Date Nights

  The week that Jon and I were leaving for Paris, Jon took the kids out for some special date time.  He took Hallie and Rachel out for dinner and a movie.  Both girls ordered 3 different meals, and ate everything they ordered!  After dinner they went and saw The Croods.  They had so much fun being with their dad (this is the only picture I have -- the others are on Jon's phone).

The next day was Kale's turn.  He was so excited because Jon was going to take him to Boondock's.  I'm pretty sure he told everyone he saw about the huge slide he was going to go on.  We got Kale some new sneakers, just because he needed some, and didn't wear them until his date with Jon -- knowing he would be wearing new shoes was the only thing that made the waiting bearable.

 

 

Also, Becky came over before we left for our trip and helped Hallie to make a cute little apron.  Hallie loved it so much that she wore it to school like a little dress.  Sky, not to be left behind, also wore one of our old aprons all day long.  Unfortunately, the one Sky wore was not new and dress-like, but she still seemed
happy.

Conference

 

Since Ryan is in the choir, the Snarr's always come to our house for the Sunday session of general conference.  We had 2 viewing areas this year -- one was upstairs in our family room, and the other was in the basement.  We decided the basement would be the central gathering place for the kids so when the younger ones got too bored they could just run down the hall and start playing with the toys.  By using this arrangement we were assuring that the adults would be able to hear the greater part of the talks.

We printed off some listening activities for the kids to do while they listened and they busily filled out their worksheets and listened.  I think Alyssa and Rachel watched both sessions.  Pretty impressive for 8 year olds.

 

 

 I decided not to do cinnamon rolls this year, and instead we just did cookies.  I thought it would be no big deal, but it turns out Rachel was pretty disappointed.  Looks like cinnamon rolls will be back on the menu for next conference.

 Becky had brought a little sewing project to work on, and Hallie was enthralled by everything she did.  Sweet Becky let Hallie stand right up with her the whole time she worked and answered all of Hallie's questions.  She even agreed to come by later this week and help Hallie learn to sew her own apron.  Hallie is ecstatic!

  Since Sunday was Peter's birthday, the Snarr's brought some birthday fun with them.  There was cake and ice cream, and Ninja Turtle masks for all.  The kids were in heaven.  Sky loved her mask so much, she wouldn't take it off while she ate.  And actually, Kale has worn his mask constantly since Sunday and is pretty upset any time I tell him to take it off.

Easter

 We celebrated Easter with the Snarr's this year.  Since my parents are on their mission, and Jon's family celebrated early, we were left to be the adults this year and make  the Easter dinner.  

We met at Becky's house and the kids had an egg hunt, and then we had dinner.  The kids were so excited for the egg hunt, but none more so than Joshua.  While the other kids were exiled to the basement so eggs could be scattered, Joshua sat on the top stair and would point out where he could already see the eggs hiding.  Sky and Joshua were supposed to have a head start, but the other kids were too anxious to wait, hence Sky's super sad face.  She wanted to be very first by herself!