Happy Easter!

We had a wonderfully quiet Easter Day. After the kids found all the eggs and baskets, we watched "The Testement." I am surprised every time I see it - how I feel when the Savior calls the main character, Helam by name. It is a great reminder of how the savior knows and loves us personally.

Tanner wore his first tie today. He said, "I look like a Dad!" He looked handsome and grown-up.

Our home teachers, the Cravens came over tonight. They are the best! They brought about 10 pairs of paper footprints and laid them out on the floor. They had Tanner stand on one set and move to the next as they told about different things the savior did throughout his life. Tanner stayed on the footprints and stayed focused on the stories. They always have great ideas to keep the children involved and bring the lessons to life. Thank you Cravens for being so good to our family!

All Aboard the Easter Train!

On Saturday, we drove to Nelsonville to ride the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway. The Greens invited us to join them. We had a great day - because we were with the Greens. If I were doing marketing for this Railway company - it would be hard to keep "scenic" in the name. I guess junkyard, chicken coop, and lumber yard are considered "scenic". We joked that it was 3 field trips rolled into one. I didn't think to take pictures of the scenery until it was too late. We were too busy talking, eating chocolate chip scones and taking pictures of our favorite children!




The train stopped at an open field area. The kids got to "hunt" for eggs. Basically the eggs were spread all over the field. Cameron said that the parents near him were scooping up all the eggs. I love parents who forget that things like this are for fun and not a competition. I hope they were happy with their extra bags of sub-par chocolate.

There was a raffle with different prizes. We won a free night at the Holiday Inn Express in Athens. As I was walking back to the train - one of the volunteers saw my basket and said, "wow you won the grand-prize!" I had no idea. I held my head a little higher and thought to myself, "I am a grand-prize winner." : )

Catching Up

Blizzard 2008

Who is this little masked man?

Eliza is in a digital art class this winter at CCAD. This is not part of her class - but I just want to preserve some of her work. She has a love for drawing and is able to create some great things in that wildly imaginative brain of hers. This is hanging in Tanner's room right now. He loves it - especially the pirate image.

Daddy-Daughter Date

Grace and Steve went to her school's Sock-Hop. Grace looked darling in her outfit that we borrowed form her friend Rachel. She was pretty excited abut going for ice cream after the dance and having Steve all to herself.

The girls always have a great time with their Dad. I am thankful that these official school events are not their only dates with their Dad. Whenever they ask him what he wants for his birthday or Father's day - he says, "Dates!"

When Will they Learn?

Okay - Just in case the American Idol contestants are reading my blog. . . : ) . . . DO NOT sing a song that Whitney or Celine have sung! - Ever! No matter how great you think you are - it won't be that great. So move on. Pick another song. In a whole decade of music - you must have at least 500 great songs to choose from. Pick another. Really. I'm serious.