Dead Sea Scrolls

Yesterday afternoon we took a family "field trip" and headed down to Palmyra for a special exhibit they had featuring the Dead Sea Scrolls. The kids took their Sunday naps on the way down there in the van, but when we got there they were so excited. We like to drive the kids past the temple any time we're down there, and they always love to see the temple.

Seth kept asking us where the Sacred Grove was, so we had a great discussion about what that is, and where. Seth was able to tell us about the First Vision, and how Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and talked to them. We explained how that never really happens, so it was extra special. We also shared with the kids that the Palmyra Temple is the only temple with a clear glass window so you can look out to the West and see the Sacred Grove. They thought that was cool. We headed next over to the visitor center. The kids wanted to know why the temple was so far from the Hill Cummorah, so it was nice to explain to the kids how far Joseph Smith walked to get to the hill to discover the plates. They were a little surprised when we got there that it looked different than when we see the pageant. We told them that the stage wasn't up right now, but it's the same hill as always. They also recognized the visitors center, and commented on how the curtains were closed, they are used to seeing the Christus statue through the front windows.

We went inside and there were some great, friendly sister missionaries in there to greet us. The kids were excited to see the scrolls, we were trying to explain to them what they were on our way down there, so they had a little bit of an idea. First we went into the room with the Christus statue, and were able to hear a beautiful message from Christ. I got a great picture of our family with the statue to put on the wall to help us remember to follow the Savior. In his message he shared that if we love him, we should keep his commandments. The sisters were great to say to the kids, that if they love Jesus, they should listen and obey their parents!

The next thing we did was head into the video room to watch a 13 minute video on the history of these scrolls, and the people who wrote them, and why our church is so interested in them. It was really interesting. I remember when I was a kid and some scientists discovered some of these scrolls, my dad would tell me about them. I was pretty interested in them then, and now as an adult, it was even cooler to learn in more detail the importance of them. The kids, especially Seth and McKee sat really still and watched the whole video, I was impressed. They are like little sponges. (I managed to forget my cell phone down in Palmyra, Tyler was playing with it to keep him quiet during the movie, and he tossed it under the chair, and I forgot to pick it up. Today I get to drive back down there to pick it up, but I'll stop at the book store and get Brooke a set of scriptures, so it won't be wasted.) After the video they gave each person a headset and a tape that walked us through 5 stations. The kids loved having the headsets on, the tape told them when to go to the next station, they thought that was fun. Even Tyler tried out the headsets! Seth seemed to be the most excited, but McKee was soaking it all in quietly.

They had a replica of the longest scroll on display and many others, and some of the clay pottery that the leather scrolls were hidden in. The people had wrapped the scrolls in linen tissue type paper and hidden them in these pots in caves. It really was very interesting. I would like to go down again and hear everything a second time so I can remember more of the details. They have extended the exhibit to the end of May, instead of today being the last day, so I'm hoping to sit through it again soon.

This is a "close up" of some of the text on the long scroll. They were all written in Hebrew and they wrote from right to left.

Spring or is it Winter?

I woke up this morning to everything covered in a couple inches of snow. It's beautiful, I will admit, but I want spring. It's almost April I don't' think that's too much to ask, is it? Here are some pics of our wintery scene, and my poor tulips, trying so hard to grow, just to be covered with snow...

Tyler's Eye...and nose

Tyler is so mobile now that we're having a hard time keeping him uninjured! We were finally putting away the table from Easter, Wednesday, and had it folded up and leaning against Mike's desk. Tyler is so curious, he wanted to play with it. Well, he managed to pull it down on top of himself, bumping his eye and scraping his cheek. Poor guy. Then on Thursday, he was lifting up a toy that we have and trying to put it on the chair so he could play with it, and managed to bump his nose. So his nose was bleeding slightly. Where was his mother you might ask? I was watching him, but sometimes stuff happens so fast, you just can't get up in time to catch him. Here is his poor little face, it was hard to get him to sit still long enough to take the picture. I have to say, he is really cute though!

The Kids' Easter Picture

I asked Rulon to take a nice picture of the kids in their Easter clothes this year. They were so cute, and the picture came out beautiful.

