VBS

aka Vacation Bible School. So I found out our Church was doing the VBS and I thought this would be a good experience for Gwen, it is at her school for next year, so she'd be familiar with it, I'd be there but I didn't volunteer to be her teacher, so she could get used to a morning program and if I volunteered she and Nate could go for free...win-win! What I didn't realize is I couldn't handle the whole process! And I don't actually mean the leaving the kids part, I mean the guy that was in charge, although he is a great guy, organizationally he is challenged and stuck me out to dry! Sure, I signed up for the 6-7-8th graders, but seriously, the guy gave me no guidance and did everything last minute. I went a little crazy and told him I needed more guidance. He kept telling me that he just couldn't find the volunteers and he was sorry but there was nothing he could do. I am sorry, but I suspect he doesn't get the volunteers because he is so challenged organizationally! I can't imagine that I am the only person that would have liked more information.
But, the kids did great. Well, Gwen did great, I couldn't be more proud of her, sure she broke down a little most afternoons when she saw me and wouldn't participate, during the goodbye stuff, but she got up on that stage Thurs night and performed! I had no idea what to expect, but she did the motions and still sings the songs. So cute! Nate has pretty much lost the will to live, at least I suppose he has because 2 nights of the last 4 he has been up in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep! I am looking forward to getting him back on schedule so we can sleep through the night again.
My kids the middle schoolers were pretty good kids. They got along pretty well and one of the days thanked me and told me his son had the best time at this camp! I was shocked to hear it because I wouldn't have expected that out of him, but glad to hear they all had a good time. I was saved by my new friend from Church, she's a teacher and helped me the first 2 days and helped me plan the whole week. There was a definite difference when she was there, she just exudes the control, I apparently do not. Fortunately one of the girl's Dad was able to step in the other 3 days so I didn't have to teach on my own.
Eric took pictures and video of the concert. I uploaded the pictures into a slide show for you, pretty boring, I'll upload the video later, I know Mom is dying to see it. Gwen was quite cute, if I do say so myself. I was so proud of her. We got a CD of the music from camp, her song isn't on it, but that hasn't stopped us from listening to the "Jesus songs" in the car (as Nate says when he requests songs). Any how that is now over and on to the rest of the sweltering summer activities!

Kites, lists and dishes

So my little girl, no longer a baby, is a sweet helpful type of girl. She gets excited to help me, I can usually bribe her to do something if I say, want to help me clean the bathrooms later...and she's all, YES! I know, crazy! So, last week when I had to make a cake for Nate, guess who was my big helper! Not just with the cake, she also did the dishes!

Thanks big girl!

Look at that sweet girl sleeping. This is from the same day we got Nate asleep with his book in his hands.

Here is another story of my sweet girl. I feel like we are doing a Chinese Water Torture on the poor girl, I think she has wanted a scooter since she has seen the other kids in the neighborhood with theirs, so almost a year. And now her little brother has gotten a scooter! Terrible! Every time Nate would get off his scooter on his birthday, she would sneak on it. Look at that look on her face.

Eric and I have been known to make the lists, I make grocery lists, Eric makes to do lists, Gwen also has started to make her own lists...see:

She then put it on the fridge, so I would remember to pick it up at the grocery store...a princess's job is never done!

These pictures are from May! The kids are obsessed with kites. One day while we were home the kids and I took the kites out front. Gwen decided that the kites weren't flying to her liking, so she ran and got her bike. I ran and got the camera. I had no idea what she was doing, but I knew I should take pictures.

She decided she was going to sit on the handle.

And then she wanted to watch if the kite would go.

And then I explained to her should go and not watch the kite...

It didn't work out as well as she intended but it did work...It got tangled up at one point, so I helped her put the handle under the seat on the pipe and she got a moving. It is pretty exciting to see her come up with ideas and help her tweak her ideas to help them work.

