Bullets

• Only 7 1/2 weeks of school left. Wow!
• I thought for sure we'd have another foster child by now. It makes me sad because when Nathan turns 5 we won't be able to get a girl. It's DHHS rules that a child that is 5 or older can't share a room with a child of the opposite sex. We could get a girl if she was under a year old, though, because infants under one year can sleep in the parents' bedroom in a bassinet.
• Nathan gave the FHE lesson the other day. It was so cute. First, he danced for us. Then, he gave us the lesson. He "read" us a book about the life cycle of a frog, then he "read" us the stories of Ammon and Abinadi. It was so cute. He seemed very proud of himself.
• I got my old blog put into a book at blurb.com and it came today. I love it. There are some pictures that I would have liked a little bigger, but other than that it's great.
• Lately, Nathan has been super worried about germs and anything that can harm him. I hear several times a day, "Is this milk still good?" or "I put this near my nose. Will that give me a nose infection?" or "If I eat this chip that fell on the floor, will it make my life shorter?" It's funny to hear him ask those questions, but I hope he's not going to be a worrier.
• I've had a stressful week at work. I love working with the kids, but I have a parent that is really difficult to please. Nothing I do seems to be the "right" thing, and she and her husband have both sent me really rude, demeaning emails. That kind of stress is so draining!
• On a positive note, I've been doing the Herbal Life shakes since last Friday and I feel so much better already! I've already lost some weight, too. I'll find out tomorrow morning exactly how much (I think around 5). It's been a lot easier than I thought it would be to stick with it. I really want to enjoy this summer and it will be a lot easier if I'm thinner.
• Dan is almost done the shed/playhouse. It's looking great! He's put the vinyl siding yesterday and he hooked up the electricity tonight. He's going to add the ladder and slide this weekend. The kids will have so much fun in there this summer.
• Another funny thing Nathan has been saying lately: When I say "Sorry" about something and he's being grumpy, he says, "Well, sorry won't break it." I'm sure he means, "Well, sorry won't cut it", which really isn't a nice thing to say, but it's funny that he says it that way.

Photo Hunters Theme: Protect

Megan and Nathan all bundled up,

protected from the cold.

Vacation, so far

Okay, so other than this morning, vacation has been really fun. Here's some random thoughts about it so far:

• On Sunday evening, we had the Cooper game night over here. It was just Dennis, Marianne, Lil, Mom C and my mom. The kids were really disappointed that Allyson and Joshie didn't come because for once, Megan didn't have to leave early. It was really fun, though. We all played Acquire, except Dan. I think everyone had fun, but I don't think Lil and Mom C were that excited about it. Dennis really likes the game, though. It takes a long time, so unless you're really into it, it's probably kind of boring. I love it!
• Megan is staying until this afternoon. I'm going to drive her to Westbrook to meet her mom at four.
• Yesterday, Megan and Nathan and I went to McDonald's for lunch. Then we brought their bikes over to the school, and they made several laps around the school. They also played on the playground for a little bit. After that, we went to see if Crestholm Farm was open yet. It wasn't, but they really wanted ice cream, so we went up to Norway Soft Serve, which we knew was open. On the way, we stopped at an antique store and found an old wooden doll cradle for only $14. I love finding stuff like that. I think I'm going to use it as a decoration in the entry way. Then we went to the new Tractor Supply Company and looked around a little bit. Megan found some cute little animal figurines and Nathan found a combine. We also got Megan a cowgirl shirt that was really cute.
• When we got home, Dan was home working on the shed/playhouse. It's looking great! The kids are going to have so much fun in there this summer.
• I finished putting my old blog into book form last night. I ordered it from blurb.com and I can't wait to see how it comes out! It should be here by the end of the month.
• We did Family Home Evening last night. It was fun having Megan here for it, since she's never here on Monday nights. We practiced a couple songs that they've been learning in Primary (the apostle song and My Eternal Family ), and then we read a couple of stories from the Friend. Megan read one of them to us (She's a really good reader now).

What a morning!

I had a new experience this morning, which I hope I'll never have to repeat. I took Nathan up to his dentist appointment (just a cleaning). After they called his name I took his hand and started walking in with him. He made a funny noise (like a cough/hiccup/weird sound) so I stopped, but he seemed okay. All of a sudden, he started throwing up! We were in the center of the entryway, between the reception desk and the waiting room. We weren't anywhere near the bathroom. How embarrassing! They quickly handed me a trash can. When he was done, I tried asked Megan to take him into the bathroom, while I helped clean up the mess. Everyone was really nice about it. They kept saying, "Don't worry. We have kids, too, so we understand." So, needless to say, I had to reschedule the cleaning. We're back home now, and Nathan and Megan are watching old Popeye cartoons, hanging out on the couch.

Gabriella

We finally got to meet our newest great-niece Gabriella!

She is the sweetest little baby! It was so fun holding her.

Easter

On Easter morning before church

Showing Daddy his matching argyle socks

Nathan in his new Easter outfit

Nathan with his Easter basket

The girls didn't want their pictures taken

before they had time to get ready:)

The neighborhood kids on Saturday at the first annual

Record Lane Easter Egg hunt.

We also had a barbecue afterwards with

Darcy and Gus and their kids.

Back: Kacie, Courtney, Ashley

Front: Kaedon, Garret, Branson & Nathan

Photo Hunters Theme: Purple

Have you ever seen a purple tractor?

We saw one at the Oxford County Fair a few years ago.

Nathan thought that was really cool.

Look what I got in the mail!

Savanna and DJ!

Delson's mom sent me this picture this week. They are

changing his name to Dylan Joseph (I really like that),

but they call him DJ. That's a cute nickname, too.

I just want to pick him up and hug him!

