Easter

Easter was so fun having my parents here. The boys had more fun this year especially since it was snowing last year.
Getting ready to decorate eggs the night before Easter:

Ross couldn't help decorate, but he had fun anyways.

My dad has been COLD ever since his heart surgery. Being here in 30/40 degree weather was really chilling him. This is what he looked like a lot. The inside of my house was 68 degrees, but he was still cold. At least we had lots of blankets. Poor Dad! We thought he looked like a sith lord from Star Wars when he fell asleep like this. ;)

I prepared for the worst. I stripped the kids and put old adult shirts on them because I was sure they would get messy. I was impressed, this is all we got:

Good Job boys!

Easter Morning:

We have church in the morning, so we're usually up early and busy getting ready. Being Easter Sunday, we were a little extra busy. First the kids found this from loved ones. We get gifts from loved ones instead of the Easter Bunny because we are celebrating with each other the wonderful gifts that our Savior has given us on this day and not trying to focus on things that don't exactly coincide with that. We might have still gone a bit overboard with gifts, but we still tried to keep our focus.

Then we got ready for church. We had to go a little earlier than usual because Donovan and I had to practice for the sacrament program. I was in the choir for a few special numbers and Donovan was singing a duet with his friend Abby. During church Abby got a little scared and wouldn't go up to sing. Donovan was so brave. He sang a solo in front of the whole congregation! He needed me to stand by him at first (I was already up with the choir) but we had practiced beforehand and he knew all two verses of "Jesus Once Was a Little Child" and he sang it beautifully by himself! I was so proud of him! My little boy is growing up! So many people came up to us afterwards and commented that they cried and that Donovan's song was the best part of the program. I had to agree, of course.

The Earl bunch

We were invited for Easter lunch/dinner at our good friends Tom and Stephanie Smith's house. They are always opening their home to all of us transplant families that moved to Michigan with no other family close. We've been to their house for almost every holiday that we've lived here for. They've become part of our family. They sit with the boys and I on Sundays while Dan is doing his stake duties. They keep an eye out for us and we love them very much. Well, they didn't mind us bringing my parents along to their potluck get together. I think there were at least 50 people there enjoying the company. We ate and the kids even got to whack at an Easter egg pinata. I forgot my camera and nobody even brought our cell phone cameras. I wish I had been able to take pictures.

Once we got home, we had our own Easter egg hunt in the backyard. There wasn't any snow this year, but the wind sure made it chilly. The boys had so much fun and hid the eggs for each other over and over again till it was just too cold.

I might get a blue-eyed boy yet. Ross's are definitely the lightest, so they might stay.

We had great Easter celebrations.

It was great being able to celebrate the life and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. His gift of the Atonement always leaves me in awe. It makes me sad that He suffered because of some of the mistakes that I have made and continue to make. But I know he loves me and through this selfless act I can repent and be forgiven and someday strive to live with my Savior and Heavenly Father again. I know that He was also crucified through cruel and ignorant acts. I know that it was in our Heavenly Father's plan for this to happen. He loves us so much and knew that this was the only way. On Easter, we focus on our Savior's resurrection. Jesus Christ has led the way, through His example, for all of us to be resurrected one day. I strive to follow the examples that Jesus has taught us in the scriptures. I'm not perfect by any means, but there's always something to improve upon. I love my Savior, I know that He lives, even now, and wants us to choose to make good decisions so that we might live with him again.

Primary Egg Hunt & Breakfast

Our primary at church decided to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids in our branch (congregation) and their friends and family. Being the president of the primary, my counselors and I decided to add a pancake/sausage breakfast this year. It was a great success. Many didn't think there would be a good show. Last year we only had five kids come. This year I was optimistic and bought enough supplies for 100. It was a bit much, but as I said, I was being optimistic. I should have done a final count. There were at least 20 kids and their parents/grandparents that showed up. I'm sure there were at least 50 people total. Not bad. I'm pretty sure it will only get better. Hopefully the word will get out and we'll have even more participate next year . Everyone seemed to have fun and the food tasted good (I was probably a little biased). What a great day!

Workin in the kitchen. My mom (bless her heart for wanting to help on her vacation), me, and Dani Firth.

**Bro. Holm, Lael Worsley, and Emily Forsyth also helped with preparations though Dan the cameraman/egg hider didn't catch them in the act.

Some of the participants:

And the hunt begins!

The kids were so excited to find candy-filled eggs. There weren't many hiding places in the back field, but then does it really matter? They had fun.

We'll definitely have to do this again next year.

A Spring Visit

My parents came for almost a week to spend some time with us and to spend Easter with us (will post about later). We had such a fun time. We mainly relaxed. They had seen the sights with us in visits past and since it was SO cold (we Earls actually thought it was warming up) we were content to spend time indoors. I neglected to take lots of pictures, but here are the ones I did get.

