Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Easter Party Lesson

Grandma Allen always prepares a beautiful (and creative) Easter lesson to remind us all what the real reason for the season is.  So the moms and the kids head downstairs and learn about the atonement while Grandpa washes dishes and the dads hide the Easter Eggs.  This year we had to hide the eggs in the house because it was snowy outside.  The Easter Party is one of our favorite Allen events of the year.  (Right next to the Christmas party and the Grandma Party.)
 Tommy got to help open one of the boxes which taught about the atonement.
Isabelle and Ashley enjoyed the silly games Grandma had planned.
 Ryan sweetly occupied a wiggly Tommy.

Silly Moments from the Easter Party

 Ashley posing for Ryan the photographer
 Axel wrestling with Ashley and Ashley enjoying it for a moment before she was reduced to tears.

 Grandma leading the kids in some silly actions to get attention for the next event.

Jon jumping in front of the posed kids for his own candid shot.

Smiling at Me

My nephew Brandon captured this smile at the Easter Party.  I love that he smiles at me and loves me.  I can't help but feel loved.

Giggling Girls

This Sunday the girls were wrestling together and I was able to capture the delight before the inevitable slide into tears.  I love when these girls love each other.




Potty Training??

I'm not sure why but apparently Thomas has decided it's time to potty train.  He's not even two!!  In other words, we disagree on this subject.  However, considering the fact that he is very adept at getting his clothes off and will wander around naked and try to climb on the potty by himself, I've agreed to humor him.  The little potty has entered the home again and in fact he did poop in it once.  So far there have been no accidents on the floor but I really think it's just a passing fancy.



I couldn't resist.  Isn't that little bum just pinchable???  Admit it, he's dang cute, even from the back!

Monday, March 4, 2013

Izzy's Birthday Party

For Isabelle's birthday party this year she chose to go to Lowe's Extreme AirSports.  The whole family went plus Amy Chappell, Melissa Eddy, Hannah Fairbanks, Emeri Moore, Melissa from school and Lauren VanAkin (from school).  They had a blast and then we came back here for birthday cake.  Izzy requested a monster cake and was pleased to help decorate it. 








 



Friday, March 1, 2013

Cleaning the Shower

My showers don't get cleaned nearly often enough and I've discovered why.  As I scrubbed my shower Thomas kept himself busy near my side.  He played with the shampoo and the soap containers and I kept thinking, thank goodness he's not opening anything.  Then he decided to dump the comet in the tub but of course I just thought it was helpful and I scrubbed away.  Then I got really into and stopped paying quite so much attention.  Therefore...he used Scott's toothbrush and the handsoap to clean the sink, sampling and spitting occasionally, he found the Windex and started spraying the curtains and wiping them clean with his hands (I was quick to take care of that), he found the Windex again and sprayed the sink - to clean it of course (quickly taken again), he found the Windex again (I know, seriously I need to put things away better - in my defense, they usually locked under the cupboard, but I was cleaning!!) and started heading out the door - this time I really put it out of his reach so he switched to the toilet paper.  I kept thinking - just hurry and finish!  If you don't finish now you won't finish it at all!  So while I hurried to finish he took trains of toilet paper - which I kept reaching over and breaking off - out the door to who knows were.  In the meantime Ashley decided she needed to go potty so she took care of business and just in time Tommy was back for more TP and noticed the open toilet, so in went his hands, post flush thank goodness.  Again, I stopped that, washed the hands and went back to work...so did he with more toilet paper.  Finally I finished and rinsed everything and popped my two littles into the tub to enjoy that nice clean slippery tub and then went to clean up the missing toilet paper.  I found it of course clogging the other toilet with puddles of water around the outside.  Luckily, he's now in the tub and that toilet was cleaned previous to the shower debacle.

Phew...any questions about why my showers don't get cleaned very often?