Family Easter Party

We've started a little family tradition of having a Family Easter Party the day before Easter. We do this for two reasons, (1) so the kids can have a fun time together & (2) so we can stay home on Easter Sunday and enjoy this special day without having the pressure of traveling. This year we had our party a little early. My sister Stephanie & her family were here from Ohio (spending their spring break away from the snow!) and my parents are leaving for Ecuador on the 3rd. The young kids love this day. We dye eggs, we have an egg hunt (which is their favorite part)...who doesn't love Easter eggs filled with candy? AND, there are eggs that have money in them too! The "big" kids love this too, I think it's because there is money involved...as you can tell by the looks on their faces. After this fun we also have a nice Easter dinner.

On the hunt.............

Emma....Noah's favorite cousin (and one of my favorite nieces)

a money egg....notice the excitement on his face!

Pretty tricky.....this is the spool (a large spa)...one slip & she will be wet!

this is Hailey....I love the look on her face as her dad is trying to convince her to jump to him

Adorable Kate! Isn't she just beautiful?

a successful hunt.....and more treasures in his Easter basket....the Easter bunny had a lot of fun things this year!

Dad & Noah

What is it with bubbles???

Now....after the hunt, these crazy kids went loose & were crazy for the bubbles!

I love this picture of Kate....look at the excitement on her face.

This is the coolest picture...does it not look like his tongue is inside a bubble?? Noah's cousin Savanna is in this picture too.

If you can't catch them, then Kung Foo them!

A fabulous end to a great family party. We had a great time. The cousins really enjoy playing together & having fun. It's not that often they get to play with Stephanie's kids....so we really have fun when we get the chance.

All in a week...

My sister Stephanie and her family, who live in Ohio, came to California to spend their spring break out of the snow.

Good thing I was feeling better because we had a full busy week:

Sunday - Church, drive to my parents, Easter Party with family, drive home

Monday - Noah goes to preschool, drive to my parents, Kings Hockey Game (for the adults), sleepover

Tuesday - California Adventure all day...we had a great time. It wasn't too crowded & the kids had a lot of fun. Drive home.

Wednesday - I stayed at home (I needed a break)

Thursday - Haircut, set up for primary activity, go to primary activity, drive to parents house to celebrate my Mom & my nieces birthdays (they share a birthday, how cool is that?!), have a sleepover

Friday - Enjoy the morning with my sister & then said goodbye, had dinner with our dinner group.

Saturday - REST

The only thing I know we have pictures of was our day at California Adventure...but I don't have any...someone elses camera. I guess I need to get them.

Under the weather....

I have no pictures for this post (and trust me, you wouldn't want to see any anyways!)...maybe this will explain why I have not been blogging! To be honest, I just haven't been in the mood, a lot going on.

So Noah had his turn at being sick, now it was my turn. All three of us have had a nagging cough that has just hung around & been a pain! A few days ago I woke up & holy cow!! I felt good! Yay, it had finally ended! I mean I really felt good. So I went about my day, grateful.

So Thursday night (March 11th) I feel a little tired, more than normal. I go to bed, wake up Friday & have a full blown sore throat. WHAT???? I just felt great! I seriously laid around all day. Saturday...getting worse. Thank goodness it was the weekend so Scott was home. I had a fever & was just tired & my throat really hurt. Sunday....WAY worse.

Monday morning I told myself, "I am going straight to the doctors office after I drop Noah off at school....they WILL see me". I walked in & whispered (because my throat was so swollen I could barely talk). I told her I needed to be seen & I did not have an appointment. She said, "Let me check if she will see you". As she walked away I wanted to yell...."SHE WILL SEE ME OR I WILL BE STANDING HERE CRYING!!!!!" She did agree to see me & still I wanted to cry!

When the doctor looked in my mouth, she said, "Oh dear!"...that's what you always want to hear. So I have strep and my tonsils were so severely swollen that she wanted to give me strong antibiotics right then & there. oh that will be fun...bring it on!

So after a shot in the rear (why, oh why, in the rear!?!), having blood drawn (something about oxygen levels) and then 2 prescriptions for more antibiotics & steroids, for my tonsils & my wheezing lungs...I was a mess! I went home & prayed that I would get better soon!

It's late Wednesday night (march 17th) and guess what??!! I actually ate dinner tonight! LIKE real food!!! LIKE solid food, it wasn't yogurt or pudding. I didn't even have tears in my eyes this time. AND, I slept all night last night!!!

HALLELUJAH!!!

The Silver Lining: I lost 11 pounds!!

I guess when you haven't eaten since Friday morning that can happen!

A New Cleaning Method!

Who cleans like this??

This cute guy decided to clean up his own mess today....who would've ever thought?!?!?!?!

I guess it's my lucky day!

I love my family (and my cricut)...

I LOVE my family (you already know that)...BUT

I LOVE my cricut too!

I LOVE what I can do with it!

I LOVE that I created this.....
I L.O.V.E. this!

I LOVED it before the wording was on the wall, but I LOVE it even more now!!

p.s. I said LOVE 6 times, 7 if you count the one on the wall!

I know I'm crazy!

California Spring

Today is absolutely beautiful! I love spring in California.


It's green, the skies are bright blue & clear! It's so fresh & you love to be outside. This is one of the best reasons to live here. Almost 1/2 the country lives in snow & grey cloudy days (I've been there, remember I lived in Ohio for 12 years)...those winter months just go on and on....

And we enjoy this gorgeous weather! which then produces these beauties!

100 Days!

A celebration was going on at Noah's preschool today. I love his two teachers, Miss Melissa & Miss Kim. They are the best teachers & are really preparing Noah for kindergarten next year.

Today was their 100 days of school celebration. What do you do when you've been going to school for 100 days? You have a party!!!

Noah had to bring in something that showed 100 things...either a container full of something or a poster. Noah & I talked & I let him tell me some of his ideas of what he would want to do...and there were some strange ones! Like 100 snails in a jar (umm...can we say disgusting?!), 100 bums (yes, that is what you think, remember he is a boy!), and the list got crazier & sillier. So he finally said 100 cars, but we don't have 100 cars. So he said 100 dinosaurs. Then a light bulb went off in my head! I could cut out on my cricut 100 dinosaurs and we could glue them on the poster board. That sounds quick & easy!

I started the dreadful task of cutting out 100 dinosaurs...way longer than I thought it would take! BUT, it finally was done. I counted them 3 times to make sure (because you know that someone would count them and say, "hey, that's not 100 dinosaurs!").

Then the fun began...gluing 100 dinosaurs onto a poster board. Complete joy! Noah actually participated for about 20 minutes, but then he was done. Mom & Dad had to finish for him.

This is what 100 dinosaurs looks like........................

It was a hit with the kids!

Craig's List...gotta love it!

CRAIG'S LIST................... I love this idea...who ever came up with it, great job!!!!


I have been trying to sell all of my "baby things"....yes, all of the baby things!

Slowly I have been selling it. Such a feeling of accomplishment!

The plan was I would sell the things & use the money to buy a new laptop. But, I found such a great deal on a laptop last September, that I already have my laptop (which I love!). So now when I finally finish selling, I'll have a large wad of cash! HA! Dreaming actually, it won't be large.

But it's definitely been worth it!!!