A very nice day

Sunday we had a great day. We had spent the weekend at my mom's. She made us a yummy breakfast that morning, then we took off for home. We had Stake conference at 10:00am, so we knew we wouldn't make it for that. So instead, we decided to head to Temple Square and see the tulips in bloom. It was extraordinarily beautiful. The weather cooperated as well. We all agreed it was an excellent day!
This post has probably the most pics I have ever posted at once; they were all so pretty I had to put them all here. Just warning you!



They had moss in the planter beds and Ninny had a thousand questions about it.

The smell was incredible. It smelled soooooo good!



Now thats cute!



This pic is so funny; Ninny is standing in front a bit because she would not stand in the dirt for the picture. She has a similar problem with sand.

"Popcorn popping on the apricot trees!"



Look at the color!

Michaela found a robins egg; a sure sign of spring!

Michaela wanted a picture like this. It turned out really cute!

















There was no one around to take this for us, and I forgot the tripod. So here is my family, minus me! It was nice that it wasn't super crowded though.

Here is one I had a stranger take; they never get close enough!

Awwww! Ava wanted this pic with daddy.










We realized that we went on May Day. How appropriate!



They all want these printed off for their rooms. Somehow I missed getting one of Corrine.





Ooops! I posted the wrong one!

A smooch in front of the temple!



Every where I turned the temple looked so pretty.

After the temple, we went to the conference center. We took the older two there a while ago, they don't remember it. So since it was a nice day, off we went!



On the roof top.

These are the skylights into the conference center. If you look down the glass part, you can see the seats. It was kind of freaky. I had to have Jason hold me up to look too!

The kids really enjoyed the whole day. They kept running around saying how pretty everything was. If you want to see some beauty, now is the time to go to Temple Square!

Dress to skirt

Here is our guest/craft room.


I figured since I was going to be taking pics of the skirt in here, I would show you where I was working.

Ok. So I have had this dress for years, and this is a terrible pic. I only just noticed, and the skirt is done, so there ya go. It was long, shapeless, and out of date but had a cute print. I wanted some new springy skirts to I raided my closet for possibilities. This made the cut!

I measured where I wanted the skirt to hit, leaving an allowance for a ruffle on the bottom. I cut the top off the bottom.

With the top, I cut lengths of fabric 4 inches wide for the ruffle. I didn't know how many I would need, so I just cut up the whole top.

I sewed the 4 inch strips together, guessing at the length I would need. I think I did about 1 1/2 the width of the skirt.

Then I did a gathering stitch on the end. Oh, first I hemmed one rough edge. I gathered the other rough edge. I don't have a pic of this, but then I pinned and sewed the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt.
With the left over strips, I decided to put a ruffle on the skirt. I cut them in half, then zigzagged the edges in blue thread. This would have been easier with a serger!

Then I pinned the ruffle on the skirt. I put it on one side.

I sewed the ruffle down both sides with the same blue thread I edged it with.

Made a place for elastic.


Here is the finished product. I am so happy with it! The ruffle I put on it is hard to see in the pic, but it is super cute. I like how the ruffle on the bottom turned out too. This was only $1.29 for the elastic. Pretty thrifty! And now I have a new skirt for spring and summer!

Ninnyisms

"My finger hurts! My mouth bit it!"

Happy Easter!

We had a very nice Easter. On Saturday, we took the girls to a great egg hunt where they came home with a good number of eggs filled with candy. I was worried that they wouldn't get much. We have been to some where they are lucky to come away with one. This one was great! They even had the Easter bunny. Michaela made sure to move away from the camera; she is getting too old for bunnies!





Sunday, we woke up and had lemon ricotta pancakes and the girls got baskets from Grandma.

Then they opened the ones from us.

Ninny got a new baby doll, she was very happy about it.

One of my favorite parts of Easter is seeing all my girls lined up at church in new dresses.

I bought little gloves for the younger two, and then left them at home! They put them on for pictures at home, though.



Then we had an egg hunt in our yard with our real eggs.

Me and Michaela.

The weather was so nice!

Then my mom and I cooked for two hours, and we had a yummy dinner. Gene and Marlene came down for dinner, and also brought the girls baskets.

Mmmmm, chocolate truffle cake.

A great Easter. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have a day to celebrate the Resurrection and what it means for us as families. We had a great talk in Sacrament meeting today about the time line of Jesus' last days. It was humbling to listen to his sacrifice and suffering and to know he did it for me. We also had a fantastic musical number in Relief Society that brought tears to my eyes as I thought of what He went through. I know we fill much of the holiday with bunnies and candy, but more importantly it gives us a chance to ponder the Atonement and renew our convictions to live worthy of his sacrifice. I love Easter.

Sweet Dreams, Smarty Pants

Corrine lately has been having nightmares. I remember my other children begin to have them at about the same age. After a few months, they seem to taper off.

Last night, she was crying for me, so I went in and found her sitting up in bed, saying there were bugs and mud on her bed. (No, she didn't have any meth before bedtime!)

I picked her up, comforted her and said it was just a dream. I was hesitant to try to explain to her about that, we had never talked about dreams before and that is a difficult concept for a two year old to grasp. She just nodded and we cuddled.

As I put her back to bed, she said something that let me know she had been processing what I said and putting two and two together.

She said "Mom, dreams disappear and go away," while making a "poof" and gone gesture with her little chubby hand.

I hadn't said that to her, those were her words. Amazing. I didn't even know she understood the concept of disappear.

Here I was witnessing her comprehension of a very abstract concept.

Then she said that a giant sometimes came to her dreams.

So sad. Broke my heart, but at the same time, I am sitting here thinking," I am having the most amazing conversation with my little smarty pants at 2 in the morning. "

She goes on to explain a little more to me about her dreams, and chats with me a bit. I kiss her head, and say,"Dreams can be good too. You can dream about a big ice cream, or playing at the park, or making cookies with Mommy. Go back to sleep and dream good dreams."

I am so amazed at her thought processes at such a young age. Maybe it comes from being the fourth child and having the influence of 3 older sisters, but this little one is smart.