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to "13 by 4" for my latest post. You can link to it on my side bar, since I have no clue how to put a link in this post!

The Answer

I was somewhat disappointed in the number of responses to the question about Jeron's "Mac" egg, though I was very impressed with the array of answers! Great job to those who guessed! The real answer is MacGyver. Grandpa Higley loaned Jeron season 1 of MacGyver and he has been watching them religiously ever since. He's hoping to trade Grandpa for season 2 at Aunt Lindsay's wedding this coming weekend. He LOVES MacGyver!

Happy Easter!

We had a GREAT Easter weekend...here is my photo account of most of our activities...

Jeron wrote "Mac" on one of his eggs...any ideas what that might stand for? Leave your guesses in the comments...the winner will receive one dozen hard boiled, colored Easter eggs...no guarantees on their condition when they arrive ;) I'll bet you can't guess who these eggs belong to!? Yes, all of the eggs that this little person dyed were pink...or some close shade!

My beautiful eggs...with a little help from photoshop!

Easter Baskets after the Easter Bunny made a stop.
At the lame Easter Egg Hunt...they line the kids up, say go, and it lasts about 15 seconds.

Demonstrating the awesomeness of my lens...zoom...

and not so zoom...the kids passing the time waiting for Dad. I only got a few pictures of Jeremiah racing...I can barely run without killing myself...I couldn't possibly take a picture of myself while running?

Jeron launching foam golf balls into the crowd at the Bighorns game Saturday night. This is one of the perks of being a member of The First Tee of Northern Nevada.

Jeron with the Reno Bighorns mascot after the game.

The kids also went to the movies with Grandpa and Holly on Friday night. We had Easter dinner today with Arva, Ron, Holly and Grandpa. It was a fun Easter weekend!

24...or 36, as it were

Isn't he cute?
I've never really gotten into the TV show "24" but I think the 24 is for hours? So, the show takes you through 24 hours in its 1 hour time slot (or 40 minutes, if you take out the commercials)? You fans out there can correct me if I'm wrong...

Anyhow, I'd like to take you through Davis' 36 hours from Tuesday morning wake-up until Wednesday night bedtime...prepare for the adventure...

Hour 1: Davis sprays Orange Pledge Furniture Polish all down the front of himself and all over the kitchen floor. Not knowing whether or not he had ingested any, Dad calls poison control and feels like a negligent parent by the time he's done. Davis survives with no noticeable side-effects.

Hour 3: Davis locates a blue marker, removes the lid and proceeds to draw beautiful pictures all over the wall and carpet by the stairs. Mom catches him in the act.

Hour 5: Davis squirts a puddle of baby lotion all over the floor in my bathroom...to be found and cleaned up later by me.

Hours 6-7: Davis takes a nap...peace!

Hour unknown: Davis finds an orange marker, removes the lid and draws beautiful pictures on the newly painted front room wall. The pictures remain, if anyone would like to come view them...but come soon, as I plan to paint over them when I finish painting the front room.

Hours 12-24: Davis sleeps...night, night!

Hour 26: Davis somehow manages to get the bottle of Bed Head (hair product) off my bathroom counter, remove the lid (it's a twisty...something he's quickly mastering), and pour the entire contents...all $6 worth that's left...onto the bathroom floor. Again, found later by me.

Hour unknown: Davis locates some type of cologne or deodorant and douses himself. I only know because by mid-morning he smells really good! I still haven't figured out what he used.

Hour 30: Davis and Jadee get into mom's candy stash (thanks, Auntie Holly) and find a bag of M&Ms. I am such a cool mom that I let them eat the bag before lunch. Apparently, not nearly enough for Davis (have you seen his belly lately?). He goes back in to the stash (I can't even say "sneaks", because he doesn't know how to do that yet), finds a plastic candy cane full of Hershey's red and green chocolates, literally tears the cane in half, and proceeds to eat every last candy. I think that Jadee helped, but I can't prove it. Too much chocolate and he spits the last bit out on Jadee's pillow...Jadee has a come-apart and comes crying to me. Davis slimes the wall in my bedroom with his chocolaty hands and slobbers all down the front of his clean clothes.

Hours 31-33: Davis naps...

Hour unknown: Davis finds a lost bottle of bubbles in Jeron's room, removes the twisty lid and spills the remaining contents on Jeron's desk. Amazingly, he doesn't get any on the floor! Once again, I find this little mishap later in the day.

The good news is Davis didn't die from Pledge poisoning, the marker washed off of the wall and out of the carpet, the lotion and hair product were spilled on linoleum and easily cleaned up, the pillow case is washable, and the bubbles miraculously stayed on the desk. AND just imagine how much my little curious boy learned in all of those instances. He's brilliant! AND he smells good!

P.S. If I had known what a string of events this was going to turn into...I would have photographed them all...sorry!

Little Helper

When I went to the silverware drawer to get a knife for the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today, this is what I found:

Davis often helps put the silverware away when the dishwasher is clean, and this is usually how it looks (sorting will come later, no worries). But, look more closely today...

The dishes in the dishwasher were dirty. No one told him to put them away...he was trying to help his mom out without being asked! Unfortunately, he hasn't quite figured out the difference between clean and dirty and what that means when putting dishes away. Kudos to Davis for his unsolicited service!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is what happens when you don't clean your rooms before the leprechauns come:

And no Lucky Charms for messy kids, eh?! Usually we get a box of yummy Lucky Charms to eat for breakfast...too bad the rooms were so messy!

The elves did make our toilet water and milk green for us. We decided we'd make green eggs and green pancakes for fun. (Note to self: we need more food coloring!) Apparently, the little guys left stickers for us, too...that was really just an adult helper we know who didn't put her supplies away, but we had to play it off. fyi...she also forgot it was St. Patrick's Day today until way too late last night to do much about it. Gratefully, we never got around to using the gold coins at Christmas, and then there were the messy rooms...so I guess it all worked out! Hope your day was filled with leprechaun fun!

Financial Assistance**

Jeremiah and I were having a financial discussion late last night. Financial discussions seem to beg to be had these days, what with our economy in the state that it is. Ours went something like this...

J-Let's spend money.

H-Let's not...let's save money. We don't have a lot of extra, AND we might need it the way things are going in our country.

J-(disappointed) Yeah, that makes sense. Nobody is safe these days (financially speaking).

Okay...so that's the condensed version, but you get the idea.

It was way past the time that our children should have been asleep in bed. We believed that they were. Apparently, we were wrong. I don't know what, exactly, Jeron heard...but, this is what Jeremiah found on his pillow when he went to bed:

I'm not really sure how I feel about this...proud of a generous boy, sad that he thinks we are desperate, disappointed that I didn't make sure that little ears were not listening to this adult conversation. The whole situation brought tears to my eyes. I guess the bottom line is this...when all is said and done, what will always remain is family. I am grateful that Jeron already demonstrates that loyalty and willingness to pitch in. He is amazing.

P.S. Then Jadee says in family prayer this morning..."And please bless Daddy to do good at work so we don't lose our house." Seriously...where do they come up with these things? I think it's time for a FHE on finances.

**Disclaimer: We are in no way in financial straits. We are simply trying to follow the counsel of the prophets to be prepared and save for a rainy day. We do not need financial assistance...if ever we do, we'll let you know!