An update

I have some pictures and some thoughts to go along with each picture. First is a picture of my kids from Easter. I think this might the only picture we have of the 2 of them together, where they both are sitting and looking at the camera. You can tell the only reason they cooperated is because of the chocolate. This next picture is of my strawberry tart. Think I mentioned that one time I went picking strawberries and then I made a tart. Here is said tart! (pardon the spill on the table that hasn't been cleaned up yet, well I mean it was cleaned up shortly after the picture, we don't still have it on the table). It was quite yummy! Pastry, creamy filling, and yummy strawberries!
This is the picture my Mom has been waiting for. Several days ago I spoke to Mom on the phone, she was having computer technical difficulties. She all of sudden heard Eric saying to me "come, quickly", silence and then a lot of laughing. Nate had fallen to sleep, like this! This isn't the first time he fell asleep like that, he has fallen asleep like this in the car.
My garden! Well, half of it. I have more somewhere else. Mostly potatoes and onions.

This is my first gardening experiment on the big scale and we've been very excited. Nate has picked some of the cherry tomatoes at this orange color (2). And most recently we have discovered that something is eating them. Gwen and I checked the garden yesterday and something had half eaten one of the ripe cherry tomatoes, later that day it was gone, all of it and the other ripening tomato. I am not pleased by this development, first my ripening strawberries, now this! I would like to declare war on this creature, I just need to know what I am up against! I don't have enough space to keep us all fed!

A conversation

"Mommy, its time for us to have another baby, not a boy baby, but another baby"
me-"hmm"
"I would be the Mommy and Nate would be the Daddy"
me-"where would you get the baby?"
"from the Dr's office"
"Where do babies come from?"
"I be the Daddy"-Nate
me-"from Mommies and Daddies"-after a long pause, sensing at 4ish-she doesn't actually want to know the details, but not real sure how much information to give her. I think that was enough, because she went on with her conversation.

Dr's appointment

Here are the vital statistics:
He is 27lb 8oz
33in
He has grown, theoretically 2lbs 4oz, 1in. She didn't get me any of the percentages, or if she did I forgot them. Have I mentioned they don't give me any paperwork here? Anyhoo, I say theoretically because he had his diaper on for the weight check and when we looked at the height it was less than what he had been at one of the other appointments, and since they just stretched out his leg we know that's not necessarily accurate because he was screaming. But everything else was good, actually better than good. You never know how your kid is doing until you go into the appointment and talk with the Dr, here they make you fill out paperwork. Nate has excelled in all the gross motor areas, apparently he is only expected to do 2-3 word phrases, he is 4+ word sentences. He is fine in all the physical movement areas also. He seems to be lacking in the problem solving areas, although I don't really know that for sure, because I don't really test him on the ways that paper asked about. But, I also expect that since he is advanced in gross motor skills and physical motor skills, problem skills might be a little behind, and thats ok.

Guess who's 2?

That would be Nate, obviously. There has been a lot of changes in Nate in the last year. He is definitely talking. He is up to at least 4 word sentences, has on occasion busted out a 7 word sentence. His current favorite phrases are "I did it" and "I'm not hurt, Mommy" and something else I can't remember right now. He repeats everything you say and is very polite with the "please", "thank you", and "'cuse me". Sadly all these words he has doesn't always translate to he actually speaking. When he gets angry or frustrated he screams/squeals. We are working on getting him to use his words. I feel like it is going to be a long slow process.

Nate after his nap one day.

He is still very much the little dare devil. He has no fear and will try anything. He has learned to jump and hop. Only 2 footed jumps and hops, but at this age that is pretty good. He's a pretty good climber and he has been trying to go down the little slide in our backyard, backwards!!! He fell off it the other day and he banged up his chin and nose and has yet to learn that he shouldn't do it, DUH!

head first down the slide is ok though

I feel like Nate is a pretty smart kid, despite the fact that he doesn't learn from his boo-boos, he picks up things quickly. I am hoping that translates to book knowledge. He still LOVES to read, if I could sit there all day with him and read, he would be a happy boy. I am still working on getting him to "read" things back to me. Nate is still rather difficult, he doesn't listen, most of the time. I am still struggling to find a way to discipline him that will sink in. He seems to not care about consequences. I haven't figured out how to get him to care, very frustrating!

