Daddy-Daughter

After evenings such as tonight it is nice to remember times like these:

Greg and Katherine on 9/12/08 and her chocolate sauce imitation of her daddy's goatee.

The evening started out lovely and calm, and it was so cute when Katherine said, "Daddy, you are so handsome!" How darling is that? But then I asked Greg to wash Katherine's hair since 4 of my fingers are wrapped in band-aids and stinging because of bleeding splits in the skin. The calm atmosphere in our home deteriorated rapidly from the moment the shampoo was poured on that poor, pitiful head. Talk about weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and that was from both of them! Katherine's screams of "I want mommy" were followed by Greg's stern direction to "just close your eyes." Call me an optimist, but I really thought the situation would resolve without me having to leave the coziness of my comforter. I was wrong. Greg was completely frustrated and Katherine nearly puked after inhaling sudsy water.

Alas, all was right and lovely again even before her hair was driy. Soon, daddy was performing magic tricks for the gullible little girl and we were laughing hysterically together. A moment of fun was followed by family prayer, hugs and kisses.

Isn't it so cute that they have matching eyebrows?

Task Time

Helping Katherine complete her tasks took too much time and two too many adults.

First, Katherine had to practice writing her name. She traced and then wrote. Her first attempt was the best and took about 2 minutes. Completing the rest of the tries took almost 30 minutes, a couple of buckets of tears and a couple dozen threats/bribes.She was so angry about me taking a picture of her throwing a fit and said people will laugh at her with her "naughty" face. Moments later she is all smiles while completing the task of emptying the silverware tray and perfectly happy to have her picture taken. This job took about 4 minutes to complete.

Does anybody else see the problem with the time taken to complete these tasks? Greg and I are baffled that it takes 8 times as long to write her name a few times than to stack forks, knives and spoons.

Easter Joy

What a beautiful Easter weekend! We spent time together as a family engaged in fun traditions, relaxing in our beautiful home as the winds blew outside, and feeling peace as we listened to the counsel of the Lord as spoken by our latter day prophets and apostles.

We decorated Easter Eggs and cleaned the house. I even taught Katherine how to scrub the toilets and iron her own shirts. She self-appointed herself to be my ironing assistant and stood by my side for nearly two hours spritzing the wrinkled clothes. When an item was finished, she then exchanged it out for another piece of apparel from the basket. She was such a great helper. As I ironed, we talked about what the apostles and other leaders were instructing and teaching us.

Saturday evening we attended the Eibert family's traditional flashlight egg hunt (incredible yummies included) with several other families from our ward. This is the second year we were invited, and Katherine absolutely loves the thrill of running through the school fields with a flashlight, searching for pastel plastic eggs filled with treats. What a fun tradition!

Before Conference began and in between sessions, Greg, Katherine and I worked together to make and prepare orange rolls, holiday potatoes, spiral honey glazed ham, asparagus, strawberry pretzel salad, and pound cake with strawberries and cream--all for the Easter feast we were hosting for my family. I really enjoy being able to have my family at our house for dinner since we regularly gather at my mom and dad's place. I think my mom enjoys the break from hostessing duties even though she is the ultimate hostess and loves to entertain. We had a lovely time together and events such as these remind me of how blessed I am to have my loved ones so near me.