THIS AND THAT

We went to the Easter Pageant at the temple for the first time ever. I can't believe I've never gone before. It's possible my parents took us when we were little, but I have no memory of it. We took Bella to our friend Karla's house and took her two nephews along with Gage and Paisley. It was so well-done and Gage was mesmerized. We were lucky to have Paisley be happy.

All of the little cousins got together for an Easter Egg Hunt and then devoured all of their candy. They were so wired, but had so much fun and got along really well. So well that we grown-ups were able to visit some for once! Gage was singing Primary songs as he was hunting for eggs. Uncle Trevor got a kick out of that. Bella was so happy to have Maya and Callie here. She loves the girls.

Gage went to play at the Narducci's and they did some Easter crafts. He made me this cute little bird's nest with little eggs and a bird on top. He told me to put it in a special place and to think about him when I saw it. I put it on the window sill right above the kitchen sink, which he approved of. He'll sometimes ask me if I'm thinking about him when I'm standing at the sink.

Aaron and his girls came up the next weekend to play! We went to a birthday party on Saturday at this fun park in Chandler. They have a great playground area and a splash zone. They also had water balloons for a fight that brought lots of screams and some tears too. One of the uncles of the birthday boy brought along this self-made train (out of a golf cart and some wagons tied together) and gave all the kids rides. And, of course, cake!! They had a ball! On the way home, Rob spotted a sign on the street corner that read, "Baby Turtles". He did a fast U-turn and needless to say, we now have two baby turtles. The turtle lady said they like companionship. They are named Myrtle and Crush. Myrtle belongs to my niece, Lily, who wasn't allowed to take hers home. Hmmm....a parent who tells their child no. That's an interesting concept. Actually, Gage didn't even get a chance to ask if he could get a turtle. Before he even knew what was happening, Rob was at the turtle table holding them. Thankfully, Bella was passed out in the car, otherwise we may have come home with 10 turtles!! I must say, they are pretty cute. As it turns out, Myrtle and Crush do NOT like each other and have resisted our forced attempts at companionship.

The kids love to help me in the kitchen with all sorts of things. They like to help stir, get their hands messy, and spill things. They ask me to turn on the music and dance while we make things. It definitely brightens the task of making dinner!

The binky fairy is about to pay a visit to Bella, but she can't decide if she should take Paisley's binkies too. After all, her goal is to take binkies from big girls to provide them for babies. Well, Paisley is a baby and really likes her binky. And we really rely on her binky, especially in church! I know I've said a hundred times that the binkies are going, going gone. Could you take them away from this girl??? Seriously, she walks around like this A LOT!

I took Gage to his eye doctor for his routine checkup. Or should I say routine lecture?? Here's the problem. The doctor wants Gage to wear this eye patch (it HAS to be adhesive and can't be a play Pirate patch) every day for 3-4 hours, emphasis on the 4. I know that this is necessary to make his eye stronger, but it is pure torture for both of us. I resolve every night at bed to be sure to make him wear his patch the next day, but for various reasons (excuses), it doesn't happen very often. After this visit, however, I've decided that the torture of being humiliated or given a scathing lecture by this doctor is much worse. Gage agreed and he's worn it every day since. Yaayyy! By the way, this is what he looks like when he doesn't consistently wear his patch. Sorry, Gage, this is just too funny.

We talked to Grandma and Papa LaDuke on Skype recently with the kids. Grandma asked Gage what he's been doing and he said, "Oh, this and that." Too funny.

Today, as we were driving in the car, Gage was teasing Bella and making her upset. Then out of nowhere he said that he missed Grandma Powers. He asked me if I remembered when she was in the hospital and everyone was crying (that was over a year ago and he was 3). He said that she died for no reason. I asked him what he meant and he said that Jesus died for all of us to take all of our sins away, but Grandma died for no reason. I'm simply not equipped to respond to this, so I didn't. And then he went back to teasing.