St. Patrick's Day

Just wanted to share Olivia's St. Paddy's Day artwork! Isn't it cute!!

Bella's 2nd Birthday Present

When Bella & I pulled in the driveway after my workout today we both noticed that there were two packages waiting with the mail. I knew that one of them was from Grandma Jean and I told her that one of them was a birthday present for her. She said, "Oh Thank You!". I told her we would call Grandma to see if she could open it now since we will be out of town on her birthday. Grandma gave her the choice of doing it now or when the kids get home...well you can guess what she chose to do! She was so excited when she opened it and this is what she had to say, "I love Gramma for giving me my swim suit and the Bee Movie for the whole family!"


PS~ The other package is from Grandma Wilma for Bella & the kids...she we have to wait on that one!

Seder Supper

This morning Bella and I had the privilege of helping out in Bailey's class. Her Religion teacher hosted a Seder Supper (also known as Passover) for the children and taught them all about the meanings of what went on during this Last Supper. It was very interesting and a great way to celebrate this wonderful holy week.

Here are the ELEMENTS OF THE MEAL:

Lamb The word 'pesach' (pasch, passover) applies to the Lamb of sacrifice as well as to the deliverance from Egypt and to the feast itself.

Unleavened bread (Matzoh) called "bread of affliction" because it recalls the unleavened bread prepared for the hasty flight by night from Egypt. Three large matzohs are broken and consumed during the ceremony.

Bitter herbs (Moror) is a reminder of the bitterness of slavery and suffering in Egypt.

Green herbs to be dipped in salt water. Salt water represents tears of sorrow shed during the captivity of the Lord's people.

Haroseth (or 'haroses') represents the mortar used by Jews in building palaces and pyramids of Egypt during their slavery. (It is a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine.)

Wine is dipped from a common bowl. The 'Four Cups,' Thanksgiving, Hagadah ('telling'), Blessing, and Melchisedek ('righteousness'), are "four different words for redemption, spoken by God to Moses."

Here are a few photos of the supper. As you can see Mrs. Schnurr had them partially dress the part (Bailey is sitting on the left side of the room, in the back row, with a red kerchief on her head).

Out of the Mouths of Babes #4 (I have a feeling there will be alot of these)

Bella & I were just reading her 10 in a Bed book that has finger puppets to go along with it...it's really cute (thanks Grandma Wilma). When we finished we were putting all the puppets (they are all little animals) back in their spots in bed and I realized we forgot the duck. I said to Bella, "Uh oh, we forgot to put the duck in bed!" and she replies with, "Oh CRAP!" I said to her we don't say that word and she continues to keep saying a couple more times while giggling!

KIDS!!

Visit with Family

Two weeks ago our cousins, Scott, Kristy, Mike & Beth, came down for a visit from Minnesota. We had a great time with them, and fortunately for all of us the weather was beautiful (in the 60's & 70's) so the kids were able to play outside the majority of the weekend. Here are a few photos from our weekend together.

Hip Hip Horray...

the auction is over!!! It was a great event (thanks c0-chairs) and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We don't have the final numbers yet but I'm sure that we'll be pleased with the outcome. I was very amazed at what some of our live items went for...I can tell you that we made around $61,000 on the live items alone!

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all a little update on this event that consumes my world! :) Once I get the final number I'll fill you in!

Bella's 1st Birthday Present

Bella got her first birthday present yesterday from our friend Tracy & her family. Although her birthday is not until the 25th, Tracy thought it would be best to give this to her now because we along with Tracy & her family and the O'Connors will all be on spring break together in Florida. And this gift would not have been easy to transport as you can see...

Bella & her new Caterpillar that is roughly 6feet long...

Bella now has to sleep with her caterpillar (I don't blame her because it's so soft & huggable), but this big creature takes up a lot of her bed space because we still have her in the crib!

Thanks Tracy, Rob & boys!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes #3

After I picked the kids up from school we were driving to the grocery store when I noticed that I forgot to put my wedding ring back on after my shower. I made mention of this out loud to which Nico comes back with; "Oh great now the guys are going to ask you out on a date at the store!" "If any of them ask you to marry them I'm going to hit them!"

Thanks for watching out for me Buddy & for thinking that guys are just lining up to take your mom out once my ring comes off, but that's just not the case!

Out of the Mouths of Babes #2

Just a little while ago I gave Bella her pajamas & wipes (yes, not potty trained yet...we've had to take a few breaks for various reasons) and told her to bring them over to Bailey so she can change her. Instead of bringing them to her she decides to just launch them on the floor to which the wipe box breaks. I tell Bella that is not OK and you need to go over to Bailey right now so you can get changed. She could sense that I was starting to get frustrated so she thinks she needs to cop a frustrated attitude and this is what comes out: she looks at Don while stomping away and says, "Now get your ass over here!"!

Oh my lord, do I have my hands full or what! Don of course lets her know that it's not okay to use that word because it's a bad word. Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to control ourselves with our heads turned away!

Nico as Barry Sanders

Each February Nico's teacher has her class do one of their book reports for the month on a President or an African-American in honor of President's Day and Black History Month. Each student researches their person, writes a report and then gives an oral report, on that person, to the class. In the past she has invited the parents to come for their oral report, but this year she has done something different...she did what she calls "wax museum" (They also did this for their Saint projects...which I'll blog about later). Each student dresses as their person and sits in a chair for visitors to come through and learn about each person. When you walk up to each of them they have a button on them that you have to push to activate each one (this was Bella's favorite part). I think this is a really creative, fun way for the kids to share their information, and it helps alleviate the nerves.

Nico chose Barry Sanders - of course...he likes his sports! Here are a couple photos of him at the "wax museum"....

New Look

Hope you enjoy the new look of our Blog...my friend found this site that has free backgrounds! (Thanks A, because my site gave me a headache every time I got on!)

Click here to check out the site!