The Easter Story

(According to Connor)

I asked Connor to tell me the story of Easter. This is how it went...

"The soldiers told Jesus that they were going to kill him.

Jesus said to them, 'Do what ya gotta do, but I'm gonna listen to God!'

He went to the forest to pray...What's the name of that forest?

The bad guys took him and put a thorn crown on him and made him carry his own cross and stuck a spear in him to make sure he was dead.

They rolled a rock around so no one could get in.

The next day...He was gone!

And He was alive!"

My favorite part is when Jesus told the soldiers, "Do what ya gotta do..."

Oh I love that kid! And I love the simplicity of his Easter story:)

Egg Dyeing Day

Yesterday was Easter Egg Dyeing Day.

I have to admit that this is not a favorite Easter activity of mine. (Kind of like carving pumpkins at Halloween. Pooh.)

The kids love it though! Even Dom still enjoys the process.

At some point this past year I read an idea to help make dyeing with the kids a little easier...

Wire Whisks!

Connor is shirtless and ready to roll!

Emma Kate was sleeping...she has to wait till next year to get in on the action.

And Dom was at school...we saved him some eggs and dye to do his later on.

I found these whisks at the Dollar Tree several months ago. Score! You just separate the wires and put the eggs in the middle. This way there is no dropping eggs off of spoons, cracking, etc...

We had not one casualty! The downfall to that...no early egg eating:(

Some finished products...nothing too fancy...but pretty enough for me.

Connor likes to make one for everyone by writing each person's name on one.

Next year, I hope to get started a little earlier and try these.

Happy Easter!

Orange Belt

This little guy has been taking Taekwondo for 2 months now. Since he started he has wanted to quite because he wanted a "colored belt." I kept telling him that he had to work hard and have lots of fun to get a colored belt. Today he finally had his graduation!

Family and friends all came to watch the kids perform.

Here are the little ones watching the more advanced kids "sparring." They were enthralled!

Go Connor!

We need to work on his "Middle Stance." As you can see, he is not very intense:)

I cannot tell you how fun it is to watch all these little guys.

And finally....an orange belt!!!!!!

Woohoo Connor!

This is one happy guy:)

On the way home I asked him if he wanted to quit now. (I had previously told him that once he moved up in rank to orange belt, if he still wanted to quit...he could.)

His response was, "No way! I want to keep going till I get my red belt!" (That's his favorite color.)

And so we have it...more Taekwondo in our future.

And a very happy Orange Belt.

At least until baseball starts...every time Connor is asked to run from one place to another during class, he finishes with a slide...

Saturday Love

On Saturday I got a sitter and headed over to celebrate this lucky lady gettin' hitched!

Mary was more beautiful than I have ever seen her before...she was glowing!

Jeff had to work but fortunately I don't mind attending these types of parties on my own. Besides, my besties didn't have dates either...so it was fun to party with the Ladies...and Clay!

The flowers were beautiful!

I love these ladies!

At any event in which the girls get together, you gotta have at least one self-portrait...

Heidi was a bridesmaid and looked stunning in champagne.

(For more pics see here.)

There was a bit of dancing...

And lots of picture taking!

Thank you, Mary and Shane for including me in your special day.

Congratulations! I pray that the Lord blesses you with many, many years of happiness.

Mr. Sun

This morning at work as I look out the windows at the rain and gloomy sky, I can't help but think back to the weekend...it was beautiful! A little chilly on Sunday.

Saturday. Gorgeous.

The kids and I were out front playing and I didn't have the heart to bring them in for lunch.

Any excuse for a picnic!

Even Libby wanted to participate.

I love this next picture! Connor loves the sun too:)

Today, we are singing the old Barney song...

"Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden sun...Please come out to play!"

Hope your Wednesday has some sunshine to it!

Strawberries and Butterflies

I love shopping for all things GIRL! Emma Kate and I have been having fun with some Spring/Summer shopping...

(for some reason I cannot resist Gymboree's Strawberry Collection.)

