Easter Week

Because I knew we wouldn't be eating nearly enough sugar this week (HA!) I decided to make cupcakes on Monday.  Mostly, I needed a couple of late birthday gifts for a neighbor and a friend, so I took those around, then because it was family night we made a plate for our own little family, then because I didn't want to eat them all myself (or rather, because I knew I SHOULDN'T) I took the rest to a gal's luncheon the next day. 

I made John (and some of the rest of us) 4 batches of strawberry jam.  You've got to get it while the pickin's good!  He brought me flowers and caramels for our engage-a-versary.  Love.

PS... to get all the jam and cupcakes made I set up my computer in the kitchen to watch Call the Midwife and Once Upon a Time.  It's nice to have company when everyone is away!

On Tuesday I went to the eye doctor and my prescription didn't change one iota in two years.  I'm still getting new glasses. Enough is enough.

 

For wacky Wednesday we finally used our Suminagashi marbling inks that I bought a while back.  Here are some pictures of what we did to make paper (note to self...use a bigger dish that the paper will fit in!).  And if you want to make some cool paper you can get the tutorial here.

Jane and Katie Anne had friends over a couple of times this week and played Tea Party.  I love these little sets though I live in dread of anything breaking.  It's worth it, though.  Thank you Grandma!

On Friday I bought a new book.  This one has a great rhyming story about a chick who wants to learn to surf but faces a colossal wipeout.  Here is my favorite verse:

Alone on the sand,

Chick simply felt chicken.

She rested on shore

till her courage could thicken.

~By Kristy Dempsey

Saturday...

I took the girls to the candy grab at Smith's then on to swim lessons.  John took Jeffrey to the grand opening of Al's in Logan, then they rode 4 miles up and 4 miles back in Green Canyon.  Jeffrey had a slight problem with his camel pack leaking and had to wear John's shorts home.  It's a nice fit, eh!

 

 

We colored eggs that afternoon.  Literally... we used crayon on the hot eggs and the crayon melted on.  We used a paper towel to hold onto the egg, which wiped off some of the color, but they still looked good.

 

 

When they were done with that we went back to the traditional messy coloring.  Always fun.  Three dozen eggs this year.

Sunday morning we had a search for the Easter Baskets.  Everyone seemed pleased enough and I felt good that I hadn't gone overboard.  Plus, I knew I'd be heading to Walmart Monday morning for deals! Can you tell who's NOT as excited about their Easter attire?  Jeffrey's tie just didn't get him going.

Some of our treats of the day...

Spring Pancakes

Cheeto Carrots

The Dinner Spread

Jello Bean Flower

Bunny Poops

Rice Krispy Eggs (not shown but cute and yummy).

 

Pictures! 

What a beautiful day. 

What beautiful kids.

 

 

I think John was eating some of my white chocolate M&M's from Target.

That afternoon we rode our bikes to the Temple to see the beautiful tulips. 

 

We had been talking about the meaning of Easter and being there with the beauty surrounding us was a perfect ending to the day. 

 I am so grateful for my Savior... for the wonderful plan of salvation, for the knowledge I have of forever. 

I do stand all amazed.

You might have noticed Jack was not in ANY of these pictures!  He rode to Coral Pink Sand Dunes in southern Utah with the Jardines who were meeting up with the Mark Hicken's and some of their friends.  Jack had a great time, only got lost once, came home with only a red sunburned face as injury, is super tired, and completely happy.

He also got to hold my sweetie.

 

He couldn't track down his church shoes before it was time to go so he donned some flip-flops, earning him an honorary spot as Nathan Jardine.  He was in good company with Taylor (who forgot his tie) and Kenny (who forgot everything!). 

Thank you for taking care of my boy!  And thank you for the pictures!

I like big burgers and I cannot lie...

What a great week!  The weather has been gorgeous... I got a slight sunburn on the back of my neck on Monday, a slight sunburn on the front of my neck on Tuesday, and I really tried for a slight sunburn on my legs on Wednesday, though the clouds were out more that day.

Now for a quick (?) rundown...
On Monday I got some new clothes.  What do you think?  Stylish?  Well... I only wore them for a few minutes while I took a rest...

on this bed.  I needed a CT scan to determine why I have hematuria.  The cause?  Boring old kidney stones that have been there for probably years.  We'll see what we can do about these when I hear from the doctor this week.

On Tuesday I joined Twitter (@kachicky).  I thought these hashtags in the sky were a fitting sign that I did the right thing.  I have no idea how to do anything on there, but I feel so hip.

