Hail Storm

Yesterday afternoon, we had a huge storm, thunder, lightening, & hail.  Luckily, it didn't hit us as hard as it hit other places here and in the surrounding areas.  Many people had damage to their cars and homes.  The thunder & lightening continued off and on for several hours, getting extremely intense at some points, but there wasn't any more hail.

 Average size that were coming down

 backyard

 out front

 There were several dozen this size & a little bigger (they were starting to melt at this point)

 Aubrey gathered some from the backyard

Aubrey couldn't resist the puddles, but it was short lived, since the thunder & lightening started up again pretty quickly.

Spring Fling

Waiting for the swings to start

 Aly & Megan

 Carlie & friends

 one of the several bouncy houses

checking out the fire truck

"I love this ride!"

About 45 mins after getting home from T of N, it was time to go to Spring Fling, the carnival at the Elementary school.  Usually I love to go on the rides with the kids, but my stomach wasn't feeling that great after 3 days of cafeteria food and not enough sleep, plus I had a headache.  Somehow, at the last minute, I ended up going on the swings 2 different times, when kids didn't have anyone to go with them.  Then, my stomach really wasn't happy!  Fortunately, I didn't throw up, though I felt like it:)  It got very windy and chilly, we were wishing we'd brought warmer jackets, especially when the sun went down.  At least, it wasn't raining.  It's an event the kids look forward to all year.

6th grade camp

I got to go with Aly to "Touch of Nature" this week for a 3 day "field trip".  It was about 2 hours from here, near a state park we like to go to.  It was a lot of fun.  There were 8 of us in our cabin.  We hiked, canoed, the kids got to rock climb, had a campfire, a skit night, did team building activities, swam in the lake (brrr, too cold for me!), played games, etc.  Good times...

Sarah's busy day

Sarah had a super busy day.  We started bright & early at the Read & Run Marathon, then she had 2 soccer games (1 regular, 1 make up), and a birthday party to go to.  It was a spa party so they did her nails & make up.  Since she came to it straight from soccer, I felt a little sorry for whoever was doing her pedicure:)

Read & Run Marathon

Carlie & Sarah did the Read & Run Marathon at school.  They had a couple of months to read 26 books and "run" (or do various activities) to equal 25 miles.  The last mile all who participated, ran together.  We thought we'd be able to run along with them, but found out a few days before that only the kids that were signed up and some teachers could run. Carlie wasn't so sure about it after finding out we couldn't run along, but they both did it.  They did some running, some walking, but the finished it!

 They started by grade, oldest first, then every 15 seconds, the next group could start

 It was a chilly morning, but everyone was excited

 Almost to the finish line.  Sarah sprinted to the end

 Carlie came close to the end and stopped just before crossing the finish line.  We had to encourage her to go a few more steps

We were so proud that they did it!  Neither of them have ever done anything like this before.

Playtime

Since it was a half day, the girls had friends from school come over.  It was fun to have different kids to play with

 Sarah, Carlie, Aubrey, & friends played camping (among many other things) and "roasted" marshmellows on their fire.

Aly & her friends were "cooking" concoctions of leaves, bird seed, rocks, etc.

Swimming

Brent takes the girls swimming at the Y every so often until the outdoor pool opens, but decided this day that it'd be fun to go somewhere different.  It had been a while since we'd been here (it's about 20 mins away).  We brought along a couple of neighbors - Lauren & Alexia.  Everyone was having such a good time, we stayed much longer than planned.

Zoo

We love the zoo and go several times a year.  On Spring Break we decided it was a great way to spend a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Botanical Gardens

I couldn't wait to go to the Botanical Gardens this spring. We planned to go during Spring Break. They have thousands of tulips and it reminds me of home. A couple of weeks ago, the tulips at the Temple were in full bloom and were gorgeous. I hoped they'd last until spring break... Well, a few days before we went, it was 90º. After several days in the 80º's, it was too much heat for them and a lot of them had wilted. They were in the process of deadheading them while we were there. Luckily, there were still some in bloom and lots of other pretty flowers.

Duet

Aly and Brent sang a duet for Sacrament meeting today. Aly was nervous, but did a fantastic job. It amazed a lot of people, not just because she sounded so good, but also because she is so shy. A couple of people commented that they would never have believed she was so young if they had just heard her and not seen her. They sang "Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love". They made up their own little harmonies to it. It was so beautiful.

Family Picture (on Easter)

Bingo

Aubrey & I recently got introduced to the once-a-month potluck at the Y. It's mostly seniors (I found out about it from some of them at water aerobics), but they seem to enjoy having us there. On Wed, Aubrey didn't want to get out of bed until I told her it was the day we get to have lunch at the Y. After lunch, they play bingo. Aubrey thinks it's the greatest game ever. The first time going, she won a flashlight, the next time she didn't win, but still liked it. This time she won twice. She got 2 flower plants - she's excited to plant them with Daddy. She's very enthusiastic, not to mention vocal, as we play. Luckily, most of the people get a kick out of it.

