The Instigator

I wonder what these two were planning?

Hattie got in HUGE trouble today. Her teacher was counting the students at the bathroom. They were all washing their hands before lunch. After counting, she noticed that two students were missing. She quickly realized it was Hattie and Kali. When she found them, Kali was crying and told Mrs. Tara that Hattie told her to hide from her teacher. WHY!!!!!! Why does Hattie have to be the one? People are going to be whispering, "Can you believe her mother is a teacher?" I am going to have to switch schools every year so her reputation doesn't follow her. I can see her needing a clean slate every year. Of course Mrs. Tara was smiling as she told me. I think she thought it was a little funny that Hattie coerced another child to dangerously hide in the classroom. I was not smiling. Hattie now knows it was not funny. Her dad also reminded her again that it was not funny when we got home.

The Swine Flu

Emogene expressed her concern today about a little boy in her class. His name is Logan. Logan's mom thinks he has the swine flu. Do not be alarmed. Emogene was with Logan when he divulged the information. Emogene is pretty sure he doesn't have it. Me too.

The Absent Teacher

I didn't go to school yesterday due to neck and shoulder pain. I have a list of things wrong with my neck vertebrae and it flairs up about every 6 months. If I want to recover quickly, then I stay in bed the whole day taking muscle relaxers and pain killers every 3-4 hours. Needless to say, yesterday was a very druggy day. I slept a lot. I apologize if I don't remember talking to you on the phone or if I said something strange. The good news is, I was able to go back to work today with a lot less pain.
I asked Hattie's teacher how she had been doing. She said, "She has been good." Then she had to add something, "When are you having your surgery?" She could tell from my face that I had no idea what she was talking about. Apparently Hattie had told her that I was having surgery on my neck. I told Ms. Tara, "I wish, but I can't right now." I want to think that Hattie was thinking of me and wanted me to get better through surgery. I don't want to think she was just flat out lying to her teacher. Oh no, I am becoming one of those parents. I want to believe my child over the teacher. Please, someone have an intervention for me. I can't go to their side. It would be terrible. HELP!

Hattie's Letters

We were on our way home from church. I was using the van time to review some of Hattie's letters. She has been having a lot of trouble of the letter E. I got to it and instead of trying to say the letter, she said, "I like to dig in my nose." Lovely! That is a definite way to change the subject.

Cool Person #3

Oh my goodness, Becky, look at his bag, it is so big. Must be some hungry guys lunch bag.

Coupon Craziness

I have been on the Internet searching through coupons and circulars for two hours. I am trying to do this sensible shopper thing. I have found two deals that I want to share with you. I am very excited about them.

Deal #1- Winn Dixie is having a special. You buy 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal and you get a free gallon of milk. Sweet! That isn't all. I have two coupons for $1 off of any Kellogg's Raisin Bran cereal. I also have another coupon for buy 2 Kellogg's cereal and get $1 off. Are you impressed?

Deal #2- Walgreen's is having a sale on Campbell's Soup. The coupon is in the circular this week. The deal is buy 6 at 59cents a can. That is great savings. We went ahead and bought them. I then found online later, a coupon for $1 off any 2 cans of Campbell's soup. I have two of these coupons. I have to find another Walgreen's coupon. I think they have the circulars at the front of the store. I am going to print another coupon from my work computer. (The Campbell's company limits you to 2 coupons per computer.) Tomorrow I'm going to get 6 more cans at just 9 cents each. Pick your jaw up off the floor.

I am loving this coupon thing. I also found a tutorial on how to get money back at CVS. I am going to read it again to make sure I know what to do and then I am going to start saving there as well.

I think one of the secrets is to first go do all of your coupon shopping and buy one get one free deals. Then make your menu based upon what you were able to buy. I am going to keep working on this coupon and store deals thing and get back to you on my progress. I know it will take some time to figure it all out, but it is worth it.

Isabel's Night

Isabel had a great time at the banquet. She was stunning.

Here she is in her beautiful dress that makes her look skinny.

Isabel told me she could not find a date. I found this not to be so when I was looking through her pictures. She just wanted to rotate among different boys. She didn't want to be tied down to one boy all night. She is a rotater.
This is Alex. He is very nice.