Amber & Ashley's visit

The girls were here for only 3 1/2 days this time, but we'll take all we can get! It was really fun seeing Ashley again (Honestly, I can't say it was fun seeing Amber. Hopefully someday that will be different.) Here's what they were able to do:

• earned money for vacation by raking the lawn
• Ashley helped build the shed/playhouse
• Ashley played lots of games with us (especially Acquire!)
• Amber had a friend over
• Ashley had Emily over
• They all went to see A Haunting in Connecticut with Dan (Nathan and I saw Aliens vs. Monsters)
• They visited my mom on Sunday afternoon
• Easter dinner at Steve & Lil's on Sunday
• Ashley went bowling with Ryan & Nick & their friends
• Ashley spent lots of time playing with Nathan
• went to church on Sunday
• Ashley helped me bake chocolate chip cookies one night
• On Saturday Ashley and I made Easter cupcakes decorated with gumdrop flowers

Misc.

• Amber & Ashley flew back this morning (insert sad sigh). More coming in the next post about their visit.
• Nathan started actually reading tonight! I was so excited. We've been building up to it for months, but I ordered some Bob books from a book order recently. I was a little disappointed when I got them because they don't look all that great, but Nathan loved them! He wanted to read them, so we sat down together and read the first story. He was really getting it. It was awesome. Then we listened to the CD that came with it, which he liked for a little bit, then lost interest. We'll do more tomorrow for sure.
• I keep forgetting to write about Nathan bearing his testimony in church a couple of weeks ago for the first time. I guess he was partially listening as he was coloring because all of a sudden he said, "When is it my turn?" I said, "Right now, I guess." I was so proud of him. He wanted me to tell him what to say, but that's okay. I was proud of him that he wanted to get up there.
• We had parent teacher conferences today at school. The students come to school Tuesday through Thursday and then we have a workshop on Friday. Next week is vacation (wahoo!), and then we only have 8 weeks of school left! Yay! Happiness! Hopefully, we'll have another little munchkin to love by then, too.

Photo Hunters Theme: Triangle

My aunt and uncle's A-frame house

Ashley and I were walking over to my cousin Darcy's house and I said, "I don't know what to put on my blog for a triangle." She looked over at my aunt & uncle's house and said, "You could put that house." I thought, "Yeah, that's perfect!" You don't see many triangle shaped houses around. The bushes block the view of the bottom of the house in this picture, but it's a perfect triangle.

Lists

On my list of things to do this week:
1. Get my car inspected and an oil change, too.
2. Make a scrapbook page of Boo Bunny' s visit
3. Get my hair cut
4. Vacuum out the car
5. Get birthday postcards ready for Primary
6. Finish putting my old blog into book form
7. Organize Nathan's room

Things/events/happenings I'm looking forward to:
1. Looking through my new Simple Scrapbooks magazine that came in the mail today (the last issue - so sad!)
2. Amber & Ashley's visit (they come in on Thursday)
3. Easter dinner at Steve & Lil's
4. April vacation (coming up!)
5. CKC convention in May
6. Scholastic warehouse sale in May
7. A new foster child (hopefully soon!)

Photo Hunters Theme: Stripes

This is a picture of Dan (the youngest) and his three brothers (Steve, Jeff and Matt). How do you like these matching striped shirts? My mother-in-law made these for them. Too cute!

Pictures

Dan and Nathan working on the shed/playhouse

Boo Bunny and Nathan

General Conference Weekend

I LOVE General Conference weekends. It's so inspiring and uplifting and makes me want to do better.

I realized that I haven't written in a while, so I thought I'd catch up. Last weekend was really fun. Nathan and I brought home Boo Bunny from preschool for the weekend. She can go home with a student for the weekend and then goes back to preschool on Monday. She also comes with her travel journal where each family writes a little blurb about their weekend. It's really cute. We had a good time with her and I think it was good for Nathan since we don't have any pets of our own.

The word "blurb" reminded me of blurb.com. I've been meaning to put that on here for those of you who have your own blog. It's an awesome site that allows you to slurp your blog and put it into book form, including pictures! I've started working on putting my old blog in a book form. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Last weekend Nathan and I went shopping in Portland. I really wanted to get him some summer clothes (he's so tall now). So we headed out to The Children's Place and Gap Kids. I love those stores for boys' clothes. I've never bought him much there before because we couldn't afford it, but now that I'm working and things are a little easier financially I decided to go and see what I could find on sale. I found lots of really cute stuff, all on sale. Now Nathan's all set for summer.

Dan is out back working on the shed/playhouse. He really wanted to build Nathan and Megan a treehouse this summer, but he also really needs to build a shed for the lawn mower. I suggested combining them, and putting the playhouse on top of the shed, and that will give it a treehouse feel, with a ladder and all. Dan loved the idea, so he's been working like crazy the last few days. I think he really wants to be done before the black flies and mosquitos come out. Megan and Nathan are really excited about it. Branson and Kaedon do, too. I could hear them a few minutes ago, playing out there with Nathan. I'll be taking some pictures today, so I'll post some soon.

We just got back from my mom and dad's house this afternoon. Nathan and I have been staying there since Thursday night with Molly. Mom, Dad, Mike and Hilda went to a NELMA (North East Lumber something Association) conference and we thought Molly should be able to stay in her own environment. It went really well. Molly is adjusting incredibly well to being blind. She's amazing. Dan picked Megan up last night and Emily came over, too, so we had a full house last night. It was a lot of fun. We had pizza from Pizza Hut and ice cream, too and we watched The Spiderwick Chronicles. I had never seen it before, and I really liked it, but I think it was a little too scary for Nathan. He didn't even want to go to the bathroom by himself after we watched it. Hopefully he won't have nightmares.