WARNING-Tons of pictures of Easter morning

At some people's houses the Easter bunny hides eggs or the whole Easter basket. At our house he hides jelly beans and other small candies. I think the Easter bunny of the South must have learned that the Graves (my maiden name) family was so used to hunting for eggs inside (in New Hampshire there was still snow some years or at the very least inches of yucky mud), that he thought it was okay to carry on the tradition. Jake swears he heard the Easter bunny leave our house at around 5:30 am. I wonder if this is the last year he will think that or if he really still does believe in the Easter bunny...I know I humored my parents a couple of extra years before admitting I knew it was them.


A one pound chocolate bunny. Yep it is already gone...

The Easter bunny must have had extra candy because he even put some in this conviently empty container on our shelf.

Hunting for eggs...






That tricky Easter bunny-hiding them behind a bunny!

Nice picture of Jake chewing candy.

The Easter bunny must have heard Jake is saving for a dog because he got $7 in his eggs!

Easter breakfast and Jake trying to give me his peeps. No one in our house really likes them but is it really an Easter with out them?

Jake in a sugar coma while quietly playing and listening to conference. How lucky was it that Easter was General Conference weekend. What a great way to celebrate the real reason there is an Easter. And as usual it was amazing and uplifting (and best of all I had the whole weekend off and I didn't even ask for it off. I just said a little prayer and hoped for the best!), and just what I needed! We are so blessed...

Almost caught up....Decorating Easter eggs!

I took tons of pictures and couldn't decide which to post...so here are a million pictures of Jake decorating Easter eggs! (Aaron was somewhere...I can't remember where...)

The first dip always takes the most concentration...

The posed egging dipping picture...

The first egg...

Q-tips are for more than just cleaning your ears! Aren't you glad they don't really look like that when you do use them for the intended purpose?!

I dipped too! See my hand for proof!

The beginning of a great idea!

I bet your really glad your Q-tips don't look like this after you clean your ears!!!

Papa with his missionary tag!

And of course his companion...

More dipping...

A beautiful multicolored egg and a cute boy.

A couple more dips...Love the "smallish" hands...They are growing too fast.

Nee and Papa as missionary eggs!

And its a wrap!

Several why's and a couple of where's

1. Why is it so hard to keep up with tweezers and finger nail clippers? I always need them, but can never find them. I am going to start carrying them in my bag. Then I will always know where they are. (Yes my bags are back. I couldn't cope with out all the necessities.)

2. Why am I sooo tired after working just a couple days a week? I am a cashier not a coal miner, lumber jack, or...some other profession that seems tiring!

3. Why do people use their EBT cards (food stamps are on a debit card called EBT) to buy $150 worth of junk food and soda and then they pay for their cigarettes, (that are, by the way, around $5 a pack!) and booze with a wad of cash after that! If they didn't buy the latter they would have money to buy their junk food!

4. Why can't I cook fun food like they do on cooking shows and magically not have a messy kitchen?

5. Where do all the sharpened pencils go? I sharpen like a million for Jake to have all ready to do his homework and they all vanish and all that we can find are ones with dull tips and barely any eraser!

6. Why is it impossible to keep up with laundry lately? I feel like there is always something that needs to be washed...and along the same lines...

7. Where do socks go when you put them in the dryer? I seriously could wash just one pair of socks (I wouldn't do that of course) and then put them in the dryer and when I open the dryer there will inevitably only be one sock!!! What happens to its mate? And when I finally give up and toss the one that lost its mate, why then does the other one show up in the dryer out of no where????

Okay this isn't a why or a where, but am I the only one who thinks of these random things?

Jake's Awesome Valentine Card Holder

We had to make a Valentine Day card holder for Jake to bring in for his class party, but Jake just couldn't figure out what he wanted it to be. He wanted it to be awesome and something he really liked so...I came up with the brilliant idea to make an R2D2 whose head flipped up and you put the cards inside. You know those ideas that pop in your head, you say it out loud, and then go...how the heck are we going to do it! Yeah it was one of those. I have a problem with saying things out loud before I have really thought it through...But it turned out awesome!

Still catching up...Super Bowl Party

We had a fun time watching the Super Bowl with the Gariety's! I don't really watch that much. I talk and laugh at the commercials. In fact...nope, I can't even remember who won...or now that I think about it, who was even playing! Aaron loves football and every now and then I humor him and watch a game. But for the most part I could really care less. Maybe next season I will pay more attention to it...That probably isn't true either...I do like basketball though. (I am finally putting aside the bitterness I felt when George Shin took the Hornets away from Charlotte to New Orleans. I am really starting to be a Bobcats fan.) So, although there is little to no hope that I will ever care about football, I will always enjoy hanging out with friends while they watch it!

Jake's Science Project

A few weeks ago I mentioned Jake's report on the skeletal system of a black lab and here are a couple of pictures of it. He really had fun with it and did a great job on the picture he drew and labeled. Who knew just a couple months later we would be without our sweet black lab...Just a reminder how precious time is.