This is Seth. He is occasionally her arch-nemesis. They aggravate each other.

This is Phillip. He loves to play basketball.

This one was a shock! He looks much older than all her other dates. His name is Mr. Smith. He is a very kind man.

Who is That?

Oh my! That is Isabel. Her new hairdo has transformed her into an even more beautiful girl. She was almost ready to go to the banquet. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of her in her dress yet. She was under strict orders to take lots of pictures for me. She finished getting ready at her friends house.
Yesterday, we went to the bank. Isabel needed to transfer money, and I needed to make change for the craft show. As soon as Isabel finished her transaction, Hattie started holding herself and screaming, "I NEED TO POTTY!" I went to give Isabel my money to make change for me, but she told me she would rather take Hattie to potty. I said that would be fine, and off they went. I took care of my banking and went to sit in the van. Hattie and Isabel arrived 15 minutes later. Apparently, Isabel had made the wrong choice. Hattie had to do more than just pee. I thought it was quite funny. It was Isabel's first time to experience the Hattie poo. She is not looking forward to another. Now she sees why I leave church to take Hattie to potty and stay gone for almost 30 minutes.

Craft Show

We had a booth at a craft show today. It was a pretty good day. I sold two initial buttons, all but three of my squeaky shoes, one necklace, and lots of friendship bracelets. I also kicked off our raffle with a bang. I have sold $130 tickets. I only have 20 more to sell to break even. I sure hope I sell more than that so it helps us. I am going around the neighborhood soon. A friend also mentioned me going to the local schools and leaving a box for raffle entries. I think I might try it this coming week. I have two weeks go sell a bunch more tickets.
I met a family today with a little two year old from China. Her name was Emily. She was so cute. They got a raffle ticket, and then donated 2 more dollars. Shhh! I went ahead a filled out two more tickets for them to give them a better chance of winning. They were super nice and listened to my sadness and worries about Eric's job hunt. I hope our little ones can meet up when Lydda comes home.

Only 21 more tickets to sell before we are in the black.

Isabel's mom sent us lots of jewelry to sell for Lydda. I only sold one necklace to my mom. Even with my "happy" model, we didn't sell more. They are really cool necklaces. I just don't think many people were buying today. We are going to another craft show next Saturday to try and sell more. Wish us luck!
I'm hoping my friend Holly can come with me again. She didn't sell many candles today, but I enjoyed visiting with her. She had a lot of alone time as I walked around selling raffle tickets at each booth. I will pray for her to sell her candles soon. She has a lot in stock.

Coolness

Oh my! Look at those cool chicks. They have always been cool, but something is different. They are double cool today. What is it? I've got it! Those bags are awesome!

What?!! Your kidding. You don't have one of these bags! Have you been living in a cave? This bag is the new thing of style. Where can you get this, you ask. Why, it is from Whole Foods. How can you get this bag for FREE?
Go to http://media.oprah.com/sterm/whole-foods-coupon.pdf . Print out the coupon.
You will have to pay the tax (7 cents). Or, you can just be a dead beat like Isabel and have the cashier help you pay for the tax. Hurry, this stylin' bag is only free til Sunday.
I know you want to be cool like us.

Bubbles

Could Hattie be getting sick too? She is complaining of having bubbles in her nose. She can't get them to stop. She is not happy about taking anything to help the bubbles stop pouring from her nose. She was screaming, "Not the red kind, not the red kind!"
She said the bubbles hurt her ears. We will have to see if that is true or not. She said this after her long soliloquy entitled "I Hate School and Why Do We Have to Go."

Sick Princess and All

Emogene woke up with an earache twice last night. Her doctor's office doesn't open until 1:00 on Wednesday, so she went to school. She came into my classroom twice complaining of aches. I of course believed her. Her daddy was called. He got her an appointment and checked her out at 2:30. She had an ear infection and sinus infection. She had been quite snotty the last few days. I'm glad it will end soon. She had not been feeling well.

Eric was able to take her because he is still not working. He is trying hard to get hired somewhere. Please keep praying for us.

