Holidays!

April Fool's!...

Because it's not April Fool's Day anymore; it's not even April!

Here's a recap of some of the past holidays.  

April Fool's Day:

Elle knows the best way to freak me out. She drew this icky spider which have me a heart attack! I had to crumple it up, and I couldn't even look at it in the garbage!

You are lucky that I got this picture. 

We tried to freak her out by putting a balloon head in her bathroom, but she was nonplused. 

For breakfast I gave her "toast and an egg," which I thought turned out pretty well. It's pound cake, yogurt, and a peach.   

I also switched cereal boxes. Elle had a satisfying reaction when Captain Crunch came pouring into her bowl instead of Honey Bunches of Oats!

(She's using the Captain Crunch box to get the right cereal.)

I also put googly eyeballs on things--her shoes, her lunch food, her folders, etc. 

One day during spring break we had lunch with Chris at work then went to the zoo.

We went to the tar pit museum with some friends another day, and it was just like we remembered it!

I'm sure I have a picture just like this of Elle 8 yrs younger!

Another day we went to the farmer's market for delicious crepes. 

Then we headed to the Grove. Elle wasn't as enchanted at the American Girl doll store as she was  when we first came here. In fact, she was creeped out by all the girls behind glass. 

It was nice that she understood why I didn't buy more accessories when she saw the price on everything there!  I didn't feel like a neglectful parent anymore. 

After walking around and exploring, we had a lovely lunch together. 

(We were joking that we should put all the leftover bread from lunch into my purse)

On Saturday saw the Dead Sea scrolls exhibit and movie with Chris then hung out at the science center.   We ate lunch at the rose garden and literally stopped to smell the roses.

 Star Wars day (May the 4th be with you)...

We used our new Star Wars pancake molds from Kate and Bill and ate pancakes for dinner as we watched episode IV

For Cinco de Mayo...

We had Mexican food with our friends...

Chicken tacos with all the fixin's', Chris's salsa, Mexican corn, churros, and flan!

I think that puts us up to date!

Happy holidays!

Sunday Dress and Hair

Happy Easter

Easter fun today:

(Actually, Elle made, cut, and baked the cookies Saturday during the Priesthood session)

Then we decorated them as a family:

Ta da!

We didn't get around to dying eggs, so we'll have to do that for FHE tomorrow!

Happy Easter!

Judge Not...

They say not to judge a book by its cover...

But what if you yourself are judged by the cover? 

First, Elle:

She read this book in 6th grade and said I might like it too.  So, being the kind-hearted daughter that she is, she went to the middle school library here and asked if they had the book. Because it had the word "Zen" in the title this is how it went down:

Librarian: No, we don't have adult books here

Elle: But I read it in 6th grade...

Librarian: Oh. Is it good?

Elle: Ya, it's funny. 

Librarian: Well, I guess I should order it for our library then. 

I found it at the public library. 

Then I was reading it at the Dr's office and kind trying to hide the cover so no one would, ya know, judge me for reading a kiddy book (even though that's practically all I read). My efforts were in vain, however, since the woman a few seats down from me broke waiting room etiquette and started talking to me.

Nice lady: (quietly) How are you enjoying your book :D

Me: Uh... It's not really...it's young adult fiction...

Nice lady: I am a Buddhist -Jew myself :D

Me: Um...It's about a boy pretending to know about Zen... 

Nice lady: Somethingsomething...the Four Noble Truths...

Me: Oh ya! I'm just reading about that here. The boy looked it up in the library (I show her)

Nice lady: (after reading) Yes. Exactly

Me: The kid is new to the school and because he's Asian and people assume he is Buddhist...

Nice lady: Yes, my sons are Asian (she is not) and people assume that all the time! They even try to speak Chinese to them!

Me: So...your sons are...adopted? (Well, duh. I just didn't really know how to respond)

She started to say something else but the nurse called her away. 

I'm not sure it was ever clear that I wasn't actually reading anything serious about Zen.  Oh well. 

You see?!

Don't be judged by a book's cover!

Incidentally, Chris saw a friend on the bus a few years back who was reading a giant black book without a book jacket. After two seconds of studying it, Chris was all (Insert smirk and raised eyebrows) Twilight?

To which the friend sheepishly admitted in the affirmative.  

We all do it! 

Judge not...

Sunday Easter Dress and Hair

Since Easter is on General Conference Elle wore her Easter dress today:

It's another good twirly one

They do make the best kind of dress no matter how old you are!

Pi Day

3.14:

3.1415

3.1415926

Happy Pi Day! 

Happy Birthday to Chris!

Chris's birthday celebration started the Sunday before with Apple Pie:

He was thinking about going rouge and having apple pie instead of Jell-o cake for his birthday dessert!

Elle and I talked him out of it by making him the above mentioned apple pie.

Then the BIG day:

While Chris was at work, Elle and I put 40 balloons all over the house with notes attached saying how much, and why we loved him

(Awww!)

Birthday dinner:

Then, the moment Elle and I had been waiting for all week because we made him a. . .

Birthday PINATA!  

See, Chris loves this terrible cartoon called Adventure Time with Jake the Dog (above) and Finn the Human.

Click HERE to see how well we did recreating Jake :)

Elle made an Adventure Time sword too

Chris was just as happy to see the pinata as we were to make it.

Our friend had a couple of Sponge Bob party hats for them to wear!

You must see the video of the pinata!

HERE

And Chris finishing it off:

HERE

Poor Jake:

And the traditional Jell-O cake!

(gosh, he's so old!)

The fun continued that Saturday when we had our friends over for dinner to celebrate Chris's birthday and Valentine's Day

The evening ended up with viewing silly YouTube videos.

One of our favorites:

HERE

Watch it again with subtitles and you may just wet your pants:

HERE

It was a great celebration!

I doubt that Chris will be able to top it when I turn 40 in 10 years ;)