Catch-up time

There's a lot to catch up on over the last month. Here goes: Easter was great - we always get two of each holiday because we celebrate with JR's family down in McMinnville a week or two before so we don't have to travel too much on actual holidays. I love this method, it's worked out awesome for our families. Here are some pix of our first Easter with JR's family:

These were taken right before we left:

The girls with Shelby, JR's nephew's daughter. I think that makes them 1st cousins once removed???

Madison and Shelby were saying "Best Friends Forever" and clinking their glasses in a toast - so cute!

The granddaughters (and a great-granddaughter) with Grammy: Chloe with her loot:

Also, for Easter, a neighboring stake puts on a huge "Life of Christ" exhibit with art and scenes from Christ's life, musical performances, and children's rooms where they can make crafts, dress up like women from Christ's time or angels, hear stories, etc. It is AWESOME and worth the drive to get up here! Here are some cute pictures from that:

There was a tent set up with grain and bowls kind of like a sandbox - the girls could have stayed in there for hours.

Chloe admiring herself in the mirror:

Aside from Easter, Madison had an interesting experience the other day. We and our neighbors, who have an 8- or 9-yr-old daughter over every other weekend or so, had a garage sale over the weekend. The three girls were playing most of the day outside while the dads were watching over the sales. It was great! But then, Saturday night after we'd gone inside and the sales were over, Madison told me that she had accidentally broken one of the neighbors' sale items while she and the neighbor girl were playing with a ball. So I explained to her that she should have told me sooner and that she needed to pay for what she broke with her money in her piggy bank (they get a small allowance each month for doing their daily chores). She had been nonchalant when telling me at first, but after I kind of scolded her, she got really remorseful, and almost started crying. That's typical for Madison - she'll frequently cry when she makes a bad choice, just out of feeling sorry. I'm grateful for this trait, which unfortunately has not developed in Chloe yet whatsoever! Anyway, instead of being nervous to go to the neighbors' and apologize, she reminded me a few times that we needed to go - she was excited to go! So we did - we went next door and I explained the situation and let Madison say sorry and that she'd like to pay for the item she broke. The neighbor gal was super sweet about it - the item had only cost a quarter, but I assured her that this was more about teaching Maddie a lesson than it was about money. What a great lesson on integrity for my little girl!