March 2013 was probably one of the hardest months in our marriage to date. So much uncertainty. Neil was facing unemployment on March 31st with no job prospects although he had been networking and applying like crazy. I was in my last month of pregnancy with our fifth child with the uncertainty of when it was going to come and complete tiredness of trying to care for myself and the other four kiddos. Neil was trying to finish a stats class by the end of March as well as taking another class all day every Friday and Saturday in March, leaving me home alone with the kiddos. After that experience I told him there was no was we would live separately if he went to grad school (an idea we have toyed with). Our ward was also split and Neil was called to be the new Young Men's President. What is it with the Lord piling the responsiblity on us right before we have a new baby. I was called to be Young Women's President 2 months before Lucy was due and Neil was called to be Young Men's President 2 weeks before Eliza was due. As long as we have no more kids we should be good. I thought we had handled the stress pretty well and I only broke down once during the month and that's when Neil got turned down by 4 jobs all in one day. I just felt so bad for him because he is just so wonderful and talented and qualified but nothing was working out for him.
We felt extremely blessed when on March 27th he was miraculously offered a job at the church. His last day at his old job was the 28th and he began his new one on April 1st. Even though it was a stressful month we did try to have some fun.
Lucy is constantly asking us to look at her as she tries to balance on one foot or climb the walls, etc. Here she wanted me to take her picture.
Neil was massaging my shoulders one night and Lucy saw him and climbed up in Papa's chair and began to massage his. It was so cute and thoughtful.
Sam has the worst luck with losing his teeth, literally. This time he was cleaning it and it fell down the sink. He was heart broken his tooth was gone. I told him to tell everyone not to use the sink and his dad could see if it was stuck in the trap when he got home from class. Sam put this sign on the sink. Luckily his tooth was still in the pipes and the tooth fairy came.
St. Patrick's Day
The kids were so excited about St. Patrick's Day as they are every year. They had set up traps around the house and were on the look out. Neil and I were just not in the mood this year and didn't do a whole lot. Conner got really sad and bawled for a long time. St. Patrick's Day is one of his favorite holidays and this year it just wasn't that fun. The Leprechauns weren't playing that many pranks and he could hardly find a trace of them even after looking all over the house several times. He cried for a long time and finally Neil couldn't take it and told me we needed to let him in on our little secret. I was so mad. I did not want to end the magic of childhood but Conner was not getting any better and it was ruining the day so I finally gave in. Neil's been wanting to have this conversation with him since he turned 8 so he was totally prepared and was able to talk about real truth and how we can know what is real through the Holy Ghost. It was good. Conner understood and we told him that he was now in on the secret and it was his job to help keep the magic alive for his brothers and sisters. He totally was excited about this and went to town playing the little prankster. It was great. Neil and I were off the hook.
I did make this yummy 12 layered rainbow jell-o and shamrock shakes for the occassion.
I bought a bunch of kites a few years ago on clearance and with the weather being so nice we finally got them out. It's the first time the kids have flied kites and they thought it was awesome. Mikey even tied a kite to the back of his trike and tried to fly it while he pedaled as fast as he could. The kite stayed in the air about 2 seconds but it was funny watching his feet pedal so fast.
Easter
We had another great Easter this year. What made it really special was that we finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time on Easter Sunday. Because of this we spent the morning focusing on the gospel and the Easter Bunny came while we were at church. I am so glad that my kids have read the Book of Mormon at such a young age. Neil and I were able to bear our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and challenged each of them to gain their own testimony of its truthfulness.
We made our traditional bunny cakes for FHE treats.
This was the day Neil had been turned down 4 times and we were both feeling pretty low but we sucked it up and put on happy faces for the kids. To get rid of some his frustration Neil started a new tradition. When it was time to eat our cakes instead of using his fork he just used his mouth and ate it like a dog. The kids were stunned thinking did dad really do that? Then they all dug in and made a complete yet happy mess. It put everything in perspective at that moment. Yes we were stressed about a job and a lot of other things but being with our family and making fun memories is what it's all about.
The finished mess.
We dyed Easter eggs and made them into silly monsters.
We went to the Wrides house for the annual Easter Egg hunt and it was fun as always. The eggs were hidden especially hard this year, so hard that Conner only found 4 of his 12 on his own. It could be he's not the most observant person though.
We also went to the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt this year. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their friends.
As mentioned previously, March was a hard month and Neil was not home very much and the kids missed him. He'd been playing with the kids Sunday morning and everyone was having fun until it was time for Neil to go to some meetings. Lucy was the most perturbed by this. She got mad and sat in front of the door so he could not leave and would yell Daddy stay home. Isn't that enough to make you feel terrible.
Sammy is really into Pokemon cards right now.
Here's Mikey on crazy hair day at school. At first I had it all sectioned off in little rubber bands but he said it hurt so this was the next best thing I could come up with.
We attended the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. We had a carnival theme. The biggest hit was he pie eating contest. Conner was the winner. The crust had to be eaten to win but the pies were pretty deep so they couldn't get their faces in their to eat the bottom so Conner eventually grabbed the tin with his teeth and flung the crust out of the tin and gobbled it up. It was great and he was quite proud of himself.
Popular Science is a great magazine for any budding scientists or tech geeks.
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