Amy and Chris Got Married!!!

This is the best pic that I took of Chris. Sorry Chris. But he still looks handsome.

March 26th Amy and Chris were sealed in the Newport Beach Temple. After 9 years of dating Amy, Chris is officially part of the family!!! We couldn't be happier for their union. Their sealing was absolutely beautiful. I had a hard time looking at my beautiful sister because I just wanted to cry. (I really didn't want to cry mostly because my sweet cousin Jeanette did my make-up too. She's a professional make-up artist.) But Amy looked so beautiful and I just love her and Chris. I am so happy for them.

Andi and Michael

My mom and me

Maia and cousin Abram dancing (This was not staged. It just happened. I just love these two.)

Gorgeous bride (might I add that Laura and Amy did all the flowers themselves!)Cute cousins

Pretty Amy

Halyn wanted some of the attention too.

Lyla and Alli

Maia in her pretty dress.

Kimball- not stoked about all this.

Preschool

This week in "Jammie School":

Tumble Bunnies. This was fun. I found this at http://familyfun.go.com/easter/easter-crafts/all-easter-crafts/tumble-bunnies-1001208/. Easy. It made a fun little toy that Maia played with over and over and over again. We have a stack of boxes that made a nice ramp for the bunny to tumble down. You might have something better than boxes.

We started this but never finished. I traced Maia's body (kind of hard when she's wiggling) onto butcher paper. I cut it out and she was going to put clothes on it and a face but we never quite got there.
We did make some handprint bunnies and sponge painted the grass on. This was fun. Anytime we deal with paint, it's fun.
We also went to the Malden Public Library close to our home. This was interesting:
I've never seen a failed elevator certificate. Maybe because if it has failed, they don't let people ride in it. Hmm...no one stopping this elevator from being used by the public.

Anyway, there is a puppet show corner of the kid's section of the library for kids to play with. Maia especially liked the dragon and crocodile. She put on a little show for me.

We also did some "paint with water" pages for fun.
Maia colored a pizza. She made sure I knew that there were BLUE pepperonis, BLUE pickles, BLUE cheese and THAT'S IT!
We did some counting again. I actually found some cute counting cards at http://mamasmonkeys.blogspot.com/2011/04/pizza-tot-pack.htmlWe also played a "Cars" alphabet game. (I found this at the same blog above) I would call out a letter and Maia would have to cover the letter with a peanut.
This is a rare occasion. So, I wanted to remember that she does take naps...once in a while.

We went to Costco! It felt so nice to go somewhere familiar. We had a good ol' hot dog and soda lunch.
We made these little Rice Krispy treat nests and put a little Peep birdie in it along with some Reese's peanut butter eggs.

http://www.food.com/recipe/chick-egg-krispies-nest-easter-treats-116299I'm pretty sure I got the next idea from http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/. Maia did some number matching with plastic eggs and an egg carton too. She rocked it. It's the letters that we're still working on.Here's a little clip of her Tumble Bunny.

Battle Reenactment Failure

So it was Patriot's Day last weekend. We had every intention and plan to go see the reenactment of the Battle at Old North Bridge in Concord where "the shot heard around the world" took place. You can see some of the pictures of this reenactment here:

http://mserfass.smugmug.com/History/Battle-at-Old-North-Bridge-in/5763429_RhpNz#356428670_CX2bC

Maia and Heidi were still sick with colds and at 8:30 am on this particular Saturday, it was in the 35 degree range. We decided to do something else. So we went to the mall.

Maia wanted her picture with Jeffrey the Toys R' Us giraffe so we did that. The Easter bunny was a little scary-looking and quite expensive so we didn't do that. But, we did want to do something that was touristy. So, we gave in, and stopped at Dunkin' Donuts IN THE MALL! Yes, they have them everywhere! It might be worse than Starbucks on the west coast. When you ask for directions, people will respond in terms of Dunkin' Donut locations. "Head north on hwy 1. Turn right at the third Dunkin' Donuts."

Here's the touristy part. Not only is it a Dunkin' Donut donut, but it's a BOSTON CREAM donut.

Maia thoroughly enjoyed her strawberry donut. I'm not sure if she's ever had a donut before but she loved it. (Last week we had a play group and there was an Easter scavenger hunt. At the end, there was a bucket of Dunkin' Donut "Munchkins" (aka donut holes). I think Maia ate 4 of them!

I'm so glad that we were able to check Dunkin' Donuts off our TO DO list. Phew!

Personally, I would have loved to see the battle reenactment but maybe next year. We'll probably have to pack a few "Munchkins" to keep the kids occupied and quiet. Nothing says battles like donuts.

Heidi's Baby Blessing

Little Heidi Marie was blessed in the Wood Canyon by Joe on March 13th. Joe was assisted by my dad, Cory, Cameron, Chris, Michael, Jared, and Bishop Todd Keller. We were lucky to have Joe's mom, sister Marla, and her husband Jared in town for the blessing. My mom, Sadie, Kimball, Alli, Lyla, Autumn, Laura, Andi, and Maia were all in attendance. It was a great blessing and fun to see family. Joe was able to record the blessing so we are grateful to have that record to reread and to remind us of little Heidi's potential. She is a blessing to us.

USS Constitution & Temple

Last weekend we had some nice weather so we decided to jump right into things and do something touristy. We decided to visit the USS Constitution. We had to tell Maia that it was "Captain Hook's" ship so she would stay somewhat interested. To Joe and me, it was awesome. Very fascinating.

We stopped to eat lunch near the Navy Yard.

And visited the USS Constitution Museum.

Maia's favorite part was pretending to be the cook.

She also fell in love with this model of the USS Constitution. As you can see, it took 62,000 hours to complete the model. Maia stared and stared at it.

-Maia, do you like that big boat?

-Uh-huh. I want it for my birthday.

-Mmm...I don't think you're going to get it for your birthday.
When we were in California, we were sitting around the table one night asking Maia some questions. One of the questions was, "Where does Heavenly Father live?" She replied, "In Boston."

When we got to Boston, Maia woke up from her nap and started crying. She said she wanted to see Heavenly Father. Joe and I decided that we needed to take a trip to the temple to show her where the Lord's house was. When we got to the Boston Temple we explained to her whose house it was and she said, "No! Heavenly Father's house is in California!"

Books and Muffins

We have been unpacking sloooooowly. But it has been fun for Maia. She is finding things that she never knew we had. Take this book for example.

This was my book when I was a kid. It is now one of Maia's favorite books. Joe had a brilliant idea for breakfast on Saturday. MUFFINS! Maia loved making muffins with daddy.

What a treat!