I contacted Kingdom Kids to get an account with them. For those of you that don't know about them, they are a nonprofit organization that gives grants for adoptions. People can give a tax deductible donation for a family. Kingdom Kids then issues grants in the form of a check to the adoption agency or homestudy agency of that family. This is to be sure the money goes towards an adoption. We had not planned on doing this, because the amount of your grant is dependant upon the number of donations you receive from family and friends. You have to send out donation letters. I dread doing this, but I need this account. You see, I found out my raffle isn't really legal unless the money goes to a nonprofit organization. I'm worried the craft show people won't let me do it without the nonprofit organization behind it. I guess I'll find out at the craft show on Friday. Please pray that this goes well.

A Good Deed?

I wanted to do something so the girls could see someone giving to those in need. I decided to give food. I saw a lady on the corner with a cardboard sign. She was homeless and disabled. I gave her a bag of food. Does a bag full of canned goods and microwavable food really help someone homeless? The lady was very grateful and nice. I drove away feeling good, but 30 seconds later I felt awful. Does a bag full of canned goods and microwavable food really help someone homeless? I realized she probably doesn't have a microwave. Did I really help her? I don't think my brain was functioning fully on that street corner. I'm sorry lady. I'll try to come up with a better plan later.

Yes, Another One

Give me an F. Give me a U. Give me an N. Give me a D. Give me an R. Give me an A. Give me an I. Give me an S. Give me an E. Give me an R. What's that spell? FUNDRAISER!

We are getting close to our referral and although we know God will provide, He doesn't want the funds to just fall into our laps. We need to work for it. We are having a raffle. This is only for the people that live near us.

If your ticket is chosen, you will win A SPA PAMPER PACKAGE! The package includes:
a one hour massage
pedicure
manicure
hair cut and style
rejuvenation facial
microderm abrasion facial
2 body wraps
full set of acrylic nails
eyebrow wax

If you are interested, please let me know by commenting. You can pay by Paypal or call me and mail a check. My email is chemcorp158(at)yahoo(dot)com . I will fill out your tickets and put them into the drawing. I am also not against you letting your friends know about it. The more the merrier. I am going to pick the winner the day before Mother's Day.
Man I wish I could keep this package. I will just have to replay my memories of the last time I had those things.

Speaking with Hattie

Look at that precious lamb.
I have had a couple of fun conversations with Hattie.

Convo. #1
"Hattie, I got your graduation pictures today."
"Yeah. Mrs. Tara wants us to graduate."
"Yes, I bet Mrs. Tara does want you to graduate."
"Grace gets to hold the microphone.... cause she listens."
"I guess you should listen next time Hattie."

Convo. #2 ( This is a little gross.)
"Mommy, I peed and poo pooed. There is an eyeball in there."
"There is an eyeball in where?"
"It is in my poop."
(Did you know Hattie ate an eye-of-corn, I mean ear-of-corn at school? I do now.)

Are you sitting?

I MOPPED TWICE IN ONE WEEK. Could someone please put some smelling salts under my mom's nose?
I am going through a clean freak phase. It only applies to my living room and kitchen. The bathroom and my bedroom are not on my radar yet. Don't get worried, you will not need to do an intervention. These freak outs only last a couple of weeks. The filth will return.

Subway Ninjas

We were out at dinner time today. We stopped by Subway to eat supper. Isabel told us we needed to do our 30 days of nuttin again. I agree. It will be coming again, but I promise I won't blog about it because it is boring.

"Why yes Subway employee, my children are attacking your chairs with the toys you gave them. The chairs needed to be annihilated."
It would appear that my children are completely unruly. Not so, they were just protecting our local Subway.

I think that is apple juice on her dress. Let's just agree that it is apple juice.
Hattie was a ninja with a cool mustache. Oh wait, that isn't right. She was a ninja walrus.
"Yes, Subway employee, I know it is dangerous for her to have those in her mouth while walking around the restaurant. Just leave us alone. No one was injured while we were there."

