"American Day"

Hope was very excited about the 4th of July this year, only she called "American Day." For a few days before, any time we were driving she would always point out the flags and other decorations that people had in their yards and ask why we didn't have any. That is right. I do not have any 4th of July decorations. Her excitement for the holiday of which we had no plans and no decorations made me feel like one heck of a disappointment to my children. The night before the 4th Hope got so excited that as she lay in bed she told me all the things she had planned for the following day. She said she was going to make everyone a flag. True to her word, she woke up early and immediately wanted to draw.

She did make one for everyone. I guess all those afternoons "singing to the flag" in kindergarten paid off, cause that an awesome one. I am very impressed with her stars. I still can't draw a decent one.

Out of the blue, Ben decided that we should go up to the West Bountiful parade. I don't like parades. I don't think I ever have. Once in my early 20's I got pegged in the forehead by an overzealous candy thrower and that pretty much sealed the deal. I mean, that tootsie roll could've put my eye out! Anyway.
Hope insisted that she have an "American shirt" for the "American Day." So here she is looking festive in her American Day attire, and Eden in her pigtails that lasted only about an hour.

 Turns out that West Bountiful throws a decent parade with zero overzealous candy throwers. Actually, I do think there was one, but he missed me and narrowly missed Whitney who was standing behind me so I'm okay with that. :)

There were horses that had been painted like the flag and some that had stars painted on their rear (buttock?) that Hope said looked like a cutie mark, which is the little symbol on a My Little Pony. They got lots of taffy and a few of those dangerous tootsie rolls and then we went back to grandma Verla's house for lunch. We spent a few hours visiting with her and aunt Whitney and Hope gave me a preview of her teenage years with this...

 playing on aunt Whitney's phone.

That evening the girls finally got to do sparklers and Pop-Its. They were concerned about holding a stick that was on fire, but soon got the hang of it and we went through a few boxes of them.

 The people in our neighborhood put on some pretty amazing firework shows. There were fireworks on the streets in front of us and behind us. We couldn't decide which way to turn our heads. Being surrounded by fireworks is pretty cool (and a little scary given that it had been so dry prior to the 4th). After watching outside and being eaten by bugs we moved into the back bedroom to watch for a while more. It was nice sitting in the quiet dark with my little ladies and their daddy watching fireworks that were so close.
What I thought would be a disappointing American Day actually turned out quite wonderful. The only time I saw disappointment in my girls' faces was when they were told they had to go to bed. If Noah would've been here I dare say it would have been perfect a American Day.

Easter 2013

Just like Santa Claus, we don't do the Easter Bunny here. The only time I am really bothered by the lack of belief in magical beings in our household is when I see how excited Hope gets about the stories from her friends about the Easter bunny or Santa Claus or a leprechaun. I am impressed that even though I have straight out told her that there is no Easter Bunny and that the real "Santa Claus" died a very long time ago she still believes. (I've never told her that leprechauns do not exist because quite frankly I still think they might. Shhh, don't tell Ben!)
 

 Even though we don't do the Easter bunny, we still do the other fun elements of the holiday.
 

Saturday we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and that began the weekend's sugar fest. I had to talk Noah into participating and he still didn't want to carry a basket so he just put his share in with Eden's.

 

 

Sorry for the blur - they were moving fast!

 

 

Eden is going through a phase where she talks like a pirate out of the side of her mouth like shown above. Here she is telling a sister from our ward that she "wants candy now."

 

 

Eden and Hope with Hope's friend Aubrey and her little sister Brooke.

 

 

On Easter morning the kids stood outside the computer room waiting for the okay to be let in.

 

 

You can see they are very excited, and daddy doesn't disappoint. He always goes overboard with the presents.

 

 

We tried to combine spring shopping with Easter so in addition to Easter baskets, the kids also got some new outfits.

 

 

Then it was time to hunt eggs! Ben wanted to fill what seemed like a thousand eggs the night before. The kids got so much candy it feels like Halloween around here. However, it did prolong the actual Easter egg hunt, which was fun.

