Long Day

So, after a very busy and long day I put the kids in the bath. As always I got Nora out first, diapered her, lotioned her up, combed her hair and put on her pajamas. I left her playing in the living room while I got the other kids out and took them in their room to get ready for bed. While I was helping Claire get dressed I heard Ivan scream "Wook at Nowa!" (look at nora). I knew it couldn't be good. So I ran to see what was happening. Well, apparently Nora was not ready to get out of the bath and apparently she has learned to get back in by herself.

My Job

I love being a stay at home mom and a daycare provider, despite it's many challenges. I realized today though that I have this wonderful little group of people that I am responsible for a lot of the time and what an opportunity that really is. We have a lot of fun together and although I am exhausted by the end of the night, it is quite fulfilling. Here are some of our friends from the dogghouse. There is a picture of Claire and Millie. They have been friends from the start!

Dinner

Tonight Claire had a very new experience. She always asks me if she can help me cook. Usually I say "no" because I am in a hurry to get dinner on the table but tonight I let her help me. We made fried chicken. She could not believe that she was touching a real chicken. As I was explaining to her that you have to kill the chicken to eat it, she got very upset and said "mom! who killed it!?" I told her it was the farmer and she said "that was not nice!" It was very funny. I showed her how to roll the chicken in egg and then flour but told her she could not help put it in the oil or she would get burned. I guess I should have taken my own advice because as I was taking the last piece out of the oil the oil spattered all over my face and arm. It hurt so much! Claire said "mom! be careful you got burned!" Kids can say the darnedest things.

Easter Weekend

This Easter was an especially fun one at the Garff house. Our children are finally getting old enough to understand some of it, at least Claire is. The Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday and later that afternoon he came to Grandpa's as well. Claire was so excited and Ivan caught on pretty quick. Although Nora couldn't hunt for candy, she had no problem raiding her basket and eating the candy. After her first Cadbury Egg, she was trying to eat them with the wrappers on. She takes after her mother :). That afternoon we also colored Easter eggs. It was the first time we had ever done that with the kids and they had so much fun! On Sunday we read the story of the Crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection. Claire was amazed by the whole thing. We watched a video that came out in the Ensign a few years ago called "Finding Faith in Christ." Claire loved it and was full of questions. She was so excited when they watched it in primary too. She asked to watch it again before bed! It is exciting to see your children grasp on to the gospel principles that you try so hard to teach them. Ivan was even excited about it but he tends to be excited over just about anything but nap time. It was a very restful and enjoyable weekend.

Spring break at the zoo

This week has been so fun for us here at the Garff House. We have had some extra visitors, they are the siblings of one of the little boys that I watch. Today we went to the zoo. We took our lunch and we spent 3 hours exploring every inch of the place. We had so much fun but we practically had to crawl to the car because we were so tired afterward. On the way home, the older kids asked if we could go see President Hinckley's grave site. We explored the wrong cemetery first but it turned out to be a good thing because we ran into a heard of at least 20 deer. They came right up to the car, they were so beautiful and the kids were amazed. After finding the right cemetery it was not hard to find President Hinckley's grave. It was so neat to be there. The stone for the monument was made from excess rock from the SLC temple and the conference center. People had left little trinkets at the grave site. There was even a cane with a white hankerchief tied around it. I don't think it was his actual cane but wouldn't that be cool? Here are some pictures of the kids near the monument. One of the kids also found the grave site of David O. McKay. It was an amazing and informational day for all of us. It was sort of like being on a treasure hunt! We had a great time.