Family Moments

We have been enjoying the nice weather. We like going on a walk/ride around the neighborhood. Isabel and Emogene take off together on bikes. Hattie reluctantly stays with us, plus Sheldon. Hattie complains that the other girls go too fast. She also starts complaining 100 feet from the house that she is tired and wants someone to push her. Her legs are just too tired. I'm not sure this is as enjoyable as we had hoped. I spend a good bit of time shoving Hattie along. We tried to attach her bike to the dog, but that didn't work very well. Isabel wanted to attach Hattie to her bike, but I reminded her that Hattie's reflexes are probably not fast enough to keep from slamming into Isabel's bike if Isabel stops suddenly. I guess our only choice is to leave Hattie at home, or just keep pushing her along. I guess because of legal reasons, I'll have to keep pushing her along. I think she will get stronger and stronger and won't get tired anymore. We shortened our walk tonight so she didn't get too tired. I must say, it was still enjoyable. I love our family activities.

And the winner is....

I think Sheldon has won this battle. He is taking over every piece of our furniture. Emogene and Hattie totally encourage this behavior. They want him to be more comfortable. As you can see, they thought he might be chilly during his snooze.

I need to do something. I don't want to lose all of my sitting places. He has very noticably eaten parts of my chair and ottoman. I am going to get it recovered, but my guests will just have to be appauled for a while. I am not going to recover anything until he is out of his puppy chewing phase. I promise I will Febreze the furniture and wash the couch cover frequently, but I am going to try and get him to stop getting on the couch all together.

Oh, onto another Sheldon subject. We have added a very aesthetically pleasing fence to our backyard. It is in front of the windows by our living room. Eric constructed it out of tomato stakes. I know my yard already had this certain gag inducing reflex upon viewing it, but now I think we have really taken it to a new level. Let me explain our reasoning for adding such a tacky thing to our yard. I want grass in that area! I also don't want the dog getting muddy everytime I let him out to go potty. This causes me or Eric to have to hose him off before he can reenter. We recently added sod harvested from my parents yard. The dog has pounded it to death. I want to save the little that is left so we had to block it off from his paws. I also want to be able to see out of my back windows. As of now, they are covered in mud from the dog jumping on them to say hello. Not one screen is still functioning on our back windows. The door frame needs to be replaced. He actually tried to eat it. I'm really concerned that my house will not survive Sheldon. I know my pocketbook hates him. I just have to keep repeating, "I love this dog. I love this dog. He will get better. He will get better." Maybe I need to call a pet psychic or that British lady that helps you train your dog. I need help!

Fancy Spaghetti

Isabel was craving spaghetti so she cooked most of dinner. She plated her spaghetti in a very fancy way and put an egg on top. It was delicious.

Hattie was very sad to be out of spaghetti. She was also sad that Mommy was not getting her a towel quick enough. Mommy wanted a picture first.

Family Togetherness

We had such a great night even though Eric had his many doubts. Here was our day. Isabel was invited to a birthday party that started at 7:00. She wanted to arrive at the birthday girl's house at 5:00. Isabel also wanted to go buy her dress for the banquet. This led us to leave the house at 3:00. We went by and bought her dress. We then dropped off Isabel at her friend's house at 4:15. She was a little early. My idea was to stay in the area until the end of the party. Yes, I know that was going to be many hours away, but I still did not want to drive 45 minutes back home just to drive back out there to pick her up at 10:00.
I made a decision for the whole family and stuck to my guns. After dropping off Isabel we went to an early dinner. Hattie had been begging for a month to get to go out to eat. We went to a sushi restaurant that had happy hour from 3-6. We got there at 4:45 and had $3 appetizers and $3 sushi rolls. It was enjoyable. We got a lot of food for a smaller price than usual. Emogene and Hattie tried wasabi. They both immediately drank half of their drinks.
After our Japanese feast, we took the girls to a park . It was very windy and had started getting chilly. We didn't stay long.
We then surprised them by parking in front of an ice cream shop and then watching cartoons in the van. Eric dozed off at this point. We really sat in the van because Eric and I couldn't bring ourselves to eat ice cream yet. We ate a bit more than the children did at dinner, and we couldn't shove ice cream into our stomachs just yet. The girls enjoyed cartoons for 20 minutes, and then we surprised them by getting out and going into the ice cream shop.
I have been rethinking my unhealthy eating habits, and Eric has been losing weight. We decided to share some ice cream and to choose something healthier. We shared a banana split. I'm sure your thinking, what is healthy about that? Well, the bananas, duh! We also shared it. That is better than eating a banana split all by myself. Do you understand my thinking?
After our ice cream, I hosed off Hattie and wished I had brought an extra shirt for her. Then we had some more family time. This was my favorite part of our night. We drove to my school's deserted parking lot, parked, and then all sat in the back to watch the movie The Ultimate Gift (WATCH IT!). At one point, we were all (4 total) on the back seat. It was so cozy. Hattie laid across us,and I snuggled with Eric. I think I am going to plan a van movie night again.
Now, tonight was not cheap thanks to eating out and having ice cream, but it was awesome. I think our next movie will be Facing the Giants. By the way, I still have not had to pay to rent these. I hit the jackpot at my friend Lori's house. She is a movie buying fanatic. I "rented" 13 movies from her earlier this week. I am almost finished with them because over half were movies for Hattie.
I wish I would have brought my camera with me tonight. I took the picture above with my phone. It is such a pain to email it to myself, so I didn't want to do anymore.