 

 

At first Eden would pick one up and open it, then throw it on the porch after getting the prize out. Daddy became her egg-hunting assistant.

 

 

Look at my beautiful girl. She is growing up way too fast. Luckily, just when I feel like she's getting too big, she throws the most unbelievable crazy tantrum to remind me that she is still my baby...and very spoiled.

 

 

Noah spotted all the eggs on the playhouse and would roll a couple down the slide to his baby sister. What a good big brother. :) Also, check out the pink bat in the tree in the background. Daddy got creative and used the bat to put an egg up there.

 

 

 

Look at all those eggs!

Now look at what seems to be tiny grave sites in our backyard. Last year Ben dug these tiny little gardens. He did it while our fence was still down, so I'm sure we freaked out more than one neighbor with what looked like our own personal graveyard.

 

 

Noah's basket was so full that he kept dropping eggs, so he transferred them all to a box so he could get more.

 

 

And finally Eden's bucket was full. Tricky daddy filled several of the eggs with silly notes and Eden ended up with all of them. She was quite disappointed to find empty candy wrappers and paper in a few of her eggs.

 

 

This Easter I wanted to make sure that the children understood why we celebrate this day and that it is because of Christ and not a gigantic bunny littering people's yard with eggs. So, I showed them a video about the resurrection that may or may not have been age appropriate. Ben doesn't think it was, but it definitely could have been worse, and I got it from lds.org, so all in all, I think I am okay with it. It did make the children a little sad, but they quickly got over it and continued eating their candy. Later, during one of the talks in sacrament meeting Hope told me that the lady was talking about the same thing that happened in the video we watched. She has had a lot of questions about Jesus lately and I think it was helpful for her to see Him in the form of a person and make the connection that He died for her so she could live again.

OR...

soon she will start having some major issues resulting from watching the video. Only time will tell. Moving on. Happy Easter!

Valentine's Day 2013

This year, Hope needed to make a box for her Valentine party at school. I found several cute ideas on Pinterest and let her pick which one she liked best. Of course she chose the horse. It was daddy's idea to make it a unicorn though. Since it was mostly cutting and hot gluing pieces together, daddy and I assembled the box and Hope drew on it.

 

 

It is hard to see from the picture, but she drew all over it. She gave it a "Cutey Mark" (which is the mark that My Little Ponies have on their hip) and drew hearts and eyes...oh, and a butt crack. :)

 

I also got to help with the party and made sugar cookies and frosting for the kids to decorate cookies. Hope and Eden enjoyed playing with the dough scraps. Amazingly enough they didn't eat the dough.

 

 

Daddy brought home Valentine treat bags for the girls with a balloon and stuffed unicorns. They were quite excited.

 

 

 

But not as excited as daddy. Look at his face. He loves his girls!

 

*On a side note, last week Hope was the spotlight student and on Friday I got to read a story to her class. Since it was also "Dad's & Donuts Day", Ben took the morning off so he could be there for the story too. At one point in the morning I turned the corner to walk down the hall and Ben was headed my way with a big smile on his face. I asked what he was smiling about and he said, "Hope's the spotlight student. That's exciting!"*

 

 



Last Year...

The Holidays happened at our house. Just because I haven't posted about them doesn't mean I canceled Christmas or anything. Hmmm...maybe that will be my new threat this year. Since we don't promote believing in Santa Claus coming down our chimney and leaving presents I can't tell my kids that they'd better be good because Santa's watching. Maybe now I will just threaten to cancel Christmas.

I guess that was a pretty Grinchy way to start off this Holiday post, but when you get a good idea you gotta write it down, otherwise it will just get lost in the cluttered room of my brain where I keep all my good ideas. I can't find anything in there.

We kept Thanksgiving simple this year. Noah was here though, so that made it extra special. We did do some Christmas decorating though, as per our family tradition.

Here Eden is looking through the black Friday ads with Ben in the middle of the floor. I still don't understand why they chose to do it there, but it turned out to make a cute picture.

Here are more Thanksgiving photos.

