Easter and other happenings...

This is a huge collage since we had lots going on this week with Emily ending her musical Seussical and the Easter Holiday...We start on Palm Sunday reading about the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem and continue on all week reading about the last week in his mortal life up to his glorious resurrection. I love the picture Zane drew that ended up in the middle of the collage--since I knew I wanted it in the collage this week. I love it, check out the details! Monday was the last day of Emily's play. That night both grandparents came, Aunt Teresa, Uncle Erick and Aunt Liz from Idaho, cousins Erin and Anna, Anna's boyfriend Buck and some of Emily's friends besides our family. It was fun but a late night since we had clean up duty and come to find out we cleaned too much. What is that? Izak also had scouts that day so I tried to keep track of everyone so we could leave on time. Tuesday I helped at the school. Emily was in the school Talent Show which they were only doing during school so Zane, Gwen and I went. Several neighbor's kids were in it too and they all did a great job. Tuesday afternoon Timo had lacrosse practice in a terrible dust storm! Wednesday morning Emily had NOVA graduation--like the D.A.R.E. program. She actually got a special award called the SuperNOVA, that was pretty neat. I managed to get to the temple and home before the school kids. Taran was home early--he has no 4th period every other day so I had arranged to leave Gwen with him while I left. After going there I received inspiration to some things we were trying to do, help my mom and dad with my dad's situation. We had planned to go to California, San Diego with them. Some things didn't feel right and after that trip to the temple I knew what to do. I am so grateful for the temple. My mother is getting burned out and has a hard time asking for help or saying no to requests. My dad's Alzheimer's is progressing fairly fast, to him, he feels like he doesn't know what he'll be able to do the next day. He has less use of his fine motor skills and can only read for about 20 minutes before he feels wiped out. He is actually functioning above what he should be for how advanced his disease is according to his last MRI. He has more tests to go...but we had planned to take him to the beach, a place he loves so he could feel peace and tranquility there as he anticipates the worst. But the other side was giving my mom a break from the constant demand he can be on her in every way. So every day this coming week we are taking him with us on some adventure, so far so good. Back to Wednesday, Izak had a soccer game in the freezing cold. Tim went to it since it was our Court of Honor for scouts and that I had to go to. Thursday Timo had his braces tightened in the morning, Tim took him. My visiting teachers came over and Gwen's friend Sophie came over while her mom went out to lunch with friends. Thursday Timo had a lacrosse game. It was somewhat of a fiasco getting there but we did and they won and it was so fun to watch. They played their rival AF. Taran adn Timo's soccer game got postponed since the weather was so weird, cold, snow, wind and sun. I had to leave for Roundtable as soon as I got Timo home. Luckily they keep that short to an hour. Friday I ran to the book fair that morning while Tim got ready and stayed with Gwen. I also picked up a bag of stuff parents had donated for a gift basket I am putting together for our school's silent auction. I helped the kids paint eggs--see Gwen swirling her's in the collage. My friend needed me to watch her kids while she ran to the doctor. So we had a little egg hunt with them. Later we had our cousin Easter Egg Hunt at our house. As you can tell by the coats it was not a warm Easter Egg Hunt! The kids had fun of course. I think Shellie and I got a the worst of it putting the stuff out! Amy was picking up her car so we had her stuff we just had to hide it. Katie had her stuff to but she was feeding her baby. Emily had a party at a kid from her play--Jojo had for his Seussical friends. She had fun even though one of the kids threw a rock and hit her in the head. They called us about it but said that she was alright but wanted us to know, so we didn't worry. We had a meeting that night at Katie and Charl's about how we can help my parents. I think it was productive and we planned the next 2 months so my mom knows the help she can expect. We just need her to write down ALL the help she needs over the next while so we can decide what others can do to help out. I missed my mission reunion but I felt it was something I needed to do. Hopefully I can go next year since they said it was a huge success! Saturday we had nothing but Conference so that was nice. I always look forward to it like a hungry person does to a juicy hamburger! Tim took Timo and Taran out to Hibachi House for dinner before Priesthood session. Then we met up at Amy's for dessert and visiting. Anna, Erin, Tim's parents and Buck were all there. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins again. Shellie didn't make it with her kids because some of them were sick. I don't know why Daniel didn't come. But it was fun. Sunday was more General Conference. So before hand we had the kids find their baskets. I had bought lots of snacky stuff so we overate, I am sure but I think it helped simplify the day and keep people alert! After the second session we went to my mom's for Easter dinner. All my siblings and their families were there. We had a good time visiting, the kids watched a kids' video He is Risen, The Lamb of God and then Teresa, my dad and some of them started watching the Sound of Music. We got home late. I asked Gwen about the Lamb of God movie. She said,"They put nails in Jesus' hands and on the wood. It was so sad." We had the bunny cake Gwen and I made with ice cream. I feel so blessed to have so much family close by! Now we are having Spring Break this week so I'll post Sunday how that goes!