Helloooo Sunshine and ps. My house is a mess

There is nothing a whole lot cuter than this boy, but I am his Mother. We are absolutely LoViNg this weather that we have been having. Have I mentioned how much I love Spring time? I love it. Enough about weather but the sunshine really does make me happy!

This on the other hand does not make me happy. This is what my living room looks like right now. Well actually I'm lying, this picture was taken around Christmas time (hence the christmas tree branch in the corner) but it was the only picture of a trashed house that I could find and I was too lazy to take an actual picture of my living room right now. But let me tell you...it is a Mess. It's a good mess though cause I'm Spring Cleaning woo hooo

the other day I walked into my house and felt like every square inch was crawling, you know that feeling when the weather is nice and suddenly you want everything to feel fresh and clean. Well I have made a list and I am going through my ENTIRE house every inch and every closet yikes. But unfortunately it has to get worse before it can get better. That is why my living room has all my kitchen chairs in it and the couches are all pulled out and there is a giant pile of who knows what in the middle of the room. But on the plus side the carpet in the dining room is freshly shampooed. Anyway bla bla about cleaning, but it feels good and I've discovered that Lily likes to wash walls.
And this is my helper laying on the couch...nice thanks hon

Now for 101 pictures of nothing in particular. I just have not been blogging very well lately but I still always take pics, so here is a little update on the kids

And here is Angela oops I mean Lily...the princess

honestly this little girl is too much fun. She get's a little shy sometimes in public but if she is comfortable she does not stop. Thus the nick name little Angela, I somehow gave birth to a clone of my little sister Ang.

Right Now Lily

-Never and I mean Never has a clean face, try as I may the girl just cannot stay clean
-Never stops singing, some favorites are Hey Jude, Let it be, Share the land (an old guess who song) Under the "fridge" actually under the bridge (red hot chili peppers, uh hu you read that right) the latter day prophets, I am a child of god, I love to see the temple, Families can be together forever and a few more. Or she will just sing jibberish (and can you tell what songs Ramz taught her and what ones I did)
-she can count to 13
-she still loves potty humor. poop, stink, toot, stinker bum, mr stinky pants, burp. Say any of them and she will be rolling with laughter.
-loves dress ups
-she SCREAMS and I mean at anything. Happy, sad, laughing, mad, all emotions include screaming
-she still loves to chill in the cupboard and eat a snack
-she says "Um Yah" after every thing she says

And she is still my baby, and I don't care how old she is. I know it sounds cheezy but I honestly just crave and love every second of her, she is just fun!

Right now LUKE

-Is my great thinker. He seriously puts his finger up to his mouth like that when he is thinking. Any decision to be made he says "oh wait mommy hmmm let me see"
-he is Ramsey's personal stylist. Every morning he picks out Ramsey's shirt and shoes for the day. He loves it every morning he stands in front of the closet holds his finger to his mouth and says hmmmm. And it helps that Ramsey could honestly care less what he wears each day.
-he loves pre school. His teacher told me that every week Luke remembers what the letter of the day is before they do.
-he loves singing time as long as I am not there. The little stink won't sing in front of me
-he is in Swimming lessons Mon and Wed mornings and LOVES it. Maybe that's why he is in his 3rd time taking eel. He doesn't want to leave
-he calls me "my Mommy" and it just about melts my heart.
-he is growing Much too fast. I swear they JUST put him in my arms


And here are a few random pics of this and that.

just a little cooking

Teach em young, gotta learn the map

A favorite passtime. Watching videos on youtube with their dad.


TuTu bum on a swimming suit...what could be better


And a little bit late but here is Lily's Easter Dress. I'm not going to lie, I look forward to finding an Easter dress every year. And as long as she will let me I will dress her up to the hills in fluffy pink and bribe her while I round brush her hair.

These are not the best pics, it was rainy and gloomy that day but you get the idea.



The funny thing is that I found this dress for Lily then I came straight home and called Jade to tell her to go get one. As soon as I started explaining it she cut me off and said "already have it" then we 3 way called Emily and show'd her the dress on skype so that she could go get it. So Lily, Laken and Layla in Kentucky, Utah and Idaho all had matching Easter dresses. I wish that we could have a pic of them together but we'll make due with Skype.

Anyway Random post but there you go.

ps. do you think Ramsey is going to get after me for not going private yet hehe

Easter Eggs, Swings and Spiritual feeding

Have you ever seen a cuter bunch of kids? Our pre-conference Easter egg hunt at the Powell's house. The kids loved hunting eggs, and why wouldn't they love gathering piles of candy. I know I do


I swear Luke is happy...this is his happy face he's counting up his loot

Lily girl was in heaven.
Sweet Ella out pushing Lily on the swing.



And last but not least. General conference was AMAZING. I always love conference but this time I was starving for it. I just sat and tried to soak it all in and when it was over I seriously felt like I had watched like 5 minutes. It was just exactly what I needed and I honestly felt like each speaker was looking at me saying "you, ya you, girl in the sweat pants I am speaking to you so listen cause this is just for you" accept for the talk on doing family history, I'm pretty sure that that was for people much more mature than me, just saying. Anyway I am so grateful for my kids and I am so grateful that I get to be their mom and I get to spend almost every waking moment with them. I am also grateful for the oh so subtle hints in EVERY talk about teaching our kids in the home. I felt such an overwhelming impression that I can't just do things half way anymore. I can't just say "cause Jesus loves you" to any question that my kids have. I need to dig in and really know the scriptures so that I can be a smart mom who knows things in everyday conversation and not just during Family home evening lessons, you know what I mean? Anyway It was great and I am determined to be a better mom!