Nama reading the boys a story (the part she was reading is when the monkey is sad)

Nama & Papa Elliott with the big boys.

Roswell was content to be moving around instead.

Papa playing with the boys.

Roswell even decided to start walking with his walker. This clip shows a little bit, but not the full extent of what he's been doing.

We had lots of fun Nama and Papa! It was sad to see you go home. We love you and miss you. The boys miss waking you up in the morning.

Movie and Lunch with Friends

Sorry, it's been about a month since I've posted. We've been quite busy and I've been reading some great books. So, I'm doctoring up the dates to when they actually happened.

The movie theater out in Lansing has a great spring family special where kids 12 and under are free and adults are only $2.50 for certain films. We decided to go with some friends. This was the very first time my kids have set foot in a movie theater. They had a great time. Dan and I are really particular about movies that our kids watch so I was a little nervous since we hadn't seen this one before (Madagascar 2). It was cute but obviously had some adult humor, that thankfully wasn't caught on by the boys. Then we went out to lunch at an all-you-can-eat pizza joint. It was fun to share this with friends. (We also went back a week later to watch Tale of Despereaux(sp?). It was ok. The experience was more fun.

Our tables: Roswell, Marinda Wessman, (new) Abby-that's what the boys call her, Emily Forsyth, (old) Abby-boy I hope she won't get a complex from their nickname, Donovan, and Elliott.

Time Flies Too Quickly!

Happy Birthday Grant!

Happy 6th Birthday Grant!

Grant is such a good big brother to Zoe. Dono & Elliott love talking to him on the phone and playing with him when we can get together.

You're such a big boy Grant! It doesn't seem like that long ago when I was able to see you being born. Time flies! We love you and hope you have a super day!

Smash, Crash!

One of the seemingly many rules in our house is to use the rails when going up and down the stairs. The kids just don't understand that these rules are for our safety. If we choose to ignore such safety rules, this is what could happen:

While Dan and I were on a date, Elliott decided that he could ignore this rule while a baby-sitter was at the house. Donovan said there were slips and flips and then a big bang into the gate at the bottom of the stairs. My poor baby. This pic doesn't do the bruise justice.

Here is the icky coloring after 3 days.

See....we don't make rules to be dictators, we want our kids to be safe. Maybe he'll remember this and use his head in a different way next time - by thinking he'll use the rail! I think getting pictures taken will yet again be postponed. :(

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Happy 3rd Birthday Zoe! She's my cutest niece! I love her to pieces and her little voice is so cute.

She's growing up so fast. Happy Birthday Princess!

Impressions 5

We started up a "Let's Be Good" Chart for the boys. We've been having a little difficulty with bad behavior/tantrums lately. So I remembered from my ed. psych. class to give positive reinforcement when they do things good (catch them when they're good) and it should lead to better behavior. We told them that there's no limit to how many stickers they can get to fill up our chart, we pick something fun to do, and when they fill it up we get to do that fun thing.
Guess what? They filled the first one up. Their goal was to go to Impressions 5 which is a hands on science museum. The boys and I went back in July when my parents came for a visit. This time we got to take Daddy. Here's some pictures:

We see you!

And Roswell saw himself, and loved the little boy playing with him.

The fun water table.

Ross playing in the toddler area, doesn't he look so big??

Bubbles! Giant Dan bubble.

Elliott bubble. He was preparing for it to pop like Donovan's did. It did shortly after.

Dono bubble.

More bubbles!

And the activity Donovan talked about doing the whole time we were filling up the chart . . .

Being the digger-man!

Elliott got his turn too.

Yippee for sticker charts! The behavior is definitely improving, but is still a work in progress. We're already working on our next one.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Happy Birthday Amy! Dan's sister has a lucky birthday every year (wink, wink). We hope you had a great day!

South Shushanic

A co-worker of Dan's invited us to his church to celebrate Purim by watching their Purim Spiel of South Shushanic. If you're not sure what Purim is (which I didn't at the time), it is the Jewish holiday that celebrates Queen Esther and how she saved her Jewish people from the wrath of Haman. It was great! Every year, Jeff (Dan's friend) and others from his synagogue perform a comical play to celebrate. This year's was South Shushanic (a take from South Pacific), singing and all. It was great. I had to ask Dan afterwords what some of the lingo meant. One of the songs was "I'm in love with a wonderful Goy" I guess Goy is a Jewish name for a gentile. I asked Dan what a goy was, he told me that I was a goy, a gentile. Jeff corrected him and said, no, Crystal is a goyl. ha ha ha We had lots of fun. It was kind of weird listening to them make jokes about themselves being Jews. They even had the audience sing the finale with them. It was funny, but I would never sing something like that except in that setting. From a gentile point of view, any other setting might sound derogatory towards people of the Jewish faith. Here are some words from the finale as an example:
Happy talk, keep talking happy talk!
Schmooze about things you like to do!
If you don't have Jewish friends
If you don't learn Jewish ways
How you gonna enjoy being a Jew?