Thought he would cut his grapes with my icing knife!

He is still generally a happy kid. He still has the baby laugh. Although he really only does it when he is over tired it is still funny, nonetheless. He usually is always smiling and he laughs and laughs at the dumbest things. He is still such a cuddler and likes the big hugs and kiss

He is a sweet little boy, if I could just get him to listen and behave, our world would be a better place. I have pictures from today. I put them in a slideshow, because I took so many. By all from what we can tell, he had a good birthday today. He seems to love his presents, especially his scooter. I think he was so excited about today he wouldn't take his nap!

Also, took a video of the scooter riding, he has quickly picked it up, and as the neighbors said he has really good balance. The neighborhood kids also sang him happy birthday, so sweet.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

The things on my mind lately

While we were at the in-laws it was the 4th anniversary of my Dad's death. I had wanted to put something on here on that day, but I just couldn't get to it. Coming up to the anniversary day I began to think about what this day means, how/if I feel differently now than I did 4 years ago, even 3, 2 and last year. And since we made the big move I have had more time to analyze my life who I've been and who I want to be. Its all about the journey after all, isn't it?

I've mentioned the death of my friend. We went to her funeral this last weekend, I had decided when I heard of her death I'd like to go to her funeral, the thing is she died the day after we got back from NM. I knew it would be tough to get there with the 2 kids and just getting them back on schedule. I thought I'd just pop up there by myself and be done with it. Eric wanted to go with me but I thought it would be too much for the kids. After many discussions, we eventually decided that we would all go and while I was at the funeral they hung out with the Godfather and his girlfriend. I've heard the kids were well behaved and they had fun.

I haven't been to many funerals in my life and I knew Claudia's would be very sad. How could it not be, she was so very young and has a young daughter? But for me it was very inspiring, her life was inspiring. The details of some of the aspects of her last 13 months made me think and reconsider my life and how I live it. Claudia was one of those people I met and thought, I want to be her friend. And I did become her friend, but I missed most of her illness because of the timing of our move. Needless to say, everyone that knew her will miss her dearly, she was a bright, cheerful light and you always knew you were going to have fun with her. I found many parallels in her way of dealing with people and with my Dad's. I am usually very quick to pick up on things, but the subtle ways that God leads me to things I don't usually get, I tend to get the same message over and over again when I ask for help/guidance and I feel that going to Claudia's funeral helped me hear some things I hadn't heard so clearly, but that I needed to hear until I got the message. I hope to continue to incorporate these things into my life and not get so beat down in the small details, the every day crap that clouds my judgement. One day maybe humility and patience will come easily for me!

So, how is year 4 different than the others? With time I find that I still have times when I think about how much I would like to see how my Dad would be/react to the kids. My days are busy with the kids and so I don't think about missing him as much anymore, unless of course one of the kids does something that reminds me of my Dad. I guess over time you learn to deal with the missing and it doesn't cause you to cry and you can continue on with your day with a little sadness. I almost feel like for me this process is easier. I have lived far away from my parents for more than half my life now (crazy, isn't it!?) I now speak to my Mom most weekdays, but only since the kids and Skype. Before it was a weekly or so phone call and see them twice a year. And the house I grew up in is no longer the house we visit. So, even though it still sucks to not be able to see him and talk to him, my daily thoughts are not as affected as they once were. I am now more comforted by the fact that he is now always with me and can see everything that happens in our lives, because I know in ways that I can't explain that he hasn't missed a thing. I just wish I was more capable of hearing what he has to say because I know he has something to say! Miss you Daddy!