Tradition

The making of our annual Easter Bunny Cake

making the cake


The finished project



and the next morning I found them on the table eating the cake

It's the one baking project that I let my kids have free reign over, and it turns out oh so lovely and oh so kid friendly.

Happy Easter


and just a side note, on the post about me going private I got 26 comments...none of then in chinese but some of them containing hate mail. Is signing in really such a big problem? Will we not be friends anymore if you have to type your e-mail address in to come and visit us??? Will I be lost from existence?? Hmmmm just wondering

Birthday

30 years young Ramsey



This man of mine was not very happy to be turning 30 this year. He did not want a party and he did not love me reminding him that he was leaving his 20's behind him. Not that I entirely blame him, our 20's have been good to us I'm not all that excited to leave them behind myself (good thing I have a good 2 more years) but Happy Birthday anyway and here's to turning 30!

Edwards Fans come forth

I told Jade the other day that I thought that I was going to go private with my blog cause I keep getting weird chinese comments and she said "Oh I totally will never check it I hate signing in" and I agree cause whenever I go to look at someone's blog and it is private I'm instantly annoyed. But that being said...Chinese comments!!! What's a girl to do?
So I think I will, partly cause of the comments and partly cause ever since I started my blog Ramsey has wanted me to have it private. I suppose maybe he can have a tiny bit of a say in things I GUESS.
So if your a fan or a friend or a blog stalker (unless you leave comments in chinese) just give me your e-mail addy and I will invite you in. And don't be shy I probably stalk you too hahaha.

Jacklyn

Brown Bread, Fruit Snacks and becoming my Mother

(This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post)

When I was in Elementary school we lived like a block from the school so I RARELY got to stay at school for lunch. There was the odd time when my Mom would send us with a lunch because she could not be home and then the dreaming would begin. I Dreamed of fruit snacks and white wonder bread, of oreo's and teddy grahams, I would even fantasize of those little packets of 3 crackers with the little red stick and the fake cheese that you would spread on each one. I had dreams of all things processed as a child (yes you can laugh...I am weird, I remember going to my friend Missy's house 2 doors down and thinking that her pantry was amazing, filled with all things packaged. Oh how I envied her) Our lunches usually consisted of homemade brown bread sandwiches with carrot or celery sticks I dunno something fun like raisins thrown in there if we were lucky. Needless to say I don't think that any other kids were eying my lunch and wanting to trade anything. I hardly ever stayed for lunch so it was not a daily occurrence but when we did get to stay I would beg my mom for fruit snacks and white bread.
Funny but true story- We begged my Mom so much for a "cool" lunch that one day she brought Emily and I a lunch to school and not only did she give us fruit snacks she gave us each a whole box. Just in case your wondering (and I know that you are) it is equally embarrassing to have en entire box of fruit snacks smashed into your lunch box as it is to have no fruit snacks. But thanks Mom I know you were just trying to make us happy!
So the years went by and I had no permanent scars to speak of from my lack of white bread in my childhood and actually in high school my house was the house everyone wanted to come to for lunch cause Claudia always had a delish homemade feast made for us at lunch time.
ANYWAYS
the point of my story is that today I was a helper in Luke's pre-school class and I had to laugh at myself when it came time for the little kids to pull out their lunch. Out of 11 kids there were packs of fruit snacks, bags of chips, little packs of crackers with the red stick and fake cheese, lunchables and even straight up candy. Then there was LUKE'S LUNCH...

Wait For It

-Brown bread sandwich
-carrot sticks
-wheat thins
-cheese (and not cool cheese strings, straight up sliced pieces of cheese in a baggie)
-Apple juice
and you guessed it...a mini box of raisins

I seriously found myself scoping out other kids lunches and feeling bad for poor little Luke, I the Mother that packed that healthy wonder. It just does not make sense to me to give them treats in their lunch because we know that they will clearly eat the treat first.
SO I have decided that I have turned into my Mother And that I love it! I also know that I would kill for a loaf of her homemade whole wheat bread at any given moment, Even though it was the shame of my childhood lunch box. And even though my kids will probably some day write a blog post saying how un-cool their mom was, I love that I am inflicting the curse of the non-cool lunch on my kids.
BUUUUUT that being said next week I may just add a bag of fruit snacks to the little guy's lunch...but not the whole box!

Celebrate

Today I am Celebrating
As much as I love my husband, and my life, I am ESCAPING. Running away if you will, I'm going to

LONDON

Well London Ontario that is (what it's still exciting) And I am going to see some of my favorite people.

Like Him... Jacob
Luke has been talking about going to see "My cousin Jacob" for days, he's so excited




The little beauty
Clair
And the main event...
ANGELA!!!!!

This is the most recent pic I have of her cause we have not seen her in a year and a half...what the heck I know. We are so excited!!!!!!

And Chels and Hali we can't wait to see you either, we just couldn't find a picture...sorry