Joseph's Extended Birthday Party

We threw a second birthday party with the extended family in Provo.  We had a ball playing with balls.  (Yes, I know, too punny.)






Joey took a break to do some yoga.



Then got back to business playing one man dodge ball.  You throw the ball in the air then try to roll away before it hits you.


Here we are.  Ready for the main event.


The cake.


I learned to make cake balls just for this party.  You bake the cake balls then bake them inside the cake.  Surprise!  


"Look Mom!  Balls!"


I love how pleased he is with his cake.



Yummm.

Joe's Birthday Fun

I found a killer deal on a bunch of Little People toys at the beginning of the year.  So Rachel and Joseph will be getting Little People as gifts all year.  Joseph was thrilled to wake up and find the Little People Garage.


We picked up Rachel from preschool and headed to McDonalds for lunch.  Some of our friends (Montoya, Fairbanks and Ragsdale) came to play.  Doug met us there.  "Here Dad.  This french fry is for you."



The kids hardly ate anything because they were so busy playing.
 



"Hey Rachel!  Can you hear me?"
 

"Is this thing on?"


My friend Kattie misplaced her keys so we got to test out the seating capacity of the Acadia.  It's definitely a 7 seater.  So nice!  I had to call Doug to figure out how to work the seat belt in the middle of the back seat.  The belt was nicely tucked into the ceiling.  I never even thought to look there.


We've started a tradition of doing a little service on our birthdays.  We were born to make a difference in the world, right?  So I had the kids help me decorate cupcakes.  The plan being that we would take cupcakes to two houses because Joe is two years old.  Something got in the way and we didn't get it done.  Good intentions will have to count this year.


Rachel is glad that Joey was born.


Our finished products...  Now, get ready to sing.


"What?  I have something on my face?"


Presents.  Need I say more?




Rachel had held back as long as she could.  She really wanted in on the action.

Easter Celebrations

We've adopted the tradition of having the Easter Bunny come on the Saturday before Easter.  It makes it so that Easter can be spent focusing on Jesus.


My cousin introduced the idea of color coding eggs for the kids.  Each kids has a different color to look for.  So the older kids aren't always getting the easy to find eggs. We hid Rachel's pink and purple eggs a little harder than Joe's blue eggs.  The eggs we dyed the day before were free game.



Sunday morning we went to church with Grandma and Papa Goodwin.  These two angels were the talk of the ward that day.










Easter evening we talked about Jesus and the resurrection.  Then we made Resurrection rolls.  (Yet another Pinterest idea)


The marshmallow represents Jesus.  The crescent roll represents the tomb.  The cinnamon/sugar mixture represents the spices that were used when they buried Jesus.  The butter is the anointing oil.

You roll the marshmallow in butter and then in the cinnamon/sugar mix.



You roll the marshmallow up in the crescent roll. Make sure that it's well sealed.  The stone rolled in front of the tomb made it impossible for someone to get out on their own.


Then you bake the rolls. Some of ours weren't sealed very well.


When the roll is opened the marshmallow is gone.  Rachel and Joe loved it!  They tasted good too.

 

Dying Easter Eggs

This year I made our Easter egg dye by adding food coloring to 1 cup of hot water and 1/4 cup distilled vinegar.  It worked like magic.



We had fun discussing colors and how they combine to make other colors. 



You can see in Joey's eyes that he doesn't feel real well.  But it didn't stop him from having fun.


The whisks idea came through Pinterest.  Boy were they wonderful!  I didn't have to worry about eggs being dropped and broken.


Rachel was so proud our our eggs that she invited anyone that came to our house to see them.