Easter

     My little sisters love Easter.  Since they were born, the tradition of the Easter Bunny has been present.  This year, there is only one more of us Davis kids that still believe in the magical bunny that visits children every Easter bringing them eggs and little toys.  Easter isn't just about a bunny for my family though. It is about family and recognizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  
     Just like Christmas, my little sisters have an Easter Eve. Easter Eve means that all of the kids have to sleep in one bedroom.  My little sisters make us sleep in one room because they think that we older kids will sneak out early and see the surprise awaiting before we are supposed to.  It's always crowded with three of us on the floor.  The people on the floor are Natalie, Nick, and me.  
     In the morning, my little sisters wake my parents up at seven a.m. so that they can see their Easter Bunny surprise before church.  At eleven a.m., we go to church for three hours. Usually on Easter Sundays, we learn about what we, as members of the LDS church, believe happened on Easter.  We believe that on Easter, Jesus Christ was resurrected.  After church, we have an Easter egg hunt.  The eggs contain candy and little toys.  Every one gets one of each color so we know that it is fair in the end.  Then, we play with the things that the Easter Bunny brought.  Usually it's a movie for the older kids and a Barbie for my little sisters.  
     That night, we eat dinner as a family.  My mom was born in France, and so she carries the traditions of her family with her. For Easter dinner, our family has lamb, French beans, and really yummy French potatoes.  For dessert, my mom makes mousse du chocolat or dessert crepes. It is always a really good meal, and I love being able to eat dinner with my extended family too.  
     After dinner, we sit around the table as a family and read the New Testament version of Jesus Christ's resurrection.  We take turns reading, and it always teaches me something that I don't know.  Then, we play more and have fun with our extended family.  All in all Easter is both a fun and spiritual day that my family loves to participate in. 

Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus Christ as a resurrected being for the first time

The Most Embarrassing of Them All: Part 2

     Every day, is a new adventure in my family, and Natalie is the entertainer.  She is a drama queen and very embarrassing.  None of my family are looking forward to the day when Natalie becomes a teenager.  We all believe that it will be much worse when she reaches the lovely age of thirteen and the years to follow until maturity strikes.
     I have some more stories about Natalie that show how embarrassing she is.  The first one has to do with nursery.  Nursery is a place for little kids ages one and a half to three years old for our church.  Well, my mom came to pick up Natalie from nursery after her church meetings, and Natalie said, "Mom, see that woman over there? She is fat. If you look over there, that woman is pregnant so technically she's not fat, but has a giant baby growing inside of her."

The Most Embarrassing of Them All

Just look at her innocent face 

     Another time was around Christmas.  Natalie wanted to know if Santa Claus was real or not.  She wanted a doll that could eat real food and then go to the bathroom to get rid of it.  Natalie looked online, and she found that all of the dolls she wanted were sold out of every single store.  The next Sunday, in Natalie's Sunday School class, Natalie announced, "Guess what? I'm finding out if Santa's real or not, and I will tell all of you the results.  My doll is out of stock in every store, so only Santa can bring it to me.  If I get it, Santa's real.  If I don't, Santa's not real."  My mom had already bought the doll, but Natalie's comment caused many of the other girls and boys there to worry whether or not Santa Claus was real, too.  They decided to also test their parents.  In the end, a couple of the kids ended up not believing in Santa Claus.  Whoops!
     As you can see, Natalie is one of the most embarrassing kids on the face of this planet.  No matter how many times we ask her to think before she speaks, the statement goes in one ear and out the other. Not only does she say embarrassing things, but she does embarrassing things.
     One time, we were in the grocery store, and Natalie decided it would be fun to run around screaming, "Clean up on aisle four!"  Eventually, my family was asked to leave the grocery store and not come back with Natalie.  It was so embarrassing.  Then next time we went to the grocery store, we had to bribe Natalie to keep her from doing the same thing.
     There are many other stories, but I couldn't possibly fit them on a blog post. She has gotten better, but Natalie is still the most embarrassing of them all.  Watch out, Utah, Natalie's embarrassing words and actions are here.

     For other embarrassing stories click on the link.

The Most Embarrassing of Them All Part 1

      When my house is quiet, there's a problem. It usually means that Natalie is up to something.  Natalie does a lot of things well, but her best talent is saying embarrassing things, and doing naughty stuff.  Natalie doesn't always like being characterized as the naughty one, but she is the only one of the five kids who does some questionable activities.    

Natalie is on the very left.

      Natalie does a lot of embarrassing things because she doesn't have a filter.  During a family reunion two summers ago, Natalie asked my cousin if she was pregnant.  It was a day before she got married, and I can tell you that she wasn't pregnant.  My cousin, Courtney, told Natalie that it was just her shirt because it was really puffy.  Natalie responded, "Honey, it's not the shirt." Then, Natalie walked away leaving me to awkwardly apologize and walk away myself.

     Another time, my mom was cleaning a shelf, and she took one of her antique dolls off of it.  When my mom finished dusting and turned around, her doll's silk ballet shoes were all cut up.  My mom got mad because Natalie was standing right there, scissors in hand.  When my mom stopped yelling at Natalie, Natalie calmly said, "Mom, it's your fault.  You shouldn't have left the scissors out where I could get them."  At the time, Natalie was three.  We all knew that she was going to be the crazy child.

     Natalie has always had an obsession with boys.  If there were thirty girls in a room, and one boy, she would find the boy and stay with him.  Well, my dad owned a physical therapy practice, and one of his employees was single and male.  Natalie developed a crush on him when she was only two years old.  Whenever he came, she would sit by him and just smile.  One day, my dad's employee got married.  He came over to our house with his wife, and when Natalie saw her, she wasn't happy.  The couple sat next to each other on the couch, and Natalie got even more angry.  She went to the couch and squeezed her way in between the two.  Then, she looked at the wife and smiled.

