Happy (belated) Easter!

This started off as a short entry, and then somehow it got embellished. Here are the highlights of the week: Landon and Eliza went roller skating on Wednesday at the Great Skate. So cute! Landon went to the bounce house Thursday while Dad and Eliza worked from home. Diamond is coming to stay with us until she goes back out to college, so she and a couple of Mom’s friends from church helped clean house and get her a space ready.

On Saturday morning the Relief Society and Primary had activities for the women and children down at the church. Unfortunately, Landon did not get to go as he made the choice to stay up past his bed time the night before. We felt a little bad for him, but we figured it’s better for him to experience small negative consequences now than big ones down the road, right? The kicker is that we don’t think it really fazed him. Since he was stuck at home, he helped Dad reinstall the flag pole bracket that broke off in the recent storms. He also invited Dad to a couple of rounds of golf and a few frames of bowling (on the Wii). Thanks to playing with the kids of the ladies who came over on Friday, Landon has figured out how to work the remote. Awesome! He gave Dad a run for his money, but Dad still has a better short game.

The weather has been really hit-and-miss this last week, and apparently we can expect more rough weather next week. Fortunately, Saturday afternoon into Sunday was phenomenal. We were invited to an early dinner at the Ellsworths on Saturday night, and Landon burned off some steam playing with the girls on their swing set and with their little red pedal car.

We celebrated Easter on Sunday. We live near a Catholic church (St. Ambrose, as seen in the movie Gran Torino), and so we hear the bells and see the parishioners as they go to and come home from Mass each Sunday and throughout the Lenten season. We love hearing the bells ring in the celebration of our shared hope of the Resurrection through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We didn’t do anything particular for the kids on Easter morning other than get ready for church (we did have some fun on Monday, though. Keep reading). At church, Landon and the other Primary kids sang “Beautiful Savior” during sacrament meeting (well done, kiddos!), and then we had the missionaries over for dinner. The five elders made short work of the ham and other fixings. Mike then schooled them in the fine art of tying bow ties.

They tied the ties themselves! A fine looking group, I must say. 

One little bit of drama: while the rest of us were eating, Landon cut his thumb with his “kid safe” scissors. He took out a chunk of his thumbnail and walks into the dining room where the rest of us were seated and nonchalantly informs us, “I’m bleeding,” as the red stuff starts flowing down his hand. Cue the rush of mad activity by the parents. He hardly cried while we bandaged him up. Tough kid.

The Easter Bunny showed up today (after Hallie made a quick run for some post-Easter bargains up at Target—wink, wink), and Landon rushed around the house collecting plastic eggs filled with little toys and candy. We love watching him “get” concepts like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Not to knock our lucky four-footed animal friend, but next year we may opt to have the Spring Chicken come by the Monday after Easter instead and leave Easter as a religious holiday. What do you think?    

If you're interested in gore, you can take a look at his bandaged left thumb. He'd rather you check out his snazzy new watch, though. 

We also got Mike’s new glasses. We’ll have to get a picture with him in a bow tie to complete the look.