Happy Late Easter

Here are some fun pics from our Easter Sunday. I'm still trying to decide what's best to do to celebrate Easter with the kids. When I was growing up the Easter Bunny would hide my basket and I would have to find it. He was pretty tricky some years, once it was in the dryer, and my brother's was in the microwave once if I remember right. We however, did not celebrate Christ at all, which we know is the real reason for Easter. I have no problem with doing the traditional Easter stuff with my kids, I'm just trying to figure out a balance. I read on my friends blog that the Easter Bunny comes a day early to her house so they find their baskets on Saturday morning. I think that sounds like a great idea. Well, this year we celebrated on Sunday morning, the kids got up and found their baskets. Tyler wasn't really sure what was going on, but he loves the ball that was in his basket, and the fruit snack. Seth was the first little sneaky one up and found 3 out of 4 baskets, and had the hardest time not telling the other kids where theirs were. After church, we came home and cooked a ham dinner with scalloped potatoes, and my mom and her new husband Doug came over, Mike's parents, my brother Brent and his roomates Jamie and Ashly, and Ashly's daughter Skylar, Dave was supposed to come too, but he was sick, we missed him. We had a delicious dinner, thanks to everyone who brought a dish to pass. My mom made some apple pie for dessert, which is always delicious, and the kids played. We also had the kids color the Easter eggs, we forgot and then ran out of time so it didn't get done before the Easter Bunny came, so he didn't put any in the baskets. Mike showed off his super space saving (confusing) way to store plastic grocery bags, my Mom was impressed! Overall it was great day, it was sunny and beautiful.

String Festival

McKee was part of a district wide string festival Tuesday night at Arcadia High School. Orchestra members from the elementary and middle schools had the opportunity to play in a large group of 200 students for parents, family and friends. It was a great concert. I'm really proud of McKee and his talent with his cello. This is his 3rd year playing, and really enjoys it and wants to continue playing next year when he goes into middle school. Here is a clip of one of the songs they played.








It's hard to spot McKee, he's behind the conductor. You can see the little girl with a cello right in the front, McKee is to her right kiddy-corner behind her. He has red hair, and a light green shirt.

Light bulbs...

We've had quite the adventure with light bulbs lately. First of all, most of the lights that are affixed to the house have multiple bulbs in them. The lights at the top and bottom of the stairs, the dining room, the kitchen, the bathrooms, all of them have different shapes and sizes of bulbs and many of them. This causes an interesting problem with purchasing and keeping up with the lights. We decided to try to fake being green, and bought some of the energy saving bulbs. We thought we could handle coughing up a little extra per bulb to lower the cost over time since they are supposed to last for about 9 years or something like that. WELL, our kitchen light is retarded because it managed to blow 3 of these new fancy bulbs in the last couple days after only being in the fixture for maybe 2 months. So, we obviously need to figure out what to do with the crazy thing. On top of that, I haven't been able to read at night either because Tyler dropped my lamp on the floor, and the bulb blew. Of course, the bulb in my nightstand lamp is different than every other bulb in the house. It's just my luck I guess. So, it's lights out to this post...

Strong National Museum of Play

On Friday, since the kids had off from school, and Mike is home early in the day, we decided to take the kids to Strong Museum. They had a great time. I love it there. They have so many fun things to play with. I haven't been there since it was remodeled, they did a nice job. The exhibit that the boys really wanted to see is called Grossology. They talked about boogers, and farts, and burps and puking...everything a little boy dreams about! :) We also visited the baby crawling section, Tyler loved playing in there. The big kids are not allowed, so he was able to walk around and explore without being knocked over. I'm looking forward to taking the kids again. Next time I want to visit the butterfly exhibit. We ate dinner at the food court there after we were done playing. The kids and Mike had Taco Bell, and I had Subway. The food was yummy, and the play was fun.

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. McCrossen...

My mom is now a married woman! She looked beautiful and was so happy. Here are a couple of the pictures I took. I asked Rulon to come and take some pictures for mom as a surprise and wedding gift from me, I can't wait to see those! After the ceremony we went over to Pomodoro, a great Italian restaurant for toasts and dinner. It was a great time!

Rotavirus...

Poor Seth is sick again! He's had trouble for a couple months with staying healthy. He started on Saturday with a fever, and tired, and just not acting like himself. So last night after a couple days home from school, and just laying around with a low grade fever, I took him to the pediatrician. She said he probably has a rotavirus. Here is what I found about it on the internet:

Signs and Symptoms
Children with a rotavirus infection have fever, nausea, and vomiting, which are often followed by abdominal cramps and frequent, watery diarrhea. Children who are infected may also have a cough and runny nose. As with all viruses, though, some rotavirus infections cause few or no symptoms, especially in adults.