     One Christmas Natalie got some paints.  She had recently watched Princess Diaries, and really wanted to put paints in a balloon and pop it on a piece of paper.  That night, Natalie snuck out of bed and went to her bathroom.  She shut the door and locked it.  All of a sudden, we heard a pop, and when we went to the bathroom, paint was spilled everywhere, and it was all over Natalie's face.  When she saw us, she smiled and said, "That was awesome!"  Two Christmases later, Natalie received a baby doll that you could feed and it would go to the bathroom.  Natalie was told not to feed it unless she had a diaper on it.  Well, Natalie didn't listen, and she fed her baby doll.  A couple of minutes later, Natalie was running all over the house screaming, "It's peeing and it won't stop!"  My mom grabbed the doll and put in the sink, but it was too late.  Baby doll food was all over the floor throughout the whole house.  Natalie's only comment was, "Well, I won't be doing that again."

     Whenever Natalie does something that lacks manners, we teach her the manners that she should have used in that situation.  Natalie has gotten better now that she's ten, but she still has little slips every now and then.  Natalie keeps life entertaining.  Everyday is something new. 

   
       

Never Counting Sheep

    Bed time is a disaster at my home EVERY night.  Every child in my house, including myself, is a  professional staller.  Our excuses include getting water, needing to shower, needing to finish some homework, wanting to shower that night, etc.  Name an excuse not to go to bed, and my siblings and I have probably used it.

Counting sheep never occurs in my house

     My brother is the best at stalling.  Every night, he has a routine that prevents him from going to bed at 9:00 p.m.  Instead, Nick ends up going to bed at 10:00 p.m. His bedtime routine starts at about 8:30 p.m. First, he goes upstairs to brush his teeth and shower.  His showers last about twenty minutes, which is long for a guy, and brushing his teeth takes between five and ten minutes.  By now it's about 9:00 p.m. when he should be going to bed.  Well, it doesn't happen.  Nick sneaks into our family room, and sits behind the couch so that he can watch the T.V. show that my parents are watching.  When he finally gets caught, Nick usually whines and complains that he's not tired until it's around 10:00 p.m. and my dad forces him to go downstairs.  
     My little sisters are really good at stalling too.  Every night they make their ten minute routine about an hour.  Instead of going to bed at 8:00 p.m., it's usually around 9:00 p.m.  The first thing they do is say that they need to finish some math homework.  It is ALWAYS math.  Then they decide that they need to take a shower and brush their teeth for half an hour.  After showering, my little sisters sit in their bed, but they don't actually go to sleep.  They read to each other for another half an hour until they fall asleep holding their books.  As you can see, bedtime is nonexistent in my house.
     I am the next best staller.  I don't pretend that I have homework or have to shower, but I do do the dishes VERY slowly.  My older sister, Katie, and I switch off weeks doing the dishes.  When it's my week for dishes, I make sure that I go very slowly so that I can watch some T.V. shows before going to bed.  When I watch T.V., it makes me feel more relaxed, and it is easier for me to go to bed especially when I am stressed out.  
     Finally there is Katie.  Katie doesn't do anything to stall.  She's learned that stalling just gets her in trouble, and it's not worth it.  As for the rest of us, we haven't learned that lesson quite yet.  I look up to Katie. Not only does she go to bed on time, but she obeys everything that my parents say.  Katie is also NEVER mean to anyone.
     All in all, my family doesn't ever count sheep.  We just stall until we are so tired that we fall asleep with our books, homework, or iPads in hand.  If you ever need to stall, here are some excuses from the best stallers. Toddlers. 

Wednesday Nights

     My family is LDS.  We go to church every Sunday, and live our daily lives according to our religion.  The LDS church also has week night activities.  The ward or group that I go to church with have our week day activities on Wednesdays.  Every one of my family members have an activity on Wednesdays or every other Wednesday.

     My mom is the leader of all the Young Women.  The Young Women are girls ages twelve to eighteen.  My mom plans the activities and has to go to all of them. She also has to get there early to set up all of the different crafts and games that we play.  Wednesday nights are crazy for my mom because she has to make dinner and make sure we are all ready to go by 6:15 p.m.  Then we all pack in the car and leave.

     My dad is also a leader, but of all of the Young Men.  The Young Men are boys ages twelve to eighteen.  He helps plan the activities and has to attend all of them.  My dad doesn't have to get there early, so if some of the kids are running late, he drives another car to get there by 7:00 p.m., when the activity actually starts. 

     My older sister, my younger brother, and myself all go to the activities every Wednesday night.  We mostly leave with our dad, but sometimes we leave with my mom.  We have so much fun playing games and doing different activities.  For example, on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, we played Iron Chef.  It's like the show on Food Network, but we all get into groups instead of an individual contest.  We are then judged and win prizes based on taste, appearance, etc.  Another one of the things we do annually is a jello fight.  We all bring some jello, and have a food fight with it.  It's really fun, even though it is really messy.  To clean ourselves up, we play Water Balloon Battleship.   

     Finally are my younger sisters.  Since they are ten and nine, they can't go to Young Women's.  Instead they go to Activity Days for girls ages eight to eleven.  Unfortunately, their activities are only every other week.  Every other Wednesday night, they have to stay home alone.  Usually when we get home, the house is a disaster, every light is on, and they are fighting.  This gets my mom and dad a little upset, and the little girls are told that if they can't behave, they'll have to get a babysitter.

    All in all, though, my family looks forward to Wednesday night activities where we all get to have fun with the people in our church.  The activities always are entertaining, and we learn more about our religion.

Wednesday nights are reserved on our calendars.