I'm grateful that I really savored General Conference when I was single because it is a completely different ballgame when you have little ones. (And I only have one little one so far! Yikes!) The first General Conference that we had Peter with us was interesting, but he was still so little that he was taking 3 naps a day for about a total of 4-6 hours of napping a day. So, while we had some interesting experiences trying to pay attention, we still got a lot out of conference. The second General Conference with Peter, his nap schedule was 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and 2-4 p.m. Perfect, right? We had conference time all to ourselves and we were able to give it our undivided attention. This time, Peter is transitioning to only one nap a day. So sometimes he takes two naps and sometimes he only takes one. Plus, when he is awake, he requires your undivided attention! He is a busy guy! And he knows when your attentions are elsewhere!
Not to mention the fact that Peter and I have been suffering from one of the worst colds I have had in years. It has honestly been miserable.
Above: Peter walking around while we watched conference. Oh, and I don't know how his right pajama leg rides up like that, but it always does!
I'm quite surprised at how much I actually got out of conference this time under the circumstances. Jeremiah and I made a goal to watch each of the sessions each Monday night after Peter goes to bed for our Family Home Evening. We re-watched our first session on Monday (and discovered that when you fast forward through announcements and Mo-Tab songs, it is about an hour and a half long). So, we started at 9 p.m. and finished at 10:30 p.m. We were tuckered after a long day, but I'm so glad we watched it. As I said before, I actually had retained a lot of it while I watched it in the background and played with Pete (in the foreground). :) But I felt the spirit so strong as I re-watched it. I look forward to watching the other three sessions again in the upcoming weeks.
As far as Easter, I'm glad that I'm an ultra-planner. I actually bought and organized all of the stuff for Jeremiah's and Peter's Easter baskets (I also did an Easter basket for my mother and father-in-law and my brother-in-law who we live with) the first weekend in March (after the supermarkets had changed their seasonal displays from Valentine's to Easter stuff). I'm grateful because, as I said, I have been so sick the past two weeks that I really wouldn't have had the energy to do it this weekend. But, I know, right? Who is crazy enough to make Easter baskets a month before Easter? I'm the crazy one! And this time, it worked for me!
Above: Peter's Easter Basket. We had a comical experience with those magic grow sponges. I thought it would be fun for Peter, so I put some water into my emptied out Easter basket and poured every single one of the tablets in. The problem(s)? The water wasn't warm enough, so the dissolving capsules didn't dissolve...Peter wanted to play in the water...and eat the tablets...and of course, I decided to do this right at the beginning of conference, right before the prayer. Oops! I had to peel the plastic coating off of each and every one of those tablets while at the same time grabbing them out of Peter's hands and mouth! Well, you live, you learn. But all of the other Easter goodies were a hit!
Peter and I regained a little bit of our energy this weekend and he was well enough to sufficiently enjoy his Easter baskets (my Mom made him one too). He was so cute with his new goodies. He got some new toy cars (as mentioned previously in other posts, Peter LOVES his cars). He also got some new bouncy balls (he loves balls as much as he loves his cars). He was adorable to watch. Though, you can tell from the pictures that he isn't quite his usual playful and smiley self.
Above: Peter and Dad enjoying their Easter baskets.
Also, the weather was somewhat decent--at least decent enough for Peter to play outside (he loves being outside as much as he loves his balls and cars).
When you get the combination of being outside with a ball, Peter is in heaven. Pity the poor person who has to take him back inside before he is ready!
Above: Peter trying to throw a basketball into Grandma's basketball hoop.
Oh, and I had a little embarrassing experience on Saturday. It is our tradition that when the boys go to the Priesthood General Conference session, the girls have some girl time. So, we got some dinner from Panda Express. We ordered enough so that there would be leftovers for the boys. We ordered two of their Panda Feasts. At the end of ordering, the sassy little employee guy asked me if I wanted plates. I said "yes." He kind of rolled his eyes and said "How many?" I said "Oh!" Remember, I was sick and my brain was a little cloudy. I thought very hard. In my mind, I thought, well, there's the three of us here and my mom at home, so four plates ought to do it. So, I said (after a pause) "Four plates." He had such an odd look on his face (which I later realized was a look that said "wow, you gals are planning on eating way more than you should!"). But this didn't initially dawn on me so I turned to Emily and Kim (not my sister, just a friend who was hanging out with us) and said "Four plates, right?" They looked so embarrassed! As we left, they told me that if you are ordering TWO Panda Feasts, you should ask for 10-15 plates--even if you don't need that many. :) But we all had a very good laugh over it (though my laughs sounded like those of a veteran smoker because of my cold). Plus, I'm sure that sassy employee guy just thought I was stupid and a bad liar. I mean, there were 3 girls and they ask for 4 plates? Like he's going to believe that there's really a fourth person out there. But what kind of a bad liar does that make me look like? It makes me look like the kind of liar who isn't smart enough to do simple math equations!
So, besides being sick, my embarrassing Panda experience, and a little instance of Peter getting super jealous of Grandma's attentions to her grand-daughters who are in town--they live in Texas, Easter and General Conference were both wonderful.
This post made me smile.
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