Soccer for Sarah

Sarah has wanted to do soccer for a while and she finally has started. After only 2 practices (the first was introductions, etc,etc), she had her first game on Sat, Mar 31. It was cute to watch. She worked hard, had fun, and even scored a goal!

Aly's first acting experience

Aly tried out for the JR High Musical and got a part. This was her first time ever in a play (& first time trying out for anything:) ). It was a musical called "Once on this Island" (jr version). Apparently a lesser known broadway show. We had never heard of it. The story centers around a peasant girl on a tropical island, who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes. Aly was in the peasant chorus and a villiger. It was a fun experience for her, though rehearsals after school 3-5 times a week for almost 2 months really cut in to her play time! After the first performance, a friend from Church, who also had a daughter in the play said "Wow! I can't believe that's Aly up there. I've never heard her talk above a whisper. She's really good!!!" I'll upload a scene when I can figure out why it's not working...

Happy Easter!

I'm so grateful for this time to remember our Savior and celebrate His resurrection.

more catch up...

On St Patrick's Day, we had plans for our usual silly traditions - wear green, eat green & rainbow food, and a little game we made up called "chase the leprechaun" (find the hidden leprechauns in rainbow order to lead you to the pot of gold - uh, candy). With it being Saturday, we had extended plans to include a family movie night with a leprechaun movie (Darby O'gill & the Little People") we checked out from the library. Instead, Brent & I ended up at a Town Hall meeting with Mitt Romney! We've never been much in to politics, but both were interested in going, though we just found out about it the night before. It was at kind of an awkward time - 5:45 pm and since it was about 25 mins away, we had to leave around 5. We managed to squeeze our colorful dinner in, then left the kids to watch the movie. I still wore green. I just couldn't help it. The meeting was quite interesting and we were glad we went. There were only about 350-400 people there, so it was small and personal feeling. He brought his wife and she spoke for a few minutes as well. Afterwards, they shook hands and signed autographs. I was a row too far away to shake his hand, but I did get my poster signed. Here's a link if you want to watch the meeting. I'm on the top row 2nd from the left when you open it (Brent's up a couple rows - we didn't get there early enough to sit together, but luckily saw friends who found us a couple seats nearby. http://electad.com/videos/mitt-romney-town-hall-in-collinsville-illinois-march-17-2012/ I'm also in this you-tube ad None of the Above
www.youtube.com.

Catch up

So, since I had planned on posting in March and wasn't able to, I will do a quick run down of some of the things that happened:

This may have been the end of February, I can't remember exactly. Carlie got her ears pierced in Jan. I have always told the girls that when they were ready and able to take care of their ears, they could get them pierced. Carlie decided on day that she was ready and wanted it done. A little surprising since she is absolutely terrified of shots, but she brought along a friend to hold her hand. With Sarah holding one hand and Alexia holding the other, and 2 workers (one for each ear), she did it. She counted down the days until she could change her earrings. She carefully cleaned her ears daily and told us regularly what earrings would be the first ones she was going to wear. On and on it went. Finally, the day arrived and she was so excited to put in

different earrings. Sh

e wore some dangly ones and loved it. The next morning (Sunday), she got up and tried to put new earrings in. One problem - she had taken the dangly ones out the night before and had not put any others in. The earrings wouldn't go in. I offered to help, but she wouldn't let me. She cried and cried. It was time to leave for Stake conference, but she didn't want to come. She was so upset about her ears. We finally got her to come and she wailed all the way to church (luckily our building is the stake center and it's just 10 mins away). Everyone else went in, while I waited for her to calm down. Since she wanted dad, it took even longer. Later, I offered again to help her, but she didn't want me to. Finally a few days later, she was ready for me to try. They really wouldn't go in at this point. I got the bright idea to pierce them again with a needle

(I saw it on Parent Trap). We tried, but to no avail. She has to get them re-pierced, much to her dismay. At this point, she still has not...

March was the big PYC (preschool) funfest fundraiser. I opened my mouth and suggested we have a little "stop in & shop" place to go along with the auction.

I had thought previously about this, but hadn't mentioned it knowing I'd end up doing it. This year, the kids were old enough to run around to all of the games without me, so I could help more. That particular area was not well advertised andwasn't in a very visible location, but even still I felt good about my

contribution. We brought in about $300, selling little odds and ends that people donated, prices ranging from .25 - $10. One of the things another mom & I donated were notebooks her husband had with an old company logo that we altered. We had fun doing it.

Finally starting my blog!

I realized recently that with life going by at break-neck speed, I am quickly forgetting all the little details of life that make it unique for right now. We just run from one thing to the next, hardly having time to breathe in between. My hope in this blog is to capture some of the little things that would otherwise be lost and gone forever, while being able to update family and friends on some of the things we are doing.

So, several weeks ago, I pulled this up and tried to access it. It had been too long since I'd opened it and had to go through some rig-a-ma-roll to be able to get in again. Today, I had a few minutes, tried it and here we go....