Pray for Comfort

A family at our church needs prayers for comfort. Allison and Keith lost their daughter today. She was in her early twenties and an only child. Alisha is no longer in pain and is with her heavenly Father. We were blessed by her presence and praising God for the time we had with her. Please pray for comfort for Keith and Allison. Thank you.

A Little Shopping

Keep in mind that I am not afraid to embarass myself.
Isabel and I went shopping today. She has a banquet coming up. It is similar to a prom but without a dance. She had very strict guidelines for the dress. We tried to find an appropriate dress. We came across a dress that intrigued both of us. She needed one for the banquet, and I needed one for our fancy picnics.

Notice the way I tried to hide my roundness. One thing comes to mind when I see this picture, twin zebras. We evaluated this dress and decided it was not for us. It draped really weird. I think my grannie panties did not compliment the drape. I'm not sure the stripes complimented my figure either. It was not budget friendly either ($500).

Now this one was a winner! I loved this dress. I've decided I have to go back and get it. Wouldn't it make toilet cleaning more glamorous? I felt like Mrs. America and I believe I looked like her too. Now imagine my hair in a bouffant up do and an all over tan instead of a freaky sunburn on my neck line and part of my arms. Does that help the Mrs. America vision get clearer? Remind me next time to suck in my gut. The other people waiting for a dressing room were getting a little aggrivated with us for taking up two dressing rooms, and then pausing to come out and take pictures of each other. I didn't post a picture of Isabel in the dress she wants to purchase. I don't want to ruin the big reveal on her banquet day.

The Zoo, Again

We went to the zoo again today. My girls love animals, so we like to go a lot. Emogene will probably have some type of carrier with animals. She can't stay away from them.
By the way, we do not have a pet rat. It is our neighbors rat. I had to clear that up.

Back to the zoo. We went with my mom today. We had a good time. One of my favorite animals at the zoo is a bird. I think it is a cockatoo. She or he is very friendly. She will occasionally say "hello" to us. Today she shook her head up and down when I told her she was a pretty bird. When I said hello, she stuck her foot our for a shake. It was great. We went back later and she was completely unresponsive. We already had our fun, so it was okay.
In the bird area, we were close to needing a defibrilator for my mom. She saw three rats that had gotten into some of the bird cages to eat the food. She was close to having a coronary. She survived.

Here are the girls discussing the different animals. Hattie told me at one point that she knows everything about animals. Today she showed her skills by identifying the mothers and fathers in each cage. Emogene searched for zoo employees. She would ask them question after question about animals. Her main focus today was the otters and elephants.

Emogene was a little prairie dog today.

I have promised Hattie that when we get the farm Eric and I dream about, I will get her some goats. She is so sweet and gentle with them.

We had a great moment with her today. She was brushing a goat and a little boy walked up to her and said, "Have you ever heard of sharing?" Now Hattie had had the brush for maybe 5 minutes. I was very proud of her when she sweetly handed the brush to him. She then got another one and kept letting a little girl use it and then would patiently wait for another turn. This is a major breakthrough. Hattie is being cooperative with other children. I was so proud of her.

Hattie said, "Giddyup caterpillar!"

Hattie was giving a demonstration to Isabel on how to eat a snowcone. Isabel didn't follow her directions well enough. Hattie did not have a lot of patience with her.

