Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had a wonderful Easter this year. The boys were really excited about all the eggs, bunnies, baskets, coloring eggs, and the Easter egg hunt. Thatcher found the stash of Easter Bunny goodies the day before Easter, so he wasn't surprised at all by his loot. Taggy asked me, "what is this?" and I said, "the Easter Bunny brought it to you!" and Thatcher added "nuh uh...you gave it to us, it was all in your closet!" Great. 4 years old and the magic is already gone. Nice. Oh well. Anyway, the boys had a great Easter morning filled with too much sugar and lots of fun Easter toys. We enjoyed being together as a family, going to Church, eating a yummy Easter dinner and most importantly celebrating and remembering such a wonderful event, the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. We know that he did suffer and die for us and three days later the garden tomb was empty as he conquered death, with "healing in his wings". We are grateful that because of Him and through Him we are able to be together as a family forever.

Sugar Fest 2009

Tagg finding the hidden eggs in the couch

Hunting for eggs

Showing off their goods

The frenzy begins

Pretty excited about their Easter Baskets

Pre-church photo shoot...

Post-church photo, slowly coming down off a sugar high...

Grand Finale Cake

I just finished my Wilton course 2 cake class last night! It was so fun. I totally love this new little hobby. I signed up for course 3 next month and we learn fondant and tiered cakes, which I am really excited about. Here is my grand finale cake. Two disclaimers about these photos: excuse the dishes in the sink, and for those of you cake decorators out there, don't look to close at my basket weave! It was the first time I had done it, I am going to keep practicing.

Library Time

We have been going to the Library a few times a week for Library time. They do such a fun little program here, with songs, books, learning, and a project at the end! It is really fun and the boys love it. Well Thatcher loves it, Tagg is still too antsy. So the other day Tagg was in the kid play area playing with Thomas the train and Thatcher was listening to story time. As soon as the teacher started the music Tagg booked it down to the story time area and starting doing this...

It was so hilarious I really had to hold back laughing. Tagg the spazz. Love it. The kid has got rhythm though. He loves to dance and shake it. Whenever I have the music on in the car he will bop his head to the beat. I love it.

He's FOUR!

Thatcher turned FOUR on March 23rd. First of all let me tell you I cannot believe that it has only been four years since Thatcher joined Todd and I, but also that these last four years have gone by SO quickly. We cannot imagine our family without our Thatcher. From the very beginning Thatch has been ahead of the game. He was three weeks early and raring to go, and he hasn't stopped since. Always curious, always wanting to learn, always one step ahead, he is a complete delight and brings us so much JOY!

Thatcher had been giving me very detailed instructions on how exactly he wanted his whole birthday to go down, so the pressure was on! He woke up to the house decorated and a big birthday breakfast with his fav, waffles with chocolate chips. This year he picked Wall-e for his birthday theme, and I made him a Wall-e cake. Todd joined us for a Chuck E. Cheese birthday lunch and lots of play time. It was so great to go to CEC's during the day, nobody was there! We had the whole place to ourselves, the boys loved it. We come home for cake and presents. It was a busy birthday day for our big FOUR year old.

The birthday boy! We gave him a Wall-e pin that said, "Birthday Bot", he wore it all day and wouldn't take it off!

The little birthday 'table scape' as Sandra Lee calls it.

Decked out, Wall-e style.

Excited boys playing with their Wall-e favors.

At Chuck E's showing off his button, sticker, and his age.

Birthday lunch of pizza and pop, I would have a picture here of Tagg too, but apparently he has been on a diet lately cause we can't get that kid to eat more than two to three bites.

A friendly game of air hockey, I told Thatch to take it easy on his old man.

Only in Lexington my friends, the Kentucky Derby horse ride.

Cutest little kid. Geez I can't believe how big he is!

Tagg trying to grab the ski balls.

They LOVED this ride.

I had to put this picture on here. Doesn't he look like one of these little 5 year old beauty queens with their fake smiles? I couldn't/can't stop laughing at this.

End of the day, you know it is time to go when they start getting this look. Mission accomplished.

Wall-e cake.

Present time...

Loved that I caught this expression...

He can't wait to make his birdhouse! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Monson!

He loves the ant books,dvd, and ant farm too! Thanks G&G Monson!

Legos.

Guess Who? Thatch loves games!

Thanks for the soccer ball Grandpa Bishop!

The aftermath of the cake, little finger prints in the frosting...

A Little Tour...

So I have been asked to give a picture tour of our apartment...

