Why we love Easter

He was born for us.

He lived for us.

He suffered and died for us.

Because of him, we will live again.

How grateful we are to our Savior, for his life, message, and hope. May your Easter be filled with His love.

Fun Outside

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a couple of weeks. We were babysitting Julia so that her mom could fulfill a church assignment. It was a beautiful day so I decided to let the girls play in the sprinkler. I took off their shorts, put them in sandals, and they had a blast. I love those chubby, little legs.

And in case you're wondering, my house looks like this at least once a day...

But with the mess-maker as sweet and cute as this, I don't mind. :).

Sisters

It amazes me how much these two look like sisters. I wanted to put their pictures side by side to see how similar they look. I tried to find a picture where they were making the same face, and this is the closest I got.

I love Sami's bumbo chair. My mom bought it for her when she was just three months old. And we have used it constantly. So I was thrilled when I went to a yard sale and found another one for $5! Now each of my girls have their own bumbo. It amazes me that in a year, Janie will be where Sami is now.

Nothing makes me happier than being with my girlies. Both of them are miracles in my life. And they are truly sisters.

Our Fun Saturday

This past Saturday was a lot of fun. It started with the Mccormick Train Park in Scottsdale. I had heard about this great park where kids can go on train rides and carousel rides really cheap. I thought Sami would love it, so we invited our friends Suzanne and Julia and had the perfect spring outing. I really enjoyed being able to give Sami all the attention she wanted. She was a little tired, so she isn't her smiley self in these pictures. But I think she still had a good time.

Two things are funny about these pictures. First, isn't Sami cute with her sunglasses?! She leaves them on and loves not having to squint in the sun. Second, I barely fit on the carousel horse, but did that stop me? Obviously not. I got on with her because she was scared when she was on by herself. We actually had to get off before the ride even started because Sami was just too nervous (or maybe just got crowded out :) )

After the train park, we went to Jonathan's mom house for a bbq. It was delicious and fun. We loved seeing our friends/family: Trish, Jeremy, Sarah, Elizabeth and Andrew. Of course we had a blast until bedtime approached, then we had to jet. I took this picture of Janie on our way home and thought it was too cute not to post. Sami was in bedtime meltdown at this point of the day, so no picture of her. But we had a totally fun-filled day. I hope there lots more of these this summer.

Our St. Patricks Day

Our St. Patricks Day was really fun. Jonathan got to come home early (yay!) and we invited Grandma Olsen over for corned beef and cabbage. She brought Sami a little gift bag with green beads (her favorite) and some green candy and green jello. Needless to say, she was thrilled. And for dinner, we had the traditional corned beef and cabbage, with green Sprite, green jello, green salad, and homemade oreos with green frosting. Sami actually enjoyed the corned beef, which surprised us. Now that we have children, traditions are becoming more and more important to me, and I hope this happy St. Patty's day is a continuing tradition.

How Sami's chores came about

For some reason unknown to me, Sami became fascinated with her dirty diapers. And not just hers, Janie's too. She was always trying to grab them or touch them. When she would get a hold of them, she would often stick them in her mouth. I know what you're thinking. Because I thought the same thing. That's really gross. And my reaction was always consistent, usually a horrified look with something like "Yucky Sami, put that down," or "Give that to mommy right now!" At which point she usually ran with the dirty thing, giggling. In a moment of frustration, followed by a moment of inspiration, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to take the game out of it, and I needed to replace the negative behavior with an acceptable behavior that I could consistently reinforce. And the only acceptable thing to do with a dirty diaper is throw it away. It only took one time of showing Sami what I wanted her to do, and she has been doing it ever since, and loving it. Her first "chore" is to throw away both her and Janie's diapers. Here's how it works:

Now if Sami ever forgets to do her job, I won't remind her because I really prefer she doesn't touch the germy things. And it would save me a lot of hand washing. But for now, she loves her chores.

Blessing Day

Sunday was a wonderful day. Janie's blessing was beautiful. It was fun to have most of Jonathan's family there with us. Everyone was there except Gregg, and we hope to see him soon. After the blessing, everyone came over for sandwiches and cookies. Sami loved the chaos and ran around playing with everyone and everything. She slept very well that night. We are grateful for the gospel, which blesses every area of our lives.