So we need to be careful and make sure we're washing our hands a lot and we dissinfected everything last night. Fun Fun. I just hope he gets better soon.

Happy St. Patty's Day

This post must be read with an Irish accent for full effect!!!!

I don't think my family line has much Irish, but McKee's sure does! He loves St. Patrick's day! So top o' the mornin' to ya, and Happy St. Patty's day!

Big News!!!!

I talked to my mom last night and found out that she is getting married! I'm so excited for her! She really seems happy and in love. The wedding is Monday night! I can't believe it! I love you mom, I really do hope all of your dreams come true! You're going to be a beautiful bride!

I've Been Tagged

A. The rules of this game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the question about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get the directions.
Questions:10 yrs ago:5 Things on my list of things to do today:Things I would do if I suddenly was a Billionaire:3 of my bad habits:Places I have lived:Jobs I have had:Things most people don't know about me:
****************************************************
10 years ago...I was 18 years old, waitressing over nights at Perkins restaurant. McKee was just a couple months old so I had to be home all day while my ex-husband worked.
5 Things on my list of things to do today...hand over scout stuff, finish up laundry, run to wal-mart to pick up the toilet paper holder I left there yesterday, work on Seth's scrapbook, have some time alone with Mike
Things I would do if I suddenly was a Billionaire...move to Colorado, visit family in California, pay off everything, buy Mike a new car, put money away for the kids, give my family some money
3 of my bad habits...procrastinating, chocolate, picking my nose (hey, everyone picks, admit it)
Places I have lived...Rochester, Brockport, Fairport, East Rochester, Webster, Greece, Hamlin, California, Oregon
Jobs I have had...MOM, Friendly's, Perkins, Driveway sealing company, Invisible Fence, Pinkerton Systems Integration, Mary Kay, Creative Memories, Student Desk at MCC, Allstate Insurance, Isaac Heating, Wegmans, White Knights Farm, Maplewood Nursing Home, I'm sure there are more, I just can't remember right now.
Things most people don't know about me...I like to read, I love hearts, I don't like scary movies, I've always wanted to be a singer

I will tag...Lynette, Erin, Lora, Danielle, Alison, and Roxie

Shiny Teeth and Shiny Trees

Today was a busy day for us. Last night, on the 17th anniversary of the big Ice Storm of '91, we had a mini ice storm here in Rochester. There was just enough ice to be a pain in the butt, but not enough to close anything down. Mike had a hard time getting into his car this morning because it won't stay running long enough to melt anything without stalling, so he took the van. The 3 older kids had a dentist apt this morning, so Mike came home a little early with the van and we were off. All of the trees look so pretty coated in ice. I am still looking forward to spring though. For some reason this winter seems really long to me. So we got the dentist and the kids each had a turn. They did a great job. My kids are always really good at the Dr or dentist, so I wasn't worried. Brooke and McKee came up clean, but Seth has one little cavity, and we'll go back in a couple weeks to have it filled. Tyler got to sit in the dentist chair and ride it up and down a couple times. They are so cute there, they have sunglasses for the kids to wear so the light doesn't hurt their eyes. Tyler will get checked out in 6 months when the kids go back next time for their check-ups. McKee pulled his hat down over his eyes and said he didn't need the sun glasses because he was covered. He's a crazy boy.

Brooke had her first haircut, ever, tonight. She was so bald for so long as a baby I didn't have the heart to cut her hair until now. The ends just needed a little trim, nothing much, but I'm getting sentimental in my old age, and am still a little teary about the whole thing. We gave the kids a bath and I told her that we would do the trim after bath time. So she came downstairs all excited for her haircut and her first question was "It's going to hurt?" I said no, she won't feel anything. So we put her in the chair, Mike was a good sport to take some pics for me, and I trimmed the bottom. As I was cutting the last little piece off Brooke said "are you going to cut it now?" She had no idea that I was just finishing. She's so sweet, and now her hair will be a little bit healthier.

The last cut.

Thanks

We received a package from Lynette on Saturday containing some goodies for the kids. She made the boys matching ties, and the fun part is that Mike has one almost exactly the same, and some cute hair clips for Brooke. I could hardly wait until Sunday morning to dress the boys up, and do Brooke's hair. Here they are looking so handsome, and cute.