A Day Late

Did anyone else think Easter sort of snuck up on them this year? I really don't like it when Easter is so close to St. Patrick's Day and when it's in March. I prefer to drag out my Easter celebrations... but I guess in a way we did since I still have one last Easter decoration sitting in the dining room that I keep forgetting to put away. More than a month later. Oops.

Anyway. When I was growing up my Grandma had a HUGE Easter egg dying party. We spent hours dying hundreds of eggs all in an attempt to make one black Easter egg for my Grandpa. For some reason he was fascinated with the idea of trying to make a black Easter egg the old fashioned way with dipping and re-dipping in dye. We never did get a black one.

It's one of my favorite memories growing up and I figured it was high time I started the tradition with my own kids. So I bought a pack of dye and a dozen eggs. How pathetic is this that I had to Google how to cook a hard boiled egg? And how pathetic is it that I couldn't tell which colors those little dye tablets were so we could put them in the right cup? They all looked orange to me! We took a guess and got 3 of the 5 right. Not bad. And even more pathetic that that is we ended up dying eggs a day after Easter.

Even Jeff got in on the egg dying. Does it surprise anyone which eggs are his?

I should have bought more eggs. The kids had a blast dipping them in the dyes and watching to see what colors they turned. 

And when I told them about "old Grandpa Jewkes" and the black Easter egg they decided they would attempt a similar feat. Only they decided to make a "poop" colored egg. They thought it was hilarious. Sigh. Where - or rather, who - do they get this from?

What a fun way to keep dragging out my favorite holiday! Even if we were a day late.

Pearl's Easter Talk

I know. It's almost Cinco de Mayo and I'm posting Easter pictures.

My few fans were probably starting to give up hope that I'd ever blog again. Or that something horrible or exciting was happening. Nope. Just the craziness called life.

The kids got spoiled rotten by the Easter Bunny. It seems to be all Easter bunnies on my side of the family go a little overboard with baskets. The kids got new church clothes, books, flip flops, swimming suits, and a small toy. No treats. Jeff was highly disappointed... he said our Easter Bunny sucks.

Pearl had to give the talk in Primary on Easter Sunday. She was really excited about it. On Saturday, she took a piece of paper and pencil and went outside to work on her talk. I caught her sitting on the trampoline writing her own talk about why we celebrate Easter. We asked her where she had learned all of this stuff because sadly, it probably isn't at home. Pearl has the most amazing primary teachers and that's exactly who she said taught her about Easter Sunday. She practiced reading it {mainly because Jeff and I couldn't translate all of her spelling} and assigned me to hold a picture of Jesus at the Tomb. I cried when I heard her sweet and simple testimony of Jesus Christ. I even made Jeff record her talk, a big no-no in LDS culture, so we could have it.

I am definitely saving this piece of paper forever.

{Translation of her written talk: We celebrate the day Jesus was resurrected. When He was resurrected two angels told Mary, "Mary Jesus is alive." Mary said, "Where is He?" The angels said in heaven. Mary said, "Will I see Him again?"}

I need to remember that under that sassy exterior is one sweet, special girl.   

Hopefully the boy follows suit.

Name that baby!

Today is the day!!! 

Baby Girl Jewkes finally made her long awaited and much anticipated debut!

7 lbs. 3 oz. and18 1/2 inches long (if I remember right)

I'm pretty sure I was almost as excited as my sister-in-law, EZ, who has had a very hard time getting this baby here after many years of heartaches. Maybe even more excited because I get the benefit of holding a newborn without the 40 weeks of puking! Sounds like the perfect scenario to me.

As an excuse to have first dibs on seeing and holding my new niece, I volunteered to watch Ruby while "da baby" as I've dubbed her entered the world. We had a sleepover at grandma's house with the three grandkids and then waited all morning for my brother to finally text us the good news that "da baby" was here. It was a long wait.

Then we had to wait for what seemed like forever at the hospital, only to find out we were on the wrong floor. Pfff... I mean who wants to see the mom when there's a new baby to oogle and google at? Just kidding, EZ.

Waiting... waiting... waiting... for her little sister.

And waiting... waiting...waiting... for the boredom to end.

Finally! We got a sneak peek at her!

By the time we got "da baby" upstairs to her momma, it was almost time for Ruby to leave so she could eat lunch before school. I had been trying really hard to convince her that she could skip out on school and we'd go somewhere fun but she wasn't having any of it. Apparently she's going for a school attendance record because nothing was keeping her away from class. Even a new baby sister. 

