Happy Easter From Pelham

When I found out Craig was leaving for 2 weeks over Easter I was so bummed I'd be alone.  Then the brilliant idea popped in my head...drive to Dathan's house!  Done!  We've had such a fun time and get to play here until Friday when Craig gets back.  Jaycee has had SO much fun playing with Haylie and Brayden.  She gets along really well with Haylie now and they are just best buds...well when Haylie isn't crying.  Jaycee has had a couple "accidents" with potty training.  She does so good at our house on her own potty so it'd hard to adjust to a new potty.  I didn't realize potty training is so hard!  The kids had so much fun finding their easter baskets and loading up on candy RIGHT before church.  Not such a good idea.  We all took naps after church and then they went on a fun egg hunt in the backyard and got MORE candy.  I'm gonna have potty treats for a year!  We were so excited that the rain stopped and we got to enjoy a nice 70 degrees outside and had to even put on bug spray.  I'm so excited the weather is getting nicer.  We ended the night with easter dinner of ham, funeral potatoes, corn and rolls.  What would've made this Easter even better is if Craig were here with us.  I did video camera a lot of the day so he'll be able to be a part of the day.  Only 5 more days until we get him back!  Here are some pics from the last few days.

Coloring Easter Eggs!

The Easter Bunny brought Jaycee some fun things: dog stuffed animal, play jewelry, light ball, pez, stickers, lip gloss, and eggs filled with candy. 

Kami getting into her easter basket before church.

Jaycee and Haylie going wild for all the candy

 Jaycee all ready in her easter dress.  The headband kept falling over her hair so I had to pull it up, but she loved wearing it 

CANDY!  

TRYING really hard to get a picture of all of them.  Really, really hard to do when sugared up!

Jaycee loved looking for the eggs.  She grasped onto the concept really easy and had fun opening them to see what was inside.

My husband loves me

Preslee Jo

I came across this blog today http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com  Read her story of her sweet angel Preslee Jo. 

As Jaycee was asleep upstairs, I was downstairs crying and thanking my Heavenly Father for my many blessings.  How could my trials seem so hard to bear when others have it worst?  I'm so grateful I found this blog.  I hope it will touch your life also.  When Jaycee woke up I gave her an extra big hug and just held her while she watched ANOTHER episode of Backyardigans. 

The past two nights Jaycee has decided to come in our bed around 4 ish.  Sunday morning it was cute because she comes in and says "Hi, Dad.  Good morning"  I decided I was too tired to put her back in her room so I let her sleep with us until the alarm went off.  Well this morning she came in again.  Craig had to wake up at 5 to drive to the airport for his flight.  She climbed in bed and snuggled up to us both.  Now I should've taken her back in her bed so she doesn't get used to coming in our bed, but I decided to enjoy the moment.  My wonderful husband, adorable little girl and I all asleep in our bed cuddling all together....THESE ARE MOMENTS WHY I LOVE BEING A MOMMY AND A WIFE! 

Change

April 23rd will mark one year in Maine.  I can't believe how fast time flies!  And within that 1 whole year I've had 4 callings all of which have been called and accepted.  I was called to Relief Society instructor right when we moved here.  That was very intimidating for me, but I did the best I could with my calling.  Then, 3 months later I got called to the YW 2nd counselor.  I was so excited.  In November, Craig and I got called to be branch missionaries.  He's the branch clerk and I was still in YW.  Doing both callings was really stressing me out and taking so much time out of being with my family.  A couple months ago I was really struggling with trying to give 100% to both callings and still being a good wife and mom.  I said a lot of prayers for help and things got a little better.  Well last Sunday I got sustained and set apart to Primary 2nd Counselor and I am so happy!  I really feel it's an answer to my prayers and have felt less stressed with this new calling.  I'm excited to be serving with 2 of my friends from the Branch and for teaching the gospel to all 26+ children.  (That's pretty amazing for a branch!)  Craig and I are still serving as Branch missionaries which has been very rewarding. 
So here's to change and putting a smile back on my face!

Picture Upload

I've had a couple pics sitting on my camera I've been meaning to put on here, but didn't until now.  So Here we go.
Jaycee opening her birthday card from gramma and pa-pa allen

Jaycee is now really close to being potty trained.  She still wears a diaper at nap & bed time, but other than that she wears panites and uses her potty all day long. She still needs to learn to go outside of our house, but we're getting close.  She's such a good girl.

Gramma and pa-pa gave Jaycee a gift card for her birthday so we let her roam the toy section for a good 20 minutes to pick out toys.  She picked out a baby doll carrier and then we found this cart and knew she'd love it.  She loves to push it around the house and put her dolls and Elmo in it.  Oh and she also likes to torture the dog around the house by chasing her with it.

Gramma and pa-pa Parker sent Jaycee a little easter present.  She was so excited when she opened it to find a whole bag of bunny mallows and this adorable new dress.  I tried to get her to pose, but this is the best I got.

This is the Jaycee scowl.  She pulls this face then starts cracking up thinking she's so funny.

Craig got back Sunday morning from California and we were so excited!  He even came up to the church to meet us.  Right when we got home we had him open his birthday presents.  He wasn't expecting anything because he got a new bike, but I still wanted to get him a little something.

Jaycee helped him open his other present which was some pants.  He had a pair that he loved and they got ruined a year ago, so I bought him a new pair.

We made daddy his favorite cake.  I made it a little different and it actually tasted a lot better.  If you want the recipe just leave a comment. "Happy Birthday Craig!"

Happy Birthday to my INCREDIBLE, GOOD LOOKIN, SUPPORTIVE, POSITIVE husband!  Sad we couldn't be with him today, but we were lucky enough to talk between tests.  Can't wait for our birthday celebration tomorrow and he gets to open his presents :)  YaHoO!

Widow

Widow Week 1 of 3 starts tomorrow.  I will be a widow for almost the whole month of April!  I will miss my hubby and to cope, I just won't think about it. 
Tomorrow Craig leaves for Sacramento, California to take the CA PE test.  He's already passed and licensed in Utah.  This test will be a 2 1/2 hour test on Surveying and a 2 1/2 test on Seismic.  That way he'll be licensed in both states and then Oregon will do reciprocity.  (Definition:A reciprocity agreement is a formal contract or treaty between two or more parties in which one party can enjoy a certain privilege only if it guarantees that the other parties can enjoy it as well.)  He's been studying every morning and long Saturday mornings.  I know he'll do great and wish him Luck!  He comes back on Sunday afternoon. 
Then on the 18th he'll leave for a job site visit in Little Rock, Arkansas for 2 weeks.  He has to do a training tomorrow, before he flies out,  in the Falmouth, Maine office on repelling and climbing since they'll be working on dams.  We're really sad he won't be here for Easter, but we'll make sure to take pics and video for him.  He'll get back on April 29.  
AND THEN....I'm stealing him away and no one can take him because I just can't handle being a widow!

Just wanted to say that I LOVED CONFERENCE!  How blessed we are to have our prophet speak to us twice a year!