What We've Been Up To

This past week was Spring Break, and my mom was in town, so here is a recap of our happenings.

Thursday: Mom arrives, make Eddie birthday dinner and Martha Stewart Strawberry Cupcakes, they didn't turn out too well.

Friday: Shopping with kids, spring clean-up in the yard and prepping for the yard projects.

Saturday: Work in the yard day.

Sunday: Church, rest and fun things with the kids. We colored Easter eggs, and made Easter sugar cookies. Jenna had her new baby Friday evening, so I went up to Baptist to visit her.

Here are some the eggs we made, I keep forgetting to take pictures of our sugar cookie creations, maybe that is because we eat them so fast.

Monday: Emily gymnastics class, and a little more shopping.

Tuesday: Take Brian to school and then carpool duty to Mega Gymnastics, visit Williams Magnet School, plant shopping, lunch at Panera Bread, finish up yard projects, plant seeds with the kids, mulch.

Wednesday: Planting flowers at Brian's school.

Thursday: Garvan Woodland Gardens--Tulip Festival, a quick lunch and then mom off to airport. Enjoy all the pictures, I couldn't decide on just one...or two.

Sunday Best

Today we wore our Easter clothes to church. The girls had new dresses with matching bows, Brian got a new shirt and tie, Eddie got a new tie and pants, and I broke out one of my Spring dresses. Since next week is General Conference and we won't be attending church. It is also our annual tradition to take a family picture in front yard after we done the spring cleaning. It was cold outside today at 8:30am before church so we also took some indoor shots. Here are some of our best.

Spring Day

We celebrated "Spring" today and called it Easter. The Easter Bunny came, he left baskets with fun treats and toys, and he hid eggs filled with candy and money in the backyard. I borrowed this idea from my friend Jennie. I loved the idea of celebrating Spring with an egg hunt, candy and dyeing eggs. So that on Easter we could focus on Christ and the Resurrection.

Brian got a bubble gun, a Shar Pei Webkin, and some fun books.

Emily got a new Belle dress up costume, books and a Webkin, and Danielle got a purple ball.

The Easter Bunny also brought a slide for their Zhu Zhu pets.

My cute little pink bunny.

And the hunt begins...

Here is some paper mom...

No, no, no you are supposed to hunt for eggs, not eat the candy out! Danielle figured out pretty quickly that there was something inside the eggs, even though she only has six teeth, they are all sweet, just like her brothers.

Emily had to help her actually find her eggs, as she was content just to eat the candy.

Spring Break

First and most important...Happy Birthday Eddie

Yesterday, it was chilly so we went to the indoor tubes and played for several hours. Some of our friends were at the tubes too, and we all had a great time. Then lunch at the kids favorite place, Chick fil a

My mom was supposed to arrive today, but because of a freak big snowstorm in Denver, her plane got cancelled, and she can't get a flight out until tomorrow. So here is what we did instead:

We met daddy for lunch at Benihana. There was a bit of an unusual wait, perhaps because of Spring Break, but worth it. After lunch we sent daddy back to work and we were off on our adventure.

We left the car in the parking lot and took the trolley across the river. We got off a few blocks from the Riverfront park. Emily did not use the bathroom at lunch as I suggested, and so our first stop was the port o potty. I think I need to learn to stop making suggestions and just insist that she go when we have the opportunity. Brian had noticed some interesting sculptures as we headed over the bridge on the trolley that he wanted to take pictures of.

This one turns and Brian thought it would be cool, if it were spinning when we took the picture. So he gave it a twirl, and stepped back to get his picture taken with it. Ouch! Brian put his hand to his head and it was covered in blood. I had a wet wipe that I put over his head, and cleaned the blood off his hand. I called Eddie to let him know, in case he needed to come get us. I hadn't looked at it yet, but it was bleeding alot. Finally I surveyed the damage, luckily just a small nick and it had stopped bleeding. No rescue needed today. Brian calmed down after a few minutes and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

This picture was actually taken later after the incident.

Brian and Emily discovered a new activity at the park. Sledding? Yep the kids were sledding down the the hill on cardboard boxes. It looked quite dangerous, but they were having a blast. Emily showed me a 6" gash that she had gotten on the back of her leg, probably from a rock or weed, that she said was hurting...we were just getting ready to leave anyway, but it had not slowed her down any. She is kinda tough!

There is other playground equipment at the park, this and some tunnels and slides, but sledding was apparently more fun today. All the kids were doing it.

Next, we walked over to the Peabody hotel, and watched the ducks parade from their daytime home in the lobby fountain back to their rooftop home. We rode the escalators and the glass elevators. You can read more about the Peabody Ducks here.

Danielle thought the ducks were great, she waved at them and talked to them and really didn't want to leave.

We caught the trolley and headed back over to our car in North Little Rock.

Whew...I'm tired...but we still had to get home to celebrate Eddie's birthday. We got home late, he had beat us home from work, and even called wondering if we were OK. We wrapped his present, and gave him his cards. We will do more celebrating with cake, and dinner tomorrow.

Eddie got a new grill for his birthday! Our old one had pretty much pooped out. These were advertised in the paper last week on sale and after I looked around, discovered they were a great deal. By the time I got to the store, they were sold out. I had checked online and knew they were available, with free shipping so I just went that route. I ordered this yesterday, it shipped today and will be here tomorrow. How great is that? Plus it came in a huge box that I would not have been able to lift anyway, so this actually worked out better.

Mega Gymnastics

Emily's class at Gymboree moved to a new location in North Little Rock, Mega Gymnastics. Gymboree closed it's doors at the end of February. It was sad to see, we had been attending classes there for a couple of years, and when Brian was little I would go to free play with Jenna occasionally.

A few friends did not make the move to the new location, and the drive to North Little Rock is a long one. It helps that we are carpooling, and I am glad for Emily that she has the same teachers, and friends, those things make the transition easier. It is also fun because they have a big gym, and the kids get to play there sometimes. Also on Thursdays after school there is a gymnastics class. I get half-price so Emily stays for that. I figure it is a great opportunity for Emily to continue to improve her skills. I know she is tired from all the activities by the end of the week.

Creativity

Brian made this picture in Art Class with Mrs. Manning. The assignment was just to color each horse. I love how each horse is a different color, but it gets better...they all have names, check this out.

From left to right, top row: Dark & Stormy Night Dragon, Fire Breathing Dragon, Lava Breathing Dragon, bottom row: The Water Breathing Dragon, Invisible Dragon, The Changing Dragon. He told me their names on the way home, and then later on told Eddie all their names too. I really think this is so creative.

Level 1--Check

Emily has been in the Tiny Tumblers II class at River City Gymnastics since the middle of January. We go to class on Monday mornings for an hour. She loves to hang like a monkey, jump like a kangaroo, slide like a seal, and is never out of motion. When I do her hair in the morning I have to say, "stand as still a a tree" and even that does not keep this girl from moving.

It only took her two months to complete all the requirements for level 1. She completed her chart with gold stars, got this certificate. and a picture with her coach. I am so proud of her.

Here is Emily with one of her coaches, Mary Beth. Coach Nick was sick the day they took the picture.

She is now working on her level 2 requirements, and is doing great, she may get it all done by next month.