Oh mannn.....

This time of year always goes by so fast....especially when you are busy! I wanted to start off posting about the oink-flu hul-a-ba-loo but decided to just write about everything that has been going on for us the past 2 weeks as well...so here goes!


If you have read our blog for the past year you know we have had some weird luck with animals. I won't go back and add links to words....but just to review-1 gerbil, 2 hamsters, 1 dashaund puppy, 1 rescued 5 year old minature poodle...and we just kept wanting more I guess! ha!(we don't have any of those animals....they either died, caused allergies or bit children!) The only animal that has lasted has been our beloved Cricket-the 13.5 year old toy poodle.

So I was looking at different breeds-waiting to get something after we got back from the Philippines. Wellll....we went into a pet store in the mall 2 weekends ago and fell in love with the 5 month old Bichon(the pic above isn't ours....but he looks just like this....with more dirt around his mouth though and his ears are apricot). He had been in the pet store for 2 months and you could tell....but he has adjusted to our family life SO well!!!! He is even getting the potty-training figured out also!

The countdown is on for our trip to Richard's homeland. We are going to one of these places....Mindanao is the island his city on....and we will be traveling to Cebu(north) for some of that time. We are all looking forward to the trip! Trudy will be coming for some of the time to house-sit, pet-sit and paint! THanks sis!

One reason I am so mentally busy is the preschool year is coming to a close! This is especially memorable because 3 of my students who started with me last year will be graduating! sniff! sniff! I am planning a little graduation party with painted shirts, songs, cap &gowns, and of course diplomas! We are also having a "field day" on the last day of school....but I got smart and delegated that responsibility to one of my parents!!! She LOVES doing stuff like this and I LOVE delegating stuff like that!

Ok....so I get these posts started in my head and they usually never get written but since my mother pointed out that I haven't blogged in 2 weeks i thought I would include my thoughts on this swine flu. Now....I believe this is a serious illness. I am sad that so many people are dieing(is that how you spell that?) in Mexico. But do we need to be getting so worked up about it over here? Is the reason Mexico has so many deaths is because they don't have the treatment options that we do here? We did have one confirmed case at our hospital last night...but do we need to close schools like Hazel Green is doing? What are the parents going to do if the schools are closed and they need to get to work? Is Obama going to create another government program to pay for missed work? And don't people die each year from the flu anyway? I just hate the drama any issue. Maybe tell us how this compares to the regular flu(do we need to give it an animal name too?) that everyone gets every year. I rather be educated than scared into precautions. And I guess I could be researching this instead of whining about it on my blog! hardy har snort!

Ketchup

Ahhhh....another quiet Sunday where I can "catch-up" on different stuff. This is the last day of Spring Break. I spent the majority of my week in Alabama helping with my parents-mom had knee replacement surgery. We got back Wednesday night. I spent Thursday stressing about all the stuff I thought I had to get done before the break was over and then most of Friday recovering from the trip and unnecessary stress I put on myself the day before!! Saturday was so nice and today also! One of the hardest parts about a vacation is getting back to life afterwards but I prayed that I would be able to relax and have an easy transistion. Prayer answered! I am feeling good about the tasks ahead and counting down the days until school is out! I have 5 more weeks of preschool and seminary followed by one more week for the kids! Wahoo!

Life is good!

our Easter festivities!

Easter seemed to creep up on us this year...which was probably good so I didn't stress over what to do! We just played it by ear(where ever did that phrase come from???) and had a great time!

We started out dyeing eggs using the vinegar/food color method. That didn't last long enough so I got onto the internet and looked at other ways to decorate the little chicks. We found some methods using blown eggs. That process in itself was a fun activity! We painted and glittered those eggs.

Sophia wanted me to suprise her with our egg hunt this year. We don't have any traditions surrounding this activity so I am always aloof at what to do....not sure if that was the right context for that word but it sounded good! One year I used hid their prize in the house and used yarn as the guide to help them find it....but the yarn was woven all through the house. They had to follow their yarn to find their prize. We have also done scavenger hunts using clues that led to the next clue with a small prize along the way. Since I have done that in the past Sophia wanted something like that this year. She kept asking me what we were going to do and I just told her it was going to be a suprise...which she loves even more. I dont' think Nate had an opinion on the matter.

So anyway....I went onto the internet again looking for different ideas. I found one where you hide "money" in the eggs and then have a "store" for the kids to shop. So I made some "bunny money"- green squares with 4 different easter stickers....each one a different amount. Then i bought their favorite treats and put an amount on each one. I then put the bunny money in the eggs and hid them outside. I wanted to wait until it got dark and let them find the eggs using flashlights but they couldnt' wait that long so we did it earlier.

Again...anyway....they found their eggs and counted their money...then the fun began. Since I didn't pre-plan this I had no idea how it would go....which was a great thing because I had no expectations! I did expect there to be some whining, such as, "she has more than me!" or " he got what I wanted" or blah, blah, blah....but suprisingly there was none of that! It probably helped that I warned them that I would take away their candy if they did! threats are great aren't they!!

Anyway...I digress alot don't I! It turned out wonderful! Nate did buy something Sophia wanted so that led to....no whining but bartering! It was too funny and they were such good sports about the whole thing! Maybe this will become a tradition?? I am kinda glad we don't have any set tradition because it sure is fun to come up with different ideas! Well....that can be our tradition!

Their loot! yea...Nate is trying to "wipe" that smile off his face!

Oh....and we made rice crispy eggs....yum....my favorite!

yes these pictures are horribly-out-of-order but....

here they are counting out their "bunny money"

Here are those blown eggs we decorated and the easter flowers Fia picked out at Wally World. We bought some flowers from there for my mom while she was in rehab and they lasted 2 weeks!

Another fun activity we did this weekend is go camping. We found this cool campsite for CHEAP! I think it will be one we will visit often this summer...and then maybe we will actually take the camper off our property a time or two! Richard enjoys getting it all set up for us!

I am too short to be this old....

When you get over a certain age you forget your birthday is coming! This is what happens to me more and more....thank goodness I have lovely people in my life who remember for me! My parents sent me a cool card...cool because it had $$ in it! hardy har har....and trudy is making me some cards for my gift....maybe one day I will get them...hint hint! ;)
Then I got flowers from Richard and the kids. I got a "heart attack" on my car from the seminary students(my favorite one was the yellow heart...it had #1 all over it and then the #34....so random....just like me!). A friend made me her famous chocolate birthday cake for us to eat that morning also....we all need a little cake for breakfast!! I got a certificate to get my nails done...my new favorite treat and a birthday lunch with my closest friends! I love all the greetings from friends and family too! It was a wonderful day! I am one lucky girl!