*Just a note: Last Thanksgiving I specifically remember thinking that Miss Chevious would surely have calm down by Thanksgiving 2012. Boy was I wrong, and here is to hoping I am not wrong for next year!*

 Hope had a kindergarten Christmas program mid December which was adorable to watch. There were so many kids stuffed onto the stage that she was visibly uncomfortable and kept folding her arms to make herself as small as possible. She has been learning and singing the songs for a couple of months, which means that Eden and I know some of the songs too. I love to hear Hope and Eden singing the Christmas songs, but my favorite is "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas."

*Hope is in the front row wearing a cream colored dress.*

Christmas is always a busy day because we either pick up or drop off Noah at 1:00 and then we go see both of Ben's grandparents. This Christmas since we didn't get to be with Noah until 1:00, we woke up, went to Grandma Verla's, then to pick up Noah, and then to Grandma Hammond's. The girls handled not opening presents first thing in the morning surprisingly well. I was very proud of them. By the time we got back home it was 4 or 5:00 so we opened presents then and had a late dinner. Everyone got spoiled as usual, and just like last year, Eden decided mid-present opening that she was no longer interested and daddy had to encourage/help her open her remaining presents.

 Ben and I decided that we would no longer be party poopers for New Year's Eve. Ben basically did everything, including entertaining everyone with his famous dance moves. We played board games, watched a wonderful video (that Ben put together with all the videos we took in 2012 and some pictures) and ate root beer floats, had lots of snacks and laughs, wrote out some resolutions and even a balloon drop! Of course we did the balloon drop at 10 so the girls could go to bed. They were getting pretty cranky by then.

 

 
After that Noah watched a movie in his room and Ben and I did our nightly routine of watching a show and then bed. Thrilling, I know, but as you can see from the last picture we were pretty exhausted by that point. Actually, Ben is making a snow angel in the confetti (packing peanuts). The night was full of great traditions to add to our list!



Father's Day - Cursed???

We are beginning to think that Father's Day in the Maxwell household is cursed. Last year I suddenly had to have my gallbladder removed and was in the hospital on Father's Day leaving Ben home alone with the kids for several days...no Father's Day celebration. This year I was determined to make up for it so I started preparing about a week in advance. Ben had been away on a business trip and I thought it would be great to decorate his office while he was gone so he'd get a nice Father's Day surprise the morning after his arrival. This was to be part one of my plan. I dragged all three kids to his office, which is no longer just down the road mind you, had the receptionist get someone to unlock his door for me and we went to town. Actually the kids just wreaked havoc while I put up a cute handmade banner and tied some balloons around his office. I forgot the camera so I didn't get a picture of it but here is what it looked like.

Super Dad

I copied this blogger's super crafty creativity and made my own banner for Ben. Only I hung mine on twine and in Ben's office surrounded by coordinating colored balloons.

He was pretty surprised and also a little embarassed. I knew he would be, but everyone already knows how awesome he is so I don't see what the big deal was. :)

Part 2 of my plan took place Saturday. Hope had her first dance recital as a part of Swan Lake, so I thought that was a pretty nifty thing to witness as a Father's Day treat. And he is so wrapped around her little finger so it was a great Father's Day activity to watch his little Hopie dance. Then he got these fun little questionnaires I had the kids fill out.

Click on the pictures to make the bigger and readable. I also used another blogger's questionnaire. I know...I have no ideas of my own anymore. What would I do without Pinterest?

 Just as a side note: Hope does know how to spell her name, but sometimes she likes to write Hopie, since that is her nickname.

He loved them and I felt like things were rolling for the following day. For part 3 we planned to go to Ben's favorite breakfast place in SugarHouse and then spend the day at the zoo and afterwards I would make one of his favorite meal, Chicken Marsala.

