Another Easter Extravaganza!

We had another wonderful Easter this year. We are so lucky to live close to our families to celebrate with. It was also fun because Alex was able to really get into it this year. We packed a lot into the the weekend and it is no wonder Alex had one or two meltdowns. Overall, we had lots of fun.

We started Saturday off with our ward breakfast and Easter egg hunt. It was a little cold and the kids were pretty impatient to get hunting. Even though there were hundreds of eggs hidden out on the grass they were all picked up in a matter of seconds. It was pretty funny to see. Alex was able to get a decent amount though.


Next, we headed to the Clements. We had another Easter egg hunt and a delicious lunch.

Max was getting into the excitement.

Mikah is now a seasoned pro.

Alex, checking out his haul.

These eggs were hard-boiled that we later turned in for prizes. Alex was not sure what to think about these eggs. He is probably wondering where the candy is.

Still suspicious of these eggs.

Grandma and Grandpa always spoil us. Alex is checking out his basket full of treats. He even got a cute church shirt and sweater vest. He is so lucky to have such wonderful Grandparents on both sides of our family.

Finally, Saturday night we headed over to the Hettinger's house to paint some Easter eggs. Brandon is deep into the creative process.

Alex wasn't too interested in decorating eggs. He spent the entire night playing outside or downstairs with Grandpa. He is lucky to have such a nice Grandpa that will always play with him. Brandon and I don't mind taking a small break either.

The beautiful results.

After helping to decorate 6 dozen eggs Jaden was a little tired.

On Easter morning we were so excited to see that the Easter bunny had visited our house. Here is a shot of Alex's basket.

After we got Alex up this is what he found. Again, he is naked because he had already taken off his pajamas.

I guessed right and he went for the Pez Dispenser first.

Showing me what he got.

Checking out his new dinosaur book. After getting ready for church we took a few pictures in his Easter get up. We think he is one handsome boy.

Finally, we ended the night with one more Easter Egg hunt at the Hettinger's house. This one had a message about Christ and was a great reminder about why we celebrate the day. I laughed in primary today when a teacher asked the kids why we celebrate Easter and they all yelled out, "Candy!" However, I am so grateful I have a knowledge of Christ and what he did for me.

Some things to remember about Alex

I'm sure one day we will look back and laugh about all the crazy stuff Alex does. He is high-energy, crazy and so cute. Now that we are approaching the big two years I have some mixed emotions. He is developing a personality that is so fun to interact with. He makes decisions and communicates what he wants. He is smart and so much fun to play with. He also has officially reached the terrible twos. He can throw a tantrum with the best of them. When he doesn't want to do something he will cry, yell, and fight until he gets his way. It is a lot of fun! Luckily his tantrums are usually few and far between. Here's to hoping this "phase" doesn't last too long.

Last week I was cleaning out our bedroom closet and Alex had a grand time playing in all the stuff I was taking out. He was playing with this teddy bear that Brandon had given me. Then all of a sudden he ran out of the room and came back with a diaper. I laughed as I watched him try and put the diaper on the teddy bear. After I helped him get it on, he carried it around calling it baby. It was so cute.

*Disclaimer: Alex is naked because every morning when I get him out of bed he has already taken his pajamas off. I usually wait until after breakfast to get him dressed so that he doesn't get food all over his clothes.

Next, Alex found our hats and had fun trying them on.

Alex also often puts the swim diapers on his legs and walks around with them around his ankles.

We also had an exciting adventure last week when Alex and I were home alone. A few weeks ago I remember telling Brandon to no longer go outside without keys because Alex is now tall enough to turn the locks on the doors. Well, sadly I didn't listen to my own advice. While Alex was playing in our family room I thought I would quickly run outside and bring in our garbage cans. When I came back to the door I discovered that Alex had locked the door. I had no keys and no cell phone. Because I am paranoid I always keep all the other doors and windows locked in our house. I tried for a minute to tell Alex to turn the lock. I could hear him trying but he was unable to turn it far enough. He kept running to our front window to look out at me. I think he thought we were playing a funny game. I realized that I would have to slink myself over to our neighbors house to call the Everitts to come let me in. At least we had thought enough ahead to give them a spare key. The other problem was that without my cell phone I only have two numbers memorized. So I would have to first call Brandon or Sarah to give me the Everitt's phone number. Then I remember that sometimes our garage door to our house doesn't always shut tight. It often blows open if you don't make sure the lock clicks. I figured it was worth a try. I opened our garage with our code, said a silent prayer and then pushed on the door. Even though it was locked it pushed open. I was so relieved! I ran into Alex and he gave me a big hug. I was only outside for about five minutes so I don't think he even knew anything was wrong. I was so glad I didn't have to call anyone and could get in to him quickly. I definitely learned my lesson and will always have keys and a cell phone when I go outside.

