The easiest way to dye eggs is just put food coloring on paper towels and start rolling. It was so quick and easy that I was a bit disappointed at how quick we dyed all our eggs.

We went on Easter egg hunts. Three. One to Joe’s work, one at our own house, and one at Grandma’s.

There were tears shed, smiles found and candy. I enjoy small toys and confetti in the eggs rather than just candy.

Soccer, music time for the little kids, and regular play rounded out our days.

I was able to spend some needed time in worship. Friday night I went to a temple session, and Saturday was the General Women’s Session at church. Visiting at the Easter egg hunt and after the conference session helped me overcome my isolation that I had been feeling.

The temple session and conference helped me see where I could add service back into my life. In the past I’ve been praying for inspiration and opportunities to serve, and I would add the inspiration I felt to my to-do list and made sure I followed through. I stopped because I was discouraged over several events that happened. I want to go back to doing it. God know who I can help and what I need to do in my life, and I am happier when I follow him.

My husband was gone down south for work until after I went to sleep. I didn’t have a lot to do. The combination, along with my pretty raw emotional state made the day rather rough. I managed to get a few chores done. Mostly I was glad when the day was over.

I’m in my sister’s blog. Much more interesting.

Since we are remodeling H’s room, H has moved temporarily into C’s room. Henry is giggling, and Curtis is seeking “Everything is Awesome” as loud as he can. I might just go join them for a second….Well I might be too much of a mom. I did join in for a line or two but then I told them to go to sleep.

It was busy. It was Wednesday which means I had poop duty. (I cleaned out the chicken coop and guinea pig pen.) The kids and I went on a walk. A mile and half in 23 minutes . Not that fast, I was listening to a book. That I finished. (Stars Above by Marissa Meyer, in case you wanted to know. I liked it.)

Back home for a great shower. Played with the kids. They have been into Easter egg hunts after I bought them plastic Easter eggs last night. Than more chores and started some soup. We had story-time today, where I didn’t pay attention and recorded a few memories of my childhood for a book I’m writing with my sister.

Home for lunch and nap-time. The kids were involved in Easter eggs or library book for the rest of the afternoon. I was able to window shop for a new computer online. (Can you window shop online? And if so, is it still called window shopping?) I looked up some setting on my new camera. And I realized that my lens filter didn’t fit so I returned it (on Amazon), and they said they would refund me but just to keep the product, and I realized it did in reality fit. So right now I have a free lens filter and just a bit of guilt.

I made this mock up of a landscape design. It’s a work in progress, didn’t spend that much time on it.

And I used my new camera to retake some pictures of my planner. Hopefully I’ll get the planner online and published soon!

I baked bread, which was delicious.

More playing with kids and cleaning up for the rest of the evening. I almost felt like I was finishing a marathon right when I was trying to get the kids to bed. I did finish and now I’m chilling before attempting to make to bed on time. I rarely do, but when you set your bedtime at 9:30, I do actually get to bed right around 10:00 almost every night.

Sometimes I make a really horrible stay at home mom. Like today. I didn’t have much to do. I finished up a book I was reading. The laundry still got done, the kids were fed, I cleaned the bathrooms, and played cars on the carpet and made sure the kids did schoolwork. On the surface it was good.

But underneath there was a lot of negative self talk I couldn’t escape from. Finally when my husband came home, I left. I spent some time with myself. I realized I was valuable. I wasn’t worthless and bad at everything. I have interests outside of being Mom. And it’s important for me to develop those interests.

I came back after a few hours with Easter baskets for the kids and much happier outlook on life.

Going backwards, I finished Miss Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children. The vintage pictures were fun in it. Otherwise read like a standard young adult fantasy novel. I didn’t realize it was the first in a trilogy though, which made the ending a letdown.

The cashier at the grocery store asked if I had done anything fun today. “No. I just stayed home today.” It was a normal day. In the morning I did chores while listening to my audio book. I took the kids outside and they rode bikes. H is a bit young to get it, I wish I had a good bike to push him in. C rode all the way down the sidewalk, he is doing rather well. After, we did jumping bubbles, which as it turns out, is blowing bubbles on the trampoline and involves much giggling.

We made an Easter timeline after school. I took a nap and did some garden paperwork on the computer and started a landscape design. Then I played with PB and helped him with homework. Shopping next, so you see by that time, I had rather not done anything worth mentioning, but also had yet to form any regrets about the day. The weather was beautiful, and blowing bubbles on the trampoline is every bit as fun as something worth mentioning to the cashier.

We cleaned out H’s room. It’s nearly empty except for some tools. Dinner and Family Home Evening followed.

