Obsessed with outside

Addison has been getting a taste of how fun outside can be, after months of BAD weather. She now hates coming inside and sits at the door and says, "bye-bye?" over and over ALL DAY LONG! Either that or "uh uh uh" in a high pitched voice that tells me she wants something. Hopefully, the weather will be better more regularly now and I can let her free a little more.

Speaking of Addison, here are a few notes about her at 15 months:

* She is talking more and more and trying to say what we say. Regular words include: Mama, Dada, "mo" for more, bye-bye, "Ba" for bath and putting something back, "Ah-da" for all done, "Nana" for banana and Nanna the person, and the most common by far..... "Hi!" and "Yeah!". I'm glad we aren't hearing the opposite of this one yet.

*She is a bottomless eater. Seriously, we have to tell her all done and she often cries, even though she HAS to be full. Ask some grandparents or friends, she never ceases to amaze by how much she can put away. A true Edwards' girl!

*She is starting to try out throwing fits and yelling loudly when she doesn't like something. But she can be very sensitive when told "no" or spoken sternly to, especially by Daddy.

*Loves to go bye-bye, and is much easier when we are on the go then when we are at home. Makes sense for child number three, she has been on the go since she was born!

*Drives me crazy by pulling her barrettes out in the car. I dumped the car seat a while ago and found TWELVE barrettes under the padding!

*Still takes two naps and usually goes to bed by 7pm, and wakes up around 7am. She likes going "Nigh-nigh" and loves cuddling her blanky and binky.

* Her favorite pastime is driving her sisters crazy, although their favorite pastime is mothering her to no end.

Easter

Just a few pics from Easter. A great day with family and friends, loving celebrating that my Savior lives!

Love this picture of my big girls

Addison checking out the loot

Easter egg hunt with friends, Madison and Nora


I love these girls!!

Getting ready for Easter

Saturday night was all about getting ready for Easter. We began with coloring our eggs and decorating...




Then, it was "beauty parlor" time. I put curlers in the girls' hair, while Daddy painted their fingers and toes. I love that I captured this on film!! I have to say that Derek did an excellent job, despite my occasional giggle.

Finally, after a quick visit from Grandma who brought over some Easter cookies, it was bed time. This is how Hailey found it best to sleep with curlers in her hair - her stuffed horsey under her neck. . This is the second time they have done this, and kept them in all night. I used to do it when I was little and it's fun to get to do the same thing with them now!

Spring break highlights

There is snow outside my window right now, as I get ready to post about last week's MOSTLY sunny and warm Spring break. I can't believe we had a couple more inches of snow this morning, and I am really hoping that this time it is really the last!! But enough dwelling on that.... here are some pictures of fun in the sun!

Our friends, Levi and Landon, spent one day with us and I took all 5 kids to the park for a picnic... call me crazy, but it was really fun! Or the sunshine might have gone to my head...

More fun at the park

Hailey had a mid-semester show at Little Gym, which was neat since Symantha could come and watch.

Addi learned to pick her first flowers, although it was quite frustrating to her that she couldn't quite get them out of the ground. She sure was cute doing it though!

Sigh, love this sight.

Lesson learned?

We have been working with the girls on some good definitions from a parenting email update I get. They are words like honor, perserverance, self-discipline, etc. and we are making posters for each one. We started out with honor, looking at the first part of the definition, "treating people as special." We had this great little conversation about what that would look like, and Symantha (my natural-born teacher/mother) thought it would be great if we each made a little list of ways we could treat each person in our family as special. So we did that... Hailey did a picture instead (which is really cute - Symantha with an Owie, and Hailey holding a bandaid that she got to help her feel better). Then we each had to take a turn sitting on the stool and sharing our lists.

We posted these things on a cupboard, to remind us, and the goal was to work on treating each other as special for the next day and night.

So, the next day, I overhear Hailey in her bedroom talking to Addison. She had wanted to play with Addison, but then as inevitably happens, Addison started to bother her. Hailey says, "Honor me, Addison, by leaving me alone!!" As you can imagine, Addison did not comply with Hailey's little reminder, and I had to go in and intervene, trying not to laugh. I guess we will keep working at looking how we can honor others, instead of pointing out when our baby sister should honor us!

Resurrection Rolls

We do this super-easy cooking object lesson with my preschool class, and I wanted to pass it on to any of you who might want to do it with your kids before or on Easter. I love how easy it is, the illustration it is of Jesus' resurrection, and the yummy results!

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated biscuits or crescent rolls
large marshmallows
1/2 stick of butter, melted
cinnamon and sugar

Give each child a biscuit to flatten. The biscuit represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow.This represents Jesus and His purity.

Have child dip the marshmallow in melted butter.This represents the oils of embalming.

Dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.This represents the spices used to annoint the body of Jesus.

Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the biscuit. Pinch to seal edges. This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes (or follow the can's instructions - might be less). The oven represents the tomb (pretend like it was 3 days and nights!)

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is no longer there,

HE IS RISEN!

Student of the Trimester

Last Thursday, Symantha's school had an assembly for the students of the trimester. She had been chosen by her teacher, and was so excited for the assembly. If you know Symantha, there is nothing more exciting then getting to be in front of people and have attention on her! The principal called her name out, she stood next to him and he read what her teacher wrote about her:

"Symantha brings joy to the classroom. She is a good friend to all and helps others willingly. Symantha is a positive role model for all students."

She also loved that her name and picture were on the big screen. Kind of hard to see in the picture, but very cool for her!

We are so proud of her, especially for the reason she was chosen Student of the Trimester. I love hearing her teacher tell us that she is always the one to be counted on to help a student who doesn't understand or show a new student around. Symantha has always been "ultra-friendly" (sometimes to a fault!), and I am glad to hear she is using this in a positive and helpful way!

Hello April

A lovely spring morning to wake up to. Glad I get to stay home and cozy up most of the day!