Hoppy Easter

Our Easter activities started last week, when we had some leftover frosting.... James made cupcakes all on his own, and the kids went to town! We didn't have cupcakes with frosting. When Ellie had the frosting, she made frosting with a little bit of cupcake. Everyone had a wonderful time! It felt so good to have Easter colors around!

Next, on our Easter Activities, was dessert for Easter dinner. I had been given these egg shaped jello molds, so I wanted to use those! Off we went. Hmmmm... what could we do with those eggs to make the dessert for fun? Well, after searching with the kids on the Internet, we had it. The boys love origami, so we decided on a bird theme! We made a nest with Tiger Butter and Chow Mien noodles which was fabulous! And certainly a dessert on it's own! And Ellie and Glenn LOVED forming that nest! But, I was bound to get those eggs in there! So, we put a little wax paper in the middle, and put our jello eggs inside, while James went to town on making origami cranes to sit next to its nest. It was quite the interesting dessert to say the least! The kids loved the eggs, but I personally will not make those eggs again. They all split in the middle when I opened up the mold. It was frustrating. But, we stacked them together, and made do. We had multicolored eggs (Alex's favorite... of course), and just plain orange. The tiger butter was my favorite... of course! Who wouldn't love white and milk chocolate mixed with peanut butter!


Next, were the Easter eggs. Hmmmm... Well, I was busy making hot cross buns, and let's just say I was a little distracted! When Glenn dropped an egg that he had colored, and it cracked open with a runny yolk inside, I realized that I had forgotten to boil the eggs! Yeah, well, it was only after they colored 18 eggs! Good thing we had plenty of eggs! I quickly boiled up another batch, and all the kids had a great time coloring the eggs, and adding stickers, and crayoning in star wars people and names. Great fun!
Last, came the table decorations. James loves to do origami, and wanted to do something other than cranes. So, we looked up info on the Internet, and was lucky to find a site with Easter origami, and had a side link to Star Wars Origami!!!! Ok, James just about flipped out! The kids are supposed to do a service project daily... something simple, even like making your brother's bed. But James kept scheming up ways to make Star Wars origami during the school day..."can I use it as a service project, if I make an A-wing fighter for Alex?" Yeah, it was hilarious. Anyway, we also found instructions for baskets, and bunnies. James was happily at work to make a basket and bunny for everyone. Alex and Glenn made eggs to go inside, and I was scheming a way to get my Cadberry Eggs for the season... "Oh, James! If you make the baskets, I can get a Cadberry Egg to put inside each one!" James then wants to know what is a Cadberry egg. WHAT???? On Easter, when he tried one, James says to me, "I can't believe you've never let me have one of these before in my life?!" I was surprised he'd never had one either. Now, he's hooked!



Easter weekend was a beautiful weekend! Sunday wasn't so great, but Saturday was beautiful! And we had no baseball! So, we went to work in the yard! I had gotten a compost bin last year, and we finally had the time, energy, and a son, to work on it! James loves to put things together, and the bigger the task, the happier he is. This assembly required power tools, and he was anxious to start! So, I gave him the box, and he took it from there. He asked for help holding things once in a while, and I checked in on him to make sure he was doing it right, but he certainly was! And did I mention he loved the power tools!? He had to drill, then screw... and he loved changing the ends! Yeah, hilarious. Can't wait to remind of that when he has to build a playset for his own kids!

But, he did it, and did a fantastic job! We already put some grass clippings in... life is good.
While he was working on the compost bin, I had to fix our lawn mower. The pull string was literally on it's last string... it was hanging in one spot by one thread. So, my mother-in-law, who is very creative and handy, came to mind, as I decided to take a needle and thread and sew the two thick spots of chord together with skinny rope. Then I taped it close, and it did pull, so it should hold at least for a little while. James is almost 10 now, and any big person job he gets, he's quite excited about. Mowing the lawn is one of them! He LOVES it, and can't wait to do it again. And by the way, the clippings can go in the compost bin which spins... what can be more exciting than that?!

Ellie wanted to make sure to get in on the nice day, too. She had a play date with her dolls. She zipped them up nice and warm in her coat to go outside, for a fantastic swing! She talked to them the entire time, making sure they were happy!

Glenn has become a member of the split club at karate, now. Yep, he's all the way down. It just looks painful! But, he's excited that he can do it!
And of course, Ellie can't be outdone. She's also very flexible, and can do the splits too. It's amazing!
Then there is Alex, who is NOT flexible, and tries to do the splits, and just cries cause he's not even close! So, we made up the horse stance club, and he's happy he's a part of that. For now.

