Happy Mater's Day!

Today is the day we celebrate one of the iconic characters in animated film history. This tow truck has starred in films such as Cars, Cars 2, Mater and Ghostlight, and Cars Toons: Maters Tall Tales.

Wait, different Mater? As in 'mother'?

Sure, we can celebrate that too I guess. Marinda was treated to a breakfast of cream cheese-stuffed French Toast and a dozen red roses, along with some kitschy background music. Amit had Luke go and wake up mommy by saying "Happy Mothers Day!" and then bringing her to the kitchen. That's not exactly how it happened though. Something about toddlers not being able to follow directions perfectly or something?  They also gave her a cute card (in which Marinda was compared to the greatest mother of all time - Mom Tiger from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood), and then at church Marinda got some flowers to plant.

"The talks in Sacrement meeting were so inspiring," Marinda said later about church.  "I've been having trouble for a while finding the worthwhile purpose in being a stay at home mom, while at the same time feeling completely drained at the end of the day from constantly helping Luke (and now Jacy) to grow and emotionally and mentally develop.  After the talks today I think I understand a little bit better the importance of creating an emotionally stable and renewing environment for my family as well as how important my job is to help these little people develop the strength they are going to need to get through life's challenges.  I may not be building space stations or developing new energy sources, but I am doing an important job.  Besides, all evil villains had bad home lives - by giving Luke a happy childhood I'm saving the world!"

We would also like to do a shout out to our own Mothers and how much they have meant to us - especially these past few weeks when they have both sacrificed to come and help us out with the new baby.  We love you guys!

This has a been a busy week. We bought a lawn mower and yesterday Amit mowed our lawn for the first time since we moved (our EQ president mowed the front before Jacy was born, but the back has remained an untamed wilderness). The lawn mower worked great, but you should think of it more like shearing a giant green sheep than a normal lawn mowing. Amit bagged more than 200 gallons of yard waste. "I'm expecting a call from the EPA soon," said Amit. "After all, I did just raze the underbrush of an old growth forest."

Amit mowing our overgrown lawn

While Amit was mowing the lawn, Luke wanted to help (surprise, surprise). We told him he could watch from the patio, but the excitement of a loud, motorized object was just too much for him. Marinda's solution? A swimming pool on the patio!  We didn't actually have a kiddie pool, but we did have one of those big storage boxes for storing stuff under the bed!  It was nearly 80 degrees so it worked out perfectly and Luke loved it. We even put Jacy in but she was...unethusiastic...about going in.  Something about the water being freezing.

Patio pool party! Jacy was offended because the water was just a smidgen cooler than perfectly perfect

Marinda and Luke hit up both playgroups this week.  Marinda changed Luke's babysitting from Thursday to Wednesdays so she could get some socializing done, but this time she only got to spend about half the time visiting with her friends.  The other half was scouring the playground of Jacy's pacifier!  It was the only one she would take and was given to us by the hospital - so yeah, Marinda was kind of in a panic.  It was only when she had given up and was about to go home that she found it under the gas pedal of her car.  HOW?!?!?  It must have been the gremlins.

At old playgroup Luke and the other kids made pasta necklaces for their moms!  He actually was really into it for a while and was doing a great job.  And Marinda, of course, wore it proudly all during church today.

Luke making a present for Mommy

To top off this fun filled week the Misra's went to Game Night again.  The weather was so perfect, all of us just hung out outside the whole time and played Catch Phrase and other fun get to know you games.  We've been here a couple of months, but really half of that time was in baby land, so it is nice to be doing stuff again and making new friends.

Hope you guys have a great week!

Marinda being creepy and taking pictures of her kids sleeping again.  :)

Beautiful Girl

Luke "needs" all his blankets every night - but he doesn't actually sleep under any of them.

Jacy loves her swing, she loves looking up at her reflection and parade of little animals.

Luke and his baby sister - when we asked if he wanted to hold her, his response was kind of funny. :)