Easter Egg hunt

One of my favorite things to do on Easter is have an Easter Egg hunt. Of course after celebrating the life and sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ and having a delicious honey ham for dinner. Well the older two, Bryce and Isabella, are a little old to hunt for eggs. Unless they are filled will money. So they were elected to help hide the eggs for the two littles, Victoria and Hunter. Normally we go to my sisters house and someone else is in charge of playing the Easter bunny, but due to Covid, Easter Egg Hunt at home it is. 

To get the party started Tammy had bought a bag with about 65 pre-filled eggs. That was quite a lot to hide. By the time Tori and Hunter busted out the door there were still about 6 eggs left in the bag. This was fine with the older two because the excitement of hiding the eggs was over after 40. 

The hunt was on and they were tearing through the trees and grass find egg after egg yelling "Found One". Well Hunter spotted the bag with the remaining un-hidden eggs. He proceeded to grab a few and toss them in the yard. Then grabbed one and yelled "Found one". Maybe hiding them is unnecessary next year. 

Nintendo Switch Family Activity

 We have been having some fun today. We went to Target and bought Mario Cart to play on the Nintendo Switch. This was a great idea. We played a few races against each other. Victoria enjoys trading players with whoever will let her. Pretty much me. So I had to let the competitive side of me go for a bit.  

Opportunity to serve

 So we had the opportunity to serve today. This is rare because of Covid. Or just because we don't look hard enough. Either way. We had the opportunity to serve the members of our ward/stake by cleaning the building after one of our limited Sacrament meetings. Tammy had a zoom to be on with her family, so it was only going to be the kids and I. Isabella's first request when I told her we were going was "can we leave Hunter behind". I told her he would be able to help and it would be easier if he was with us rather than disrupting Mom's zoom. On the way to the church Victoria asked why we are cleaning the church. I told her so we could serve the members of our Ward. She then added that Jesus likes when we help others. Yes he does. I was amazed that none of the kids complained about going to help so I said so. I guess I missed Victoria's first point because she said "I was complaining when I asked why we were going to clean". Hmm. Hunter by the way was helpful. Tori and him made a great team. 

New Years Resolutions

 I decided to make some New Year's resolutions. I don't know how well I will keep them, but one of them is to journal every day. I have had a lot of fun reading the stories about my oldest 2 children and know the younger 2 will be just as fun. 

Last year was a wild year for sure. Hopefully when I read this post years from now it will be a distant memory.  Currently there is a pandemic. There a mask mandates in almost every state and things to do are limited. 

Here is to a new year and new resolutions. 

Cooking Dinner

New tradition just started. I had a great time cooking with Isabella today. We picked out a recipe on youtube and it turned out great. We made a couple mistakes and dropped an egg on the floor but it was a lot of fun. Victoria also was a big help mixing some of the dry ingredients. She gave a resounding approval with"I love this chicken". We will have to continue this weekly.

Bedtime reading

Bedtime has sure changed from when the bigs were little. It used to be easy. A book was chosen. A book was read. Hugs and kisses and good night. Not so simple anymore. Victoria and I used to lay on her bed and watch a church video. Recently we ran out of videos and I thought it might be better to read to her like I did with Bryce and Isabella. Hunter likes to join in. I will select a book and start reading. He will run and get another book and give it to me. I will start to read his book and he will lay down and steal it from me and "read" the book. All the while Victoria is getting another book. With her selection in hand I will start to read hers until she realizes that there are no pictures. Then Hunter finishes his book and grabs another and the cycle repeats. I love the movie Groundhog Day but I don't enjoy living it at bedtime. 

Lesson on Consistency

So It's a shame I learn this lesson every year but never seem to get any better. Consistency is key in learning anything and it also helps when trying to remember experiences. If I consistently practiced bass I would be boss right now. If I kept practicing Spanish I could speak fluently. If I ... I know I could list a dozen other things. One I am very sad about is not continuing to write on this blog.  I missed out on writing about several hilarious stories, that I hope I can remember so I can record them in the future.

