Easter

Does this mean I'm 3 weeks behind? Probably. Well, for blogging, anyway. If you look at my house, it's more like 6 weeks. April has been one of the busiest months. Lots has happened in all areas of life. But I'm still determined not to let things slip through the cracks. Which is why I'm perfectly content posting things so old. Maybe this week will be a post-a-day week. Wouldn't that be fun?

Back to Easter.

We've always done Easter baskets on Sunday. This year, the Easter Bunny came on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it was when we were in the car getting ready to leave up to the Rim. When we got in the car to drive home Saturday evening, Clara said, "When we get home, I bet there will be a surprise on my bed from the Easter Bunny. I'm so excited!" I shot Jason a curious look. How Clara guessed this, I have no idea. Her and Hazel shared a basket with just a bit of candy, a toy, a super cheesy movie, dinosaur foaming bath eggs (Clara got one last year and LOVED it, this year brought just as much excitement) and some bath foam soap. She told me it was the most happiest thing of her life (or something like that). That sure makes me feel good when a.) I spend very little and b.) Clara thinks it's the greatest thing ever.  

After we put Hazel to bed, Clara and I died eggs. I made a special egg for each of them. Clara, my little star shining brightly and Hazel, my own personal sunshine.

On Sunday, we enjoyed some really awesome speakers at church and then went to my mom's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. In care you're wondering what an egg hunt looks like when you have loads of eggs and a group of kids ranging in age from 1-5, here it is.

And in case you're wondering what Easter Sunday looks like at the Melzer's, here it is. Couches on lawns are trashy. But what about children's furniture? Can we get away with that?

 Hazel picked up only one egg and quickly broke it open to devour her treat. She quickly realized she could snatch candy from anyone's loot, so it made no difference in the end that she only got one. And who knew she was a master at unwrapping starbursts?

I don't think we'll have the Easter bunny come on Saturday next year. It didn't really feel like Easter and I decided as long as Easter baskets aren't complete overkill, they won't detract from the true meaning of Easter in our family. At least for now.

Easter Weekend Camping

A few weeks ago Jason's family decided to go camping during Easter weekend. Although we knew we couldn't go for more than a night, Jason and I decided it would be nice to get away for just a little bit. We both planned to work a 1/2 day on Friday so we could get up to camp well before dinner and then stay until lunch time on Saturday.

As luck would have it, both kids were sick Friday and we decided rather than taking them to sleep in the freezing weather (the low was in the mid-20's), it'd be best to sleep in our own beds in our own house. Clara was so set on going and I had really been looking forward to it, so we decided to leave early Saturday morning and just go up for the day.

We spent the morning just hanging out, visiting, playing games and letting the kids roll around in the dirt.  After all, we were headed back to running water that same day, so there was no harm in dirt overload. Just so you know, Hazel is at possibly the least camping-friendly phase ever. She was old enough to know she did not want to be held, but since she still wasn't walking, it made for a very filthy day. After that, we headed to the Canyon Creek fish hatchery. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time. I'm glad we were able to go for the day. I am, however, still looking forward to my much needed multi-day vacation that is scheduled for an unknown date and to an unknown destination. :)

 

This is what the road to Canyon Creek looks like after the fire. It's always sad to see complete devastation like this, especially when you know what it looked like before. As I stared out the window I thought, My grandkids will come here and see what I did as a kid. I couldn't help but hope their kids and grandkids would get to see the same thing instead of repeating the cycle and seeing this.

Melt With You

We were in Yuma on Saturday for my cousin's daughter's reception (got that?). Other than it being the hottest day of the year (100+!!), we had a really great time. Jason was a huge help and one of my cousins made a comment about how every time she's at a reception or wedding with him, he's always helping. To that I replied, "That's why I married him, so I could be lazy." Of course the laziness piece of that was a joke, but Jason's willingness to work hard and help others is certainly one of my most favorite of his qualities. He's incredibly selfless with his time and physical strength and is not afraid of hard work. If someone needs help, he's there. He'll sacrifice a lot to help someone out. He doesn't complain, he just gets it done. This weekend was an extreme example of that being realized.

Jason stayed up late Friday night to clean the house for dinner at our house Sunday. He then woke up early Saturday morning to get the yard work done before heading to Yuma. Once we got to Yuma, he helped non-stop to set up for the reception we were there to attend. Once the reception was over, he worked until every last thing was taken care of. He was the only one outside doing the "manly" stuff for the last little while. He drove all the way home and only need me to pinch and slap him to keep him awake the last little bit. We didn't get back home until about 1:30am and didn't get to bed until 2:30am. He woke up with the kids (around 7:00am) and made breakfast (eggs and hashbrowns). After church, he helped me set up for our family dinner and cleaned up the kitchen before taking a quick nap.

I love being married to someone that volunteers to help and doesn't stop until things are done. He doesn't make excuses, just gets to work. It always makes me smile when I watch him helping and know that I get to claim him as mine.