I am know known as "Bi-Lo Carrie"

This is my ugly uniform. A few posts ago I mentioned how Jake said I looked "amazing!". Yeah right...Thanks any way buddy. My name tag says Bi-Lo on it with my name under it, so whenever I leave and/or come home from work the 2 jokers in my house like to call me "Bi-Lo Carrie". I am wondering why I am posting this picture...It is really bad. The uniform is really bad. My hair looks...really bad (I just put it back with a head band or something like that because it is pretty warm in Bi-Lo and my hair ends up going all wavy and crazy). All the employees comment how we all look so different (better different)when we come in and shop on our days off. The uniform really isn't a good look for anyone.

Jake's Ice Cream Treat

I mentioned a while ago that Jake passed all his multiplication tests and I took him to get a treat. This is the delicious ice cream he choose. Vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate, with crushed Oreo and marsh mellow drizzle. All for $1! I don't know how this little shop stays open.

Enjoying Spring

Jake is growing up so fast. He is all about Star Wars, Ben 10, and the Wii. But every now and then he can't help himself and he recreates things he used to do "when he was little". He decided to get out the Webkinz and his dog from Build-a-Bear and have a little picnic in the back yard. I was of course invited and I accepted as long as I was allowed to snap a couple of pictures. He agreed and it was a fun little "snack picnic". Jake is a big fan of making umbrella tents too, that is why he has out an umbrella on a sunny day.

St. Patty's Day traditions

We always wear green and eat green at our house on St. Patrick's day. And I of course take pictures! Unfortunately I slacked this year and only took them in the morning. It has also been a month since then and I can't even really remember what we ate for dinner...But any way the tradition continued and here is the proof!
Jake's green lunch! It looks really nasty but Jake and Aaron like it. It is a can of chicken, bacon crumbled up and ranch dressing. They like to eat it on ritz crackers. It doesn't look quite as gross when it isn't green.

Dinner by Jake

I have recently become slightly obsessed with a show on BYU TV called "Food Nanny". It comes on Thursday night and I have the DVR set to record it every week. (We are actually getting Direct TV for free right now-it will be coming to an end soon. I called to cancel it and they said they would give us the basic package free for 3 months because we shouldn't be without any TV...I guess they are hoping after the 3 months we will change our mind and keep it...but any way that is a whole other story...) This extremely perky grandma (she drives Aaron crazy) is on a mission to rescue dinner and she suggests you have theme nights to get everyone excited to be around the dinner table. Thursday is Mexican night and one of Jake's chores on Thursday is to help with dinner. He is loving this idea and was excited to make the whole meal himself (with my supervision). I even taught him how to cut everything with the sharp knives and he is such a pro. We also like to pretend we are doing a cooking show when we cook together. We talk to the audience and have commercial breaks to set the table and everything. It is amazing how much more kiddos will eat when they cooked it. To mark the occasion I had to take pictures...Naturally that was met with some resistance. Just a warning as to why these pictures are so...good.
Jake totally excited to eat the soft tacos he made.

Not sure as to why the sign had to be in the picture...

Jake enjoying his awesome cuisine. Good job Jake-it was delicious!

First meal outside of 2010

I am trying to catch up on all that happened since I have been able to upload pictures and I am having to go back to the beginning of February...So, needless to say the next several posts will be in no particular order! This is a picture of our first outside meal of the season. This was a couple of days before St. Patrick's Day and it was beautiful out! I am glad we eat outside then because so far it isn't happening in April with all the lovely yellow pollen every where! Aaron rinsed the cars off one night, only to wake up to a brand new layer of yellow!

Upward Basketball

Aaron had a great time coaching and Jake had a great time playing Upward basketball this winter. It is great to learn how to play a new sport in a Christian environment. The score wasn't officially kept...but Aaron had me keep track and they won all but one game. I loved watching them kneel down to pray before each game. These are a few pictures of the dinner and awards ceremony. We will definitely be doing it again next season!

What does it say about me?...Chapter 1...

I have been concerned about myself lately. I have just realized that my favorite books are...teen and younger books...I am 33 (almost 34. I may just skip this years birthday) and my favorite books are for kiddos. Harry Potter-read them all as they came out and read Jake the first 3 before he was able to read them himself. The Twilight series-read them all...Twice-besides the last one, I have started reading it again. Sad right? And now I am starting a new series...I just finished reading Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightening Thief. It is really good and I am excited to get the next one in the series! I am heading to the library on Monday...but wait..didn't we get this book for Jake to read (he is half way through it and loving it too! He had been devouring books lately. He just finished the 2nd Harry Potter. That's my boy!!)? Wasn't I just reading a head of him to make sure it was okay for him to read?...Oh right. I am just going to continue reading them to make sure they are all okay for Jake to read...right? What does that say about me?..

This is a test...

These are (hopefully )just a couple of random pictures. One my sweet boy and the other my sweet dog. I am just trying to see if I can upload pictures again...I really want to get back into blogging but you all know how I am with pictures! I hardly ever blog with out them...I am keeping my fingers crossed...YIPPPEEE! It is official: I am back to blogging!

This is Jake...I know it was after I gave him a hair cut...I think it was Feb...Who knows really! Could he be any cuter?

My sweet Emily. This was in February when we finally got some snow here in Monroe. She had a ball playing in it...I miss her...(have mentioned how much I love my camera?)