I AM IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!!! (Now that I have a girl.)

Oh The Things They Say!

Last night while Connor and I were praying.

Me: Lord, Please be with Gram. We are so thankful for her in our lives.

Connor: What about Grandpa Ed?

Me: Lord, we pray that Grandpa Ed is with you in Heaven.

Connor: Mom, did he take an airplane there?

I love this guy!

Down Memory Lane

This morning I woke up with a slight feeling of dread...Jeff had to work all day...on a Saturday...which means I have the kids all to myself all day...In Laws-out of town...Parents-out of town. Friends with kids-not an option-Emma Kate still has this stinkin' cold that she's had for about 3 weeks!

All that being said. I will probably be writing about this day for days...it turned out awesome!

After lunch the kids and I headed over to my grandmother's house to pick her up for the afternoon. She gets very lonely since my grandfather passed away in October. We thought we'd spend some time with her and take her to dinner when Jeff got home.

While we were at her house to pick her up, I went back and visited "The Shed." There is a shed toward the back of her lot, in which we have some things stored. Often times when we go there I grab a couple of boxes to go through...sometimes I find old toys of Dom's...New toys for Connor! Sometimes...old clothes...

Today I found a very special bin. I spent the evening perusing it's contents...

And boy did I smile...and laugh...with tears!

Here I would like to highlight the Strawberry Shortcake doll brought home after work by my dad when I was very young.

A notebook that doubled as "Drama Notebook" and a Time Capsule from high school. Pictured here are a couple of scenes I was in and to the right: a poem given to me by "Jamie."

This is a Junior High literature notebook in which we had to decorate the cover to reflect ourselves and/or our interests:

Two plaques: 1st place Basketball Championships in 8th Grade and JV MVP my Sophmore year.

The yellow box pictured above was full of High School memories:

Yes, that's my name tag from my 1st job! Remember the little key chains that Great America used to do? The papers to the right are dated pages from my planner. These pages have almost every little thing I did for several years...oh yeah...some memories are in there!

This box was full of Junior High.

Pictured below:

My address book that looked like a turtleneck and sweater.

That pink slip in the middle is an "Eat Day Coupon." I attended a very strict private school and once in a while we would donate money, for some reason or another, and we could eat in class all day...whatever we wanted. Priceless.

My first (and only) pair of glasses...yes they are hot pink!

1991 Junior High "Newspaper."

Small box of random "jewelry."

My retainer...YUCK!

Orange papers with countdown to graduation.

Picture of a couple of cute boys cleaning the chalk boards...what?!?! I am OLD!

Movie ticket to "A League of Their Own" $7.00 full price.

Graduation badge...for some event.

A "High Flight" poem on a bookmark...I wanted so badly at this point in my life to be a pilot. This was right after changing my mind from "whale trainer!"

This little script was written on the inside cover of the "turtleneck book." I seem to remember reading this script while calling random numbers in the phone book with my girlfriends. No, we never had any luck. Oh My! To think I have a daughter of my own now!

In case you can't read it, it says..."Hi I'm from the Contra Costa Times and we're doing a survey on young men between the ages of 11 and 14 years old. Do you have anyone living in your home that fits the requirement for our survey? Thank you."

Wow!

And last, but certainly not least...this little gem. My poetry notebook.

Well mostly my poetry.

Stay tuned for some of L.Shanna's early work:)

Oh it was a very good day!

Wednesday at the Track

I took off of work early on Wednesday to see Dominic run in his track meet. Up until then, I hadn't been to a meet...actually I have never been to any track meets...ever. Jeff thinks this is a crime...he was a runner also.

It stinks...all of Dominic's meets are on Wednesday's :( But this week I was able to make it work.

It just so worked out also that several family members were able to make it, including Connor and Emma Kate! So Dom had quite the cheering section.

He runs the 400 and 200 meters regularly. And sometimes the 800 or 100.

Here are some pics from a proud momma!

Stretching...

Better tighten up those laces

and tuck in that shirt. (Who is that guy?!?!) I AM OLD!

