'Surprise-Face' and Easter stuff

I've had more than one person tell me that because Raini's

eyes are big and her eyebrows are always raised so high,

she always looks SURPRISED!! 

"Surprise-Face," they say. 

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what they're talking about. 

Take these examples...

See?  Are ya with me on this one?

hehe

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...And what exactly is she doing here?

Singing an operetta?

Squealing for Peli?

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Here's the lovely remaines of the snowstorm we got last week,

to say nothing of the snowstorm we got last night!

Of course, this was the day we'd planned weeks ago to go to

the zoo.  Bummer.

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Raini has figured out how to crawl up onto Peli's bed

and roll around on all the pillows.  She loves it.

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Saturday, Candisse had an awesome Easter party for all the kids! 

She had baked a gazillion sugar cookies with a bunch of frostings,

fondant and toppings to decorate with, and she'd also gotten crafty little

picture frames and puppets to make!  It was so fun!

Here are Lori (cut off at left), Sierra, Kylie, Kylie's friend, Lyndsey,

and Kassydie and Katelyn working on crafts and cookies.

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Everyone else was saving their decorated cookies for Easter. 

Not us. 

Peli devoured his as soon as the frosting and sprinkles were on.

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Raini hung out with dad some, crawled around some,

tasted some frosting... and made an attempt at climbing up the stairs.

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We spent Easter with Grandma Leslie and Grandpa Lance, hanging out,

watching Conference, and eating of course!  Becky helped the kids color eggs,

Peli and I made some stuffed sock bunnies, and Peli had to search

for his Easter basket!  It was an awesome weekend.

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Suka's final day off for Spring Break was Monday,

and we were all excited for Monday night because we knew

 there was a 2-hour special of this:

and the National Championship of this:

so... what happens?  ALL POWER IN OUR AREA GOES OUT.

And not for 10 minutes.

Or an hour.

It was out for FOUR HOURS!!

Now, the first half hour of a power outage is always fun, in my opinion...

I love breaking out these:

and these:

-

But with two very young children, after about the first half hour,

 you are READY for some lights!

It got to be a real challenge, cuz the baby was screaming (teething),

Peli was bored and kept seeing monsters in the corner,

and every "story" that Suka told was about someone

(or some cow) taking a nap (??)

-

At one point, Peli looked up at the ceiling and called out,

"Power!  Just come on so you can get on!  Come on!"

-

But we made it work, and as soon as we decided

 to put everyone to bed (of course,) on came the lights.

-

In the meantime, Suka cuddled up with the little ones...

He was telling "stories," (and I use that term loosely),

 and as soon as he would stop talking,

Peli would say "Dad, Keep Storying!"  [that was cute.]

Just one more reason I would've been a crappy pioneer. 

Or a crappy anyone-who-lived-prior-to-electricity-and-other-conveniences. 

Sad, yes, but I'm not gonna lie. 

I'm perfectly content with the fact that my life

includes TVs and a microwave.  I'm just saying.