Easter Weekend

The fun started on Friday when Charlotte and I went to the library for story time (like just about every Friday). Her best friend Gretchen met us there also with her mom and baby brother. But the best part of the story time was the Easter Egg Hunt!! That is probably one of Charlotte's FAVORITE things to do is go on an Easter Egg hunt. They hid the eggs in the adult section of the library...that was brave! If the day couldn't get any better, we invited Gretchen to come along to McDonald's with us. (It's kind of a Friday tradition because there is a McDonald's with a indoor playland close to the library). Both girls were so excited and kept saying that it was the best day ever!! I love when everyone's happy! They had a great time as always in the play area, and at one point Gretchen asked us if we would invite her to McDonald's the next time we went. Ha ha! Of course!

I called Gretchen's mom as we were leaving to tell her we were on our way. I was telling her how I had to go drop stuff off at church for our Stake's Day of Service (Swap and Shop). She offered to have Charlotte over to her house while I did what I needed to do. I was afraid that they were going to get tired of each other, but no! They were so excited to spend a few more hours together. Charlotte barely said goodbye as I dropped her off.

I got to the church to drop my stuff off and decided to stay a little while to help organize. There was a ton of stuff! Mostly clothes, toys, and baby items. Also, books, bedding, home decor, and furniture. Nathan brought Brooke over after school and she was quite the worker! She wanted to help in any way. She loved it and I was so glad! She was running items to different rooms and putting things where they go. She was there for 2 hours working hard and didn't want to leave. Is this the same child that won't hardly lift a finger at home???

Saturday was the Swap and Shop. There was also supposed to be an Easter Egg Hunt and carwash but they were cancelled due to the weather. It's been raining cats and dogs for 2 weeks straight it seems! So I was glad that Charlotte had her Easter egg hunt at the library the day before. They still gave the kids candy though..like they needed any more. :-)

Anyway, the kids each wanted to pick out a toy, of course. One picked a microphone and the other a small keyboard...great more loud things. They also got some movies and books. It was so crowded, I couldn't believe it. And it was POURING the whole time.


That afternoon after the swap and shop, we dyed our Easter eggs! Another favorite activity.



The kids woke up early Easter morning to find out what the Easter Bunny brought...I don't know why they think it's like Christmas because all it is is candy...Although apparently our Easter Bunny brought us toys last year, but not this year...Hmmm...either the kids weren't as good this year, or is tired of all the crappy toys...I mean, really? Do we really need any more toys? That's what I thought.

We went to church and then went to some friends for dinner. It was very yummy and the kids had a great time playing! We had a wonderful Easter!

Passing notes

So, I know I have a lot of updating to do, but I just have to post this note that Nathan and Brooke were passing back and forth to each other on Sunday during Sacrament meeting...I know, I know, it was Easter and they should've been paying attention to the speakers, right? Well, our sound system got struck by lightning the night before and the microphone wasn't working. Therefore, it was very hard to hear and pay attention.

BROOKE: Hey dad, what are you doing?
DAD: Patty cake with Charlotte
BROOKE: What cake?
DAD: Patty Cake, Patty Cake, bakers man
BROOKE: I don't see any cake!
DAD: It's play cake, imagination cake
BROOKE: you mean there is no cake?
DAD: No cake
BROOKE: You mean it really is your imagination?
DAD: Your imagination. There will be salad and bread later.
BROOKE: Well I wanted to eat that cake
DAD: No cake for you
BROOKE: Please I'm starving
DAD: You should've had lunch
BROOKE: I ate lunch
DAD: Then you should not be hungry
BROOKE: You know this is all supposed to fake right?
DAD: The Real Real McCoy.
BROOKE: What does that mean?
DAD: It means this is the real deal
BROOKE: So this is starting to get real?
DAD: It has been real the whole time
BROOKE: So let's change the subject. you can
DAD: What is Easter about?
BROOKE: silly things

And that was the end of the note...Easter is about silly things? I guess we need to work on that some more.