Our room...purely functional. Sad. Let me remind you that one day our
Master will look like this...

The walk in closet, what a dream after our Cambridge apartment.

Our bathroom

The boys bathroom

The Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

One of my favorite parts of this apartment...a washer and dryer! Oh blessed day!

Another fav, A DISHWASHER! Praise the heavens! I have never been so happy to do dishes!

Family Room

Another family room view

Yet another view...

The boys room

The boys toys

Tagg taking a break from his playing

I love the way Tagg sits when he plays!

Thatcher running around, the usual.

When Thatcher sneeks the camera out of our room....

Thatcher Batcher Pooster Dooster

That is a nickname we have for Thatcher. Todd invented it. I do not know how he came up with it. All we have to say is, "Thatcher Batcher..." and he will finish with the "Pooster Dooster". I don't know why I love to call my kids things like "Mr. Poops" "Little Poops" "Poopster". I think it is totally cute, but it actually is totally weird. Poor kids. I guess I should break that habit.
Here are some funny things out of Mr. Thatcher's mouth lately...
The other day he was thumbing through Todd's wallet (a favorite pastime) and he said, "Someday when I am older I am going to get my own wallet, but instead of a SILENCE with Daddy's picture my SILENCE will have a picture of Thatcher." Just to clarify he was saying SILENCE instead of LICENSE Todd pointed to his license and said, "What's this called again?" and he said, "A Silence." Love it. Did we correct him? No, and not only that but we will probably start calling it a silence around these parts.
The other day Thatcher asked us why we pray to Heavenly Father and not to Jesus. We explained it to him and then he reminded us that we do say Jesus in our prayers. We explained that we pray through the name of Jesus to Heavenly Father. Right after we left the room we heard Thatcher saying..."Dear Heavenly Jesus"...
Lately Thatcher has been telling perfect strangers that we are going to have a new addition to our family. I am not pregnant, so this comes as a complete surprise to me. After telling him that we aren't going to have another baby any time soon, he started telling random people at McDonald's or the store, "My Mommy is going to get a baby in her tummy soon!" Yikes. So uncomfortable. I even had some random guy come up to me and say "Congratulations". So embarrassing.
Thatcher is turning 4 in a couple weeks. I can't believe how quickly these 4 years have gone by. We LOVE our cute, smarty, funny Thatcher!

So Proud

I got this video off of my friend Sara's blog. A few months ago a panel representing a variety of religious outlooks was convened at Harvard and moderated by The Washington Post's, Sally Quinn. On that panel was Harvard junior, Rachel Esplin, from Blackfoot, Idaho, president of the Latter-day Student Association on campus and a member of the Interfaith Council.
Seasoned journalist, Sally Quinn is a tough questioner and asked Rachel questions about whether the Church was a cult, were women treated unequally, why the secrecy surrounding the temple, what are garments, and much more.
What is fascinating about this video is the aplomb with which Rachel answers the questions, neither shrinking nor apologizing before Quinn's questions, and feeling free to assert her testimony, a remarkable quality in one so young put on the spot. If I was Rachel's mother I would be very proud. I am proud that she is in Cambridge standing up so strongly for what we believe in, in a very respectful, assertive way. She would make a dang good missionary. As Latter-day Saints, especially following the avalanche of misconceptions that were passed on by the media in the last two years, we have been advised to step up and help clear the ignorance and misunderstandings so many people hold. Rachel is a good example of doing just that. This is a long video, but well worth the watch, especially if you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, because it really address alot of the popular questions regarding our religion.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

*side note...I love the Rabi sitting next to Rachel in this video, doesn't he seem like he is such a nice guy?*

The "Other" Blog

Did you know I have another blog? Well I do. This is the family blog, and the other blog is MY blog. Check it out sometime.

PS. I like comments.

I Married Mr. Darcy

I am a huge Jane Austen fan. I still remember seeing "Sense and Sensibility" for the first time. I completely loved it. Some years later I saw "Pride and Prejudice" and dare to say that it challenged "Gone with the Wind" to be my new favorite movie. I then went and read every single Jane Austen book and fell in love with words like "thither" and the idea of a tortured and completely romantic love affair. So it does not surprise me that I married Mr. Darcy. Todd and I have our very own version of "Pride and Prejudice" he filling the role of Pride and me filling the role of Prejudice. And just like the classic novel and movie we realized in the end that we were perfect for each other. I totally love it.
And in true Jane Austen fashion there has been a very happy ending...

So if you are as big of a Jane Austen fan as I am you will love this video.