Easter Eve

We've been hoarding eggs for weeks to get enough together to dye for our Easter basket. But look at our treasure trove!

And of course we watched Ten Commandments. I was surprised that Tad, LC and Jaws made it through the entire movie for the first year. 

I'm telling you, if you just give it a chance it is pure entertainment!

The Budding Pianist and the Entrepreneur

Jaws wants to learn how to play the piano and Little Chief wants to put his skills to use to earn a few bucks.

The perfect match.

The New Normal

The governor issued new guidelines for grocery stores right on the cusp of Easter weekend. This is what the line to the grocery store looks like on a Friday morning (post the elderly shopping hours)- a line 35 people long, 6-feet apart. The stores can now only let in 40% of the max occupancy.  There are direction arrows for the isles and everyone has to stay 6-feet apart. Nearly everyone wears a face mask and gloves, although it is not mandated. And no re-usable grocery bags- just as I finally got used to bringing my own bags too.

Pink Super Moon

It didn't take any arm twisting to get these two to go check out the Super Moon with me. We are lucky to have friends with a house at the beach where we could park. All beach parking is closed for the interim and there are so many gosh darn trees that the beach is the best place for a peek at the sky. 

We were also treated to a good view of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars as well!

Conference Weekend- New Traditions and Old

Okay, we all know that the most important conference weekend tradition- besides actually listening to conference, of course, is the homemade cinnamon rolls! 

But, spoiler alert- they really aren't all that homemade. 

We actually use Rhodes bread dough. I spent Friday before conference scouring grocery stores (4 of them!) for the stuff and it is yet another casualty of the Coronavirus. So I had to call in the experts- Aunt Mindy makes about a bizzilion homemade cinnamon rolls each year and she swears by the Lion House Dinner Roll recipe. So, we are going to give it a shot. EXCEPT- it calls for dry milk, which is also not to be found in the stores. BUT guess what?! We have some in our very own basement food supply, purchased 14 years ago. 

That will do!

Another tradition required a little twist...

Remember how either the boys or girls will go out for dinner before either the Women's session or the Priesthood session? Well, this year the Saturday evening session was for EVERYONE. And all the restaurants are closed, except for take-out. We treated the whole family to Bertuccis and ice cream sundaes. 

It was unanimously agreeable substitute.

But some things never change. 

Everyone needs a good General Conference project.

Mine is always a Nantucket basket.

Tadpole probably worked through every transformation of every Transformer in his collection.

Jaws got out his art set...

As did Superkid...

And Little Chief...

We left the baking to Abibella

 

And everyone enjoyed her scrumptious rolls!

We love how much everyone loves Conference weekend!

Plague Doctor

I've barred my children from public for the last 2 weeks with no reasonable end in sight. In a desperate attempt to break out of isolation Abz produced her own PPE- a plague doctor uniform which she fashioned from leftover scraps of material, a cereal box and a notebook divider. 

 She now demands a trip to Walmart.

 How could I deny her?

Surprisingly, we only got one comment. 

However, there were a few sneaky pics snapped of her from a distance.

Abz sketched a little self-portrait. The girl has got talent.

 Also, just wait, pretty soon everyone will trade in their boring face mask for a more stylish and practical plague doctor mask!

April Fools

I had this crazy funny idea for April Fools day. I would set my bladder alarm for 1:00 a.m. and when I wake up I would tip-toe into the kid's room and draw mustaches on their faces as they slept. Crazy funny- right?

Well, I tried to do the mustache thing... but before I could even pull out my marker, Tadpole sat straight up, looked me in the face and said, "I distinctly remember turning that assignment in." And then he kept looking at me without really seeing me. I diverted my eyes without moving another muscle. But then L.C. moaned  and rolled over, which set off a cascade of moaning and rolling in the room. In the end, I settled for Plan B- inspired by my Grandmother Smith. When Grandma lived with us she shared a bathroom with all of the family- including my nasty brothers who had lousy aims. We have the same thing going on here. So I took a page from my Grandma's play book and stole the phrase from the note she hung over my childhood bathroom's toilet:

Then I opted for this serendipitous prank after my first prototype failed when I started cutting a hole out of the entire center of the toilet seat cover. 

A game of corn-hole. 

This went on the parent's bathroom toilet.

After spending nearly an hour setting up my April's Fools escapades I was all wound up and knew I wouldn't sleep anyway so I took another stab at my mustache idea. I knew I was going to spend the day paying for it too. I first tried to get L.C., but after I got the marker on his face he immediately turned over, obstructing his face. I next went after Tadpole. I went in for the kill and got attacked by a fit of giggles. I managed a hurried line across his face anyway. 

I was laughing too hard to even consider Superkid or Jaws.

I took this picture the next morning before Tadpole even knew about it. 

I was laughing uncontrollably. Nobody knew why. 

It was a definite fail, but I knew I would pay regardless. 

If you look close enough you can see a tiny smudge on L.C.'s cheek. Super fail, but the kids liked my story and REALLY liked the idea of pranking for the rest of the day.

I had to think fast and turn all of this pranking energy outward. 

I stole Aunt Mindur's idea. We went to Walmart and picked up every last box of Ding-Dongs and went door-bell (ding-dong) ditching. 

Plus, it gave Superkid some driving experience for quick getaways.

We think we are really funny and had a spectacular time!