Getting ready for Easter...

I'd really like to have a quiet, peaceful Easter holiday this year with my family.  

I feel like it is so easy to plan an elaborate Easter dinner and spend the day having Easter egg hunts and eating candy.

This year, I want to make sure that I can create an atmosphere in our home where we can focus on the significance of the Easter holiday and the great importance our Savior's Resurrection has in our lives.

So I've tried to make the dinner prep. for tomorrow easy.

I spent today cleaning so that I won't have to do any real work tomorrow.

  I was even able to get a few of our things sold on craigslist, diminishing the clutter in our small living space and relieving some of my psycho nesting compulsions. (Hooray for craigslist and a few extra dollars in my wallet!)

I even bought a vacuum (because the one I bought a few months ago broke....we have the worst luck with vacuums) today so that our floors will be clean tomorrow!
I began to vacuum this afternoon only to discover within a few minutes that the vacuum was making funny noises and not picking up very well.  (See!?  Horrible vacuum luck!)  Another dud.  So I turned the darned thing off and put it back in the box to return to the store.  Then I realized that it seemed a little quiet in the apartment....a little too quiet.....I walked into my bedroom and that's when I heard Kenners singing from behind the bathroom door.  She had figured out how to open the bathroom door (time to childproof the doorknobs, I guess!) and shut herself inside.  I opened the door to find water. EVERYWHERE. And Kenners was soaking wet.  And she was vigorously swishing both our TV remote controls around in the toilet.

That's when I contemplated putting up another add on craigslist:

21 month-old baby girl for sale. 

Red-hot temper.  Loves to color on furniture and massage food into her hair.  Enjoys simultaneously drinking toilet water while giving small electronics baths in the toilet.

She does have a lovely singing voice.....

Will trade for a nice, reliable vacuum.

But then five minutes later--once I had sanitized the bathroom, Kenners, and the remotes--Kenadie was dancing around the living room to the music of the "Tangled" credits. 

And she was still singing.
And periodically asking me for hugs and kisses.

And my heart melted.

So much cuter than a reliable vacuum!
And really so much more fun and entertaining.
What would I do without this sweet, vivacious little personality in my everyday life!?

 So....

Sorry Craigslist-ers.  She's not for sale after all.

Besides, what's another trip to Target to return the vacuum, right?  

Sure, the clean apartment may not last more than 5 minutes tomorrow and the day may be anything but "peaceful" with my little firecracker running around,

but I feel peace knowing that Kenadie is a part of our eternal family, and I'm so grateful to my Savior who has made it all possible through his Atoning sacrifice and Resurrection.
I love Him.
I know He loves us.
I know He lives.