The family vacation, the whole story, well my part of the story

As you may or may not remember we went to NM to visit the family last week the week before last...I had a very busy week last week, I'll get to that later. I have finally gotten around to downloading and compiling the pictures...I made 1 LARGE slide show so be prepared! I guess you'd like to know how it went. Nate spent the entire time overtired. We might spend the next month recovering from that. An overtired almost 2 year old is a lot for the husband and I to handle much less the Grandparents! There were times when Nate was good, but generally he was running around trying to keep himself awake. I think it is safe to say despite this everyone had a good time. There is not much to do where my in-laws live, but they have dirt and sunny days and my MIL got the kids a blow-up pool. Needless to say they had a blast and I think want to go back just to do more digging!
So the plane rides, Nate is still under 2, so we were able to put him in our lap, sadly the flights were full so he couldn't get his own seat. This was difficult for all, I swear on our first leg (an almost 3 hour flight) he cried on the floor for 1 hour before conking out in my arms. Poor kid! By the time we got them to the in-laws and settled situated into the room they were sleeping in it was midnight our time! I spent most of that first night in with them because Nate was so over tired/not familiar with his surroundings he would just cry in his sleep and sometimes wake up. Needless to say, I was exhausted!
We spent our days hanging out usually around town, one day we went to 'Cruces and did a little shopping and playing at Chuck E Cheese. The kids loved it, but where exhausted. I just realized I don't have any pictures of that! I guess because last time I went with the kids and Mom so I let Eric and his Mom take the kids while I guarded the food and purses.
In more exciting news, the small town now has a movie theater/bowling alley/sports bar/black-light mini golf/arcade. Yes, in one seemingly tiny building, but didn't seem to bad once you got inside! The exciting news is that Eric and I went and saw 2 movies and played a round of black light mini golf. Next time we'll have to bowl, we didn't have time for that and a movie on the same night. It was fun for us.
My FIL has a routine, everyday he goes up to the "back 40" (they have 3 acres, which my MIL has landscaped) with the dog, Bisbee and feeds the birds and other wild life. Gwen went with him everyday and if he happened to leave without her, she cried! (She might have also been overtired!)
Then we had the flight home. Nate again terrible, and since we had a long taxi to the teriminal on the first flight and BOTH kids conked out. Sadly, not long enough to make enough of a difference for the next flight. Let's just say we are happy to have the kids back in their rooms. Without further adieu, the slide show...that I should have split into more than one and sadly some of them went in sideways, they don't normally do that. SORRY!

Beds

As I sit here again today by the kids door waiting patiently for Nate to go to sleep, or at least stop opening the door, I realize how impatient I actually am. And how really irritated I am to be having to do this. Nate has been my child that I never really had to sleep train or do any kind of rocking/walking to sleep. We've always put him in his crib and he'd go to sleep. For a while the husband has been pressuring me to take Nate out of his crib. I didn't want to for many reasons, but the most important is because how EASY it is to read to him plop him in his crib and leave. No problems, no worries, no headache! Knowing we had these big trips coming up I still refused to change the situation, I really didn't want Nate running around either of our parents houses, getting into stuff in the rooms, etc. Plus why change something right before we go, same reason I refused to potty train Gwen before Nate came along.
At my Mom's house, this isn't so much of a problem, she has a pack-n-play, my MIL does not. The husband by virtue of refusing to help me get into the attic and get down the pack-n-play to take forced the transition and stressed me more about the whole trip. (added another worry to my random and crazy list of worries). We didn't have a pack-n-play or crib so Nate wouldn't easily stay in the room, which meant that he got used to someone being with him while he was napping. For me it was frustrating and irritating because I knew I would have an over tired kid who would likely want help getting to sleep, which I've never done for him before!
So yesterday when I put Nate down for his nap, he plopped right out, (I watched time #3, he just flipped his leg over the side and came out, not really caring about the fact that he randomly landed crazily on the floor, looks like it would have hurt!) Yesterday I had promised Gwen that we would watch Sesame Street when Nate went down for his nap, as this is our usual routine, BUT this ended up being a bad thing because Nate heard it/saw it and wanted to watch it so he wouldn't keep the door closed. Today I smartened up, lunch kind of early, Nate down kind of early and I told Gwen we could only watch Sesame Street AFTER Nate falls asleep, which I am thinking is now...that only took an hour...yep, sound asleep, in Gwen's bed, shhhh, don't tell her!
Now the problem with this arrangement is the room, Eric disassembled the crib last night and the bedroom is so much bigger! Should I leave the mattress on the floor tucked under Gwen's bed? I am not getting a toddler bed, should we get a twin bed with a trundle with the potential for a bunk bed in several years? Gwen has said she doesn't want to be on the top bunk, which means it will likely be 4 years before we can safely have Nate on the top bunk! Is it worth it to by the bunk bed, and store the top bunk until then? (Gwen's bed is her convertible crib and she is starting to say that her bed is too small-her feet touch the bottom). I do have to say it is very nice to have only the one bed in there. The room has a lot of space now so they can pull out toys and play with them in their room. Fortunately for me, Eric has to deal with the night time routine while I go to the gym! Eric and my Mother think this process will take about a week, we'll see.
I don't know that there is a point to this post, but I guess I have the time to post something and had the current life situation to put out there. Off to cut the grass before it rains again. (My garden looks fabulous by the way, thanks for asking! ;)

