Spring Is Here

A Brief Summary Since My Last Blog....

Derrick and I went to San Antonio for PLI. A week off school for me, time with him away from the boys, hanging out with our awesome collegial group for five days..sun and warm weather...

My "stomach is humongous"..the words of Matthew after not seeing me for a week...we entered "grandma detoxification" immediately upon returning from San Antonio....enough said about that.

Derrick's birthday...he asked for (and got) the sweetest gift...a keychain with my name on one side, "Matthew" and "Lucas" and a blank space for the baby's on the other...

Countdown to days of school....15 school days left! YEAH!!! The only thing..my babies will be first graders

Mother's Day at home with the four of us. We bought and planted flowers, had steaks, and played outside. I even got a very nice card...

Matthew and Lucas had two field trips this week and Safetytown Weds-Fri....

That's about it!

Spring Break Recap

Spring break has come and gone, but it was great to be home. On Palm Sunday, Derrick's youngest sister was confirmed. That definetly started our Holy Week on the right focus. Her class is one that I love dearly and have become very close with. It was great to see them confirmed on Sunday. They are one of the few classes that get the concept...for the most part...and appreciate their confirmation. Her confirmation project was a banner to hang at Living Truth. Very sweet of her. She had a very fun open house, and Derrick and I were able to leave the boys at his parents' house for awhile to go to several others I had been invited to. Monday and Tuesday were rainy and cold. I was able to make it through Twilight and New Moon those days. We stayed inside and played a lot of games. We taught the boys how to play go fish, war, slap jack, and some others. It was a lot of fun because they are getting the concept of stuff like that. Of course, Hungry Hippos made the game list, also. Derrick and I also got several boxes packed and closets cleaned out.Wednesday, Matthew, Lucas, and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch. They had earned Book-It coupons for a free pizza and we cashed them in. It was a nice little date. Then, Wednesday night they had karate.


Thursday, we played in the morning and then went to the park. They road their scooters all the way there and back. It is about a 12 minute or so walk. After playing there for awhile, we came home for quiet time. That's code for "movie and mommy nap time". After quiet time, Lucas felt ill and began puking. He kept that up for about a day and a half. My parents offered to take Matthew overnight Thursday night. He right away got his back pack ready and waited by the door. After about 20 minutes of waiting, I convinced him they were going to be about another half an hour and he should sit down. When they got there, he was so excited to go. It was cute to see him get a little wind in his sails about being the only one to go to grandma and grandpa's. They brought him home later on Friday afternoon. Saturday, we worked around the house all day. We raked, cleaned up outside, and washed my car. Then we went to my parents to store some things and for lunch.

Easter was great, too. We had church, then to my grandma's and Derrick's parents. The boys had an egg hunt at each house. At the Hursts, we (Derrick and I, too) had to go on a scavenger hunt to find our Easter gifts. His mom gets teased, but she makes things like that fun. Monday, the four of us went on errands to the the Movie Tavern to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a lot of fun. The Movie Tavern is a restaurant in a movie theatre. We love to go there! I pray you all had a great Easter!

It's Been a While

Well, since I joined Facebook, I have been neglecting our family blog. Oh well. I'll try to do better. Since I last updated, lots of things have happened. We celebrated our anniversary...nine years on February 26th. We went to j. Gilbert's, a steakhouse in Columbus. They specialize in wood grilled steaks. It was unbelieveable! We had a gift card for there, and thought we would try it. It was the fanciest, most expensive restaurant we have ever been to. The food looked like it came off FoodNetwork. We had shrimp cocktail, wine, steak, crab cakes, and some amazing chocolate dessert that had liquid chocolate in it so when you cut a bite, it oozed out! YUM!
Next, we have been working on the hardwood floors. Derrick finished the third bedroom just this past week and started his parents' living room and dining room. We have come to the realization that we no longer want, but NEED a larger home. So, we are working on our to do list to get it in selling condition. Hopefully by Easter we will have it listed. We've been looking at larger homes and researching our options. We'll see what happens.
Lucas lost his second bottom tooth in church last Sunday. Yeah, in church, right before we were ready to go to Communion. He sneezed, and I was wiping his nose, brushed against his mouth that was open so he could breathe b/c I was pinching his nose, and I knocked it out. Nothing ever dull in our house. He also has the hang of riding a two wheel bike. He needs help getting started, but then can go for about nine houses or so. Next we need to get Matthew on it, and get Lucas to learn how to turn around in a driveway.
Third, I'm pregnant. We had an ultrasound today, and there is only one baby in there. According to the tech, "one standard kid. about one inch long." I'm nine weeks and due between October 31 and November 4. Pretty exciting stuff!
We are looking forward to Spring Break. This coming week is the last week before break. We need some time off of school. Nothing planned...it's hard to do that when you are a church family and spring break falls during Holy Week. Oh well...we have plenty to do around the house.

