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An Easter Lily has the most peaceful, beautiful smell on earth.
I have one that I carry from room to room with me because I am enjoying the smell so much. It stays next to my bed when we sleep and it goes in the kitchen during the day. It is truly the most amazing smell. Actually, stargazer lilies are my absolute favorite. They are the flowers that surrounded us at our wedding. But lilies are my close second favorite. 
A few weeks ago, Jack decided that we all needed an outdoor picnic for lunchtime. He called it a 'Fun Bun'. He explained to us that a Fun Bun meant that we have a party, but only with the people that are already at our house. So, he set up the table and chairs in our driveway (the only place not covered in mud right now), and made sandwich and grape plates. He also made little tickets for 25cents for games. One of the 'games' that we could choose was called 'climbing the tree'. Gable and I bought tickets to this game. We have a tulip tree in our front yard and it really is a nice tree. It is tall and beautiful and has two wooden planks nailed into it to help get little feet started on their climb. After I climbed for a while, (near the bottom of the tree), I got down and went back to the Fun Bun. Gable (near the top of the tree) kept climbing. A few minutes later, I heard a police siren chirp and looked over to see three police cars by our climbing tree. (Hidden Valley has it's own deputies, which apparently are real deputies now, complete with guns and ticket-writing abilities) The man in the passenger seat of the first car leaned out his window and said to Gable, "I want you to come down from that tree right now, son." Granted, it wasn't mean, but it was a man in authority, so it sounded pretty tough. I started over towards the police car and although it sort of embarrases me to say this, I was slightly intimidated. I have always believed that I would not even flinch when it came to defending my children, but with three police cars there, I flinched. Fortunately, I got myself together. I walked over to the police car sort of laughing saying, "WHAT?" The guy told me that my son was too high in the tree and that he simply asked him to come down. I knew exactly where Gable was, I was outside with him and frankly, boys climb trees! So, I just said, "No, he's okay." It was at this point that things got a little unsettling. He should have just driven away. At that point I would have thanked him for his concern and everything would have been okay. But he persisted. I think it was his ego. He looked at me and then at Gable again, and then said it, "Son, I still want you to come down from that tree." And I did the only logical thing to do: "JONATHAN!" Mind you, Jon is not a big guy, but you wouldn't have known it from the way he plowed over the driveway and up through our yard. Jon had been on the driveway playing his guitar at the Fun Bun, so he had seen part of our exchange with Mr. Deputy Dog. Jon tore through the yard, headed toward the police cruiser and demanded, "Sir, what is your name?" The guy said, "I'm Bruce Keller and I'm the Community Manager here in Hidden Valley."Jon shoved his hand in through the cruiser window and said, "Bruce Keller, I'm Jon Price and that is my son in the tree. Is there a problem?"Mr. Keller proceeded to tell Jon that his son was too high in the tree and that he might fall. Jon crossed his arms over his chest, turned to the tree, looked it up and down and turned back to the police cars and said...wait for it...here it comes..."Well, he might"I love that man.Braveheart and Robin Hood rolled into one.Mr. Bruce Keller then tried a few different lines, and ultimately, he drove off. I thanked him for his concern, but inside I felt weird. Sort of a hodge-podge of amusement and disturbance at the same time. As the three cars drove off, Jon summed it up perfectly and simply. He said, "Do you know what that man's problem is? He's forgotten what it was like to be a boy."And that's just plain sad.
I'm not quite sure of when or why it started, but our family gives up 'stuff' for lent. Well, except me because I am a quitter. No willpower. But that's another story.
Jack decided to give up water this year. Yes, water. He only drank milk this whole Lenten season. It took three and a half weeks to convince him that it was okay to take a shower.
Jon gave up chocolate, silly, silly man that he is. What he failed to take into consideration was my frequent trips to the candy store. The poor guy! You should have seen him pass up the Dove chocolate and turtles everyday. Willpower score: Jon- 1, Melanie - 0.
I don't know what Jonah and Gable gave up. I think Gable gave up anything to do with Tony Hawk, but I just can't remember what Jonah gave up. I'd ask him but he's sleeping and I'm enjoying my quiet time simply too much.
I wonder if I can get away with dressing up the boys for Easter. I have threatened the whole suit and tie thing before, but they know I'm totally bluffing. I think what we're going for is a nice t-shirt. I'd really, really like to dress all three of them alike, but I think they are also too old for this fine Easter tradition. And I know I can't fix all of their hair all pretty.
Sigh... the days of 'Mommy gets to choose clothes and fix hair for holidays and pictures' is getting more difficult.
Jon's just not going for it anymore.
Happy Easter!
After highlighting my hair last week (ahem...covering gray), I had some leftover dye. I decided to give Scooby a tattoo of an 'S', because he is such a super de-dooper dog. I only wished that I would have drawn the super symbol around the 'S'. Then I spilled a spot of dye next to the original tattoo, so now it is some sort of unknown symbol. I think he is in a gang of some sort. He has been shot before, remember???I best keep my eye on that dog.
Don't do itOn our date night last night, we went to Macaroni Grill (finally used our gift card and ended up paying just $7.00 additional for our whole meal!!!) and then decided to check out Ikea. Crazy!At the exit, there was a large marquee that said 'event parking'. The 'event' was shopping at ikea. It was crazy, but it was fun. There was only one time that I thought I may hyperventilate. I think I'll wait until the crowd dies down to go back. It kind of cheapens the whole experience now that it is in Cincinnati and so accessible. I liked the thrill of a roadtrip to ikea. But anyway, it's here and I'm just not sure that I like that. I love ikea, but I don't think I like it that everyone knows what it is now. I liked it when people would see something in my house and comment that they had never seen something like that around here. I feel sort of possessive...I may have a problem.
These are my guys at Kelly's Salon before the clippers started...
And.....
These are my guys after!!!!!
Before the big egg hunt, it is imperative to look tough and hunter-like. At stake are eggs, 600 of them to be exact, but even more important than eggs, and even more important than candy, are the bragging rights and title of 'the egg master' until next
600 eggs between only three boys still equals a hecka' lot of eggs per child, as evidenced by the large garbage bags Jonah and Gable have here. 
The aftermath. 
