Spring Break Recap

Well, there are too many pictures from Spring Break to put them all in a blog. We had a blast! Even though the weather was horrible! It was cloudy, rainy and cold all week, but that didn't stop us from having fun! One thing I want to pass on to my kids is to look at the cup half full. Make the best of whatever situation you're in. Most days, it was just dreary and chilly, so we just bundled up and played outside all day. The one day that it rained almost all day, we went to A to Z and spent the day. Which the kids loved too!

There are too many things I want to remember to write them out in paragraph form, so I'm bullet pointing the highlights!

* Teaching Hope to finally ride her bike! She went around the loop a hundred times. I was so proud of her!

* Luke making friends all through the campground and riding bikes with them and playing baseball with the kids. He didn't spend much time with us unless we made him. :) He was loving the freedom to make friends and play with them.

* Sara enjoying the freedom of riding her bike around the loop by herself. :) She felt so grown up!

* Emma telling Lance as he was walking off to see the kids, "Bye bye Dada! Mwaaaah!" (blowing a kiss)

* Luke wanting a baseball glove, bat and ball. He was intent! We went to WalMart and all the kids got to pick out an outdoor toy.

* Sara wanted a soccer ball. When you ask her if she wants to play soccer, she's quick to say no. But she loved kicking the soccer ball around and she's good!

* Hope wanted a bat and ball like Luke. She wouldn't have anything else! We found a pink plastic bat and plastic softball and she was in heaven!

* When we were at A to Z, Luke found wall mounted set of boobs! I tried to hide them when I saw them. He was like a magnet to them when they caught his eye! I about died! They were kinda like that singing fish that you hang on the wall. They jiggled to music. It was soooo tacky, but the grin on his face said it all! He knew it was funny but inappropriate! hahahaha!!!

* Lance had planned a scavenger hunt before we ever left. He got some quartz and fools gold and a bunch of change that we had at the house. One morning he went out early and hid the treasure bag. He made a map with a secret code that Luke had to decipher. When Luke figured it out, the kids and some friends set off on their adventure. When they found the treasure, you would have thought it was real! Everyone got to buy a drink from the Coke machine with the money.

I LOVE my family and I LOVE raising my kids going camping all spring, summer and fall. The memories we are making are priceless.

Luke and I playing catch with the velcro pads and tennis balls

Lance and Emma

Sara on her bike :)

Hope mastered it!

Oh Well!

So today is the first day of Spring. And this is my back yard...

And is hasn't stopped. It's been snowing since about 3:00 and it's supposed to snow all night and tomorrow. CRAZY!! I've been moping around all day. Not the way I had planned on spending spring break. We were supposed to be camping right now. Lance and Daddy went ahead and took the camper down to our site today so it will be ready for us when it stops snowing. The weather channel says it's going to be upper 50's by Monday. Like I said, CRAZY!

We made the best of it tonight. The kids made Martians with Luke's Martian maker while I fixed dinner and Lance cleaned out the garage. We had a late dinner and then we played and picked up the house. Sounds weird, but it was fun.

I made a chore chart recently (I'll share about that later) and it has worked like a dream! I was so proud of Hope tonight. She has really taken to the chore chart. She did so well tonight! Two of her chores are to pick up the living room and pick up toys in her room. She was just walking around doing her chores so cute! At one point I asked her if she had put her smiley face up and she said, "Not yet Momma, I'm not done." Melted my heart!

Meet Rufus!

Lance has wanted a bloodhound for ages. He thinks they are the coolest things. I have shot down the idea of getting one several times. I lost today! haha!

The lab tech at Lance's office has found him one on multiple occasions. I just found out today that she found one right before he left for Haiti, but he told her that he couldn't leave me with that responsibility while he was gone. (thank you honey!)

He called me today while I was out running errands. He had that tone in his voice. The tone where he knew he was asking me something I wasn't going to be keen on. :) But as you see, we have a new dog. ha!

He is 11 months old and was at a home that was also a daycare. He's been around kids since birth. They needed to get rid of him because the yard wasn't big enough. (translation, the poop was too big with all the kids!) The best thing is he was free!

Kay and Randy went to pick him up this afternoon and are going to keep him for us this week while we are camping. They brought him over tonight so we could meet him. We told the kids that we had a surprise for them. They about fell over themselves when they saw him! It was so cute. And Lance's face was priceless! From the time Kay called to say they were on their way to the house, he looked like a kid at Christmas! I'm glad he's so happy. :)

Oh! And he is an OUTSIDE dog! The one and only time he will be in the house was tonight!

Never a Dull Moment in This House!

So I'm in the shower. I'm about to wash my hair. Sara comes in and says, "Momma, Emma's in the bathroom and the door's locked." It took me a minute, to process that. I thought that Hope was with her, then I thought Sara could go open the door and then I realized what she said! So there I go, out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, dripping wet, running to the kids' bathroom! I have no idea what Sara was thinking when she locked her in. I'm sure she thought that I could just get one of the little key things off of the door frame and unlock the door. The only problem was that I couldn't find either one of the keys. Problem.

