Big 'Ol Pile

When you have a big pile of sand dumped in your driveway, there is no way you can keep kids out of it. Garrett and his friend, Topher went out to play basketball. The last thing Garrett asked me was, "Can we play in the big pile of sand?" I said "No." Little good that did.

"Hi Mom. We got in the sand." I see that.

"Mom! Look at these huge holes we dug in the sand. This is awesome!"

Hey Ryan, whats in the trunk of that Barbie bike? Sand, of course!

I knew there was no way to keep them out of it. They will be sad to see it go. Not far though, just tilled into the garden. I hope we can get that accomplished before the cats look at it and think "That's a huge litter box!"

Mommy's little helper

Check out my little helper...running his tractor through the bread dough!

Happy Birthday/Mother's Day-to me!

Last Friday was my birthday. I had to work unfortunately but I had a great day and a great few days leading up to it. On Thursday, the sun was shining so I went to the park with my kids and our friends. We walked and I pulled in kids in the wagon. It was great! We even got sunburned! Not so great, really but after 8 months of winter, snow, rain and gray skies, we are not complaining. (Especially since we haven't seen the sun since that day!)

Later that night, we went to see the Bodies Exhibit at the museum. It was very interesting and fascinating to me, being a nurse. It was a private showing hosted by the hospital I work for so it was a lot of medical people there. I highly recommend going to see it. I do NOT highly recommend taking kids, though. I did not take mine and have no plans to. Its pretty straightforward anatomy and I do not want to explain some of it to my 8 year old-yet.

The next day after I got home from work, Blaine had made an awesome stroganoff dinner and then we had birthday brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum! See my birthday candle? It was a big hit and all the kids had to take turns blowing it out.

Garrett was especially into lighting and re-lighting the candle for the other two to blow out. He is becoming a little pyro (just like me!).

Sunday was Mother's Day. I had to work that day too but came home to a lovely clean house, yummy steak dinner, flowers and cards from my kids. I feel so blessed and loved this last weekend and enjoyed being showered with love and attention from friends and family.

I am so thankful for my husband and kids. They are a huge support and blessing to me and I'm thankful to have them in my life.

Hope you all had as great a Mother's Day weekend as I did!

Egg Head Update

So here is a little update on our Egg Head People that we made prior to Easter. They had a slow start because of a little over-watering problem from some helpful children. Also, I blame no sun for weeks on end. They are getting going now, although I have sprinkled a little more seed in them to give a boost.

Some eggs are going strong, others are just getting started, some are still waiting. Its been fun for the kids to watch and check them each day!

Ironically, the "baby" egg has the most hair and Ryan's egg (my child with THE MOST hair) has none. This little guy has a small crack across the front, which is the only egg that does. These egg shells are incredibly strong.

Note to self: Use waterproof markers to draw faces next time. If you spill the water at all, their face wants to run. The kids have to re-draw their faces on the eggs.

This has been really fun for the kids and they are just waiting until they can "cut" the hair. "Baby" might need a trim soon!

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom's birthday was on April 24th. Easter Sunday this year. I had to work so we surprised my mom a week earlier with a birthday dinner after church. Beckie planned most of it and we had it at my house. Conveniently, all my family has 9 am church so they could all be there by 1 pm.

We tried to plan the menu around things my mom liked. We made Coconut Shrimp with a Pina Colada dipping sauce and we also made this shrimp recipe (per my brother Doug's request-he doesn't like coconut). Both turned out amazing! We had funeral potatoes and cheddar biscuits.

My family are fans of Red Lobster's food, obviously. Since there is not one in this town, we make our own stuff! We also had chicken nuggets for the kids. Poor Kara is allergic to shellfish so she brought her own burritos! It was all good!

After eating until we were stuffed, it was time to break out the birthday cake. It was an ice cream cake in my mom's favorite flavor, mint chocolate chip. My dad hates this flavor so he opted out of dessert in favor of a nap. We told him he could have the flavor he wants when it was his birthday. Hehe!

The cake was awesome, made by Reeds Dairy, a local dairy that has, hands-down, the best chocolate milk and ice cream ever! The ice cream cake had a white cake in the middle. It might have even been pound cake, I'm not sure. But, it was awesome.

All the effort of stuffing yourself was tiring and soon the men found a soft spot to perch and fall asleep. My dad was asleep before we were done eating our ice cream.

Brent followed shortly after. Sunday afternoon naps with full bellies are glorious. And a good way to get out of doing the dishes, eh boys? Haha!

We had a great day for my mom's birthday and hope she enjoyed it. She is truly the greatest person in the world. Love you Mom!!