 I was so relieved I felt like I was doing a somewhat decent job of making up for last year's castrophe when 11 p.m. hit. Eden started crying. She hardly ever cries at night anymore, but when she does I can usually hold her for a minute and put her back down. I went in to her room and there was vomit all over her and her bed. Since Ben and I hadn't been to sleep yet, he helped me clean up the mess and I put her back to bed. We thought it was just something she ate, or just a fluke and we went to bed. The next morning Ben went into her room and immediately came back out and told me how bad it stunk in there. He was right. It was like she had taken a midnight dip in an outhouse...a frequently used outhouse...holy cow! It was bad. She had messed her pants like she had never done before. This was Eden's second load of laundry in less than 8 hours.

I was still determined though. I thought that for sure since she had messed her pants and thrown up that whatever it was was surely gone by now and we could go about our plans. So we got the kids dressed and oops! More vomit! And now Hope was vomitting and had diarrhea. We weren't going anywhere. Not only that but there had been so much vomit and diarrhea that Ben no longer had an appetite for his favorite dinner. Once again Father's Day was a bust.

So the family spent the week sick. Ben and I waited last to be sick but now we are better *fingers crossed*. Saturday we decided to have a re-do and went to breakfast and the zoo.

I love the way Eden is looking at Ben.

Ben, I hope you feel how much you are loved and appreciated, because you certainly are. And, if next year Father's Day gets ruined too I think it's safe to say it is definitly cursed. In which case I will just come up with my own holiday to celebrate your awesomeness. It will be called Ben's Day...or something a lot cooler. I love you.

Also...

"Maybe there is some sort of animal we could make a sacrifice to. Like a giant buffalo or some sort of monster like something like the body of a walrus with the head of a sea lion. Or something with the body of an egret with the head of a meerkat. Or just the head of a monkey with the antlers of a reindeer with the body of a....porcupine." --Michael Scott The Office

"I'll do some research." -- Jim Halpert The Office

Valentine's

I read about this cute tradition called "14 Days of Valentine's" on Pinterest. I loved the idea and began planning 14 little surprises for Ben. Unless you use other peoples' ideas it gets a little difficult after a while to think of new ones, but it was fun sneaking around leaving love notes for him to find. I don't really think he understood what was going on because occasionally I will leave him love notes here and there anyway. In fact, I still don't know if he caught on that I was doing a Valentine's thing. A few of the surprises were a tin of mints and a note that read "we were 'mint' to be", a teddy bear with attached note that said "you give great hugs" I fastened the bear into the seat belt of the driver's side of his car so he would see it when he went to work. Later I found out that he didn't see it, and sat on the poor bear. I also gave him a donut with a note that said, "'Donut' feel good to know you're loved?"....yeah, cheesy, but cute and apparently hard for him to find some days. One day I kissed a bunch of sticky notes and put them on the screen of his lap top. Later that day I asked if he got his surprise. He said no. I guess he never really opens his laptop at work, he uses a different computer. Argh....so I told him to look. I guess I will have to do some extra detective work next year. The one he seemed most excited about was a "spicy" note I wrote on the bathroom mirror with soap. Maybe next year I will have to keep that in mind as well.

On the actual day of Valentine's, I gave Ben a bobble head of himself!

In the sitcom "The Office", Angela gives Dwight a bobble head of himself, and it is hilarious. I wanted to have it delivered the same way as in the show, but Ben had to go to a career fair and wouldn't be in the office. I need to have him take a picture of it sitting on his desk. He says his co-workers think it's awesome and I have to agree.

Here is the bobble head chasing Eden for a kiss.

Love that silly daddy!

Ben and I gave the kids cards and little paint cans filled with M & M's. Simple, but it will have to do for this year.

Hope loved her kitty card and thought it was quite funny.

Eden cared nothing for her card, but gobbled up the M & M's.

Noah was at his dad's house this Valentine's Day because it was a Tuesday, so I sent his card in the mail. He loves getting mail. Today he came home for the weekend and he got his paint can full of candy.

Today the kids also got a Valentine Card from grandma Bosley in the mail! Hope and Noah both gasped with delightful surprise when I told them they had mail.

I had to bribe Eden to take a break from her destruction to pose for a picture with grandma's card.

Thanks grandma!!!