We're back, again

Wow! Am I happy to be back! This means I have no more trips on the horizon to worry about and the process to get the kids back on schedule for the short term, has begun. We all had a really good time, but taking my almost 2 year old anywhere is a challenge, must less taking him across 2 time zones and changing his sleeping arrangement. Needless to say, Nate was a little too much to handle! Gwen was a little sleep deprived also, but she totally had a wonderful time. She feed the birds with her Grandpop, played with "her" dog, Bisbee and went for wheel barrow rides with Grandmom. This is not to say that Nate didn't have a good time, he did, but he only had short spurts of happiness, the rest of the time he was tired. Eric and I also had a nice time, we got some "extra" sleep, went to the movies (TWICE) and got to spend some time with his parents, hanging out and having fun. I would show you pictures, but I am charging the camera battery and I need that to get the pictures off the camera, maybe tomorrow.
Today a friend of mine lost her battle with cancer. She was just a couple years older than me and her daughter was only 6 weeks older than Gwen. It is a sad day for all of us who knew her, she was a wonderful person who will be missed by everyone who knew her. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

More FL pictures

I have more pictures from Florida that I have yet to post. I think we finally have a working computer, so if we weren't visiting the in-laws who don't have internet. But anywhoo here are some pictures mostly from Mom's actually birthday, we went to Lake's Park and Chuck E Cheese. Mom really knows how to party. Or really knows how to show her grandkids a good time.

STRAWBERRIES!!

In case you don't know, I LOVE strawberries. I love blueberries too, but since it is currently strawberry season, I am going to only think about my love for the strawberries! Last weekend I dragged my family to the strawberry festival, fun, lots of strawberries to eat and little activities for the kids. Today I dragged the kids to a strawberry field! I think they had fun. Gwen did a great job picking, Nate on the other hand, not so much, I threw his strawberries out, he picked some, but then just started eating them and putting them back in his basket, the parts that he didn't eat. ICKY! It was super hot out today so we only stayed about an hour. I kept trying to talk Gwen into leaving, but she wasn't having it, she loved it. I took some pictures and did yet another slide show...

Gwen and I made strawberry-rhubarb bars and I think I am going to make a pie/tart, I haven't decided yet...I am also going to make some jam and who knows whatelse. The bad thing about picking strawberries as opposed to blueberries is that I don't think they are as easy to freeze so I have to use them up quickly. I am so glad we moved to an area that has strawberries to pick!!! I am also happy that when we went up to pay the lady was pleased that Nate was covered in strawberry juice. She says that is what the owner always likes to see, now I feel bad for telling Gwen she couldn't eat them until after we paid for them, but who knew she would choose this time to listen to me...