Thunder over Louisville

The Kentucky Derby is a big deal here in Kentucky. Kinda like the Indianapolis 500 in Indy. Thunder over Louisville starts the 2 week long festival leading up to the Derby. People go and camp out on the lawn down by the river and wait all day for the show to start. There is an air show from 3-8 and then fireworks at 9:30. I have been told that these fireworks are the best I'll ever see. They set them off on one of the bridges and also have fireworks on barges. Well, I really wasn't excited to go and wait around all day with the crowds of people. Maybe if it was just me and my husband, but I didn't figure my kids would think it was very fun. And it was really cold, rainy, and windy. So we just decided to see how close we could get without getting into too many crowds. There is a road that follows the river that has a few parks that we could possibly park at. We hopped in the car around 8 pm and Charlotte fell asleep right away. We drove down River Road, I saw a perfect spot to stop, and my husband kept on driving...Grrr...I'm not gonna lie, I was a little mad. I didn't want to go any further. He kept driving and driving...we ended up right downtown by the bridge. There wasn't a big crowd, but I didn't want to park and walk because 1. Charlotte was asleep. 2. There weren't a lot of people, but there were a lot of drunks 3. I didn't want to fight the crowd afterwards. 4.Did I mention it was cold and windy and a little drizzly?? Maybe if the weather had been nicer, but I just wanted to go back to the spot I had picked out earlier. My husband finally got the hint (it wasn't really a hint, I straight up told him what I wanted)and we EVENTUALLY got back to the original spot I had picked out earlier with no time to spare. The fireworks had already started. We didn't have the best view, since we couldn't actually see the bridge or the barges but the kids didn't really care. Oh yeah, Charlotte woke up in time to see the fireworks. I was really worried she wouldn't go back to sleep when we got home, but no fear! She fell right back asleep when we started driving home. So did Brooke! Score!!

Yes, Brooke is on top of the car. She saw some other kids doing it and wanted to do it too.

We didn't take pictures until the end and this isn't a very good one. But, it just shows how much the sky lit up every time the fireworks went off.


Here is what it actually looks like if you're up close and personal. Maybe next year....

Bowling

We had a great time bowling together as a family last weekend. This was the first time Charlotte was actually interested in bowling, as opposed to just playing with the ball and running around. Maybe it's all the bowling on the WII we've been doing.

Picnic at the Park

Today we met a bunch of friends at the park. We took sack lunches and spent the day there. Well, four hours seemed like the day. It was a beautiful day and I got a sunburn on my arms. I don't think anybody remembered to bring sunscreen. I hope my kids are getting worn out and will go to bed earlier tonight. They've been going to bed late and this morning they both slept in until 9:30! We're going to have a hard time getting back on schedule when school starts back up again on Monday...Oh well, here are some of our pics from our time at the park.






We also went roller skating yesterday with some friends. It didn't start out so fun with both my kids wanting me to walk around the rink with them holding their hands..at the same time(that doesn't work so well when they are both pulling you in their direction). But Brooke ended up doing ok with her friend that tried to help her and encourage her and in turn Brooke helped another friend get the courage to go without her mom. It was a great moment. Charlotte ended up just running around because daddy does a better job at helping her. So it ended up being a fun day after all.

We were trying to do the hokey pokey, but Charlotte wouldn't let go of me for me to get a very good picture of Brooke. And yes, they wanted to buy matching shirts...


Oh, and thanks for the love. Sometimes I just like to know someone else is reading...

Spring Break

Spring Break is here and it started with a wonderful General Conference weekend. I really enjoyed the talks and have a desire to be a better mother, wife, sister, and friend. We tried to get the kids involved by having papers to fill out or color. That was one of the things Brooke requested at the beginning of the week when we started talking about Conference. She wanted to make ice cream (check), build a tent (hmm..didn't ask again) and have her "papers". It worked for a little while...they were in and out. But I feel like I can finally get something out of it without having to take care of kids...haha they can take care of themselves now. What was one of the talks though? It's like having FHE with the Bedlamites. They may not remember tomorrow what was talked about, just that we had it.

So my husband is the homemaker of the family or is trying to fatten all of us up (too late?). He made donuts, homemade strawberry yogurt, and bread. Sheesh. We had to call some friends to come take some donuts off our hands.


Here is Charlotte, amongst the mess, working on probably coloring someone's tie. For some reason, that is their favorite thing to do.

I couldn't resist going to get a pedicure today with my girls. What can I say, it's a great bonding experience. ;-)


By the way, will you show me some love today? Whether we've known each other forever, or barely know each other at all, leave me a comment. I just want to know if you're reading...or if I'm boring the heck out of people!

Service

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to do some service for a local Women's Shelter. They were moving to a new location and really wanted some window treatments to add color and life to their new home. As a Relief Society (the largest women's organization in the world), we made some curtains and valances and then went to install them. (Well, I can't say I did it, most of you know I DO NOT sew. I guess you could say I oversaw and supervised as that was part of my calling at the time...but have since been released. I am now a Primary Teacher..YAY!) Anyway, it felt great to serve and see how much they really appreciated what we did. We took our kids with us to put the window treatments in and it was a great learning experience for them to see how other people live. Not everyone gets to live with both their parents and may have to work a little harder to get the neccesities of life. We hope that they will realize how good they have it. If not now, maybe some time in the future.

The hats say MIAMI, one of the directors said it stood for "Me I Am Mission Involved."






These are just a few of the pictures. We actually hung over 20 valances and curtains in the whole house. The bathroom needed a privacy curtain and that turned out really well.