Well, unfortunately we didn't actually get any pictures of Easter. But, we all enjoyed our time with the Dye's, despite my mishaps that day of having shoes completely come apart on me, sweet potatoes spilling over in the car, and getting frosting on my shirt... fun fun fun! It was still a wonderful day, and I'm glad we could be together as a family, and remember Christ's sacrifice for us. I'm so grateful for that, so we all can be together again with our families up in heaven!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Baseball has begun!

It's baseball season, and boy does it tucker us all out! Those days where the weather is perfect, and we all get out to the field to practice catching and hitting, are few and far between right now, but our favorite moments as a family. All the kids love to play catch, and when Papa's home, the weather is nice, our family is gone to the fields to play! We are hoping these days will start to be more frequent! Until then, we do toughen up in the cold and rain, too. At least it's not snow, right? :-) But, after a long afternoon/evening of either practice or games, we all feel like Ellie! She's just lucky enough to be allowed to nap!

Glenn, is a serious player. If you looked at his team picture, every one of the kids are smiling and having a good time, and Glenn... has his baseball face on. Glenn's coach... the best of all coaches... is fun, hilarious, and has such a good time with the kids! But he's also trained the kids to give them their baseball face... the serious one. Now, most of the kids give it, and then they all laugh and giggle. Not Glenn. He gives his face, and keeps it :-) Good ol' Glenn!
Then there is our happy go-lucky James. He's always smiling, especially when he's pitching, just got a base hit, or just got someone out! Then he's grinning from ear to ear! And he's definitely the first to congratulate someone else when they've just done something spectacular, or even mediocre! And if they mess up, he still has a smile on his face, and tells them they'll get it next time. He's the kid that doesn't get upset. He's smiling and happy whether they are winning or losing. He just loves the game!
This is James on second base, getting ready to steal! Ok... so they don't steal yet... but the kids sure are ready to try!

The tricky thing about baseball, is that it is exactly at dinner time. So, we have to get creative! Lots of sandwiches, and cut up fruit and veggies. The first game, I brought strawberries, and they were gone by the next time I turned around! They were a roaring success!

The first game for each of the boys was beautiful weather. It was getting cold when the sun was starting to go down, but really, it was nice to have the sun shining without any rain! And even though the boys are playing, Alex and Ellie play right next to the field! They'll be pros by the time they start!

Alex is going to be a serious ball player, too. He's adamant that everything he does is right. If he's not catching the ball, he's upset that he's not doing it right. If he can't hit the ball, he's upset that he's not doing it right. Or he'll complain that the bat doesn't like hitting the ball! But, he is a perfectionist at the game, and already takes it quite seriously. But, he sure is happy when he catches the ball!

The other exciting thing that happened this week, is the Glenn lost his tooth! This will be number 4. Only one of his four teeth have come out easily, and that one came out so easily, that we never found it! The others have all been unique stories! And this wasn't any different!

James and Glenn were SUPPOSED to be upstairs matching up a large pile of mismatched socks. That was their assignment, while I was doing something downstairs on the computer. Well, about 20 minutes later, Glenn comes downstairs... crying... This is what he says, "I had a sock in my mouth, and James pulled it out, and my tooth hurts really bad!" This was said all through tears. So, as I'm thinking to myself, why on earth did he have a sock in his mouth (thankfully they were clean), I ask him to open up. His top front tooth, was completely twisted backwards!!! I'd never seen anything like it! Trying not to look completely shocked, which would have scared Glenn, I calmly (with my heart racing) walked briskly to the kitchen, grabbed a Kleenex, and walked back. Then asked him to open up, and just grabbed his tooth with the Kleenex and yanked it out. He SCREAMED! Ok. Let's all take a deep breath! James is on the couch with ears plugged in the fetal position... he does NOT handle blood at all! And Glenn is crying, and I'm so relieved to actually see the tooth in the Kleenex... Whew... it worked! What an ordeal. Needless to say, the tooth ferry felt bad for him, again, and he got 2 quarters, instead of the usual 1 :-)

Turns out that James was pouring some socks onto Glenn's head, who was laying on the bed, and Glenn was pretending to be a sock monster, and eat the socks. Boys!!!! Hopefully they will be more diligent in matching socks next time!

The picture above, is of Glenn trying to eat a pear with NO FRONT TEETH!

