Easter Friday!

This year, I really didn't think I bought much for Easter. When all was said and done, I kept finding more stuff that I had bought...gum, bubbles, bat and ball (for each boy), hula hoops, chocolate candy, etc. I decided not to give it to them on Easter Sunday though because we already had an Easter egg hunt on FRIDAY! It was perfect!

Lavea'i finding the eggs and deciding they are worth picking up after discovering what was inside of them.




Kalena now LOVES AND KNOWS what she is getting in the eggs and ran as fast as she could to pick up as many as she could. I think she was the winner of finding the most. NOT LIKE IT WAS A COMPETITION, but she DID share with Maika who wouldn't come out to do any of it.


Tula'i just went with the flow and loved every minute of it.


My nephew, Sailiata, and HIS LOOK!









After celebrating on Friday, I didn't need to do anymore celebrating. We did have a family home evening on the Atonement of Christ and how this is the true meaning of Easter. I hid some Easter eggs that were filled with different objects and the scripture reference that went with the object to help teach the kids about the atonement. After going through the objects, we watched a video called "To This End Was I Born." It is a depiction of the crucifixion of the Savior and all of His suffering. But what I love the most is the spirit that is felt when the tomb is found empty and know that He has been resurrected. The kids sat and watched all of it and found the parts in the movie that had reference to all of the objects that were in the eggs. They loved it!!! I LOVED it! What a REAL treat to have....to know that Jesus lives!

Holding Out!

I am trying to hold off on giving birth at least for another week. I am 36 1/2 weeks and started having Braxton Hicks contractions Saturday. They weren't very hard, of course, but one right after the other. I went to bed and they stopped that night...thank goodness I got some sleep. But, Sunday morning came and they started up again. Same occurrence as the previous day. Monday, round 3 of it all. I finally got into the doctor that I don't like to just have him tell me that they are just the "nuisance ones" and to "drink lots of water and get lots of rest." Thanks doc! I am glad I am paying you close to $1,000 bucks out of my own pocket just for you to tell me this. The only other time I have felt these this strong is with Kalena. I had them for a week before she was born.

So, I am trying to rest as much as having four children allow and being counselor in the primary at church at least until next week Wednesday. I have piano recital that has been planned for about 3 months for my students to show off their wonderful talent. If I have her before next Wednesday, I don't know what I will do. Most of them have worked hard on their songs and I don't want them to not be able to play for everyone else.

I also am very appreciative of Cliff for all the help he has given since the doctor's appointment. He was there and wasn't too pleased with him either, but he is listening to what the doctor had to say and has cooked and cleaned the last couple of nights. He gets the kids ready for bed and helps out in the morning when they wake up before he heads off to work. He has told me to just put movies on for them and know that this is just for a short period of time.

Nesting...

My nesting doesn't just consist of wanting to get the house spotless, it consisted of painting Kalena's room a light pink color she had picked out a while ago and I just have never wanted to do it. I HATE having to do the tedious edging which takes up most of the time. But, I did it and I think it turned out pretty darn cute. Thanks to my sister for the comforter so I didn't have to go and buy a pink one to match the room. I figured I better paint before putting the crib in the room because I wasn't about ready to rearrange everything again after the baby was born. DON'T WORRY...I made sure there was plenty of air circulating in the room so the fumes weren't too strong.

Snack Time

I have had Tula'i in a study through our pediatricians office about BMI on kids ages 2-8 years old. Their BMI had to be in the 85-97% in order to be involved. Tula'i's was just above the 85% and so I have met with the doctor to discuss habits that need to change in order for his BMI to go down. At first I did it just because they wouldn't stop calling me and for the gift cards, but as we have gone through the study and consciously changed eating habits and TV time, he definitely has slimmed down. They say that children with a large BMI are more prone to being diabetic when they are older along with other health issues. So, what does this have to do with their snack time....well this is what it looks like instead of opening a package of fruit snacks (I never buy them anymore) or eating chips to save time. Tula'i LOVES fruit and would sit and help me eat a whole pineapple or cantaloupe in one sitting. Him eating 75% of it. Anyway, now they love to eat pears, apples and lots of other better snacks than the junk full of nothing but sugar.

Paper?

Who needs paper when you have one whole section of the car to color on? I have tried to get her to stop coloring back there and every time I sit back there, I could swear there is a new picture. One of these days I will go back there and clean it off. Wish me luck.

Toothless

Kalena has lost 3 teeth in the past month. The last one she lost on Friday night. I have had Cliff pull them all out. She wouldn't let me touch them cause she knew I would pull them. So, I finally convinced him to pull them because she wasn't eating food because it hurt too much. He would look at me and say, "If this hurts her and she cries, you get to deal with it." I reassured him I would take care of it, but she never cried. As soon as he would pull it out, she would jump up and down because she knew the tooth fairy would be coming. The tooth fairy actually forgot one night and told her that maybe she was SOOO busy, that she would come while we were in church. (GREAT...I didn't think of how I was going to pull this one off) But, as soon as we pulled into the garage, she jumped out of her seat and was ready to make a dash for her room. I calmly told her to get her scriptures and her stuff. As she was doing this, I jumped out and ran inside to quickly find a dollar to place under her pillow and throw the tooth away. WOW! I did it! She asked me if I went to check under her pillow and I told her that I had to go use the bathroom. Well, she was happy to see that the tooth fairy had come while we were in church.



The last tooth Cliff tried to pull out but didn't have a good enough grip on it so it was a failed attempt to get it out. Needless to say, about 15 minutes later she ended up hitting her mouth accidentally and knocked it out on her own. The tooth fairy that night remembered to come before he carried her off to bed asleep.