More party pictures

I tried to do this last night, but I had technical difficulties. So in this slide show I have pictures of the pre-party, which included some pictures that Uncle Ken took; pictures of family, Mom's Ant and cousins (well, I guess my Ant and cousins too!) who came down for the party. That day wasn't the best for the kids. Nate was off schedule and didn't go down for a nap until 3ish, so exhausted, Gwen was tired too, but I couldn't get her to lay down for long enough to fall asleep. My Mom tried, but when I checked on her, I found her putting all the stuff in the room on Nate's head. That girl! Nate woke up shortly before the party and spent the beginning of the party with me holding him, refusing to let me put him down. I took all those "entrance" pictures one handed! Gwen also stuck to me like glue. Nate eventually warmed up and was wandering around dancing and making new friends!
From the adult aspect I think everyone had a good time, at least that is what I have heard. I didn't really get a chance to talk to people, just mostly say a brief hello, and then chase after Nate, again!

Welcome to the White House

So we had this party for my Mom, well I use the word "we" rather liberally, I was just there with the kids to distract Mom from the fact she was turning 60!!! The party was a theme party the '60s. We asked people to bring pictures of themselves from the '60s and dress appropriately. Unbeknownst to Mom she was expected to stand at the door and greet everyone and do a shot of Tang (& vodka). I happened to be standing at the door so I got pictures of almost everybody, Uncle Ken supplied the pictures I didn't get. There seemed to be some confusion about what was going on at the door and why my Mom was dressed as she was so she started to say "Welcome to the White House" so people would understand who she was dressed as.

Enjoy! More later...

Beans

I can tell it has been a long time since I posted here, I had to re-type the blog address in, I know a horror of all horrors! I still don't have use of my computer in the evenings and that is really affecting my blogging, as you can tell. I hope to get better about that, but I am beginning to re-evaluate my priorities around here and I know that blogging is currently low on the list. I think that it might get higher on the list eventually, but recently I have enjoyed talking with Eric and scrapbooking and occasionally watching a movie with Eric instead of blogging. But one day, the big computer might work again and that day, I will start more regularly blogging...if my gym going doesn't get in the way! We are gearing up for trip #2, the in-laws. And that trip I find I am not the least anxious about. Must be the fact that Eric and I will be doing it together; I won't have to travel alone, with the kids, across the country!
We have been weighing our options these days on what to do next. We have this house that is basically a blank slate, the people who lived here before us thought that Disney movie posters framed where art work and didn't paint the house at all. The outside of the house I don't think they ventured out of at all, so we get to pick our own plants and plant accordingly. This is where a disposable income would come in handy, but since we don't have that we spend a LOT of time dreaming and wandering around nurseries. This weekend we made our first plant purchases-some azaleas I found for $3.33! WOHOO! Happy Mother's day to me! I have been looking for specific azaleas, a kind that won't grow more than 3ft tall because of where I wanted to put them, but our house needs some color so in about 10 years those things are going to be awesome! Now they are about the 1G size and I think they are slow growers...I got a white and a pink. They are my first Azaleas and I am excited about them. For the past several weeks I have been pointing out any Azalea/rhododendron that I had seen along the road side and I think I finally broke Eric down (that and the price tag.) I haven't decided exactly what I want to do with the rest of the little flower area by the sidewalk to our front door, but I am thinking I would like to stick with the white/pink theme, Eric of course has different plans...
The kids and I have been slowly meeting people from the Church, I joined a Bible study that takes place during the day with the kids present. Kids get to play we get to talk to other ladies, win-win! It is always an interesting thing meeting with ladies discussing marriage and God, such strong opinions and most of them seem to mesh, currently.
In all this talk about priorities I seem to have forgotten to start the slow cooker for dinner! OOPS! I guess it will be leftovers for us tonight, I should also probably attend to the kid that is awake and has been very good during my quiet time! I will shortly start posting pictures from Mom's party...I know something I should have done weeks ago!