Our last greatest adventure last week, was going to see King Tut at the Elsinore Theater in Salem. It was very well done. I still think Robin Hood at the Children's Theater was our absolute favorite! But, King Tut was one of their favorite lessons in history, so they had so much fun seeing a rendition of the story in a play right in front of them! And as you can see, Ellie loved it, too! She was as gold as gold, thankfully, and we were all able to have a wonderful time!

Well, that's it from the Dye family. I hope everyone is enjoying springtime, and all the beautiful flowers and colors it brings! Take care everyone!

Getting older...

I have the wonderful opportunity to share a birthday with my mother-in-law. She is an amazing person, who has always been so loving and accepting of me. I am thankful for all that she does for our family. She has the cleverest of ideas, and is always so thoughtful in all that she does. My kids adore every moment with her, and wish they had more! And now that they are in Oregon, I get to celebrate my birthday with her! And thankfully, she loves cake :-)

This year, I found a recipe in Rachel Ray's, for an Almond Joy cake. Oh boy, was it fabulous! It's a 4-layer dark chocolate cake with a coconut cream filling, and whipped cream frosting. It was supposed to just have almonds on top, but my mother-in-law had the fabulous idea of actually putting mini Almond Joys on tops. Yeah, that was the final touch that made it supreme! Definitely doing it again... and again... and again :-)

I didn't get any pictures on my birthday, but Todd got to take the day off of work, and we played and played, and played some more. We played some baseball, and Todd had to do a little bit of work, so I got to just play with the kids. No distractions, other than being with them. We did airplane, spun round and round, played tag... it really was so much fun to just play with them for a few hours. Then I got to go look at plants all by myself! What a treat! I actually got to stop and look at all the information on the plants, and take the time to read them! Ahhhh... then it was off to China Blue for dinner with the Dye's. It was a fabulous evening with wonderful company, and delicious food!

(Before Picture)

Then, the next day, James and I ran the Multiple Sclerosis 5K. James was amazing! We stopped for one rest stop, where there was fabulous food, and one more time on a small hill, and he ran the rest of the way with me. I was so proud of him! At the end, he was so tired, and said, "Now I know why you want to take naps after you exercise!"

(After picture)

I enjoyed the one-on-one time with James. I think what I've noticed most about this birthday, is not so much that I'm getting older, but that my kids are. They are growing up so fast, and I don't want to miss a moment. James has become a running and biking partner. I think we've been able to grow much closer having this special time together. I was happy to have this time with him, and look forward to the other kids joining up as they get older!

James just got a new pair of shoes... only slightly smaller than mine! Scary!

And I couldn't finish this post without this picture of Ellie. Someday it will be used against her! It is a CLEAN pull-up that she thought looked funny on her face! Silly girl!

Anyway, I hope you all are doing well! Take care, and here's to another year!

April Fool's Day

Well, we celebrated April Fool's Day, with silly food! You can see here, that we started our dinner with cake, which was a fabulous meat loaf recipe that was made in 2, 9-inch pans. Then we assembled the meat loaf with mashed potatoes, with a layer in between the meatloaves too! It tasted fantastic!

Then for dessert, it was corn on the cob...
The kids had a GREAT time, assembling! Ellie was the official jelly bean sorter, Glenn was the master piler, and Alex was his sidekick! Poor James was stuck doing his math. But, he enjoyed the treats when all were done! So, it was yellow cupcakes, with yellow buttercream frosting on top, with yellow jelly bean halves on that, sprinkled with sugar, which did totally look like salt, and finally bringing it up with half a laffy taffy for a pad of butter! They were FABULOUS!
While we were assembling, we were surprised to see Papa come home! It was such a beautiful day, so he decided he didn't want to be at his desk any longer... so we got to spend the day with the man of our hearts! It was fantastic! Alex got his gear out to take on the world, equipped with a toilet paper tube as armor! The rest of us got ready to have a great day at the park, riding our bikes around, and playing baseball with the kids. It was just what the doctor ordered! We enjoyed spending time together, enjoyed the sunshine, and enjoyed the smiles on the kids faces!
That morning, we did get Papa's windshield replaced, for the 2nd time! First time leaked, so this one is working so far! The guy told the kids, that if he had to come back again, they were going to replace it, since they'd seen 2 already done! He was a very nice guy, and we all enjoyed watching how they replace a windshield!
These are pictures of the kids at work... Glenn is actually doing his math... what a whiz!
James is being squeezed by Ellie while he's supposed to be doing his math!
Ellie and Alex are hard at work coloring their pictures, to help the time pass till the boys are done with school! All the kids have been into coloring lately, and it's hard to get them to put away their coloring pages! But, I can't complain. It's a great quiet activity, with little mess, and many pretty pictures around the house to enjoy!

