. Has no problem talking to anyone about the gospel.
27. Will do anything so that our family has what we need
28. Takes our temple marriage very seriously and has a strong testimony of eternal families
29. Involved in what are kids are doing.
30. Wants the best for our boys, even if it means he has to give up something he wants in the process.
31. Free Bull Rides until either the bull or the kids are too tired to continue. The kids have never been the ones to call it quits.
32. Positive attitude
33. Loves being active, watching sports, and helping our kids play sports.

Oh Joe

I left to go out to eat with a friend and Joe had a beard, I came home and he had made a new creation with his whiskers. It's okay you can tell him what you think, I did. My vote shave it off. That's what I said about the beard though too, and look what he did. I am scared to see whatthe next step in shaving will be.