My kids are funny. I have four of them now and a dog. If you ask my wife, she may say I have four kids but she has five. I will not challenge that right now. Since it has been awhile I feel I need to introduce my family so I can remember who they are when I am old and gray. Wait that was last week. How about when my memory fades. Shoot that was a month ago. I will just introduce them because. Isabella is the oldest. She was my perfect daughter until she turned into a raging Hulk monster that is triggered at the slightest cause. Bryce is the second and he is a crazy maniac but lovable monster. I used to think we would never be invited over to anyone's house for a second time once they got the Bryceover. Jeremiah was next but he lives in heaven. Victoria was next and she is a handful times two. She is an uber Princess and stole all of nicknames I had for Isabella, like Princess, Sweety, and then settled on Sugar Sweety. Last, but not least, is Hunter. He will not be ignored and he runs the house.

More to come.....

Camping but not

I was never a big camping fan when I was a kid but I thought that would change when I had kids. I think it is a great opportunity to get closer as a family. I figured if I made a big deal about how fun it could be they would like it and then I would as well. To prepare for this I added camping equipment to our wedding registry. It's actually the only thing I contributed to our registry, and we got it from my family. Yay. However, I think we have used the tent three times but never made it through the night. Now don't get me wrong my kids LOVE to camp we just alter it a little. We camp inside (me and the kids, Tammy gets the bed to herself), with a movie and snacks. In my brilliance or my wife's I'm not sure, when we camp I bring down the kids mattresses and we camp on them. Now this may seem like a great idea but when you put two twin mattresses and have three bodies one of those bodies (me) sleeps in the middle right in the crack. One day we will venture outdoors again but for now my kids love the way we camp. Bryce always tells me its a "great idea".

Pollen and the Importance of Bees

Isabella, like many others, is not a bee fan. When she sees one she will run the other direction. As we were trying to leave the other day there was a bee blocking our exit. I thought this would be the prime opportunity to educate Isabella on the importance of bees. I told her bees are important they pollinate the flowers. If we didn't have bees the flowers would die. Isabella "I'm allergic to pollen"

A Childs Motivation

Well let me tell you I am sorely addicted to those games with the claw. You move the claw and try to pick up a prize. I am not very good but I enjoy playing it. Bryce and Isabella enjoy the same addiction. I have gotten better as of late and must have instilled some confidence in Isabella that I will get her a prize. I was playing today and she said get me a girl colored prize. As I was trying she she said "come on Daddy you can do it you just need to step it up".

Bryce and his clothes.

Bryce is very aware of what his fashion sense is and is not easily swayed. He has an opinion on what he should wear to church down to the socks and tie. He even can tell you if he should be wearing any clothes at all. Case in point-while playing a new board game Bryce proceeded to take off his shirt. Upon my asking why he was taking his shirt off he said "I don't need to wear clothes to play this game" in which he then took his pants off. I had no argument my response was for him to go tell his mother.

Time for art

Aunt Pam needed her basement painted so the kids went to help. So much more fun drawing pictures first. These are, from left to right, portraits of Pam, Tammy, Bryce, me, and Isabella.

Good sport

To get Isabella to listen I usually make everything a competition. Isabella go use the potty. Isabella "no". Ok then I'm gonna get in there first. Isabella takes off running to be the first. The magic phrase is "I'm gonna be first". This formula has worked for getting a diaper for Bryce, finishing her dinner, her getting dressed, brushing her teeth, washing hands, picking up toys. Wow I really think I over did it. I may have created an over-competitive youngster. At swimming lessons today the teacher had everyone race from one end of the pool to the other. This was more of a running race rather than a swimming race. The first race Isabella came in first and let everyone know it. Then the second race came. This time a little boy just edged her out. He went up to her and said he had won. Isabella corrected him and said "no actually we tied, good job". On the way home I told her that we don't always win but we always need to be good sports. I said when someone wins we always want to say good job and when we win we should say good race to those that didn't win. At dinner she sort of got my advice. We were racing to see who could put a piece of chicken in our mouth first and Isabella was first. She declared "I won" and then feeding me my own advice followed with "Daddy you need to tell me nice job cause I beat you". I didn't see that one coming.

When Isabella was a baby

When Isabella was a baby she went to school with me and so did her sister Kierda. When I ask her who Kierda is she says 'she's just my sister'. We have welcomed Kierda because she doesn't cost anything. I'm not clear who Kierda's mother is but I have been told I am her father. Not sure how I missed that. When Isabella was a baby she liked roller coasters but she doesn't want to go on them now. When Isabella was a baby she wanted a dog but now she would rather have a cat, however she won't pet either.

It finally happened.......