A few weeks ago, we also went shooting at Grandma and Grandpa D's shooting range! The kids had a great time, but I certainly will say Alex was in seventh heaven!!!! He's into Star Wars... big time... so he regularly shoots storm troopers and battle droids. He enjoyed shooting a real gun at a target, and was smiling from ear to ear!

Here's Ellie with all of her ear and eye protection! What a picture!
Well, I have another blackmail picture of Ellie with a CLEAN pull-up on her head, but it won't upload. So, I guess I'll just have to save it for when she gets married! Which of course won't happen till she's 30! :-)

Baseball is starting now, so we are in the thick of baseball and karate with Demo Team. But, at least it keeps us all out of trouble! We are enjoying it, though, and look forward to sitting and watching some games... hopefully with some sun! It actually was beautiful yesterday, and the lawn is mowed, and garden is weeded and ready for tilling... thank you kids! We actually enjoyed some great laughs, while pulling out the tall weeds. It was quite enjoyable for a chore! It's so nice that spring may actually be here! It's about time!

And today was a beautiful day to relax, and enjoy some cuddle time as a family! It was General Conference this weekend, which is when we get to watch church over the internet at home from church leaders in Utah. And we love this weekend, because not only do we get to hear some fantastic talks that help us become better people, but we also get to cuddle as a family, and chill! Ahhh... life is good! But, tomorrow we'll be back to the grindstone! Fun, Fun, Fun!

Take care everyone! That's all for the Dye Clan! Stay warm and healthy!

Love,

Us

Last year we visited Death Valley on our way to visit my parents in AZ. We were only supposed to stay 1 day, and ended up staying 3 (and getting in trouble because we didn't have any cell signal, and couldn't tell anyone... oops). We LOVED it there. It was beautiful, warm, and sunny! So, this year, we decided to take a vacation, ONLY to Death Valley! We had 9 days there, and it was fabulous! We brought all the bikes, and it was an adventure we'll never forget. Some of our favorite experiences were:

1. Biking with the family

Most of the time it was James and I on the tandem, and Todd hauling the train with Glenn on back of the tandem, Alex following on the trail-a-bike, and Princess Ellie following behind with the whole trailer to herself! Todd got a great workout, needless to say, and I am indebted to his legs! I had a hard enough time with only one child! But, both of us LOVED having the one-on-one time with the kids. One day we switched, and Todd took James 27 miles through Titus Canyon. They had a blast, and James couldn't stop talking about it! For me... well, let's just say that I gained a MUCH greater appreciation for Todd, as I took the Train on my own bike ride, and it was very hard work! But, there is nothing better than just being able to talk about whatever comes to your mind, notice the little flowers on the side of the road, and hear Alex sing the Star Wars theme song OVER and OVER and OVER again, with shots of a laser-blaster in between. It was priceless. And Alex couldn't get enough biking in! Every day, he was ready to go on another bike ride! He even lasted one time with me for 27 miles on the back of the tandem, which means he can't coast! He did awesome!

2. NOT getting blown into a crater

We huddled behind a wall as the winds grew stronger and stronger and stronger still! We saw the Ubehebe crater from here, and didn't venture any closer, for fear of being blown in! By the time we left, it was 50 mph gusts, and we feared that Ellie's trailer would flip, and not even sure if we would not flip!!!! We said a few silent prayers, and thankfully, we got out of the wind blast soon enough, while our bikes were literally at an angle, as we leaned heavily into the cross-wind so we wouldn't blow over! Whew! We got a few nasty looks, like they couldn't believe we would actually take our children up in this weather! (I wanted to run over to them and tell them it didn't start like this!) But, we only had to go about a 1/2 mile, and we turned, and the wind went behind us, and it was a very fast ride back to the car! What a whirlwind! Todd rode more, and he got about 30 some miles in with a 50 mph gust at his back! Talk about fun! I, in the meantime, was scared to death if our tent was still up! But, I should have been more confident in the engineer in the family, who had our tent staked down for a hurricane! But, I was still very relieved when I came back, and our tent was still standing. HUGE sigh of relief!

3. Hiking

If we weren't biking, we were hiking. The kids loved running around, and sliding down some marble-like canyons. It was gorgeous to see all the different formations, all the different rock colors, and the many different canyons that were all so unique!
4. Salt Flats

The salt flats were amazing! It tastes like salt, everyone! Even though Death Valley only gets 0.2 inches of rain a year, the salt flats are very moist underneath from the Panamint Mountain Range. You would expect it to be dryer than dry, but it's not! It was fascinating, and the kids loved all the different patterns that formed!