Karen's Bridal Shower

I've had two dreams for quite some time: have a party with party hats and have a party outside with lights draped overhead. Lucky me, both dreams were realized with Karen's bridal shower. Party hats were always on the "if there's extra time" to do list, which we all know doesn't usually happen. So this time around, I made the hats first thing. They were all different and I forgot to take a picture of all the hats before setting them out. I think it was one of my most successful parties ever. Everything was ready an hour early (thanks to tons of help from Lily, my mom, Karen's mom and sister, Dan's sisters and Debbie {my personal saint}). I'm realizing no matter how much I plan and do in advance, I'll always need help to execute my plans. The ambiance was lovely. The food was delicious. The company was better. And I actually got to sit, eat and visit with everyone during the entire thing. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, the food and being with old and new friends. It was a really great evening. After everyone but a few of my good friends and former co-workers left, I sat outside and visited into the night while Jason, Karen and her family and in-laws cleaned everything up.

The only major tragedy from the night was looking at the pictures and realizing I looked like white trash in some of them. My sweater was falling off my shoulder and you can see the straps of my unmentionable. Plus, my shirt was stuck in my pants. Classy host, that's me.

We are the champions...

Jason and I have played Co-ed softball with (mostly) the same team for 3 seasons. This season, we went undefeated and won the championship. It was a lot of fun, especially when you compare our ability from the first season to now. We're taking a break for a few seasons and I'm going to miss it. It's been a fun combination of social and sports - a bit symbolic to me marrying Jason. :)

Random Weekend

A few weekends ago, the 24th of March, we enjoyed a bbq at my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Hank's (my dad's older brother). My cousin Rob was in town so they invited family over to visit. I think Jason visited with him more since they were watching some ball game and I was busy watching Hazel. And maybe I spent a fair amount of time visiting with Lisa too. My Uncle Tom (the younger brother) is pretty animated and Hazel wasn't quite sure what to think of him.
I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of my dad and his brothers - I normally always do this and am not sure what happened? I did get one with Lisa and Rob since I don't get to see Rob all that often.

The next day we had the Sunday family dinner at our house. We had Asian Chicken wraps and I bought these giant tortillas from Costco.
We laughed at Olivia and Hazel pushing this cart around. They were so excited and I am glad I got some of it on video.
After everyone had gone, Hazel climbed over to the table, opened the tiny little drawer and climbed right in. She barely fit, but that didn't bother her. She loves to climb into things.

All In A Days Work

Since I like to copy people, I decided to take pictures of my day just like Debbie did a few weeks ago. I picked a day during Spring Break. I loved Spring Break. I loved having Clara around just a little bit more. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do without her around as much next year. Breath in. Breath out. I'll deal with it when it comes.

Anyway, our day started by grinding wheat.
We had breakfast
Baked some bread
I showered while the bread was baking - anyone else think this window in my shower is awesome? If only it was a little higher, my upper body wouldn't be visible to anyone in our backyard.
Mmmm, got the bread out
I finished getting ready with my little sidekick
Clara made our PB&H sandwiches for the park
We met up with Beka and her boys for lunch at the park. Hazel ate her sandwich. And my sandwich. And 1/2 of one from Beka. Oh, and carrots, blueberries and grapes. Do you blame me for calling her a pig?
Clara came crying to me with a pretty bad sore. There was sand caked in the blood (this was after I washed it out). Apparently a boy "threw her to the ground". Of course my mother bear instinct went wild. I found the boy and showed him what he did to her and calmly (I think) told him he needed to be more careful. He apologized right away and later his mom came up to me and apologized. I don't think he was trying to hurt her, so I wasn't upset. Well, I was at first, but when I went up to him and the first thing he did was apologize, I realized it was just an accident.
We came home and while Hazel napped, Clara and I ate suckers and played a few games of Guess Who?
When Hazel woke up, Clara got in there before me and stuck the sucker through the crib. Hazel grabbed it and all I could think of was, "Don't feed the animals!"
Hazel got to hold the sucker for a little bit, which made her super happy.
Then we went to the hospital to see baby Margo. Okay, really I needed Angela to sign a tax return, but that makes me sound like a lawyer attacking helpless people in the hospital. Which I'm not. My kids weren't 100% healthy so my mom watched them outside while I went in. I loved that Angela's room was on the ground floor, first one from the entrance so my kids got to see Margo through the glass. Clara was super bummed she couldn't go in, so this made life a little easier for her.
From the hospital we stopped and got dinner and went to Clara's first t-ball practice. Hazel dug my gum out of my purse so I let her eat a piece.
We didn't exactly have time to eat, so we ate in the car after practice.
Then it was bath time.
And bed time. I love crawling into bed with Clara, wrapping my arms around her and talking to her about her day. Sometimes we have serious conversations, sometimes we giggle and sometimes I just sing to her.
PS Bonus points to anyone that finds the special surprise in this post. HA HA HA.

PPS Why doesn't anyone blog anymore? Or comment? I feel like blogland is turning into a cyber ghost town.