Transforming from Five To Six

This week it was all about getting ready for Matthew and Lucas to turn six. However, we had some hurdles to get over before the parties could happen. Derrick was in Phoenix for PLI, which meant the boys were staying either at Derrick's parents or my parents. Monday, St. John's had a basketball game. That meant in order for me to get the boys to the Hursts, we had to go to the game and then the Hursts would take them home after Darragh's game. We had a "date" night to McDonald's, and then to the game. Tuesday after school I took them to my parents and we had dinner and I left them there. Then, I headed back to school for the boys game. I haven't been to a lot of games, and since the boys were at my parents, I decided to go to this one. Wednesday they had karate, and I took them to my parents afterwards, and Thursday Derrick came home. His flight wasn't supposed to come in until 10, so I had planned on going to the store to get party food, make cupcakes, feed the boys, clean a little, and then put them in pjs and head to pick him up. Meanwhile, he was working on getting home earlier via standbys. He texted me at 4:45 to say he was on the flight from Chicago to Columbus and he would be there around 5:30. This is while the boys and I are at the grocery, and we needed to check out, run the ice cream and milk home, and get to the airport, which is 40 minutes away. We hurried and finished, ran the goodies home, and made it to the airport by six. The boys were so hungry, so we hit the McDonalds drive thru at the airport. I have typically looked forward to having the house to myself when he goes out of town, but this week it was a little rough.




Friday was previously scheduled as a winter break, but we used it to make up for a snow day we had gone over. Therefore, we had to be at school Friday, which wrenched my plans for cleaning and baking cupcakes on Friday. We hurried home after school, stopping at Goodies Galore for the traditional mylar balloons. They didn't have Transformers themed balloons, so I settled for the gigantic number sixes. They were pretty cool. My parents and sisters came over Friday for a pizza buffet and cupcakes and ice cream. They got a lot of Transformers stuff, and one of the highlights was a gift card to Toys r Us. Excitement over that you ask? Yes, because they like going to the store and being able to buy something they pick out. Saturday we moved the living room furniture around, and cleaned up to get ready for party number two. Altogether, our families make about 25 people, so we split the parties up. Saturday night Derrick and I went to Little Tony's with some friends for dinner and to hear our friend Lukas sing and play his guitar. It was a lot of fun. Sunday was church. The boys traipsed around church showing off their "I'm Six Years Old Today" buttons we had bought at the party store. Then, Derrick's family came over for a pasta buffet after church, as well as cupcakes and ice cream. When we were singing to the boys, and it was time to make a wish, they bowed their heads on the table like they were praying and were whispering a "lots of toys" chant as their wish. It was really funny. His family was here most of the day, playing the wii, and playing with the nerf swords and guns that Grandma Patty and Grandpa Keith got for them. Today we are off for President's Day and did some errands this morning. Overall, we had a great weekend.

The First Lost Tooth!

Derrick pulled Lucas's loose front tooth out last night. We were sitting on the couch for our pre-bedtime snuggles, and he was wiggling it. Before we knew it, it was out. Lucas was excited, and of course much tooth fairy talk was floating around last night. He went to the bathroom to check out the gap. It's so cute how they go from all gums, to that exciting time of cutting teeth, back to being gums and loosing teeth. He had a plan to set up a trap camera in the doorway to their bedroom to catch the tooth fairy in action. He had it all rigged up in his mind...set up the camera, hook a rope to it, and when she flies in, it will push the button and take her picture. Too funny! We put it in a ziploc bag, left her a "note" that his mommy wanted to keep it for scrapbooking/memory purposes, and off to bed they went. This morning, he came straight to our room to ask if we could go to the store today and buy a toy with the two dollars she left. We convinced him to start saving his tooth fairy money and soon enough he'll be able to buy a toy. Matthew was excited for him and proclaimed to my mom today that he was "Proud of Lucas for losing his tooth." Such a good big brother!

The Hardwood Floor Project

First of all, let me just say again how much I adore my husband for getting me/us this computer for Christmas. We had been using laptops...his from church and mine from school, but it was a pain for me to bring it home and unhooking it from my SMART Board. Plus, the boys are into any ".com" website they hear about and couldn't navigate the mouse very well on the laptops. Second, the new digital camera he got me has been very busy also. That is why I am blogging so much more now...it is so much easier!

Anyway, we are making great headaway with the floors. This morning I unloaded the boys' closet, stripped the beds, and moved the mattresses and boxsprings out to our room so he could start their floor when he gets home from the dentist. Our room looks like a war zone....so does the computer room because it has the flooring boxes in it, as well as baseboards. But, after today and this weekend, the boys' room and the hall will be done. All that will be left is our closet and the computer room. I've added a few pictures of the project and will add some more of the finished project. The boys were VERY helpful in unloading their closet and taking things back to our room. They want Derrick to work on the floor in their room, so they are all about speeding up the process. They took all their "friends" out to the couches and snuggled up to watch Toy Story 2...they LOVE snow days! Movies and video games are special treats on weekdays when we have no school.

As for the tooth..last night when Derrick was brushing Lucas's teeth, he accidentally hit his loose tooth the wrong way, and we thought it was going to come out...no luck. Derrick tried, but Lucas wouldn't have it. Hopefully he will suck his fingers enough to loosen it a little more. According to him, he can whistle now with a loose tooth...not sure why he thinks that, but who am I to question the mind of an almost six year old? We have another snow day today, which according to Matthew is the "Perfect PS2 Day!" Any excuse for him to play video games....oh well. I am very thankful for the snow day, however tomorrow back to school will be rough, and come June I may not be so excited when we have to add days on . Oh well!