Talk about December, what a great relief
No need to buy for everyone you know!
Talk about Christmas Eve, eating Chinese food
Relaxing at a local movie show!

Can you sing it in your head? Probably only if you've seen South Pacific. I thought it was quite funny. Donovan still goes around the house singing "I'm gonna wash that king right out of my hair." I smile. I hope we get invited next year. Some of the other musical Purim Spiels have been Little Shop of Morror, Beauty of the East, Schmmoozik Man, Wizard of Shushan, Queen Esther's Lonely Hearts Club Band, etc. I wonder what they'll come up with next time.

Disney Success!

We kept our secret. The kids had no clue. We parked at the Breslin Center which is where MSU basketball holds their games. Donovan asked Dan "Are we gonna see a basketball game?" How he figured it was a basketball arena, I'll never know. Dan said "No" of course. We walk further in and we're seeing signs for the show. Elliott's oblivious, Donovan keeps making comments "Daddy, that's the playhouse disney sign", "Mommy, there's Handy Manny and Little Einsteins" because they had merchandise and picture taking areas EVERYWHERE! Still they didn't know what was what. So we sat down in our seats where Dan told them what we were going to watch as we listened to all the theme songs in the arena. Here was Donovan's face:

He was so excited.

Forgive the blurriness of the family pics. When we got the tickets at home, it said no pictures/recordings aloud. So I didn't bring my camera. (I should have snuck it anyway-even though they checked my bag when we got there) Then once we were seated they announced "no flash photography". How stinky, people let their flashes go anyways. We had our cell phone cameras, so we got pics when the lights were on, but the show pics were BAD! Thank goodness my friend Jennifer was there across the aisle, so she gave me the pics that she took of the show.

The boys in their disney hats waiting for the madness to begin.

Me and my boys before the show.

Here's the show:

Mickey meeting the "Postess" (postmaster hostess). This scene was Dono's favorite. It was the whole circle bit where the postess and Mickey kept missing each other going in and out the doors. They wanted to invite their Disney friends to a music party.

The Super Sleuths: Pooh, Darby, and Tigger searching for a song to bring to the party.

The Little Einsteins (they were VERY animated instead of animation)

They went on a mission around the world to find songs for the party.

**Missing are pictures of Handy Manny and his tools.

The Clubhouse

Mickey, Donald, and Minnie getting ready for the party.

The friends all get together and share their songs.

Woo Hoo! The show was lots of fun. I loved watching Dono and Elliott being excited to see their favorite characters. When they talked about it to their Namas and Papas they told them that their favorite shows were REAL! That'll be something to help them understand another day. It was fun to see them so happy.

Apron and Book Giveaway

On my cousin Christie's and her friend's "Secret Stitch Club" blog, they are giving away this book:


and this cute apron:

I want an extra raffle vote, so I'm posting about it. You can win too! http://secretstitchclub.blogspot.com/2009/03/kitchen-linens-book-apron-giveaway.html

Although, I want to win it so I guess I shouldn't share the info. Oh well, good luck!

Uh-Oh!

I was blogging my last post and Donovan tells me "Uh-Oh Mommy, Look!"

A certain little boy decided that crawling was not enough! He is getting bigger WAY too fast! I guess all the good stuff isn't within his reach. A whole new level of baby proofing needs to happen now. The bigger boys are just getting used to moving their rippable or "too little" toys out of the way. Now they just have to be out of sight I guess.

Homemade Yogurt

I went to an enrichment cooking club where we learned how to make homemade yogurt. We also learned benefits from eating yogurt. It was so easy I decided to make it myself. We love yogurt, we might as well be able to save money on it. It takes a little time with minimal efforts and VOILA!

This looks like a jar of milk, but it is really a quart of plain yogurt. Some like it plain, I add a little honey or jelly to make it any flavor I want. The kids love it too.

If you'd like to make it this is what you need:
A little less than 1 quart milk (2% and whole milk seem to set up better)
About 3 tablespoons yogurt with live culture
A thermometer for measuring milk temperature

Directions:
Heat milk to 180 degrees Farienheit, pour into a quart jar or a similar clean storage container, then cool to 110 degrees Fareinheit. Scoop two "dollups" of yogurt into the milk; do not stir. Place the milk with yogurt in a place where it will stay warm and be undisturbed overnight or for about 8 hours. (I turned the oven on to 200 then turned it off once the heat was reached, then put my jar in a pot of warm water in the oven to sit undisturbed. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.) In the morning (or after ~8 hours), put the fresh yogurt into the refrigerator to cool: it should keep at least a week. This homemade yogurt can be used to make other batches of yogurt until the culture grows weak.

I also have a recipe that uses the non-instant dry milk that we have in our food storage. If anyone wants to know that method, leave me a comment.

We've eaten this batch so quickly that I'll have just enough to make my next batch. Guess what I'll be doing tonight??