This little monkey practiced and practiced today.

She was being incognito.

Hattie Moments

Look at those two loving sisters. This was a moment of Daddy niceness. He let them have a tea party while he let Mommy sleep late. He is a dream husband.

The sisterly love was short lived.

Just one day later, we hear Emogene crying in the other room. Hattie quickly runs into our room. She was apparently trying to beat Emogene in tattling. She wanted to divert any blame aimed at her. She said sarcastically, "Daddy, Emma think I trying to kill her."

Wow, that was harsh. Hattie had been standing on Emogene's side. Emogene said she was gasping for breath. She is a major drama queen with pain, but the pain might be the mono she possibly has. By the way, Hattie is being watched very closely.

Here I am watching her impersonate the dog.

The Mother Repelent

The girls have been asking for a rat for a long time. I have been saying no because my mother would not come to visit us anymore. Well Eric decided that wouldn't be such a bad thing. He has it in for my mother. It must be the comment she made about him being Shamu. Eversince that moment there has been some tension between them.
Hattie loved holding Scaredy Rat. I won't say that we found him in our garage, but I will say things have changed since the neighbors cat expired.

Emogene loved him too. By the way, it was quite obvious that this was a boy rat.
Well Mom, I guess you shouldn't have called Eric, Shamu. I will see you one day, probably tomorrow. We love you!

Quick Question

Do I have toxic pit sweat, or do other people get brown stains on their white shirts just in the arm pit area? I buy a lot of white shirts to try and hide my toxicity, or I try not to raise my arm for an entire day. I think I am a freak. I also have hair growing in weird places. Does other people's husbands bring up laser hair removal often and get excited when you mention it? Has your husband started saving for treatments for your children because of the likelihood of strange hair growth on them as well? Just wondering.

Do your children sometimes show extra cheekage? Just to explain, Emogene and Hattie sometimes for no reason lift up their dresses at embarassing moments or sit like they are farmboys. On many occasions they are showing too much cheekage. This is because they put their panties on backwards most times than not. This drives Eric crazy. To help you out if you have this problem, Eric has come up with a solution. The picture explains it all. The only problem is with Hattie. She can't read. This might help her to learn to read two words, front and back.

Easter Damages

After church we headed over to my parents for a day of family fun. My sister and her family didn't come. They were out of town. I think she was doing a trial run by being absent on a holiday. She will be moving soon, and we need her absence to be broken in slowly. We missed her dearly. She is far more competitive than any of us, and we missed that insanity. We did not miss having to wait on someone to arrive. We love you Risti.
We started the day with a crawfish boil. By the way, if you have never had boiled crawfish, your taste buds have not completely lived. I'm not saying you have to suck the heads, just try the tail.

Hattie was trying out her skills. She was putting the crawfish to sleep. Her daddy taught her this trick. She was highly successful. It helped that this particular crawfish was already eternally sleeping.
This is my dad. We hollered for him to hurry outside to see what Eric had done. My dad was on an "important" phone call and was probably watching golf, his love. We had to force him out of the house. He did not respond with anger. He just went back inside. Scroll down to see the damage Eric inflicted on my dad's shed.

Here it is. Let me begin by telling you that we were extremely worried about Emogene and Eric's safety at the time of impact. After they appeared fine and we found out that the electrical box that was hit was not juiced, we laughed and laughed. Eric was quite embarrassed, but we had a great laugh. Let me explain what led up to the damage. Eric's plan was to let Emogene start their ride together. He told her to give the gas button a "little" push. Her definition for little varies greatly from his definition. Emogene pushed the gas button as far as it would go which caused them to do a wheelie. Eric began trying to steer without his front two wheels on the ground. At the same time, he was trying to pry Emogene's thumb off of the button and squeezing the brake as hard as he could. The four-wheeler was still moving forward. It slammed into the shed. Eric shielded Emogene's body from any debris. Upon impact, Eric felt pain rip through his thigh. He was terrified to look at the injured area. It felt as though metal was lodged into his thigh and he was loosing large amounts of blood. His main priority was to get Emogene to safety. He lifted her off of the vehicle and then took a peek at his thigh. He was prepared to call my sister (RN) over to help him and possibly get medical supplies to stitch up his leg. He then peeled back his shorts to see the damage.