I’ve been reading too much. I’m in the middle of a paperback, e-book and audio book all of which I’m enjoying. Reviews when finished.

Saturday in March

It was a fun day. I woke up and after getting ready headed down south to start a landscape design. Should be pretty straightforward, their landscape doesn’t look that bad already.

We had soccer, the first game of the season. Peter was enjoying himself so much that he sometimes forgot to play. He loves defense too, always running down to guard the goal.

I was able to do a bunch of little projects, some of which included finishing up our hallway. I love how it turned out.

I made my family plant part of the garden with me. We put greens, lettuce and peas in this bed. I’m thinking I should have probably raked off the mulch first and than planted and put the mulch back on later. We’ll see how it turns out. There is already walking onions, self seeded radish and lettuce, and quite a few dandelion. I shouted when I saw Joe pulling up a dandelion. I love dandelion, they are welcome anywhere in my garden. Edible and beautiful.

The weather was great, so our family tried to go on a bike ride. Peter took off a little early and wanted to go up and down our street and be done. While Joe was reasoning with him, I decided to bike around the block and come back when they figured it out. I came back and found Peter on a scooter now, but no Joe. So we went around the block again to find him. Called his name and everything, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally went back home, and he was inside wondering where in the world we were. He had tried to catch up to me and had also gone around the block. We somehow timed our rides perfectly, so we wouldn’t run into each other.

Joe and Peter were good after that. I took Curtis for a ride, and then came back and adjusted the bikes. We have a WeeRide co pilot and also a WeeRide baby seat. They were on the same bike, but it was just too off balanced. It works better to use the co pilot and put baby in a backpack if I’m riding alone. (I know that’s probably really unsafe and horrible, except they also probably do it just fine in the majority of the world.) Now we split kids when we go as a family.

Henry adores bike rides by the way. He was wandering around while we fixed the bikes and putting on any helmet he could find and pointing at the bikes.

I made creamed spinach on toast for dinner. It was delicious. Recipe:

1 handful green onions
3/4 bag spinach that really needs to be used
Saute with olive oil and salt and pepper. Add
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup milk
Boil until thick.

Layer toast, butter, mozzarella,  Parmesan cheese and creamed spinach and broil for a couple of minutes.

And then tonight we made s’mores and invited friends over to share. 

My to-do list started out like this:

And with all that blank space I:

• procrastinated (Youtube: Wheezy Waiter and POPS are my guilty pleasures. I’m also interested in decorative window film for my windows. I hate blinds.)
• got mad at myself
• avoided my children

Okay, those were the negative things. It wasn’t a horrible day. I still played with the kids. My chores are done. I prepped for a garden design client I have tomorrow.

We made a sticky table for school and had fun with that. Craft foam and contact paper and both very versatile preschool art supplies, and combined they work great.

The new season of Daredevil came out. I watched it. Three episodes in a day. It’s good. Dark and violent though. I like to keep it on a small, quiet screen because of that.

I knew I didn’t want to blow off my whole day. I finally finished researching into mirror less digital camera and decided the Olympus EPL6 would be best for my price range. I’m sitting on it before I buy it. I still like the convenience and functionality of a point and shoot. It does whatever. Just the picture quality is horrible.

We went to the park after Henry awoke from a long nap. And had junk pizza for dinner, but hey it only cost $10.

Henry needs me so much, and a lot of times I resent it. “Go and play!” Away from me, not with me. I later was thinking about responsibility, and when I’m with the children, my responsibility is to take care of them. All responsibility isn’t necessarily fun, but my children do bring me joy. I’m not a perfect mom. I am choosing to be a mom over a myriad of other things that I could be doing.

Side note: I don’t always like the term stay at home mom. Because, yes I don’t have a real job and I “stay” with my children all day. My “stay” includes trips to parks, planting gardens, making my home beautiful, slowly developing an online business, fighting plastic lizards, teaching children their letters, giving kisses, reading books, volunteering, and going on adventures. I don’t simply “stay at home.”

My little C isn’t so little anymore. He had a birthday!

The kids wanted a pinata, so I attempted paper mache and made them one. It was fun, and only one person got hit.

C is an awesome boy. He is very playful, enjoys a wide variety of activities like play dough, sandbox, blocks, legos,reading books and spinning. He’s got a great smile that he uses frequently. He is still a pretty quiet kid, although he has been gradually talking more. He can count to 12, paint a pretty good picture, and knows almost all of his letters. Right now, besides the occasional potty accident, he is by far my easiest, sweetest child.