Easter

So for Easter this year we had two egg hunts, one in our house because the weather was yucky, and one at my Grandma's the next day. The snow disappeared just in time! Anyway, here are some cute pics and a video.

You can see part of our bathroom in the pic too.  It's amazing!

He's so big!

Egg man! He was enjoying himself.

Yes, I know I'm cute

 And here is the one at my Grandma's house.

The egg hunt the day before had given him lots of practice and he was ready!

Wee!

Springtime fun

Here are some random pictures from this spring:

Mason reading like Mommy (although I don't sit there)

Aiden after eating squash. He is doing much better about letting me feed him.

We went to the lake last Saturday after dinner. Auntie Missa went with us. Here's a video along with some pictures. You can see my new haircut in these. My hair was bugging me, so I decided to get it cut. My aunt and I went one Wednesday, and I didn't tell Mike about it til he got home. He noticed it pretty quickly, he is an artist.

Mason got his haircut that day.

Standing on an island made by an old road. This is a reservoir so there are some interesting features like this.

Mason loves water!

Last Monday for family home evening, Mike was in charge of lesson, and I had activity. Mike did a good lesson about the temple, and I had an inspiration as he was teaching it for us to take a drive out to the temple. It was closed of course, but we walked around it and talked about it with Mason. I think it went well, and Mike got a few amazing pictures.

And here is Aiden doing his new tricks:

I am such a lazy bum!

I've loved reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books ever since my parents gave me the set for Christmas when I was a little girl. The only one I had trouble with was Farmer Boy.  It took me years to get around to reading that one, but when I finally did it was one of my favorites. It always makes me hungry though, Almanzo was obsessed with food and it goes into extreme detail about several meals. And he's always eating doughnuts.

Anyway, I re-read that book just the other day, and I noticed something besides the food that really got me thinking. Those people did EVERYTHING for themselves!

They raised their own sheep, sheared them for the wool, spun and weaved the wool into cloth and made their own clothes, with a few exceptions (ie the women's Sunday clothes). They were farmers and grew just about every vegetable imaginable, they raised their own meat and butchered it themselves. They hauled their own lumber for building and firewood, they cut ice in the wintertime for use in the summer. They were always busy! The father and the boys were working on the farm with the animals (and they got to skip school when "there was more important work to do") and the mother and the girls were cooking, canning, sewing, cleaning (although the boys had to help with spring cleaning) and helping with the crops as well in extreme situations. Almanzo's idea of fun was breaking his pair of oxen to drive. Oh, he had a sled that he liked to ride on too, but he spent very little time being idle.

I read that book and felt so lazy afterwards. I have a hard time sometimes finding the energy to wash my dishes! I can't imagine doing the things Almanzo's mother did! I do feel better though about trying to start canning, and making my own curtains. I may not be up to Mother Wilder's standards, but I'm getting better about being self-sufficient.

Also, random thought, in the book, Mr. Paddock wanted to take Almanzo as an apprentice in his shop (I think he was a wheelwright) and Almanzo's mother was extremely upset. She seemed to think that owning your own business and being a skilled worker was a step down from being a farmer. They certainly saw it as important to be self sufficient in those days.