I love to see the Temple

Yesterday I had the most wonderful treat. I was able to go to the temple!! Darin had a meeting out of his office, so he came home after so I could go. He went back in January, but I wasn't able. I have been desiring to go for so long....needless to say it was a heavensent day. I took Jordan to school, then dropped the boys off. It was a nice drive listening to music and singing a long. So nice that I passed the exit. I was a small bit annoyed because I had a time crunch, but then was grateful because in backtracking to the temple, I got to see the wonderful view of the temple rising straight ahead fo you on the beltway. It has been a long time since I saw that. It is quite a site, and I loved it. Sometimes missing your turn can have a good consequence!! I love daffodils!! They are one of my favorite flowers. I grew to love them so much on my mission-daffodils grow everywhere in England. I saw them every day there, so now I really love them.
Here's my try at a self portrait!!!

So my day in the temple was great!! I have been feeling overwhelmed and discouraged lately, so I have needed an extra boost of the spirit for a long time. Thanks to Darin's hard work we have family file names from my family, so I was doing the work for my great great aunt....my grandfather's sister...is that relation correct....anyway it was someone with my mom's maiden name: Satterthwaite. Can you pronounce that! Interesting thing as well is that her name is exactly the same as a cousin...Helen Elizabeth. I don't think my aunt realizes that, but it was interesting.

I really felt the spirit really strong and was able to sit in the celestial room for as long as I felt. Man....as I type this I can feel the same spirit I felt yesterday-quite amazing.....I read some scriptures and felt some things that Heavenly Father wanted me to know. It is really hard at home with the chaos of 3 little ones to concentrate on feeling the spirit, but in the celesial room it is such a sweet feeling. I felt that Heavenly Father knows my struggles and heartaches as I feel them and wanted me to know that I shouldn't let Satan try to stop me from doing what I know I needed to do. Did you know that Satan doesn't want us to suceed.....I guess I forgot and was remined that he works on us daily. Well now I know and can certainly do something about it. It is humbling to know that what I do as a mother is the most important thing in the world and Satan knows the potential of my children....makes me want to work much harder.

I could go on and on about the temple. I just have to express my gratitude to Darin for giving me the chance!!! I even went to the bookstore after and each time we spoke on the cell phone he was calm and positive so I never felt a rush to get home...which is what I usually feel. In the car on the way home I was listening to some music about the Savior, so the wonderful spirit just continued....I just loved the whole time!!!

I missed you there next to me Darin, (in the DC temple, the seats are together and a handful of couples in the middle can sit next to each other) but THANK YOU SO MUCH for making it possible to go!!!! I love, love, love you!!

Messy Messy!!

The Maney kiddies really enjoy getting messy!! Here are a few pics of our messy endeavors this week. We did some painting but Spencer doesn't believe in using a paintbrush. He eventually became the canvas for both of them!!
Spencer really loves getting his hands full of paint. It was pretty funny-even when Jordan walked upstairs after I had taken Spencer up for a bath and dripped paint on every step.
Landon is becoming more demanding at mealtimes. He wants to be fed, but also wants to have a spoon and try to feed himself. I just decided to see what he would do when I gave him his bowl and spoon the other day. This is the result!!

Here is Lanny when I gave him the bowl.
Here is Lanny when I took the bowl away and started the clean up process!!!

White House Easter Egg Roll

Thanks to our great friend Jill, we were able to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll!!! We also need to thank Linda who watched Landon for us! The even was much bigger than I expected. I thought you just got in line and rolled a little egg...boy was I wrong. There were so many events, we could have stayed another couple hours. We rolled eggs, hunted eggs, ate peanut butter eggs, painted, colored, saw characters, and had fun. We even saw the Jonas Brother walk by as they went to the stage. What a day!!

Jordan actually saw 3 of the Strawberry Shortcake gals and was totally thrilled. Can you belive how long this toy has lasted...I had the blueberry one when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade!!
It was amazing to be so close to the White House. I felt so patriotic and very proud to live in such a wonderful country.
I even saw Daddy George while he was mingling. I wasn't close enough to shake hands, but managed this shot.
The grounds of the White House are beautiful. The Cherry Blossoms are coming into bloom.

And here is the main event!!! Spencer wasn't sure what to do at first. Jordan just loved having a pink egg. She flung the thing half way down with her first push. She had to help Spencer figure it out.


We love the Easter Bunny!!

They had tons of PBS Characters so Jordan and Spencer were thrilled.That is the only TV they watch, besides videos. I was actually surprised at how easily Jordan ran up for her picture. At Disney a couple years ago she wanted nothing to do with the characters. I guess you wise up with couple years.
Curious George
Running around playing with friends while mommies wait in line.

Spencer's way of killing time.

Thanks again Jill!!We had a blast and can't wait to go back next year-only I will be camping out with Jill. Can't wait...

