Lots to catch up on, so hold on tight.

Tyler started smiling a few weeks ago! I love how happy he gets when he sees us. So fun! Tansy got another haircut. She had some crazy mullet action going on. I should have taken a before picture so you could get the full effect. The hair on top of her head is coming along in its efforts to recover from Sydney's haircutting endeavor. I still haven't been able to fully explain to my kids what "Business in the front, a party in the back" means, though.

And Sydney lost her first tooth! She was so excited. She had been wiggling it for days, asking us to take it out before it was even close to ready. But one night after she had gone to bed, she wiggled that thing right out. Ben wrapped it in toilet paper (brilliant!) and helped her put it under her pillow. She was thrilled to find her "golden coin" (Sacagewea dollar) the next morning.

And just to throw one in of Zack, here is my latest in my "Children Sleeping in Weird Places" collection.

Sometimes I really wonder how I would care for my kids without Sydney. Before the move, our swing worked just fine. However, when we pulled it out for Tyler, it didn't work. He really likes it so we sit him there and push him. I was making dinner one evening and turned around to see this:

I hadn't asked her to do anything at all. She is such a great little helper.

And let's not forget the Easter festivities. Ben and I colored eggs with the girls while the boys slept. Way easier this way.

Tyler decided to make an appearance, so he got decorated too.

Of course, the Easter Bunny came!

He hid some eggs in the living room.

We followed up our morning fun with some General Conference, most of which we don't hear because of the pile of little people constantly running around.

I made a turkey dinner that evening and put my potato peels down the garbage disposal. Plugged the sink up really well. The plumbing in the kitchen has always been of questionable quality. I think we did ourselves a favor. The next morning, I called maintenance and they cleared it right up. Thanks, guys.

Tuesday was our REALLY exciting day. Once a month, Ben is on the Maintenance Duty Officer (MDO) shift. Last week was his turn. This means he works from 4:00 p.m. until at least midnight. Tuesday night, we had a huge storm going on outside which escalated to the point that the tornado sirens went off. This was shortly before midnight. I grabbed the girls, who were already screaming, and took them downstairs to our laundry room. I ran back upstairs and grabbed the boys, who were sound asleep. I took them downstairs and left them with the girls while I grabbed the laptop, some books and movies, and the electric air pump. When I got back downstairs, water had started coming in under our basement door, flowed across the concrete floor, under the wall, and into the laundry room. The kids were freaking out. I carried them all out into another room that does have windows, although small ones, and tried to position us away from them. I blew up the air mattress to provide a more comfortable place to sit, and generally moved around frantically trying to provide some space for the kids to relax.

Then Sydney had to go to the bathroom. We don't have a bathroom downstairs. I didn't want to leave Tansy and the boys downstairs alone, and I didn't want to be upstairs if a tornado was really coming. So I had her pee in the utility sink. While we are in the middle of this potty adventure, Ben calls to say that the tornado warning is over. I packed my brood back up the stairs. Sydney decided to say a prayer, then I said I family prayer, then Tansy wanted to say a prayer. Want to know if prayer works? Four small, scared children went right back to sleep even though rain was still slamming our house and thunder was rumbling right over us. Yep, it works.