So after frantically running through the house checking all the doors twice and three times, I had to call Lance and tell him she was locked in and I didn't know how to get her out! I even called the school and had them get Luke out of class so I could ask him if he knew where the keys were. (he didn't!)

Sara and Hope stayed at the door and were sticking there hands under getting her to touch them and play. She didn't cry much. Sara did. When she realized I was starting to panic a little and when she saw how upset her Daddy was. Bless her heart.

There was about 30 seconds that I seriously thought about kicking the door in. And about 15 seconds that my heart stopped because I couldn't get her to talk to me. I had visions of her upside down in the toilet. But when I looked under the door, she was just sitting on the stool, calm as could be!

We finally got her out. After about 15 minutes. I found a rubber tipped bobbi pin and it gripped the lock enough to turn it. Whew! Needless to say I'm going to Lowe's tomorrow to buy some more keys!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

The way Emma hugs my neck when I'm holding her about to put her to bed

The sound of the girls laughing and screaming as they chase each other through the house

Luke laughing uncontrollably as I tickle him on the floor

How the girls scream and run toward Lance when they hear the door open

Luke yelling "DAD!" when he hears the door

Hope and Sara loving to wear dresses and skirts

Emma patting the couch when she wants to get up and sit by me

The look on Luke's face when he is proud of something he's done

Sitting at the dinner table together as a family

Sara getting Emma out of the bed in the morning and getting her a sippy cup

Hope telling me she needs me to hold her "cause it's gonna get worser and worser"

Luke reading to the family

Emma giving kisses

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is Mom's Birthday. It's a big one! 65! Woo Hoo! We had a party for her here last night. I invited several of the friends that she's made since they've moved here and her sisters and their families. One of her sisters was able to come and then several church friends. And Thomas, my Chinese brother was in the states and drove up from Houston for it! We had a good turn out. I'm so glad she's making friends here. She told me last week that she'd turn the corner and is happy that she's here.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Some of the crew

I can't imagine how hard it would be to pack up and move after you've established your life in one place. I'm so glad that my parents did. Just today, I dropped Emma off with them while I took the big kids to choir at church. And Mom and Dad came over for lunch today after church to help me clear out some of the leftovers. It's those day to day things that makes me so happy that they live close. My kids are going to remember these times.

Love you Mom!!!!

Momma Was Down!

When Lance and I went to bed a week ago Saturday, I told him I was starting to get sick. Now, 9 days later, I'm starting to feel better. Finally. I lost my voice for 2 full days. Can I tell you how hard that is with 4 kids?!?! But I stumbled on a great new thing! I gathered all the kids in the living room and whispered to them that when they heard me clap, they were to come immediately to me. Oh. My. Word. It works like a charm! Once I got my voice back, I told them the clapping was staying. It keeps me from yelling and then getting mad when they don't come.

Speaking of getting my voice back. On the afternoon that it started coming back, Hope looked at me with a surprised look and said, "Momma! You found your voice!" Cracks me up how literal they are. :)

This past week was the worst week for me to be sick. It was one of the busiest I've had in a long time. I was gone everyday, all day with activities. And I didn't have the weekend to recoup. It was just as busy! It started Friday night with Luke's Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet.. He got his Wolf badge and several belt loops. He had fun and all the grandparents were able to come.

Me with my Eagle Scout and Wolf Scout!

I'm so glad that Lance is doing Scouts with Luke. I was worried with his schedule that it wouldn't be possible for him to be involved. But Scouting is something that he is so passionate about. It has been a great thing for them to do together.

Times. They Are A'Changin'

I registered Sara for kindergarten today. :( I'm excited for her, but really sad for me! She is going to LOVE school. She is made for it. The only problem we might have is her trying to be the second teacher! Ha! I felt so badly for her today when we went to her Daddy's office before we went to the school. She had to get 4 shots! I wish I could say she did great!, but the reality is, she screamed at the top of her lungs and we had to hold her down! Bless her heart. She is so timid and she was sitting there anticipating the shots and when it was time to lay down and get them, she was having none of it! She had built it up so much in her head that she was terrified.

But 2 suckers and a lot of stickers later, all was well and we were on our way to school. It was drastically different than when we registered Luke for kindergarten. This is his 3rd year there, so we know everyone. Lance and I took Luke, and it was just me and the girls this time. I kinda felt bad for not making it as big of a deal as when Luke registered, but it would have seemed weird for Lance to go with us. It wasn't as "new" of an experience.

She felt like the big girl that she is becoming. I just don't know how Momma is going to handle it come August!

Little Cabin in the Woods

Well, we are officially land owners of some deer woods! Lance has always wanted to spend time in the deer woods hunting each year. The only problem is that he has no where to go. I can count on 1 hand how many times he's gone hunting since we've been together 13 years. He periodically looks for land, but has never found just the right place for the right price. Until now. Some good friends of ours have also wanted some land. We have gone in with them to by some land in the middle of nowhere with a hunting cabin on it. Lance is soooo excited. It is very primitive, but aren't deer cabins supposed to be?? ha!

It's going to be fun. Lance is going to be able to hunt every year and also be able to raise Luke doing that also. And who knows? I'd bet money that Hope will love hunting, too! :)