UNR Health Fair

Spring was blowing in the air today. It was fun because at the bus stop it was snowing spring blossoms!

We had a "Reno Adventure" and took the bus to UNR. There was a health fair there - as you can see from the above picture. On the bus a man was swearing and simultaneously my girls were singing "I am a Child of God."

We loaded up on freebies, plastic gloves, hand sanitizer, candy, a stress ball... etc. Ramya had the best booth. Out of the 6 total.

Here are my thoughts for Ramya's supervisor or UNR's Health Department:

1. If you are going to have a health fair, 2 booths dedicated to condoms and lubricants, have one for abstinence also. Maybe? Abstinence? Has anyone ever heard of that?

2. Where was Whole Foods? Trader Joe's? Isn't part of health proper eating?

3. Hospitals? Anyone? Anyone? You know St. Mary's and Renown have some awesome freebies they could hand out.

4. Red Cross? State of NV Disaster and Emergency Preparedness? Sign ups for volunteers!

5. Info. for students on Rabies, I mean, it's UNR.

6. Slide show of rashes?

7. Doctors juggling scalpels? Nurses with patients in wheelchair dance performances?

8. Blood mobile to donate blood?

9. Anti-smoking literature and a large plush cigarette man you can throw things at?

10. Info. booths on the different drug rehabs in town. Because really, 1 out of every 3 Reno-ites is probably on drugs.

Happy Earth Day! We love Mother Earth!

Indeed we have a beautiful world that God has created for us. Today we had baby Amyra over and had lots of fun outside in the warm weather! She was an absolute pleasure and extremely happy little girl! They all got along PERFECTLY. BFFE. Or Natty Tatty Buds.

While Amyra took a nap we painted paper plate earths, made recycled paper and played recycle ville out of plastic and cardboard containers. I was hoping she could do some of this with us, but she passed out. Tired little traveler.

Later on when Daddy got home we took a litter-pick up walk. Christina and Maria filled up a whole bag full of garbage! Way to go green little mamas!

Did you eat chalk?

Mommy: Did you eat chalk?

Christina: No.

Mommy: Why is their chalk all around your mouth?

Christina: I'm sorry, I'll be honest. I ate 3 chalks.

Mommy: Why?

Christina: I mean really, why not?

Good Point Love

Dinner Conversation:

Mommy tells the story about the creeps who teased the tiger at the San Francisco zoo and then were mauled and killed. To which Christina replies, "I bet if they teased a giraffe that wouldn't have happened."

Easter Festivities

We celebrate "commercial/bunny" Easter on Saturday. We started off by heading to Trader Joe's at 8AM for a small hunt. But they ran out of eggs so we got large boxes of Jelly Belly's instead. Maria loved the Easter Bunny and gave him multiple hugs. I think she would have followed him the entire time but I found his grass skirt semi-creepy. We headed to Milpitas for lunch and an egg hunt. We must have had at least 200 eggs. It was fun! I stuffed the eggs with an animal cracker or gummy... and Yaya refilled them with 4 or 5 per egg. The girls ran around excited and screaming. They had a blast.

On Sunday we took it easy and tried to keep the Sabbath holy. We watched a short Easter video, went to church and returned to Papa and Yaya's for leftovers. My dad = master chef. The girls played in the sandbox and Maria came in saying "We're whacking Jesus." I went outside to ask Christina what she was talking about. She said they were playing Resurrection. She had different mounds of sand. One was the place where Jesus was hit by the bad people. Then another was were they crucified Him and last the empty tomb. They had a doll who they were pretending was Jesus.

I have interesting children.

You can get a sense of how awesome my hubby's hair is. I love making chemical jokes, it makes me happy. So it's a win-win situation. I also enjoy watching him "fluff" his hair which is basically head banging to imaginary Metallica songs. And honestly I can only think of one Metallica song I know... the one with "we're off to never never land". Enter sandman?

2 days ago was the 1 year anniversary of Nono's death. I think of all the things you can learn and enjoy in life, but nothing can compare to this one fact - that Jesus Christ was resurrected and through Him we will be also. The fear of death is swallowed up in that one truth and the peace I feel each day I am undeserving of. Easter is indeed a wonderful time of year, but I pray that in our home we can remember Christ, His life, His sacrifice, His resurrection everyday and do the things He would have us do.

Bend it Like Beckham

I could have put her in beauty pageants, but I have no clue how to do my own make-up let alone a 4 year old's. And if it were up to her, she'd have blue eyeshadow on her cheeks and a penciled in mustache. Hence... Soccer camp.

First. My daughter is an exceptional listener. She pays attention and follows directions to a T.

Second. If she ever wants to marry one of David Beckham's sons who converted to the LDS religion after they served a mission, my life would be complete. Because maybe then, just maybe... I could meet Daniel Craig. No really, in all seriousness, maybe... just maybe, I'd have grandchildren with English accents.

Third. I just can't believe how blessed I am to have this little girl and her beautiful sister. Everyday I wake up thinking how wonderful the day will be and it always is! Because of them!

Happy Easter!!

I do have to say one thing. Christina has of recent taken to chewing her nails. Her poor little hands look like a war zone. It's not a nervous habit, I think she just does it out of boredom? Anyways we now daily talk about something very serious relating to this... college. I told her that if she chews her nails, she can't be a hand model. If she is not a hand model, how will she pay for college? And that is that.

4 Dozen Eggs

Today we dyed 4 dozen eggs. I wonder if that will be enough. Probably. :)

Betsy Stern

The Downtown Reno library is a pretty cool place, minus the pee from homeless men smell. Betsy Stern did an hour interactive music show that was fantastic. The girls got to play all sorts of instruments and hear songs in different languages. Plus there were only 2 other children so we got lots of one on one time.

There was this crazy man... poor man... who was clapping and singing and having more fun than the children. It made for a more spirited time. This is not the man pictured who slightly resembles my husband, thank you natty dreads.

I felt so bad for the librarians though. They looked so sad that only a few kids showed up. I wonder why more people don't take advantage of the few wonderful "performances" that the library offers.

Charles Barkley and Men Who Put Babies in Dryers

I love stories with a moral. Often you can hear me telling my darlings, "Never marry a man who..." Today we were singing to Ray Charles and I was telling them he was blind but didn't let not seeing get in his way. He was exceptional musically. Then our conversation went as follows-

Christina: Was Ray Charles the guy you shouldn't marry because he spits on little children?
Mom: No. That's Charles Barkley the basketball player.
Christina: Oh. Charles. The Spitter. And then I won't marry a man who puts little babies in the dryer either.
Mom: Yeah. That's child abuse. And he got arrested.

Of late I've really like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The Oompa Loompas had wisdom, catchy songs, and made green hair work. My favorite is Veruca Salt and when they talk about "What do you get when your child is a brat? You know who's to blame... the mother and the father." If every child was required to watch this movie at least 5 times in their life I bet good money we'd have less serial killers in the world.