Easter 2012

Matthew, Melissa, and Isaac made paper mache eggs this year.

It was a sticky, gooey, glorious mess. Isaac was deposited straight to the tub when finished.  Matthew and Isaac decided to turn their eggs into pinatas (boys!), but Melissa opted to do the traditional Easter scene inside the egg.

Here they are dying eggs.  Isaac thought this was the Best Idea Ever!

Later that evening we had our traditional Easter story egg hunt with Uncle Brian's fiancee (Aunt) Kirsti.   Mom gave that to us years ago and we love tell the story of Jesus Christ's atonement as we open each egg with the children.  Each egg has a small item representing a part of the story.  The last egg is empty, because He is not here, He is risen!  It helps to bring the focus of Easter back to Christ.  

 Easter afternoon.  

Church starts at 8:30 am, so the Easter bunny visited while we were at church.  Corinna was fascinated by the eggs and quickly figured out that there was goody inside.   She helped herself to her first taste of chocolate by pilfering foil wrapped eggs carelessly left out.  Corinna whole-heartedly approved.  She went through three chocolate-covered outfits and I had to fish foil out of her mouth.  The big kids were threatened with losing their loot if they didn't keep it up out of the hands of babyzilla!

I think Isaac had chocolate in his mouth for all of the pictures taken that afternoon.

Melissa searching for eggs.

We did not get any pictures of Matthew hunting eggs.  He was too fast.  

Later that evening we celebrated Easter together as family with Aunt Andrea, Uncle Jeremy, and Gwendolyn.  The Thomases and their two children joined us for dinner as well.  This year I tried a Texas Easter dinner with beef brisket and potatoes.  We did have the traditional hollow Easter rolls, however.  

The kids cracked confetti eggs after dinner.  Aunt Andrea was a very good sport.

 Matthew asked Chris Thomas if he'd like any particular origami.  Chris responded that he'd like an elephant balancing on a ball.  Matthew replied that he didn't know how to fold an elephant on a ball, but Chris insisted that that was what he really wanted.  Matthew thought about this for a while.  Later that evening he surprised us as an elephant balancing on a ball.  "The secret to a good elephant nose is lots and lots of tape!"

Happy Easter!

Oatmeal

Isaac breakfast of choice is oatmeal.  Typically we don't dress him before breakfast and this is why:

Bluebonnets + Springtime in Texas

The bluebonnet is the state flower and is near and dear to the heart of Texans.

Every spring families traditionally gather in the bluebonnet patches in the parks and fields.  They plop their kids down in a patch and take pictures of them.

Conference Weekend

I built a tent a la the people of King Benjamin (Mosiah 2:5) for the kids to watch General Conference.

It was an uplifting conference, and I especially appreciated Elder Uchtdorf's talk on forgiveness and mercy.  You can listen here: lds.org

The sink from hell

IMAG0934.jpg, a photo by jbellis on Flickr.

Moving sucks. But some things suck more than moving. Like living with the sink in this house.

Every month or so it falls apart, literally: the pipes were put together in such a poorly thought-out way that they won't stay together for longer than that. So then we have water (if we're lucky, that's all it is) spewed all over the floor and anything we had in the cabinet underneath.

This weekend was especially awesome, since it broke on Saturday, and then again on Monday, when we were still digging our way out from the mountain of dishes caused by the first explosion. (Of COURSE we can't use the dishwasher while the sink is broken. I think this is standard design but it shouldn't be.)

So here is a picture of where Rachel did a load of dishes in the bathtub.

We will not miss this house.

Miss No

IMAG0932, a photo by jbellis on Flickr.

Monday Melissa was in one of her moods before school. "Melissa, it's time to get dressed." "No!"

Rachel and I decided that if she pulls this stunt again, we won't cajole or coerce her; we'll just deliver her to her school in whatever state she is pleased to present herself.

(We did this with Matthew once, in preschool. Once. That was all it took.)

Corinna's first Easter egg

IMAG0933, a photo by jbellis on Flickr.

At not quite 10 months, Corinna was too small to participate in the Easter egg hunt. But today she was going through the bookshelves, and got quiet. I investigated and found her eating the jellybeans from an egg Rachel had hidden on top of a binder. The older kids missed it, but Corinna did not!

Daddy's cake

IMAG0931.jpg, a photo by jbellis on Flickr.

Rachel took Corinna with her, leaving strict instructions to turn the angel food cake upside down on top of a glass when it was done. So I did. This is what happened.

I told Rachel what happened on the phone. "You weren't supposed to take it out of the pan," she sighed. So I am making another cake. She can be in charge of this one when it is done cooking.

An interesting lunch

IMAG0929, a photo by jbellis on Flickr.

Rachel and I took the youngest two to Midori Sushi for lunch today. The food was good, but the service was challenging since they had the table in the middle of this large platform to sit on. Kind of a westernized tatami area, so us white guys don't have to sit in seiza for the whole meal.

Cool idea, but it made it *very* easy for Corinna, aka Babyzilla, to climb on the table and make a grab for whatever she lusted after. I was quick enough to keep her out of the soy sauce all meal ... except for once.

Isaac mostly sat as he was told, but he kept up a running, high-volume commentary on his sister: "No, Baby! No! Nooooooo!" He was especially indignant if she tried to get his keychain or his dora lunchbox (which we brought in the vain hope that he'd finish).

All in all Midori Sushi was probably just as glad to see us go.

(Side note: this makes three Japanese restaurance I've been to in Austin owned by Koreans, and none owned by Japanese.)