Florida trip part I

I am beginning to think I am not a good blogger anymore. I can't believe how bad I have become about posting. UGH! This not working computer situation is really giving my blogging the beat down! As you may have guessed we made it to and from Florida for Mom's big birthday with little to no problems. It wasn't completely smooth sailing, but we all lived to talk about it. Mom's party was a success and I think she might have even had a good time. I will post those pictures later. If anyone reading this has any pictures from then, please send them to me, I would appreciate it, THNAKS!
I was quite nervous about this trip since I would be traveling alone with the kids and although I had secured a direct flight to FL I still had to wrangle kids/car seats and all into the airport by myself and not to mention keep them entertained. (Eric had a lab meeting and couldn't help me into the airport). But the flight down was a breeze, the flight wasn't full so Nate didn't have to sit in my lap, he got his own seat...I think that was what I was most nervous about. We made it to FL no problems and even got to meet Grandpa for lunch at Chic-fil-a, win-win! The only slight problem was Gwen, I had realized the day before the trip, well the night/morning before the trip that I hadn't really reviewed with the kids "what-if" situations, like what to do if we became separated in the airport, what to do if you were lost or who to talk to in those situations. Fortunately we didn't need any of those situations, we all managed to stay together despite the fact I didn't bring a stroller (which all the flight attendents apparently thought I should have, they all asked me, maybe my kids weren't as good as I thought?) On the way to the airport Eric and I were reviewing with Gwen that if anyone asked her what her name was she needed to tell them her real name, and not "Briar Rose". We also tried to review with her what my real name is. Apparently the lesson didn't sink in, because when we got to security lo and behold when asked what her name was she said "Briar Rose". I was so angry, I got down to her level and I said, remember we reviewed this when asked what your name is, what Mommy and Daddy called you what is your name? Well the kid froze up and we stood there for 5 minutes while I tried to coax her into saying "Gwen". She wouldn't or at least wouldn't loud enough for us to hear. GRR! I was so frustrated. But really that was the only glitch, and not really an un-expected one, I guess I should have known to put "Gwen, Briar Rose" on her ticket.
Before the party we had a couple days with Aunt Ellen, Uncle Bill and Uncle Ken and the boys. Here are some pictures from the days leading up to the party...

Easter

It has been an interesting weekend, Saturday productive, Sunday not so productive, but it appears we finally have, well I don't know what we have because I started this and haven't gotten back to it until now. I guess I must have started yesterday sometime...
Anyhoo, we are having issues with the computer we got back from BBY, but I am hoping while I'm gone, Eric will have it magically fixed without buying something new. I have a couple slideshows, don't remember what's on them, but my 2-3 readers are pretty smart. Oh, wait I remember, these are about Easter weekend. We took down our fence one day and put it back up another day, Eric had Good Friday off. You can see the kids here, "helping".

This is about Easter Egg hunt 2 of 3, we don't really have Easter Egg Hunt #3, we did one at home and the kids weren't that into it, or maybe they were distracted by the little toys the Easter bunny brought them, who knows. But I digress, Easter Egg hunt was put on by Eric's graduate school for the grad students and post docs with kids; maybe 30 kids there. They had the an Easter bunny on a unicycle and an Elmo pinata.

So now that you've seem the slideshow, I have to tell you how freaked out Gwen was about the pinata, well she wasn't really freaked out about it, she just wasn't interested in hitting it with a bat. And as you could see she spent a lot of time hugging Elmo after it was all over. Nate spent the whole time eating candy without bothering to unwrap the wrappers. Good times!
I leave with the kids tomorrow for FL, probably going to be crazy, just praying I make it through the morning in one piece. Have I mentioned Nate is a total nightmare, wild man and don't know if I can keep him in my lap! UGH! Pray for me. If this wasn't for such a good cause, Grandma's big birthday and party, I would have gone at a time where the adult to kid ratio was at least even!