Lancaster County

We decided to go to Lancaster County for a couple days during Spring Break. We found a fun hotel, ate at our favorite restaurant, went on the train, went shopping and to an Easter Egg hunt. We had lots of fun. I forgot to turn some pics, so had to redo them and they are out of order. Sorry, but I will explain them!! Two of my handsome men on the train. Anyone else thing Spencer looks like his daddy?
Full baskets after the hunt.
Jordan and mommy model their new aprons. We found these at the farmers market. I saw them last year and didn't get one, so this year I decided I wanted one. I felt more like Martha when I was making Easter Dinner.:)

Our kids love staying in hotels. I think it is because of the cable:) They just love running aroundt he room and seeing all the fun stuff. Spencer was obsessed with the mini fridge, and we had to do the top lock on the door because he could et out. He also felt like he needed to use the dresser drawer for a chair. Should have put one of those pictures up. In this pic, Landon is determined-he saw a cookie crumb under the hotel crib and went after it. We love the Amish buggies. It was too cold to go on a ride this year, but we found this one at our favorite furniture shop. We love to see them as we drive around and the kids would look out the car window to see one. Darin would day "buggy on Jordan's side" and she would get all excited.
Easter Sunday-the pics are our of order. This is a bench in our neighbor's yard...we have lots of pics on it-she doesn't mind. All weekend Landon stuck his tongue out...he really can smile normally.

We went to Hershey Pennsylvania, which is really close to Lancaster. They have a little ride you go on to see how chocolate is made and you get a piece at the end. Of course, we went on the ride twice! You can actually smell the chocolate!! For all the fans of cows, you have to see the singing cows. We picked up some Hershey baking products that I have never seen anywhere else. Jordan found something she wanted to bring home.....how long would it take to eat that?
This is the Strasburg Rail-a real steam locomotive. We love going on a train ride when we visit Lancaster. We were able to see the Easter bunny. All the kids on the trainb were excited because Thomas the train was parked there, but he was being worked on and they were all concerned that his face was missing. We were told that the Thomas weekend is a madhouse...good thing we aren't that huge Thomas fans.


The Easter Bunny gives out lollypops to all the kids. Spencer was excited, although it was everywhere. He sure enjoyed it.

Jordanisms

I just have to share a couple funny things Jordan has said in the last couple days. Mostly so that I won't forget to write them down.

In a prayer the other day she asked " Dear Heavenly Father: Please Bring Dinosaurs back to the earth."

In sharing time on Sunday, the teacher did the thing with all the eggs having something inside to represent things from the last week of Christ's life. I tried to do something similar in Family Home Evening Monday night. Before we started I asked Jordan if she remembered that we talked about this in Primary and she said yes. We got to the last egg, the empty one and I was confident Jordan would remember, so I asked her why it was empty. Do you know why it was empty: "Because the teacher didn't put anything in it."

Sure made her daddy laugh. I wasn't so sure who he was laughing at-me for my overconfidence, or Jordan for speaking the plain truth!!

Cheaper by the Dozen

Ok, I have to ask this.... Is having 3 children so unbelievable? Over the last 10 months, I have gotten so many comments it is crazy. I have had people in stores ask me "are they all yours?" Afterwards I always think that if I was smart, I would tell them that the older 3 are at home. Maybe next time I will remember that. Sometimes when I have the boys and I tell people my little girl is in school, they look amazed.

So anyway, here is the next installment of my 3 children craze. I went to the dollar store after I picked Jordan up from school the other day. We had just been to the library where they remember us because we go once a week or so after school. So I parked, got the double stroller out and all the kids and headed in. There was an older gentleman who watched me the whole time-he stopped to watch on the way to his "handicapped" parking spot. When we walked by he said "that's the way to do it-cheaper by the dozen." I just chuckled then he continued " good tax write offs. I had mine December 3rd so it was in time." I said yep or something and went into the store as he continued to mumble something about so many kids.

Can't wait to see what I hear next!!!

What would you say?

Imagine yourself in Staples, about to pay for your items. You have your 2 children in a stroller by your side. There is a lady who had been previously complaining, whining and moaning about the lack of something she wanted. You are talking to the very patient and calm sales associate and the mean lady all of sudden looks at you and says "How do you stand those kids? I hate kids. They take all your time and you never get any time to yourself." She continues to rant and rave about children and the horror that they are.

Well, this is a true story-happened to me yesterday when I was making copies for file folder games for my wonderful children. I looked at the lady and very nicely told her that I love my children and chose to be an at home mom and have lots of fun with them. The sales lady said "good for you." I continued to talk really nice to the lady while the sales lady, Kathy, ran my credit card. She gave me my recipt, and to my surprise, she only charged me the price for regular copies, vs. copies on cardstock. I mentioned this to her and she smiled and said it was ok. What a nice lady!!