Get ready...!

Hair blowing in the wind.

See ya!

Dominic has never been interested in any sports...up until this year.

He LOVES it!

And I am so happy that he has found something that works for him!

Yeah Dom! And Congrats on your 1st and 2nd Places!

A Little Birthday Surprise!

If there is one thing I have learned in life, it is that things don't always go as planned. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it's not so good.

This past Sunday...it was a GOOD thing. Last week my very dear friend, Heidi, told me that she wanted to take me to lunch and some shopping for my birthday. She didn't tell me anything else except that she would pick me up sometime between 10:45 and 11.

OK, so it did cross my mind that maybe a few of "the girls" would join us for a "mini" surprise.

I will tell you that it did NOT cross my mind that when I opened the front door I would see one of these parked out in front of my house!

After I finished jumping up and down, screaming, and telling my hubby that I would be longer than a couple of hours, I jumped in the limo to find 7 girls waiting my arrival! I cannot tell you how excited I was. They broke out a bottle of champagne to start the celebration, and off we went to Napa...or so I thought!

The surprises kept on comin'!

First stop: Pick up Lindsey in Fairfield.

Second stop: Pick up Jaime in Napa.

Next Stop: Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma.

It was so beautiful. Mary had previously discovered this winery and ordered the wine for her up and coming wedding from them. This, along with a call ahead got us a beautiful outdoor tasting.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

Jaime, the newest mom of the group (as of 8 weeks ago,) was very excited to get out for some girl time. It wouldn't have been the same without you, Jaim!

All the ladies, except for me... :)

Note: If you're a friend of Heidi, you are a friend of her friends...I met Anne Marie for the first time and better got to know Honesty and Casey.

After wine tasting and chatting for a while, I turned around to see this...

Yes, that means PICNIC! I love me a picnic!

It was not your average run of the mill picnic. It was done in true Heidi fashion.

Individual lunch boxes.

With our names on them.

Sandwiches made complete with our own likes/dislikes in mind. Ex: Mine had no tomatoes, Janice had no cucumber in her lunch, etc...

This is what mine looked like inside! Complete with a glass of wine. Each girl was given a complimentary glass of wine of our choice after our tasting...to accompany our lunch.

There is not one thing Heidi did not think of in preparing this meal!

Love. Love. Love.

...all this topped off with a brownie made from scratch. Mmmmm.

One last picture of all of us before heading out for our next adventure.

Which was V. Sattui in...I believe St. Helena. (After dropping Jaime off again...she could only join us for a couple of hours.) I've been to this winery many times...it is my FAVORITE!...and I still don't know if it is in Napa or St. Helena!

If you ever go here...make sure to buy a case of wine so you can become a member and taste in the cellar...so much more personal and less chaotic than in the main cellar. Usually you have to call ahead for a group larger than 6. But I went down, gave them my pouty, "it's my birthday" look and they let us in anyway!

Of course we had to get some pics in front of all the barrels!

I think this one is my favorite picture of the day...

The limo ride home was just as much fun as the rest of the day, if not more so!

All I have to say is, "Forget You-ooo!"

P.S. This was my first limo ride in my honor...so exciting!

One of the things I admire most about Heidi is that she remembers everything. Whether or not something someone says has relevence at the time, she stocks every little fact away in the back of her head, and pulls it out when necessary. She knew everything in which to make this a perfect day! She also is very intuitive...she knew that I was not up for Chandon, the last stop scheduled for the day. So she already knew what my answer was going to be when she asked if I was up for it. I cannot tell you how special this woman is to me. We have been through so much together and she has always been there for me. Maybe we can do this again when we turn 6o;) Just wait...she'll remember this!

Thank you Heidi for planning such a special day!

Thank you ladies for all of the cards, Best Buy Gift Cards, bottles of wine, and most importantly joining in on all the fun!

Thank you to my hubby for being flexible and taking on the kids for most of the day with a moment's notice.

I LOVE YOU ALL!