Here is the wound. We were able to save his leg. It required a dab of Neosporin and no bandage. We did enjoy his story of his extreme pain and anxiety at the thought of looking down at his leg, and we were thankful it wasn't worse.

Emogene enjoyed hunting eggs in the front yard. I think I see a few she missed.

Hattie was showing her basket full of eggs.

Boofer was getting ready for our wet egg hunt. My mom started a tradition years ago. We have an egg hunt just for her children and their spouses or future spouses. The eggs contain money in them. It gets to be a pretty intense hunt. We have suffered injuries, but nothing that sent us to the ER. This year was quite calm. I wonder if it was because Risti was not here. Just to let you know, we have asked Mom many times to discontinue the hunt, but she loves it and thinks it is fun to watch us act like fools. I found the golden egg this year. I think I found it last year too. We had fun. It was very wet. We left one egg hidden. It had started lightning really badly, so we all went inside with $3 unaccounted for. My mom is going to look for it this week. My sister-in-law Dendy was prepared with her rubber boots. She thought about the impending storm and was prepared. Her picture is below.

Eric and Boofer were hunting maniacs. The large pile of eggs to the right was a diversion. It sucked a few of us in. They were all empty.

We then played a very fun game called WOW Cranium. It had everything I love rolled into one (drawing and charades). Some of us do not have the drawing talent. Actually none of us have that talent, but I had to show you one picture drawn by my dear mother. The clue was "The Tour-de-France." The bikes were easily recognizable. After we unsuccessfully tried to guess the event, we asked my mom what the half pipe was for and why she didn't draw the Eiffel Tower. She said, "That is the Eiffel Tower. Oh wait, no that is the Tower of Pisa." We got a huge laugh out of it. I can't wait to play again.

Our Savior is Risen

We woke up this morning at 5:30 so we could join some church members at our church garden. We were to be at the garden at 6:00. We made it on time. We got there a good bit before sunrise. We really ribbed our preacher about that one. We used flashlights to see the song book. By the time we left, it was daylight. It was great to start our Easter worshipping the Lord on this new day. We have the chance at a new life because of the life that was given up. I hope to live my life showing my gratitude for his sacrifice.
When I went in to wake up the girls, I woke up Emogene first. The first thing from her mouth was, "Jesus is alive." Her love for her Savior melts my heart.
While we were in the garden, Hattie looked up at me and said, "Our God wanted to ride on a donkey in the parade." I kissed her on the head and told her she was right. Jesus did ride on a donkey, and He was the parade.
Emogene told the crucifixion and ressurrection in her own words at Hattie's age. It was so cute. She told about the bad guys that were after Jesus. She then told us that after he died everyone waited. She then said in a very excited voice, "And then there was a rose!" That was the end. She was really into roses at the time and that was her favorite part. I believe I remember recording her saying it. I love to ask children to retell all they know about Jesus. You never know what they will say, and there interpretation is surprising.
I hope you guys had a great Easter. I will post a few more things about our day tomorrow, but I only have time for one post. Just think about this teaser. Eric destroyed private property using a four wheeled vehicle. He blames Emogene for it. We will be picking on him for years.

We Have a Winner!

Do you know what the blue bow means?  First place Baby!!!!  Isabel got one of the first place spots at the Science Fair.  We are so proud of her.  Eric said, "Wow that is great!  I worked, I mean, Isabel worked really hard on it."  She did work hard, but Eric worked some too.  He helped with the cooking.  If you look closely at the bottom right picture you will see one of her helpers.  I was a Science Fair celebrity.  Without me, someone else would have had to taste test everything, so where would they have been then.  Oh yeah, they would have still been in first place.  It was an experience though.  I think we will get started on Emogene and Hattie's projects now, so we will be ready in 9 years.    

What Kind of Tea Pot?

Emogene: "I'm a little teapot, strong and true. I don't know the rest of the song."

So lets total that up. Emogene actually knows four words of that song, but she sure sang the one line she "knew" over and over again. Her Daddy got tired of hearing it and finally sang it the correct way. I don't think Emogene was listening to him, because she broke out into song again on the way to an egg hunt. "I'm a little teapot, strong and true."