5. Building Relationships

The relationship that Alex and Ellie established was priceless. I don't know what clicked on this trip, but suddenly these two were inseparable. They held hands together, played together, and watched out for one another when the other was in trouble. They have not acted like this at home. So, it was wonderful for them to really enjoy one another! And to see Ellie actually put someone else's needs before her own... she's used to being the princess in the family, and demanding her way! But, on this trip, she worried about Alex first. It was a wonderful change of attitude. The vacation was worth it, just for those moments!

Glenn also got along great with Alex! They played in the dirt with some cars, built forts together, and enjoyed quality playing time! It was wonderful to have them thoroughly enjoying one another's company.

James, was definitely older on this trip. He was more responsible, and didn't want to make much noise, and bother other campers around us. He let the others play, helped them when they needed help, but otherwise, was climbing or reading on his own. He's growing up! It was sad to see that he wasn't always his boyish self... I started to see a young man in him... SCARY!
6. Learning about our Alex

We learned that Alex interprets things different than we do! Alex wanted to go on a family hike, and asked Papa if he could go on a family hike with him. Papa said no, because he was getting bikes ready, but maybe afterwards. Alex asked me if I would go on a family hike with him. I said no because I was getting lunches ready for the day, but maybe afterwards. Next thing we know, Alex is climbing up this mini mountain that is very steep!!!! And he gets stuck about 9/10 of the the way up, and is starting to whimper because he's stuck, and can't go up or down!!! As he's starting to panic more and more, Todd and I notice where he is at (as well as the other campers nearby), and Todd runs up the slope to get him. He helps him to the top, and Todd says, "Alex, you can't go up here by yourself! Why did you do that?" Alex tells me, "Well, I wanted to go on a family hike, but you guys wouldn't come with me!" So, Todd took him on a family hike, SAFELY up a mountain, and life was good. Alex was happy, and we all realized we needed to stop once in a while for Alex.
7. Learning about our James

James is born with mountain goat feet. Our boys loved to climb, climb, climb. And thankfully, our campsite was right by many mountains to climb around, so they were off every morning. James was always the first up everything, and the higher he was, the bigger his smile got. He loved the cliffs, loved walking to the edge of them, and loved being the only boy able to do it! It certainly gave him some self-confidence that he was actually quite good at something! Glenn wanted to follow in his footsteps, but definitely was more cautious, which certainly isn't a bad thing! It was nice to know Glenn had limits! James, we had to keep our eye on :-) And Alex was happy, as long as we were biking or hiking. That's all he wanted to do... other than play star wars in the dirt!
8. Learning how to describe Toilet Paper

Alex doesn't like thin toilet paper! When we felt the thin toilet paper at the campground, he instantly said, "Owwww.... what is that?" I explained to him that it was just really thin toilet paper, and they couldn't afford to use soft toilet paper, because it's more expensive. He looks at me with his big brown eyes, "Is this Toilet Paper made out of Cardstock??"

9. Learning about our Glenn

Glenn worries about our family. We learned from many of the rangers scorpions are not good! The smaller the scorpion, the more poisonous. Death Valley has the smallest scorpions :-) Oh yay. Glenn's ears perked up at this knowledge, and always made sure that everyone's shoes were shook out in the morning, and investigated the bathrooms every morning for the rest of us! He came back from his morning duties, announcing to all that there were no scorpions in the bathrooms! It didn'thelp that Todd found one eating a spider at the campground in the bathrooms, and Ellie found a dead one hiding in the toilet paper tube! Yikes! Alex, of course, thought it was very cool!!!! It gave Glenn a greater determination to make sure our family is SAFE!

10. Last but not least, our favorite experience was spending time together as a family.

We LOVE to bike together! The harder our route, the more we worked together, the more fun we had, the more enjoyable the reward was at the end of our journey. We don't get good cell signal at Death Valley, so it's a great place to just be together, with no distractions, and enjoy each other. We loved it, and hope to go again next year!

To all those up North, consider a trip to Death Valley! Of course, we had a few friends go this past week, and it was only in the 70's with gust winds and rain... but most of the time it is beautiful! So, if you can be flexible with your trip a little to get the good weather, it is a nice reprieve from winter, and from every day life!

Have a wonderful day, and hopefully I'll write again soon! Thanks for all of you who have egged me on to start the blog again! I'm grateful for your patience!