Tuesday I had activity days.  I ran one craft while the other gals ran another craft.  In mine we painted over the top of contact paper shapes, then peeled off the contact paper to reveal the cute white.  I was so impressed with the creativity of the girls, even with me in the background yelling, "hurry hurry!  time is short!"

Here is Jane's version:

Speaking of Jane, she is always drawing inspirational signs for us:

On Wednesday she had Grandparents Day at school.  The third grade performed on their recorders, then recited a couple of poems.  The grandparents usually stay for lunch but the choices were disgusting so Grandma and Grandpa Hicken took her to Taco Time instead.  Grandma presented Jane with her own little writing box that she had tole painted.  It is a treasure to be sure!

We started our official park days on Wednesday, so of course it was kind of chilly and cloudy but we stayed for 3 hours anyway.  What is better than being outside after a long winter chatting with friends and holding their babies!?  It does good for me soul and me vitamin D intake.

On Thursday I went to the home show sponsored by a Homemaker's group that I attend occasionally.  There were some beautiful homes, some interesting ideas, and lots of empty frames with vinyl words inside.  I loved one particular home, but got only this one picture, which does nothing for the color and vibrancy surrounding it.  I went and bought a new kitchen rug the next day.

 

Friday morning Katie Anne exclaimed with joy as her eyes caught sight of the trees in our back yard,

"It's a miracle!  The leaves are starting on the trees!"

What a beautiful reminder of being childlike.

 We have precious few flex Fridays left so we headed to lunch at Herm's in Logan.  We both ordered giant bacon cheeseburgers that were as good as they looked.  Wowza!

Jack and I hitched a ride with Stacy and Kraig to Layton to listen to author Lois Lowry, author of The Giver.  She talked quite a bit about her childhood and the incidents that led her to thinking about the topic of memories, and then onto writing The Giver.  She also talked about the movie coming out in August that is based on the book. 

Jack and I were completely disappointed when she said time was up and thanks for having her.  I am so fascinated by people's stories and hers was especially intriguing.

The free brownies provided by Kneaders helped the sting a little.

One tidbit is that she took this picture of the man on the front cover when she was working at a magazine and developed the picture in her own dark room.  She liked another picture much better but it would have shown his bandaid and since that doesn't exist in the Giver they couldn't use it.

 

One sad note... she won the Newberry award for this book and in a terrible misunderstanding on moving day ALL of her awards were taken to the dump, never to be seen again.

 

Saturday included:

Girls to swim lessons

Jane to soccer game (she scored!)

Boys cleaned up in garden and yard

Boys to BB practice

John, Jack, and friend to Mantua for bike ride

Jeffrey to a friend's house

Girls to a fundraiser for cotton candy

I cleaned up in my craft room (I vacuumed!)

Fish sticks and fries for dinner

Watched Saving Mr. Banks

 

 

Spring Break. It's a lot of work.

We started out the week with our bi-annual general conference prep lesson for family night. 

Katie Anne was in charge of treats and made these little notes for our instruction:

popsicles for kids

Mom and Dad get whatever thea wat.

She went over to the neighbor's house last week and asked for popsicles.  She is resourceful.

For April Fool's day I:

switched all the bags of cereal to other boxes

told the kids spring break was cancelled (Katie Anne believed me and was excited to go to school!)

dressed up the girls lunches

stuck a plastic lizard in Jeffrey's sandwich

Jack wouldn't let me get near his lunch

I went to a Urologist and had a cystoscopy.  It hurt really bad and is no joke. Luckily, I got to see the inside of my bladder and it is so pretty.  It really does matter what you are on the inside!

For dinner everyone drew numbers and got the corresponding item.  For instance, John ended up with a tiny plate, a whisk to eat with, and all the sandwich meat.  Jane had a cookie sheet, a pancake turner, and the carrots and cauliflower.

Jack got a giant bowl, a noodle server, and small bags of chips (that I had opened, switched all around, and taped back closed.)

It was a fun dinner that I might have enjoyed more if I wasn't tired from my previous bladder selfies.

Wednesday began spring break.  I had started warning the kids that we would be deep cleaning their bedrooms.  They needed to find things to get rid of and trash.  Two garbage bags full of give aways and a big pile of trash later their rooms are clean.  It was exhausting for me, but they did quite well.  I had promised Dairy Queen treats when we were done.  We didn't get to there until 5:00! Yikes!  I had 5 coupons (spend $3 get $1.50 off) so they each got a coupon and $1.50. 

Katie Anne had to order the most giantest ice cream cone to qualify for the coupon!  Honestly, that was basically her dinner.  Dairy is good for you right?

On Thursday they wanted to have a friend day.  Jane and Jack could not get hold of anyone so I made them be friends.  They had a great time together and I was glad they got along so nicely.