Finally, the past few weeks we have been trying to teach Alex about Jesus. I put a framed picture of Jesus in his room and will point to it and tell Alex who it is. However, whenever I ask Alex who it is he says, "Mama." No matter how many times I have said, "No, it's Jesus, " he still answers "Mama." It is one of the few times he even says the word Mama. I guess we will have to keep working on it.

the good and the not so good

March turned into a very eventful month for us. We stayed busy with work, play, and even a little sickness. We are hoping this last week of March is a little less eventful.

One of the low-points of the month was that we had a crazy bout with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. Alex got it first. We are not sure where he picked it up from but we are guessing probably nursery. The first day he was sick he had a temperature most of the day and was pretty lethargic. He also didn't eat much for a few days which I assume was because he had a sore throat as well. Then about two days after the temperature he broke out in bumps. He had some on his mouth, hands and legs. They didn't seem to bother him and luckily cleared up after only about 3 days. However, as Alex was finally recovering I was just getting started. I also had a fever for about 24 hours, a sore throat, and then after a few days got a few bumps on my hands. They hurt so I felt even worse for Alex. Finally after about a week Brandon got it too. He had a fever for about 24 hours, the same sore throat, and then just like us broke out into the bumps. His bumps were much worse however. I wish I would have taken a picture because they were pretty horrific. He had huge, puss filled bumps covering his hands and wrists. He even got some on his feet and in his mouth. His took a lot longer to go away and he even still has the scabs from many of them.

Before we really knew what was going on we managed to pass along the disease to Mikah and Max. Luckily they got over it pretty quickly as well. The doctor said this was a pretty aggressive form of the disease because the bumps formed so quickly. He also said that adults don't usually get it so lucky us!

If you look closely at this picture you can see the faint remnants of the bumps around Alex's mouth.
Also this month, during one of West Jordan's many wind storms we noticed that some of our siding was starting to detach from our house. Luckily we noticed it before we lost any of the siding and were able to have somebody come and fix it. Apparently when installing the siding the builders used as few nails as possible. He had to take almost the entire side of the siding down and reattach it. Hopefully this doesn't happen anywhere else on our house but we were glad to get it fixed before it became too big of an expense. Considering this is one of the few things we have had to do to our house since moving in three years ago, we feel pretty lucky.

We also had some fun this month. Alex continued his swimming lessons. Brandon even took a turn in the pool with him for one of the weeks. He had so much fun.

After swimming lessons one of the weeks we stopped to get some Slurpees on the way home. I got one for me and Brandon but somebody took over mine. Apparently Alex is a big fan of Slurpees.

We also got to attend Mikah's 4th birthday party. He loves Mario and Luigi so that was the theme of his party. Here is another amazing birthday cake.

This was Alex's last week of swimming lessons. I'm so glad we did it and I'm so glad he loves the water. Here I am trying to coax him into the water with out any help.

He is not buying it.

Finally, this month we got to go see our nieces perform in a dance show. We couldn't believe how grown up they are becoming (which makes me a little sad) and what amazing dancers they both are.

Sadie got a little bored of watching the 28 dance numbers.

A Blast From the Past

I have been organizing our videos (and trying to figure out how to burn them to DVDs) when I came across this hilarious video. Alex is 10 months old in this video. Brandon is off screen doing something to make him laugh. His hair (and lack of haircut) may qualify as child abuse but I thought it was too funny not to share. Now that I finally know how to post our videos hopefully there will be more hilarity in the future.

Lately

We have been having a lot of fun lately here at the Clements household. Here is a look at what we have been up to.

We finally had our first decent snowstorm this winter (not that we are complaining) and we were able to take Alex out to play. He was really not into playing in the snow. He mostly stood there giving me dirty looks probably wondering what we were doing.

He supervised while Brandon shoveled. (Yes he is wearing shorts).

Then he did a little work of his own.

We also started swimming lessons this week. Alex and I signed up for a mom and tot class and it was tons of fun. Alex is so comfortable in the water. He did so great in the class.

Here we are learning to stick our heads in and blow bubbles.

He kept giving me kisses the whole time. I really think he was just trying to wipe the water off his face.

He did a lot of splashing and wanted to be free of me.He also kept pointing at the slide in a nearby pool and kept saying, "Slide, slide." Unfortunately they were remodeling it and we couldn't go on it.

We also learned how to jump into the water which Alex loved. Overall, Alex got a little bored while waiting to learn new things but we had so much fun. We can't wait for next week.

We also celebrated Max turning one on Saturday.
He had a "dog" themed birthday party and here is the cake that Trevor made. Caking runs in the family. It turned out so cute.

Devouring some birthday cake.

Alex enjoyed mooching off of others when it was time for dessert. Mikah was kind enough to share with him.

And last but not least we had a new addition to our family. Little Elsie was born on February 22. She is so sweet with beautiful strawberry blond hair. We love her so much and we are so glad she joined our family.

His First Tie

Alex's church clothes have been getting smaller and smaller so this week we were forced to finally get some new ones. I picked out his first tie. I thought he would hate it but he never seemed to notice it was there and wore it all through church. He looks so grown up!