Easter Fun

There is a family in our ward that does a massive Easter Egg hunt every year. This is Katy, otherwise known as Ben's Friend. He couldn't remember her name for the first several months we were in Ohio and just called her, My Friend. Ben doesn't typically connect with adults as he has a lot to say and it is easily overwhelming to tired adults; not Katy! They has us over for dinner our second week here, and she talked to Ben through our entire meal of fabulous lasagna, including seconds. He's loved her ever since!!! (We actually knew of Katy before we moved here as her sister's family was in our ward in Dallas, and her niece was one of our favorite babysitters before she went to college.) Everything was organized so well with lots and lots of eggs allllll over the yard. Children and parents alike are listening intently to the directions, especially about those prized golden eggs!

Many parents await quick children with cameras at the ready...

They started with each different age group. Emily was in the second group, as she had turned 3 the week before. She was all over those eggs and needed no coaching!

This was the mass organized chaos that is an egg hunt for children 1-17 years of age...and their parents!

Everyone had a great time with full baskets, fresh air, and friends!!!

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on the Saturday before Easter. At least, he will from now on; this was actually the Easter Bunny's first visit to our home. (Ben was so sad last year that he didn't visit! Shame on us!!!) He hid prepackaged baskets this year that were very well loved!!!

Happy Easter! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!!!

Cake Bites...Yummy

Along with our chocolate tour, we made cake bites, so we could create goodies too! The kids had fun, got messy, and enjoyed the results. We decided not to share these with anyone (lots of licking fingers!!!), so three weeks later, I still have some sitting in my fridge!

Ben was our budding photographer since Dad was at school!

Phillies

Ben is on the Phillies this year. He hated the first few minutes but now enjoys his team. Today was Opening Day!!! (Baseball is taken quite seriously in this town.) We did pictures, then had a parade-type announcing of each team and player name. The kids all got to give High 5s to Slider (The Cleveland Indians mascot) and then run through a tunnel from the High School team. There was supposed to be a 1-inning scrimage following this, but we opted out. Why???? There were snow flurries!!! We were all so frozen. Really, it was 75 earlier this week! This is my cute little Ben with his partner in crime, Griffen, next to him. The moms on this team are so friendly; it seems like everyone here is! This is Ben's 4th sport team, and I already know most of the moms after just 2 practices! Love it!!! Go Phillies!!!

Summer Job

Well, I'm sure everyone is as excited as we are to find out what job will be on our horizon this summer! However, this is still in the air. The other day, Andy called from school and asked what I thought about him being a golf caddy. Sounds great, Dear! I really do think it's a great idea. The sunshine and being outside would be great for him! However, I don't think he was being completely sincere, just testing me! His friend just got a job on a landscaping team. I told him he can do whatever he wants, as long as it pays the bills and I get to go to Texas for at least 2 weeks.

Annie still cries at least once a week (typically more like 3-4 times) for her dearest friend! I have several new babies to see, lots of friends to catch up with, restaurants to visit, a zoo to refamiliarize, friends that moved there from Nevada, friends moving to Idaho, and the list just continues on and on. Not to mention the DOERKS, who we all love! I was laying in bed this morning thinking of everyone I want to see and all the things I want to do. I'm going to need morning play dates, lunch dates, and afternoon dates to fit everything in...or just stay a little bit longer! I've also been making a mental list of food I need to revisit...it is getting rather lengthy. So, Andy, whatever job as long as I can go out to eat at least twice a week in Texas! ;)

Reason #782...

...why I love my husband. He thinks outside the box.

Two weeks ago, I went down to change the laundry. I pushed the button on the dryer; when I let go, the dryer didn't continue. It just stopped. Ummm, you were JUST working when I came down because I stopped you to take out the sheets. Come on, DRYER!!! Like the great person I am, I tried again and again, and yet again with the same results. Then I went to my surefire way to fix things, "ANDY!!!!"

After many hours on hold with Sears, poking around on the internet, and baskets of clothes piling up, Andy decided he could try and fix this. Apparently Sears has increased their service fees, by about double since the last time we had them come out! We (okay, I just want to be a part of the process!) knew what the problem was and what parts were needed, so Andy ordered them, bypassing the service fee.

Two days later the parts came! 11:30 at night Andy gets home from school with bloodshot eyes, looking completely exhausted and goes to open the package. I didn't want to give any unwanted advice like, "Please don't break my dryer!" because it was already broken! He pulls out a computer chip and his eyes kind of shine. (Um, my husband is a civil engineer and works with large pieces of material, NOT little tiny things that go into computer-type machines.) I finally speak up, "Do you have any idea what you are doing?" Nope! But he's ready to try, with that same somewhat unnerving gleam in his eyes! I just kept reading about Abraham and Isaac...

11:52, I hear the dryer moving constantly and footsteps coming back to my bedroom. I look up to see a huge smiling face on my tired handsome husband! Thank you for fixing my dryer and only costing us $95 and 22 minutes of actual hands on time. I love you!!!