Feels like Summer!

Ethan and Mom enjoy the beautiful weather after church...



Ethan playing with his boats...

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

This morning we had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at our feeder! They are very bright and colorful birds, this is only the third one that I've seen. Here's a great photo taken by John Schwarz at birdspix.com.

Bakerwoods

We went to Bakerwoods in Ashford today to see the Florian family and to remember and celebrate Joshua's life. Today would have been his third birthday, and Bakerwoods was one of his favorite places.

It was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day-it didn't feel like April! It was good to see Litzy and Lee and their family again. The Anderson family was also there, and Ethan and Ascher had a blast running around and splashing in the water. Here are some pics...



Ethan also had fun riding the horse. We need to work on heels down and eyes up though!

Kidcity!

Today I picked up Ethan's friend Asher and we made the trip down to Middletown CT to go to the Kidcity Children's Museum. There we met up with another friend, Victoria! Here are all 3 of them with their backs to the camera....

Here are a few more pictures...

Easter Sunday

Miracles did, and still do happen. This I know, and today I had one of my own. I woke up this morning with the sun shining on my face and a general feeling of happiness. I thought this was really odd, since I went to bed at 1:30 in the morning in tears with worry over my impending talk. I have never had such a hard time preparing for a talk, or felt so not sure of what direction to take it. I had prepared fervently, and prayed a lot that I would know and be able to say what the Lord would have me say. As I took my seat in the stand I had pages of notes in my hands, but still not one clue as to what I would say. When it was finally time for my talk, I was shaking the entire time, but I felt peaceful and the direction I needed to go, and what I needed to say all came to me. Many times I wasn't even looking at my notes, and I recalled the scriptural references as if I was telling a story. I have never had so many people comment on a talk I've given. Jenny Elliot even said that in Primary, the children remembered my talk and that it helped in the Sharing Time. To everyone who commented or complimented me on that talk, I replied that it wasn't me. I know I had help from above, and I had lived the promise given in Doctrines & Covenants section 84, verse 85. "Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man."

After church we went to the Elliots for an Easter egg hunt and then dinner. Ethan had a lot of fun finding the eggs. He would pick up each egg, inspect it, open it and then put it in his bucket. Here are some pictures...

The day before Easter...

Getting ready for Easter was a bit hectic this year since I was asked to speak for 10-15 minutes in Sacrament about Jesus Christ from Gethsemane to the crucifixion. So that added quite a bit of stress, but it all turned out well as you'll see in my next post.

Anyways, I discovered 2 things while preparing for Easter. The first, is that making Easter Eggs is fun!!!! For some reason I was dreading this activity, but ended up really getting into it. Wouldn't mind dyeing eggs more often...Here's a picture...


I also discovered that Ethan loves Jarlsberg cheese. I had a piece leftover from making my potato casserole with cider, Gouda, and Jarlsberg. he wanted some so I gave him some thin slices. Those were quickly eaten and then he found-and finished-the rest of the block.

Preschool!?

Ethan goes to a local daycare for four hours every other week or so. During this time I vacuum, mop, clean, etc. Today when I went to pick him up, he wasn't in the room with the older toddlers. I went to check the younger toddler room, and was informed that he was next door in the preschool room! I was told he had been insistent about joining the preschoolers, and when I went in there he was having a blast with the older kids! He had made Easter eggs, watched a bunny movie, and was busy playing when I arrived. He told me to go home, he was staying there! Finally I got him home, and took a picture of the eggs he dyed...

Pysanky!!!

This morning I went over to my friend Jenny Elliot's home to learn how to make Ukrainian Easter Eggs, or Pysanky. You use a stylus full of wax that you heat over a candle and decorate the egg, then you dip it in dye, and repeat. About 12 times. I did not catch anything on fire, and I guess they don't have much to do in the Ukraine. Gwen Adzima and Jenny answered all my questions and helped me get started. An hour later this was the result....

You can learn more about Pysanky here, check out the pictures, they are amazing!

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Today was a really fun day. Nathan went all out....he got me some makeup to replace some that Ethan got into, I thought that was really sweet and thoughtful, and he did pretty well on the colors, too! He also got me an ipod touch, which I LOVE, and him and Terry went in together on a scope for birding. The scope is fantastic, and we can use it to look at the moon also. I think our whole family will get many years of enjoyment out of the scope. Plus, both objects help me do my job whatbird, so can be written off next years taxes. I've already done a job that could only be done on my ipod using the ibird plus or pro application, so you see its an important work tool! Here I am with the scope...

George and Nanette took Ethan for a few hours after lunch, so Nate and I were able to watch some General Conference and have a really nice relaxing afternoon. We went down to the beaver pond with the scope, we could see ducks on the far side in great detail that weren't even visible with the naked eye. Afterwards George and Nanette brought pizza over, Ethan told us about his big day, and we had Strawberry Shortcake.