It may have taken almost 5 years but it finally happened at 10:15 am February 5th 2012.
5 minutes before 10:15am on February 5th 2012.
I was headed to change  Bryce's diaper. I should known something was up, he seemed a little too happy to get his diaper off. I laid him on the changing table and took off his diaper. Boy was his diaper wet. He won't pee for a week I thought. Boy was I wrong and I was caught off guard when the mighty geyser went off. I think some hit the ceiling. Think straight what do I need to do. I must stop the pee but how. Grab a paper towel. That didn't work now it's spraying everywhere. Is there a bucket anywhere? Eew was that my suit coat that just got hit. How much did this kid drink? Why did I put the diaper down to get the paper towel? Will anyone notice if I leave this puddle on the floor? Why do people want to talk to me while I am in crisis mode? Grab a paper towel or zip it.

Shopping with Isabella

Now I know it was crazy but I decided to take Bryce and Isabella to Target two days before Christmas, ALONE. This was the first time I had taken both of them alone to any store, and I picked the one store that gets me in trouble. I knew I was a major sucker for Isabella, but I wasn't sure what would happen when I was outnumbered. How much would this trip cost me? We went to get their cousin, Katlyn a birthday and a Christmas gift. Upon hearing this, Isabella voiced her concern seing that Target is her store "OK, just to make sure, we are getting me a gift as well right?". I told her we would see, but we are going to get her cousin a gift first. After a painstaking one and a half hours of changing my mind 7 times, calling my sister for advice, and fighting the aisles with the over-sized cart that had the extra cab for kids that I somehow assumed would make shopping easier, I was successful with phase one. Now I had to pay the price. Ok Isabella lets pick out something small for you and Bryce. I am not sure if small triggered Isabella to look for the most expensive small item in the toy store or what but I think she was checking out the prices before she picked anything. I got out with only spending an extra $10. Thank goodness they didn't have the Barbie Dreamhouse she has been asking for.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, what have they done to you?

Oh the new Gallahan tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. Tammy turns on the Christmas music to set the mood. Isabella gets dressed for the occasion (this year her Jasmine princess dress, last year Sleeping Beauty). Pull the tree out of the box and proceed to decorate. Now let me give you some advice on how to decorate when you have a two year old, at least when that two year old is Bryce. Pretty simple really keep all valuable decorations out of arms length. We invested in plastic ornaments last year. Win - no bulb was broken, however a few were eaten. Loss - the  bottom quarter of the tree was emptied. This year would be different, Bryce was a year older surely he would leave the tree alone. So we proceed to decorate. All goes well Bryce and Isabella beautify the tree. The next day the poor tree didn't know what it had coming. At first just a few bulbs disappeared, then a few more, then a couple more and in no time the tree was stripped of its dignity. Oh well it makes taking the tree down go faster.

Clarity

"Isabella tonight you are going to go to bed a little early".
Isabella "no thats ok".
"How about yes and how about instead of one story I read you a couple stories".
Stop. This is where I made the mistake. No, not in trying to bargain with my child, but by not being clear on the bargain.
"Ok while I get ready for bed you go pick the stories you want me to read"
Now even less clear. I walk in Isabella's room and there are about twenty books in a pile on the floor.
"Isabella why are all those books on the floor"
Isabella "These are the couple stories I picked".
New bargain three stories.

Why?Why?Why?

I need help to some questions Isabella is asking, my answers and diversions lead to more questions. I think she is going to realize I don't know everything.
Isabella - Why is the sky blue?  
Me - Because it's not green
Isabella - Why can't it be green?
Me - Because the trees are green and you wouldn't be able see the sky.
Isabella - Why are the trees green?
Me - Would you rather they be pink?
Isabella - No they can't be pink.
Me - Flowers are pink and those are pretty
Isabella - That's nice but why is the sky blue?
Me - Maybe it's not blue you just think it is
Isabella - No it's definitely blue.
Help

A Dose of Reality

A small conversation with Isabella gave me a dose of reality....
Tammy had made KoolAid the night before and it is sooo awesome to wake up in the morning and have a nice cold glass of KoolAid, and it was grape yumm. Isabella was with me and shared in my excitement when I went to get her a drink in the morning. I said Mommy made KoolAid last night isn't she the BEST. Isabella in agreement "Yeah Mommy is the BEST". I tried to sneak one by her "Daddy is the BEST too huh". Reality check "No you can't be the BEST if Mommy is the BEST". Then she added "Daddy you are too silly".