So being the good aunt that I am, I packed up the three kids and headed off to school BEFORE I got my chance to hold my new niece. Then I had to deal with an epic meltdown from Cole at McDonald's and sheer boredom and disappointment from Pearl that her cousin wanted to go to school instead of hanging out with us. Not to mention trying to figure out if we should eat before going back to the hospital to visit or risk hunger setting in so I could make sure I got to hold "da baby."

We opted for dinner before visiting the hospital.

Finally! My turn! I even happily volunteered to change her poopy diaper. I may have a slight twinge of baby hunger... not pregnancy hunger, baby hunger. If you barf like me, you know there's a difference between the two.

It must be something about a second child because Jesse and Emily couldn't decide on a name for this little girl just like Jeff and I couldn't with Cole. I'm hoping they pick my name suggestion, Scarlet Hazel. But until they do, she shall remain "da baby" and boy oh boy is she cute! She looks just like Ruby did when she was born, which is scary because my first thought when I saw both of my nieces was holy-moly they look just like Jesse! Minus the crazy blonde hair.

If anyone has any name suggestions, I'm sure Jesse and EZ would be happy to hear them!

Update. 

Baby girl Jewkes will now be called Anberlin Hazel Jewkes.

What's it going to take?

Jeff asked me on Friday what's it going to take to get you to clean again?

Apparently he likes a clean house while he watches basketball.

I guess it takes a "you're mad at me so I'm mad at you for being mad at me for no reason" kind of day.

At any rate, all bedroom and living spaces were dusted and vacuumed on Saturday. Minus Pearl's room. A room has to actually be clean - like as in being able to see the floor clean - in order to dust and vacuum.

The kitchen cupboards got a quick wash down. Kitchen counters scrubbed. All paper junk and knick knacks that seem to accumulate on the counters found a home. 

Beds were made with clean sheets. Which is quite the feat with Pearl's collection of stuffed animals piled on her bed. 

Laundry washed, dried, and folded. Don't get me wrong, I forgot to put the last load in the dryer until today. There's got to be some give and take here. 

Dishes washed and put away. 

Garbage taken out. 

Breakfast served. Lunches made. A week's menu plan written {this is torturous for me}. And groceries bought at 11 p.m. after attending the Young Women LDS Conference Broadcast.

And a run-in with the Easter Bunny to make sure the kids had been good before heading off to bed.

Oh, and I showered. That's important.

I am exhausted and so hoping whatever cleaning bug I've caught doesn't come back!

Just kidding on that last part. Kind of. Sorta. Can't I just get a house elf instead?

Captain Underpants

Meet Captain Underpants.

Or as we've learned today from Wreck it Ralph {awesome movie... watch it!}, Admiral Underpants.

We have officially begun the potty training phase. 

For months, we'd been asking Cole if he wanted to use the potty. A resounding "No" was always the answer we got. So we figured he'd be the only kid in his kindergarten class still in diapers. Jeff even told the kid he'd buy him anything, anything he wanted if he got rid of the diapers.

Nope. 

I tried the whole, don't your friends wear underwear at school routine too. Apparently not. I almost called one of his best friend's moms to bribe her with getting Gio potty trained so Cole would follow suit. 

But if I learned anything from Pearl's potty training phase, it was to back off and let the kid do it on his own time. And a little peer pressure at daycare always helps.

Well, one day Cole informed me he wanted to go buy "underpants" at the store. Batman underpants to be precise. We waited a couple more days, practicing with diapers, and then took Cole to the store to let him pick out whatever underwear he wanted. He picked a pack of Super hero and Cars II underwear.

The first day he wore his new underpants to school, he didn't have a single accident! I was completely shocked and totally underestimated the little guy. A week later and he still hasn't had any accidents at school. 

Home? Well... that's another story. Apparently Cole missed the memo that you have to not only pee in the toilet if you have underwear on, but poop too. We've had #2 accidents for four days in a row. Starting on the day I took these pictures. I should have known better than to curse our more than good luck with this whole potty training thing.

But gosh. If you aren't a mom to a little boy, you have no idea how dang cute those little bums are in Super Hero underpants. It almost makes up for having to clean up after potty training mishaps and frustrations.

Almost.

{On a serious note. I am taking advice on how to convince Cole to poop at home. In the toilet. He has yet to do this since we started potty training. I don't know if it's that he doesn't know what that sensation feels like yet or if he's scared or just stubborn because as he's told me, "You clean me underpants Mom!" Hmmm... on second thought, after re-reading what he's told me I'm going with stubborn.}