 

On Friday we headed to good old Cache Valley.  I dropped the three youngers at Grandma and Grandpa's and made Jack go shopping with me.  Not a joy for either of us but since his church pants were quite floodish and his church shoes didn't fit we both had to go. 

After that we headed back to Providence for lunch (taco soup!) with G&G, Stacy, Alyson, Christine and Karl. 

Stacy, Alyson and my group headed to the Cache Valley Fun Park for a giant playland, rollerblading (for the first time...they did all right but all have pretty black and blue and purple knees!), and arcade games.

Katie Anne is not a good driver.  Crash crash crash!

We stopped at Little Caesar's to get some dinner to take home.  After dinner I couldn't find these two...  what a delightful scene when I tracked them down! My heart is so full of love for these two!

We went to Jardine's while all the boys 12 and up were at the priesthood meeting.  I took banner materials for the gals. The only thing missing (besides another roll of glue dots and an inking stamp) were the other Hicken gals.  We missed you!

Here is another snip of these two.  I do love my others... they just weren't in range of picture taking without me getting out of my own blanket!  Katie Anne told me that she wished every day could be General Conference because then she'd have that good feeling in her tummy all the time.

I'm thinking she meant the spirit and not all of this stuff:

I gave each family member a $2 limit to get a treat to eat during GC.  Our total (before tax) was $12.01... not bad budgeting eh?  I think the Cadbury eggs put us over a penny but it was worth it!

So... that was the end of our week until my cousin Carla and 3 kids showed up.  We just loved having them here and hope they will come again... (hint hint). 

We love visitors! (HINT HINT!)

 

other schtuff

{I found this draft that never got published  in September so thought I'd go ahead with it now...}

Everyone was completely wiped out after watching the Peach Days parade and walking the booths.

Andrea gets some time with little Oakleigh.  We kind of fight over her...looks like Andrea won for a minute.

John's dad actually passed away that same day.  His brother came out from Wisconsin for the funeral and a few days before hand.  He and John and his other brothers went Bereavement Boulder climbing as well as Bereavement boating, Bereavement burger eating, Bereavement Basketball, and Bereavement Bad 80's movie night.

 

John can STILL carry all 4 kids upstairs to bed though it is getting increasingly heavier and awkward.  Can you see Jack's face barely peeking over John's shoulder?  Just needed to point that out to show that he does indeed have all 4 kids on there...

 

 

Happy Spring!

It is spring in Utah which means on Tuesday we held park day and I got a sunburn. 

On Thursday we had this:

Some people complain but this is just how it is. 

That's Life!

I went to Logan that day.  We needed a few random things like

toilet paper, laundry detergent, and granola bars. 

Katie Anne enjoyed time with Grandma and Grandpa.  She watched the movie Madeline (for the thousandth time.  It's tradition at Grandma's I guess!). 

She also helped Grandpa hang some things in the shop.

I love this about my dad's shop:

There's ALWAYS time to learn something new!  Even if it is in the 1983 World Book.

 

Since it's been a while of doing my weekly updates I thought I'd share our basic weekly schedule:

Monday: school, laundry (sheets and towels), Family Night

Tuesday: school, piano for the boys, Jack attends Robotics after school, Activity Days for Jane and I every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, Katie Anne plays with Halli

Wednesday: I volunteer in Katie Anne's classroom, late start for the boys, early out for the girls, gymnastics for Katie Anne, Walmart trip for me, Jane goes to Piano.  Scouts for Jeffrey at 5, Young Men's for John and Jack at 6:30, Wacky Wednesday for the rest of us.  Laundry (clothes)

Thursday: school, fold laundry, currently Deacon Basketball nights

Friday: school, Jeffrey has robotics after school, friend day

Saturday: girls swim lessons, boys basketball practice, jobs and hopefully some fun!

Sunday: journals, scouts/faith in God, church, dinner, dessert

 

It's a good life.

 

This Saturday I hosted a baby shower in the morning.

I love setting up the table. 

 

In the afternoon I got my hair cut, made caramel corn, listened to Jack and his friends play Dominion and sing "Let it Go" at the top of their lungs. 

Jane and I went to the women's meeting.  Christine rode with us to Mom's where we met up with Stacy and Alyson.  Mom made us chicken pot pie and roasted asparagus with a spring salad on the side. We enjoyed being together for the meeting, especially as it was the first time girls age 8 and up were invited...kind of historical.  Lots of great quotes but one that I loved was let's Love One Another BETTER!

We went back to Mom's for chocolate mousse and to rehash the meeting for dad. Wonderful evening!